Chapter 1 preview

Here is the extended preview for tier three of my first chapter

“I don’t want you to get in trouble again for helping me.”

Yelna laughed. “I don’t care. You are one of the only people here that makes life bearable.” She nudged Alicila. “Besides, I am the only one of my kind here, and all of the other humans are insufferable. What would I do without you?”

Alicila kept her mouth shut. She didn’t like it when Yelna talked about race. Tetheron attracted many different people from all over Relsion. Her professor Oris was a Delex, and Yelna was a Selent. There were many, many more that stayed at the university, too many to count.

Yelna had a tendency to complain about humans. There was a good reason for it, though. In the last few years, the Lulvix Alliance had pushed its political power even into the university. They were a radical bunch that was hostile to those outside of their group, consisting of five races. Humans. The Xanthor, a primarily human variant with the only difference being their life spans were half as long as a typical human, and they were sturdier, almost like a dwarf. The Eldiwn. They were forest-dwelling people who had long ears and no eyes. The Crestfallen, they had scales like Yelna, but their origins were more akin to the sea than the sky. And the Norn, tiny green-skinned people.

There were a few Xanthor and Norn at Tetheron but a lot of humans, inducing Alicila. But she preferred to keep to herself. She had been raised in Teshmarsh, far away from the Lulvix Alliance lands. She did not care for how they handled things and did not want to be associated with them, though despite her efforts, most people looked at her as another hateful human.

Not Yelna, though. She was the only friend that she had at the university.

“Well, this is my room.” Alicila sighed. “I guess I should get to working on this project.”

“We can work on it together.”

Alicila used her boot to open the door. “I am sure that Oris has spies watching us or something.”

“I don’t think the old coot is that paranoid.” She jumped up onto the bed and straightened her linen shirt. “Come on. Let’s at least exchange ideas or something.”

“Ok. We can talk for a bit. Let me set this stuff down in the other room first.”

“Fine.” Yelna looked around. “You should really clean your apartment up. Looks like a cave or something in here.”

Alicila shook her head as she walked into her bedroom. “I love Yelna to death, but she can be so nosy.” She set her books and vials down on the table and straightened her leather jacket and pants.

“Strange. My clothes have felt baggy for the last hour.” She walked up to the mirror. “I think the stress is just getting to me.” Alicila stretched her arms and felt the sleeves of her jacket extend past her hands. “Huh?”

She looked at her loosely fitting clothing with wide eyes. “Oh, no, no.”

“Hey, what is taking you so long in there?”

“Umm, nothing.” Alicila pulled up her sleeves and spoke under her breath. “Crap, not now. I can’t deal with this until Yelna leaves.” She shook her head. “I haven’t had an issue like this since I was eleven years old. Why now? I can’t be changing in size again.”