Chap 1
The Girl of Emerald Eyes
Athyrynx was not a kingdom born from peace. Long ago, five extraordinary monarchs joined their powers and conquered thelands that stood between them. Four were men, one was a woman,
and each possessed a power unlike any other. After their victory,
they divided the kingdom into five great estates, each run by one monarch under one king. Together, those five estates became the Kingdom of Athyrynx. But the monarchs knew that power alone could not protect their kingdom forever.
So they established the Noble Academy, a magnificent institution
where gifted students could learn to understand, control, and strengthen their abilities.
For generations, only children from powerful families had
dreamed of entering its gates.
Until her.
The girl stood silently before the academy’s enormous entrance, staring at the magnificent towers rising above her. She had never seen anything like it. Crystal windows reflected the afternoon sunlight. Enchanted vines climbed the ancient stone walls, blooming with flowers of impossible colors. Bridges floatedbetween towers, while tiny lights drifted through the gardens like fireflies.
For a moment, she simply forgot to breathe. She had grown up in an orphanage. She had no family name. No memories of her parents. No knowledge of where she had come from.
The only thing she had ever possessed that seemed connected to her mysterious past was the wand hanging at her side. It was not an ordinary wand. She is its Guardian.
Through it, she could call upon the powers of nature, wind, water, earth, plants, and countless other forces that she barely understood.
Her light-brown hair moved gently in the breeze as she stepped toward the academy gates. Her sharp emerald eyes reflected theenormous castle before her. Her simple dress of light pink and emerald green looked almost ordinary among the elaborate clothes of the noble students arriving for the entrance
examination.
But the wand at her side is not ordinary. She tightened her hand around it.
“If I enter this academy...”
She looked toward the towering halls.
“Maybe I’ll finally discover what I am.”
She didn’t know that the moment she crossed those gates, the balance of Athyrynx would begin to change.
And she certainly didn’t know that someone inside the academy already knew who she was.
