Multiverse of Magic & Mistakes (Completed)

(Book Two - Discordance) - 2.1.0 Prologue

Ashein, 334 years ago.

It was a sweltering Monday morning in the red dessert when Caeli first met the girl who would change the nature of reality as they knew it.

She shuffled along reluctantly, following her mother through the bustling corridors of the undercity. Even this early in the morning, the labyrinth of red sandstone corridors was busy, full of shifters and humans alike escaping the relentless end-of-summer heat in the dunes above.

The passageways were the last place Caeli wanted to be. She longed for the open desert skies, the dunes stretching to the horizon as far as she could see, the wild and terrible beauty of the land above, not the stifling, restrictive passageways below. This form was the last form she wanted to take. She winced at the limited abilities, the restricted movement, the slowness, the shortness of her stature, her unenhanced vision and hearing.

Caeli's new school, the Red Dune Academy, taught both shifters and mages, and consequently, shifters were required to attend in human form. Caeli hated it already. She did not want to learn maths or literature, or world geography. She did not want to study the magic-based classes of elementals, teleportation, transformation or rune studies. She was a shifter, born to shifter parents, and that was all she wanted to utilise her small magic ration for.

Why be a slow and clumsy eleven-year-old, when she could soar swiftly above the dunes and circle the Tawny Towers as a falcon, or a wren? Why suffer in the heat, as an awkward young girl, sweat plastering her short dark brown hair to her forehead, when she could comfortably venture outside as an adorable fennec fox? Why spend hours trapped in a classroom, when she could roam far across the scarlet dunes as a camel?

But now, Caeli was stuck in her pathetic, human form, short hair neatly braided back, dressed in a loose light grey dress, and toe-pinching sandals. She tugged on her hemline and winced. The new uniform was another uncomfortable but necessary part of her new life.

They took a sharp left turn, dodging around another produce wagon – Caeli could see it was piled with corn, and potatoes from the growing caverns – and arrived at the school entrance.

The atrium was packed, the narrow space crammed full of new students and parents, all saying their goodbyes. Caeli scanned the crowd, hoping to catch the eye of her friend Marjie, but only saw unfamiliar faces. Most new students were smiling and waving, eager to get started. A pretty girl with long blonde hair and a large blue knapsack stood alone and tapped her foot impatiently. Others gathered in small groups, eagerly greeting friends they had not seen all summer, regaling each other with their adventures. Caeli looked over the bubbling crowd and wondered if she was the only one who was dreading it.

"I better be off," said her mother, with a warm smile "Remember what we talked about, no shifting in school, listen carefully to the teachers, and try and make some new friends..."

"Yes, Mum" droned Caeli; her mother had been giving her little speeches all summer about how to behave at the academy. It was another reason she already loathed the place.

"Seriously, Caeli, this is a great school, you'll do well here if you put your heart into it!"

"Yes, Mum!" said Caeli, a little louder than before. She looked up at her mother, into her familiar golden eyes, the same as Caeli's in human form, and reluctantly nodded.

Placated, her mother gave her a long hug, then said "Have a good first day!" and left, weaving her way through the throng.

With a sudden loud scrape of wood against sandstone, the grand, perfectly circular entrance to the prestigious Red Dune Academy opened. The babbling crowd silenced. Caeli stood on her tiptoes, stretching and straining, trying to see what was going on. Damn being so short, she could not make out a thing over the heads of the other students, and few lingering parents.