The Wind Apprentice

Perhaps at this point a description of Jeneiso would be useful to understand Diz’s dislike for the city.

Jeneiso is obviously the capitol of the kingdom with the King’s castle located in dead center of the city surrounded by a large wall. The rest of the city is divided into four quarters.

The first quarter which also has the only entrance into the walled city is known as The Market District. Market District is the only place outsiders are allowed to venture, and only if they are selling goods. You see only the rich and the important are permitted to live in the city. This is why it is nicknamed the City of Gold.

Second quarter is known as the Housing District. Citizens of Jeneiso obviously find housing here is you are not part of the royal family or a guard. The further into this quarter you go the more grand the houses become. The houses (more like mansions) are located by the city wall. This is because only the rich could afford to use horses and carriages daily.

Third Quarter, the Guild District. This is obviously the head quarters and meeting place of just about every Guild. The Riches Guild (Royal Family Members) meets in the King’s Castle.
Peasant’s Guild,
Crafter’s Guild,
Entertainment Guild,
Merchant’s Guild,
Banker’s Guild.

And last but most certainly not the least, the fourth quarter. The Wizard’s Guild. That’s right, the entire fourth quarter is dedicated to the Wizards. Trust me they need it too.

The Wizard’s District is basically a small town just for wizards. It has shops, inns, bars, and many other things aside from the school itself. A lot of graduate wizards will come to Jeneiso for a bit after an assignment if they don’t teach. Many don’t teach and prefer to travel after all.

Right now our protagonist, sorry, our VERY annoyed protagonist was sitting in the University’s cafeteria trying to mind his own business as he had been doing every night since he arrived. The white haired fourteen year old felt his eye twitch as he tried to ignore the stuck up rich kids sitting at the next table.

So far he had done a marvelous job of standing in the shadows and wasn’t about to blow it now. Especially sense it was only the first day of classes. No need to draw attention to himself by throwing his plate of pancakes and sausage across the room and, preferably, hitting one of the stuck up bastards.

“Can I sit here, all the other tables are taken?” Diz glanced up to see a boy that had obviously just gotten out of bed. His auburn hair was messed up like he hadn’t bothered to brush it and his light blue eyes looked like they hadn’t had enough sleep. The boy was wearing robes of a water apprentice.

“Sure.’ Diz says looking back to his plate, not really hungry.

“I’m Ace.” Diz looked up at the boy across from him, he had seen him before but couldn’t point out where.

“Diz.” The wind apprentice was all for ignoring everyone who he came into contact with here but now that he had come into contact with someone who wasn’t stuck up, Diz couldn’t bring himself to be rude.

“I can’t wait for my first class after my elemental training. Magical Creature Studies. What about you?” The auburn haired boy asked as he cut up his pancakes. Good manners, obviously from a rich family.

As long as he didn’t act like it, it was fine with Diz. Sticking a hand into his pocket, the fourteen year old drew out the schedule he had only glanced at earlier before shoving it in his pocket.

“Same. I hope they tell us how to take better care of our familiars. I’m not sure about yours but mine’s high maintenance.” Ace gave Diz a sympathetic look.

“So is mine. Female Water Fairy. She’s great to be around when she isn’t preening.” Diz couldn’t help but laugh.

“My familiar is an Oother with an odd fascination with not only looking for bugs in his coat but also in my hair. It can be really annoying.” Ace grins but doesn’t say anything because of the food in his mouth.

The two continue to chat through breakfast before they both part ways.

-

You must be curious about Diz’s schedule. Well, Diz himself couldn’t care less about it. He’d rather be home in Priceana with his friends then to go to some devil’s class. He was, of course, completely ignoring the fact that because he could do magic himself he was also a devil.

Breakfast
Morning 1- Elemental
Morning 2- Magical Creature Studies
Morning 3- Social Studies
Lunch
Afternoon 1- Math
Afternoon 2- Physical Education
Afternoon 3- Healing
Dinner
Night1- History
Night 2- Astronomy

Master Wright had insisted that Diz take Social studies because of where he grew up. The green eyed teenager couldn’t help but feel insulted, though that wasn’t his Master’s intention.

Ray was flying leisurely beside Diz, occasionally doing loops in the air. What Diz said earlier about Ray being a conceited bastard was true but most of the time Ray couldn’t care less about what was happening around him. Like he was in his own little world. Diz thought it was hilarious, but at times couldn’t help but be jealous of the monkey like creature.

Master Wright had asked to meet Diz for his one-on-one elemental training in one of the five Wizard’s District’s parks. Diz would’ve thought that Earth training would have gone on in the parks but Master Wright pointed out that the Guild had a small forest towards the city wall.

