Rai turned to Sin, “I didn’t really use Stormflow in that fight though.”

Sin grinned, “Then we’ll have to fight again when you’re at full power.”

Their friends stared at them. Tullian was both excited and terrified at the prospect of Rai and Sin fighting each other with everything they had.

The bell rang.

Lunch was over.

The students that laid on the grass, and rested around the greenery, started getting up and preparing to go to their next classes.

Rai got up, “Alright. Let’s go to our history lesson.” Rai started walking.

Sin grabbed his arm. She stared at him, bewildered, “Where are you going?”

Rai looked at her in his confusion, “Um. I don’t know.”

Sin giggled, prompting the others to giggle. She pointed in the opposite direction of where he was walking, “The classroom is that way.”

By this point, the others had gotten up from where they sat. As much as they wanted to hear about the spar that Sin won, it would have to wait.

Rai looked back and forth between the two directions.

He gave up.

Since he never checked his schedule, he wouldn’t ever know where to go. Leaving it to Sin would probably be best.

Rai and his group of friends made their way over to the east side of the building. The history lesson would take place in a lecture hall. Rai had never experienced a lecture hall before.

They entered the room.

“Holy shit.” Rai was blown away.

It was huge.

The others had already seen it, so they didn’t have such vivid reactions. But Rai hadn’t ever seen a classroom this big. Rows upon rows of seats curved around the epicentre of the room. It was a massive half circle where a lecturer would speak from the front to everyone around them, but this room was large enough to house over a hundred students, easily.

They were on time to the lesson, so they took their seats in a mostly empty row in the middle of the semi-circle. A lot of students followed in after them, filling up the rows.

The lecturer was nowhere to be seen, but the students came and filled the seats anyway. Rai was slightly confused. He wondered where the teacher was.

After a few minutes, the rows were almost completely full. Rai and his friends looked around, trying to see if they could recognise anyone. The thing that surprised Rai, that he didn’t notice on his initial entry into the classroom, was that there were second years among the first years in the class. Before Rai could even consider any of the possible reasons for such a thing, a male voice came from... seemingly nowhere.

“Students of Aether Academy. I would like to welcome you to your history lecture. Today we have a lot to cover, so get your notepads out and prepare to write.”

Rai panicked. He had no notepads, or quills or ink. There was no way he could write any notes.

Sin and the others had already gotten their notepads ready.

Rai decided to just not take notes, and try to remember everything.

Which would be folly, considering the amount of information that was about to be thrown at him.

The voice returned. Its tone was low.

“First, we will start by talking about our world. You, who created our world?”

A light shone from the ceiling onto a random student down near the front rows. They fumbled their words, but they managed an answer, “Um. Uh... I-it’s the Creator.”

The voice continued, “Correct.” The light disappeared, “The Creator created our world, Zenith. The Creator also has a Voice in our world. You, who is that voice?”

A light shone on another student.

They responded quickly, “The Arbiter.”

The teacher’s voice boomed throughout the room. “Correct. The Aspects are the Creator’s agents in our world, and they maintain the clans. There are eight clans in the world, and each of the clans has an Aspect as its leader. There have been multiple Aspects over time, but the titles granted to each clan’s Aspect remain the same.” The teacher paused for a moment.

Then a light shone on a student that Rai recognised. Hiron.

The teacher asked their question, “What does the title of an Aspect afford them?”

Hiron rolled his eyes, “Power. The Creator grants them the power to maintain the world.”

The teacher remained silent for a moment, then spoke with a tinge of frustration in their voice, “A reductive answer. Please be more thorough in your lessons.”

Hiron kissed his teeth, but didn’t say anything.

The teacher continued, “An Aspect’s title enhances the powers and techniques that they already have. The only title that provides its own standalone boons is that of the Arbiter. You would do well to remember that, class.” He paused to allow students to write the information that he just told them.

