Part 1: Chapter 6: One Starry Night

“If that’s settled, then we will meet this weekend in front of the faculty at 8 a.m sharp. Bring all the gear you think you’ll need. It is important that you think things through before going on this field exercise. Your life may depend on it.”

Miss Eliza glanced at her wristwatch. It has been an hour after she had demonstrated in front of the class how the exercise given earlier should be done.

“Understood?” she scanned through each and every face in the Training Facility.
“Yes, Miss Eliza!” all of them answered firmly.
“Ok, that’s it for tonight’s class. Good night” Miss Eliza packed up her things and left.

“So, Razz, pick you up at the library tomorrow okay?” Alan smiled, patted Razz on the shoulder and headed for the exit.

“Hey, wait up! You’re supposed to send me back to the dorm remember?” Emelda rushed to chase after Alan. “See you tomorrow Razz!” she smiled cheerfully, waving her hand.

Razz stretched his arms. Feeling kind of tired he exited the facility and headed to the locker room to take some of the things he had left earlier before the tutorial. Razz saw someone in front of him on the corridor toward the locker room. It was Dmitri. He was just standing there and from Razz’s point of view, seemed like he was browsing through a book.

“Hey, not going back yet?” Razz smiled as he approached the locker room entrance.
“Nah, I think I’d like to pray first before heading back.” Dmitri smiled back, adjusting his glasses.
“Great, we could perform the prayer together then?” Razz suggested. “Wait for me at the prayer room okay?”
“Okay, see you there.” Dmitri headed of towards the prayer room.

Razz wasn’t really that close to Dmitri. All the things he knew about Dmitri was as a result of Dmitri’s interest in Helena. It’s been almost a year since he knew that Dmitri had that big crush on Helena, and it was almost that length of a time that he and Dmitri have been friends.

Dmitri waited for Razz at the prayer room. Something had been on his mind lately and he thought he ought to get it out of his chest tonight so he could really concentrate for the coming field exercise.

11 p.m, Training Facility walkway.

“I can’t believe Miss Eliza put us in one group with that new girl Maya” Dmitri said with a grin.

“Well, I can’t believe she put me in the same group with you” Razz smiled. “Remember what happened on her basic training last year?”

“Which one?”

“The one where we lose half our eyebrow. Remember?”

Dmitri chuckled.

“Yeah, I remembered that one, we had to use a black marker to draw our lost eyebrow until it grew back” Dmitri said, slinging his backpack to his left. “A lot of things had happened since then too.” he looked down on the walkway.

Razz felt the sudden silence engulfing them. Dmitri fixed his gaze forward. Feeling uneasy, Razz punched him lightly on his right shoulder.

“That again huh?” Razz raised his right eyebrow. “Hey look, my right eyebrow looked quite okay right now” He tried to lighten up the mood.

Dmitri just smiled, a stale smile.

“Come on Dmitri, I know you’ve probably heard this a thousand times now, but hey, get over her man.”

Dmitri looked on the far left of the walkway. Their dormitory was only a couple of hundred meters away. In between the male and female dormitory, there was a big playground and picnic spot where visiting families would go if they come to visit the students here.

“Hey, Razz, let’s hang out in the playground for a while” Dmitri jogged towards the playground.

Razz just smiled and followed him from behind. Upon arriving, Dmitri rode one of the swings there. Razz just sat on the wooden bench situated closely just on the right of the swing. Dmitri was drowning in his own thoughts.

“Remember how we used to be Razz?” Dmitri broke his silence.

Razz raised his right eyebrow. It was a habit he developed after his right eyebrow got burned. Usually, it was to subconsciously state a question to a particular statement that he required further elaboration to.

Dmitri sighed.

“You know, you, me, Helena, and the guys. We used to hang out together to do stuff.” Dmitri stopped his swing.
Razz placed his sling back on the left of the bench and started to lie down. He stared at the star lit sky above. It was a beautiful sight.

“You know something Dmitri, before I entered the academy, I used to spend my nights watching the skies and looked at the stars. It would started out with just a few obvious ones that we could see. But if you continue to look at the sky, more and more stars will be visible for you to see. Have you ever tried it Dmitri?”

“Huh? No. I was never much into star gazing” He nodded his head at nothing. One of Dmitri’s habit which Razz thought was kind of odd sometimes. “You know what I get from it Dmitri?”

“What? An orgasm?”

Razz chuckled. He continued.
“It made me think that if when we look things through, we could see much more things unraveled to us, just like the night sky. And…as much as the stars that we may have seen the first time we gaze upon it, there are many more that will be shown to us from time to time.”

