He had always known that luck never favored him or his family, this feeling cemented itself when Ixis opened the door of their cabin. The first sight of her took his breath away, her curly brown hair that hung on her back. The round glasses that framed her violet eyes. He knew who she was, before she introduced herself. Because this was not the first time he had seen her, it seemed ages ago since his brother took everything from this girl, and now he needed to live with her. He was so mad at everything, that he had stormed off to his room and slammed the door. As if he was a small child, and not the almost adult man he thought he was. The next morning he had waited until, Ixis and Aless were out of the cabin before he felt comfortable leaving his room.

"Hey man, good morning." Raldor greeted him, with a sly grin upon his face. "Care to tell me what that was yesterday?" Initor shook his head, he rather kept this piece of information for himself. "Too, bad man. Because I am." Initor knew that Raldor meant it and sighed.

"It is simply not so easy, Raldor. But let me put it like this, it would be better that Aless and I keep our distance." Initor said. This made Raldor's eyes shot up. Of course, this half-baked explanation would raise more questions, more than he felt comfortable sharing with someone. But to his surprise, Raldor said nothing more. He just turned around and walked out of the cabin. The both of them sat down at the same table, and they started to eat breakfast. His gaze however shifted towards her, she was sitting next Ixis with the other earth elementals. Who were staring daggers at her, even though her only crime was that she was an air elemental. It seemed that she had clocked them staring at her as well, she ate her breakfast quickly and then rushed out of the cafeteria.

"Our new roommate is a smart one," Raldor said, and chuckled. "She was able to read the room and acted accordingly." Initor nodded, drank his coffee and sighed. "By the elements, what is wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Initor said, knowing that Raldor wouldn't believe him. "I need to prepare myself for class." He grabbed his back from the ground and rushed out of the cafeteria. He went up the wide stairs that lead towards the next floor, where the six classrooms were located. Initor saw that Aless entered the Air classroom, and he went into his own classroom. Madam Blaze, the Fire element teacher, was already inside the classroom together with another student. Their familiar was nowhere to be seen, which was not uncommon with the larger animals. The sandy blond haired boy had his back towards him, but he was standing close to the forge. The flames inside were roaring, and the heat was filling up the classroom. It was not the first time that he saw James working on one of his copper art pieces right before class, but it was the first time that it was this hot inside the room.

"Initor, you are early, which I do not mind at all. But I actually hoped that you would arrive a bit later," Madam Blaze said. And he understood directly what she meant by that, he was held back a year because he wasn't able to unlock another element. And his possible late arrival would mean that he was hunting for another familiar, which he tried to do in his first year.

"I was planning to do that after class, madam." he replied. She simply nodded, and turned her attention towards James. Initor took his usual spot all the way in the back of the classroom, hoping that he wouldn't be noticed. Of course, things were never that simple, and luck was never at his side. Luckely the lessons didn't take long, and he was free to go on his merry way. But as soon as he stepped out of the classroom, he spotted her. Together with Sera.

"But then again, he is a hard ass towards all of us. So you are nothing special." he heard Sera say, they were probably talking about mister Tumul. Who was known to be an old grump that got stuck into the old days. The only one that was more despised at this school was mister Incidis.

"I have no doubt that he is, and I know that I am not special. I just have the misfortune of him being good friends with my grandmother. But I will survive, I am sorry, but I was not able to catch your name?" Aless said. The girl shook her head. So Sera didn't introduce herself, which was not that surprising. Sera was known to be blunt, and rude.

"That is because I didn't share it with you, airhead. I am Sera Clarke. And like I said, you are nothing special." Sera snapped at her. Aless didn't seem to be taken aback by that comment. "Well, I need to get to my next class." The crow upon her shoulder disappeared, and an otter took its place. The otter jumped down and raced into the water element classroom. "Have fun with that paper." So the old man has given her homework. A paper by the sounds of it.

"Thank you," Aless muttered under her breath. She turned around and almost bumped into him. "Oh, Itinior. I am so sorry." He needed to act annoyed, otherwise she would think that he was stalking her or something. Which he kind of was, he wasn't able to get her out of his head.

