Arriving at the Academy

"Now that I gave you kids a significant introduction to what Elemental Magic is, I want you all to pack up and get ready to leave the orphanage tomorrow morning."

The six were startled that they had to leave the orphanage. As far as they could remember, they lived their whole lives in the orphanage. They didn't have to attend any school because Old man Reid would hire a private tutor for the six of them. The six of them were brought into the orphanage when it was newly built, and as such they were the first orphans of the orphanage.

Asif, Bryan and Algo became close after a few years at the orphanage, Nahra and Rey mostly kept to themselves but slowly integrated themselves to the trio and they grew into being friends. Ray was different as he was innately distrustful, it took a lot of time for him to slowly open himself and eventually he started trusting them which greatly attributed to the fact they were of the same age and quoting Ray's words 'They're awesome!'. Sooner or later, they became close brothers albeit not related by blood but they couldn't care less about that.

"But why are we leaving the orphanage?" Ash confusedly asked.

"We're going to a remote island to attend the HFA examination to test your elemental affinity and aptitude." Old man Reid replied.

"OMG, we're actually gonna be tested..." Algo commented with excitement and nervousness.

"I'm still reeling in the fact that Magic is fucking real!" Nahra was still surprised.

"Thought you'd overcome it quick, Nahra." Asif spoke.

"At least I'm not like those two being all dreamy about it." Nahra pointed at Ray and Ash.

"The HFA?" Bryan inquired.

"Yes, the HFA or the Human Federation Academy is the only institution on Earth created to train and nurture Elemental Mages. It was formed after a joint decision from the leaders of each country."

"Woahh..." Ray exclaimed.

"Old man, are you really just a manager of your orphanage?" Asif prudently probed. The others were curious too because how could an ordinary manager of a remote orphanage be an Elementary Mage and know so much about Magic.

"Heh, you'll find out tomorrow. Anyways, enough with the questions, go back to your rooms and get ready to embark tomorrow. It's going to be a whole new experience, so get a good night sleep."

"Aye aye!" Ash nodded.

"Good night, kids." Old man Reid smiled.

""Good night, old man!"" The six wished him as they walked out of the office clearly jittery and excited for tomorrow.

Watching the six kids leave the office, he waved his hands and a *clink* could be heard showing the door was now locked. Waylon Reid stood up from his desk and walked towards the window behind him. He stared out at the sky and released a deep breath.

"It's about time..." He muttered before closing the curtains on the window.

-The Next Morning-

"Who the fuck took my toothbrush?" Bryan asked in irritation.

"It's probably somewhere in your bed if you call that a bed." Ash mocked him.

"Ash is right, I don't know how you sleep on that mess." Nahra said while packing up.

"We can just ask Old man Reid to get you a new one, Bryan." Asif proposed.

"Yeah, I'll ask him later."

They were almost done packing when they heard someone knock on their door before it opened. Old man Reid came in and was satisfied seeing that they were almost ready.

"At least, you kids are not late this time."

"Old man, obviously we won't be late for this." Ray looked at him with excitement.

"Yeah, I wanna know if I can create a new type of food." Algo said with shining eyes.

"What the fuck?!" Ash looked at him with a facepalm.

"Perhaps you can." Old man Reid said with a wry smile.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" He looked at them and they all nodded with excitement ready to leave.

"Come, follow me!" Old man Reid beckoned them over to follow him. The group walked down to the ground floor and they stood in front of an empty wall.

"Old man Reid, where are the other kids?" Algo was confused because he expected to see the other orphans running around.

"Don't worry, Algo. I've sent them away to a different orphanage, they will be perfectly fine there." Old man Reid assured him, "Now, let's go."

He raised his hand and placed his palm on an obscure spot on the wall. A section of the wall slowly vanished revealing a stairway leading downwards to a door. Old man Reid turned around saw the six of them stare with open mouths, he chuckled and told them to follow him.

"I thought we were gonna fly on a plane..." Ash clearly excited at the thought of flying.

"Ash, instead of flying, we'll be teleporting to the academy." He chuckled seeing them widen their eyes after hearing the word 'teleporting'.

"W-We'll be teleporting??" Ray was shocked.

"At this point, I'm gonna be numb to the amount of surprises thrown at us." Asif getting past the surprise.

After traversing down the stairs, Old man Reid opened the door to reveal an almost empty room. In the center of the room, four small pillars engraved with some sort of symbols could be seen placed in a square formation. The section of the floor, where the pillars are placed, is slightly elevated compared to the rest of the floor.

"I can't believe there was something like this right below where we live and we had no clue." Bryan sighed. The group soon walked over to the center of the four pillars. Old man Reid took out four dazzling blue stones from his pouch and placed a stone on top of each pillar. He looked at the six and knew they were confused on what he was doing.

"The stone I just placed on the pillar is called an elemental ore. These ores contain elemental energy and can be used for a lot of stuff. In this case, we're using it to power the teleportation platform we are standing on." Old man Reid explained.

"Is everyone ready?" The others nodded.

"Good, now take a deep breath. I'm going to activate the platform." The others took a deep breath and Old man Reid raised his palm and it started shining releasing rays of dazzling light, lighting up the dim room. The others closed their eyes due to the intensity of the brightness. The elemental ores have begun to shine before a stream of energy flew swiftly to the platform the group was standing on. No one apart from the Old man Reid could watch the platform illuminate with a mystical pattern.

