Lóngwēi International Academy
/ CHAPTER 1 / W here exactly are we going?"

The transporter didn't answer. The entire ride had been much the same. The transporter, despite what the Longwei acceptance letter had said, did not answer any of Fei's questions. Fei had initially thought that perhaps it was because he wasn't sociable but soon found that not to be true - he had conversed with the driver on several occasions throughout the long ride. Maybe he just didn't like her. If she didn't think it was rude, Fei would have asked to sit up front with the driver to see if he would answer any questions or if he'd at leart turn on the radio to make the trip less awkward for her. Fei couldn't help but wish her parents could've taken her to the new school instead. Though Fei was excited to be living in dorms and living independent from home, she knew she'd miss her family, especially her sister. They weren't the type to show a lot of affection but still, she wished that she could've said goodbye. Fei very much regretted not being able to say goodbye to her dad.

"We are nearly there, Miss Zhu."

"Great." Fei was curious as to how the transporter knew this, seeing as the windows of the car were tinted so dark that it was impossible to see out of them. Perhaps he had made this journey many times and could simply just remember how long the journey took. Fei had noticed that much of the driving had been on a gravel road. At first, she had thought that this was all an elaborate set up and that she was being kidnapped but quickly ruled that out as her mother had been waiting for this day to arrive for a long time.

"Either a Master or Senior will lead you to your dorm room."

"Alright." Fei didn't bother asking what a "Master" or "Senior" was since he probably wouldn't answer. Fei assumed it was part of some sort of ranking system, but how it worked was still a complete mystery to her.

The car began to slow and came to a full stop, someone opening the car door. Fei stepped out, mumbling a quiet "thank you" to the person, her head tilted slightly down in respect.

"Don't just stand there!" a girlish voice snapped, "Follow me." When Fei lifted her head, the girl who had short red hair was already walking away. Fei hoped not all the students were like her.

"But my bags-"

"They will be taken to your dorm by the transporter. Keep up, will you?" the girl huffed. She wore a plain white dress shirt with a grey pleated skirt that sat just above her knee and her hair was in a high, tight ponytail. Just looking at it gave Fei a head ache. "I'm not your babysitter, got it? I'm just taking you to your dorm so don't bother talking to me until you've at least become an intermediate student."

"An intermediate?"

"Ugh, new kids. Look here, there's a hierarchy around this place. You see this?" The girl turned to walk backwards so Fei could see her pointing to a silver symbol pinned to her shirt. "This diamond-shaped pin means I'm a Junior; someone who has achieved a high skill level. You on the other hand will receive a circle pin for Beginners. You will not advance to the next level, triangle, until your skills exceed that of a Beginner. By the looks of you, that won't be anytime soon."

"Skills? What skills?" So many questions bounced around in Fei's head, needing to be answered, but it seemed as though this girl was finished speaking to her. Would no one answer the questions she had?

As they continued further in to the campus, Fei began to scan her surroundings so she might be able to remember the school layout and find her classes tomorrow. The buildings were magnificent, composed of a light stone and built in the shapes of miniature castles. The students all wore the same semi-formal looking uniforms. The boys wore dress shirts, some with either a grey blazer, sweater vest or cardigan over top with matcing grey dress pants. Some boys even had bow ties or neck ties in a variety of colours and patterns. The girl's outfits were much the same but with more options. Some of the dress shirts were plain, some had ruffles on it, some had a small bow around the neck, and some had a combination of both ruffles and a bow. The options for outerwear were the same for both genders. There were girls who had skirts with or without suspenders and there were those who wore dress pants like the boys. Each student had a pin on the front of their uniform, no matter what variant of uniform they were wearing. Fei noticed some students with a circle pin being led around by other students with a diamond pin. Majority of the students had diamond shaped pins.

"So how long did it take you to- oof!"

"God, why was I assigned to such a clumsy beginner?" the red-haired girl complained.

"I'm really sorry, are you okay?" a boy with light brown hair and a kind face asked, offering his hand to Fei.

"Yeah, sorry for being so careless." Fei took the boy's hand and allowed him to help her off the ground.

"Hello? Can we get going?" the girl with the red hair asked. "I don't have all day."

"Mei, if you have somewhere you need to be, I can take over her tour from here," the boy offered.

"Fine by me." Without so much as a look back, the girl, Mei, walked off.

"I'm Kim Junmyeon, by the way."

"Hi, I'm Zhù Gòng Fēi." Fei bit her lip. "While I appreciate you offering to take over my tour, I don't have any idea as to where my dorm is."