“I missed those times Razz. Things were very much simpler then. Whenever we felt like it, we just go. We waited for the bus just at the junction there…” Dmitri pointed towards the bus stop right in front of the student’s dormitory administration office about a stone’s throw away from where they were.
“Hey, you said that as if it was ages ago. It was just a few month back wasn’t it?” Razz grinned; his eyes stared into the night sky.

“Yeah, but it was about 7 month ago.” Dmitri sighed again.

“Well, no use thinking about it Dmitri. Life goes on. We can’t keep holding on to something that we have no control over. Besides…” Razz paused.

“Besides, what?” Dmitri asked, standing up.

“Nothing…” Razz continued.

“What?” Dmitri asked again. One thing about Razz that he sometimes found irritating was that he never liked to finish some of his sentences.

“No, really nothing to be concern of. My mind just wandered off. Hey, what do you think of Maya huh? She’s going to be in the same group with us. That should make you think about something else right? Besides “that”?” Razz gestured the quote and unquote symbol with his fingers.

“I don’t think I’d ever think about anything or anyone else besides “that”.” Dmitri answered.

“Yeah, yeah. Everybody said that the first time “that” happened to them. Believe me, you’ll get over it. It’s just a matter of time.” Razz got up and hugged his legs. “By the way, you never did answer me honestly why did you liked her in the first place?”

“I don’t know Razz. Because she’s friendly? Independent? Cute? Cheerful kind of person?”

Razz smiled. That answer was just about the standard answer he would hear every time from anybody who ever took interest in Helena.

“Why are you smiling?” Dmitri sat on the grass by the bench.

“I just remembered someone once told me. Be careful when you love somebody too much. Because when someday the wheel suddenly turned, you would hate her just as much. And…” Razz stopped in his words took his sling bag and prepared to leave.

“When you said you love a person because she is independent, do you really love her for being able to take care of herself…or you find that more convenient for you if you couldn’t give her the love and attention that she might have needed in future?”

Razz raised his right eyebrow, smiled.

“Remember it Dmitri. However independent or strong a girl can be…still, she is still a person that needed the emotional and loving support her other half could give her. There is no shortcut there is no cheat code…okay I think I’d better stop before I sounded too much like that guy in the motivational show. Let’s head back, I’m dead tired.”

Part 1: Chapter 5: The night that started it all

Razz was still busy memorizing the spell and details he needed for the tutorial that evening when his wristwatch beeped.

“Damn, already six thirty!” He placed the palm of his hand on his forehead. “Now let’s see, there’s this four elements, earth, water, fire and wind. How can I unite these four element and placed them in the spell capsule without each and every one of them nullifying each other?”

Casting each elemental spell one after another, Razz watched as each element reacted to the other element that was casted next. Earth was nullified by water, water was nullified by fire, fire was nullified by wind and wind was nullified by earth. The four elements became neutral when they got in contact with one another; no single element is all-superior to the other.

“It’s practically impossible!!” Razz took off his gloves and threw it on the ground. He watched as the gloves darted towards the ground and dust started to flew up from underneath it and started to settle down again. “The only way I can do it is if I could cast those spells fast enough before the reaction starts to take place” He sighed. “But even then…I have to do it even faster to be able to store it inside the spell capsule.”

Razz glanced at his watch. It was already seven. He packed up his things and looked around the Training Facility 1-5 in case he missed anything and left it lying around. He was planning to meet Miss Eliza there for the tutorial that evening, so he came early. All sweaty and tired, he headed for the male student’s locker room for a quick shower and an evening prayer before meeting up with Miss Eliza later.

----

“Mr. Razlan, glad you are early this evening.” Miss Eliza’s voice greeted Razz as he was entering the facility.

Razz bowed his head a bit to greet Miss Eliza. Other students were also entering the facility for the session. Training and tutorial sessions usually consisted of about fifteen to twenty students. However, for that particular session Miss Eliza was gathering about only six; all of which she considered the type of students with potentials but lacked the appropriate skills and determination of an alchemist.

Students came and sit on the bench while waiting for others. Razz approached the bench area while scanning each faces sitting there. He waved his hands. Most of the students there wasn’t the ones that was on the same lecture session, but he knew really well almost all of them since Miss Eliza usually set them up on the same tutorial session. In fact, he was much more closer to them than his other course mates.

Sitting leftmost on the front bench was Dmitri Johan, academically, a level 9 alchemist. His skills in alchemic fusion were among the best in the class, bad thing was he had always thought himself as the best thing that ever happened to the academy. Quite cocky at times but seldom turned down a request to share what knowledge he had. Socially, looked a bit nerdy sometimes when he woke up on the wrong side of the bed and had quite a crush on Helena.

