A small breeze danced in the busy capital of the Middle continent, Jongan. The small breeze circled around the people, spreading out the delicious smell of street food. The chattering was endless, with people clinking glasses together even though the sun was still high in the sky. The breeze continue down the busy main street of the city and flew towards one of the most prestigious schools in the world, Jongan Academy. The buildings were marvelously beautiful or the ones that could be seen towering above the tall fence that surrounded the entire campus. The academy spanned for miles, taking up basically half of Jongan city itself, and there was basically only one way in and out, through the main gate.

The breeze smiled as it made its way towards the gate, but before it could reach it hit the back of a figure wearing a long cape and dissipated. The figure’s head was hung low and covered with the dark hood of the cape. The figure stood in front of the academy for a long time before walking up to the gate. Two tall guards stood at either end of the gate and they clapped their swords together when the figure got closer.

“Those without permission may not enter. Please show a form of verification, or you will be asked to leave. If you try to use force to get in, you will be reprimanded.” one of the guards announced, loud and clear. The figure pulled out an emblem and held it in front of the guard.

“Here.” a husky voice rang out from the figure. The guard squinted at the emblem and after processing it he pounded his staff into the ground three time.

“Welcome to Jongan Academy.” the guards bowed down to the figure. The figure looked past them to see a woman looking back at her. The woman had cat ears on top of her curly black hair, and her white tail was raised from behind her. Her dark yellow eyes were big and slanted up at the corners. Her hands were held together and were placed over her stomach. Her lips were turned upward, with sharp whiskers poking out of her cheeks, but her eyes were ice cold.

“We have been waiting for you,” the woman’s voice couldn’t have been any less chilling, “please follow me.” the woman turned around. The figure walked inside. When the figure passed over the long wooden block that separated the academy with the city, the air around the figure changed. Guard surrounded the figure from all sides, yet the figure remained composed.

Students turned their head to watch the unfamiliar scene in front of them. There was whispering, and chit chat all around but the figure remained unfazed as the figure followed the woman onto a circular shaped platform that sat in the middle of the courtyard. Once the figure, and the rest of the guards, were on, the woman opened her mouth.

“Golden floor.” the words dripped out of her mouth like honey. In a blink of an eye, the figure was now standing in a long hallway. She followed the woman off the platform and they walked down the hall.

The air felt chilly, as only the rustling noise of the armor on the guards could be heard. The hallway held elaborate paintings on one side of the wall. The other side was lined with open windows, letting a breeze flow in. When they finally reached a huge door, the woman turned around.

“You guys can wait here,” the woman ordered the guards, “you, you can follow me inside.” she turned back around and pushed the caramel colored doors opened.

The figure followed behind and watched as the woman walked behind the desk to stand next to a person sitting in a red chair with a tall back that towered over the person’s head.

“Introduce yourself.” the woman commanded. The figure pulled down the hood. She looked up to reveal dark grey skin, with a splotch of white on the top right half of her face. Her crimson eyes showed no personality, as short strands of silver hair dangled around her face. She bowed.

“I am Du Yu Lin, who has been recommended here by physician Wang Pei.” she stood back up, her back straight, her chin neither too high or too low.

Yu Lin observed the person who sat behind the desk a bit closer as the hood was now out of her way. The person had their hands laced together that covered half of their face, with white hair trailing down past the person’s torso. Despite this, Yu Lin could see the delicate features of the person’s purple round eyes. Yu Lin could not tell whether the person was a male or female, but she did not seem to care about it. She had bigger matters to deal with at hand.

The person stared at Yu Lin for a long while before letting out a sigh. They rested their hand on the desk to reveal a tall nose and pink lips.

“I am Ro Levishire, the principal of this academy. This is the vice principal, Sato Tsugumi.” the person said, a low melancholic voice ranging out. He was a man, a beautiful man. Yu Lin bowed one more time, out of courtesy and respect. “Now then… we should start discussing your enrollment, please sit down.” Principal Ro gestured towards the chair in front of him.

“Yes.” Yu Lin muttered softly. She sat down, but did not relax, her back still straight and tense.