Before long, the intense light slowly faded out returning the room to its previous state. And in the center of the platform, the group was nowhere to be seen.

-Far away in a remote island-

An enormous grand academy stood tall in the center of the island, spanning a few dozen miles. An arc of striking mountains cover the outside of the academy with abundant luscious meadows at the base of the mountains and the grasslands. At the entrance of the academy, a grandiose gate could be seen painted in white with streaks of golden spread across the gate radiating a majestic aura.

A mass of people could be seen going in and out of the gate. It's especially crowded because today is the day of the examination. Numerous groups could be seen with excitement, nervousness and calmness rolling out of them creating a chaotic atmosphere.

In the center of the academy grounds, there is a large assembly ground where the examination usually takes place. In front of the ground, there is a large stage erected with a pedestal on it. A huge crowd of about 10,000 people stand behind the stage. At least half of the people are the 15 year old prospective candidates accompanied by their family or in-charge.

Next to the stage, there is a similar platform to the one that was in the Rainbow Orphanage with four big pillars erected instead of the smaller pillars erected in the orphanage which could only be assumed to another teleportation platform albeit on a grander scale.

The ground was bustling with sounds of conversations permeating through the atmosphere. At this point, 2 middle-aged adults wearing white robes walked into the stage. One of them who is a woman walked in front and spoke.

"Everyone, please maintain silence." Her words echoed all over the ground which no normal human being could produce the same feat. Instantly as her words were spoken out loud, the people stopped talking and diverted their attention to the middle-aged woman standing on the stage.

"Thank you everyone for your cooperation."

"I welcome everyone to the Human Federation Academy. Today the grand examination will take place and each one of you will have a chance to be an Elemental Cultivator. As I see a lot of candidates on the ground, let's not waste any time and immediately start the-"

Before she could finish commencing the examination, a vibration pulsated in the air and a bright light shone on the teleportation platform. The four pillars were glowing a blue hue and a wave of rippled glared across the platform. The ripple slowly faded away before a group of seven people appeared on the platform.

"Fuck me, that felt weird." Ray rubbed his head.

"I felt like I was being surrounded with jelly." Algo massaged his hand relishing the feeling.

"Of course you would compare the feeling to a jelly." Asif sarcastically said.

"Guys guys, look. We actually teleported to a different place and holy moly, look at that big ass building." Ash pointed at the main building of the academy.

"Uhhh, why is there a huge crowd and why are they looking at us weirdly?" Bryan pointed towards the assembled crowd.

At this point, the robed woman on the stage was dumbfounded that someone used the teleportation platform because she knew only the higher ups of the academy could use it. Looking past the young men, she looked at the middle-aged man standing behind them and was in shock.

"V-Vice Director!" the robed man who was standing behind the robed woman exclaimed out loud.

"Did they just teleport?!"

"I thought that platform were off-limits?"

"Who are they?"

Numerous questions popped off amongst the huge assembled crowd breaking the silent atmosphere. They were all very curious about the arrival of the new group but it would be quickly extinguished.

"Silence, everyone! The arrival of the new group will join in on the line and we will commence the examination soon after." The robed woman saw Old man Reid signal her to continue on with the examination to avoid any delay and the robed man kept quiet.

"Follow me, kids. We will join with the rest of the assembled people. Just stay close to me." Old man Reid instructed the six. The six of them nodded and followed Old man Reid into the crowd.

"Man, there's a shit ton of people." Ash commented trying not to catch anybody's eyes.

"Wouldn't you love it?" Bryan sarcastically replied,

"Tsk!"

"This place looks so awesome!" Ray was excited.

"Indeed, it is very beautiful." Nahra admired the beauty.

Asif looking at the unfamiliar place and the majestic academic buildings, was feeling a bit emotional as he felt this was a start to something great or something dreadful. He called out.

"Guys?"

""Yeah?""

"I just want to say no matter what grade or affinity we get, I'll always love you guys. We must protect each other and never forget that first and foremost, we're family." Asif spoke with spirit.

It was a silent for a moment and before Asif could get mad at them for not saying anything, Ray and Ash shed tears.

"Maan, Asif *sniff*, I never knew you could say something like that." Ray spoke with fake tears.

"That was *sniff* cringe but I loved it." Both Ash and Ray walked over and hugged him.

'These two fuckers...' Asif smiled accepting their hugs.

"Don't worry, Asif. You can count on us." Bryan resolutely spoke with his fist held to his chest.

"Yeah Asif, I'll make everyone eat food and we all can be happy forever. Hehehe..."Algo joyfully said.

"I love you guys too." Nahra uttered lightly with a tiny blush on his face but to the other five, it was like a thunderbolt clapped in their ears. Ray and Ash immediately dragged Asif and hugged Nahra with radiant faces.

"Wow, that's my first time hearing him say something sweet like that." Bryan and Algo also joined the hug with smiles on their faces. Old man Reid looked at them with fondness and was proud of them.

"Old man Reid, we didn't forget you." Ash said before they all huddled up around Old man Reid and hugged him too.

'If anything happens, I'm here to protect you kids.' Old man Reid thought silently before smilingly receiving their hugs.