After the majority of students finished writing, he continued, “The clans operate out of their own domains. For the sake of your sanities, I will only talk about four of the clan domains today. Nirvana is the city in the sky that the Justice clan operates from. The Lands of Everlasting Day, and The Lands of Everlasting Night are the twin island domains that the clan of Vision oversees. Mount Udra is the mountain and forest region that the Life clan dwells within. The Isle of Chimes is where the clan of Songs resides.” He paused again.

Students wrote the information down as fast as they could.

The teacher continued, “However... there is one region that is the domain of none. I wouldn’t assume anyone here would have heard of it, but I’ll hazard the question. Does anyone here know what the name of this region is?”

Quiet.

Not a single light shone.

The students discussed amongst themselves.

A whole minute passed by as the teacher remained silent.

From nothingness, came a person. At the front of the class, a black haired man with pitch black eyes appeared. The students reacted with shock and surprise.

His voice was just like that of the previous voice that’d been lecturing the students, “It’s called Inanis.”

Rai stared at him. Is that the region that Aunt Elly said not to venture into? It rings a bell, and I’m sure that she mentioned it at some point.

The teacher looked around at all of the students. He had no visual changes in expression, “Do any of you know what’s in Inanis?”

Another minute of deliberation passed. Not a single student volunteered to answer.

The teacher continued, “I didn’t think so. It’s not a place that your families would tell you about. Inanis is a desert. It’s devoid of all life. However... what makes it so terrifying is that it doesn’t feel real.”

The students sounded confused, and one student even raised his hand. The teacher nodded towards him. “Sir, how can a place exist and not feel real?”

The teacher stared wide eyed at the student. His pitch black eyes looked like they were bulging out of his head, “If a part of the world doesn’t fit in the world, then who put it there?” He posed the rhetorical question, then carried on his spiel, “I’ve been to Inanis. Given that it’s a ways northeast from Mount Udra, you’d expect for there to be something. Anything. But... there exists naught but a sea of sand. There’s no water, no animals, no sign of life. When you step past onto its desert plains...”

He coughed.

“The absence of all life is harrowing.”

That statement rang throughout the room.

The teacher sounded like he’d gotten over telling horror stories, “It’s also the biggest region in the world. You shouldn’t try to explore all that deeply within it. Those that have gone far have never returned.”

Everyone took a collective audible gulp.

The teacher continued, “However, you need not worry about the other regions that aren’t governed by one of the clans. The Wildlands in between clan domains still contain life... however, most of it will be hostile to you and probably try to maim and kill you.”

The class was horrified. Many of them dreamed of becoming adventurers who would go on expeditions into the Wildlands, attempting to explore dungeons and ruins to find riches and treasures... but this lesson only made it all the more daunting for them.

The teacher shifted gears, “Moving on, the rest of today’s history lesson will focus on divine forms. Where do they come from? Why do certain clans have certain divine forms? One’s divine form is unique to them, but they can still be verifiably categorised based on other already known forms.” He took a sip of water from the cup on the desk.

Rai wasn’t sure when that cup got there. Regardless, he listened attentively. Rai didn’t have a divine form that he knew of. If anything, he was confused whenever he was called ‘little dragon’ because he clearly didn’t have access to a draconic visage, like his Aunt Elly did. But... something within him clearly made him feel attached to other draconic beings like the sea serpent from before. Maybe draconic blood courses through my veins, and I just don’t have a dragon form. But there’s never been anything like that in the past... I should talk to Aunt Elly about it when I can.

The teacher continued, cutting off Rai’s train of thoughts, “To start with... I will tell you about our collective understanding of the origin of divine forms.” He coughed, “In essence, divine forms are directly related to your lineage. Some of your clans may revere certain forms above others, but those people were simply fortunate. Their DNA can be equivalated to the highest roll on a dice that one could imagine. The divine forms closest to the first Aspects are rarely afforded to the children of current day Aspects given the same level of luck. We know this because it’s been a documented trend throughout our history.”

