The Prophecy

by Amanda DeShane

  As they held her close cradling their sweaty bodies together, they kissed her. “You are amazing, my firefly.” Whispered Deacon hotly in her ear as he carried her to the bathroom to clean up.

  Aurora lost in thought wondered what it would be like if she did go into heat or became fertile. The idea of her men going crazy and fucking her until she became with child was a bit of a turn on in theory. Her past selves never had the opportunity to go into heat or have children. But her past life journals talked about how lust-driven her mates would become with her scent being so overwhelming that they would all want her at once. Her past self had written in the journal she had been reading more of earlier that mates fucked like bunnies until they could smell her scent change due to a hormone a pregnant shifter gave off. Multiple orgasms sounded amazing in theory, but she wondered if her body could really handle that. Four men and days, if not weeks of only sex and food. Aurora blushed deeper. It’s a good thing they couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Feeling relaxed and like jelly, she let them wash her and towel her dry. Her eyes were barely able to stay open once they tucked her into bed. Tomorrow her first day of school at the academy started. She hoped that things would go smoothly for once in her life. That was her last thought as she felt her men one behind and one in front holds her close as sleep took her.

  The morning had been hectic as Aurora frantically rushed, they had almost slept in, and all her appropriate school clothing was in her dorm room. Deacon teleported her to her dorm room and waited for her to dress quickly. The silver evening gown wouldn’t have gone over well in class. So, she slipped on some jeans and a sweatshirt then grabbed a bag with supplies and binders in it and her tablet AI which she booted up.

  “Good morning Aurora, how can I help you?” Asked her AI Frayen.

  “Please, what is and where is my first class of the morning?” Asked Aurora as she got her bag ready in a rush.

  “Your first class is magic and spells on the second level floor in room 200.” Said her AI. “Thank you, Frayen.” Said Aurora. “I will teleport you to class and take first shift guarding outside the classroom door.” Said Deacon as he opened a portal. They stepped through the portal into the hallway right in front of her class, which was about to start. “Thanks, I’d better run.” Said Aurora as she beelined it for the classroom door. Walking into the class, she found an empty seat near the front of the class. Sliding into the black bar stool in front of the bar height desks that seemed to be the norm for Asgard Academy, she got comfy. Having no idea what magic and spells class would entail, she sat nervously, twisting her fingers in her lap.

  “First day here?” Asked a guy next to her wearing jeans and a purple t-shirt.

  “Yeah, that noticeable is it. I’m Aurora.” Said Aurora as she offered her hand to shake.

  “Nice to meet you, I’m Leaf.” Said Leaf as he shook her hand.

  “Welcome to Magic and Spells class. I am Miss. Sanders and today we will be making our own Runes and learning how to read them.” Said Miss. Sanders, who seemed to flit into the classroom on the air with her feet above the ground. She wore a long black wrap dress with black heels. And her long silky black hair was braided atop her head. Taking out a black wand that had a carved rose on the handle, she smiled at the class as she waved it in the air. Blue magic flew into the air, and a pile of thin one-inch by one-inch pieces of oak wood materialized upon each student’s desk. A few students made sounds of surprise and awe.

  “These pieces of wood are going to become your own magically infused personal set of runes. So, treat them with respect.” Said Miss Sanders. With a snap of her fingers directed at the far back white wall, a very large Rune chart appeared on the wall. Black bold writing outlined each rune symbol and its meaning.

  “As you can see, this is a rune chart. It has the alphabet of the runes and their meanings. First, you are going to burn the alphabet runes into your wood pieces with the provided burning pen. Once you are done, sit and wait for instruction.” Said Miss. Sanders as she floated around the room, her black dress swishing in the air while distributing burn pens. A few male students goofed around at the front of the class having what looked like a mini magic fight zapping each other. Miss. Sanders caught the gist of what was going on held out her index finger and jerked her hand up sharply. The two boys swooshed up into the air upside down, screaming. Levitating in mid-air, they hung upside down as Miss. Sanders floated closer.

