I was back in the dark room with the fire covering the ground but surprisingly not burning me. The man was there again, though he looked older now, more tired.
'Luci, hi beautiful,' he softly spoke.
'Who are you?' I cautiously asked.
'Luci, it's me, dad.' He replied with a nervous tone.
My eyes widened. My dad? Of course, I can see it now. The same navy blue eyes, same signature smirk, but how is that possible? My dad was dead, he died when I was little.
'Oh, I get it, this is just a dream.' I stated in disappointment.
'No Luci,' his eyes widened in fear and desolation, 'don't leave, I'm here, I'm-'

I woke up in a panic to the alarm blaring in my ear. I rolled over and checked the time on my phone. 6:15. Arasis was already up and opening the blinds to show the arenas and river bathed in sunlight. I rolled out of bed grumpily and hoped that the cafeteria had some really strong coffee. Arasis had sat down in front of the bookshelf trying to find a new book.
"Hey," I poked my head out from the closet where I was getting my clothes for the day, "the fault in our stars is really good."
"Oh, okay, I'll read that next then." She smiled before picking the book of the shelf and flicking though it. I chose my clothes for the day and walked into the bathroom with a hope to wash away the dream from last night.
I exited the bathroom, unable to remove the dream from my mind. I sat on my bed as Arasis went into the bathroom and tried to distract myself from the dream with my book. I read a few pages and as I was really getting into it, Arasis walked out while braiding her hair. I closed my book and placed it on the bedside table, gazing fondly at the picture of me and mum. It was from around a year ago when we passed through kangaroo valley and gotten pies. I had taken the photo as a selfie and mum and me posed in front of the beautiful gray-green mountains and wide emerald field. The sky was a peacock-like blue that complimented our matching blond hair. I really miss her, I thought, tears pricking my eyes.
"Ready for breakfast?" Arasis asked while grabbing her phone and keys. I took a breath and controlled the tears threatening to fall.
"Yeah, lets go."