"Don't worry, I sometimes volunteer in the main office of the school. I was one of the people who handled your file and acceptance letter. I know where your dorm is - you were in the "special cases" files and we only have two buildings for students with that designation - not that we even have enough people to fill one house."

Fei suddenly recalled something important that she had been wanting to ask. "Junmyeon, ever since I received my letter there's something I haven't been able to understand. I don't see how this school can list me as a special case."

"Why is that?"

"Well, I didn't even send in an application to this school; I didn't even know it existed. I mean, I know my mom had been expecting a letter to come for me but I don't think she sent one in for me either."

Junmyeon simply smiled. "This is not a school one applies for, it is one that seeks out students with potential, potential that students may not know they even have."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Look around you."

Fei shot Junmyeon a doubtful look but decided to humour him. She scanned the crowd as they continued to walk and only then did she notice that some people had some subtle, yet strange, physical attributes, ones she had not even payed attention to during her first survey of the crowd. One such person had small animal ears poking out of the top of their head, barely noticable. Another person's hands were glowing with a soft light. Fei's eyes widened as she looked back to Junmyeon with fearful eyes. "What's going on here?"

"I'm sure you've got a fairly good guess."

"This is some sort of 'gotcha'? Some prank you pull on the new kid?"

"You said your mother had been waiting for this day for a long time, right? It's unfortunate that your mother didn't tell you about this place, though, if you didn't have the Sight until recently, I can see how she might avoid telling you about things that were seemingly not there. I mean, I don't think there are a lot of hybrids or other creatures on the Outside so there wouldn't have been a lot of chances for you to discover your Sight. As the great-great-granddaughter of an Elemental, I thought you might have gotten your Sight earlier."

Fei's head had begun to spin. Junmyeon had just dropped a huge bomb on her without giving her time to process it all properly. "Wait, wait. An Elemental? What nonsense are you spewing?"

"It's not nonsense. You're special, just like me, just like all of the kids here. Why do you think we seek out people, rather than take applications? We've all had to hide since the Great War-"

"The Great War?" Fei was beginning to raise her voice. She couldn't handle the influx of new information, he was referring to too many things she knew little about.

"Yes, the war where dragons, witches, and all sorts of other creatures fought to protect humanity?"

"That's only... that's only a story." Fei knew she was being silly, the proof that this was very much real was right in front of her. She attempted to shake off the shock of it all. "My grandmother used to tell me about the Great War. I thought they were just stories or that she was slowly losing grip on reality with her age. I always asked her why there weren't dragons or people with super powers. She would say that they needed to go in to hiding, that humans couldn't be trusted to not take advantage of the people who were different."

Junmyeon'so eyes flickered with sadness. "She wasn't wrong. Humans hadn't known about magic until the Great War. When it was revealed, they were hunted down to be used as weapons or slaughtered out of fear. The horror of it all wasn't unlike that of their human wars, the worst of them being the First World War and the Second World War. As usual, humans couldn't be trusted with power that great. They had a quotation once from a movie: 'With great power, comes great responsibility.' Humans abuse any power they have."

"So, they expect me to have some power like my ancestor?"

"It's possible. Not everyone does. Those who are descended from Elementals, the ones with the power to control the four elements, may develop the same affinity or a power loosely related to the element of their ancestor or are born with a slight physical advantage over normal humans. It is common for this occurrence to skip a generation."

Fei was suddenly curious about this boy, Junmyeon, walking beside her. He didn't look out of the ordinary. In fact, he looked very ordinary. His hair was light brown and he wasn't too tall. He didn't have strange eyes or any extra animal parts. "Can you do anything?"

Junmyeon laughed quietly. "Yes."

"Can you show me?"

"It is not allowed for most students to perform magic or use their powers outside of class. I simply prefer not to use it - the source of my power needs to be extracted from another source so it can cause damage to others if I'm not careful."

Fei nodded. She hoped that she would develop a power and be as mindful as Junmyeon.

"Well, this is us." Junmyeon had stopped in front of a building, smaller than most of the other castles. It only had two stories and looked like it would house no more than ten people. She hoped they were nice.

"Us?"

"Of course, remember? I'm also a special case. We'll be house-mates from now on." Junmyeon fished out a thin key and unlocked the door with an amused smile before dropping the key into Fei's hand. "This will be your temporary key to the overall dorm. Do not give it to anyone else. Trust me, there most definitely are people who would like to mess with Elementals. It would be a disaster. Once you receive your student pin sometime tomorrow, you'll need to return the key to me. Your pin will act as an access key to the dorm. All you need to do is have it on you and buildings that you're authorized to enter w