Life at Lixierra academy was never the same after the attack. Classes had resumed after the few days of mourning, and even as everyone tried to go on with their daily lives as usual, the atmosphere was heavy and tense.

It had already been two weeks since the royals – or rather one royal- decided the seniors will join the ranks in battle if necessary. Ever since then, our classes had intensified and our professors had taken it upon themselves to train us for the war. Our martial arts classes were doubled, moving to four times a week instead of two. Running laps around the academy had become mandatory for all students every day and our PE professors made sure that we ran 2 miles before classes and 2 miles after the school day had ended. They had told us it was necessary to build up our stamina and increase our energy reserves, and soon after we had found out why that was. Magic classes had been accelerated as well, and we had begun to learn more advanced spells and charms. We had stopped relying on our basic elements – something we were supposed to learn slowly during the second semester- and the spells and incantations we had begun to practice had been draining thus our increase in PE activities. When we had first began to train like soldiers, I had had a panic attack thinking that there was no way in hell that I would be able to keep up with this rigorous training, but a few days into the new system I had been surprised to notice that I had been adjusting just fine. My body had accepted the new additions to my training and even though I would sometimes get some serious headaches thanks to some advanced spells, I had found that I adjusted well. My private sessions with Mr. Blackthorn had doubled as well, and we had begun to meet twice a day every day, sometimes even three times. My magic had been surprisingly present. About three days after the meeting, I had met with Mr. Blackthorn by the Poseidon fountain after curfew. I had asked him if we were allowed to be here at such late hours and he had told me he had cleared it with the council because I had to train harder than my classmates to strengthen my magic. That night, he had asked me to raise the water from the fountain and twirl it around, saying that I should have control over my second element by now. I had rolled my eyes at him, thinking that if I had no control over my fire, how would he expect me to control water? But to my surprise, after a few tries, I had been able to do as he instructed. I had laughed like a five year old as I had played with the fountain, the water following my every move. After that night I had noticed that my magic had become easier to access and control. Mr. Blackthorn had said that it was probably thanks to the breakthrough with my second element, that the mystic in me had been awakened. I had no idea if that was even remotely true, but I had been too excited with the power of my fire and water to question his theory.

But the past two weeks weren’t all about magic and energy reserves. As much as I was afraid to admit it, I had started to feel at home here at the academy. My roommates were as fun as ever, and despite clashing with Hyuna too many times for my liking especially during class, I had found that I felt happy and at ease. Even though he had offered his friendship, things between Chanyeol and I were still a tad bit awkward. We had hung out a few times with Kira, Rose, Suho and Baekhyun – much to Hyuna’s dismay- but other than that we maintained our distance. It was definitely something that would have bothered me, but I had been occupied with someone else. Kiseop and I had been going out almost every day for the past couple of weeks. I had no idea how we managed to find the time what with our rigorous training and my extra magic lessons, but we somehow managed to sneak out. He had taken me everywhere, from the fancy royal restaurants and clubs in Coleste to early morning hikes in the mountains –“we’re technically working on our stamina so our professors would probably be proud instead of angry.” He had said when I had questioned our departure from school unsupervised. - To picnics on the beach at sunset. I had gotten to know him better during our night talks by the lake which had become our usual meeting spot. He had told me about his family, his brothers and his pet dog Lenis –which apparently was Latin for gentle breeze- about his adventures in Halitus as a kid and his dreams of becoming a council member in his kingdom. I had asked him about his title, since he was a prince wouldn’t that mean he would become a king? “It doesn’t work like that for us. We have queens not kings, so the female mystics are the leaders of our kingdoms. The only way for me to become a king is to marry the next queen.” He had smirked as he told me that bit of information, revealing that the next queen of Halitus was currently 10 years old, and his cousin.

I had done my best to share what I could with him, avoiding topics about my childhood since I had no memories of that time. I had come to find comfort in our talks despite not having complete freedom to share everything with him. He could feel that I wasn’t completely honest with him but he hadn’t tried to pressure me into anything. He had been gentle, caring and charming, and so when two nights ago when we had asked me to be his girlfriend while we sat by the beach admiring the gorgeous sunset, I had said yes. He had smiled then, a genuine warm smile that was worlds different from his usual smirk, and he had wrapped his arms around my waist. He had looked at me like I was the most precious thing in the world, and when his lips had met mine in a soft yet passionate kiss; everything had felt alright with the world.

“Wake up, lazy bones. You’re going to be late for class.” Rose said as she pulled the blanket off of me. She had been trying to wake me up for the past fifteen minutes and when I didn’t comply, she snatched my warm comforter off of me, leaving my legs exposed to the chill morning air. September was coming to an end and with the change of seasons came the short days, long nights and cold breeze. I glanced at my clock and gasped when I saw that it was already 5:15 am. Our first class –PE- started every day at 5:30 am which was incredibly excruciating. Waking up at the crack of dawn from Monday to Friday just so we could run for 2 hours in the cold morning breeze was a new form of torture the academy had decided to put us through when the standards 2 mile run was upped to 3.5 miles. I was sure this new policy breached at least a dozen human rights but I wasn’t sure if our kind even cared for those.

“Another late date night with prince charming?” Rose said as I groaned and got off the bed. “You should really set your priorities straight.”

“What do you mean?” I gave her an annoyed look. It was too early in the morning for a lecture.

“I don’t know; maybe leave your dates for the weekend instead of sneaking in at 2 am only to be waking up at 5.” Rose smirked.

“I’m fine, Rose.” I headed for the bathroom and started brushing my teeth.

“Sure you are.” She shrugged. “I’ll see you downstairs, hurry up.”

I quickly finished washing my face and put on my gym clothes. I put my hair in messy bun as I hurried down the stairs to meet up with my roommates.

“You look like .” Kira let out as soon as she saw me.

“Good morning to you too.” I grabbed a piece of toast and shoved it down as I put on my running shoes.

“Let’s go, we don’t want to be late.” Rose opened the main door.

“Yeah, Professor Salvatore is so not a morning person.” Kira said as she walked out.

To say that I was in a crappy mood would be an understatement. Running for two hours straight was terrible on its own, but add to it the fact that I was hungry and was running on 3 hours of sleep and you have a trifecta for disaster. As soon as we were done with our mandatory torture, we headed for our rooms to shower and change. Our usual classes got pushed to 9 am instead of 8 so we can have time to clean up and have breakfast in the cafeteria and so when Rose, Kira and I were done with our showers, we headed for breakfast in silence. W