  “I expect respect when I am teaching. If you want to fool around, do it on your own time! Understood?” She said as she addressed the room and the boys. They nodded their heads in understanding and said. “Sorry, Miss. Sanders, we won't do it again.” With that dealt with, she lowered them to their seats and continued teaching.

  “For those that don’t know what a burning pen is, it is a device that you use your fire magic to operate. Call forth your fire magic and focus it through the pen.” Explained Miss. Sanders. Aurora waited while burning pens were being handed out. Leaf whispered. “She is a bit extreme, isn’t she?” Aurora smiling back said. “They did kind of deserve it for fooling around like that in the middle of her trying to deliver a lecture.” Leaf laughed then said. “Yeah, it was pretty funny when she swooped them into the air, them screaming an all.” They both laughed quietly. Miss. Sanders floating down past the line of desks handed them each a burning pen.

  “For those of you who have a burning pen, concentrate your fire magic through the pen while you burn the one rune letter at a time on each piece of wood.” Said Miss. Sanders, as she stood in one spot, floating now with her hands on her slim hips. All the students became intent on trying to use the burn pens to burn the runes onto their pieces of oak wood. Aurora held the burning pen and focused her normal fire magic into the pen as she wrote the first rune of the rune alphabet. Smiling, she was relieved when her magic didn’t start a fire or blow something up. Looking over, she saw Leaf was halfway through writing all his runes. So, focusing back on her work, she continued grabbing one piece of wood at a time and burning the rune into the wood. A few moments later, she finished them all and looked around the class.

  “Okay, class, I will be handing out small needles. I want you to infuse the runes with your blood, a drop on each one. This personalizes them to your exact type of magic and makes them fully yours.” Instructed Miss. Sanders. A pin magically appeared on her desk as Miss. Sanders waved her index finger at each desk.

  Aurora winced as she pricked her pointer finger and waited for a bead of blood to rise to the surface. Then she got to work, dabbing a drop of blood on each rune. Once done, she held a finger over it, willing it to clot. Looking around, a few other students actually healed themselves as they hovered glowing hands over their pin-pricked fingers. A little in awe, she looked to Leaf, who was doing the same thing. He looked towards Aurora and seeing her holding her finger raise an eyebrow.

  “Don’t know how to heal yet, eh?” He asked as he finished with his hand. “Nope has not been something I have learned yet.” Said Aurora in frustration.

  “Here, let me.” He got up and walked the few steps to her desk. Reaching out, he held his hand over her finger. As his hand started glowing brightly her hand felt a warm tingle. The glow coming from the palm of his hand died down to nothing. “All done there, you go.” Said Leaf as he smiled at her.

  “Thanks, is it normal for it to feel warm and tingling?” Asked Aurora inquisitively.

  “Yes, it is normal; the warmth means that it is working.” Said Leaf. Aurora was blown away. Within one class, she had seen her teacher float in the air; young teens get levitated upside down. Notes magically appear on a wall with a snap of fingers, and people heal themselves with magic. Miss. Sanders seeing that most of the students were done infusing their runes with their blood, clapped her hands to get everyone's attention.

  “Attention class, please finish up what you are doing and put your runes in the pouch bag that has your name on it.” Said Miss. Sanders. A black pouch bag appeared on every desk with each stud
ent's name on their bag. Aurora picking hers up opened it and placed her runes into it. Then sat, waiting for instruction.

  “Okay, class close your eyes and clear your minds. Focus on a question you want an answer to. Hold your bag in your receptive hand and moving your receptive hand fingers mix up the runes in your bag. Ask the question that you want an answer to, then reach in the bag and take a rune from the bag.” Said Miss. Sanders.

  Aurora concentrated hard on her question. Will I have children in this lifetime? Then she reached into the bag and drew out a rune. She drew the Laguz rune meaning Water. Aurora turning towards the wall and looked to the rune alphabet chart, and she gasped. The rune meant Fertility and Living Renewal.