When we reached the cafeteria I was suprised to see it wasn't nearly as crowded as last night. Arasis explained that the dragons often went for morning flies and the sirens went for swims in the river in the morning or the evening. Arasis was an evening swimmer but Talorine, Melodine and most of the other sirens went in the morning when the sun rose and stayed there for a few hours. Only the elementals, mages, sirens and some of the dragons, mostly ice dragons like jasper, have arrived but the remaining students were arriving today. This included saytrs, centaurs, vampires, elves, witches, more dragons and shapeshifters. It was hard to believe that a few days ago these were all myths to me and now they are my reality.
We filled our plates with waffles and maple syrup covered bacon and grabbed coffee for me and a glass of OJ for Arasis. We headed to a back table with a view of the river. Every now and then you would see a siren pop up of of the currents and the see them dive back in with a flick of their turquoise tail. Above that you could see mostly white dragons with blue tip scales weave through the clouds and then come back down when there time was over. It was brilliant how these giant creatures could dive towards the ground into the bush and emerge, fully clothed and as young boys. I saw a dragon go down and emerge. Jasper, I thought, the feeling of anger returning. He walked into the cafeteria, grabbed a bagel and sat with his friends that had previously come in. I looked away and continued eating.
We walked out to the river and sat on a log while we waited for Melodine and Talorine to meet us. Talorine was the first to get out. The thing about sirens it that they have to get all their body out of the water before they could become human again. Talorine dragged her tail out and I saw it before her legs returned. It was turquoise from the fin to her waist like all the other sirens until the scales hit her waist when they blended into the same purple as the streak in her hair. It reached to her chest before curling around the back of her neck, though her arms stayed pale and slender.  Her hair was thrown into a top knot and flyaways framed her face. The fin slowly disappeared and showed her feet again before the rest faded away. Arasis grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Talorine before anyone saw her body. Talorine made a small purple orb in her hand and brought it up her body, so when Arasis took the towel away Talorine was in a denim  skirt and a yellow sunflower top with converse. Her hair was now dry and pencil straight in a ponytail and we all sat down to wait for Melodine, me wondering how Sirens could have perfect hair all the time.
When Melodine emerged her tail was the same but royal blue like the streak in her hair and when she magically dressed herself she had a pair of overalls on with a pink and white crop top. We walked to a shady area beside the arenas and watched the dragons while exchanging stories and hearing about Poseidon's palace from Arasis. As we were heading to check out the city just outside the school that we were allowed to visit, two of the planes from yesterday came into sight through the clouds. They floated in mid air at a landing point before ladders were released and students began climbing down. There were witches and wizards or mages as they are more often called, girls and boys with cat like eyes who held wands, vampires, boys and girls with pale skin and red eyes, elves, students with pointy ears and a graceful way of walking, dragons, boys who had a normal look to them but had colour streaks in their hair like sirens. From the back of the plane a ramp was released and satyrs exited. The wore only shirts and had furry legs just like a goat would. There were only boys but when the centaurs came out there were both male and female. They were human from their heads to their waists where they became tall thoroughbreds. They also wore only shirts, some with braids in their hair as well as their tails. It was hard to see them as my age when they were as tall as stallions until you saw their youthful and cheerful faces. The crowd gathered and began to walk as we had yesterday, towards the arena where we sat. Then something happened that I hadn't noticed yesterday. A large magpie flew from the top of Onyx Hall and swooped down to the students and before it reached the ground, only a metre away, it transfigured from the black and white magpie into Madame Edraele.
"Holy shit," I muttered to the girls, "Madame Edraele is a magpie."
They nodded, still as startled as I was, and we went back to watching. Names were called and student were sent to the dormitory while the saytrs and centaurs were sent to the stable dorms, where they would be more comfortable.
Once the students had left I remembered something.
"Oh, can we go to Leafburn?" Leafburn was the town just outside campus and I had been wanting to explore for ages. The girls agreed as they wanted to explore as well.
The exit to the school was a metal detector-like gate that we had to walk through after being scanned and registered. But the thing was, after the gate was just bush, where was the town? Did we have to walk through the bush to get there? I frowned in my confusion as Arasis walked through and... disappeared! Talorine and Melodine did the same, but I had no idea where they went. I guess there was only one way to find out.
"Alright, young lady," the officer grumbled. I think he hated his job, "your turn."
I slowly walked through, my eyes shut tight as a tingling sensation spreading through my body until I reached the other side.
The town of Leafburn was just like a normal small town, except that it was full of magic. The gate transported you to an alleyway, not a sketchy, dark alleyway, but a normal gap between buildings. As I exited the alley I found myself on the Main Street of Leafburn. The buildings on either side of the road were as tall as city buildings but were thin as a small truck. There were cafes, clothing stores, restaurants, antique, magic stores and my favourite, a candy shop. Mages and creatures infested the place.
"Luci!"
I swung around to see the girls calling me towards a coffee shop. I ran over and we walked inside.
The shop had a powerful feel to it, it was like I could sense the magic washing over me. It looked like any regular coffee shop besides the fact that there were saytrs, elves and a few fellow students. We ordered drinks and sat down behind a few elves that looked like they might be teachers. I'm not one to eavesdrop (that much) but when I hear my name, I really can't help it.
"Luci, yes."
I looked up from the menu and fought the urge to turn around.
"She's really here? At the school?"
"Yes, I was just as surprised."
"Does he know?" It sounded like three voices.
"Obviously he knows."
"Well he never tried to contact her, he wasn't a very good father."
My eyes widened. I felt my heart rate increase.
"Well yes, but he was busy and he tried to stay, you know he couldn't."
"Does the girl know?"
"Of course not, she thinks she is some sort of elemental."
"We should go to Madame Edraele, she will tell us if the child should know or not."
I heard the scratching of chairs and once it was safe I turned my head and saw a group of three elves leave the cafe. I turned back around and looked at my menu, but it was all a blur. My dad is alive, I don't know how, nor why, but he isn't dead.

We walked around the town while shopping and eating. I tried to keep my mind of what I had heard although it was challenging. We headed back to the alley way and went through the gate to get back. Once we got back we really noticed how dark it was now and ran to the cafeteria. We walked in and were relieved to see dinner was only just starting.
Dinner would have been fun if I wasn't thinking about what I had heard in the cafe today, it was so unreal but also made so much sense. Mum never talked about dad, said it hurt, but she said that he died when I was little. Not specific at all, just when I was little. I never thought he could be alive but now I wanted to know who he is, I had a million questions and I wanted answers now.
As soon as we got back to our dorms I jumped into my pjs and went to bed. I saw my dad in a dream twice, I could see him again.

I was once again in the dark room with flames licking my ankles and spreading power throughout my body. Dad stood across from me casually, his hands in the pockets of his black jeans. He wore a black t-shirt and had a silver chain with a flaming rose on it.
"Luci, hi darling." He spoke softly, as though he was worried about something.
"Dad," I nodded, "so you are alive?"
He frowned, "Yes, of course." He suddenly had a look of realisation, "so that is what Carly told you."
I was confused as to what he meant by what my mum told me. He nodded at my confusion.
"Your mother needed to make an excuse as to why I had left so she used that."
That made sense.
"Who are you exactly?" I asked.
"I wish I could tell you, Luci," he looked at me sadly, "but for now it is better if you didn't know."
I had more questions.
"How are you talking to me?"
"Dream link, I can come in your dreams to talk with you."
I went to ask more but he held up his hand.
"The link making me weak so I need go now." He explained, "goodbye Luci."
"No, Dad!" I cried, "please don't leave m-"

