The First Day: Innocence

Coroxn sprinted madly. He was late. Very late. His pace quickened as he left the paved streets of Lumbridge behind, and ran into the fields. Just a few more minutes now....At last, The Tree came into view. Xirina and Vexen were there already, sitting on the sturdy trunk.

The tree had been there since before Coroxn's parents were born, and it wasn't in the best shape. It was the only tree in Mystalin of it's kind, and, since no one actualy new what kind it was, it was simply refered to as "The Tree". It was thin, but sturdy, and it had bent over, creating a kind of bench. But the tree hadn't just bent over. It had bent over a pond, which meant that if they weren't careful, Coroxn, Xirina and Vexen could fall in at any moment.

Everyday followed a rutine: Get up, go to school, do homework, do chores, hang out together, and then, at the end of the day, sit on the tree and have some icecream. This day had a minor break in the rutine, however. Yesterday, in school, Mrs Vestine had snided Coroxn for getting a sum wrong. Coroxn, who knew he was right, bet Mrs Vestine on her own turf: he showed her on the blackboard. She was furuios, and gave Coroxn extra homework. Though they were much harder then the ones normaly given, Coroxn finished them in the hour.

Todayat school, when he had said that the sums were "Not remotely difficult", Mrs Vestine had declared that no one in the class would get any homework. The class had cheered. Then, at the end of the day, she had stopped Coroxn and said

"Did you forget your homework, Conor?" "But Mrs" Coroxn had replied. "You said there was no homework today".

"No I didn't, Conor, don't put words in my mouth. I said that no one in the class would be getting any homework" "Erm, Mrs..." "And since your obviously in a different class of intelligence then anyone else, you'll be given more homework than them" She put thirty-two books into Coroxn's hands.

"Pages 30-45 in all of them" Coroxn was shocked.

"Now now, Conor. The curiculum won't let us give you kids no homework. Somone has to do it. Thanks for taking one for the team. Off you go now"

The first book had taken Coroxn fifteen minutes. And, as Coroxn knew off by heart, 15X32=480. Which is eight hours.

When Coroxn had finished it all, the sun was nearly setting. And so he had started sprinting.

"Xirina! Vexen!" he called out.

Coroxn wasn't his real name. His real name was Conor. Coroxn was Conor, with the letters muddled up and an X added. Xirina's real name was Irina, and Vexen's real name was Even. They couldn't really remember who had started the X+anagram thing, or why they did it. It was just something odd that there friendship had came up with. Xirina turnd around and smiled. "Took you long enough! Come on!" Vexen scooted to the edge, and Xirina shuffled over beside him, making room for Coroxn. He clambered up. Vexem amd Xirina had finished there ice cream, but Xirina had saved Coroxn's one. She handed it to him. "Thanks" he said. And then they started talking, talking and watching the sunset. And, beneath there feat, something magical was stirring. Something evil.....