To everyone,

I changed Lucifer’s Age from 9 to 12

Seemed appropriate.

Thank you to

The Readers

We reached 1000

On The True Beginning

From,

Me

When I woke up with my body felt full of energy. It felt full of energy, at least, compared to the last event I remembered. The one where all of my magic energy and its reserved were sucked dry from my body. Due to strange thoughts at the time, I realized that wings had caused my sleeping position to change drastically. Originally I slept in a fetal position or on my back, but now I slept on my stomach. The other two positions felt very uncomfortable with my wings, and as anyone could imagine, at no point in time is laying on my wings fun or comfortable. Even in the fetal position my wings feel awkward as I try to lay down in a comfortable spot.

Eventually I came to realize I was in a very white, sterile- looking room. The bed sheets were white, the walls were white, the floors were white. It was very strange because with the whiteness of it all it felt like something bad could’ve happened here and they could just clean right up and leave it shiny and as white as before.

As I was looking across the room, I laid eyes on a young woman with auburn red hair and green eyes. She had very pale skin that seemed to indicate she did most of her business inside and wore a dark blue suit. I was guessing she was a human or another unawakened species.

It’s hard to tell when a human as awakened because all they seem to get is extra muscles that increases their strength and greater endurance. I’m sure they gain some other things but I never bothered to study them much because i did not find them interesting.

She had a plain face, but with her hair and eyes she was memorable. She seemed quite skittish as shown from her eyes darting around the room and every movement made with a slight jerkiness looking as if she was uncomfortable in her own skin.

Eventually she realized I had woken up and was staring at her. She seemed startled at first, but soon had a deep breath and, to no surprise of mine, gave a large, toothy smile. Why is it that everybody smiles at children?

“Hello. I’m Josephine, Headmaster John’s personal assistant.” She said as she approached my bedside with an extended hand. I raised my eyebrow slightly, for I doubted that she had been with him a long time and did not “know the ropes.”

“Pleasure to be of your acquaintance. I’m Lucifer. May I ask your business here.” I had no time for small talk. Well rather, I did have time for it, but didn't particularly enjoy it. I then shook her extended hand and then withdrew it before she spoke.

“Straight to the point aren't you?” She said with a chuckle. “I’m here to take you to the campus of Drudania Academy. We know the school year doesn’t officially start for a few months, but we know you don’t have anywhere else to go since the incident. You can’t stay with Elaine and Aaron forever.” She said, hesitating before she said the word incident. I’m sure she thought it was a sensitive topic, which was quite true. I didn’t feel the need to discuss that matter very openly for I had a lot of bad memories associated with my parents and did not feel the urge to open up old wounds.

“I understand. When will we head there? I still need to pack my belongings.” I said to Josephine.

“Well, if you can get everything together we can leave today or we can wait a few days so you can say goodbye to your friends.” She said, not forgetting the second option. The way she said it made it feel like an afterthought, which didn’t bother me but did raise the question of whether or not people thought I had friends.

“Okay then. I’m going to head back and get backed. I should be ready today.” I replied before hastily getting out of the small, white bed that I was previously laying on.

“Lucifer, you can just come back to the testing hall whenever you are ready and then we can go. There isn’t any rush, so please take your time.” She said, flashing me a small smile. I then headed towards the small white door and left the room.

As I walked out I realized I was still in the Examination hall and the room I just came out of was probably part of the emergency center or some over thing in the case somebody got sick. I did find it strange I didn’t see any doctors strutting around with their canes at their sides. The defining sign of a doctor was a thin wooden cane that every one of them had which was said to contain the tools necessary for their line of work.

I walked toward the exit of the hall and saw Aaron and Elaine waiting behind the doors, Elaine looked very pale and seemed to be sweating a lot. My guess was that she was still concerned for how I would do during the tests. Aaron continued to have an impassive face but was tapping his fingers showing he, too, was nervous. I called out to them and they quickly turned around.

“Aaron! Elaine!” I shouted.

“Lucifer, how did you do?” Elaine asked frantically.

“I got in.” I said quietly. They then gave a huge sigh of relief before congratulating me.

“That’s great! How did the tests go?” Elaine asked. Aaron also looked slightly curious, which was unusual for him.

I then explained to them what happened and, needless to say, they were incredibly shocked. It turned out that the headmaster went with them to every location for testing but few had a chance to meet him. It seems that Drudania Academy goes to every race’s territory to test them, they even visit the faerie’s territory.

“What did the headmaster look like?” Elaine asked excitedly.

“He had long silver hair down his back and had horns protruding from behind his ears. They were a bright red and looked very sharp. He was very happy and welcoming. In fact, he told me that I could just call him John. Though I expect that when I’m on campus I’ll have to refer to him as Headmaster.” I told them. They both absorbed every word I said and seemed incredibly interested in him.

