Morning Goodbyes, Morning Greetings

A ray of dawnlight, between window frame and curtain, peeked into a crowded room. It rested on the tan eyelid of a slumbering child barely a teen. Several minutes past until his muddy eyes fluttered open. They kept sight on the ceiling for one more before their owner rose from his bed. All around him were others like it with smaller children resting. His was dubbed what they liked to call a 'morning bed' thanks to the source of his awakening.

"Today's the day," he whispered. Grumbling, he maneuvered through the maze of bed-frames out into the main hall. A few yards down took him to the kitchen, the coldest part of the building when not in use. It was ventilated for the purpose of confining cooking smells to the room. He forced his frown into a smile before walking.

The old woman always manning it during the morning turned and smiled back. "Today's the day." Her focus turned to the pantry. "Stew or porridge?"

"Stew." He went to her side to assist.

One carried and poured the water into a pot while the other cut up greens and meats. It would delay breakfast for an hour or two, but they would forget the wait when it was done. Neither said anything. While they shared smiles, they hid their frowns. All of them knew it wouldn't last forever.

Stew boiling, he began walking towards the door. "I'm going to go check on Raya."

"...You're a good boy, Faxon." She winced at the sight of him freezing.

"Heard it the first dozen times." He forced a laugh before leaving. "Aren't I the best?" He returned to the main hall, strolled down, went right, and opened the door to one of their few private rooms.

Raya, a pale-skinned and silver-haired little girl, giggled at his gaping mouth. "Good morning."

"You!" He flinched at his tone as he eased the door shut behind him. "You should be asleep."

"But you're leaving today!" She hung her head at him pressing a finger against his lips.

Lifting up a nearby stool, he went to her bedside. "That doesn't make you feel better though, does it?" He set it down and sat on it.

"It does."

"Not what I meant."

"You don't have to worry about me." Her lips thinned into a line. "I'll be okay."

Faxon averted his eyes. "I'm always going to worry about you, everyone else, and the grandmas around here."

"Doesn't worrying about a lot of people hurt you? And you're gonna meet a lot of other different people too."

"That doesn't mean I'm going to worry about them." He patted her on the head.

She pouted. "But don't you have to worry about people to care for them? And Grandma Dara says you should care for everyone you meet."

"Grandma Dara says a lot of things."

"You said Grandma Dara is one of the smartest people you know." Raya squinted. "You told me I should try my best to be more like her." She closed her eyes as he ruffled her hair.

"Just because you're smart doesn't mean you can't be wrong about some things. I was wrong about that; you should try your best to be the best you you can be."

"I'm the only me though."

Chuckling, he embraced her as gently as he could. "And don't you ever forget that." He looked down at her confused face. "I meant you can always be better."

"Do I have to be?" She gave a small whine.

"You should want to be." A hum murmured in his throat. "I'll love you even more if you're a better Raya." When she embraced him back, warmth enveloped his chest. "All of us will."

"But I want you to love me more than anyone else, big brother."

His vision began to blur. "No matter what, I'll always love you." His voice broke.

"Big brother?" She looked up and blinked at his crying face. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm fine." Faxon laughed, warm yet bitter.

She tilted her head. "You're a bad liar." Raising a hand to his cheek, she wiped his tears with her thumb. "Can you stay with me until it's time?"

"The other kids are gonna want to be with me too."

"I want to be with you the most." She pouted.

He patted her head. "You know they'd say the same thing. I want to spend as much time as I can with all of you. For now, I'll stay right here until they wake up. I'll carry you to the mess hall when it's time for breakfast."

"Like a princess?!" She winced at him shushing her. "Or a piggy?" She whispered.

"If I carry you like a princess, I'll have to carry every other girl like one too."

Deflating, a whine grew in her throat. "But… I don't know if I'll ever see you again."

"You will, I promise." He hooked her pinky finger with his. "I'll carry you around as much as you want."

