Elements Academy (Rewrite)

     Humans have always known about the paranormal existing around them. Of course, they only get a small taste of what's really out there with us, and many of them hunger for more information about what they might see, much like a pack of wolves. Chasing information they don't have the ability to control or understand. Elementals do indeed exist in the human world, but we remain the only part of what's really out there that humans get to witness. We're said to be extraordinary, elegant creatures of excellent power. Capable of breathtaking, heroic things, such as redirecting horrible storms that might have destroyed hundreds of homes and taken countless lives, or moving mountains. That's how we're so perceived by the humans, anyway. And while that's flattering, puffing us up full of so much pride with needless praise for our abilities, and making us seem greater than we are, it also couldn't be farther from the truth. Humans sure are easily impressed. But it's utter bull, I'm afraid. 

     Nobody in my family is anything as 'great and powerful' as those stories tell, anyway. At least not that I know of. Well, I'm certainly not. When I first discovered my Element, at age eleven, two years back, it was in an elegant fit of anger against a disobedient hair dryer that I'd ended up setting into flames . I was mortified, and at first, suspected that there was some kind of malfuction, before remembering that I'd actually forgotten to plug it in. That didn't really help matters. Despite me feeling stupid, my family was proud. Well, not that I almost burned down the washroom, and could have burned down the house, but more so that I am in fact a Fire Elemental like all of them. Not to mention, my mother could easily school the flames before they got out of control with a mere flick of her wrist, no damage done. Well, aside from the damage done to the poor hair dryer, that thing was baked. I'd been in pure awe. Is this something I'd be able to do one day, that my mother had just done, and if so, how hard is it to control? How? How soon? So naturally, like any curious young Elemental, I'd gone to my mum, dad, and older sister, Erika with my questions.

     And that's when they told me about the strange, almost secret-like school. "A place that exists but doesn't," so to quote. "Not on this level. A place where humans cannot roam, and only those with special Elemental powers can enter. It's like a young Elemental's safe haven, away from the real world and wandering eyes to work with their gifts in peace, before they have their permits, and return safely." I recall her smile, as she continued, looking almost wistful. "There are many more things, magical, Elemental, and otherwise that lurk in this new world beyond the Portal, that humans fail to understand and properly grasp, in this one, aware of our existences or not." My mother had explained. "Elements Academy, the school beyond the Portal. It's a place where young Elementals are sent to learn control over their Elements, and gain their Element Permit at the end of Year Five. From the Big Four, to Half-Elementals, Special Elementals, and sometimes, if you're lucky, Multi-Elementals. All of them there, learning under the guidance of even more Elementals."

     She explained our family's Element fairly well, too. I come from a family of Big Four Fire Elementals. My grandparents on my mother's side were both Fire Elementals as well, while my grandfather on my father's side was a Fire Elemental, while my grandmother was an Air Elemental. When my sister, Erika, came along, it held the possibility that she would be an Air Elemental as well, same with me. But evidently, with my hairdryer incident, I'm no Air Elemental. And Erika, she gained her Element Permit a few years back. She doesn't live at home anymore, either, normally off with her human boyfriend, but she does visit often. Erika told me the tale of how she got her Element, and it was, jokes aside, much more elegant than my own way of discovering mine. While she was a later bloomer than me, she'd discovered it while going out to a public pool with her friends one day, and her body started smoking, despite her skin being cool. Those reactions would have been pretty great. Moving on, my family doesn't mind the other Elements, either. My father's group of friends includes a Dust Elemental and an Earth. While my mother's closest friend is a Water. You could say it was chance we've had one Element running in our family for as long as we had. Normally, it doesn't happen this way.