Next to Dmitri was Klause Alchemis. A level 8 alchemist, some said that he inherited the smart and alchemic skills genes from his father. Even his last name could tell people about that. Scored highest in the entrance test and considered by all as a walking textbook. Socially, looked nerdy most of the time wearing his thick spectacles and sometimes thought he was the greatest thing that could happen to women. Blunt at times and always the last one to figure out a punch line to a particular joke.

Next was Lantz Isaac. His possessed the fire elemental skills of an alchemist. Just like Razz, he was a level ten alchemist. Quite the silent type and only speaks when he is spoken to. Underneath his sometimes serious and in deep thought expression, Lantz was actually a funny person. Other than that, only god knows.

Right most on the bench was Salazar Azman, Dmitri’s room mate. Built at about six foot four, he was the tallest in the class and also, the best looking; with a strong jaw, piercing eyes and pony tailed long hair. He relied strongly on his technological gadgetry than on the natural way of executing fusion. Socially, he was quite popular with the girls, mostly the juniors at the academy.

Sitting behind Salazar on the second row was Alan Mohamad, also a level ten alchemist. Accepted by all as a playful and friendly person. His main strength was in negotiations and his ambition was to actually be one of the richest people in the world. No matter as an alchemist or as a person doing trades and marketing. A real good friend of Razz.

On the opposite side of the bench was Sabrina Ali, a level 11 Alchemist. She might not look like a very talented alchemist, but her skills in information gathering were really good. Her other skills included lip reading and her amazing photographic memory. The only problem she had in alchemic classes was, she could never fully apply what she had learn even though she had all the theories and facts right in the palm of her hands. Socially, she was a bit of an introvert, didn’t talk very much unless she felt it was necessary.

Right next to her was Emelda Stewart, a level 10 Alchemist. She was the youngest in the class. Entered the academy a year earlier than any other students of her age and was considered a prodigy back then. After a while, she began to lose focus in her studies and didn’t perform very well in most of them. Always seemed happy and playful, she liked to tease other students a lot. Other than that, very little was known about her, as she didn’t talk very much about it.

“Razz! Here, we’ve saved a seat for you!” Emelda shouted. She had always liked Razz’s company during classes because Razz always helped him to understand things better. Sometimes when things got a little boring in class, Razz would always entertain her by doing funny faces. She was caught laughing loudly once during one of Razz’s act and both of them was punished soon after.

Razz smiled as he approached the empty space on the second row bench between Emelda and Alan.
“Wow, you guys are early today.” He took his seat.
“It’s not that we’re early, it’s because you’re late, Razz” Emelda replied playfully.
“Seems like you’re still Miss Eliza’s favourite” Alan teased him.

“So Alan, how was your date with that Science Major?”
“He had a date?!” Emelda’s eye widened. “How come I didn’t know this? Tell me! Tell me! I want to know too!” She pouted.

“Well, there’s nothing left to know, it’s over guys, seemed like science and fusions didn’t mix around very well. She’s one of the purist” Alan responded. “But hey, I’ve got another one this weekend!”

“With her again?” Razz asked.
“Which part of ‘it’s over’ didn’t you understand Razz?” Alan smiled. “This time it’s her course mate. Remember that long haired girl that always hang with her?”
“You’re kidding right?” Razz raised one of his eyebrows. Although from experience, he knew it was not something out of the ordinary for Alan to do what he did.
“No fair, you guys left me out!” Emelda whined.

Alan grinned.
“Tomorrow I’ll be getting my money from Click-O-Net. I told you it would work out didn’t I?”

Razz just smiled. Alan had been pestering him long enough to make him join the Click-O-Net, an online marketing scheme. Since he didn’t have any extra cash to burn, he just supported Alan morally. Alan didn’t really promote it to Razz since he knew that it was not one of Razz’s interests.

“Wanna come along? We could go catch a movie or anything afterwards” Alan continued. He looked at Emelda who was already frowning. “You could come along too Emelda” he hit her playfully on the head with his notebook. Emelda started to smile.

“Come on Razz. Loosen up a bit. It’s been a long time since all of us went out together” Emelda insisted.
“Well…okay. But only after we went to library to return some books I’ve borrowed.” He looked at Alan and Emelda, waiting for their approval.

Miss Eliza was watching the bunch from the entrance; Razz, Alan and Emelda. All of them were gifted students. Razz lacked self confidence, didn’t believe in his own abilities, Alan was full of confidence but sometimes stray away from his goal and Emelda was always the one that tried to please everybody just to be accepted.

She walked in front of them. Her beautiful green eyes gazed into each and every individual in front of her.
“Okay class, can we begin now?”

Silence engulfed the Training room. Razz and his friends stopped talking almost immediately, sat up straight and prepared to hear what Miss Eliza was going to say.

