Prologue

"Why is a lonely peasant playing in the royal park?" the boy had asked coldly before snorting disdainfully while turning his head.

This caused a girl to look up at him with curious eyes, her hands remained on a spare bucket that she was using to add an extra sandcastle.

"But I thought the king had made this park so everyone can play in it" she had said in a meek voice while tilting her head, her black shoulder-length hair moved sharply to one side from movement.

Hearing this, the boy narrowed his eyes.

"Hmph! Such impudence! You even look like a weak, ugly rat" he said with a cruel smile.

Hearing this comment however horrified the girl who had been playing with her sandcastles in peace.

At the same time she had been trying to practice with her bucket by levitating it as she used her magic while no one was watching.

Sadly, that was until this boy showed up now resulting in trouble.

The reason she unsettled was from the fact that normally nobles could only practice magic in public, on the other hand nobles who didn't have magic had lower statuses as opposed to the nobles who did have magic.

At times there would be discrete skirmishes here and there between the nobles over magic, caring more whether that their status regardless of magic or not was high.

As a result the nobles would gladly step on the other's backs if it meant they could be on top, playing dirty if it meant achieving the best result.

For magic- power was a sign of securing a seat in the higher hierarchy, while others suffered at their hands in order for it to stay that way.

Unfortunately those who were middle or lower class who had magic were often seen as cockroaches, easy pickings for distain and bullying thanks to their status.

After all it didn't matter if they had magic, they would never rise up or be acknowledged even if they did something amazing thanks to one thing- their blood status.

No matter their class they would never be on the same levels as nobles or someone of great importance, not even a positive glance or comment.

In truth it was rare for non-nobles to reveal that they had magic in public for fear of being persecuted.

A majority of the population in the kingdom had no magic in their bones, nor could they use anything connected to magic.

As a result it caused a rift between both magic and non-magic users resulting in resentment and hatred from the non-magical population.

To the dismay of the inhabitants of the country, a war eventually broke out resulting in significant losses from both sides without any signs of stopping.

The king of that era had eventually caused both sides to cease and forced a treaty between the sides in hopes of stopping the ongoing wars completely, despite this prejudicial issues had resumed within his own lands once more.

This in turn had left the king upset and angry at how callous his own people could be when it came to the gifted and non-gifted.

But he could only do so much given how some of his allies even deserted him to take part in the war for their own benefits.

By the time he had eventually gained enough power to stop the war, thanks to his faithful followers and supporters had allowed them to create a ceasefire on both sides.

Stopping everything completely leaving mixed emotions from both sides on how it was done.

In exchange for stopping the war, the ones responsible- those who had agreed to stop the war be them magic users or non-magic users were sent away to another area uninhabited by anyone.

Only they could never leave the barrier that had been put in place to protect themselves and others around them.

As a result caused the group to never see the true sunlight of their world again.

As expected some individuals would try to escape from the barrier, due to the fact that they felt as if they were trapped like rats in a cage for the war they hadn't caused.

However the individuals were quickly put in their place thanks to the elders of the country as part of the agreement to keep the people out of trouble.

Four hundred years had passed and some skirmishes would occur from time to time, but not enough to break out into another damaging war.

It was then the current king had contacted the ruler of the banished ones, claiming it was time to make peace between both sides which led to an uproar in his country for allowing the Dark Dwellers to enter their land after what happened before.

Eventually a selected number of children would transfer to the school that was run by the Light Dwellers in order to start the integration, regardless of what the Light Dwellers would think or say.

At first the Dark Dwellers resented and were completely suspicious of the idea, unsure of what the king was trying to accomplish by allowing them to enter their realm.

However some inhabitants on the other hand wanted a change.

Wanting nothing more than to give their children or relatives a choice to be free compared to how they endured over the years.

Thanks to the years of living in their Realm, the Dark Dwellers who were now pale skinned due to the lack of sunlight would often be forced to wear protective clothing that had magic in them.

In order to prevent them from either burning up and suffering the negative effects of the sun.

As a result a handful of Light Dwellers refused to let the Dark Dwellers have any respite and mocked them for having to wear such things.

Another common noticeable sign of a Dark Dweller would be their hair colour- black or green.

Mostly to the conditions of their home realm had caused not only their hair colour but their eyes as well.

Despite all this, the Dark Dwellers travelled through the harsh sunlight with their heads held high.

No, they would never be put down regardless of who or what they were, magic users or not they wanted to be free and achieve something for themselves.

Seeing this as a chance to escape the pain they and their ancestors endured.

At the same time, some chose to do it for their families or to simply make a difference but sadly prejudice still existed leaving it hard for some to want a job in the Light Realm.

Sadly no matter what, whether someone was Light Dwellers or not if a noble spotted a non-noble child using magic, scorn would be often introduced regardless.

It would be a miracle in itself if the nobles were able to show kindness to those lesser than them, fearful of being judged caused the kind ones to shy away causing more resentment from both classes.

~

"Make sure you drink this an hour before going into class or else you will be caught out by the teachers" a blunt voiced girl with bland green eyes said tersely, she stared quietly at a girl who stood near the opposite end of the table with a guarded look on her face.

The girl who had spoken contained long brown hair that went up to her waist, on her fair skin- her face contained a medium amount of freckles that often resulted in others teasing her due to how unflattering they appeared to be.

That and along with the fact she would always have her nose in books would cause the other students to call her a bookworm.

To the girl's dismay however, worst of the insults came from a royal cocky red-haired male teen who had noticeable grey eyes much to her disgust.

Just hearing his voice grated on her nerves and the worst part was that they had known the other for years.

Sadly even back then the pair had bad blood from the moment they met, only what also made it worse for her was that the boy's father was the King of Camelot.

The King to her shock instead of disciplining him had turned a blind eye to his son's antics.

Allowing the boy to have more reasons to do whatever he wanted, especially since it would always be his word against her.

Who would be more believable?

In the end it was all about power and status, if one had neither then they would easily be disregarded and treated as a liar.

Persecuted for trying to stand up for themselves.