Dripping wet and aching, Cal, awakens. Glancing around the room, it is in clear disarray, clothes everywhere, the floor was soaked. Cal’s shirt was ruined a giant hole in the center of his chest the rest of it scorched. Jess standing just behind the ruined couch looked tired and concerned.

“Jess, you good? You look horrible” Cal groans out

“Am I good, I’m fine. I should be asking you what’s wrong. You spent the whole night freaking out, you were rolling around and mumbling and then things got weird.

“Weird how?”

“You were doing magic shit in your sleep, there was wind and water and shit everywhere!”

“Shit that sounds cool as hell, lik-”

“‘Cool as hell’ are you crazy, I thought you were dying, you were yelling and twitching in your sleep, for a moment I thought you stopped breathing, and I don’t even know how to talk about how you fucking struck yourself with lightning.”

“Well it's over now so don’t worry about it, also I’ll pay you back for the couch, I promise”

“Fuck Cal, I’m not worried about the couch, your powers seem dangerous, I don’t know a lot about magic but that can’t be normal”

“Jess listen, it’s all under control don’t worry, I’m fine now right? I’m not gonna die, at least not yet.”

Cal gets up from the couch, removing the rest of his tattered shirt and makes his way to the bathroom. He starts a shower and quickly cleans up. Gathering his things Cal grabs his suitcase, tells Jess goodbye, and heads out. Making short work of the trip between the apartment and Stars Academy, Cal finds himself in front of the Administrative building. Walking into the building he sees a front desk with a young bored man sitting behind it, clearly these mysterious officials can’t be caught dead doing the busy work. Walking up to the bored secretary, Cal quickly greets him. Only to receive a empty glare from the secretary, clearly upset his difficult task of staring at the wall aimlessly was interrupted

“Hey bro, do you know what I need to do to get myself all situated, I’m one of the accepted here but I’m not really sure what I need to do.”

“First off, good job of not only coming here but doing so early, most of you idiot freshmen just walk around like chickens with your head cut off. And the ones that do come here seem to wait until the very last minute”

“Thanks, I guess”

“No problem, freshie, anyway I can get you assigned a room, one sec.”

The young man fiddles with his computer for a second until a sudden ding is heard. His eyebrows raise inquisitively, as he glances towards me then back to his computer.

“Hey, you must be pretty special considering your in resident house S.”

“What’s special about that, is it some housing for elite students or something”

“You pretty much have the gist, essentially if you score high enough on all three of the exams, have a truly unique ability or skill, or have some amazing connections, you can snatch a spot in resident house S or as we call it, the mansion.”

‘Not surprised that you can buy your way in, piece of shit nobles’

“So what's the mansion’s purpose, keep the undesirables away or something,” Cal says as he is becoming more and more displeased.

“Essentially, they say that being around people who are your level will increase the speed that you advance and gain strength. As well as hopefully making bonds with people who will be as important as you in the future.” The young man says his face scrunching up as if tasting something foul.

“Just trying to stop ties with the bottom tiers I bet” Cal spits out

“Exactly someone finally pulls their head out their ass and realizes it, the city of Etcka is poisonous, the lower class is forced to walk with their heads down instead of being allowed to develop and succeed. Unlike those pig nobles who we pay our taxes too.”

“Damn right! Honestly just wait one day things will change they won’t be on top forever, eventually they’ll crumble.” Cal says suddenly changing tone “So let me guess you're a commoner entry. Bet you got in off a killer exam and some strong magic”

“Yea pretty much, the names Lawrence, the smartest man you’ll ever meet. And I’d be even smarter if I had a damn sponsor, then I could get into the upper section of the library. They will do anything to keep a commoner down”

“Sponsor?”

“It’s someone who basically says ‘this is a talent worth investing in’ It provides tons of perks. When you get one it allows you clearance into certain parts of the library depending on the master and your own power tier. Not to mention that with the backing it means you are much less likely to be preyed on by other students. And finally but most important with the right mentor you can get tutoring for your magic and skills.”

