The First step

When I opened my eyes I found myself in an unfamiliar environment. I looked around and the grass beneath my feet felt different it was still green but longer. There were some wild flowers growing in it.

When I looked up the scenery took my breath away.

I was standing surrounded by a big lush forest with trees so tall they could reach the heavens.

The students that came before me were scattered around the forest exploring.

Sunlight that found its way into the leaf spaces and shone on my face felt majestic.

I could hear the chirping of birds and the skittering of the fairies that flew from one leaf to another to hide from the guests who had just arrived.

In the middle of all this lay an enormous tree with its trunk spacious enough to fit a whole group of people inside. Its vast branches spread throughout the forest.

Its leaves sizable enough to be made into a hat yet transparent and clear as a lake.

The sunlight that shone through its leaves displayed different colors on the ground making the land beneath it overflow with colors. It was as if it was mocking the other trees for having the beauty only it could display.

As I was awe-struck admiring the scenery. A loud voice echoed through the forest.

"All students please make your way to the elder tree, we will begin shortly"

I followed the sound of the voice and saw a very familiar face.

It was one of my professors standing under the tree greeting the students with a smile on his face.

I joined the students as more hurried to the tree and listened as the teacher began his lecture.

"Hello everyone and thank you for joining today. I know you all must be excited about our agenda."

And just like that the students began cheering and started to applause. The teacher calmed the rowdy students down and began from where he left off.

"I know you're all very excited but please keep your voices down as I'm sure you're well aware the forest doesn't like to be disturbed and I hope we can respect that."

He gave everyone a quick glare and everyone was quick to shut their mouths up. Satisfied with himself he began to explain the purpose of our visit today.

"Now as we discussed before today you're going to be looking for your familiars, your partners who will help you in the future and stabilize you as you take on more hard and ruthless tasks. Of course, by that, I mean my upcoming classes." He said in a cheerful tone while giving us a smirk.

The students around me groaned but a small chuckle escaped my lips despite my best efforts to keep it in.

The teacher gave a quick glance in my direction, I held my breath thinking that he must have heard me but thankfully for me he quickly looked away.

"The rules are simple if you find a spirit that you like that also works with your medium and by happenstance if the spirit likes you too and accepts your request then find me or other teachers scattered around the place who will provide you with help and give further instructions."

"However" His tone changed and he looked at us again sternly.

"Please choose carefully, a familiar once chosen is a partner for a lifetime, so I would recommend you be wise and listen to your instructors."   He took a deep breath" And for the love of all that's mighty. Do Not.. I repeat 'do not' try to force ooor intimidate any spirit or creature if you don't wanna die a gruesome death."

 Hearing this all the students got shocked and murmured amongst themselves.

The professor seeing that he had sunken the fear deep into these poor children's souls smiled and gestured at us to leave by waving his hand.

And just like that, we were off.

The students formed groups and started heading deeper into the forest

I on the other hand wanted to ask the professor a few questions. But before I could even walk in his general direction, I felt a hand as it grabbed my shoulder and flung me backward.

I stumbled back and as I was about to cuss at whoever it was I was greeted by a big ominous smile.

" Cat!" I yelled in surprise. " What are you doing here?"

" Oh come on, where else would a student be if not with their class"

She said happily, still grabbing my shoulder and grinning from ear to ear.

" But I thought you wouldn't be able to make it" I replied.

" Hehehe, there is no way you thought that I was going to miss out on our first-ever familiar hunting would you"

" I wouldn't exactly call it hunting"

I said as I threw her hand off my shoulder.

I glanced back at the place where the professor was not a second ago. But unfortunately, he wasn't there anymore.

"Ugh," I groaned and shook my head in disappointment.

"Oh! why the long face pearly I thought out of all the people out there you would be the most excited about today's event"

" Well..."

I went silent, seeing this she said.

" Ahh, this wouldn't have something to do with today's glorious events right?"

I looked at her with eyes wide with shock wondering about how she could possibly know about what happened.

" Wait you heard about that?"

"Who hasn't? that's all our peers have been talking about since I got here"

"Ugh," I groaned again and started walking ahead.

" Hey!" Cat with a smile on her face followed behind me still teasing me along the way.

We ventured deeper into the forest like everyone else and were blessed by seeing many different creatures huddling about and running away from us.

There were pixies, fairies, trolls, and many others who were analyzing us as we made our way deeper but no one approached us.

We were following a small path that twisted and turned and led the way between trees and rocks the more we ventured in the more the forest around us got thicker and after a while the track that we were on disappeared leaving us stranded.

The grass was reaching our knees and the trees weren't getting any lesser.

I looked around hoping to find any other path or some space between the trees for us to rest cause at this point walking in this grass started to feel like walking in mud.

"Haaah...... Do we really have to find our familiars this way?"

Cat exclaimed.

I looked at the Cat who was pouting and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Why? Is our pirate princess having a thirst for adventure,"  I said while hitting her lightly with my elbow.

Cat who was not a fan of our current situation grumbled and frowned.

"Yes, but it's more than that," She said still pouting and crossing her arms " And that name is getting old by the way. Just because I always wanted to play as a pirate doesn't mean that that nickname can stay forever"

She turned her face away from me in a fit but all the while I couldn't stop finding her adorable.

"True, but the reason I call you that is because you would always make me the princess, which is okay," I said hesitantly "But what isn't is that you would kidnap me every time we played!"

She burst into laughter with one hand on her knees while the other holding her stomach, She was laughing so hard that I could even see the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah all I'm hearing is that your petty, Ooh!" she said while raising her index finger and pointing it at me "Maybe I should call you the petty princess then."

I glared at her and she went silent but after a few seconds, we both burst into laughter and continued on our way whilst giggling and hitting each other.

Though it got harder to walk the more we refused to stop the scenery got more majestic.

The creatures that we saw were starting to double, and I was starting to see more exquisite species too. The trees were getting thicker and even the light wasn't able to make its way into the forest.

But just because there was no sunlight doesn't mean that it was dark, the forest had its own ecosystem that thrived in the shadows.

While walking in the grass that was getting higher and higher the more we went on. I placed one foot in front of the other when suddenly a butterfly flew from underneath the grass.

The butterfly was glowing green and the darkness around us was magnifying her glow, the butterfly elegantly flapped her wings leaving a trail of glowing dust.

Cathy rushed past me and jumped into a bush sending a bunch of butterflies flying.

I followed in her example and started running across thick patches of grass causing more butterflies to fly as I ran through each one.

Yelling and laughing in excitement we both clasped to the ground next to each other admiring the butterflies that were flying around us displaying the beauty of the night sky.

 Still laughing and gasping for air we looked at the scene in front of us. The butterflies surrounded us glowing at their grandeur fluttering about. The trees were blocking the light so the only source of light were the butterflies but the glow of the butterflies was bright enough to cast away the darkest shade with its light.

 Whilst I was trying to take it all in a butterfly grew tired from being forced to wake up from its slumber and landed on my nose to take a quick rest.

Cathy gasped and I went still trying not to make it fly away by sudden movements but since my breath was still unsteady it found its resting place uncomfortable and flew away in search of another.

We both decided to take a quick rest before making a decision and quietly lay next to each other admiring what was in front of us.

It wasn't long till all the butterflies went back to their homes and the magnificently lit up space became dark again.

Seeing that it was time and we couldn't just be lazy anymore we picked each other up from the ground and decided to head further in to see if moments like this would again transpire.

I looked as if this part of the forest was untouched.

And it could go back to being like that not long after.

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