A young teenage girl lay sleeping in her bed. Her long blue hair that went past her chest was a mess.

*BANG BANG BANG*

The loud knocks woke the girl up, with a loud *POP* she opened her eyes. Who's the person making so much noise, so early in the morning? She thought. Her eyes wandered around the room, eventually setting on themselves on the clock.

"Hey! Elis! Wake up!" the girl outside yelled. A single pin, with a plastic daisy, adorned her short, shoulder length, brown hair which her eyes matched.

Who's she trying to wake up? The girl with blue hair didn't know. The people outside were complete strangers to her. Arriving only a few days ago, she hadn't had much time to make friends, in fact, the number of friends she has was zero. Even if she were to go and try to make some friends, she'd fail because of her social awkwardness, not that she was totally inept. In her village, she had made friends, many of them, but she no longer called them friends, how could they be? Especially after what happened, especially after what she did.

Although she used to have friends in her village, they would be the ones to initiate conversations with her. Ellar, the blue haired girl, rarely interacted with anyone except her parents who came into her room to give her food.

"If you don't hurry up, we're going to be late!" the girl yelled again.

The door she was knocking on opened, standing there was a short girl with long brown hair.

"What is it Iris?" the one who slept late asked, while rubbing her eyes clean of any boogers.

"You know what I'm talking about." Iris crossed her arms. "Go and get ready, we're late!" Iris shooed the half naked girl back into her room.

Listening intently on their conversation Ellar checked the clock again. The time read seven thirty. "I'm going to be late!" she yelled. Getting off of her bed, she hurriedly attempted to throw on her uniform. The loose clothing flopped around needlessly while she struggled to shove her arm through.

"I've been saying that!" Iris replied annoyed, she tapped her foot while staring at her friend's door.

"What are you talking about?" Elis said after getting dressed. "I didn't say anything."

"But, I just heard your voice." Iris said with a dumbfounded look. Although their voices were different as night and day, with the room to stop much of the sound, it only came out as a muffled cry, one that even a best friend could mistake.

"Maybe there's a ghost in he-" Elis's words were cut off by a loud and resounding crash.

*BLOSHHH*

Ellar, who threw on her clothes with enough speed to match lightning, caught her arm in the sleeve and, through her intense struggle against the cloth, tripped over onto the floor. Leaning on one arm, with a cherry red blush, she didn't move in hopes that the two would just leave and forget about her embarrassing moment.

"Iris, I think there's someone in there." Elis said in a hushed voice. She bent down low and with her head leaning against the door, she waited for any indication of life.

Iris grinned as she made her next move. "Hey! You're gonna wanna hurry up too! The teachers won't like it if students are late to the first day!" Iris knocked on the door.

"I-Iris! You're going to make me deaf!" Recoiling from the loud sound, Elis held her ear and swung back and forth as if caring for a child. She furrowed her brows and frowned while Iris giggled to herself.

"Oh come on Elis, don't make that face." Iris tilted her head. "Sorry bout that."

"Hmph!" Elis ignored her friend's apology and turned her back. Sturdy as stone and harsh as winter, Elis refused to give into Iris's counsel.

Unlike the two outside with their heads in the clouds, Ellar slowly rose to her feet. Taking caution, she allowed the sleeves to form themselves around her arms instead of forcing them. As she peered down at the rest of her body, she rubbed her legs. Maybe I should wear some leggings. she thought.

The uniform was different for boys and girls though they were very similar. Truly, the only difference could be said to be the sizes and the split in the middle. For the male students the split was right about their abdomen, while, for the female students, the split stopped somewhere around their thighs.

The boys wore trousers under their uniforms while the girls had a thin, stretchy, black fabric that allowed for little to no sight. The thinness of it would make one feel as if there was nothing there at all.

She peered at the clock once again which moved by itself, unbothered by her problems. Remembering how far away the academy was, Ellar disregarded the issue and ran to put on her shoes. Tripping, she made another ruckus.

""We know you're in there! Come out!"" Momentarily distracted from the sour attitude from before, they called out in unison. The two girls had been friends since childhood. Their families having a close relationship since the beginning of the empire.

They attended the school together after their parents had met with each other and decided on it. With a short discussion and the signing of a few papers, the girls found themselves being sent to become students at the famous school.

Unable to take the silence any longer, blue hair, opened the door. They both looked at her, she had her blue hair tied up into a ponytail and was about five foot five like Iris. With the right curves in the right places, she was growing up finely.

Blue hair's nose was slightly inclined towards the ground, trying to hide her face from view. Her arm, which she had laid on, started throbbing. She hardly felt the slight nuisance as she did her best to avoid eye contact.

The unblinking eyes which were upon her wore her soul. The temptation to escape back into her new room was great, but she stood immobile. How could she waste the generosity of her parents who raised enough to send her here?

Iris and Elis continued to stare, Ellar was of a different race, she was a roluk. It took some time before their brains came up with the information, this year was the first year that other races were being accepted.

