𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥
"ᴛʜᴇ sᴄʜᴏᴏʟ ꜰᴏʀ ɢᴏᴏᴅ"
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗔𝗜𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗡𝗘𝗜𝗥𝗔 into what seemed to be a hallway. "Don't you ever touch me again!" Aneira scolded the tiny creatures. She swatted them away as soon as they let go of her. When she went to use her magic, the fairies hissed and showed their teeth.
"All right, okay. Jeez! I thought fairies were supposed to be nice," Aneira scoffed. The fairies muttered, turned their heads, and flew away.
Aneira was all alone in a room she couldn't recognize. An angelic choir's singing filled her ears.
"Oh, I must be in hell," Aneira sighed.
The choir stopped singing, and Aneira felt eyes staring into her soul. She didn't like it one bit.
"Yep, this is hell, all right," Aneira says. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her trench coat and ran into another room down from the hall she was originally in.
It was beautifully decorated with marble flooring, golden arches, and flowers. There was a bath against one of the walls in the room.
"Well, hello!" A random woman's voice pulled Aneira out of her thoughts. Aneira turned to find a woman, at least a few inches taller than her, waltzing into the room. Her hair was well put together and her gown was quite large.
"Well done, Aneira Mills of the Enchanted Forest," The woman continued. How did she..? Aneira had never met the woman before and she already knew her by name.
She even used her original home's name, "the Enchanted Forest" and not "Gavaldon". The woman clasped her hands together, "Might I suggest you clean up a bit before orientation?"
"Or clean up a lot?" She asked.
Aneira looked down at her outfit, which was covered in dirt. Her hair was only slightly out of place. Her outfit didn't matter now, she needed to find Sophie.
"How do you know my name?" Aneira asked her.
"Because I've been expecting you," Was she telling the truth? Was this all a facade? This was childish bull, and Aneira grew quickly annoyed. "I am Professor Dovey, here to help however I can."
"Finally. My friend Sophie wanted to be here," Aneira says, sighing in slight relief. Finally some progress!
"The Never? No," Dovey replied quickly.
"The what?"
"Your friend is a Never. You are an Ever," Dovey explained in a singsong way. She continued, "Ever, because we believe in living happily ever after."
"Nevers, because they don't. School for Evil, School for Good. Evil—," She explained to Aneira, only to get cut off by her. Aneira, once again, was annoyed by Dovey.
"—Yup, okay, I got it," Aneira sighed, crossing her arms, "But clearly, there's been a mistake. I mean, look at me."
"My dear, one doesn't measure one's goodness just by how one looks. No, it's about what one does," Dovey reassured. She sat Aneira down in front of the many vanities in the room. "If you're here, you must have great... power," Dovey continued as she put her fingers through Aneira's hair.
Aneira had to admit, it did feel nice to receive a "head massage".
"I don't," Aneira replied.
"You are the only student here who has access to magic without the need of a finger glow, my dear," Dovey says, "You do have great power. Didn't your mother tell you that?"
"I'm learning now not to question things you already know without me having to tell you," Aneira says. She spun her chair to look at Dovey in the face. She seemed nice, but it was too good to be true.
"Listen, Professor Dovey, I appreciate the talk. But I've gotta find my friend and get back to Gavaldon," Aneira got off the seat and started to walk away. She was stopped by Dovey's shout of, "Stop!"
Aneira felt scared. Dovey was so nice when they interacted.
"Look, if there was a mistake, then it is one that someone is going to get fired for," She stopped her way over to Aneira. Waving her hands up, she causes a small burst of fire in her hands, "Literally."
"So, let's pretend there is not a mistake until we can sort this all out, yes? Besides, there is no way back," Dovey turned away from Aneira with a smile.
"Wait, w–."
"Oh, I know! Let's get you in your armor!" Professor Dovey giggled, cutting Aneira off. She clapped her hands together as dozens of rows of dresses suddenly appeared. Dovey was like a kid in a candy store.
"Let me guess. You're not a pink person? Not a problem! We also have rose, fuchsia, blush, watermelon, hibiscus!" Dovey started to name off the different colors, which Aneira quickly realized all to be shades of pink. She didn't despise the color, she just wasn't fond of it.
"Do you have any dresses in blue?" Aneira asked.
"Of course I do!"
༇
Picking out dresses with Dovey brought in happier memories to Aneira. The dress the older woman picked out for Aneira matched her perfectly. Dovey was happy to have a newcomer as calm and more understanding as Aneira.
"How do you like it?" Dovey asks. She removed her hands from the girl's eyes to allow her to see herself. Aneira absolutely adored the blue dress.
