Imagine a long corridor filled with nothingness. That terrifying corridor was the past. It never seemed like it was going to end, but the future is now.
Augurium protects and leads, guiding us into a brighter world filled with understanding – and magic! After the End Event, we took a while to recover. Over two-hundred years later, here we are.
Here you are.
The floating school, citadel of island cities circling around one another in a beautiful display of magic. This is what stands before you. Opportunity and dreams realized.
Grasp your potential. Become leaders, educators, warriors, and make the whole of society better for it.
Such a lovely flyer, I thought sarcastically as I tucked it into my bag, crumpled like half of the other new student advertisements in there. New new new. Buy buy buy. Join join join. The worst of all was the trade island. This was the only part of the experience I was uncertain of… All the people and the crowding and the advertising… It reminded me of the bazaars back home, though there was far more magic involved here.
I had to go there first to be able to get up to the first tier since that’s where I would be staying, and oh boy… so did everyone else. This bottleneck was a prime real estate for any booth or shop that wanted to prey on the unsuspecting Unum tiers.
A backpack full of flyers later, I got to the damned teleporter. I was from the Egyptian Theocracy, otherwise known as the ‘Egyptian Crazies’, and honestly, I was lucky to be alive. They kill non-nobles that have magical potential. I couldn’t be farther from a noble.
The school made its rounds, a part of a treaty that the Theocracy didn’t exactly appreciate, and I was blessed to be able to get on the ‘ship’ as it were, and away from that godforsaken place.
It had only been thirty minutes or so since we left the Theocracy behind, so everyone was still figuring out where to go. I wasn’t having as much difficulty. As I stood in the teleporter I thought about how many times I had dreamed of coming here, how often I had studied the tourist maps of the school… how many years I watched the school go by on its way around the world, wishing I could be there.
My parents stopped me from going before. They got killed. Nothing stopped me this time at least. I nearly started crying as I teleported to the next island up. As far as I understood, it was the island for Navitas and Spiritus. They shared it despite being opposite of each other. A beautiful duality that represented itself in the architecture alone.
I got lost gleefully for a little while, observing the shimmering stones of the purposefully old buildings. This was my island. I was a Spiritus. Everything looked like it had a purple and white glow to it. Good energy, calming spirits that wafted around like little balls of multicolored light, it was a fantasy land. Wandering, mostly alone in this wonderland had my thoughts racing, heart pumping as I explored every back alley and lonely knoll I could find, seeing even some places where it seemed people hadn’t been in a while. Private, quiet places I would seek out often.
Really, it was built to be a fantasy land for a reason. This island and all the other islands that served as either dorms or class islands, they all were built from the land of Augurium to suit the students’ needs. Whether that student is an Ignus, an Aere, or a Spiritus like me, they’d be cared for properly.
Dorms were here, and since I was a Spiritus, classes were on this center island as well. I didn’t have to worry about that yet, though. I took my time looking around at the buildings before finally heading off to find where I would be staying. It was an interesting feeling. I would live with someone else who had magic. It wouldn’t just be something I had to look at from afar anymore. These people, they weren’t nobles. They didn’t want my kind to die… They wanted us to prosper since they were a part of this amazing group too. I wouldn’t have to feel like I had to hide anymore.
I found my dorm, my room, and it was just as incredible as the architecture outside. Old, loved but well kept, the room practically screamed with welcoming energy. Wisps floated past the door in front of me. I opened it, placed my things down, and settled in. I sat on the bed on the left-hand side of the room, off-white sheets comfortable, mattress comfortable, pillows comfortable.
This was going to be my new home.
Things didn’t exactly go as planned though… which is why I’m writing this ridiculous rant, documenting my thoughts upon arriving at the school. I don’t know if I… if we are going to survive. There’s been an attack. We all heard a loud bang, then a ringing, vibrating sound. Something hit the barrier that surrounds the school. There were some students saying it was some kind of rocket. Old technology from before the End Event. Teachers are doing their best to calm students and keep them organized, assuring them that they understand the issue and are working on fixing it, that the shield won’t break. That everything is going to be fine. But even some of them seem nervous when they think no one is looking. There are even a few Ultima running around, more than we even really knew were on campus. That’s what has some of us more freaked out than anything. You know things are bad when they send out the baddest of the badasses.
That shouldn’t even be possible.
We are currently stuck in the Brazilian Wastes after Augurium had to make an emergency landing. This place isn’t safe. This is where they source mutated creatures from. This is the worst place to land. The locals in the forests have a tense relationship with the school. There’s already plant and animal life trying to break through into the school. I’m scared of being a casualty. I don’t want to die having barely gotten a chance to live.
It’s been three weeks since we left the Theocracy behind.