“Tsugumi,” Principal Ro said, “please hand me the papers.” Vice principal nodded as she placed a small packet of papers in front of her. Principal Ro started to read aloud, “Name, Du Yu Lin. Age, 14 years old. Class, physician… physician? Physician…” Principal Ro licked his lips before continuing, “Years of hands on experience, seven years…” Principal Ro grew quiet as he continued to read the details of Yu Lin’s medical work history. Yu Lin already knew he had looked over it more than once, but she did not say a thing. After he was done, which didn’t take long at all, he pushed the papers aside. He looked Yu Lin in the eyes, and Yu Lin did not look away from those enchanting eyes. “Yu Lin,” he said as if he was speaking to a child, “have you thought about any other classes that you may take instead of a class under the healer category?”

“No.” Yu Lin answered without hesitation. Principal Ro let out a small sigh and nodded.

“Tsugumi, please take of the rest as we discussed it.” he got up from his tall chair.

“Yes.” Vice principal Sato answered. He made his way around the desk, his long limbs were poised and graceful. After each step he seemed to fade before he completely disappeared.

Vice principal Sato pulled on his red chair and as she did, the red chair changed form into a smaller light pink one as she sat down. Her eyes were not friendly as she smiled towards Yu Lin, her long black fingernails tapping on the desk.

“Then… shall we start?” she raised an eyebrow with her lips stilled turned upwards.

“Yes.” Yu Lin answered. The look in her eyes changed from an unfriendly one to a now sinister one.

“Mu Si Zhong,” her voice called out, “come in.” A short human woman scrambled in. Her dark hair was unkempt as her glassed laid crooked across her face, her hands were clutching a pile of paper. She quickly straightened herself before walking up to Vice principal Sato.

“Greetings Vice principal Sato.” her voice was loud and clear, her body bent at a perfect 90 degrees.

“Give her the papers.” Vice principal Sato said nonchalantly. Si Zhong nodded before she placed the stacks of papers in front of Yu Lin. Vice principal Sato pulled an already wet ink stone and brush, and set it in front of Yu Lin. After that she pulled out an hourglass and tipped it upside down. “This,” she pointed to the test cocked her head to one side, “if you get just one wrong, then you automatically fail. You only get two hours on this, so try your very best, I wish you luck.” she smiled, revealing her sharp white teeth. Yu Lin said nothing as she picked up the brush and began the test.

---

Yu Lin stood in front of the gate as she looked at Vice principal Sato smiled a sweet smile. She handed Yu Lin a small wooden badge with a tassel hanging on it.

“Go to Gorqian Inn using this badge. They will allow you to stay there for the night with lodging and food. We will send someone to inform you of your results tomorrow morning. If you get in, you will come back. If you didn’t… well I’m sorry.” she said, but Yu Lin could feel she didn’t mean it. Yu Lin bowed.

“Thank you.” she said. Vice principal Sato smiled again as she waved to Yu Lin.

“Goodbye.” she said in a sing song voice as the doors to the gate were closed.

The sun was already starting to set in the sky, yet the busy street of Jongan was still bustling with people. Yu Lin had her hood covering her face as she weaved around the people trying to get past the main street, into one of the side street that led to Gorqian Inn.

Not far from Yu Lin was a couple of students wearing the famous Jongan Academy blue silk uniforms. They came running through the crowd swiftly, yelling their conversation out loud. Yu Lin and the students got near. Most of them managed to avoid her, but the last one moved around a lady, and at the same time Yu Lin was moving around and old man. The student’s long scarlet red hair hair, that was tied in a ponytail, trembled as the student hit Yu Lin’s shoulder with his shoulder.

“I’m sorry.” he said with a low voice as he gave a quick headbow to Yu Lin.

“Me too.” Yu Lin gave him a quick headbow back before continuing on her way.

The student smiled and was about to continue on his way until his light brown eyes caught the slight image of what was under that dark hood of hers. He saw a slight dark grey with a spot of white, and silver strands. He watched Yu Lin’s cape flow behind her and he reached his hand out. Before he could grab on, he felt a pull on his other arm.

“What are you doing He Lan?” a female student, with pink hair in pony tails, popped up next to him. He looked back at her before turning his head back towards Yu Lin’s direction. His lips opened to form words, but words couldn’t come out as he only shook his head. He reached his hand up, and rubbed the smooth silk, blue headband that wrapped around his head.