Roluks are indistinguishable from humans except for their blue hair and blue eyes, each eye a different shade. One, sky blue, the other, a dark ocean color. Roluks have an average lifespan of 140 years, the same as humans.

The humans today, after the great war, had acquired the ability to use magic. With the infusion of mana into the human race, their lifespan had increased greatly. With magic finally appearing within the humans, they quickly went to capitalize on the war. Seven great wizards who were extremely talented, assisted in the building of the empire, a defense against other races. The empire's placed in the middle of the continent, which many other human kingdoms surround.

Blue hair started getting worried, were they judging her because of her race? She couldn't stand the silence anymore and started to speak.

"I-"

"Sorry!" Iris burst out. "I didn't mean to bother you."

Blue hair was taken aback by the response. No, she was just happy, a bit glad that there were some nobles or humans that grew up in rich families that wouldn't dislike her because of her race, not that roluks and humans have ever had much tension.

"D-don't mention it. I've, uh, gotta go too..."

Iris tilted her head to the side, unsure of what she's trying to say.

"Y-you know, s-school."

"Oh crap!" Elis grabbed Iris's hand, "Let's go!" she pulls her away to the stairs.

"Wha- I'm coming too!" blue hair ran after the two.

---------------------

After ten minutes of pure running, the three of us stop to catch our breaths on the sidewalk. Our chests are heaving, I feel like I'm going to die. Iris and Elis don't look to be doing much better. I've never had to do this much physical activity before.

While we stood, hands on our knees, a caravan passes us by, heading towards the marketplace. The wind blows my ponytail up, the sun's light keeps me warm. I'd have preferred to braid my long hair but I didn't have any time today.

The streets are full of people, they walk around living their daily lives, the children play, the men are headed to their jobs, and the women are shopping, cleaning, or gossiping. The buildings are huge, at least, compared to the houses in my village. They're all stone, except for the guild building and the inns, and are lined up perfectly so that if a person looked over the edge of another perfectly, they couldn't see the other buildings. Every few houses had enough space for someone to walk through, the alleyways weren't so bad over here.

Come to think of it, I haven't seen the adventurer's guild yet. I want to visit that place someday. I've read lots of stories about adventurers, even if I don't think I'm cut out for it, I still want to try. I still want a little taste of those adventures, with people that I can call allies or friends. Someone who'll have my back, no matter what.

Finally calming our hearts, Iris stands straight and says, "Let's keep going!" she pulls my arm and I follow after them.

After another fifteen minutes, we finally reach the front of the academy, the walls are well over three meters and the gate's guarded by two fully armored guards with black square cloths covering most of their breastplates. The empire's insignia is stitched on.

"May we pass? We're just a little bit late." Iris says with a wry smile. The two guards look at each other and nod, they move to open the gates.

While they're pushing it open I can't help but wonder why it's taking so long, does a gate for a school need to be this heavy?

"Is it possible to go faster?" I ask. They both stop and glare at me.

"Miss," the taller one says. "the gates are large and heavy. If you wish to enter sooner then help us."

I'd like to help, but I-I'm too weak. I stay silent after that and they go back to pushing.

"AH!" I let out a startled yell as I jump to the side, recoiling from a poke. Both of the guards glare at me.

"S-s-sorry." I apologize and jump back another step as I feel another poke.

Elis shakes her head while looking at me. I lower my eyes.

"Even though you poked me" I grumble.

As soon as the gates open, the three of us bound up the stairs, past the fountain, and through the school doors. The academy stood taller than the Adventurer's Guild but shorter than the dorms. When we get inside the three of us, just me actually they've probably already seen something like this before, are stuck dumb by the architecture.

The marble floor with its solid white pattern, the large chairs, and sofas for resting, the exotic plants laid about.

An old man approaches us, his hands are behind his back.

"Ah! Are you three late?" he wore a smile that showed his age, his posture made me think of him as a wise man. Like the ones from stories, maybe the worn magician that would assist weary adventurers.

We nod.

"I see. First years? Group A?"

We nod again. My nerves ease a bit at this information, now I'll have someone to sit next to.

He lets out a sigh, "Being late to the first day of school is no good you know. The first year rooms are through this hallway. It's the door to the left at the end." He points to the hallway behind him, it's plain.

We bow and continue past him at a brisk pace.

"I heard that our teacher is one of the best in the school." Iris says.

"That's good." I reply. I hope she has an affinity with water. If possible, I'd want to talk to her about how to control my magic.

"Well good for the ones who made it on time." Elis retorts. "She's one of the strictest in the school. We won't be able to sit down after being this late" she rubs her bottom while tears gather at the corner of her eye.

We reach the end of the hallway and we can hear the ongoing speech.

"Well, It was nice knowing you guys." Elis opens the door and walks in.

"Nice knowing you as well." Iris turns to follow Elis but stops and turns on her heel.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Iris Bellard and the one who gets the privilege of the first spanking is Elis Annar."

"Ah!" I bow, "I'm Ellar, Ellar Wholehart. Feel free to call me El."