ei. Hey, Fei!" A poke. "You don't want to be late for your first day of classes!"

Fei groaned and rolled over to get a glimpse of her clock. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "I'm not going to be late. It's six in the morning, classes don't start until nine."

"Yeah, but don't you want to get food from the kitchen before everyone crowds in?"

"It wasn't that bad of a rush last night."

"That's because we were all setting up together and we were late. Breakfast is a whole other story." Fei could hear Rosalina shifting from foot to foot. "It's kind of an every man - and woman - for herself kind of situation. The kitchen isn't that big so if you don't get in and out in a matter of minutes, you'll get stuck in there until the other twelve people clear out."

With a sigh, Fei flipped her covers off of her and reluctantly rolled off of the bed. She'd never been much of a morning person, mostly due to the fact that she could never fall asleep at a decent time. Fei gathered her clothes and went to the bathroom to change. Fei hadn't been ecstatic about having to wear a uniform while attending Longwei Academy but at least it made getting dressed in the morning a little easier.

"You know, I was thinking about your heritage last night - I couldn't sleep. I'm pretty sure I've read some books that at least mentioned your family name. I think it was... A Guide to the Great War? Or something like that, some big book from the campus library. Was one of your ancestors Zhù Yìfēi?"

"Uh, yeah, she was like my... great-great-grandmother or something?" Fei pulled the door open, brushing her hair. "I was partially named after her because she was one of my most honoured ancestors, though I don't really know why."

"Wow! Your great-great-grandmother was awesome! Did you know she led the Chinese sector - sorry, it's called the Eastern Region now - in the Great War? She and her dragon cut down some of the forces that threatened to wipe out the human population on the old North American... uh... Island? I think it's called the Western Region now... Anyway, she and her dragon also took down some of the weaponry that the humans had developed to work against the good guys!" Rosalina grimaced. "Poor humans, don't even know what's good for them. No wonder some of the supernatural beings wanted to eradicate them once they found out about us."

The pair made their way to the kitchen, grabbing a box of cereal, milk, two spoons and bowls. The main floor was dead quiet. Fei didn't think they boys were even awake yet. She ate with a slight frown on her face. She hated mornings. "What do we have in first period?"

Rosalina pulled a small notebook from her skirt pocket and ripped a piece out, scribbling something down. "Here's a list of the classes we'll have together."

"History, Weaponry, Human Studies, Dragon Training? What are those?"

"History has to do with the Great War and everything that has happened since then - everyone needs to take it because it goes more in depth each time you move up a level. Weaponry is learning the basic knowledge of weapons that are offered at the Academy. It's especially important for us because we use weapons mainly if your power fails you or is not suitable for a certain environment. If you're one of the Powerless, you begin to specialize in weapons. Human Studies is a big class that covers all the subjects humans cover in their schools in mini sections so we don't forget what we learned in their schools and it helps us blend in if we're stationed outside of the Academy. Dragon Training. That class... it's not really my favourite but it's definintely not as bad as History. It's where you learn how to handle dragons."

"They still exist?"

"Of course! This school is a sanctuary for them as well! Somewhere on campus they're hidden for their own protection. People try to look in the forest for them but no one has actually even seen one except for during the classes."

"How many are there? Do they have mates? How old are they? Do we get to ride them?"

Rosalina laughed at Fei's sudden explosion of excitement. "The only thing I know is that there is one dragon. He's the one who always comes to the class. But we're not allowed to ride him since dragons usually only allow their Rider to ride them."

Fei deflated. "What's the point of that class then?"

"Every year there's a Choosing Ceremony where randomly selected students are taken to the forest for a few hours to see if they're chosen. They're not allowed to say what they've seen. Most people come back not having seen anything, anyway. Although, I think Junmyeon once said that he heard a roar the last time he went to the forest... Anyway, let's stop with the dragon talk for now. The other class you'll attend until you find your power is Power Discovery, it's pretty self explanatory."

"Wait, wait. Back up to the Choosing Ceremony - so there could be multiple dragons and Riders that we don't know about on campus?"

"Of course, but I think that there can't be more than the one - it would be fairly hard to hide a horde of dragons, even in a forest as large as the one on the school grounds. I don't think that he has a Rider yet either or we wouldn't have the ceremony every year."