"And do you understand that you are no one special?" he asked. Was he really asking her this? He was such an idiot, now she would think he was some kind of creep. She didn't say anything.  Instead, she took a step aside so that she was able to walk off without bumping into him. He was slightly amused by her reaction, she didn't reply to his stupid comment. "You know that not replying is considered rude." He wanted to know how far he was able to go with her. She walked down the stairs. 

"So is eavesdropping, but you do not hear me battering you about it." she replied, she turned towards the left at the bottom of the stairs. She was entering the large library, probably to pick up a few books for that paper. But she didn't go towards the air section of the library, instead she went towards the fire section and picked with hesitation a book about his element from the shelf. Without knowing why, he had followed her into the library.

"Didn't you have a paper?" The question left his lips before he was able to stop himself. She looked at him, a bit shocked, and she probably tried to figure out why he was still there. A question he was asking himself too.

"I still have time to write it, so I am not worried. And besides, I just want to read a book, and enjoy the nice weather outside. It is not going to last forever." she said. "I have heard about a nice pavilion near the lake, inside the forest." He frowned, and then sighed. She was just like everybody else. 

"You are going to hunt for another familiar," he said. He had heard stories about the pavilion, and he had seen it a few times when he was inside the forest looking for familiars. She shook her head, and checked the book she had picked out. He wanted to apologize for his rude behavior, but the words were not able to leave his lips. It was better to say nothing, and to go back to the cabin. He needed to create as much space from her as possible. But he needed to go into the same direction as she did, and she already seemed a bit weary of him. He didn't blame her for that at all, he wouldn't trust him either after the stunts he pulled. Following her and eavesdropping onto her conversation. Maybe he should clarify what his intentions were before he messed this up. "The cabin is this way." She didn't reply, but she didn't look so often over her shoulder either. Which was a huge win, he walked past her towards the cabin. But turned around as she enters the forest. He nodded, she was going to do whatever she wanted inside that forest. It was not for him to know, and besides that he had some homework to do. It was not much, but it was still homework. He grabbed his books and notebook out of his back and placed it on the small coffee table. The next thing for him to do was to grab his favorite spicy sausage snacks out of the cabinet. His parents made it a point of sending him a large bag, with each letter, and he knew how expensive they were. So he savored each of them, and never told his parents when he ran out of them. Otherwise, they would buy them more. Raldor and Ixis know this as well, and they stayed away from them. Their former roommate didn't care and took whatever they could, so Ixis kicked them out of the cabin. Of course, they tried to stir up the pot, but it didn't go anywhere. Initor smiled when his memories brought him back to that faithful day, and he was glad that Raldor and Ixis had his back. They even offered to go into the wood with him, to look for a potential familiar. But he had declined their offer each and every time. Initor placed a snack into his mouth and sat down, ready to get started, when he heard a scraping sound against the door. "Rapid, I need to do some homework. We can go for a ride later." Rapid was his familiar, a proud black stallion that loved to run through the woods on a daily basis. But instead of going away, Rapid started to kick the door with his hooves. "Alright, alright." Initor jumped from the couch and opened the door, Rapid looked at him with some kind of pride in his eyes. Initor looked at his familiar with narrowed eyes. "Well, here I am, but I can't go outside if you stay where you are." Rapid stepped back, but not much. Ready to kick against the door, when Initor decided to close it. He had done that only once, and service to say he wouldn't do that ever again. Initor stepped out of the cabin and jumped onto Rapid's bare back, clutching his hands into Rapid's hair. Before the animal was able to take off, which it did. Initor was not going to lie, he loved the way the wind blew through his hair. How the trees flew by in a simple motion, the strong muscles of Rapid flexing underneath him.

********

The animal ran, and ran. But came to a stop inside the open clearing near the lake. The soft sound of somebody crying, reached his ears and he knew that Aless was close by. He slipped of Rapid's back and stepped out of the bushes. And there she was softly sobbing.

"Aless, are you alright?" he asked. She turned around, her eyes were red from the tears. Her cheeks were covered with tears, he rushed towards her, afraid that she might hurt herself.

"I am," she said. But this didn't calm him down, he quickly rushed and looked her over. She was physical fine, but why was she crying? "I am really fine." He sat down with a sigh of relieve.