  “If you don’t have a clear answer, then reach in the bag and pull one more out.” Said Miss. Sanders to the class as she floated a few feet off the ground again, looking at different rune’s students had drawn. Aurora reached in the bag, and pulling one more out, put it on the desk. She drew the Berkana meaning birth. It symbolized earth mother and birth. Wide-eyed she felt light-headed. What were the chances that she would draw two runes that would tell her she would have the chance to have children in this life? None of her past selves ever had the chance. Looking around, it dawned on her that if someone looked at these runes, it might put her in danger. There were people in Asgard and all over the nine realms that would not want her to carry a child ever. Mainly because how does a pregnant woman fight a war. And her people want their peace. She couldn’t blame them on that account. But what about her life and what she wants out of life eventually. She didn’t want to get pregnant right away as in now, but if life were to eventually give her that gift, she would take it. Quickly putting her runes back into the pouch, she cleared her desk then looked around to make sure no one had seen the runes she had drawn.

  Okay, everyone gather around. Yelled Mr. Adre who wore a black and red sweat suit combo. He stood in the middle of the matted combat room, waiting for the students to gather. Aurora, now dressed in black shorts and a pink tank, walked forward with the rest of the group of students.

  “The raven is a sacred symbol of our Norse society here in Asgard. Odin has two ravens called Huginn and Muninn. In old Norse, Huginn means “Thought.” And Muninn means. “Memory.” Odin's ravens fly all over Midgard and bring back all sorts of information to him. That is why Odin is considered to be the God of ravens. Odin is one of our surviving Gods, and that is the reason that Asgard Academy’s symbol is a raven. Today we will be learning Gilma martial arts.” Said Mr. Andre as he paced back and forth. Continuing, he said.

  “To be a good fighter and survive the war and the unpredictability of combat, a warrior must know how to defend themselves against an armed opponent.” Everyone around the room was silent listening. This was their heritage.

  “We will be learning Gilma martial arts, out Viking gods and ancestors used this form of fighting and it has been around for centuries. I would like everyone to partner up with someone please and then stand across from your partner and wait for my instruction.” All the students bustled around each other, finding a partner. A tall guy walked up to Aurora, smiling. “My name is Cam, want to be partners?” He asked. Not seeing any other choice Aurora agreed as they moved to stand across from each other where Mr. Andre had indicated. “Okay, today we are going to start with the basics. There is no use of magic or extra skills or powers permitted. We will start with free sparing. Your goal is to throw your opponent as quickly as possible. If both of you fall to the ground, you wrestle your way free and regain the upright position. Respect your partners, please.”

  Cam came running at her when the teacher yelled go, and she braced herself to try to handle the hit. Instead, she flew five feet in the air and landed on the matt. It was deceptive, and it liked looked far more cushioning then it was. Getting up, she ran back at cam and placed her leg around his to pull him down. Only it backfired when she found her feet coming out from under her. Falling to the matt again, he tackled her. And she fought hard to try to regain the upper hand. Grabbing Cam's waist, she dug her heels into the ground, fighting to keep upright.

  By the end of class, Aurora felt black and blue. Kicking herself over her lack of strength and skill in combat and feeling the pressure because combat was a skill she would have to get better at. She could always just fry the enemy, but she knew that wasn’t always going to be the case.

  Aurora walked into her Asgard Species 101 class, and the first thing she noticed was a full wall aquarium that had an opening that opened up into a three feet high glass-encased pool. Bar height black desks sat in rows with stools in the water for mermaid folk to sit on during class. A few had already taken seats sitting half in the water and half out. Aurora was surprised to see that they, too, had tablets with AI’s that must have been waterproof in some sort of clear casing. They all looked so eccentric. One girl had long curly hair, and a starfish pined up in it. She was wearing a bikini top that left little to one's imagination. The muscular merman with black short curly hair, sitting next to her, wore a black muscle shirt. A few of the merwomen wore normal shirts, and a few wore more skimpier attire that made Aurora want to blush.

  Not wanting to stare and be rude, Aurora shuffled to a desk in the middle of the room and sat on the barstool at the bar height black desk.