At that moment, Yixing entered the room with a sleepy smile on his face, sitting down at the table next to Rosalina. "Morning, girls. What are you up to?" He reached for the cereal and poured some out onto the table.

Fei piped up, "Dragons! Why didn't anyone tell me before that we'd be learning about dragons? Yixing, do you ever think you'd be a Dragon Rider? They sound so cool!"

Yixing snorted, almost choking on a piece of cereal. "Nope. Never really appealed to me, mostly because-"

A whack on his head in the form of a rolled up newspaper silenced him as a voice cut in. "Beacause you're forgetful and would probably expose all of dragon-kind?"

"With all the head-whackings I get, I'm not surprised I'm so forgetful," Yixing muttered, rubbing the top of his head.

Yifan rolled his eyes before disappearing into the kitchen.

"Are you excited for your first day?" Yixing asked, placing another piece of cereal into his mouth.

"Yes! I hope I get to see a real live dragon! I'm sure he's quite the majestic beast."

A snicker came from the boy with the pretty hands, Baekhyun, as he entered the dining room with a couple other boys. "Trust me, he's more 'beast' than 'majestic'. He mostly stands in one place because otherwise he'd just trip over his big, fat- Ow!"

A spoon went sailing out of the kitchen and hit Baekhyun directly on the nose.

"Kkaepsong."

Baekhyun went marching into the kitchen after Yifan, yelling profanities. Yixing continued to pick at his cereal, now throwing them in the air and trying to catch them in his mouth. Despite all the yelling, he didn't seem inclined to rescue Yifan from Baekhyun's rage. Even Rosalina didn't seem phased by their little exchange. Fei supposed arguments were frequent in the EXO house.

"Baekhyun! Put that rolling pin down! Kyungsoo will kill you if you break the kitchen!" Yifan yelped. "I-I'm warning you-!"

"You hit me in the nose, you !" A loud crash followed Baekhyun's outraged declaration. Fei hoped they'd be able to work something out before someone died or caused the house to collapse.

"That's pretty much our cue to leave." Rosalina and Chanyeol stood up, leaving their dishes on the table. "Just leave your bowl here - whoever is the last person to eat gets to put them all in the sink and we all wash dishes our own dishes later. We could get to class early," Rosalina glanced quickly at Chanyeol. "for once."

The trio made their way out of the dorm building and into the sunshine. Since it was still only seven in the morning there still weren't many students out and about. Thank goodness - Fei wouldn't have to worry about the people around her. 

"So where do our classes take place? Is it like any other human school?"

"There's a large building where there are regular classrooms for the boring subjects like Human Studies and History. There's a training arena with both indoor and outdoor practice space for Weaponry class and mock battles at the centre of campus. After that, there really aren't any huge buildings for classes, only a few smaller ones for all the different Elemental disciplines. There aren't many people who can control the elements but there's one building for each of the elements. The Dragon Training classes usually take place on the edge of the forest." Chanyeol supplied.

"I see. Wait, if the Great War is over and the people who caused it are dead, why does this school even exist? Why do people need combat training? I get that the world isn't all peaceful and everything but why go to all this trouble?"

"The war might be over but there are still people who think humans don't deserve to be the dominant species on Earth. Some creatures still want the extermination of the human race. I don't really understand why though. We've got enough to worry about with all the demons and such running around. Humans are far less troublesome than demons."

"Demons? What in the heck are you talking about?"

"Okay, well they're not really demons, since they don't have any connection to what humans call 'Hell' but we're not all that sure what to call them besides that. And before you ask, no, there aren't any angels, at least, not that I know of."

"So if the other students aren't Elementals, what are they?"

"Well, we're not exactly sure what caused the mutations but they just seem to happen. Somehow these physical changes just exist. Historians think that almost all magical creatures originated either from dragons or witches depending on what their their species is. No witches exist today so we can't really question them and Dragon Riders are never revealed so they can't give anyone any information. People think that the immortals souls of Dragon Riders came from witches who cast an imperfect immortality spell on themselves but lost most of their magic in the process except for one ability to control an element. Anyone who can shift forms or has animal features came from dragons who were thought to be able to transform into any animal." Chanyeol stopped at one of the stone buildings. "Wel, this is my first class. Take good care of Fei, Rosie. See you guys later!"