I woke in a sweat and looked around. A small amount of light was shining through a gap in the curtains and I could hear the faint sound of birds waking up. Arasis was still asleep but after that dream I knew I would fail to go back to sleep. Instead, I tried to keep my mind on the topic of school. Since it was the first day, I was a bit stressed out. As in I couldn't stop moving and my mind raced with situations that could go terribly wrong. I ended up at my desk writing a novel I had recently started, placing myself into the story and writing with ease.
"Aghhhhhh!" The alarm went of and Arasis was not very happy. She tried to shut it of but missed and hit her hand on the side of the bedside table.
"Ow." She tried again and finally hit the snooze button before rolling out of bed and landing with a thump on the timber floor.
"Ow!" She repeated. I stiffled a laugh and stood from my desk chair.
"Mind if I take the bathroom first?" I asked. She replied with a groan and nodded into her pillow. I assumed that was a yes and walked to my closet to collect my uniform. There were different types of uniform that any student could wear: a skirt uniform, a short uniform, a long pant uniform, a dress uniform and a sport uniform. On the first day we could either wear the skirt or pant uniform. I decided to go with the skirt since it looked more mature and I felt like it suited how I felt. I was a navy blue blouse with a gold stripe on each side with a matching navy and gold plaid skirt. Mid-calf high navy socks with any shoes, sneakers in my case, made it even better since long socks were a favourite thing of mine. I had a quick shower and got dressed in my uniform. The skirt reached just above my knee and the socks were a perfect addition to the uniform. I wasn't bothered to do much with my hair so I brushed it and threw a black beanie over it. I packed my black backpack and waited for Arasis.
Once Arasis was in her uniform, the same as mine with a gold hair band, we headed to breakfast. The cafeteria was full of students who wanted to get their breakfast and meet up with their friends as soon as possible. We decided to grab our breakfast and take it outside to one of the picnic tables that were spread over the campus.
"So, we will be called to our homerooms and then given our timetable." Arasis explained between bites of toast.
"Ok, are homerooms and timetables another thing you stole from humans?" I questioned.
"Well," Arasis stumbled on her words, "technically yes, but, um, we-"
I laughed and went back to my cereal. Once the bell rung for homeroom Arasis and I each received a small envelope that flew into us with so much force it made me tumble a bit. I went to peg it angrily back but then realized it was addressed to me in Miss Elnaces handwriting. I opened it slowly and a number and room was written on it:
2
Main 2, classroom b
"Oh!" Arasis exclaimed, "these must be our homerooms."
Her card was the same as mine, signalling we were in the same homeroom. We walked to the second building around Onyx Hall and entered the ivy covered sandstone building with other students of different ages. We walked through a corridor with classes a-e and found classroom b at the end of the corridor. After entering we took in our surroundings. The square room was like a lecture room with seats going upwards from the front. There was a spot for centaurs so that they could sit at the front, and there were around five there already. There was a blackboard and a large desk at the front of the room where the teacher sits. The furniture was modern, ranging in blues and whites for this room. Students had already taken their seats so we hurried up the stairs to take some at the back. We sat down and saw that we did not have desks although everyone else did. I looked around and saw a button on the seat in front saying activate desk. I pushed it and a desk popped out, just a single piece of wood with a pencil holder. I was surprised at how fast it appeared but unlike Arasis I didn't let out a small scream and cause a laugh to spread around the classroom. We all stopped abruptly when the teacher walked in and held our breath. Thank goodness it was Miss Elnace.
"Hi everyone," She smiled warmly at us and took her seat at the desk, "welcome to your new homeroom, this will be your homeroom for the rest of this year."
She took out the roll began marking names.
"Kate, Leon, Luci."
"Here." I said. She looked up and winked at me. Once the roll was done she handed out our timetable and allowed us free time so me and Arasis talked and compared classes for the remainder of homeroom. The bell rung and everyone left before us. We walked out the door when I heard.
"Luci! Hi," Miss Elnace caught up with me, "Hi Arasis, hope your family is well."
"Hi Miss," I was torn between continuing or staying since I didn't know why Miss Elnace was here.
"Luci, hows school been?" She asked in a concerned tone.
"It's been great," I frowned. Why was Miss Elnace asking me this.
"Oh good, good, just wanted to check up on you." She smiled and readjusted her textbooks, "have a great day girls!"
Then she walked off. That was weird, I thought.
"I have my plus class, swimming." Arasis said as she checked her timetable, "what do you have?"
I checked and saw I had Origin History.
"Origin history with Mr Wreath." Arasis laughed.
"Don't die of boredom." She said before running off to the pool.
I walked to the fifth building and found classroom d. It was just like the other class but in green and brown. There were already people her so I took a seat in the middle of the seating and waited for more students to come. Once they had forwarded in and the teacher joined us I got out my pencils and book.
"Good morning, I am Mr Wreath and I will be teaching you Origin History." He had black hair and olive skin with bright yellow cat eyes. Must be a mage, I thought.
"So if you could begin to write this down."

