The Four Kingdoms: Gemini City

It had been four year since the youngest Von Jaeger siblings had entered Kleure Academy, now at 12 years old they were in grade four of the Foundation level, the last grade before heading off to Growth grade 1.

In the past four years Emilia had ditched her etiquette class for something that she was more interested in: Strategic Thinking. Turns out it was mostly just chess and a few other games along with simple strategies and a little bit of how to read human behaviour, however it still made for an interesting course. Along with that she had taken Nature Sciences, Physical Sciences, History, Dance and Sports, not together of course. Every time she would complete a class she would pick another to join, like that she completed almost all the classes offered in the list. She had competed in various tournaments and won first place in Strategic Thinking, Magic, History and a few others, earning her title of a First-Class member of the Perl Initiative.

Nicholas, on the other hand, had decided to trade in his Economics class for Sports along with Physical Wellness as an extra on the suggestion of the guidance counsellor, lucky for him it was approved. After that he took two more additional classes, Magic and Strategic Thinking, he didn't complete classes as fast as Emilia did but his progress was very good. He had finally found his strength: warcraft. Battle strategy, fighting, magic enhancements and the such came easily to him. He had competed in various tournaments as well, getting first place in a few sports, he ranked in the top ten for magic and he got third place in Strategic Thinking.

Aside from their achievements, the siblings had been through a lot of new experiences as well. One such 'experience' was frol.i.c.k.i.n.g towards the twins as they sat at a table in the outdoor courtyard which, they had learned, was called 'The Garden', how original.

"Big brother Nicky!" A girl with bright pink hair and green eyes yelled as she ran over to the two, her puffy blue dress bouncing along with her hair.

Nicholas felt a chill run down his spine as he heard the all too familiar voice. Way more familiar than he wanted it to be. The girl who was running towards him was the first princess of the kingdom of Atlantis, Lilianna Haile Atlantea. Atlantis was an underwater city in the country of Fulmett but it had existed for much longer than the country itself and so was given the title of "kingdom" and the right to be under the rule of their own royal family, which was just as old as the city. It was the only known place of its kind. When Emilia had heard about it she was surprised to find that Atlantis was a real place, but in another world.

"Nicky!" The girl said as she launched herself onto Nicholas, grabbing onto his neck. "I missed you!"

Nicholas' eyes were spinning as he leaned to his right to accommodate the little girl and he looked at Emilia pleadingly, only to find her trying to control her laughter and enjoying his predicament.

"H-hi Lilianna..." He stuttered past the tight grip she had on him. Ever since she hand entered the academy almost two years ago, Lilianna had been following him around like a duckling.

"Lil-Lily!" A boy with pink hair and green eyes panted as he came running to the table, hot on the little girl's tail. The boy was also known as Cyril Darian Atlantea and he was the crown prince of Atlantis.

"Don't... Don't run so fast." Cyril was breathing heavily, he wasn't very athletic. He had entered the Academy the same year as Emilia and had grown quite close to them. He was also a member of the Perl Initiative so he and the twins got along really well. He was also a huge fan of his sister, almost to the point of having a sister complex. Lilianna was also really fond of her brother and had followed him to the academy despite the fact that she could have done her schooling in Atlantis.

She had thrown a huge tantrum about wanting to study with him and so arrangements were made. Of course Cyril was over the moon but, unfortunately for him, the little girl's attentions were soon redirected to Nicholas.

Two years ago, Nicholas had come across the scene of Lilianna crying about not wanting to go to bed and Cyril seemingly scolding her. Being the soft-hearted ball of fluff that he was, he intervened and defended Lilianna, saying it wasn't so late and they could take a short walk in the garden. As a result, she'd clung to him for the years to come and Nicholas had learnt not to be so nosy ever again. It's not that he didn't like the girl, it was just that... she was a little too clingy. If he was honest, even that part of her was growing on him quickly. What he had never understood was why she didn't seem to like Emilia as much as she liked him. In fact, it seemed as if she disliked her, always throwing glares at her.

"You're just too slow!" Lilianna shot back at her brother and the poor boy slumped into a chair in response.

"Good afternoon Cyril, Lily." Emilia greeted the two, nodding at them.

"Hmph, who said you could call me Lily?" Lilianna shot.

"Lily! That's rude! Apologise to Lady Emilia." Cyril intervened, as usual. Lily only huffed and folded her arms, pouting.

"It's alright Cyril, she's still young." Emilia said, a little condescendingly.

"Big brother Nicky, they're bullying me!" Lilianna complained, grabbing hold of Nicholas' right arm having already moved her chair as close to him as possible.

Emilia just rolled her eyes at this, she had become much more expressive over the years. How could she not when she was always around such expressive people?

"Lily, you shouldn't s-say such things." Nicholas stuttered out, he'd not completely gotten over his shyness but he was slowly inching his way out of his shell. Lilianna was helping the process along with all her loud-mouthed tantrums that only Nicholas could stop, whenever he mustered the courage to, that is.

"Are you taking her side?!" Lily screamed, sounding very betrayed.

"N-no I-" Nicholas made to clarify himself when Emilia interrupted.