"My parents used to tell me stories about their first meeting, it was right here. Just after my mother connected with her water familiar. He was hunting familiars himself, but he was struck by her beauty and his ability to connect with a water familiar so early in her first year." she said with a thin smile. His stomach sank, now he knew why she wanted to go here. It was his brother that took her parents from her, and all what she wanted to do was look for some connection.

"I am so sorry," he said. She again smiled at him, which didn't relieve his quilt.

"It is not your fault, they are gone. They are simply gone, and there is no element in the world that is able to bring them back." she said. Aless didn't even know how wrong she was about that. But he was not going to tell her that. "Ixis told me about your struggles with unlocking the other elements." she was clearly changing the subject, and he didn't mind at all. "May I ask you something?" he nodded. "Are both of your parents born fire elementals?" he nodded. "And your grandparents from both sides?"

"Yes, but I fail to see why this is important," he said. Her smile became a bit wider and more genuine. This was apparently a topic she loved to discuss. 

"It is what I believe the reason why you are struggling to unlock other elements. My mother was able to unlock the water element so quickly, because her mother was a born water elemental. My father, on the other hand, came from a pure air elemental bloodline, and he like you had some trouble unlocking the other elements." She said, and he started to realize what she was saying. It was not so long ago that marring or have kids with someone that was born with another element was discouraged, it was believed that the children of a pure elemental union would be stronger. They were, but he was also able to see that it had its side effects as well. "I really believe that I am able to unlock the fire and water element with ease, because of what my direct bloodline tells me. You on the other hand need to fight for them." Fighting, that was a nice description for his struggles.

"So, how did your father unlock the elements?" he asked. She gazed towards the water, and closed her eyes. A soft breeze started to play with her brown curls.

"By expecting the fact that it wouldn't be easy, and he never stopped trying to connect with another familiar. My mother also helped him." She said, and he believed her every word. She nodded towards the lake. "A lot of water familiars live in or near the lake, maybe you should try to go near it. While admitting to yourself that, the will to connect is stronger than your bloodline." His gaze went towards the lake, and butterflies started to fly up inside his stomach. But he didn't protest or anything, he just stood up and did what she said. He knelt down at the edge of the lake, closed his eyes, and he controlled his breath. He stretched out his hand, and waited. Aless at one point stood up from the bench and went to sit next to him. He didn't open his eyes to see what she was doing, but he could feel some kind of energy shooting towards him. A calming yet strong, just like her. "Initor, open your eyes." she whispered, and he did. For some reason unknown to him, his palm was no longer facing the water. Instead, it was facing the sky and on it stood a small crab. A water familiar, was this the moment that he was going to unlock another element. Water from the lake shot up and started to circle around them, but then bright red flames joined the water. His gaze snapped towards her, and at her side was a white hedgehog. She was right, she would be able to connect with a fire familiar with ease. The water fall down towards the lake and the fire faded into ember.

"Well, that was really something else." A male voice said. "And here I thought that I for once would have a nice stroll into the woods. But instead of that, I see history repeat itself." Aless and Initor turned around and behind them stood Irius Gritt the Headmaster of the academy, together with his familiar Orsin a giant brown bear. "But what else could I expect, the daughter of Ulyn and Aleus is here." Initor frowned, what did the headmaster mean by that. He was about to ask this, but was interrupted by the headmaster raising his hand. "I mean that Ulyn was an extraordinary woman, she was able to help Aleus to unlock the other elements with her energy. I do not have to ask you what you felt before you unlocked the water element. A calming, but strong energy washed over you. I know this because Ulyn used her gift on me as well." Initor was now even more confused, she lent him her energy? Was that even possible? Clearly it was, otherwise the headmaster wouldn't have said it. "But I even believe that Aless is even stronger than Ulyn, because she was not only able to help you. But she was also able to unlock an element herself. Something Ulyn wasn't able to do at all." Initor looked at Aless, who had tears in her eyes. She came here in the hope that she would find a glimpse of her parents. And now she discovered that she indeed has found them. "But we are not going to stop here, we are going to try this again."