  “Welcome to Asgard species 101. My name is Miss. Symone and I will be your teacher. In this class, we will be learning about different types of species and their powers. In each class, we will name a species and talk about their abilities.” Explained Miss. Symone as she stood at the front of the class. She reached her hand up, tucked a strand of straight red hair behind her ear, then smoothed the palms of her hands down her flowery blouse and black dress pants.

  “An Alp is a being from Germanic Norse. Today we will be learning about the Alp and other types of species. It is sometimes compared to a vampire, but its behavior is more to that of the incubus who lives off of prana, a life energy. It is distinct from both of these creatures in that it wears a magic hat called a Tarnkappe, from which it draws its powers.” Said Miss. Symone. Students sat at the bar height black desks kicking their feet back and forth listening as she droned on. Aurora had her Tablet out on her desk, recording the lecture for her to review at a later date.

  “Wolf-Shifters, also called Shifters, are a breed of individuals that have the ability to shift into wolf form at will. They have exceptional hearing and smell. All the traits a wolf would have. They mate with only one mate in a lifetime. Are very territorial and will be overly protective of their pups and mate.” Explained Miss. Symone.

  “Now, onto Fae, they are a fairy folk who are known for being mischievous. They have great magic powers, and most can harness the elements. They have wings and look like a normal person despite what the humans on Midgard think. They are known as great fighters, and their magic is one of the reasons Asgard has Fae light instead of electricity as humans in Midgard have.” Explained Miss. Symone as she pulled out a stool and sat on it to continue. A few students looked over to a Fae student in the class who proudly had her wings out on display.

  “Next is Mermaids, the humans think mermaids are just a myth about a half-human and half fish species. We obviously know better. Mermaids are a half demigod and were blessed by Ægir, the God of the sea, and given fins and gills to live in the sea. They are both male and female and can shed their tales revealing legs. They can only be out of seawater for a short amount of time. They have children giving birth, much like a human would.” Explained Miss. Sanders. Most of the students turned to look at the aquarium wall area, where a few mermaids sat at desks — their bottom half in the water and top half out from the waist up.

  “Next is the famous Dragon shifters. They are half demigod and half dragon. They are very protective of their families and mates. They only ever mate once to one mate for all eternity. Fiercely loyal and short-tempered at times. They can have children that can shift to hatchling form from a young age. The hatchlings are capable
of puffing out small flames from time to time, and they have to watch their younglings closely, or their belongings might catch fire. The dragons have increased senses of smell, hearing, taste, and some have extra abilities such as second sight or healing. The ability to shift into a dragon is passed on genetically or given by a god, but that is rare.” Explained Miss. Sanders as many students, looked at Aurora, who now wanted to shrink into the floor and disappear. Suddenly she couldn’t wait for this class to be over.

  Aurora sat on her bed in the dorm room, annoyed at her progress in combat training. Things would be so much easier if she weren’t so petite. After getting brutally pushed around and thrown five feet into the air and tackled, she felt lacking in the muscles department. And those mats on the floor looked far thicker than they actually were. She had the bruises to prove it. The bedroom door opened and in walked Paisley. “How did your first day go?” Asked Paisley as she joined Aurora sitting cross-legged on the bed.

  “Look at me. I look like someone’s punching bag! I seriously wish I had big muscles and could bulk out or something like Karis. I can just imagine me looking like him all muscular, with dirty blond hair, hazel eyes with purple specks and tall.” Said Aurora as she held her eyes closed, imagining herself strong and balked out. Just like Karis as a giant. When you’re that big, no one can push you around. “Umm… Aurora, I think we have a problem!” Said Paisley as she jumped off the bed and backed up starring at her. “What’s the problem?” Asked Aurora as she realized her voice sounded a lot more male than normal. “I think you just shapeshifted into Karis; I wouldn’t believe my eyes if I hadn’t just watched as you did it.” Said Paisley as she pointed towards the bathroom and said: "Go look in the mirror.”