“As you all know, I’ve given to the assignment’s question through your individual e-mail. Now, how many of you understood how to get the results of the exercise?”

All of them looked at each other. After a brief moment, all eyes focused on Klause. He was always the one that could give answer to any question that Miss Eliza, or any instructor gave out. Only this time, he didn’t.

“Ok, tonight’s class is a bit special. I’m going to assign you into groups. We’re going to do a field exercise this weekend. Each and every one of you will be put in a group of three. I’ve already have the names for each group here. No negotiations whatsoever about the members of the group. Understood?” Miss Eliza stern voice echoed.

Students sighed because of the announcement. One thing they feared most was to be paired with the people they didn’t like. Things could get disastrous or it could be a very, very long field exercise for all of them in that group.

Finally Klause raised his right hand.

“Yes Mr. Klause?” Miss Eliza looked at him.
“Err…you said that we’re going to be distributed into a group of three, but there’s only eight of us here. I find that a little bit odd” Klause replied.

“Oh yes, I was just getting to that” she smiled, walked towards the door and opened it. “You can come in now”

All eyes looked towards the door. A girl entered it, her warm smile met their gaze.

“Class, meet your new friend, Maya. She’s from lecture 3. Maya, welcome to our class!”

Part 1: Chapter 4: Why do we do the things we do?

During the walk back, Razz accompanied Helena back to the student’s dormitory. Although Helena seemed like an independent girl, Razz just felt like it was only proper to walk her back after that match; with bruises and all. Razz pushed his bike while Helena was on his left. The walkway was litted brightly, accompanying their walk.

“Hey, thanks for the drink,” Helena smiled, looking at him.
“I thought you were just joking when you said you didn’t have any money on you” Razz acted annoyed. “I had barely enough money to pay for that drink just now, you know”

Helena giggled. Sometimes, she just loved to do things like that to Razz because she knew he wouldn’t mind that much. The most that he would do was getting a little bit worked up and then he will forget about it the next day.

“Razz…” she paused. She looked towards the path of the walkway as she spoke to him. “Why are you still friends with me?”

Razz was a bit taken back. He looked at her.
“Why are you asking me that all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know…” she shrugged. “I just want to know, that’s all. Can I?”

“Actually, someday, I think I’ll dedicate a book especially just for the sake of telling you the things that I couldn’t tell you straight in the face” he smiled. “To put it simply, you’re just so easy to be friends with. You could light up a room just by walking into it. People could relate to you very well and you could blend in just as easily…which is, the exact opposite of me”

“Hey, you’re not so bad…” she tapped him lightly on the back with her Blitz glove.

“No, really. I’m a nobody before I met you for the first time. Didn’t even care that much about all the happenings around me. I don’t even know the name of that guy that lived right across me in the dormitory. Came to lectures, and then back to the dorm. Rinse, and repeat”

“So are you saying, after we’ve been friends, you’re somebody now?” she smiled slyly.

“Still a nobody,” he smiled back. “But a nobody that’s a little bit more happy to be here…and a nobody with something to believe in…even though, sometimes I felt as if you’re not really serious in keeping your promises with me.”

“Hey, I said I was sorry okay?” she pouted, raising her right eyebrow.

“Yes, I know, I didn’t say I mind did I?” he looked up on the beautiful moon lit sky. “I’ve never really think about it when people does that to me. There’s really no point in thinking into it that much. Because, when you always think about what people did to you, what you wanted people to be able to do for you, what they didn’t do for you, you’ll waste half your life just thinking about stuff you can’t control and do anything about…” Razz looked at Helena. “When in fact, we could just enjoy what we’re having now, here at this moment and time.” He continued.

Helena smiled. She gazed upon the stars in the sky.

“Although….” Razz stopped for a while on the walkway, leaned his bike on one of the light poles. He crouched down to redo his shoelaces.

“What, Razz?”

“Sometimes, I just wondered why do you act as if you barely knew me when we’re in with a crowd of friends?” Razz continued, still twiddling with the laces. “You know, one minute, we could just joke around over a can of soda, talk about stuff and all, but another time around, when you’re in the crowd, I felt as if we’re like total strangers that barely knew each other”. Standing up, he continued. “But then again, probably it’s just me.” He smiled, taking his bike by the light pole and continued to walk.

A moment of silence engulfed both of them as they were approaching the dormitory building. The walkway was then spread out into a small intersection, one path leading towards the boy’s dormitory while the other one towards the girl’s.

“Well I guess, I’ll be seeing you huh?” Razz said, breaking the silence.

“Uh…yeah,” Helena replied, resting her Blitz equipment on her left shoulder. “What about that spell that you needed to learn?”

