Fun and safe trip? Safe was a checked box. But fun was not a word to describe his current experience. The word that fit would’ve been boring. Boring to the point of near death.

  Damon has been lying on his bed staring blankly at the ceiling of his room, bored out of his mind for the majority of the trip. He couldn’t do anything right now. He tried meditating but that soon became boring as well.

  It’s been two days since the trip started and he saw not one of the people he could be comfortable talking to. Gina was busy learning about creatures they would be learning when they get to Flow City and Rider and Nessa being in the same class were doing the same.

  Damon wished he could do the same and learn while on the trip but the class was strictly Diamond Class students. And he was far from the title. But he did find some things that were able to help him pass the time. One of them being his visits to Professor Orion who would amuse him with other interesting parts of History or he would answer questions he was curious about. But during those times, he would only be given one answer before the old man felt tired. Something he didn’t notice until after the second day. So he chose to ask him a question that would be helpful for him now. So he asked “What is Flow City like?”

  And the old man answered.

  Flow City was the ancestral home of the Ancient House of Flow. The city was of similar design to the Academy, some say the design was based on the Academy of Elementals but the pride of the House wouldn’t say that.

  Like the Academy, Flow City was located high up in the sky on the top of Windy Mountain. A name earned after the Mountain was discovered to have thousands of caverns occasionally blowing out winds-some strong, some weak- from inside the mountains. Another oddity was that the caverns were all placed on one side, facing towards the east.

  Some say it was to blow away their enemies, some say it was to keep flying Elemental Beasts from landing on the mountain, while others say it was to make sure giants wouldn’t go near as some of the caverns blew out sharp winds capable of slicing people in two. It’s said this was where the Windblade gained his ability. Damon guessed this was why this city was chosen.

  By the time Professor Orion was about to talk about the Ancient House of Flow, Damon noticed the old man had become sluggish. Seeing this, Damon didn’t wish to bother the old man too much as he was obviously tired. Which is how he landed in his current circumstances.

  Boredom.

  Feeling his boredom was near deadly, Damon got up from his bed and left his room. Once in the hallway, he began walking past closed doors, all rooms of his fellow students who were on the deck above studying.

  After passing the many decks to get to the top, he finally reached open air. The breeze felt so refreshing he couldn’t help but stretch his arms out and feel the breeze. He stood on the upper deck and took a deep breath of the air. With the sun’s warmth and the blue sky, Damon’s feelings of boredom were washed away. Replaced by feelings of ease.

  Opening his eyes he locked eyes with a smiling teenager, donned in shiny golden armor that reflected the sun, almost blinding Damon.

  “Hahaha, sorry about that.” The bald teenager walked up to Damon with an apologetic smile that made Damon feel comfortable, even though the armored man was ten times stronger than him and ten times more important than him.

  Damon waved his hand, “It's fine sir. Just a bit of light.”

  The young Honor Guard grimaced at his words. “Yeah, just light. Light that needs to announce its presence to everyone in the Republic.” The Honor Guard said with sarcasm. “Oh, I’m Kai. Rookie of Squad Four of the Honor Guard, assigned to protect you.” Kai, reached his large hand out for a shake, accompanying it with a disarming smile.

  Damon, unable to deny the handshake, wiped his hands on his pants, careful not to leave any marks on the man in front of him before grabbing the offered hand and introducing himself. “I’m Damon Beaumont. Future Lightning Elemental. Thank you for your protection.”

  Kai’s smile widened after hearing the description the boy used to introduce himself. Kai narrowed his eyes at the boy, “A Lightning Elemental? How rare. Probably why you were chosen by your professor to go on this trip, eh?”

  Damon, faked a chuckle “Yeah, no. Not really.”

  Kai raised his brows in question. “You see there are only three people in my class. And two of them are in the Diamond Class. So…” He finished his correction with a big smile and a shrug.

  Kai simply responded with a raise of an eyebrow, clearly not buying his words. “Three students? C’mon there is no such thing as a class with three students in the Academy.”

  Damon awkwardly smiled at the eyes full of doubt. Scratching his head, Damon decided to give an excuse and leave. But before he could, the door behind him opened up.

  Walking out the door, was another beaming light of gold. The beam of light walked up to the two of them revealing himself. “You made a friend there, kid?” The golden beam of light was a chubby middle-aged man in his fifties walking over with a hammer strapped to his belt, dangling a bit off the ground.

  “Hey, York.” Gesturing to Damon, “This is Kai, Professor Orion’s student. A Lightning Elemental.”

