Zamboanga Peninsula was once attached to the rest of Mindanao. It was said the country was once under the Spanish rule long before the Great World War, and Spanish influence reached further south that Zamboanga was at one time referred to as Asia's Latin City. However, during the middle of the twenty-first century, the whole world was in a state of uproar when series of calamities happened. One of these tragedies was the terrible earthquake that hit most countries and cities. Mindanao was greatly affected. The once 7,107 Philippine islands were reduced to a fraction due to the strong tidal waves that engulf most islands. Zamboanga was also detached from the rest of Mindanao and it was soon called Isla del Sur.

After the Great World War, when most countries and her people start to build new lives, the Philippines also made a foot step forward starting with renaming its country to Filipinas. This served as a reminder for every Filipinos to leave the tragic past behind and move forward. The three major group islands were renamed based on its location: Northernland, Middleland and Southernland. The Caste System was then introduced.

However, no written records of events prior to the Great War, were left. These were just stories handed down from generation to generation. As the people moved forward with their lives, history was almost forgotten.

***

The sun was about to set as it surrounds itself with shades of orange and red, reflecting its artistic color on the blanket of sea below. A slight sea breeze swept around Lira as she stood on the borders of Paseo del Mar—a place overlooking the sea and lined with modest shops—and watched the horizon before her. Life on the island is so much simpler yet it was tough for a girl her age. At the age of seventeen, she already worked part time in a canning factory after she attends school in the morning. It was not an unusual scenario as it was common among kids her age from the lower caste to work to help the family. After finishing junior year, children from the Third and Fourth were not expected anymore to advance further to senior year as there were not enough teachers across the country to accommodate the children. Furthermore, most children would rather work for a living than stay inside a classroom learning things that will not help place food on their table.

But Lira dared to dream. And even though that dream was beyond reach, she would not cease to dream and claim it. However, she had a lot of issues with herself she needed to work on: her cowardice over going on an adventure, for one thing. So she mentally convinced herself not to pull herself down. The mere fact that she already accepted the invitation to Imperial Academy proved that, well, she does have the courage to embark on a journey.

"Arrgh! Stop it Lira, you're already here, on a journey. You can do it. You don't have to be afraid if you're alone," she mused. "There is no backing out now."

Earlier, she said her goodbyes to Auntie May and Claire as well as to Claire's parents, Uncle Ned and Auntie Ann. Lira then visited the Fort Pilar Shrine near the Paseo, which miraculously remained standing despite of the series of calamities and tragedies it had witnessed.

Lira was now aboard a magnanimous ship that would take her and nine other chosen students towards Northernland where the Imperial Academy was situated. They would be sailing across the vast sea for three days before they would reach their destination. Tomorrow, she heard from one of the ship's crew, they would dock at Middleland port where ten more chosen students await their ride. Lira didn't mind the lengthy trip at all. After all, she lived most of her life in Isla del Sur and a change of scenery was quite a blessing, actually.

Her companions didn't quite agree with her, though. The moment they boarded the ship, all she heard from them were complains. Well, mostly it was the girls who made the complaints. The boys didn't give much worry about their long voyage. She would have snapped at them to shut them up. Fortunately for them, she wasn't that kind of person. Nor does she want to offend anyone, let alone a group of girls from the First, who would probably even the score by reminding her to know her place. Ah, the perks of being poor.

"I was supposed to fly with my daddy on the plane. You know, having a position in the government and all, they give him leave to use the plane. But since it was mandatory for us to be on this ship with the OTHERS, I guess I have to endure," a girl was saying near Lira, which was followed by series of sniggers.

Lira had the distinct feeling that the OTHERS the girl was referring to, was her. Not that she was being paranoid, but with the way they said it...

She decided to sneak a glance on her left. Yup, she was right. A group of five girls, dressed so fashionable, were eyeing her from head to foot. Lira was wearing her favorite white long sleeve blouse—a gift from Claire—which she matched with one of her knee length beige skirt and battered but sturdy brown boots. Compared to their frocks of pinks and whites, hers looked rather outdated. She decided to ignore them when a girl from the group wearing a dark pink skater skirt and white blouse underneath a light pink cardigan caught her attention. Clara. She was still the same slender and demure girl Lira once knew. She gazed at Clara to see if there was any recognition in Clara's eyes. Clara, however, averted her eyes.

"Yes? Is there something you need from us?" one of the girls from the group asked.

Lira simply shook her head. This was going to be a long trip, after all.

***

Silhouettes of towering structures enveloped by grey mist could be seen from a far, as the ship approached the port of Northernland. Black clouds were atop chimneys of tall factories and buildings that made up the infrastructures of the great Metropolitan city. As the ship neared the dock, Lira realized that it wasn't clouds that surround the city, but a heavy layer of black smoke combined with dust and dirt that came from the chimneys, casting a dark and gloomy shade. With the thick smoke, even the mid-day sun rays could not penetrate inside the city.

They reached the dock past the hour of two. As Lira was grabbing her bags, she felt someone grasp her hand. "Come on, Lira. We have to hurry or will end up sitting at the back of the bus. I hate sitting at the back."

Lira looked up to find Mari beaming at her with determination in her eyes. She pulled Lira to follow her as they bumped others out of their way.

"Sorry! Two beautiful maidens passing through!" Mari shouted, making the others eye them both with scorn.

