May 15, 1991
Their school was hosting the European Elemental Tournament, a competition between twelve elemental schools across Europe: Scotland, England, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Ukraine and Romania. There were more elemental schools located in Europe, but being considered too small, they weren't officially included in the EET.
The other schools had the option to sign up eligible students for the EET but would never host it. To be eligible to participate, students had to be elemental beings aged between 15 and 20 years old. They could live outside of Europe but had to attend full-time an elemental school in Europe. The tournament lasted 10 days.
Participants would compete in various events and disciplines, depending on their subspecies: potions, flying, combat, history, etc. The best 3 competitors of each discipline would then compete at the World Elemental Tournament.
During the EET, the curfew was at midnight instead of 21:00. On the third night of the competition, taking advantage of being allowed to be out later at night, Coralis and Victoria went out for a walk at 23:30. They were too young to participate in the EET but they enjoyed the festivities and the opportunity to meet students from other schools.
They were walking through the wood behind the school, near the limit of the school perimeter, when suddenly, they heard a high-pitched scream of terror. Coralis and Victoria stopped walking and tried to locate where the scream was coming from. It stopped for a few seconds, and it started again. Coralis focused on the direction of the sound and ran toward it. Victoria was reluctant to follow, she wanted to be back in their dorm before curfew, but she wanted to know what was happening.
Coralis arrived at a small clearing and stopped running. At the other end, she saw a student pinned against a tree and the back of someone wearing a black cloak with their hood above their head. The attacker was holding a wand in their left hand and had it pointed at the student's neck. Not far from them, there were two other students, frozen as if the attacker decided to turn them into ice sculptures.
She did not hesitate: she pulled her wand out of her cloak and pointed it toward the attacker. She wanted to stop the attacker and injure them. She didn't even think about whether or not she could win, or if she would also be turned into an ice sculpture. She didn't even know what the attacker was.
She sent out an attack spell that came out as a laser beam. It hit the attacker left shoulder's blade and burned through it. The attacker dropped their wand and the student fell on his knees. Startled by the unsuspected attack against them and injured, the attacker turned around to face Coralis. She couldn't see their face, but could see their eyes getting bigger.
"Golmar!" a male voice whispered, and he disappeared.
Four teachers arrived when the attacker disappeared. They heard the screams from the garden located by the maintenance cabin. The student by the tree was still trying to get back on his feet. The two frozen ones were lying on the ground, wet, and in the middle of a thin pool of water.
"What happened?" said Swope.
Swope was one of the four teachers at the clearing, a combat teacher at the Scotland Elemental School.
"We… we… were walking… through the wood… we… we were heading back… back to the school… to our room… but someone attacked him…," said one of the wet students, shivering. He pointed with a shaking hand toward the student by the tree. "We… we tried to help… but the guy turned us into ice. I don't… know who he was or what it was," he paused, trying to catch his breath. "But that girl…," he then managed to sit on his knees and pointed toward Coralis, "arrived, and attacked him. She… she injured him, but he disappeared after that. Then… then I think it's when you arrived."
"Thank you. What's your name? I don't think you are one of our students?"
While Swope spoke to that student, one of the other teachers walked to him and the girl beside him, and the other two went to check on the student by the tree.
"My name is Sean, sir," he said, with a steadier voice. "Next to me is Malia, and him," pointing at the student by the tree, "he is Julian. We are here for the EET, representing the Imperial Elemental School, but I have two younger cousins attending this school."
"And you, Coralis Golmar and Victoria Millous," Swope turned to Coralis and Victoria, "what were you doing here, at this time?"
"They saved us," said Malia, "please sir, don't punish them if they're past curfew time, if it wasn't for her… I'm sure we would all be dead. Plus… did you say Golmar?... Before the guy disappeared… he whispered that name… as if he knew her… Sir… I don't know who he was… maybe Julian does… but this girl is probably in danger now."
"I will mention that to Principal Arthurio and her guardian, thank you, Malia," said Swope before returning his attention to Coralis and Victoria. "I still want to know what you two were up to. It is half past midnight."
"We wanted to go for a walk before curfew," said Coralis. Victoria was beside her, staring at Julian, struggling to get back on his feet. "We left at 23-something and planned on being back before midnight, but then we heard a scream. I wanted to check if someone was in danger. When we got here, someone wearing a black cloak was attacking Julian against the tree, as Sean said. I didn't look at the time, sir, I just wanted to help."
Swope didn't know what to do. He knew he had to give a detention to Coralis and Victoria, because it was past curfew when they found them, but there was still the matter of three students from another school who got attacked by a potential intruder. He wondered if these three students were specifically targeted and if they needed to worry about Coralis' safety.