“Oh, that? I guess I have a crack at some books before going to sleep tonight. Miss Eliza won’t be happy if I didn’t know how to execute that spell by tomorrow evening.” He smiled.

“I promised next time I’ll help.”

“Don’t make a promise Lene, it’ll only make you feel burdened.” Razz said, mounted his bike preparing to go. “If it was meant to be, it will be, right?” He smiled again before going into the other direction on his bike.

Helena looked on as Razz disappeared farther on the path. He could see Razz raised his right hand saying good-bye. Razz’s question was left unanswered as they parted for the night.

Part 1: Chapter 3: It’s time to Blitz!!!

……..
Sometimes, I just wished that moments like that would never end.
Time will go by, people will change. Present friends will someday be well away with their own life. I just wish I could keep reliving that moment over and over again. The way we laugh, the way her eyes sparkled every time she laugh, the way I feel at ease every time I spend my time with her, the way we just are the way we are, with no worries in the world.

Why can’t we just stop moving forward after finding one special moment that we like best and just stay there?

Razz just stop for a moment and read through on the things he wrote on that entry. Gently brushing his hair with his fingers, he smiled. But after a brief moment, his smile changed into an expression of mixed and uneasy feeling. Thumping the journal’s surface lightly with his pen, he looked at his wristwatch.

I don’t have the answers right now, but perhaps it’ll come in time. Signing off, Razz 18th September SD1996, 7.45 p.m.

Razz finished writing on his journal. Slowly he placed his pen on the side, closed the journal and turned off the table lamp. His room was still dimly lit from the lights of the corridor when he turned his chair around and looked at his room. A small two-bed room with enough space to accommodate him and his room mate Dingo.

“Well, I’d better be going now” He thought to himself. Standing up and putting the journal in his backpack, he continued to prepare himself to go to the training complex as promised.

It was ten minutes later that Razz rode on his bike towards Training Complex One. The training complex was situated just about one kilometer from his dormitory, right in the middle between the walkway towards the faculty and the student’s dormitory. Although the facilities there was almost the same as the ones that they have at the Training and Tutorial Dome, here, the students can use the training complex without any time limit.

The environment there was more like a big stadium with many partitions so that it could accommodate about one hundred students that came there to practice or test out their fusion skills. It was usually crowded only during the exam week. Right now, only about ten to twenty students were there. Razz parked his bicycle at the far left end of the bicycle parking lot. He could have just walk from his dormitory. But since it was already 7.55 p.m when he was ready, riding a bicycle there would have bought him at least a couple of minutes to spare.

Razz entered the main entrance of the complex after registering his name at the gate. He went straight to TC Court B7, a practice court suitable for practicing spells and fusion. By the looks of the court, Helena hasn’t arrived yet. Razz put his backpack on the bench nearby and took out his elemental gloves.

Each students practicing elemental fusion were encouraged to harness their own unique elemental power. Razz’s element is water, Helena’s is the element of wind, and the other two elements are earth and fire. Each student was taught to use and build their elemental skill by constantly exploring their strengths, weaknesses and also ways to go around and exploits their strengths and weaknesses through different environments and situations. They usually did this by doing self-experimentations, constant meditation and sometimes did friendly battles between them. The higher up their skill level, the more elemental powers and fusion spells they can harness and use to their advantage.

Razz’s skill level was on level 10. For the time being, he could only use elemental and fusion spells by using special gloves that could help him focus and harness the elemental capabilities stored within him. Skilled alchemist of level 7 and above could do that by just concentrating, memorizing and casting different spells by heart. Helena on the other hand was on level 8. She had gradually dismissing the usage of those gloves and focusing more on the use of alchemic diagrams and symbols when casting spells.

Razz sat on the bench, looking around the other partition in the complex. Since see-through fences divide each court partition, it was easy for anybody to look into what was going on in other partition. He saw some commotion going on at the far end partition of the complex. Many students are gathering around the court. He looked at his wristwatch. It was already ten minutes past eight. He opened his backpack trying to find his cell phone to contact Helena only to realize that he had left it on the table back at the dorm.

“Guess it wouldn’t hurt to go there for a while,” he thought.

He left a note on the bench just in case Helena came afterwards. Helena usually didn’t care that much if he was late or anything, just as long as he came as promised. As he approached the crowd, Razz could see roughly what the commotion was all about. There was a small Blitz match going on.

“Helena would have loved to watch this,” he said to himself while approaching the court fence, also looking at his wristwatch for the time. “Where is she anyway?” he kept thinking.

