The Dawn of a New Era

9:00 A.M. or so the same day

Pandemonium Continent, Exemplar

***

Mara’s POV

At this point in time Mara, the first born child of David and Daphne Orn, The Strongest Graduate Student and The Headmistress of Exemplar respectively, was 10,000 years of age as well a Graduate Student of Exemplar herself.

She strongly resembled her mother and younger sister Cora, having; fair skin, long raven colored hair, and classically Elven features such as pointed ears, a tall-slender figure and beauty only rivaled by Faea. The only point where she differed from her mother and sister is her Amethyst colored eyes, as the Cora and Daphne’s eyes were a pale green.

She had just gotten out of the shower and dressed in her school uniform, which consisted of a set of blue and white robes with the ability to adjust their size according to the physique of the wearer, a pair of shoes of any requested height from ankle to knee, crafted from Demonic Beast leather, and her armbands marking her status as both a Graduate student and Entrance Exam Proctor.

After dressing she walked downstairs for breakfast to find that both her parents and all three of her younger siblings; Cora, Sora, and Opal were already eating.

Cora was the second of David and Daphne’s children at 1,000 years of age looking almost identical to her mother except for the fact that she was somewhat more thin, and wore her hair longer.

Sora was their third child at 13 years of age, looking like a smaller version of his father with pitch black hair and eyes, with light brown skin, and an athletic build.

And Opal their fourth child was 7 years old, having her father’s eyes, the rest of her mother’s features.

Both David and Daphne, as well as Cora were wearing uniforms similar to Mara’s with the main distinction being the armbands they had on their right arms; while Sora and the opal wore black robes as they had yet to enter the Academy.

When Mara pulled out her chair and sat down their was already a large bowl of piping hot oatmeal, and a cup of juice waiting for her.

Seeing no sign of meat elsewhere in the kitchen she looked up at her parents across the table and asked, “No bacon, or even some sausage, or fried ham?”

“Someone,” David, who was obviously just as disappointed as she was, shot a glance towards Cora who had been uncharacteristically quiet all morning as he continued, “Forgot to go to the butcher shop yesterday, and as such their is no meat.”

“Dammit! Come on Cora, you’re better than this!” Mara exclaimed as she slapped the table.

“She’s really not though.” Sora said between spoonfuls of oatmeal in a manner of fact tone.

After he said that three things happened at basically the same time; Cora pinned him with a silent death glare, Opal kicked him in the leg under the table, and his mother looked at both him and Mara and said, “Watch your mouths.”

“I’ll do my best.” Sora replied.

Whereas Mara looked as if she was actually about to cry and spoke, “But mom, th-there’s no meat. How am I supposed to survive the whole day on no meat?”

“You could always go to the butcher shop yourself and pick some up you know.” Her mother replied with the same matter of fact tone as Sora, after sending her son a glance due to his earlier response.

“I don’t have any free time today, I’m supposed to be finishing something up that I’ve been working on for the Entrance Exams for the last few years.” Mara replied growing even more visibly upset.

“Then no meat.” Daphne remained unmoved in the face of Mara’s anxiousness.

Mara turned to her father.

David’s only response was to throw his wife under the bus, “I’m as upset as you are, but I’ll be busy all day taking care of something for your mother.”

Daphne looked at her husband and said, “Is that so? Well in that case you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Go and get the meat, I’ll take care of by myself.”

She then rose to her feet and stalked out of the kitchen and then the house entirely.

When she did David looked at his children and said, “The four of you better head to the butcher shop and get some meat in time for dinner.” Before jumping up from his seat and chasing after his wife, “Babe wait, that’s not what I meant! I’m more than happy to fulfill any of your request! Really, I was just explaining to Mara that I had something much more important than meat to take care of for you.”

And that is how Mara and her siblings ended up wandering around the Shopping District at the same time as Malikai and Maeve a few hours later.

***

The Entrance Examinations for all Magic Academics were held at the same time every 20 years, and were open to everyone below 30 years of age.