"Like I'm back home," Aneira replied. The dress had a few ruffled layers, making it enough to hide her feet, and a hoop skirt to make it appear bigger. "I just love my job," Dovey smiled.
"Now, sit," Dovey instructed Aneira, pointing to a cushioned stool.
Getting dressed up like a princess made Aneira think of someone missing. Someone who should be sitting in this chair instead of her. Someone like...
"You're thinking of your friend, aren't you?" Dovey asks, ceasing the work she was doing on Aneira's hair. It was only then she looked at the mirror to see her face. Cold, sad.
"She should be here. She's an Ever, or whatever you call the good people, not me," Aneira explained to Dovey, "I'm supposed to be the Never. I'm the bad one, not her."
"You were placed here for a reason, Aneira. You just have to believe it," Dovey spun Aneira around to look at her. "Feel it. Because magic follows emotion. The stronger the emotion, the more powerful the magic." Dovey's finger lit up as she started to twirl it in a circular motion. A few glowy dust particles came out.
"Summon enough passion, and you can accomplish anything," Dovey directed her magic towards Aneira. In a quick flash of light, tiny butterflies and flowers were placed neatly in Aneira's hair.
"Now, orientation is in a few minutes. I can have one of the gentlemen escort you there if you'd like," Dovey suggested, placing a hand on Aneira's shoulder.
"No. No, I'm pretty sure I'll find my own way," Aneira replied.
༇
Navigating through the halls of the Good school was a little difficult for Aneira. Thankfully, dozens of students were rushing to make it on time to the grand hall.
Aneira immediately called out for Sophie.
"Sophie!" She shouted. She heard the faint call of her name in return. Aneira pushed through the crowd of students until she met Sophie in a small opening.
"They gave you a gown?" Sophie asked, looking up and down at Aneira. Aneira frowned at Sophie, who was wearing a plain, boring, sack-looking dress. Sophie didn't have a smile on her face, but had the look of jealousy.
A guard from the Evil school's side comes over and grabs Sophie by the arm. "Sit down and shut up, Reader!" It shouted. A fairy pushes Aneira into a seat.
She was fully prepared to strike the fairy with a blast of magic but decided on not doing so. Aneira nearly fell when she took a seat on the front row of the benches.
Wearing gowns was something she needed to get used too.. again.
A fanfare of drums played and the students separated into their respective sides; Good and Evil.
"Welcome, first-year students! I am Professor Dovey, Dean of the School for Good," Professor Dovey announced.
The Ever girls started to chant, "Evers! Evers! Evers!" Aneira plugged in her ears to draw out the noise. Another woman, who donned a suit and red hair, walked to stand in front of Dovey.
"And I'm Lady Lesso, Dean of the School for Evil," She announced as well.
The Nevers shouted and pointed at the Evers, "Kill you! Kill you! Kill you!"
Dovey tapped her staff on the floor to silence the students. Aneira removed her fingers from her ears to listen to Dovey. She already grew to be quite fond of the woman.
"As per tradition, the winning school from last year— Us again. Imagine that!" Dovey says, stopping half way to tease Lesso, "Will now grace us all with a display of their chivalrous talents."
"Gentlemen!"
And at the sound of Clarissa tapping her staff on the floor once again, dozens of Ever boys marched into the hall. The Ever girls went wild, but the Nevers booed and made faces at them.
Aneira tried so hard not to join the Nevers in their mockery. It was boring. Extremely boring.
A red-haired boy drops his sword in front of Aneira. Wanting to help him, she uses her magic to make it fly closer to him so he wouldn't have to move that much to retrieve it. She smiled at him, a gesture he returned to her. He seemed nice.
At the end of their little "dance", the Ever boys stroked a pose. A pose of all things. The boys lined up and grabbed roses in their hidden pockets, then threw them at the screaming Ever girls.
Aneira didn't get a single rose. She expected that to happen anyways. A boy whistles from a nearby balcony above.
The boy was cute. His hair was dark brown, and his eyes were green. He leaned over the balcony and held on to a rope. "If you boys are finished with dance class, maybe you'd like to have a real fight," He says.
"What do you say?" He asked. Then he jumped from the balcony. The rope he used made the fall much easier for him to make sure he landed safely. He slid underneath the Ever boys then stood.
"It's Tedros!" A girl beside Aneira squealed.
Tedros drew his sword, which the Ever boys followed suit, so Tedros decided on not using his sword. Whose son was he anyway? Some boring, stuck up King?