Rosalina and Fei both waved as the giant left their little group. They continued on until they reached the largest building that Fei had seen on-campus. The double doors had a giant silver sign with the school's logo above them. The dragon curled around the crest seemed to sneer down at Fei, almost like it knew that she didn't belong. Fei tried to shake off her fear and entered the building after her roommate.

"Ugh, that Literature class was boring. Remind me again why we have to even take that class?" Fei groaned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She hated that, despite the new, magic-filled school, she still had to take regular subjects in her Human Studies class. Thankfully, the classes weren't too difficult, yet. Currently she was on her way with the rest of the beginners to the indoor training facility. Fei didn't really know much about weapons except what was taught in her human gym class like archery and a few throwing events.

"Alright class! Today we have a new student. Please go to your designated areas for today while I work with our new student to find her niche." The weapons coach was a very nice lady probably in her forties, who had a sparkle of mischief, pride and joy when she spoke about the differently weapons that the facility housed. She was extremely knowledgeable and confessed that she favoured hand-to-hand combat the most which, funnily enough, didn't involve any weapons whatsoever.

"So will I get my own weapon once I choose one?" Fei asked.

"Normally, if a student has a preference for a weapon that an old family member once owned, families will pass them down; they're usually quite valuable. If you don't then your family may invest in a new weapon for you. The school doesn't receive enough funding to provide each student with a weapon, especially not one that will give the best performance. Now, do you think you have any preferences?"

"Um... I know how to use a bow and arrow because it was taught in my human school."

Mrs. Jang pursed her lips before picking up a small sword and handed it to Fei. "You seem to have good biceps and triceps. Perhaps a sword would be best?"

Fei struggled to keep the sword pointed upward, her wrists unable to handle the heavy metal.

"Perhaps you're more of a distance atacker? Try this?"

An old fashion sling was placed into her hands but this didn't feel quite right either. Fei nearly took off the head of one of her classmates by accident when the sling went flying out of her hand while she spun it around to gain momentum.

"Alright, let's try something more stationary then."

Finally, a small throwing knife was handed to Fei. It fit fairly nicely in her hand and was lightweight. She tossed one at a target a couple of feet away, the blade sinking shallowly into the wood. "This feels alright."

Mrs. Jang grinned. "I think we've found a winner! So I suppose you're good at range-attacks with your aim. I think you could alternate between archery and throwing knives then. We've got a few Masters who could come and give you some lessons once in a while. I saw you come in with Rosalina so you can go now and join her if you wish since it's your first day."

Fei jogged over to her friend with a large grin plastered on her face. "Hey! Guess who found her weapons area!"

Rosalina paused her practice with her staff to smile at Fei. "That's awesome! What did you end up picking?"

"Archery and knives!"

"Interesting..."

"What is it?"

"I just thought... Oh well."

"What? What did you think?"

"This may sound crazy but... I thought you might be a staff-wielder like me. I think I'd read somewhere that one of you ancestors also favoured a staff, though I don't think it was blade-less like mine. Would you like to try sparring with me?"

"Uh, well I haven't ever really used a staff before and I'm pretty sure you're just going to kick my ." Fei was slightly taller than Rosalina and where she was slender and cute, Fei was rather gangly and sturdy. She picked up a staff leaning against the wall, thinking about how embarrassing it would be for her to lose to her small roommate.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly. The first person to five touches wins?"

"Um, yeah. That sounds alright."

Rosalina went into a lunging position, gripping her staff with both hands at waist height, pointing one end at Fei. Fei tried to mimick her stance but couldn't lunge as low. Fei didn't even register that Rosalina had moved before she was hit in the shoulder by the end of Rosalina's staff. "One," she said before returning to her original position.

This time Fei didn't mimick Rosalina and she quickly blocked the attack that was aimed at her shoulder. She applied pressure to prevent Rosalina's staff from touching her but nearly fell on her face when the girl was suddenly gone. A smack rang out as the staff connected with Fei's hip.

"You have lots of natural strength but working with a staff is basically hand-to-hand combat; it's as much a mind game as a physical one. In order to beat me, you'll need to have quick reflexes and a little something else since speed is one of my only advantages against a larger and equally as smart opponent. Even though you chose archery and throwing kn