Closer to the court fence, he finally realized that it was actually Helena that was in the court playing Blitz. She was up against some guy he didn’t recognize. A game of Blitz is played a little bit like squash. The difference is, it is played on a bigger court than squash and the player goes head on like a game of tennis. The court has to be enclosed on every inch so that the Blitz, the ball for the game could bounce freely. Players have to make sure that they can deflect or catch and throw back the Blitz each time it is thrown at them.

The game is played with both hands. One hand will wear a special glove for catching and throwing, and the other hand will use a special racquet that could be used for deflecting and also at times catching the Blitz and throwing it back. A Blitz racquet has this special compartment that could take in the Blitz every time it is caught and shoot it out at high speed when it is hurled towards the other opponent. A point will be given each time a player couldn’t deflect the blitz and also each time the Blitz managed to hit them without successful deflecting. Another thing about Blitz is that, the ball itself is not that hard, but each throw will make it generate some static electric that could sting a bit when making contact with the players. The higher the speed when it is thrown, the greater the sting will be.

The point was already nineteen even. Helena pulled up her sleeves ready to take the serve. She looked very focus at the game without paying much attention to the crowd gathered around the court. Smiling, her opponent tossed the Blitz in the air, caught it with his racquet and hurled it towards her in full speed. She moved to the left quickly, the Blitz hit the wall behind her and quickly ricocheted towards her.

Getting down on the court’s floor, Helena caught the Blitz with her racquet and hurled it back towards her opponent. Razz has always been amazed by Helena’s fast reflex and agility. She was his Blitz idol. In fact, Razz looked up to Helena in many aspect of life. Although he would never admit it to her face, but Helena did have that effect on him.

Helena’s opponent successfully deflects her counter throw making the Blitz bounces towards the upper bound of the court and back towards her. Taking the opportunity, she swiped it in mid air and hurled the Blitz towards her opponent. Acted on reflex alone, her opponent just blocked the throw with both hands covering his face, each with the racquet and the glove.

The blitz hit it and bounces back really fast towards Helena. Her opponent fell to the ground because of the impact. Helena, who was barely landing on her foot after the throw, couldn’t react in time. The Blitz hit her fast on her right shoulder.

Helena was thrown a bit to the right. She bit her lips, silencing her pain from the contact and fell to the ground. Razz’s eye widened. The match ended with both players really drained. Both players lay on the ground, breathing heavily. The crowd clapped their hands for the match. Razz entered the court and moved towards Helena.

Helena’s opponent was already up on his feet after his friends helped him up. Helena was still lying there on the ground with her eyes closed. Crouching beside Helena, Razz just watched her catching up her breath. He knew he had nothing to be worried about. That wasn’t the first time he saw her in a Blitz match.

He punched her lightly on the left shoulder.

“Hey, get up…” he said, smiling.

Helena opened her eyes, squinting. “You meanie…I was barely breathing here!!!”. Slowly she got up. “…And my body is hurt all over!” she pouted.
“Well, I guess tonight’s practice is over then?” Razz said, standing on his feet.

“No, I can still help you with that” Helena said looking up towards him.
“No, really…you’re barely alive down there” he smiled. “Besides…” he stretched. “Let’s go for a drink shall we? You seemed like you could use that right about now”

“Really? That’s great” she smiled. Got up, and took her Blitz equipment on the ground. “So where are we going?”

“I don’t know, you’re the one whose buying” Razz walk towards the court exit, smiling.

“Razz!!!!”

Part 1: Chapter 2: Helena

After class, Razz was permitted to leave the lecture hall only after every other student has left. He placed the shoulder strap of his backpack right on his left shoulder. He didn’t dare to look at Miss Eliza who was there getting things organized and preparing to leave. He approached the door, a big strong door made from really thick glass.

“Mr. Razlan,” he heard Miss Eliza’s voice from behind him.

“Yes, Miss Eliza?” he turned his head towards her and replied lazily.

“Don’t forget about our lab tutorial tomorrow evening. It’s very important,” she continued while finishing up gathering her materials. Razz nodded and proceeds to open the door. “And make sure you will be punctual this time, understood?” she continued.

Razz signaled the “ok” sign with his hand and went out the door.

Outside, Razz looked around. His eyes made a brief sweep of the faculty’s lecture dome. He stretched his arms briefly trying to ward of his fatigue. His eyes took in pretty much the same scenery he had seen every time he is here.

The enormous dome structure is shaped like a big cylinder with a diameter of a hundred meters. It was composed of four separate lecture hall, two on each wing; with each hall able to carry a capacity of about five hundred students. It the middle of the dome, there is a very beautiful water fountain where people could sit around it. The lecture dome is also inter-connected to the Training and Tutorial Dome of the same size on the east by a very beautiful garden. There are two sets of elevator on each floor that could take the students to the upper level Lecture Hall and its adjoining Training and Tutorial Dome.