“Do you know when you will go to the campus? I know that the Academy’s scheduling is different from all the other schools in the area.” Aaron asked. He spoke quite a large amount of words compared to his usual amount.

“They said I could go now. Apparently they wanted me to get used to the campus grounds and they said that I can’t stay with you all forever. Which is quite true.” I replied.

“By right now do you mean today, tomorrow, in a few days?” Elaine asked before Aaron had a chance to speak.

“They said I could leave today or wait a few days to say goodbye to everyone. Josephine, the Headmaster’s assistant, said that I should just go see her at the examination hall to leave. She also reminded me to pack everything before I leave because it is quite difficult to get to and from the Academy.” I said while started while walking alongside Aaron and Elaine.

“So when are you thinking of leaving?” Elaine asked.

“I think I’ll probably leave today, after all, I don’t have a lot of things to pack and not many people to say goodbye too. Unless you want me to stay for a few days.” I said. They both stopped walking for a moment and looked to be in great thought. Elaine finally broke the silence.

“That’s fine. We would hate to hold you back.” She said. I could see tears welling up in her eyes, but she was trying her best to stop them from falling. She couldn’t thoug. The tears began to fall down her face what seemed to be rivers. “I’ll miss you so much.” She said as her voice cracked. It even made me feel a small speck of sadness in my heart just enough to push my leaving time by a few days.

“It’s okay Elaine. I’ll leave in a few days.” I said while trying to let a smile reach my lips. I guess she got my meaning for the tears now came down even quicker and soon her face was covered in tears and snot. Aaron was still quite until he turned to me and said.

“We should probably get her home.” He said while pointing to Elaine sobbing. I but her arm around my shoulder and Aaron took her other arm and then we flew away. The land was just as beautiful as when I came here and perhaps even more so. I could now clearly see the endless forests and rolling hills as we speedily flew towards the house.

I say house but it was really just council buildings given to the agents without homes to return to. Aaron and Elaine lived close to each other but didn’t actually live together. I stayed with Elaine most of the time I was with them, but occasionally I would stay at Aaron’s.

Soon enough we reached the houses and we managed to drag the still sobbing Elaine to her room. Luckily Aaron had a key to her room. Why he had it, I’m not sure, but that’s not the point here. We managed to navigate around her place and put her on her couch until she stopped crying.

“Sorry guys. It's just so hard. You’re like my little brother.’ She said while sniffling. She then looked like she was about to cry again, but we managed to stop her in time.

“Get some rest Elaine.” Aaron said quietly.

“Okay. Thanks Aaron and Lucifer.” She said quietly before closing her eyes and within a few short seconds she was out.

“Do you want to go and get your stuff? You can stay with me tonight.” Aaron said while gesturing towards the door.

“Sure. I’ll be quick.” I replied quickly. I then went and packed my stuff and left to Aaron’s room.

That night right before I fell asleep I saw the man from my mind with the huge golden wings. He said something I could not hear and his face was still blurry. It truly eluded me as to what his purpose was.

In the next few days I talked a lot with both Aaron and Elaine, of course I spoke with Elaine much more, We went over our experiences throughout the past few months and they both commented on how much I have grown from the first time I saw them.

They also gave me something that was originally my parents. They said they found it when they were looking through the wreckage of when I awakened. It was a small stone that could easily fit into the palm of my hand but it was unusually heavy for an object of its size.

It was a light gold color and had a pitch black center. There was something about it that drew me closer in and made we want to look at it and hold it all the time. Elaine and Aaron were unsure of how I would take it because of the incidents that I suffered before. I did not even care about it. The stone was just so fascinating. They didn’t seem to get my obsession with it and just saw it as a pretty stone that may have been of some importance which is why they gave it to me.

I then determined that it was finally time for me to leave and this time Elaine shed only a few tears and was not sobbing her eyes out. As I left with Josephine on a Griffin, a monster with the head of an eagle and body of a lion, I heard Elaine and Aaron shout something that I could barely make out over the sound of the wind rushing past my ears.

“We will always be waiting for you!!!!!”

It took what seemed to be several hours but we finally saw the campus of Drudania Academy. I then realized the true extent of what it meant to be one of the best schools in the world. Every building was reinforced by magic, a very costly thing to do especially when the Academy had countless buildings many floors tall. They even had a massive wall surrounding the entirety of the Academy.

I believe that Josephine was amused by reaction as told from her chuckle.

“We’re about to land. Hold on tight. It would be bad if with lost another student to the landing of Fuzzy here.” I’m guessing Fuzzy was the Griffin’s name but that didn’t concern as much as the fact that they previously lost a student to landing Fuzzy.

Luckily I did not die, but rather landed quite smoothly. Now seeing the campus up close, the buildings seemed even larger than from sky. While I was gawking at the buildings Josephine, seeming much calmer than during our previous meeting, tapped my shoulder and gestures indicating me to follow her.

