"Hey, sleepy head!", called Charles from the bottom of the bunk beds. "It's orientation for the academy today. A golden boy like you should be on his toes for an event like this.", mumbled Charles as he was barely rolling out of bed himself. With that said, mentally forced himself out of bed and gradually walked towards the bathroom to prepare for the day. "Isn't the Emperor himself coming to give us a speech Charles?", yelled Roland as the showers sprayed water in a fury. "That's what the rumors say, but they are rumors after all. Honestly, with all the Librarium academies scattered across the globe why would the Emperor want to visit this one?", Curiously asked Charles with a puzzled tone in his voice. "Might be another speech on the importance of safeguarding magic and all that other rabble, but you know as well as I do who follows the Emperor wherever he goes.", Roland answered back. "The Wings of Justice...", gulped Charles. "You know, you should probably stop asking me questions right about now and get dressed yourself. It's our first year here at the academy and I'd hate to leave a bad impression on the professors. I will be the greatest wizard the Librarium has ever seen. Have I said this before Charles?", asked Roland condescendingly. "Yes Roland, you only remind me every single day, but we've wasted enough time already. If we keep this chatter up we'll surely be late!", yelled Charles, and with that in mind the two boys quickly washed, got dressed, ate their meals and proceeded to the inner sanctum of the academy.
With the flood of other students pouring into the inner sanctum, the masses of bodies squirmed and squeezed their way to find a seat. As Roland and Charles searched a seat themselves, a girl with light brown hair put into a neat ponytail and a happy-go-lucky demeanor skipped her way over to greet them. "Morning gentleman, I'm pleasantly surprised to see you two actually made it on time.", cracked Charlotte with a teasing demeanor. "Honestly, does sleeping in on one of the most important days of our lives really surprised you?", questioned Roland. "Now that you think about it, no, it hardly does", smirked Charlotte with a small laugh. This band of three boasted and laughed as much as they could until members of the Wings of Justice made their way to their seats on top of the stage. Their golden masks glimmered in the light. Majestic and intimidating. The masses of students quickly came to a dreaded silence. The Emperor made his way down behind them, regal robes and scars ran down his face. He may have been an aristocrat all his life, but he had seen his share of warfare in the Oxford Conflict.
"Young wizards and witches, let me begin by saying how much joy it brings to an old man's heart to see such fresh and eager minds enter the halls of one of the Librarium's academies. This is a special day for you all that you'll all remember fondly when you all see your children entering these same halls. Magic is a gift to mankind, but it is also a burden. Only the brightest of humanity can be trusted with this precious gift. If we were to simply let every single human on the face of the earth gain access to magic, the circumstances could be astronomical. Therefore, it is imperative that you all try to understand this at an early age: the entire human population is not ready to handle the responsibility that comes with magic.", with this said, all the students in the sanctum applauded. The Wings of Justice bowed and escorted the Emperor back behind the scenes of the Librarium.
With the excitement of magic flowing in the minds of all the young wizards and witches, the year passed by within the blink of an eye. Roland was making leaps and strides to become top of his class. His aptitude for magic was marked above average and was even being considered to be inducted into the Wings of Justice. Charles didn't share the same kind of ambition Roland did and decided to study in order to become a professor since helping others was something he could happily see himself doing for the rest of his life. Charlotte would follow the same path as Charles and continue her education in order to become a professor herself. Everyone's lives seemed like they were going to be perfect fits for them, but things didn't go exactly as everyone had hoped.
"We're going to pay a visit to some of the civilians in London for your first mission.", growled one of Roland's senior officers. Roland looked around the surroundings and was quite disgusted with what he saw. Buildings once glamorous and proud were reduced to rubble and the locals wore mostly rags and tattered old clothing long in need of replacements. Once they caught sight of Roland's uniform and golden mask, terror filled their eyes and ran furiously in the other direction. Just ahead were giant protests with makeshift signs such as "Down With The Emperor" and "Why Can't We Have Magic". While Roland was considered to be a diligently loyal soldier of the Librarium, he wished sometimes that magic could be shared with humanity, seeing as how much of the population lived like refugees and the plague was making a deadly comeback. "Let me show you how to deal with upstarts. Remember this." The senior officer leaped towards the crowd and immediately started snapping his fingers which produced multiple explosions near the protesters. The point of this was to try and frighten them, but a large portion refused to back down. The protesters charged the officer with rusty repair tools which the officer could only snicker at. "Fools", he muttered to himself before encasing the protesters in ice with elemental magic. One by one, the senior officer walked up to the frozen statues that used to be people and kicked them over. A horrified expression was painted on Roland's face as he watched what used to be people break into a hundred pieces as they smashed into the ground. "They never said anything about this at the academy..."
To Be Continued...
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