The garden was where all the students and everyone bought their food, discussed or just pretty much sit around and meet in-between lectures. It was called the garden because that what it was, a big garden with lush green surrounding encased in thick glass wall and roof on each side so the sun could shine in.

Razz just remembered that he had promised his friend to meet there right after Miss Eliza’s morning lecture. He walked past the fountain towards the garden entrance. Rummaging through his backpack while walking, he finally found what he was looking for. He took out his cell phone and dialed the number. A dial tone was heard.

“Razz?” the voice on the other end asked.

“Hey you…” he smiled while talking on the phone. “I’m on my way to meet you right now.”

“Where exactly are you?” the voice sounded annoyed.
“I’m right near the entrance. Wave your hand so I could see you. There’s so many people right now, I might not be able to find you in this crowd.”

“Oh, all right…” the voice responded “Make it fast okay? I’m starving here, haven’t had anything to eat since last night.”

Razz scanned the food court area in the garden to find his friend. Most of the seats there are already taken. After a while of looking from one seat to another, he saw his friend waving on the very far end of the food court, right beside a small pine tree.

“Okay, saw you. Wait while I buy something okay?” he said while waving back.

“All right, I’m hanging up now.”

----

Ten minutes later, Razz took a seat right in front of his friend.
“Okay Helena, food’s ready. I hoped you really are starving right now.” he smiled while placing the tray on the table.

“Great!! I thought I was going to starve to death here.” Helena replied with a big smile while rubbing the palm of her hands together. “and Razz…” she continued.

“What?” Razz raised his right eyebrow.
“How many times have I told you not to call me by that name?”
“I know, but somehow, that name just popped up when I try to call you by name.” he smiled sheepishly.

Helena pouted her lips, trying to look annoyed. She took the fork and spoon from the tray Razz has brought over and took a sip of iced cold Chocolate drink she bought earlier.

“Here’s your fried noodles, with egg and sliced cucumber on top. Eat up okay?” handing over the plate, Razz took the tray and placed it on an empty seat between them. For himself, Razz just bought a mug of barley drink.

“You’re not eating anything?” Helena asked when she saw what he was having. She forked up the noodles right after.

“Nah, already had something this morning at the dorm.” Razz took a sip of his drink. “Besides..” he paused. “I was only here to treat you for some breakfast for the help you gave me yesterday”

“You know what?” Helena pointed the fork she was using towards Razz as if she was casting a spell, waving it up and down. “Actually, a plate of noodle is not enough for that; you should have seen what I’ve got to go through to get that thing for you.”

Razz scratched his head.
“Well, that’s the only thing I could treat you to right now.” Razz answered, smiling.

“I’m just kidding okay?” Helena smiled. “You shouldn’t trouble yourself for that, really! It just so happens that I had my hands on that thing, so I guess, why not right?” she forked in another spoonful of noodles.

Razz smiled. Holding the mug in his hands he took another look at the girl in front of him. He had met Helena the year before during Fire Elemental 101, and the thing he remembered most about her was that she didn’t seem like any typical girl he knew before, and perhaps even now. She always seemed friendly, energetic and full of energy, when she was not hungry of course. She was never hesitant to talk her mind, and that kind of honesty, even though Razz found it hard to swallow at first, is the very thing that made him enjoy their time together as friends. He smiled when he remembered some of the crazy things they have done the previous year; the kind of things that can make a very good campfire story and even the kind of good stories told to children right before bedtime.

“You’ve got to teach me how to cast that spell again.” Razz suddenly remembered something.

“What spell? For God’s sake Razz, people don’t have to remember spells nowadays. They just typed it in the computer, embedded it in casting shells and voila! Cast away.”
Although they are about the same age, Helena was one year ahead of Razz in terms of academic year. They only met in Fire Elemental 101 last year because Helena flunked it during her first attempt and had to retake the class.

“You know how Miss Eliza is right? You know how she is with all this techie-thingie,” he crossed his arms and then lowered his voice in an attempt to impersonate Miss Eliza. “You have to learn to do things the natural way where spells are concerned, trust your instinct, trust in your own abilities, for when everything else is gone, all you got to rely on, is yourself!!”

They both laughed. Razz took another sip of his drink.
“So can you help me with spell casting this evening after class?” Razz said, looking at Helena with anticipation.

Helena hesitated, “Okay, meet me at the Training Centre at 8 p.m.” She pointed her fork towards Razz again. “But this time, it’ll cost you a lot me than a plate of these you know, at least a whole set of gourmet meal wouldn’t hurt”. Smiled.