The other three teachers took Julian, Sean and Malia to the infirmary, while Swope walked Coralis and Victoria back to their dorm.
"I will have to give you two a detention because I found you well past midnight. However, considering you saved their life and that we need to investigate how the intruder got in, I will recommend no disciplinary actions regarding the usage of combat magic after school hours and without supervision. Ms. Golmar, I know you are supposed to travel to the Imperial Elemental School after the EET for the flyball finals. I will ensure that you remain protected. I know Martha will be worried that Julian's attacker knew your name."
"Thank you, sir. I don't care about the detention, I'll take it. We would have been back on time, but I heard someone screaming, and Victoria followed me."
Martha was indeed worried about Coralis when hearing what happened, but not only for the upcoming school trip to England: she worried about when Coralis would have to return to Canada for the summer, where she would be surrounded by humans. What if that intruder, who knew who she was, decided to keep tabs on her and tracked her to her group home?
Erik and Henry were Sean's cousins. When Sean was released from the infirmary in the morning, at breakfast time, he went straight to his cousins' table instead of where his schoolmates sat.
"ERIK! HENRY!" said Sean, approaching their table. "Oh hi, you," looking at Coralis, "I wasn't expecting you here. You know my cousins?"
"Hey, Sean! You know Coralis?" said Erik before she could reply anything.
"Yeah, she saved my life last night," said Sean, then looked at Coralis. "Did you tell them what happened? And did you get into trouble?"
"Hmm no, we just got here. We got an hour of detention for after classes, but that's it."
"Wait what?" said Erik.
Sean sat on the empty spot next to Henry and told them what happened during the night. Erik and Henry looked at each other, then at Coralis. They didn't like that this guy knew her and wondered if she would be safe for the summer.
They knew she was an orphan and would have to return to her human world for the summer. What if this guy comes after her when no one else is around to protect her? They decided to talk to their parents about it, to see if they could invite her to their house for the summer.
At lunchtime, before going to the dining hall, they went to the bird enclosure to send their pigeon with a letter to their parents.
After lunch, Martha sat in the principal's office with Swope, a representative of the Imperial Elemental School, and the school administrators to discuss the events of the previous night, concerned about an intruder attacking students. Just as their meeting ended, the secretary entered the meeting room: the Fullemons wanted to talk to Principal Arthurio about Coralis Golmar and last night's events, as their nephew was involved.
Upon reading their sons' letter, Kief and Barla Fullemon wanted to know more about the young mage and what actually happened. They were willing to take her in for the summer.
A week later, a day after the EET ended, Kief and Barla Fullemon met with Principal Arthurio, Martha, and Roberto, the agent working for the CMMA Department of Family Affairs who was in charge of her files. Henry and Erik's parents were granted permission to take Coralis under their custody for the summer.
However, because she had a ward of the state status in the human world, in a different country, it complicated things. The Fullemons were full-blooded elementals without much history among humans. Their sons had valid birth certificates, but Kief's and Barla's documentation was outdated.
Roberto knew many elementals and other supernatural people working in government positions, to help with procedures. Coralis would have to return to a group home in Canada until the paperwork went through but would be allowed to the Fullemons before school started.
July 15, 1991
Coralis took a flight to Glasgow. Part of her was sad to have her time with Nadilla cut short, but a big part of her was also very excited at the idea of being able to play flyball with Erik and Henry for the remainder of the summer. Once again, she took all her belongings with her and Martha picked her up to take her to the airport: Coralis was still a minor.
At the airport, while they were in line to get to the registration desk, Coralis felt eyes on her, as if someone was watching her. She kept looking around, but couldn't see anything suspicious or anyone staring at her. She tried to ignore the uneasy feeling, but couldn't shake it off.
Feeling Coralis' energy going out of control, Martha thought she was anxious about travelling alone.
"I'm sure you are nervous about taking a long flight alone," said Martha before Coralis went through the security, "but don't worry, you'll be safe. The Fullemons will be waiting for you at the airport in Glasgow."
"I don't care about travelling alone, I am not anxious about that. I don't know why, it feels like someone is watching me, and I don't like it," said Coralis before she parted from Martha and went through the security check.
Martha kept her eyes on her until she couldn't see her anymore and decided to press Principal Arthurio for answers regarding the intruder who attacked a student during the EET. If someone was indeed watching Coralis at the airport, it couldn't be good. She knew the attacker probably recognized her as a Golmar because he sensed the same elemental energy signature coming off her as it did from her father, and she knew for whom her father was working.