I stood there dumbfounded, as a girl tightly snuggled her face into my chest. After what seemed like hours, this girl finally released her hold on me. As soon as she did, I took a few steps back. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not too fond of being hugged by total strangers.

“You two, please come in.” someone who I guessed was the headmistress called out.

I entered the office, the girl tailing close behind me. The headmistress was sitting behind her desk, on one of those huge reclining chairs. She wore round glasses on the tip of her nose. Her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail. Her dull, docile gray eyes looked at us. She beckoned with a wave of her hand for us to sit, so we did. I looked around the office a bit. It was nothing spectacular. The desk had tons of paperwork, large windows with red drapes that overlooked the school’s courtyard. The office had many bookcases, filled to the brim with books.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Elenore Magnus. I’ve been looking forward to this day.”

“You have?” I asked.

“Of course, your father is Orion Magnus? The legendary spiritualist?”

I nodded.

“Well, he and I got way back, when we both attended this academy. Now, the reason I called you here is because of this transfer student.” She explained, waving at the other girl.

I looked at her, and she smiled and happily waved at me.

“Miss. Celestia Styx here, transferred from Stormy Coast Institute on Craynax. When I had asked who she wanted as a guide and dorm-mate, she insisted on you I particular.”

I turned to face this girl, who goes by the name of Celestia. I extended my hand out for a handshake.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Celestia. I’m honored that you wanted me as a guide, but I’m only a first year. There are people who know the grounds way more than I do.”

Celestia made a face, which resembled pouting. I got extremely confused.

“You really don’t remember me El? Poo, I’m disappointed in you.”

I stared at her. Her bombshell blond hair, occasionally glittering when the sun’s rays hit her hair. Her violet eyes sparkled like they were gemstones. Suddenly, the name El finally clicked into place. I could almost imagine her hair getting shorter, having a darker tone, her eyes grew much brighter.

“Cel? Is that you?” I asked, flabbergasted.

She happily nodded.

I embraced her in a tight hug. “You’ve grown so much over the last four years! It’s so good to see you again!”

The headmistress looked at us with keen interest.

“You two know each other?” she asked. We nodded enthusiastically. “Well, that makes introductions much easier now doesn’t it? Now in the Magi Magic Games, you participate in teams of two. Same rules follow for the Zone Games. Because of this, students are asked to form a team with another partner by the end of the week. So I’ve taken the opportunity and made you two dorm-mates, as well as partners. Looking at your arts, I believe you two are a perfect match.”

It was the end of the day, all classes were finished. Every student started to head for the dormitories. The boys headed to the boy’s dormitories, while we girls headed to the girl’s dormitories. My room was on the fifth floor, along with Celestia. Entering the room, Cel threw her suitcase and herself along with it on the neared bed.

“I can’t believe that I was able to see you again! The Beings must have blessed us! We need to catch up on all the lost time!” she exclaimed.

I happily nodded. Celestia and I have been friends for practically ever. We met when we were both four years old at a park and we instantly became friends. We became so close that we could have been considered family, except for the fact that we looked nothing alike. Then her family had to move to Craynax four years ago, due to her father’s research. We had promised to see each other again one day, but my life took a sucky, unpleasant turn. My mother lost her life to an unknown illness. When I was 7, the “incident” happened, which resulted in the loss of my brother. My father had trouble coping with all of this. He committed suicide shortly after he gave me Tangela. So I sorta forgot the promise I made to Cel.

Celestia sat up and looked at me with a deadly serious look in her eyes. “But I don’t blame you for forgetting our promise El. These past years must’ve been hard for you. Mom and dad say that they accept you into the family with open arms.”

“Thanks, Cel.” I said, hugging her. “How was life on Craynax?”

Her eyes burst open with excitement like they always did when she had something she couldn’t wait to talk about.

“Life there is mind-blowingly awesome! Craynax is far more technologically advanced than any other planet! They have actual robots serving in the military. Right now, the planet is trying to make the first ever robot that can wield magic!”

“Damn, that sounds amazing! But alas, I have no need for a droid, my young Cel.” I added.

Celestia looked confused, which made sense, as she doesn’t know about Tangela. So I decided to introduce them to each other. I snapped my fingers and the ghostly figure of Tangela materialized in front of me.

“Surprise!” Tan happily exclaimed.

Cel, clearly surprised, yelled ghost and promptly fell off the bed. Tan and I immediately started laughing. Cel got back onto the bed with a wavering smile on her face.

“This is Tangela” I said pointing at Tangela. “She’s my very own spirit, a parting gift from father. Tangela, this is Celestia, my childhood friend.”

“How long has she been with us?” Cel asked.

“Since the morning, she follows me everywhere, just not always visible,” I answered.

Tangela gracefully bowed in front of the stunned Cel.

“Hi there Celestia! It’s always a pleasure to meet a friend of the young mistress.”

“Stop calling me that Tangela!” I whined.

Tangela started giggling and Cel chuckled. I simply smiled. Looks like we would all be good friends. Without warning, Tan snapped into work mode, and put away all of our clothing into dressers and placed our suitcases.

“Hey Cel.”

“What is it El?”

“Well, as you know I’m a Chaoser, but I haven’t got the slightest clue on what your art is.”

Celestia grinned, extending her palms. One of them caught fire, while the other one froze! Celestia was an elementalist. Elementalists were a third-grade magic-user since they could only master one type of element. But Celestia seemed able to use two and maybe more elements, meaning she could probably go toe to toe with second-grade class users by herself.

“I never knew Elementalists could use more than one element.” I proclaimed.

“Normally we can’t.” Celestia started, returning her hands to normal. “But I was born with more than just one Stigma, four to be precise. So since I’m an Elementalist, I can use four elements instead of one. I can use fire, electricity, ice and wind.”

“That’s pretty sick.”

Cel nodded. We decided to go clean ourselves up before going to bed. Surprisingly, the bathroom was pretty big, and so was the tub, so we took a bath together like we did when we were kids. We sat in the warm bath and I instantly felt better, all of my stress being washed away.

I closed my eyes, and before I could open them, I felt hands on my chest.

“What are you doing?!” I exclaimed.

“Did these babies grow while I was gone? Dam.” Cel said, her voice filled with humor as she checked me out.

“Why you!” I yelled.

I pushed her hand away from me, and jumped on Celestia, tickling her.

We continued to thrash and play together. We finished washing up and went to bed early. Tomorrow was going to be exciting and eye-opening. Life was starting to look up.