  Damon bowed his head in greeting at the round man in front of him, before lifting his head up to stare at the man’s gray mustache, wondering if Rodrick’s mustache would look like that in the future.

  “A Lightning Elemental? A rare find for the Academy. You will probably be getting a lot of offers from Houses and organizations soon.”

  Damon shook his head in denial. “We have around twenty Lightning Elementals in my year. And among those twenty plus, I was the last to sense my Elements. I’m not that special.” Damon smiled, explaining his point of view.

  Kai frowned after hearing that, “You are. Everyone is. You don’t have to be first, to be considered special. It’s not a race. It's simply a journey to find your best version. The best version of yourself already puts you as special because not a lot of people are able to reach their full potential. All because they are all comparing themselves with others.”

  York nodded with a smile, agreeing with his rookie. “He’s right. You have no need to compare yourself to others. You not giving up despite the jeers and mockery that probably happened behind your back already puts you in an entirely different league.” York tapped Damon’s shoulder, “So, just focus on you.”

  The two Honor Guards smiled at Damon, who was staring at the ground with pursed lips, his mind taking in the advice from his seniors.

  Damon, after a while, finally lifted his head to thank the two Honor Guards before noticing they were already walking away, back to the lower decks. Seeing their retreating backs, he bowed his head in gratitude. Filled with renewed energy from their encouraging words, Damon ran off towards the lower deck to get to his room and continue his meditation.

  Stolen story; please report.

  ***

  Walking around the training grounds of the Academy was a dark-haired young man with an eye-catching mustache observing the familiar surroundings out of boredom. As he walked around the training grounds absent of students, he recalled his friend’s current dilemma of training with someone everyone in the group despised. He can already imagine his friend coming to lunch bruised up from the future beatings he was for sure going to take. He hoped his friend didn’t come with too much bruising or else he would have to see if the noble boy is as good as his friend says he is. The thought got a smile out of the young man.

  “What got you smiling, Margrave?” Rodrick immediately dropped his smile after hearing the taunting voice. Turning around, Rodrick found a brown skinned teenage boy a bit older than him walking over being tailed by a few other teenage boys.

  “I think you were seeing things, West. How could I ever smile in your presence?” Rodrick sarcastically said.

  West chuckled. “True, you got nothing to smile about in front of me, traitor.” Rodrick would have been angry at the name if it wasn’t for the fact that he has been called that for weeks now.

  Rodrick couldn’t understand why this kid was angry at him when even the Ancient Houses didn’t care for him or his last name. Not even the other Great Houses cared, only raising a brow at the name. But the boy in front of him was obsessed with him. Always trying to fight him.

  The famous incident of the Margrave betrayal in the Sixth Catastrophe happened nearly a thousand years ago, by his ancestors. Ancestors who have long been dead and are the reason why Rodrick isn’t from a Great House. He hated them too, when his father told him of their family history. But it appeared West didn’t care.

  “Alright Margrave, time for your weekly beat down.” West and his lackeys surrounded Rodrick, not bothering to go one on one like the first time when they met a few weeks ago where they learned fighting fairly wasn’t the right choice.

  Rodrick smiled and put hands up. “Whenever you’re ready Hawthorne.”

  ***

  Heading to the cafeteria, Rodrick tried to hide his limp from his fight. He was glad Damon wasn’t here to search for him like he did last time. He got lucky when he got in trouble from his Traveller’s Guide Professor for sleeping even though he had to suffer the day after that. He apparently gained the favorite student award. Every time there was a question left unanswered in the class or someone would get the question wrong, his name would be the one called to answer. At that moment he felt annoyed at being picked on but as time went on, he found it enjoyable especially when he got the answer right. So he believed his suffering was a blessing in disguise.

  Now he is quite up to date with famous landmarks. Like the famous underground city, Echo he hoped to one day visit. The name was earned after the cavern was once used by the dwarves to relay messages during the Great War. From one side they would yell a message that echoed off the walls reaching the other side retelling the message. He heard a lot of people would use the city to spread their confession of love. Hearing those stories, Rodrick thought of a red haired girl with a jade phoenix hairpin with a smile.

  “Ow.” Grabbing the back of his head, Rodrick turned around to find the very girl from his mind come to life in front of him. The frown from being hit on the back of the head quickly disappeared. “Oh, hey Kira.” Rodrick smiled, partnering it up with a wave.

  Kira rolled her eyes before asking “Where are you headed to?”

  “The cafeteria.”

  “You didn’t eat?”

  “Nah, I was busy.”

  “With what?”

