Elysium Academy: Divine Goddess

March (5 months before) Heat wafted from the tall, gleaming mansion. Ember arms licked the door and cracked as the flames engulfed what Layla thought would be her home forever. The bright flames took over the house in a matter of minutes. Layla brought her blanket arm to her face and breathed a deep cough. This was unfair, she thought to herself just when things seemed to be looking up. She didn't know what to do at all in that moment. She had just been offered to go to one of the top Academies to further her studies the night before, and then this happens. This was something that she could not afford to fix like as she had her grades. This was her home. The only home that she had. The only thing left to her by her parents that she'd never met besides the pictures and furniture. All of it was gone now. Ashes and small pieces of fire were riding on the wind now. Her grandmother took care of her until she was a junior in high school. But she had passed then and now Layla

The doors groaned before Layla could even place her hand against the wood to open it. Warm light spilled into the corridor, brushing against her skin like static. For a heartbeat, she wondered if she’d imagined it, but Perse was already tugging her forward, grinning as if she owned the place. Inside, the dining hall was alive. Long tables of dark oak stretched under floating candelabras that burned with blue-white flame. Banners hung from the rafters—each one marked with a different crest: a thunderbolt, a trident, a laurel crown, a flame, a serpent. So many symbols and banners hung high above tables full of chattering initiates. The colors shimmered as if the fabric itself breathed. “Welcome to the Feast of the Houses,” Perse announced, spreading her arms. “Try not to stare too hard. They can smell nerves,” she joked. She nodded swiftly as Peres pulled her alongside her, weaving through all of the students in the hall. Layla tried not to, but it was impossible. Students glowe

Layla woke up the next day feeling refreshed. She hadn't slept like that in quite some time. Her dreams hadn't been as calm as they had been either until last night. She no longer dreamed of the home that she had grown up in burning to cinders anymore. Instead, she dreamed of the rusty wolf and its golden lava eyes. She now seemed to wonder to herself if they truly were golden. She couldn't tell because they burned so intensely. She began to wake herself up and threw on her clothes for today's classes. She knew that she would be learning about mythology here. Quite a lot actually. The entire school was based on Greek studies. She looked forward to learning more about the gods and the other initiates. She knew that once she knew more about the gods that things would begin to click better for her. She grabbed her bag that she had packed the night before after her shower and dinner. She had to wash off again after the electrifying and tingling sensation in her body wouldn't ca

Layla tossed and turned in her silky sheets as she tried to sleep. After the day she'd had, she had so much on her mind. She'd embarrassed herself by losing control of her powers in front of her class, and now she was “benched.” And she didn't know what to think of Dr. Thalia. Something in the back of her mind clawed to run away every time she was near. Layla rolled onto her back, placing her hands over her stomach. And then there was Theo and Damon. She didn't know where to begin with those two. There wasn't much to go on but there was something insanely magnetic about the two of them. Something that seemed to attract her to them and vice versa. She couldn't deny that they were insanely attractive. But the two of them alarmed her in a way. Layla, unable to sleep, got up covering herself with a dark silk robe, embroidered with silver threads that matched her sleep set. She slid her feet into black slippers and shuffled her way to the door of her bathroom. It was 2 AM and s

When Layla finally came to she found herself in the infirmary and next to her were both Damon and Theo. Her head throbbed as she sat herself up on the hospital bed. She gripped it between her hands and groaned as the room swirled with her sudden movements. “Take it easy,” Damon said, reaching behind her to prop up a pillow. Theo watched like a hawk, ready to dive if anything remotely suspicious stirred. “What happened?” Layla asked softly. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “You passed out,” Theo said. He leaned in closer, “after you used your powers to get us out of the Hall and stop the two of us from blowing apart the building.” Her eyes widened as she remembered the moments before she blacked out. The tension between her and the two males. The feeling of power she knew resided in them as she placed her palms on their chests. She didn’t tell them that through that, she could feel the slight longing for her between the two. She shook the thought off. “So that