“Hmm, hopefully I’ll get one, by the way where is the mansion at anyway? Or actually where is everything I have no clue where anything is”

“Here,” Lawrence says as he hands Cal a map “this is a map of the campus all the buildings are labeled so you shouldn’t get lost”

“Thanks, I’m gonna head out then. My names Cal just so you know” Cal yells as he is already rolling his suitcase out the door.

“Why should I care runt” Lawrence laughs as he watches Cal leave his building. The smile he didn’t know he had slowly faded as he began looking aimlessly at the wall.

The map that Cal had been handed was incredibly comprehensive, it showed him everything. He was just outside the administration building, which was directly to the left from the central entrance. Forward from that same entrance was the main teaching building where students would receive general lessons. To the top right of the campus was the residence halls, which were split by year 1-4. The mansion oddly enough was nowhere near that. It sat towards the back of the campus surrounded by what I would call a small forest, an odd yet aesthetic choice. To the left of the central learning building were specialist halls, for lessons that need special environments And the official houses were above those as to ensure a short walk to their necessary buildings. To the opposite side of the learning halls, was the coliseums, multiple large battle arena’s some open-air yet a few with closed ceilings. With this map Cal was able to easily navigate the campus towards the mansion is soon to be home for the next few years.

Making his way towards the mansion, he takes in the scenery passing the main learning hall. Taking in the 5 stories of learning that is contained within Cal found himself utterly impressed. Continuing his trek to the mansion he finds himself at the foot of the woods. A beautifully bright shades of green sitting atop and in between trees as tall as the learning hall. Cut through the dense forest was a small path paved intermittently with small stones in addition to small magic powered lamp. With a step inside the forest the pressure changes, a thick aura of magic is permeating the forest. Nearly like a blanket, the elements are heavy in the air

Cal in a moment of odd reflection thinks ‘Odd, there is so much magic floating around is it amplified, or just naturally abundant. Could it be the trees, they clearly possess some wicked vitality maybe their magic is the cause.’

Strolling ever closer, Cal sees the mansion within his vision. Its sheer size was underestimated possessing 4 stories and what seems to be a raised roof, clearly this was intended to fit all the special stars students comfortably. Stepping into the house, he is greeted to a large entrance room, feeding off into a larger living room. Rolling his suitcase into the area Cal takes note of the 3 couches as well as the coffee table with a TV sitting up on a stand, only to walk around a corner and reveal another living room just as equipped, this time connected to a full kitchen.

“Hello is anyone here?” Cal shouts out to anyone that may here him.

Clearly, the house is empty, as his shouts go unanswered, never one to sit around and wait to be helped Cal decides to find a room to occupy.

‘Clearly, the floors are separated based on age I can only assume that the oldest is on top knowing how nobles act. Even though I much rather be on the bottom floor, less walking’

Walking towards the back of the house, he sees a hallway of rooms all of them lacking clear markings, thinking he must be the first among the residents to arrive he places himself in a room near the end of the hall. Walking in he realizes that this is single-handedly the nicest room he’s ever had. With a full-size bed with a connected nightstand, in one corner and a large wardrobe, as well as his own personal desk sitting right under a window. The room was large enough so he could lay down and only touch the bed and wardrobe by fulling stretching his legs and arms.

After a quick unpacking session, Cal works his way into the kitchen to see how stocked it was. Inside the pantry was all the foods he could imagine, Granola bars, cereal, spaghetti noodles, rice, anything I could need to not starve. And it only got better the fridge was loaded with drinks, and fruits, cheeses. The poor boy Cal was truly satisfied, grabbing a banana from the fridge and a granola bar he sat down on the couch in the first living room he saw. Excitedly looking for the remote, he finds it and proceeds to turn on the TV. The machine blinks on as a tall man with slicked back hair, begins to recap the recent happenings in quarter 8 of Etcka. This truly was the life Cal thought as he laid across the couch and slowly fell asleep.