Diz smiled at his familiar as he flew up a tree and rested on a branch as they entered the park. Ray missed the trees and like to sit high up in them whenever he got a chance. Wasn’t as good as the rain forest he came from but it was a nice substitute.

“Danny over here.” Diz jerked his head towards the sound of his Master’s voice. To Diz’s surprise his Master wasn’t wearing the dark blue and white robes but black and white robes. Seeing his apprentice unasked question on his confused face Wright decided to answer.

“Masters and every rank has two different official colors. Black and dark blue is the masters. Turquoise and grey are wizard or witches. Brown and light green are apprentices. Silver and gold is Lords and Ladies.”

“How come I don’t have brown robes then?”

“Because only the older apprentices get the choice of brown.” Diz just nodded.

“Okay, now to start the class. I’ll be honest with you Danny I’ve only taught one kid before you. So I’m not a perfectionist at teaching.” Diz nodded again, he could hear Ray jumping from tree branches.

“I’m going to teach you meditation today. Meditation is used for many things but it’s usually used for communing with your element. You should know that your magic is sentient. It can talk to you, you can talk to it. But you can usually…” Wright broke off as Diz interrupted him.

“I’ve heard it talk before. Before I thought I was just crazy.” Master Wright looked mildly surprised.

“That’s…..unusual.” He said slowly while trying to come up with an explanation.

“How so?”

“Well, normally people can only commune with their element when they discover their totem. A totem is a manifestation of your magic. It’ll take the form of an animal. Most times your totem will be the same as your familiar. Tell me, have you ever had a vision of an animal when you hear it talking?”

Diz frowned and thought for a moment. No. There wasn’t a single time when he got a vision of his totem. Shaking his head he saw Master Wright frown deeply.

“I knew you were powerful but this is just ridiculous.” Wright muttered only loud enough for Diz to hear. No one, and I mean no one had ever been able to talk to their magic without the use of a totem. Sure, there were some people who could accidentally discover their totem but to actually talk to their element without it. That’s just unheard of.

“I take it you can’t talk to your magic whenever you want to, it just talks to you right?” At Diz’s confirming nod Master Wright takes a deep breath.

“Okay, then I’ll be teaching you how to find your totem. This might take a while, though I doubt it considering you’ve been able to chat with your element before. What I want you to do is sit down in a comfortable position and close your eyes.”

Diz did as he was told. Sitting cross legged Diz is only mildly surprised when Ray glides down from the tree and perches himself on Diz’s leg.

“Good, Ray can help you connect with your magic. Familiars can help focus magic. Now take a deep breath and exhale slowly. That’s good. Now, just repeat it. Get into a rhythm. Okay, I want you to shut out every single noise except for my voice.”

Wright begins to hum a tune Diz can’t place as he attempts to shut everything out. After ten minutes Diz is almost certain he had been dumped in water. Everything was muffled and far away. The only thing that was normal was Master Wright’s humming that cut through the stillness like a knife.

After fifteen minutes Diz felt like he was detached from his body. It was like he was flying, not only that but he wasn’t afraid of falling. He wasn’t afraid of anything, here everything was calm and no one could reach him.

He was at a beach with a breeze blowing and but with calm water. There were colors, lot of them. Like paint cans were carelessly thrown everywhere. Then he saw Ray sitting in a palm tree, the sight made Diz smile.

Suddenly, the breeze picks up to a almost hurricane force but with no rain only thunder and thick clouds. The strong winds don’t bother Diz in the slightest, as a matter of fact they don’t even touch him.

Then Diz see it, it’s perched majestically on a palm tree. It leapt off the tree and took flight, not at all bothered by the hurricane winds. The great bird landed on Diz’s shoulder the fourteen year old lifted up an arm and stroked it’s feathers. The bird bowed it’s head to Diz then looked at him in the eyes.

“Daniel Black.”

-

“Danny Zephyrus!”

Diz jerked awake couching like he had been drowning but there was no water in his lungs.

“Your awake.’ Diz looked up at his Master’s worried face then looked around. He was in the infirmary.

“What happened?”

“You wouldn’t wake up, I thought you fell into a magical comma.”

“I was meditating.”

“You wake up when you meditate Danny.”

“But I saw my totem. It was weird though.” Wright frowned at him.

“What happened?”

“At first I felt like I was underwater. Then it felt like I was detached from my body and flying. The next thing I know I’m at a multicolored beach with Ray.” Diz frowns then looks around in search of his familiar. There he was. Sitting on the bedpost starring at him with his cat like eyes.