Lira didn't know whether to laugh at her new friend's audacity or to hide her face with embarrassment. Lira met Mariella Alonzo yesterday when the ship docked at Middleland. Mari, as what she would rather be called ("Mariella is, like, a grandma's name," Mari reasoned out), was the only person who offered her a seat when the others shunned and ignored her when they were aboard the ship. She's from the Second Order and yet she didn't act like one. She didn't scorn at Lira's choice of clothing, nor looked down on Lira from the tip of her nose like the others on the ship. Maybe that was why it was easy to get along with her. Although, having Mari as a friend made the two of them the center of attention and disapproving stares most of the time since Mari was fond of laughing boisterously even though the joke Lira made wasn't even that funny. Mari's laughter was contagious, though, and the two would end up laughing their hearts out, making the other girls stare daggers at them thinking that the two were laughing about them.

Lira and Mari both raced down towards the bus and were lucky that they found the front seat empty. They settled down on their seats and waited for the others. The boys were separated from them as they were required to ride the next bus. Majority from their group was from First and there were a handful from the Second. So far, Lira is the only girl from Third and there were no one from the bottom caste. She hoped that the remaining chosen ten from Northernland included someone from the same caste as she was.

When the bus was already full, the vehicle started to roar with life. Lira eyed the streets outside her window with puzzlement. It was her first time in Northernland, and she was surprised to see that it was almost in a state of abandonment. Series of dilapidated buildings and garbage along the gutter greated them. A gust of wind blew and the opened window of the bus allowed her to breathe a pungent odor that smelled like sewers and rats.

"I always hated this part of the city," one of the girls behind Lira commented.

"Mari, is it always like this in the big cities? I mean, I've never been outside the Isla del Sur before," she asked.

Mari cringe her nose, probably due to the bad smell coming from outside the window. "Not likely. This is just the outer part of Northernland. Mostly it was abandoned because this place was the most affected by the war. I also heard that the plague started here. It gets better once we enter the Great Metro."

As they neared the entrance of the city, series of grey and black buildings and towers were already visible. They passed by an old and abandoned urban park which looked as if it was once a great city attraction that had deteriorated as years passed by and was left in isolation. A monument within the park caught Lira' attention –there were statues on top of a tall pedestal with an obelisk towering behind the statues. She wondered who those statues represented, but Lira's thoughts shifted as the bus turned left and she witnessed the large shops and stores lining the streets. Still, the placed looked gray and gloomy even though it was bustling with people. The bus suddenly halted and six tall boys wearing black shirt and combat pants went inside their vehicle. They looked somewhat between ages eighteen to nineteen years old from what Lira observed.

"Well, hello ladies! What do we have here?" one of the boys said.

Series of giggles erupted behind Lira. Lira could only roll her eyes. "Who are they?"

Mari was about to reply when her query was answered by one of the new passengers. "We are from the Vampire Slayer Division, a.k.a. VSD, a subgroup of the National Defense. And we are the soon-to-be Elite Guards. We are still trainees but we are well versed in the art of slaying stray vampires," said a brown haired boy dramatically.

"We will be escorting you all to the Imperial Academy. It is mandatory for you all to have a sort of body guard just for extra precaution. Although we are protected by the Blood Compact Treaty between the vampires and humans, there are still some stray vampires who do not honor the treaty. Therefore, I would advise you, young ladies, not to venture on you own and to inform us of your whereabouts in the event that we make necessary stops," said the black haired boy rather sternly.

"We wouldn't want the vamps to bite that beautiful neck of yours now, would we?" the other boy said charmingly as he winked at his audience. He was awarded with another set of giggles.

The driver started the engine once again. Lira felt a weird prickling sensation at the back of her neck, as if someone's penetrating gaze was aimed at her back. She rubbed the back of her neck with her hand and carefully took a glance at behind. Her eyes immediately fell on the stern boy who spoke earlier, standing in the middle of the bus. His black hair was cropped short and his brows formed a scowl over his handsome face. Well, he did look handsome, in a strict and rugged sort of way, Lira thought. His black shirt stretched over his taut chest, his arms crossed. Suddenly, he uncrossed his arms and started walking towards... her! Lira gazed up, her mouth hanging opened, as the boy looked down on her with a smirk. "Why, hello there, frog princess."

It took seconds before everything registered to her. She finally gasped and muttered, "No freaking way!"

"Yes freaking way," he said smugly.

Lira looked at him accusingly. "What are you doing here? I thought you were already abducted by aliens, or something?"

"Nice to see you, too, freakling," he said. He turned his head to his right and said, "Hello little sister."

Clara smiled serenely. "Hello Matteo. You never mentioned to me that you will be with us. Please, have a seat with me."

"I go by the name of Matt now..."

Lira sharply turned to the frontand made a face. She momentarily forgot Mari beside her who was all stunned with Lira's short outburst.

"Oh my Lira! You never told me you had that spunk in you," Mari said, giggling. "You seldom talk but when you talk, you really talk."

Lira's cheek turned crimson red both from embarrassment and anger. "I'm so sorry, Mari. It's just that Matteo always gets into my nerves! I can't stand him! His presence, his voice, his arrogance! Oooh! And a while ago I was even musing that he was handsome before I even recog—"

Matt, the subject of her tirade tried to unsuccessfully suppress a chuckle.

Lira could only gasp with horror. "HOHMIGOSH! He didn't hear me, did he? Did he?" Lira groaned as she buried her face in her hands, wishing that either Matt will be struck by lightning and vanish into thin air or the ground would swallow Matt whole. Either way, it should be Matt who needed to disappear entirely.

Mari laughed beside her and attempted to comfort her, which only made Lira feel even worst. "I never thought you had it in you Lira. You were always quiet and you wouldn't even fight back when Sarah's minions where picking on you. Now I know you reserved all that energy for Matteo." Mari surveyed Matt keenly. "He really is a lovely piece of specimen, though. If you don't want him Lira, I'll take him. I'll marry him!"

Lira groaned some more.