Class finally ended. And just like Arasis said, it was pretty boring. I checked my timetable and saw I had FDM. It stands for Fighting, Dueling, Martial arts. I knew that some of it was going to be fun and easy, my reflexes were pretty good, although I had never used a weapon in my life. I ran back to my dorm to grab some shorts since the class was completely prac. I headed to the indoor arena and saw some students placing bags down on the wall. Jasper included. I inwardly screamed in anger and waited for him to walk away from the bags. I hurriedly put my bag down as the teacher walked in.
"In the center please!" He shouted. Everyone moved into the center.
"Hello class, I am Dran. You call me Dran only, nothing else." He was stern but also not mean.
"Alright, we will start with some warmups."
After running a few laps and stretching we were ready.
"Now, I want you to go to the weapons wall and pick something that you feel drawn to, that balances in your hands properly."
I walked over with everyone and they all immediately took weapons. Jasper took a scythe with a leather handle while I was stuck. I walked pass the wall again until I felt a sort of calling. I stopped and walked closer, the calling growing stronger until I was standing in front of two daggers. They were pitch black with silver designs and black leather handles. I picked them up and felt complete, like a part of me was missing and I had finally found it. I walked back to the group and saw all the malicious weapons everyone had. Spears, swords, scythes, any weapon imaginable.
"Alright, now we have your weapons." Dran stated, "now you need to learn to use them."
He spread us out so we hand heaps of room around us.
"Now, air fight, imagine that you are fighting and just move with the weapons."
I began. I moved with the dagger, imagining myself surrounded by enemies and forgot my surroundings. I fought and fought and fought.
"STOP!" Dran boomed. I thought the fighting was over until I saw everyone staring at me. I began panicking until I saw my daggers. I swear, this fire thing is getting out of hand. My daggers were flaming. It was cool in a I'm so dead kind of way. The fires finally went out.
"I'm sorry." I whispered. Everyone was staring at me and I tried not to concentrate on that.
"Alright," Dran finally looked away, "we will now do hand to hand combat."
I had done mma in my old town to help get my anger out so I felt a happy to be in my element. Dran put us up against each other to spar and I was partnered with a tall girl, a vampire. We began fighting and I noticed she was slow but strong. I'm usually the other way around. I danced around her, tiring her out before getting a clean kick to the head, holding myself back so I didn't hurt her completely. She stood up tall and smiled before shaking my hand.
"Nice," she said, "you're very fast."
"Thanks," I grinned. Dran then told whoever lost the fight to sit down. I was then partnered with a boy who was huge. His biceps were as big as my thigh. He had a emerald streak in his black hair so I decided he was a dragon. I told my self not to cower in fear and stood up straight. We began and he ran towards me. I slid under his legs and he was confused before I tripped him and held my fist above his face, ready to punch. He nodded in approval and sat down. Well that was a surprising win. I was then paired with none other then Jasper. This will be easy, I thought, my anger will help me win. Dran blew the whistle and we began. We began fighting carefully, testing each other's weaknesses. He was fast, although he had a weak spot. I noticed when I aimed for his right shoulder he would shy away. I then kicked his left side to distract him and then punched him right shoulder. He was distracted from that so I took the chance to trip him. He stood up, brushed himself off and glared at me. I glared back twice as deadly. I was ready to charge when Dran came over and stopped us.
"Okay, that's enough," he stood between us, "that's enough for today." I walked away in anger, trying to stop the crimson spreading up my arms. It finally died down and I grabbed my bag. I made a mental note to train when the arena opens in the morning so I could get practice in with my daggers and my combat.

Classes flew by. Everything was just theory, including prophecy with Miss Elnace and magic with Professor Strange. When we finally reached the end of the day, once my plus class (battle) was over, I headed back to my dorm. Arasis was there and we decided we would just get food delivered. That's was the cool thing about 2E, you could get food from the cafeteria or the town delivered when you needed a night in. We had our food delivered and watched a movie before crashing. I dropped out as soon as my head touched the pillow.

Hey, sorry for the wait. I have been on holidays with no wifi, it was terrifying, but I have been writing a lot. Here is an extra long chat for you to say sorry. Please vote, I really appreciate it, and comment with some constructive criticism and tell me who your favourite character is.
Have a great day!
Tia :)