They held on to each other for as long as they could. More light illuminated the room and the occasional odd noise thrummed through the walls. Soon enough, the usual cacophony of their building emerged, signaling the true beginning of their day. It would peak in the afternoon before dwindling at the coming of dusk. Each lamented the inability for one to see it for themselves.

Faxon looked down at the slumbering face of his sickliest 'sister.' "I'm sorry." Laying her down, he stood up from the stool and tip-toed to the door. He spared her one last glance before easing the door open, slipping through, and closing it as softly as he could. "If one of grandmas doesn't, I'll bring you a bowl."

Another old woman, Grandmother Amelia, met him with a stoic face in the hall when he turned. "Today's the day."

"Tell me something I don't know, hag."

"Mind your manners, young man; you'll soon be in the presence of over a hundred people, each and every one of them more powerful than you." Her voice betrayed no emotion. "If they felt so inclined, they could kill you with a flick of their fingers for your insolence."

He scoffed. "Let me worry about that." He lined himself with a side of the hall and walked forward but her weathered hands at the sides of his face stopped him.

"Don't let any of them see you crying," she whispered.

"...I know."

She inclined her head ever so slightly. "Never forget that. Some may say otherwise, but everyone detests weakness. The support you get is to console you for the sake of drawing out your strength."

"Yeah, yeah; everyone's a self-interested liar. I get it." He slipped out of her weak grasp. "Why do you keep saying stuff like that and expect me to believe it, even now?" He disappeared behind a wall of the main hall.

"Oh, little Fax." She scowled. "You're still an idiot."

Back in the far warmer kitchen, he raised a hand in greeting to another old woman accompanying his early morning cooking partner. "Grandma Ali. Grandma Jade."

Alice patted the other, visibly uncomfortable woman on her graying head. "You know Jay doesn't like being called by her actual name."

"...Sure." He looked to her. "Is the laundry done?" His lips pursed as she nodded. "Guess I'll give the floors a sweeping."

"I already did that," Alice said with a smile.

"Then… I'll clean the dishes."

She giggled. "I did that too!" She tilted his head at his souring expression. "Did you really want to do the chores that badly?" Realization struck when Jade placed a hand on her shoulder with narrowed eyes. "...Sorry."

"It's alright." He walked over to and leaned against one of the cabinets. "I just felt like I had to something before I left."

"You're always doing the chores though."

"Well, I'm not gonna be doing any of them for who knows how long, so I thought I might do everything I could." He planted his elbow on the counter, set his chin on his open palm, and looked out into nothing.

Alice pouted, much to Jade's chagrin. "It's not the end of the world. If you want to do something, go out and spend time with the others instead of moping." She winced at a punishing pinch to her wrinkled cheek.

He parted his lips and paused. "...You're right." Smiling, he raised a hand to rub the back of his head. "I'm sorry."

Jade let go of her somewhat good friend. "Take care, Faxon."

"He's not leaving yet." Alice's eyes widened before she was pinched again.

He snickered at the childishness. "I'm going to miss all of you so much." He left with a smile on his face to join the rest of his surrogate kin.

Immediately, the grumblings that typically went about when breakfast was late were replaced by cries of 'big brother' when Faxon entered the mess hall. They all knew it was his last day living with them. Few of them that left before adulthood ever returned for one reason or another. It made them anxious because he was the eldest in an unprecedented situation. He placated them with kind words, hugs, jokes only funny because he was telling them, and goofy faces. None remembered what they were complaining about when the bowls of stew came. The broth was richer and far more savory than usual thanks to the extra ingredients, his goodbye gift from him to them.

They preoccupied his time after all were done eating. He wanted to check on the lone albino girl, but she already received more than her fair share of attention. In an hour or two, he would leave them for an amount of time no one knew the extent of. All crowded around him, trying to entice him into one game or another, yet he stayed on the side-lines, preferring to watch them all play one last time from a tree outside of their cramped home. His heart didn't slow down once during the last hours.

