"Faeries are not fantasy but a connection to reality. Faeries are irrational, poetic, absurd and very very wise."

-Brian Froud

12 hours earlier...

VALERIE

"Valerie you're getting slow," Father muttered before swiping up his staff, in such a way that my wrist twisted painfully, forcing me to drop my sword.

I bowed my head down, not daring to look him in the eye as I said, "I apologize for slacking, Father."

Truth is I've been practicing day and night, more than the twins, Cameron and Aiden have ever practised.

Father wants me to have the same level of training that both of them have. But he doesn't seem to accept the fact that I don't have the fire powers to aid me with the swiftness and destruction.

And as much as it pains me to say this, I'm a female. I don't have testosterone to aid me either.

I don't want to sound ungrateful, after all he didn't make me work in the household like how other female water users are treated sometimes, but I wish he would be slightly lenient to me.

"Cameron! Spar with Valerie!" Father called out, "And Aiden, you're with me."

I smiled a little to myself as I watched Aiden's face fall. Father was the most biased towards Cameron, then me and finally Aiden.

Cameron smiled at me a little, his grey eyes leaning a little towards black in the dim morning sunlight. I know he had a long night, I could hear him screaming in the next room in the middle of the night. When I was training by myself.

I didn't go to his room because I know how much he hates to be coddled, but I expect him to at least let me know why he's having nightmares.

"Go easy on me Val, I need to leave Fillian to graduate with my face still intact," he says with a slight smirk.

I smirk right back, "Are you implying that I'm better than you, big brother?"

"Honestly, you always have been," he says right back, before moving a few paces away from Father and Aiden, each of us drawing our swords out of their sheaths.

Cameron, chose a two-edged triangular blade who's sharp edges could slice concrete in half.

I, on the other hand chose a katana, it's slim, polished but sharper blade gleaming in the sunlight.

My katana was a lot lighter than his sword, to my advantage. But his sword was a lot more effective for blocking attacks, to his advantage.

His eyes had finally begun to gleam with excitement like they always did during training.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

And not even a second later, our swords clashed with each other, his sword pushing down on my delicate blade with a lot more force than I thought he could manage.

I swerved to the left along with my blade, and I felt his blade slightly graze the back of my armor with an annoying screech.

I ducked as his sword swiped towards my head, just as I anticipated. His blade sliced through air, just as I lifted myself up, and took advantage of the fact that his wrist was right in front of me while his blade was facing away.

I used the exact same technique that Father used on me a while ago and brought my sword up, twisting his wrist such that he dropped his sword which fell on the concrete floor of the training room with a loud Clang!

"Damn it!" Cameron shouted out, clutching his wrist as I quietly sheathed my katana into its decorative scabbard.

I didn't feel happy that I won. Father had taught us a long time ago to never let a victory get to your head.

Overconfidence is your greatest enemy, that was what he had said.

Instead I picked his sword up and walked over to him, and he let go of his wrist. I handed it to him and he twisted the sword around in his hand, examining it.

"I made the wrong choice, didn't I?" He asks softly.

I nod. The blade was way too heavy for his own good. It compromised his swiftness and agility. It would have been much easier to use a lighter blade along with a wooden shield.

"Cameron you saw me tackle Valerie in the exact manner twenty minutes ago and yet you made the exact same mistake that she made. I expected more from you," Father said, walking towards them, leaving Aiden behind, who was panting hard.

Cameron hung his head, clearly ashamed, "I'll try better next time, Father."

"You better."

"I guess I'll have to go easy on you after all, Cam," I say with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

He huffed out a small laugh, "You're going all out on me baby sister."

And with that we began sparring again, like a whirlwind of blades.

◆●◆●◆

AUGUSTINE

I turn my coin around in between my index and middle finger with a sigh.

The vacations had begun about a week ago, and would last for two more months, but I wanted to go back already.

After all, I had nowhere to go but there. Annoying the crap out of Professor Igneous was my favourite activity.

I am sitting on the window sill of this extremely ancient motel and I'm pretty sure I heard a rat squeak about five minutes ago.

Maybe I can make him my friend.

That was when I decided to put my headphones back on and blast some hard rock to clear my thoughts.

Haha you think it actually worked? My thoughts would never leave me alone like that. They hate me way too much to let me have some peace.

I gazed at the two black marks on my left arm, below the wrist. I remembered the times when they were burnt into my skin there.

The Wells' house up in flames. People of Gleriana running around trying to douse it with water but little did they know...

Then one of the forests to Schlore. Continuos flames spreading in the trees. Earth users trying to protect their trees, but they didn't know that they couldn't...

The judgement room flashed before my eyes.

The jailer's cold eyes on me as he pressed the flaming hot wire onto my arm...

The sun was rising in the distance, and that made me wonder, did I sleep tonight?

I don't think so.

Eh, well, doesn't matter.

My eyes didn't leave the tattoos on my arm though. One more mark and my powers would be snatched away. I would become an outcast.

Three strikes and I would be out.

Come on, you saw that baseball reference coming a long time ago.

After what felt like an eternity, well, moreover, after eight songs, I looked away from the tattoos and back at my rusted little gold coin. My thumb began scratching one side of the coin with the symbol of Gleriana on it, a small water lilly as well as the eight point star on it.

The coin would be useless in Illoria but whatever. It gave me peace, it made me think of my hometown, of my parents who probably don't give a shit as to where I am right now.

It made me feel powerful.

You can buy anything with money. Let it be food, clothing, friends, happiness. And a few black eyes too when you beat a bunch of gang-members in a friendly game of poker. It's not my fault that their luck sucks or that they can't catch a bluff.

Sore losers.

