It was the very early morning.
The sky was still cold with navy blue darkness, like a blanket stretching endlessly over the horizon.
Somewhere in a lonely forest stood a set of clean brick buildings.
Somewhere deep, deep underground far beneath the dirt lay an obsidian room.
Somewhere in the dark confines of the obsidian room, on red carpeted floors, stood a single white pillar.
The pillar was short, displaying an intricate wooden case on top with ominous glowing symbols splayed across the brown glossy box.
The box had been left open in the dark, revealing the red cushion mesh inside.
An empty cube shaped imprint where something had previously engraved into the velvet cushioning.
If anyone were there at all, in the room devoid of all light, they would've sworn they heard faint sounds of overly joyful laughter.
...
The day was warm and mild with autumn breeze, the skies swept with a pasty blue.
The sky was clear enough to catch the faint bundle of sparkles in the air, if anyone cared to look.
The trees were silent, missing the sound of wind let alone any birds or insects.
In the centre of these far-gone woods, past the long treeline, stood a miraculous structure.
The structure was made from a clean set of brick buildings all crowding around a thick white building with a roof that coned up, the type of building that could easily be mistaken for something presidential.
Outside the centre building lay a flat courtyard with the occasional trimmed hedge, mapping out the land into a four-way junction.
A round stone fountain stood in the middle of this junction, with one stone pillar erect in the centre of the grey circle as it spat water vertically.
Across the courtyard, past the hedge junction, stood two black gates made from something black and metallic.
The gates resembled an almost webbed design where poles of a gate joined together.
The gates soon parted to let in an abnormal number of teenagers. Each teenager unique in look, some with legs of goats whilst others had hair that hissed.
Every student dressed all similarly in crème blazers and black ties, some equipped with sleek black smart pants and other with just as dark skirts.
Their presence only made the already strange land seem stranger.
The students rolled into the courtyard like a sweeping wind, causing the gates to blow back wide.
Some students groaning whilst others chittered with laughter, some laughs sounding almost a little too animalistic.
Soon the students passed the fountain, reaching the mouth of the centre building.
The building was a bright snow colour, the morning sun giving the sculpted look of the building an angelic glow.
Upon reaching the entrance to the thick white blob in the centre of the compound, the students all flooded into the grand halls inside like a Burnese gold tide.
The inside featured a lobby area, with glossy linoleum splayed over the floors.
Hallways could be seen either side of a receptionist desk, both leading down into corridors lined with lockers and classroom doors on either side of the corridors.
A man sat behind the reception desk, dressed in a black suit and red tie.
He had monkeyish features, the sides of his hair highlighted a faint grey where his hair stuck out.
His face was a salmon pink, hair jutting all over his face in an almost square outline.
His eyes were a golden hue, his bottom spiky teeth protruding past his bottom lip.
He stuck his head up as the doors pushed open, his brown monkey tail swaying behind his office chair.
For a moment when the monkey looked up and saw the students pour in, he could've sworn he saw starry sparkles.
The river of students split off into streams that flowed into the hallways past the reception desk.
The stream crashed into the rows of polished lockers lined against the walls, as it surged deeper into the halls.
Students scattered off into different halls to find their respective classes, with one dark headed student seemingly trailing along the crowded halls.
...
A dark oak door stood in one of the walls, lines of students flooded into the room as they pushed it open.
Inside lay wooden desks scattered over the room.
The walls were achingly beige, with framed windows on the left side of the class. The floor a yellowish line of planks.
At the end of the room, embedded into the wall stood a thick black board.
It's surface freshly polished, almost blank except for dust from faded chalk.
The students poured in one by one, each dropping into a seat at each desk until the room was lined with rows of heads.
The chatter of students settling, into yet another boring lesson, was unbearable to listen to.
Each voice piling up to create an annoying mesh of ear scratching sounds.
One voice was teasing, coming from a long-haired youth with black straight hair.
His straight hair slipped out from his brown knit hat, dropping to hover over his shoulders.