Then he froze. "What the…" It was as if he fell into a well with a leviathan at the bottom. While not hostile, the presence lingered over his minuscule existence. He thought it would consume him as an afterthought, but the pressure vanished.

"You actually felt that." A man in rune-inscribed robes with graying hair stepped out from the side of the tree. "Then you're the one I came here for."

He shifted his head towards the stranger. "...What are you?"

"Like you, give or take several decades of study." He blinked at his terrified disposition. "...Oh." Smiling, a nervous laugh left his lips. "Sorry. Normally, baby sorcerers like you can't feel anything from people on my level."

"You're...a mage."

He nodded and held out a hand. "I'm Set, Master-Wizard of The Six-Pointed Star and head of Mysticism." A sheepish grin spread across his face. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Faxon but I prefer Fax." He took his hand and shook it, albeit clumsily. "Do we...have to leave right now?"

"I guess I can wait a couple minutes; say what you need to say, and then we'll go."

The young man nodded before running to the playing children. "Everyone!" He fought down the urge to frown when they smiled at him. "It's time for me to leave!" A pained laugh choked out his chest at their disappointed whines. Dara scrambling out to bear witness made the pain in his chest worse. "I am going to come back, but all of you should still help around the orphanage. Listen to Dara, help Jade, talk to Ali, and, as for Amelia…" He drifted off intentionally, making all the kids snicker until she came out with the other grandmothers. "Speak of the devil..s." Forcing another laugh, his vision blurred for a moment. "I didn't want this to be so dramatic but..." His facade nearly broke when he saw a crying Raya stumble out the front door. "What are you doing out he–"

"G-Good luck!" She smiled widely, even though she was close to falling over. Her focus remained on him while everyone else gaped at her of all people walking outside. "Big brother!"

He froze for a few seconds, gave a small nod, and turned back to the grinning sorcerer. "Okay." His voice wavered as he approached. "Let's go."

Set was by the tree one moment to his side with a hand on his shoulder the next. "You might want to grit your teeth."

"Why would I want to grit my tee –" He blinked as they were at the only home he knew one second and in a completely different place full of greenery the next. "What the…" His head spun on a swivel. "Where are we?"

"Give it a second." He frowned.

Faxon raised an eyebrow. "But I–" Every cell of his body felt like it was in the hottest kitchen to ever exist. Screaming, he fell to his knees and vomited out the contents of his stomach.

"And there it is."

"Everything is burning!"

He choked down a chuckle. "Give it a second."

"You already said...that." He stood up. "...What just happened?"

"I teleported us to another place. Not the most pleasant experience the first time around, but it stops burning when you get used to it."

He dusted off his cotton trousers. "What kind of magic does that?!"

The middle-aged man chuckled. "Mysticism." He looked at his surroundings. "Uh… There was supposed to be another kid here waiting for us." Blinking, he turned to see a girl in silk peeking out from behind a tree. "There you are! Come on out and meet your study buddy."

"My what now?" He blinked at the sight of a girl his own age in clothes he'd only seen in picture books stepping out from the tree trunk. When she stopped near them, he raised a hand in greeting. "...Did you puke too?" One of her fingers smacked him in the face. "Wha–" He had no time to react to react. The moment the finger tip landed, it was drawn back to hit him again. "What's the big idea?!"

Set covered his mouth with a hand to hide his grin. "She doesn't talk, or at least I think she doesn't. I can tell the two of you are going to be the best of friends!"

He took a few steps out of her range and glared at her. "Do you even know her name?" He shot him a look when he stroked his chin.

"Think it was Mei or something." He held back a laugh at her clear blue eyes squinting at him. "You haven't said anything. Kinda makes it hard to remember things about you, you know?" His focus shifted to a specific direction. "We should get going: things are about to get started."

The boy looked in the same and felt what he did before he left the orphanage multiplied. "...I don't want to go."

Set shot him a look, blinked, and nodded in realization while the girl just glared at him. "Relax. They're all friendly." He paid the confused look the other child shot him no mind. "Even if they weren't, you have me to defend you."