“By the way…” he put the mug down, looking at the half empty plate of fried noodles Helena was eating. “What’s that name again?”

Helena’s eyes widened. Putting the fork and spoon on the plate, she wiped the corners of her mouth with the paper napkin beside it. Although she seemed like a tomboyish girl at times, still, she is very proper in her appearance and manner.

“What?” she asked.

“Your name…how do you like to be called again?”

“Oh…. it’s Lene, you old geezer” she smiled. “And don’t go around and forget about it again, or I’ll cast some nasty shock spell on you!!” she snapped her fingers and a light spark flashed between them.

Laughter broke between the two of them.

Part 1: Chapter 1: Just another day in class

“I’m dead!!” he thought to himself.

It was already ten minutes past eight when Razz managed to get into class. It was Miss Eliza’s Elemental Fusion Class. She was showing something on the big display monitor with the back of her head facing towards the class. Razz looked around looking for a place to sit. He spotted one empty sit in the middle row beside a girl with the long hair. Trying not to make any eye contact with Miss Eliza he attempted to quietly get to that particular seat, six flights of stairs above. One, two, three flights of stairs until…

“Mr. Razlan, glad you could make it to our class today.” Miss Eliza’s soft but stern voice echoed in the lecture hall. His heart almost stopped beating then and there. He froze. “Guess I’m in beyond dead now,” he whispered to himself, his eyes closed briefly.

He could almost felt all of the other student’s eyes was suddenly hovering over him. Ever since he had started the class this semester, Miss Eliza had been breathing down his neck. From the start, she had always managed to make things very difficult for him.

At first, he thought Miss Eliza could be more of an easygoing person. He thought she could be of the few professors that he could really relate to. She was in her late twenties, one of the youngest professors they have there. She had always carried herself proudly but still, her feminine aura is still there. She didn’t wear any fancy make up or attire, but somehow there was this particular glow that he could see every time he looked at her. He could be enjoying the rest of the semester by just going to her class. Or so he thought…

“Razlan, did you hear what I just said?” Miss Eliza’s voice started to sound impatient.
“Yes, Miss Eliza.” Razz replied slowly.
“And…?” Miss Eliza continued with one raised eyebrow.
“I’m sorry for being late to your class.” Razz answered with his head facing down.
“And?” she began to take off her square framed spectacles, one hand placed firmly on the table.

“And what?” he just muttered that answer in his head. “I’m sorry for taking this class?!” he muttered again. Suddenly, he remembered.

Quickly and almost clumsily, he opened his backpack and then took out his freshly printed paperwork on Applications of Elemental Fusion in the field of Engineering. Twenty pages long, a fruit of a week of sleepless nights compiling any information he could find on the Net and in the library from any available sources he could fine. Two of his previous paperwork needed resubmission and he didn’t want this one to share the same fate too.

He went down towards the table where Miss Eliza was and handed over his paperwork. He placed it right on the table and began to walk back towards his intended seat. Making a relief gesture with his right hand wiping over his forehead, he smiled to his course mates with his back towards Miss Eliza.

“And where do you think you’re going?” he heard Miss Eliza’s voice behind him. “Since you’re not considerate enough to come to my class on time, you’re required to just stand on that spot until the class is over. Understood?”

He turned around to face Miss Eliza and answered, “Understood Miss!”
“Guess I’m doomed for the rest of semester here, man…oh man!” he said to himself.

Part 1: Monologue

Where do I begin my story? I guess it's better that I tell you about my world first. For some of you, this is a far distant future. The world that I'm living in no longer rely on carbon-based fuel. Some one hundred years ago, our scientists and researchers managed to discover a new and more efficient technology, people call it alchemic-fusion. In layman's term, it's a fusion between magic and technology. Magic are gathered in terms of the four elements of fire, earth, wind and water, combined with the latest advances in technology and what we have is a world we have today. Each gadget and appliances in houses and industries are powered by what we like to call fusion-cell. One kilo of fusion cell could store an enormous amount of power equal to one nuclear reactor.

Pollution rate have been dropped to zero. The use of fusion-cell no longer make us rely heavily on the ancient source of petroleum and gas. One small fusion-cell is all that is needed to power every moving and flying vehicle you could ever think of. We still have our forest, trees and all of nature splendour. Children could play outside without worrying about getting sick from too much sun and even rain.

So where do I fit in all this? I'm just a second year student in the Academy of Advanced Alchemic-Fusion. It's the same as any other University except here, we learn more about using the four elements of magic and how to apply it for the greater good of mankind. I don't know, that's what it says so it the brochure. I guess there's many more things to tell, so many things to talk about, so many things have happened that I want to share with you. Oh yes...my name is Razlan. Here's how my story goes...