"Well, would you look at that? I have to go meet Niklaus, I'll see all of you later." She said as she stood up.

Her magic lessons with Niklaus had ended when she had entered Kleure Academy since she'd be having formal education instead. However, the two still met up regularly to share notes on anything new they learnt. The search for the reason they were here and they way back to Earth was still on and the two were still on the lookout for any other people like them but had not come up with anything. There were some people that they suspected, like Hubert Thornwell, the founder of the Academy, but he was missing for years and so they came short of anything concrete.

However they did find some things. Turns out that the reason for all the crazy hair and eye colours is the cellular structure of the Valian bodies, which is what Niklaus and Emilia had started to call themselves. Valians' eye and hair colours did not depend on melanin but on the way the cells were arranged. There were many species of Valians, all originating from different geographical regions, which meant a different cellular arrangement for each of them thus resulting in colourful eyes and hair. Most Valian species look the same externally except for eyes and hair and they are all sub-species of the same genus. Aside from the cellular arrangement, there was also a melanin-like substance that impacted the depth of the colour. So more of this substance would result in darker eyes whereas less would result in lighter ones.

Of course, Emilia and Niklaus didn't conduct first-hand research themselves to learn all this. They found it through various second-hand research methods combined with a little more prodding from the chemist of the two.

Emilia walked to the visitors lounge in the boys dormitory where she had planned to meet Niklaus, thinking as she went. She was looking down when she felt like she was about to walk into something and stopped, looking up.

She had almost walked into Connor Scala. He was carrying a large package of some sort and had almost lost his balance.

"Pardon me! I'm so sorry, I should have been more careful!" The messy haired blonde said, bowing slightly to her.

"It's alright, I should have been paying attention to where I was going." Emilia replied with a smile to ease his frazzled state.

"Have a nice evening Lady Emilia." Connor said as he scampered off.

"A nice evening to you as well." Emilia said when he walked past her. He was a distance away when she noticed that he had dropped an envelope.

She picked it up to inspect and found something strange about it. Envelopes in Alfenheim were similar to Earth, quite bland usually. White envelopes were all that were needed since all that was important was their contents. There were, however, colourful ones as well, usually used to contain invitations to tea parties or balls and the such.

This particular one was a deep maroon with gold trimmings. This would be perfectly normal in most cases but gold trimmings were only used by the royal family, as a sign of prestige, and it was strange that a dormitory manager at a school would have such a thing.

Then again, in such societies there are bound to be a lot of hidden agents and secret informants and she definitely didn't want to disturb the balance without knowing what she was getting into.

Emilia turned to Clara and passed her the envelope. "Bring this back to Mr. Scala and be as discreet as possible. It would be best if he didn't know it was missing."

"Yes Young Miss. Please remember to be ready in an hour." Clara said as she accepted the envelope and walked away, somehow melting into the darkness and disappearing from sight. Emilia felt like she'd never get used to the way her aides moved.

Shaking the weird thoughts out of her head, Emilia turned and continued on her way to meet Niklaus, she wouldn't have much time since she would be travelling back home today. Soon enough she reached the lounge and found Niklaus sitting by a corner of the room. The dorm lounges comprised of multiple arrangements of settees in cl.u.s.ters so that groups of students can socialise. There was also a table filled with various snacks and drinks that students could enjoy.

Emilia walked up to Niklaus and greeted him. "Cole."

"Leah, you made it." Niklaus responded, putting the book he was reading down. The two had agreed to call each other by their past names in private, so that they never forget it.

Emilia sat down and got to the point. "There's been a bit of suspicious activity lately and I think it has to do with the plot I mentioned before."

"The plot? You mean the one where Alfenheim declares war on Ashur? I thought you said we still had time for that." Niklaus was talking about the plot of the game that Emilia had explained to him. The game had started with a declaration of war between two countries, the kingdom of hearts and the kingdom of diamonds, and then fallen into the adventure of the main character be it on the path of love, politics, heroism or simply survival, it was almost open-world. "Honestly, I still don't understand what exactly happens, politics isn't my strong suit, could you explain it in layman terms for one such as myself?"

Emilia rolled her eyes at his cheekiness but started explaining. "Alfenheim declares war on Ashur on the grounds of breaking the peace treaty that was signed years ago. The game didn't really clarify much about the treaty itself and I didn't play long enough to understand all the intricacies of the war but I do know that whatever the outcome the main character plays a big part in it. If she chooses to side with Alfenheim then they will win and vice versa, however there is also the option that she could remain neutral, in that scenario Alfenheim would always win."

As Emilia was about to continue, Niklaus stopped her. "Hold on a second there, how is this supposed game so flexible? I mean don't games like that generally have a set story line? Like 1st quest, 2nd quest and so on?"

"Cole, living cooped up in your lab does not lend to keeping you up to date on gaming trends. The latest games had much more complex branching routes and some even acted as a literal second world where items you made would remain as part of the world. The Four Kingdoms was actually one of the first ones from the new generation, there was even a movie based on it, are you sure you don't know it?"

Niklaus just stared at her quietly, confirming that he knew nothing of 'the new generation of games' on Earth. Sighing, Emilia continued her explanation until it was time to go.