His lips twisting into something taunting as he nipped at another student with his words.
Another voice was stronger, coming from a fiery haired girl.
Her hair was a bright brazen thing that seemed to flow down from a bun like a single stroke of a paint brush.
Her figure broad through her uniform, her sleeves torn off to reveal tree trunk arms that resembled a strong body as fierce as her hair colour.
When she spoke her voice was defensive, harsh toward the smirking youth.
"Fenrir, leave her alone! She's not the only one sick and tired of your nagging." The fiery-haired girl reprimanded.
Fenrir's smirk widened as he turned his head toward the red hair.
His emerald eyes glinting mischievously as he spoke.
"Oh? I thought you couldn't get enough of it." He teased back in a taunting lilt.
Meanwhile a pink haired girl, her straight hair flowing down her cheeks, sat uncomfortably whilst the other two went back and forth.
"I-I'm fine Thurid-" The nervous pink haired girl began before immediately being cut off by Fenrir.
"Oh please, Nagiri. You need to be saved by someone as pathetic as-" Once more another interruption coming from a fiery voice.
"Fernrir, shut your trap before I shut it for you!" Thurid snapped angrily, her fist already raised and cocked as she half-stood out her seat.
Then once again another interruption.
This time from another voice, this one louder although more friendly as it called out from the front of the class.
"Good morning, class!"
Beside the black board lay a neat little desk facing the rows of heads.
A middle-aged woman, dressed in a black blouse and a pair of black framed glasses, stood beside the desk next to the board.
Her hair trailed down to her upper back, her smile warm as she welcomed in the students for another day.
The students knew this as the class teacher, Mrs Hatch
"Class." she began in a friendly and inviting tone.
"We have a new student joining us at Academy for half-bloods."
The oak door creaked open just then as if stage queued, every head seated at the desks snapped back to examine the dark-haired youth who stepped in.
His expression unreadable as he stared distantly back.
"Class." The woman at the front began again, stretching out one arm toward the new student to gesture toward him. "This is Julius."
The boy stood silently at the foot of the door, not having moved since he stepped in.
His gaze was deep, warm with a rich milk chocolate brown colour and a hint of amber.
His eyes narrowed slightly where they settled over the rows of seated students, as if studying and memorising each face.
His face was defined with rough cheekbones that looked like they'd been battered into place, though his relaxed jaw was naturally sharp.
His complexion fair skinned, yet ever so slightly scratched with minute cuts that never quite healed right.
His hair however was dark.
His hair was like looking at a pool of spilled oil.
Though this pool seemed to spiral into an abyss of pitch black, even as short as it was.
His shoulders stuck out through the warm uniform; a bundle of muscle coiled tightly into pure power beneath the blazer.
The students all subconsciously leaned in closer, awaiting an introduction that never came.
Fenrir, always snickering, followed silently with the students. His shiny eyes settling over the enigma before him.
Thurid was just as silent as everyone else, her face barley shifting as her interest piqued alongside everyone's.
Nagiri, upon sensing the tension, seemed to nestle her face quietly into her arms.
"Well? Julius? Introduce yourself to the class. Name, parent and ability." Mrs Hatch suggested nervously after detecting the long silence, though never losing the friendliness to her tone.
Julius could feel the burning of gazes searing into him.
He noticed the ears of students perking up at the word "ability."
He knew this is the exciting part, the part that students like this always waited for the most.
Though today was far more exciting than normal due to certain rumours.
Julius was aware of this, even as he imperceptibly shifted slightly under his uniform, his unreadable expression never becoming any clearer.
The teacher noticed this, her lips parting to speak for him until she was cut off immediately by a clear and boring voice.
"-My name's Julius Sparrow." Julius began, his voice cold and disinterested.
A pause.
A flicker of something imperceptibly sparkling before vanishing just as quickly as it came.
Julius's narrowed gaze reluctantly swept over the students once more.
His lips parting to breathe a sigh of exasperation, his eyes rolling over with resignation.
"My father is-"
The student's held their breath, finally getting an answer.
