Groggily Cal comes too, looking around the room observing the near blindingly white walls, rows of beds lining the walls, some of them unfortunately filled. Its is a seemingly normal nursing room, except for the raven colored blob of hair laying on his legs. Shifting his leg slightly, Gwen pops up from her nap, her hair matted against her pale face.

“Thought I lost my pal for a second there, how are you feeling?” Gwen says as casually moves her hair out her face.

“Think I’m fine, the only thing that really hurts is my pride,” Cal says through clenched teeth, “Never did I think I was so weak to be knocked out in one hit.”

Gwen, with confusion running rampant across her faces replies “Cal what the hell are you talking about?”

“No, what are you talking about, I lost consciousness right after he bopped me with those wood spears, bastard never even used his sword!”

“No, Cal the official knocked you out, you got up after that even started using lightning and stuff, you never lost to that elf boy”

“What… did someone hijack my body then because that was a lot of things but not me. It’s fine though because who ever fought for me must have been doing a damn good job.” Cal says his face slowly loosening up and relaxing

“Alright, since your fine with it I won’t pry but at least go talk to an official, things like that aren’t normal and you know it!” Gwen states as she pulls out her phone, suddenly shock fills her face as she grabs Cal

“Hey, if you're fine we gotta go or we are gonna miss the acceptance announcements.”

Quickly Gwen shoots outta bed excitement on his face “Good I need to get accepted or I won’t have a place to sleep tomorrow”

The odd duo rush out the infirmary, Gwen taking the lead with Cal walking close behind her. Slowly as they reach the announcement hall Cal grabs Gwen's arms.

“One second I need to find someone- LUCY!” He shouts shocking everyone around him

Suddenly a small hand shoots up from the crowd waving, “There you are Cal, one sec coming to ya.”

Roughly slamming her way through the crowd Lucy appears wrapping Cal in a rather uncomfortable hug

“There you are thought my only friend here just disappeared on me”

Gwen making a rather odd face ask “Hey where’d you meet her, how did you make so many ‘friends’ already?”

Cal, casually ignoring the accusatory tone in her voice says “She met me on the way to Stars, if it wasn't for Lucy I wouldn’t even know what my elements are.”

“That makes sense you literally know nothing,” Gwen says as she walks into the hall, Cal, and Lucy right behind her. The group filter into seats and begin talking, which mainly consisted of filling Lucy in on what happened during our tournaments.

The old man official who had led the magic test walks up onto the stage of the announcement hall, his steps seemingly ring out even over the cacophony of the hall and its students. In response, the hall slowly quiets down everyone taking notice of the white near shining beard of the official.

“Hello potential students, I’m so happy to see so many of you, all these fresh young faces bring life to this campus us elders can’t ever bring. It's a clear indicator that not only is our city getting bigger and better, but we are also as well. We’ve seen some rather skilled participants so far, with outstanding magic user accompanied by unique abilities. Incredibly intelligent individuals, who passed our test with flying colors. And let's not forget the strong among us who bested their opponents in our tourneys. That's why I am proud to allow these students into the academy”

With a wave of both his hands a light blue screen is projected into the air, the names of all the new students of the Stars freshmen, written elegantly in cursive. The room sounded out in an mix of groans, yells, sobs, and cheers, the energy was electric. To Cal’s left Lucy’s face went from a painful squint to a gentle smile upon seeing her name, while Gwen had not even looked knowing for a fact she was in, most likely for her unique skill set and powerful backing. Cal looks up to see his name in those beautiful cursive letters ‘Caleon Luxum’.

This was it his opportunity to finally climb out of his station, Cal had given everything for this, he had worked since he was 7 doing any odd job he could find attempting to feed himself and differentiate from other street urchins. His arms and legs always tired and his stomach rumbling, yet always having enough strength to beat the kids that wanted to take what was his. He had worked like that for 2 years before he met Jess. She had seen him sweeping the floors of some small library, one of the nicest jobs he had, She needed a little bit of money to afford this apartment and this little fella could be the perfect tipping point. So she took him in, of course with strict guidelines and rules. At first, they were rather distant but as time went on they slowly became like brother and sister, working in unison to make ends meet in a tiny apartment in the shittier side of town. Jess being an assistant tailor hoping to become a major player in the fashion industry, and Cal was just working almost purposeless, at least until a year before the Stars entrance exam. He began filling his nights with studying using a favor from the library that had once before changed his life and hopefully would do so again.

And all these efforts finally came to fruition as he was a student at the prestigious Stars academy, where he would learn to not only fight, but develop as a leader, researcher, or some unimaginable offset that he could not imagine. The future was limitless.

“Well for those who are accepted within our walls we hope you are ready to learn and live within these halls. We will begin our classes starting next Monday, so be prepared. Other than that you kids are dismissed stay safe.”

Leaving the hall Lucy and Cal split from Gwen who had seemingly already had a room. The two begin their walk towards the bus stop, waiting for it to arrive.

“You know Cal, I get a feeling this is gonna be the beginning of something amazing, I never thought I could have this much freedom.”

“Really why is that, I hear people say school is like a prison,” Cal says with his usual nonchalance.

A sorrowful look crosses Lucy’s face only to be quickly removed, she quietly says “Cal, my house is more like a prison than a home”

“Well…, if you do good enough in the academy you won’t ever have to go home, who knows if it all goes on I bet Jess and I can fit an extra roommate”

Smiling Lucy says “Thanks Cal hopefully I don’t need to take that offer-” A flash of confusion is present on Lucy as she quickly questions “Who is Jess?”

With a smile, Cal replies “Basically my big sister.”