I followed her to what seemed to be the main building for it towered over the other massive buildings. When I walked in I realized exactly how rich the school was to afford the massive marble statues that littered the grounds. Not to mention the floors and walls looking like they were made from some other expensive material. These people had no concept of moderation.

Josephine led me up to a huge desk, which behind was seated a small faerie man with childish features and deep blue wings protruding from his small back. The wings were incredibly small, at east by angel standards but probably fit the small man and probably small weight.

“Josephine, who’s your friend?” the man said in a squeaky voice but with a tone that sounded quite sarcastic.

“My friend, Tom, is a new student for school. Now if you could get a new I.D. ready that would be wonderful.” Josephine said in a very natural but authoritative way. My guess was that all of these people were familiar with her power in the school and she was used to them, giving her the confidence to be what I would consider to be her natural state. She was probably nervous in an unfamiliar environment when she was at the Examination hall.

“Of course, ma’am. It’ll be ready in a second.” The man, Tom, said in the same tone as before. He then reached into a drawer by his side. He then pulled out a small piece of paper and a small pin in addition to a small knife.

“Now you are going to cut yourself with this knife on the tip of your finger and let some blood spill onto the paper and pin. Then you will sign your name on the sheet of paper right next to the drop of blood….. er” he said flashing me a quistivie look.

“Lucifer, sir.” I could not forget my manners here. This people, no matter their job, held a certain amount of power for being able to work for Drudania academy.

“Lucifer. Interesting name. Understand what you have to do?” He asked while handing me the knife. I cut myself on the tip of my index finger and let the blood drip onto the small pin which I could now see to have the academy’s crest on it, a sun with a rune on it. The rune meant knowledge, which I learned from Aaron’s lesson in the study of runes.

As I let the blood drip onto the pin, I also let a drop fall on to the piece of paper. The blood quickly dried on both the pine and the paper and I could see no remnants of it on the pin and a small red dot on the white parchment. Tom then took out a pen and placed it in front of me. I quickly signed my name on the paper and Josephine then said,

“I’ll give you a tour and explain some of the rules tomorrow. Right now you probably want some rest, so just follow me to the boy’s dorms. You will have a roommate and I believe yours is coming later tonight so you’ll meet him later. Don’t forget. Always wear your pin. It gives you access to your room, trunk and the school grounds.” She said while walking towards one of the halls connecting to the room we were in right now.

Within a few minutes she stopped in front of a room with the number 1313. She opened the door and said,

“You can probably take whichever bed you want because your roommate isn’t here yet. I’ll meet you in the main hall tomorrow morning at 9:00 to give you a tour of the school so don’t forget.Also, you should wear your uniform. It's in the trunk in your room. Don’t worry about them not fitting. We had them measured and everything.” Josephine said before turning away to leave me in front of an empty room.

I walked in and saw that the room had two twin beds and two desks on opposing walls. One of the walls had a large window with some gray curtains over them. I decided to take the bed by the window. I liked waking up to the morning sun and on that bed I would definitely wake up bright and early.

At the back of each bed was a large wooden trunk that looked immovable and had a small circular symbol on it with the indention of the school’s crest. I took my pin off and pressed it into the indentation and heard a click sound. I then tried to open the trunk and the lid opened easily and when I looked in I saw the school’s navy uniform. I had two sets of them both of them looked different from regular clothing, but I then realized that they were made for people for wings.

I quickly but the stone I received from Aaron and Elaine to the very bottom, worrying I might continue to stare at it. I would take it out when I became adjusted to the school.

I took another look around the room and saw a door off on the side and opened it to find a moderate sized bathroom.

I then caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and saw how much I changed from the last time I looked at myself. Elaine’s and Aaron’s places didn’t have mirrors for they were rare so I never looked at myself. But I saw what they meant by how much I changed.

My previous thin face had filled out because I was eating and not being starved and looked much healthier. My eyes were still black as midnight and my hair was as white as snow. The contrast they had was incredible. I was happy that my hair looked less like an old man’s now. My hair was now down to my shoulders from the lack of cutting it. I was fine with it though. It didn’t get in my face so I was all good.

“Is someone already here?”

I heard a voice come from the main room. I walked out to see a boy that looked around my age and had a head of curly, golden hair. He had piercing blue eyes and a friendly smile rested on his lips. A halo shone above his head. Pure white. I didn’t have one. Only a few angels do.

All of the sudden my head felt like it was splitting and a flood of memories poured into my skull. The man with the golden wings was speaking. He said the same thing over and over. It was a name.

“Nice to meet you, my name is….” The boy said while I was lost in the memories and visions.

“Michael.” I said under my breath. That was what the angel was saying Michael.

“Did someone already tell you?” The boy asked with the smile still on his lips.

“Tell me what?” I had returned from the visions and could now focus on what the boy was saying.

“That my name is Michael.” He replied.