"You're...more powerful than all of that?"

He grinned. "Kid, I'm the head of Mysticism: I violate the laws of reality and better than anyone!"

"I thought all magic did."

"Well, you're wrong." He started walking and beckoned them to follow. "But it's okay to be wrong and not know anything. That's why you're here, so you can learn how to be right and know everything."

He followed alongside the head-tilting girl. "...That doesn't sound right."

"The point is it's okay for you to suck and know nothing because we can teach you how not to suck and know something."

"You're really bad at explaining things."

He shrugged. "My logic is sound and my wording still works; you're a bad listener." He didn't have to turn his head back to know the children were sharing a look. "Anyway, I'm not your teacher: I'm your counselor."

"I don't know what that is."

"Thought so. A counselor is someone who gives helpful advice when it comes to something. In your cases, I'm the one you come to when you're having difficulty with another student or even a teacher. You don't have to worry with me to rely on: I can turn your enemies' insides outside."

His uneasy eyes met his would-be study buddy's again. "...I think we'll be fine."

"Suit yourselves. Just know the option is always open." He stretched his limbs and yawned. "I get the feeling today is going to be a long day."

They continued on through the seemingly barren woods. Not once did they see any animals, which made the children feel something was off. Other, strangely-dressed children alongside their own oddly-dressed adult were visible between the trees at some points. It was obviously some kind of magical trick. That became even more blatant when they stepped through some kind of threshold. A spiraling, glowing tower carved with strange runes and disconnected, levitating segments appeared by a cliff before them. There was a crowd gathering in front of it full of people from different walks of life in clothing foreign to what they were both used to.

"Wow!" The children cried in unison.

Set, still walking, smirked "So she does speak." He chuckled at the glare he knew she was aiming at the back of his head. "Come on! Looks like introductions are about to take place. The two of you are going to have to go through orientation after."

"What's orientation?!" Fax asked, running up to his back with Mei following.

"You're going to be introduced to the main schools of Magic: Destruction, Illusion, Conjuration, Transmutation, Mysticism, and Necromancy." He hummed. "I forgot if they introduce you to the utility schools a month in or the year after."

He raised an eyebrow. "Utility schools?" He turned to the girl. "Do you know what the utility schools are?" He frowned when she nodded. "...Are you going to tell me their names?"

"It's really not that important right now. You guys stick together and don't wander off; I have to be part of the grand entrance." With those words, the Master-Wizard blinked out of existence.

"I guess we're supposed to be with the crowd then." He turned and laughed at the shaking girl. "Come o–" A finger smack cut him off. His face was blank as she did not relent in her assault. "…We're going to miss the big opening thing." To his minor relief, the pokes stopped.

Both walked into the growing crowd. All of them were visibly uncomfortable and around the same age they were. While the boy was used to being around claustrophobic amounts of people, it was still discomforting to be surrounded by all the strange faces. He'd never really left the orphanage, much less the town. The strange girl following him seemed the same yet unused to the large group. Dozens of figures, one their own chaperon, floating in the sky drew everyone's attention.

"Greetings," a weathered voice said in their minds. The figure at the center obscured entirely by a cloak raised a wrinkled hand to punctuate his word. "I am the Archmage of The Six-Pointed Star, Typhon the Godslayer. You have been brought here because you have the potential to harness the primordial art known as Magic. In the right hands, it can be used to change the world for the better. In the wrong, it has the potential to destroy it. You will learn to control this power, be educated in matters of philosophy, taught the history of our craft, and guided towards the right path. Our teachers led by the heads of the six main schools of Magic will guide you."

A beautiful woman in black robes with long-flowing raven hair inclined her head. "I am Master-Wizard Morgan, head of Necromancy." Her voice was soft yet hollow in their minds.

"Master-Wizard Set, head of Mysticism." The floating man checked his nails, to the chagrin of his two charges.