Lately in the academy there had been a rumour going around that a child of Zeus, the god of Olympus, might attend this academy.
Could this be?
The son of Zeus himself?
His hair wasn't white, nor did he have a bright eye colour, but this was still a new student.
A stocky one at that with the laidback attitude of a famous god and the physique of one.
Surely Julius's father was-
"-Surtr." Julius finally answered with a blank look.
At once the class collectively breathed a heavy sigh of disappointment.
"Should've known..." Fenrir breathed in frustration to himself.
Thurid was silent, her expression never changing. Although her eyes did seem to subtly soften.
Though Nagiri, who had been hiding behind her arms, now suddenly peeked up from her defensive shield.
Her pink ruby eyes glinting as she peered over her arms, her lips subconsciously parting ever so slightly.
Surtr, the guardian of Musphelheim, a fire realm.
That must mean that-
"Fire." Julius sighed with a slow blink. "I have a fire affinity." Julius continued with slight reluctance, as if forcing the words out.
"Yeah, yeah pal. We have one of those already. Get in line." Fenrir taunted with what seemed to be irritation in his tone as Julius passed him to take his own seat.
Nagiri's bright eyes seemed to follow Julius from across the room, her arms still folded on top of the desk Infront of her.
Her gaze lingering for longer than necessary, before snapping back to the teacher as she spoke.
"Ahh well then class..." Mrs Hatch said nervously, sensing the mood shift in the room, slowly changing the subject.
She pulled a rectangular card from her desk, with red trimming squaring off the sides and a golden symbol engraved into the centre of the card.
"This, as I'm sure you're all familiar with is a talisman. When you imbue this card with mana and chant the symbol written, it will activate and unleash the stored spell." The teacher explained clearly, in a friendly voice, as she scanned the room with slow twists of her head to check for student's listening.
Whilst the teacher continued about the fire talisman "Rye" another voice whispered over to Julius from the desk beside his.
"Psst. Don't worry about Fenrir. He's just a loudmouth with a knack for picking on anyone he can." Thurid assured Julius, her voice surprisingly warm for someone of her strong structure.
Julius turned his chin toward the whisper, his deep gaze softening for just a moment with acknowledgment.
Then the resigned gaze returned, his chin slowly turning away again as the teacher's voice grew brighter as she found her confidence.
"Okay class! We're learning the basics of fire magic today. Using a talisman is great but it's better if you know how to make your own spell, rather than relying on a talisman." The teacher declared in a bright voice, her hands joined together behind her back as she wore a soft smile.
Julius eyes wobbled for just a fraction, the look of cold resignation returning instantly after.
Immediately following the teacher's words, every student's gaze flicked to the new student sitting in the middle of the room.
"Julius. You should be a natural at this. Why don't you come up and help me?" Mrs Hatch suggested in a cheerful tone.
"Nah, Jules." sneered Fenrir immediately, twisting his body to the side to look over at Julius from the right side of the room. "How about you skip the boring bit and just show us a spark."
The student's eyes narrowed slightly with excitement.
Nagiri's eyes, always small, were now suddenly now wide with a fiery pink look of interest.
Even Thurid seemed to shift in her seat to face Julius more comfortably.
Julius was silent.
Unresponsive even.
He sat frozen as if not even registering the teacher, let alone Fenrir, whilst everyone around him waited for his response.
A single silent and brooding huff escaped through Julius's nose.
Then just before he could be called on again, the door to the classroom burst open.
The heads of the students all snapped behind them to look at the interruption.
A man made from smouldering ash stood at the back of the classroom.
His skin was dark and rough, made from cool magma rock as if the man was carved from a volcano.
His eyes were embers, two burning pupils like searing coals.
His hair was short and made from molten lava, though never dripped from any strand of pure liquid heat.
The student's recognised this amalgamation as Mr Ignis, the academy's headmaster.
"Mr Sparrow." The voice that called out was stern and formal, spoken in a deep british voice. "My office. Now."
End of chapter 1