After the Examinations, all students accepted by Exemplar are assigned a Home Room teacher to be begin their schooling alongside other students who administrators believe to be a good fight with them in terms of; personality, background, performance in the exams overall, magical cultivation level, combat style, and relative age. Three months later during the Interscholastic Games which serve as an annual performance evaluations, they are graded both individually and as a class and given a Class Ranking. Those who show little to no growth are placed on probation and flunk out if they continue to show such results for three consecutive years.

In order to graduate students must; achieve a Class Ranking of SS+ within 200 years of enrollment, receive a recommendation from their teachers, and achieve notable results in the Interscholastic Games that take place every 5 years.

Students can also apply to become Post-Graduate students who work as Researchers and Administration Staff; if they achieve SSS Class within 100 years of enrollment, receive an endorsement from several previous alum or teachers, and achieve Adventurer/Explorer certification before completing enough quests of  sufficient Rank with the Interscholastic, Exemplar, and/or World Guilds.

Each Grade of students typically encompasses 5 to 10 classes of 10 to 20 students each.

Mara and her siblings were walking through the Shopping District window shopping and people watching, having already stopped by the butcher shop and purchased a wide array of meat.

As they were walking Cora and Mana would often point out some of this years Entrance Exam applicants who also happened to be in the Shopping District, Mara knowing who they were because she was a Proctor and Cora knowing of them because she was one of the Home Room teachers successful applicants would be assigned to this year, to their younger siblings as both Opal and Sora were applying this go around.

“That kid over there is Tyler Baldwin. He’s Hobgoblin from the Ironblood Continent, which is directly south of Pandemonium. He specializes in Earth Magic and is a very talented sniper, with conservative estimates placing him at B+ maybe A- Class” Mara indicated to a maybe 16 year old male with grayish-brown kin and brown hair standing at a stall.

“And that girl over there is Helena Kodak. The heiress of the Kodak Hunting and Trapping Firm that operates mainly on the Skylark Continent. She is a very talented Huntress and Tamer, who has been assigned the A- Class for now.” Cora indicated to a 17 year old girl who just so happened to be walking out of a weapons shop with a few armed guards following behind her.

The girl had wavy, auburn colored hair, green-blue eyes, pointed ears, a button-like nose, a sprinkling of freckles, a slender figure, and was of average height.

Sora and Opal both observed one of the people in question, and sensing their probing gazes Tyler and Helena both reacted in ways that revealed certain aspects of their personality.

Tyler met Sora’s gaze briefly before getting back to his business at hand of haggling with the stall owner, eventually completing his purchase and moving own.

While Helena first returned Opal’s gaze before taking in the rest of the latter’s group. She then smiled and moved in their direction.

She soon arrived before them and introduced herself, “Hello, I’m Helena. And the four of you must be Mana, Cora, Sora, and Opal.”

“Yes we are.” Opal confirmed before asking, “How’d you know?”

“All of Exemplar’s applicants are sure to recognize the Headmistress’s family. What with the school being one of the most powerful institutions in the world and her being in charge of it. Not to mention the accomplishments of your father, The Anti-Mage.” Helena expounded as she shook hands with the four of them.

“Cora just told us that your participating in the Entrance Examination, have you checked in yet and been assigned to your room?” Sora asked.

“I have.” Helena nodded in confirmation.

“Any roommates?” Mara asked

“Just one for now, Jasmine Rem.”

Opal looked to her older sisters for clarification.

“She’s a 19 year old Gunslinger, and Demolitions Expert from the Manchester Continent. A member of the few remaining Pureblooded Human Clans.” Mara explained.

“Class?” Sora asked.

“A- or A.” Mara said after contemplation.

Sora nodded in understanding.

Opal on the other hand turned back to Helena and asked, “She nice?”

“She’s nice enough,” Helena nodded before continuing on, “But she-”

Sora gaze happened to land on Malikai and Maeve as the two explored the various stalls, and he for some reason felt implored to interrupt Helena and ask, “Are they applicants?”

The group turned to look in the direction he pointed, and their gazes landed on the pair in question.

