Students flocked in through the gates of the Royal Capital Academy, the three hundred year old institution was still as beautiful as ever, largely thanks to constant renovations over the centuries past. This was an institution where only children of nobility were permitted to attend, Princes, Princesses, and highborn children of lords and nobles, but the most important thing about the school was the fact that almost every sorcerer of noble descent in the Supremacy had passed through the institution at one point in their lives.

Every student was on their uniforms, maroon coloured suits worn over white shirts and black trousers, skirts for the female, and a tie of the same colour

It has been three days since Valkori won her specially organized birthday tournament, and she was getting back to school today, the hallways within the College of Magical Studies (one of the main departments of the school) was filled with students cheering her name as they marched along and around her

"That was the most badass performance I've ever seen!!!"

"How did you kill that thing?!!!"

"How do I get as strong as you Vee?!!!"

"I love you Valkori!!"

She smiled and giggled as she looked around to see everyone praising and worshipping her

"Thank you guys, thank you so much..." she giggled and said over and over again but the praises just kept on pouring in, what she accomplished was worthy of it after all, and she loved every moment of it, the feeling of superiority, the adoration, the respect, the life of royalty, but something was missing, somebody actually, and her smile began to diminish as she noticed his absence, looking around for him in every direction, suddenly all the people around her pouring out praises seemed to be non existent

"Where's Reece?..." she thought to herself

"Valkori!!!"

She turned and saw her best friend Lyla, grinning from ear to ear, Lyla bumped her shoulder and both girls laughed

"Where've you been?" Lyla asked, "We were worried about you"

"I had a couple of minor fractures, needed to cool off, but I'm good now..."

"Valkori!!!, you're back!!!" Sophia screamed as she jumped on her and hugged her tightly

"It's okay, I missed you too" Valkori laughed as she patted her second best friend, turning her face away as Sophia's red hair was flying all over it

"What were you even thinking?..."

"I know you said it was going to be crazy but NOTHING!! could have prepared me for that Vee..."

"I did good in the end, that's all that matters, that's all I've wanted for a very long time, real freaking battle!!!"

The three girls screamed and stamped their feet like crazy children;

"...And my dad had to listen of course, he always gets me what I want when I ask for it, he's the best father in the whole, wide world..."

"...tell me about it..." Mai cut in

The crowd that had slowly began to disperse at this point went silent, a group of students began to clear a path as Mai and her trio of friends walked in, looking like the meanest girls you could possibly imagine

"Oh no..." A boy lamented

Valkori and Lyla became visibly annoyed as her arch nemesis stepped into the hallway, Sophia was terrified. Mai was an extremely beautiful girl no doubt, pale milky skin and short metallic silver hair with bangs. There were rumors in the school that the two of them hated each other so much because they were at the polar ends of the skin complexion spectrum in the school, Mai being the fairest and Valkori was probably the darkest, it wasn't unbelievable, girls hated and fought each other over the pettiest things, and it really didn't help that they were the first and second most powerful sorcerers in the school

"Daddy's spoiled princess, feeling all high and mighty because her dad let her kill some lowly demon in front of the whole city, and I don't even feel so bad for you as much as I pity these boot lickers around you, praising you for the literal barest minimum..."

Mai walked in extremely close to Valkori's face "We all did that in battle camp, it's nothing special because the whole world saw you do it, but you won't get it, of course, Daddy makes everyone bend over in your presence you forget how ordinary you actually are"

Valkori was infuriated, Mai smiled wickedly, Lyla tried to drag Valkori off with her but she got shoved

"You speak so much about my father, my Dad, and I know why it hurts you so much..." Valkori walked in closer to Mai's face;

"It's because you don't have a father..."

A symphony of horrid gasps travelled down the hallway, Mai staggered backwards

"I'm right aren't I?, I mean how did I never think of it...how did you even get here?, you're not a princess, or the daughter of any popular family, you just somehow appeared in this school and absolutely NO ONE knows where you come from, not even you best friends"

The two girls behind Mai glanced at each other, everything Valkori was saying was right

"You're lying!!!" Mai shot back

"Then tell us the truth" Valkori replied

"Yes you weasel!!, say it!!, we're all listening!!" Lyla joined in

Mai screamed and attacked Valkori, her eyes reddened with rage and shame, Valkori clenched her fist and waited for her attacker to get in range

"STOP IT!!, PLEASE!!!" Sophia cried out, halting both fighters, nobody in the crowd of students tried to intervene, they were actually eager to see the fight go down

"It's not over you royal scum, I'll see you battle camp and beat you up properly, and the gods know I'll beat you so bad you'll never speak my name out of your sorry lips again" Mai threatened her, Valkori stood still, her eyes locked on hers, they stared each other down for half a minute and Mai turned around sharply to leave, followed by her friends

"Come on, let's go" Valkori requested

At another end of the school, The graduating students of the College of Magical Studies stood side by side in straight lines, there were only ten of them, and six were boys

Reece and Derrick stood amongst the graduants, both boys now at the age of seventeen, had completed their curriculum and were now ready to serve the realm

Principal Alora stood on a podium and faced the students who stood still with arms straightened out, each of them trying their hardest to avoid eye contact with the Principal who stood right in front of them, and they had every reason too, the woman was terrifying

She wore a black suit dress and had a golden tag pinned on her chest, with a scar that ran diagonally over her nose and inbetween her deep green eyes, her hair was packed in a bun behind her and a few grey strands were already visible, even though she was just in her mid thirtees

As she stood there, an armoured knight walked in and stood by her side, his shining silver armor had the sigil of House Vernon and behind it was a red cloak so long it nearly swept the floor

"There's an awfully few number of them this year, any explanation for that princess?" he questioned with his deep raspy voice, he looked disappointed when she didn't respond immediately or even turn to look at him

"This is the smallest set in the academy's history, not a very pleasant record but things happen" she explained icily "Why are you here anyways?"

"His grace is supposed to arrive any minute from now, and I'm here to make sure everything is in order for his arrival" The knight replied

"You're his sworn sword, you're meant to stick to his side wherever he goes not to do... whatever this is, I'm the one in charge of organizing here, and it's insulting to me"

"Tell that to him yourself, he asked me to do this"

The two of them continued to stand there for a couple of minutes, Ser Anton wanted to have a conversation to break the ice, but was frustrated by her unapproachable demeanor

"You're from the Skolgard Islands, aren't you?" he asked nervously

"Thought everyone knew that" she shot back

"I've always wanted to visit your home, I hear that it's the most beautiful region in all of the Supremacy, after Helia of course"

"That is a highly subjective opinion, but very understandable, island regions are always beautiful after all...and Helia is no longer a part of the Supremacy, so they don't count"

"Yeah right..." Ser Anton chuckled briefly "It's a shame really, so much history and everything"

"HIS GRACE, KING HECTOR VERNON, FIRST OF HIS NAME, KING OF TREMORE, SOVEREIGN OF THE SUPREMACY!!!..."

The gates opened up behind them into the podium, both of them turned to see King Hector walk in towards them, his purple cloak swaying behind him, the crown on his head fitting perfectly, besides him was Lord Shiro, and behind them, four other knights dressed exactly like Ser Anton

Hector walked past Alora, not saying a word to her, she hissed and rolled her eyes. He stood at the edge of the podium and glanced at each of the students one after the other, and all of them stared back at him, in absolute disbelief as none of them were informed of his arrival

He smiled at the students and tucked his hands behind himself before saying his first words to them;

"Children,...Welcome to the real world"