"You know what? Let's make it easy for you," He says, putting up his fists. Aneira couldn't help but laugh at him. There was no way he was going to win.. was he?
"Charge!" All of the Ever boys shouted. Tedros knocked a few of the boys charging at him down fairly quickly. Aneira had to admit that he was good, really good. She bet if she was the one fighting the boys, she'd knock them down before they took their first step towards her.
"Nice work, fellas," Tedros said after he won the fight.
"Let's see how you do in a real fight, pretty boy," One of the Never boys says. Aneira eyed the Never boy suspiciously. "Prepare to die!" The boy continued.
A giant cyclops stood up from behind him. Aneira could feel the small fear Tedros felt. She'd pity him if he lost. As they stood on opposite sides of each other, Tedros drew his sword, and it glowed gold.
The sword felt familiar to Aneira.
It took her a moment to recognize what the sword was. Her mother and father told her tales about it and even kept their very own. It was Excalibur, the famous sword from the tales of King Arthur.
But that means... Tedros is his son.
Tedros stabs his glowing sword into the ground, causing his opponent to go flying backwards. The sword was powerful and Aneira understood why he didn't use it before.
Lesso's finger lit up brightly and the ax Tedros's opponent had lit up in flames. The cyclops fought pretty well and Aneira feared that he would lose the fight. Tedros unfortunately lost Excalibur and was now vulnerable.
If only..
Lifting up her hand, by only just a little bit so no one can see, Aneira formed a small patch of ice on the ground. The cyclops unknowingly ran towards Aneira's ice and slipped.
"Yes!" She whispered to herself. The flaming ax flew into the air. As the Cyclops attempted to get up, the ax sliced a clean cut through his arm.
The Evers cheered for the Prince, but Aneira felt bad about the Cyclops's fate. She uses her magic discreetly again to reattach his arm for him. Dovey taps her staff into the ground to congratulate Tedros.
Tedros turned to the Ever girls and took out a rose. For just a moment, Aneira hoped his rose was thrown to her.
Tedros turns and spots Sophie. Aneira's hopes of receiving a rose were broken. Of course he was swooned by Sophie's beauty.
But suddenly, Tedros threw the rose, and it landed on Aneira's lap. He walked towards her with a full intent to take it back.
"Excuse me, milady. I believe—," Tedros says, only to be cut off by Aneira.
"That I don't belong here? Yeah, I know," She picked up the rose off of her lap. Sighing, she examines it. "I don't want your stupid rose anyway," She scoffed.
"Oh, and by the way, this is what a normal girl looks like. Which normal to you is one of these Princesses," She ranted. Aneira felt her powers build up within her. She was more focused on going off on Tedros to even realize the rose had been frozen over.
"He intended it for me. Normal girl," A girl says, leaning down to Aneira's face. She was too afraid to grab the rose, so Aneira was left with it.
"There's an open seat next to me, Teddy," The girl said. Tedros glances at Aneira. He got a little closer to her and leaned forward.
"And, for the record, you don't know what I was about to say, but—. Nice try," He says, then smiles before going to sit next to the other girl. Aneira tosses the frozen rose on the floor, causing it to shatter to pieces.
"In these two schools, we will take away any confusion and make your souls as pure as possible. Pure good!" Dovey says to break the sudden silence.
"Or pure evil," Lesso cuts in.
"Future heroes and villains, you have been chosen to protect and maintain the balance between Good and Evil. For if that balance is ever compromised—."
"—I don't think we need to get into that just now with our new friends, do we?" A bald man, who wore glasses and robes, spoke. Aneira felt the pure power radiating off of the man. "It's such a happy first day. Let's not be downers, hmm?" The man continued.
"Besides, I'm sure this new class will perform exceptionally well," He explained, walking towards the two Deans of the schools. He continued on, "And like your parents before you, you are all here because the world of story needs great heroes and villains to teach the people of the outside world to make choices to find their way."
"So, obey the rules, study hard, and remember, the Storian only chooses the very best of our students for their own adventure," He says.
"But what if we've been dropped at the wrong school?" Sophie asked, standing from her seat.
"Or there's been a mistake and we need to go home immediately," Aneira added. If he was as powerful as Aneira felt, he should give the girls a solid answer. No, a more satisfying answer.
"There are no mistakes in the School for Good and Evil, so have a nice semester," The man replied.
Aneira watched as the man left. She also felt dozens of eyes, both from Nevers and Evers, staring directly at her and Sophie.
Well, this wasn't going to end well.
༇
𝗮/𝗻:
and so it begins
#aneiros