"My name is Zhao." A man in plain form-fitting clothes brought his hands together and bowed. "I am the head of Transmutation and carry the title of Master-Wizard."

Bronze-skinned and tattooed in draping clothing, a grinning woman stroked the head of a large feathered serpent she rode on. "Xochitl, Master-Wizard and head of Conjuration; call me Xo."

"I am Alice." A red-haired woman materialized seemingly out of nothing wearing shifting sets of clothes from all different lands, all aesthetic. "Master-Wizard and head of Illusion."

The ground began to shake beneath them. It was neither natural nor completely unexpected to the ones above. Really, they were surprised the obvious suspect waited that long for them to introduce themselves before making his entrance. They did warn him against doing anything too flashy, but they knew better than to expect him to listen.

A pillar of earth shot from the ground with a half-naked olive-skinned man pumping his fist up with it. When it stopped far above the heads, he punched a blast of fire so large it blotted out the sky. Those below could feel the scorching heat. With a joyful cry, he dropped on to his back and began spinning with the help of his limbs. Wind blew around him followed by fire, resulting in a blazing whirlwind. Bolts of lightning cracked and shot from his body. The destructive forces reacted to his movements. Fire, wind, lightning, and even pure force danced with him. He fluidly shifted his weight to the top of his head in preparation for the finale. All the elements and then some formed the most beautiful hurricane any witnessing ever saw. Putting his hand on to the pillar while he reached the end of his spin, he flipped himself back to a standing position before spreading out his limbs for a wondrous rainbow blast of destruction, finishing what was without a doubt the most brilliant breakdance in existence.

"...Really?" Set asked, voice still in everyone's head.

"Really!" The man held his pose. "I am Batara! Head of Destruction!" He held himself straight and up like an arrow before bowing. "Welcome to The Six-Pointed Star!"

Typhon shook his head. "Please form a neat and orderly line." With a wave of his hand, segments of the tower began to form a bridge between it and the cliff. "Whatever you do, don't step off what your mind registers as the ground or you may be harmed."

The starry-eyed children obeyed, fearing deep inside the ire of beings that seemed so beyond them. One by one, each line walked on to the bridge. All felt something was off about it, but there was nothing they could do except continue. Soon each and every one of them was inside the tower itself, the interior of which was nothing like its exterior: walls of wood instead of stone, halls that twisted as they went along, and balls of light where fire would normally be on torch posts.

"You...can feel that, right?" Faxon asked his silent companion. He hummed when she tilted her head side-to-side.

"Time and space are twisted here," one of the foreign children said. "What the Archmage said about stepping off the ground has something to do with it."

Another shook. "I heard some mages can send their enemies into a dark void to live out the rest of their lives."

"Don't summoned monsters come from different dimensions?" A bronze-skinned girl asked.

Morgan appearing in front of them put a halt to their mutterings. "Welcome." She lifted an arm to the direction of an open door to her right. "I am waiting in there. Keep going after I'm done with my presentation: the others are waiting in open rooms like this one." Like a ghost, she vanished from sight.

They shook but obeyed, entering a huge lecture hall. Everyone took their seats with their assigned pairs. In the teacher's area was a table with a half-rotten rat and a wilted flower. All had some idea of what was about to happen.

"Necromancy is the manipulation of life energy." She put her hand over the flower and it bloomed. "Since time began, mortal beings have sought immortality." The rat stood up, to some of their surprise, when she caressed its fur. "I suppose this could be considered as such." Its flesh stitched itself back together, showing red muscle for a brief time before skin followed with fur not long after. "Yet it requires constant upkeep and focus. To a master, giving and taking are all too easy." To their horror, the creature aged to dust before their eyes. "You are free to study this school to your liking, but you will find no happiness or enjoyment in its higher arts. Understand?" She hummed as they nodded. "Dismissed."

"It was...Morgan right?" Faxon frowned alongside a visibly disturbed Mei while they left. "She seemed sad."