  “Training”

  The word immediately caught her attention. “Training?” Kira asked as if the word was something that shouldn’t be coming out of Rodrick’s mouth.

  Rodrick, a bit offended, answered “Yes. Training. I know you thought I was born this gifted but-”

  “Training, right.” Kira interrupted and nodded, accepting the answer not wishing to hear anymore.

  Rodrick pursed his lips holding back a smile. “Where are you going?’

  “Sane place as you.” The moment she said that she regretted it. Giving a side eye she spotted Rodrick smile mischievously at the already formed sentence in his head. Opening his mouth to speak, Kira cut him off “I was busy studying up on my Botany class. So I couldn’t make it to lunch on time and coincidentally met you on the way there.”

  Rodrick nodded seriously. “Right. Coincidentally.” Kira, hearing the sarcasm, punched him in the arm before speed walking to the cafeteria.

  “Hey! Wait up.”

  ***

  For the first time since attending the Academy, Rodrick found the cafeteria nearly barren. There were a few students here and there, but the number didn’t exceed ten. Even with the addition of him and Kira.

  “It’s so empty.” Kira took a glance over her shoulder at the nearly empty cafeteria before turning back to grab her food. “Yeah. What did you expect? Everyone should be on their way to classes or hanging out until the bell rings.”

  The two went and sat by an empty table. “So how far along are you in your studying of plants?”

  “Ninety-three.”

  Rodrick let out a whistle. “Spirits. You guys really have it bad.”

  Kira looked up from her food and glared. “Yeah, well what about you? Your training didn’t seem to go so well.” Kira pointed at the bruise on his arm that was hidden under his sleeve. Rodrick, seeing the bruise, immediately yanked his sleeve down and laughed awkwardly. “Heh, heh, you should see the other guy.”

  Kira opened her mouth to say something only to quickly close after spotting something. Rodrick followed her gaze over his shoulder to see a group of boys sauntering in. The boy leading the arrogant group of boys was a tall muscular teenager with dark brown hair style in a bun, held by an expensive pin. Rodrick recognized him as Bruce Grafford, a close friend to the platinum blonde hair and green eyes with the constant arrogant smirk, Garret Knowles. And from the way Gina and Damon talked about him, he wasn’t on Damon’s to befriend list. And considering the boy in front him likes having Garret Knowles as company, he probably wasn’t great either.

  Rodrick turned back around to continue eating, not wishing to give his attention to the arrogant noble but then he spotted Kira’s fierce glare. Her green eyes that he loved staring into were now filled with disgust.

  “Kira?” Rodrick called out to the red-haired girl, catching her attention. Rodrick watched her turn to him. “You alright?”

  Kira ignored the question and simply went back to eating. The friendly atmosphere from before was gone, now replaced by a solemn air.

  Rodrick looked over at Bruce with a frown. He watched the tall teenager walk around with his chin held high, a demeanor completely opposite of when he was around Garret who went on the trip to Flow City. The thought reminded him of Damon. Digging into his food, Rodrick wondered what the shorty was doing.

  ***

  Damon was back in his room, meditating, searching for Lightning Elements in the air to bring into his core. Damon sat on his bed with his eyes closed, giving his entire focus on what he was doing.

  Bang, bang

  That focus was abruptly broken by the loud knocking on his door. With a groan, Damon dragged his numb body to the door.

  Opening the door, he was met with the kind hazel eyes of his professor and his two classmates.

  “We’re here.” Professor Orion said with a smile. “ Move quickly.” Turning around the old man waved his hand for them to follow. Damon immediately went back into his room and grabbed his black and golden Robes quickly before chasing after the group who were making their way up to the upper deck.

  The door opened and they were met with a gorgeous view. Their entire view was covered in white clouds and blue skies. At the end, floating a bit above the horizon was the shining bright sun casting the world in gold.

  The sight left the group in awe at the view. Damon walked slowly across the deck until he was right in the middle of the deck where he took an entire scan of his surroundings where all he saw was white fluffy clouds. The entire scene felt like a dream.

  “One of the reasons I like visiting Flow City.” Everyone’s eyes fell on the old man with bushy gray sideburns. The man smiled fondly at the sight that greeted him. “Well, take it in, folks. We’re about to land.”

  Right when he said that, a large mountain appeared out of nowhere from the bundle of white clouds. And right on top of the mountain was a large city, with buildings glimmering under the sun. And right in the center of the city was a giant tower built out of mysterious green material. And at the very top of the tower was a waving flag bearing the sigil of the Ancient House of Flow, a cloud.

  “Welcome to Flow City."