The class began discussing the teacher’s words amongst themselves. Some of the nobility in the class were outraged at the teacher’s audacity to claim that those who were higher up in their clans were just ‘lucky’... but it was the truth.

Sin had a feeling that her divine form was different to the rest of her clan members. It was far more like her father’s... except hers went even further than what he was capable of doing. Kallad could morph into anything, but Sin pushed her divine form to be able to copy more than just one’s appearance. She wasn’t fully confident in the strength of her Mimic, but she’d at the very least begun improving it.

The teacher checked a timepiece on his wrist. He sighed, “We don’t have much time left in the lecture, but I would like to clarify a few things. The original Aspects were some of the most powerful beings to grace our world. The Life clan’s first Aspect was said to be the master of all Life and Death. She was an Elder Dragon. But even she succumbed to that which she reigned over. You all should be proud that your divinity comes from the first Aspects’ blessings. Without it, Zenith wouldn’t be whole.”

He cleared his throat.

“With that, today’s official lecture is concluded. However, there is one last thing I must share with you all.”

After his first sentence, the students began getting up. After his second sentence, the students sat back down.

The teacher’s presence shifted. His tone commanded everyone’s attention. “You all have a task. In a week’s time, there will be a week’s break. I want for you all to go to your clan capitals and learn as much as you can about your Aspects and your clan’s history. You’ll have to write a journal of your findings and submit a copy directly to me during the week following.”

Sounds of approval and prideful joy came from the sea of students.

“If you are a direct descendant of an Aspect, then choose another clan’s capital and learn about their history. I’d assume that you’ve already learned enough about your own clan, so getting a fresh perspective will be your task.”

He smiled as he waved goodbye, “That’ll do. Toodle-oo.”

He disappeared.

Rai was amazed. That man carried so much charisma and put on such a... captivating performance. Even a simple thing such as a history lesson could be this immersive.

Sin’s head slammed on the desk. She jumped up, with a red mark on her chin. “wuhWAHAPPENED?!”

Rai giggled, “Haha. The lesson’s over silly. Did you at least hear the last bit about our task for the break?”

Sin looked somewhat groggy. She stretched and yawned. “I had such a good nap. Just tell me about it later.”

Rai frowned at her, “If you took a nap... then how am I supposed to read your notes?”

Sin stared at him, “Learn to make notes yourself?”

Rai frowned even harder, “But I don’t know how.”

Sin facepalmed, “Well good luck with that. You’re freakishly good at everything else... except directions... so you’ll probably be able to figure it out.” She winked sarcastically.

Rai’d lost. This bout was not his to win. Maybe I should just accept it. I’m just not cut out for writing things. The final stages of grief was acceptance. Rai, for better or worse, accepted that he was never going to be able to write notes.

Tullian yelled from further down the row, “You guys ready for the first society session?!”

Saviour. Tullian was Rai’s saviour. His sadness at his inability to do the most basic task as a student began to evaporate. Rai could hug Tullian for dragging him out of this pit, but he didn’t want to infect him with stupid. However... even Tullian, somehow, managed to write something.

Tullian pulled up his piece of paper.

Rai was shocked.

Tullian grinned, “Look! I drew us all exploring a dungeon ruins!”

Amy looked at it and giggled, “You’re such an artist.” She spoke with a hint of sarcasm, but also a touch of endearment.

Lina giggled.

Tullian took it seriously, “Really?! I knew I had some kind of talent!”

Rai shed a tear. Tullian was just as inept as he was. They were comrades in idiocy.

Sin spent this entire time with her hand on her face, trying to ignore the stupidity surrounding her. Unfortunately, she was unable to successfully do so, and decided to just leave. “Okay I’m going.” She declared with utmost conviction.

Dumb and dumber followed her, alongside the twins.

They were off to their final session of the day.

Rai grinned. It’s time to meet the Archaeology society!