Set stood alone at the bottom of the hall in the next room. His eyes regarded them briefly before focusing on the whole. "Mysticism is the violation of reality's rules, what we call 'reason.'" Another Set stepped out from him. "I cannot be in two places at once." He put a hand on his grinning double's shoulder. "Yet I am." The copy stepped back into him. "This entire place is held together by it. Make no mistake, there are still rules a user of Mysticism has to obey." His gaze steeled. "I'm one of the few masters because everyone else has ceased to exist: consequence of denying too many. You have to prove you have what it takes if you want to learn anything from this school; I'm not gonna explain to your folks why they don't even have a body to bury." He waved the crowd of confused children off. "Beat it."

"Huh." Faxon rose from his seat and followed everyone else out with Mei following him in turn. "That's really weird." He glanced at her for a response but was met with nothing, to his annoyance.

Zhao bowed when they entered his hall. "Greetings." He walked over to a table where two lumps of coal rested. "Transmutation is the alteration of physical properties." Lifting up one lump, it turned into a bar of gold. "A straightforward school yet a most noble one." He gestured at the next, transforming it and the entire table into metal. "This is steel." He raised a fist. "This is the result of me altering the properties of my muscles and bone" With a single punch, it broke in two. "All are free to learn it. Any questions?" He nodded as they shook their heads. "Have a pleasant day." He crouched down, put his hands on the two pieces of the table, and turned it back into one perfect wooden piece.

Faxon's eyebrow remained raised until they went into the next room. "That guy was a bit off, right?" He sat down to watch the demonstration with everyone else.

"Conjuration is summoning items, creatures, and even people from another plane of reality." Xochitl opened her mouth and pricked her thumb on one of her sharpened teeth. "Creature of night, enemy of Day. I offer my blood to darken the way." She held her bloodied thumb over her shadow and a thing without clear form emerged from it to lick the digit clean. "Doing it with normal items is easy. Summoning them from other dimensions is a bit harder. For creatures, I'm gonna have to see if you've got the mindset: they will kill you and eat you if you break the terms of the contracts you set." Her eyes narrowed. "Never and I mean never! Sign or agree to a contract with another person unless you absolutely trust them with every fiber of your being!" She smiled and waved. "Goodbye."

"Grandma Alice would love her," he grumbled on his way out. He met an odd-look from Mei with one of his own. "One of the caretakers at my orphanage." Her eyes squinting made his face scrunch in confusion. "If you don't talk, I can't understand you." He did not dignify her punishing poke with a response.

The Master-Wizard Alice curtsied in various different dresses when they entered. When they were seated, she cleared her throat. "Illusion is altering the perception of reality," she said, every word in a different person's voice. "Sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste, pain, balance, temperature, thirst, hunger, and time." She made them feel as though she was far closer to them than she actually was. "It's simple yet frightening, isn't it?" Her voice whispered by their ears. "I left three seconds ago. You are all free to learn it. Goodbye." She disappeared without a trace.

Faxon had no words for that. It was everything he feared from what he heard about sorcery and then some. They went to the next hall but found glowing words on its closed doors telling them all to go further, that everyone was free to learn the Destruction school, and the head of it already showed them what it was capable of.

When they followed the instructions, they began to disappear in groups of two. All were terrified for the initial moments before it became obvious what was happening. They were in a place that manipulated the forces of space and time to conveniently house more than what was possible: each duo was being warped to where they were expected to be.

It didn't take long for the two that came with the head of Mysticism to end up in a room. The place was oddly symmetrical. There were two beds placed on opposite sides with chests at their end, wardrobes nearby, and two doors at each end of the walls. While they both expected it, neither wanted it to be true. They were roommates.

"My name is Faxon, but people like to call me Fax." He held out his hand, albeit reluctantly, to the twitching girl. "You're Mei, right?" He forced a smile at her slight nod. "Can we be friends?" Suppressing the urge to groan, he shook his head as she jumped on to one of the beds and crossed her arms, pouting.

That was the day everything changed for them.