“They are.” Mara answered straightaway.

“Who are they?” Sora asked another question; his curiosity increasing as he focused on the aura’s the two gave off and noticed the multiple guards following them from a distance.

“Malikai Daybreak and his Sentinel Maeve, both 14 years of age and Classes unknown.” Mara stated as her eyes followed the pair.

“Why is covering the upper half of his face?” Opal asked.

“That relates to an incident that took place five years ago wherein his twin sister was killed and someone stole both of his eyes.” Mara responded with a somber tone.

“What happened?” Sora asked.

“The Daybreak Imperial Palace was attacked mere days before he and his sisters 10th birthday, but to this day the exact cause of the incident is unknown to the general public. All that’s know is that he and his sister were definitely the focal point of the assault.” This time it was Helena who answered as the group continued to observe the duo from a distance.

***

Malikai’s POV

On the other side Malikai who, as per usual was completely aware of his surrounding environment, had noticed the Orn siblings and Helena interest in him and Maeve; but was quite used to such interest and attempted to ignore it, continuing on his way from on stall to another picking up various pieces of Magic Ore and Crystal, placing them in an alternate dimension, while Maeve paid the vendors.

But as he continued to meander around, he noticed that after the group had parted ways with Helena, both Opal and Sora continued to watch him from time to time, their interest in him growing increasingly visible.

“We better get outta here, those two seem like the types to randomly strike up conversation with whoever catch their fancy.” Malikai told Maeve as he began to teleport himself back to the temporary dorm he had be assigned too while undertaking the Entrance Examinations.

But as he did so Maeve grabbed him by his arm and blocked his [Teleport] spell while saying, “Nope.”

“Don’t do this Maeve.” Malikai said, immediately deciphering her intentions.

“You made a commitment less than 2 hours ago to be more open to making friends.” Was her response as she maintained her iron grip on his arm.

“Dammit Maeve let go. The boy’s about to make his way over here, I can feel it.” Malikai persisted.

And the instant following Malikai’s assertion Sora did in fact suddenly vanish from beside his sisters.

“Fuck! Its to late.” Malikai conceded, hanging his head in defeat.

And sure enough, Sora appeared before Malikai and Maeve alongside a gust of wind; crossing the several hundred foot distance separating the two groups while circumventing all the stalls, vendors, and shoppers located in between within mere seconds.

“Your a fast little bugger.” Malikai lamented.

In return Sora smirked in triumph, having guessed that in keeping with what he had heard about Malikai from both his sisters and Helena that Malikai had been moments away from teleporting away in order to avoid him.

Sora then turned to Maeve having seen her holding onto Malikai’s arm and deduced that she had anchored the latter here and said, “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Maeve responded with a smirk of her own.

Sora then nodded in understanding and turned back to Malikai, “You’ve made quite the name for yourself. And from what understand that’s just what you don’t want to do, preferring instead to mind your own business and stay under the radar whenever possible. But it would seem that those around you don’t necessarily agree with that line of thinking.” Sora looked to Maeve once more.

“It would seem that you’re right.” Malikai affirmed with a nod, thinking back to the conversation he had with his father not to long ago.

 “That’s great, because I seem to be in a similar predicament, what with my not being one to take much of interest with other people unless they have a certain level of strength. And when they,” he pointed in the direction of his sisters, “Told me about you. About your past, about how no one’s sure how strong you are, and about the fact that your likely to be the focal point of some mysterious organization or plot. And as a result I got an idea.”

“And what idea would that be.” Malikai asked, finally managing to escape Maeve’s grasp but choosing not to immediately escape.

“We should be friends, wait no. You know what…scratch that. Its not that we should be friends, its that we’re going to be friends. And great friends at that.” Sora’s final statement was straightforward declaration of intent, as if it was (or at least should’ve been) the most obvious and unavoidable fact in the entire world.

And the funny thing is, it truly should have been the most obvious and avoidable fact in the entire world to Malikai considering his abilities; and it would’ve been if he hadn’t been purposely avoiding seeing such things.