CHAPTER 1 - Elementalists

Avis Realm, Rising Sun Empire, Western Peaks Province, West cloud Academy:

"Twelve years ago, when our Nation was on the cusp of being destroyed by the two Kingdoms in north, A group of powerful individuals arrived and saved us. They called themselves Elementalists and drove back the enemies using Elemental arts. With a wave of their hand, they could summon lighting and..." As Teacher Ren lectured the class, he would occasionally glance towards the back of the classroom.

While every student paid attention to his words, one student in the corner slept with his head down on the table.

Azyl sat at the end of the class, his messy silver hair falling out of the hoodie that he wore. His head rested on his arm and he was fast asleep, away in some dreamscape. He had placed a notebook in front of him. But it made no difference.

Two weeks had passed since the batch of new students had arrived at the Academy. The excitement of getting into one of the three Academies that taught Elementalism had slowly whittled down for everyone. And throughout this period, Azyl had slept through the theory lectures that took place in the afternoon.

The topics taught in the lecture weren't boring and Teacher Ren did an amazing job making the class interactive for the students. But despite his efforts, he could not get that one boy to remain awake in his class. He had gone from anger to disappointment to indifference now.

The kid followed the routine like a ritual and no advice from him changed his behavior. He would arrive in the class, find an empty seat and then sit and sleep away till the lecture ended. And every time his friend Zewoulf, would wake him up as they both then walked back to their dorm. Unlike Azyl, his friend was a brilliant student who worked hard in all classes and gave his all to learn what they were taught daily.

Many students apart from the new batch already knew the duo, Azyl and Zewoulf in the Academy. One was a sloth who slept always and other a hard working kid who did not seem to need rest.

*RINGGG*

The bell sounded and Zewoulf got up from his place to nudge his friend. Azyl looked up and glanced around him, one of his eyes still closed. He then picked up his notebook and quickly walked away.

'The students will soon undergo Initiation. He will learn his lesson then'

Teacher Ren thought and tried to soothe his anger that remained.

.......

"This headache gets no easier to deal with every single time." Azyl groaned as the two of arrived at their dorm. He plopped down on his bed and massaged his head.

"How far have you reached?" Zewoulf ignored his friends' squabble. He sat down on the mat that was placed between the two beds and turned towards Azyl.

"It should end tomorrow. I have a feeling I am close to the core of the dream and once I have witnessed whatever it is, there should be no more blackouts."

"Thats good. Initiation is in three days, you would have to pack your bag and go back to your village if you had to miss out on it because of this." Woulf laughed lightly.

"Hey don't jinx me. It will be alright. Let me go over your notes for today's lecture. I'll finish reading them and go back to sleeping." He spoke, reaching out to Woulf's notebook that was placed on his table in front of his bed.

"But you said that you will try meditating today. I will not let you laze around the next few days. So get down here."

"I will do that as well, but not now. You should also try to get some rest. Only by keeping a proper balance between rest and work you will get optimal results. Now let's see what did I miss today" Azyl preached to his friend as he started reading through his notebook. They both were already used to each others quirks and Zewoulf could only sigh at his reply.

"You don't have to read that. Today's lecture was common knowledge that everyone is aware of. The next class will be a revision, so you don't have to think about it either."

Azyl put down the notebook as he had already glanced over it and understood what he meant. It was about the events that took place twelve years ago. That was the turning point in the history of their nation. It talked about The Elementalists. Thinking about this story, Azyl fell asleep.

......

Elementalists were a group of powerful humans that had arrived and saved their nation just when it was on the cusp of being destroyed.

Twelve years ago, their nation was only a backward and under-developed region with few established cities. Several villages and settlements dotted this land.

With few cities established in the region and frequent raids from the neighboring kingdoms of Dreazar and Korith, life wasn't pleasant for the people. The two kingdoms surrounded them in the north, while mountains and forest mostly covered the western border. The ocean enclosed their nation from the south west all the way till the eastern coast.

While the two kingdoms in the north often fought each other to gain dominance and conquer their nation, even more oft they would lead their armies here and turned their nation into a battlefield, which led to the people of their nation to suffer. Just when the situation was turning worse, the powerful Elementalists drove back the invading armies. A single move from them could deal with thousands of soldiers. Their strength was unlike seen before.

Their appearance quickly established order in the nation, and they were able to win over the masses easily. But the situation did not exactly develop into 'Happily ever after'. The organisation that had saved them put forward their intentions. In return for the protection that they provided, they wished to recruit talented individuals that would join their organisation. The Elementalists were loyal to some third prince from the Central region, but that was of no importance to the people. For the first time, people experienced what it meant to be protected. And there were other benefits that were being offered. Why would they worry about some talented individuals, when they had this too-good-to-be-true offer.

The masses quickly agreed and showed their support. There were only benefits and no detriments to the common people. They made the academies that had been private to only the wealthy open for masses. The condition of the people were slowly improving as no one had to live in fear. The scars of the long wars that were waged in this land started to disappear. And the fact they were being offered techniques and methods to gain strength through their own efforts was also very enticing.

Of course, there were some dissuading voices between all the clamor but it was all accepted in the end.

The largest group among the opposition turned out to be from the Royal family. It was surprising for the people of this land when they heard they had a royal family. Never had before this royal family shown their presence. They were just like any other Noble clan that acted like a tyrant in their own city. It was spread wide to the people how this royal family had behaved in the past decades and thus their rule came to an official end.

The elementalists took over, swiftly stabilizing the chaos. The scattered villages and towns were connected via newly built roads and they divided larger areas into five provinces. Law and rules were put in place and people quickly came to accept the changes. A proper system took shape, and a Nation was born.

They had turned the whole situation around in such a swift manner, no one had the time to cast any doubts on this organisation. But then again, this was the whole point of how schemes worked.

And thus a new Royal family was created and the Rising Sun Empire came to be.

Twelve years passed by and Azyl grew up listening to the tales that were now household bed time stories in every village, town and city. The village he grew up in had a single quota each year to send one student to study in the West cloud Academy. He was the kid with the best talent amongst others from his village and thus managed to gain an entrance exam slot.

Just like all other kids, Azyl also dreamt of flying through the skies and commanding wind and fire and wave of his hand. He wished to become an Elementalist. He was lazy, naive and careless, but that did not stop him from day dreaming to become an Elementalist.

So when a chance arose, he dove right into it and ended up here in West Cloud Academy. But actually putting in effort to achieve something was miles apart from day dreaming about it.

And he was going to experience this fully in his next few days. Third day at the Academy and things started to spiral out of his expectations really fast.