“N-nothing.” he said as he turned around to smile at the girl. “I… I just thought I saw someone I knew.”

“Knew… who?”

“Nothing… no one… let’s go.” He Lan smiled. The girl smiled back as she held tightly onto his arm and the two began walking back.

-

Yu Lin laid on the bed. Her dark cape was now hanging on the wall, along with the badge. In one of Yu Lin’s hand she rubbed the emblem she showed the guard earlier. The emblem was made out of marble and painted blue. In the center was carved three circles, that were painted in with gold. Within the smallest circle shone a light blue gem. As she rubbed her thumb over the gem, she remembered why she was where she was in the first place.

-

Seven years ago

Yu Lin tightened the bundle as she placed it on her bed. She knew that she was going to leave tomorrow, and she knew that she could do nothing to stop it. She knew she was suppose to be sad, yet the only thing that she could feel was numbness. A sort of numbness that seemed to clawed at her from the inside, yet comforted her all at once.

“Where are you going?” she heard a voice. She looked up to see Wang Pei smirking at her, with the doors closed behind him. She did not remember closing the doors.

“I don’t know… just… anywhere.” she sunk down into one of the chairs.

“Mount Dali?” Wang Pei blurted out as he pulled out a chair and sat down. She looked at him half surprised at what he mentioned, but the other half had a feeling that he had already knew. She shook her head.

“No.” she answered. That place was filled with too many memories. If she had gone now, with the state that she was in, she would ruin all those precious memories.

Her eyes trailed back to Wang Pei’s playful one. Her face did not show any emotion, but she felt slightly happy for the first time in a while. He was the only one who had not avoided her like a plague the last two days.

“But,” she said, “why are you here? Are you leaving again?” The playfulness in Wang Pei’s eyes disappeared as he sat up straight.

“If I said yes, will you leave with me?” his usual light hearted voice was gone. Yu Lin let out a short empty laugh.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “You might die… everyone around me keeps dying.” the words left a bitter taste in her mouth as she looked up, holding back the tears that tried to force their way out. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back at Wang Pei. His hand felt so strong on her shoulder, so comforting, so familiar, just like the hands of the lives were lost for her.

“What do you want?” Wang Pei asked. His question echoed in her mind, again and again. A memory of the place she was born, not in this lifetime, but in the other lifetime flashed through her mind.

“You… can you get me into Sky continent, to meet with the emperor there?” she asked. She saw Wang Pei narrowed his eyes for a moment.

“Why Sky continent?”

“An enemy of my enemy, is my friend.” Yu Lin replied right away, her eyes staring right back into Wang Pei’s. She saw Wang Pei evaluating her before he let go of her shoulder and moved back. He stood there, just looking at her for a moment, just thinking.

“It won’t be easy.” he said.

“I know.”

“You might be tortured.”

“I know.”

“You might die.”

“I know.”

“You… might face with something worse than death.”

“I know.” Yu Lin did not hesitate to answer any of the questions. Wang Pei looked at her, as if he wanted to ask more but he knew that this wasn’t the right time. He nodded his head.

“Come with me. I will bring you Sky continent as safely, and as humane as possible.” he held his hand. Yu Lin looked at his hand. Her fingers twitch, unsure of what to do, yet she knew what she wanted to do. She knew, yet she didn’t know why Wang Pei would help her.

“Why?” she croaked out, afraid of the answer itself. “Why are you helping me? Didn’t I… just cause the death of your friend? Why would you help someone like me?” she felt so small, so tiny and defenseless. She saw the expression in Wang Pei’s eyes changed as they grew softer.

“Trust me… just, trust me.” he said. Yu Lin stared up at him and without even realizing it her hand started to go up. She took his hand. He smiled, and although she wanted to, she could not smile back. She only squeezed his hand harder.

-

The emblem disappeared from Yu Lin’s hand as it entered her endless bracelet. She stared into the ceiling of the inn and clenched her hand. ‘Today… is just the beginning.’ she thought to herself as the face of a male Dark Elf flashed through her head.