And don't you dare argue with me that money can't buy happiness. Get your head out of the clouds y'all.

My motel was right behind the Town Hall of Illoria and I stared at the Mayor who was walking towards the back wall, with a massive ring in his palms. I had only ever heard of portal rings but this was the first time I was seeing one in real life. Apparently you can't make a portal without one.

Well Soul users could, but only the Queen is a Soul user. Professor Igneous told me that there were hardly one or two Soul users born every millennium.

Oh being a Soul User would be so much fun! I could change how I looked and get rid of my stupid-ass pink hair, I could become invisible, I could make a portal to literally anywhere and I wouldn't even exhaust my energy very fast.

And here I was, blessed with abnormal fire which I can't even control well.

Aigoo, my poor life....

There was a small crowd gathering around the Mayor now, who was now moving his hands around, probably creating a portal.

There were some people in gold and white robes while some dressed in their formal attire. There was a lot 9f hugging and phrases including 'Im proud of you'

And then the ones in the gold and white robes stepped through the portal.

Oh how could I forget! Today is Graduation Day! The graduates and their families were here.

I'm so forgetful sometimes.

The last of the graduates were about to step through the portal when I heard a voice call out, "Wait!"

I directed my eyes away from the portal towards the source of the voice to see a brown-haired girl running towards the crowd. She ran up to this other graduate and hugged her tight and then moved to this curly haired guy and hugged him too. And she gave both of them a bag.

"Thank you Elle!" The boy said.

Ah I wish I had friends like that. Seems like a far-fetched dream.

I glanced at the wrist markings again. I don't have the best reputation at the Academy.

I get off the window sill and walk towards the bag of gold coins sitting on the creaky bed. Time to ship it off to Gleriana. Help repair the houses I destroyed.

What name should I use this time to make the donation? I'm thinking Christopher of Illoria. Sounds wealthy, eh?

Hopefully it doesn't get intercepted by a thug this time.

◆●◆●◆

MIKAELLO

I knew I was completely and utterly screwed when I walked up to the door and saw Andrew's bag lying there.

"Shit."

I checked the clock perched on the far wall of the living room.

"Shit shit shit."

"The bathroom's the other way, dumbass," came Riya's voice from behind me.

"Har har very funny," I deadpan, narrowing my eyes at my younger sister, "When do you think they're gonna open the portal at the town hall?"

"Five minutes? Maybe ten if that fat-ass mayor of ours woke up on time."

I didn't have time to respond as I grabbed the bag and ran out of the door.

My wings unfolded behind me and I took to the skies, flapping them wildly. I was so frantic that I didn't see where I was going.

And because of my amazing, scratch that, outstanding luck, I collided head first into a tree.

I lay on the ground next to the tree, groaning, when I heard a familiar, bubbling laughter from nearby.

Rey's face appeared in front of me, her hand extended in front of my chest.

I took it and groaned a little more as I stood up.

"I should volunteer to work the morning shift at father's shop more, if I am promised more shows like this," she said with another laugh.

"Not the time, I need to get this to Andrew," I say frantically.

Rey narrowed her eyes, "What did you do this time Mika?"

"I-I might have filled a bag with stones and put a few clothes on top to prank Dad 'cause he's leaving for Alette today. And I might have confused Andy's clothes with Dad's. And he may have taken those stones to the portal for Graduation Day."

She slapped her hand on her forehead and snatched the bag, "Follow me."

And with that her purple wings unfolded gently and she shot into the sky, then stayed still, waiting for me to be airborne. I stared in awe for a moment. Her wings always got me. They looked so...royal.

I shot into the sky too, wobbling a little because I had just hurt my head on a fricking tree trunk and followed her as she zoomed through the sky.

And in no time we were hovering above Town Hall. She tossed me the bag, before calling out, "Andy!"

How did she recognise him from the crowd? It was so huge.

All the heads turned up at Rey's voice, but then my eyes locked with my brother's. And then my mother's. And then my father's.

I floated down towards them and cowered under all their stares as I thrust the bag towards Andy.

"This is your bag. That...is not."

"Wha-?" Andrew began, opening the zipper to the bag he was holding. And he laughed quietly when he shifted the clothes and saw a bunch of rocks.

"No wonder it was so heavy," replied before taking the bag I was holding out.

"Mikaello Folksrule how could you be so immature?" Mother yelled out.

"What if he took that instead. He wouldn't have his birthstone and he wouldn't have been able to graduate!" She continued while the crowd around us watched.

I hung my head down, ashamed, and I felt a presence beside me. I didnt have to look to know it was Rey.

"Your mother is correct, we could have had a catastrophe at our hands," I hear Father's voice.

"Plus you left your little sister back home. Our princess must be so afraid, all alone..." Mother trailer off.

Riya literally called me a dumbass and the mayor a lazy-ass fifteen minutes ago.

Princess, my ass.

"Mother, Father, it's okay, I have it now, don't I? Could you stop creating a scene?" Andy says, and I finally look up from the ground at him, thanking him with my eyes.

Andy hugs Mother then Father and then finally me.

"Be good while I'm gone," he whispers in my ear before going towards the portal.

"You're grounded for a long time young man," Mother whispers to me, which makes me shudder.

What am I? A child?

Yes, yes I am.

"Can I borrow him for a while Tina?" Rey asks and Mother smiles and nods at her.

Why does she love everyone but me?

"Race me to the store," Rey stands on her toes and whispers in my ear. And within a second she shoots into the sky spreading her regal wings.

"You're so on," I call out trailing right behind her.

◆●◆●◆

Early update because I was bored out of my mind and wrote everything. And don't worry you'll get an update on Friday as well :)