“Then what happened Danny?”

“Then a hurricane started, no rain though and the wind didn’t bother me. I couldn’t even feel it. That’s when I saw the bird on the palm tree.”

“What kind of bird?”

“I’m not sure exactly. It was like a bald eagle but bigger. And instead of white feathers it was more of a dark gold almost bronze but lighter. And the rest of the body had bluish-black feathers. It’s eyes. It’s eyes were a solid blue that looked full of lightning. And it’s talons were really sharp with electricity jumping from them.”

Master Wright had a deeply troubled look on his face. Suddenly a bell rang. It signaled the beginning of a new class.

“You better go Danny. Wouldn’t want to be late for class.”

“But, what bird was it?”

“Go to class Danny.”

-

Moodily Diz walked along the path towards the Guild’s forest. Why wouldn’t Master Wright tell him what bird that was. Diz wasn’t overly fond of research but knew he’d have to do it if he wanted to find out.

“Hey Diz wait up!” Stopping Diz turned to see Ace running towards him. A small creature was perched in his messy hair.

“Hi. How was your class?” Ace was a nice person and Diz couldn’t bring himself to be mean no matter how upset he was.

“Okay. We were trying to find our totems. I thought I caught a glimpse of something but the bell rang so I’m not sure. What about you?”

“Fell into a magical coma in the process of finding my totem.” Ace looked shocked and concerned.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m going to class aren’t I.” Ace smiled at Diz’s response.

“I scraped my knee my first day here and that healer practically tied me to the infirmary bed until it was completely healed. It’s not like I haven’t had worse. That woman takes her job a bit too seriously.” Diz smiled at that.

Coming to the designated clearing where the class was to take place Diz and Ace saw that at least thirteen kids had arrived. Diz spotted the girl from his first day in the Guild. Asha. Sparky was sitting on her shoulder. Her long light brown hair was done in a low pony tail.

Deciding that it was better to sit with someone familiar rather then a complete stranger Diz lead Ace over to the fire apprentice.

“Hi. Can we sit here?” She looks up and nods. Diz plopped down on the dirt without any thought to his white robe. Ace follows suit. The clearing was thick with tree and the light barely came in. It was just enough to see with.

Suddenly realizing that he should probably make introductions to the two only decent people he had met. Diz looks between the two just as Ray glides down from the tree he had been occupying and perches on Diz’s shoulder.

“Um. Ash this is Ace. Ace, Ash.” The two nod at each. Suddenly an exclamation comes from the small creature on Ace’s head (Diz disjointedly realizes that it’s a Water Fairy), the creature jumps off Ace’s head with fast little wings and flies over to Ash. It happily twitters and kisses her cheek.

“She’s saying hi.” Says a slightly embarrassed Ace. Ash just smiles as the fairy rests in her hair and waves towards Sparky.

“What’s her name?” Ash asks as she moves a curious Sparky to her rest on her leg.

“Misty. I had mentioned that it was my sister’s name when I first got her and she liked it so from then on I’ve called her Misty.”

“Nice name.” Diz comments as he tries to stop Ray from looking through his hair in search of bugs. Ace and Ash laugh at Diz’s expense.

Ray soon gets bored and looks up curiously at Misty like Sparky had moments ago.

Misty had blue fishlike scales covering her body. Her translucent wings were more rainbow colored then anything else. Aqua eyes matched her messy hair. Other then the scales and wings she looked like a tiny person.

Before they knew it all twenty students for the class arrived and the teacher, Master Tara, came up to stand in front of the class.

“Okay apprentices, this is your first day and I decided to start this class with a bang.” Their teacher was wearing the forest green and black robes of an Earth Master. She was short with blond hair and blue eyes.

Master Tara disappeared for a moment before coming back with a Royal Arachnid in toe. Diz’s pale face went even more pale if that was possible. He had a bad case of arachnophobia. Ash and Ace looked interested though.

“Don’t worry everyone, he’s a big softy.” Diz gaped at her like she was nuts. The giant spider was about as tall as their teacher, definitely taller then Diz. It was snapping it’s pinchers in clear irritation at all the people that was surrounding it.

“Oh, don’t be like that. It’s not even the King of it’s colony.” Master Tara said after seeing the looks on everyone’s faces. Ace saw the dangerously pale look on Diz’s face. Diz was beyond scared. He wanted to bolt out of the class right now but was frozen in place.

“You should all know that Jerry, his name’s Jerry by the way, is completely domesticated. He’s a jittery around a lot of people but he won’t attack you. Now who wants to touch him!”

Diz nearly fainted at that.