Serum

Viola and Ryker quickly walked over from within the bustling crowds. As they did, Dirk sized up his oldest sister. 

As the oldest, Viola was the first one who went to the magic academy. She had been there for two years now and was 14 years old. During that time, nobody in the family except the parents would see her since she was always on campus and doing whatever she did within there.

Seeing her now after two years, Dirk was able to see a rather significant difference. Viola was going down the warrior path, someone who fought primarily with weapons like swords instead of with magic like a mage. 2 years ago, while she was naturally cold and aggressive, she was still young and immature. The small amounts of training she did naturally wasn't much. Now, however, she felt sharper. 

Dirk could sense a vastly different demeanor. He could feel her confidence, and the way she carried herself indicated conditioning and skill. Whatever she did in the academy, it had been good for her and her advancement down the path of a warrior. She was starting to shape up like one. 

Of course, the aura that came off of her was still that of a 14-year-old's. Dirk knew that no matter what, she was only beginning to walk her path, and her experience was still lacking. Though, he still was a bit surprised. When he looked at her and picked up on the subconscious confidence that stemmed from one's capability for physical confrontation, he started to remember some of the supersoldiers from his past life. While he had been ahead of the curve in his program and was running operations at only 13, others were still very capable of violence and holding their own.

Viola was beginning to match that of the young supersoldiers he remembered. Somewhat at least. She wasn't as broken and rigid as the supersoldiers, and that wasn't a bad thing, though it meant she wouldn't have the ruthless acuity they would have.

"So the runt is going to be joining me now, huh?"

Viola spoke as she looked at Ethan, a half smile on her face. It was hard to tell whether or not she was happy to have a family member joining her or regretful that it was him. Maybe both.

"Hey! Who are you calling a runt?! Don't get cocky just because you have some fancy education now! You think I haven't gotten stronger in the past two years?"

"Hmph, I don't care what you've done. I bet you can't even touch me."

"Is that a challenge?"

"If you dare take it, you runt."

"Alright you two. That's enough."

Ryker stepped in before his children started fighting in a public space and shook his head, sighing about the fact that the first thing they did when meeting after so long is argue. Some things never change. 

"Like two peas in a pod. Anyway, Ethan, after today you're going to be under the jurisdiction of the magic academy, and you likely won't be seeing home for a long time. I've pretty much taken care of everything, and all there is to do is get you situated. Understood?"

"Alright."

"Good. Today is the opening ceremony and it starts in an hour or so, so let's get going. Say goodbye to your mother and siblings, you won't be seeing them for a while."

"Okay."

Nodding, Ethan went and gave his mother a hug. Then came Rita, and then Dirk. Though, instead of a hug, Dirk just held out his hand, not interested in giving him a hug. Ethan was also totally fine with this and shook his hand, not wishing to make it awkward. 

"Alright. Come with me. Let's get you properly dressed."

"Okay!"

With an excited shout, Ethan went on to follow his father and sister. He could hardly wait to start his new life at the academy.

The three watched as they disappeared in the crowds, entering the gates of the academy. Cecilia then sighed.

"Well, I can imagine that the house will be much quieter now. Let's go, you two. We have our own opening ceremony to catch."

"Yay! It's just you and me now Dirk! We're gonna have lots of fun!"

Rita cheered and wrapped up Dirk in a bear hug from behind, looking forward to the many days of fun ahead. Dirk was expressionless though as her pitch black hair got in his face. He still wasn't thrilled about going to a grade school. 

'I'd be nice if I could go to that academy. Seems more up my alley.'

He sighed. He was only 6, and it would be another long 6 years before he could join. There was nothing he could do, so he just decided to enjoy his genius sister and plan workouts in his head for later.

............

After another carriage ride, Dirk, his sister, and his mother arrived at the grade school. When they did, they could immediately see tons of little kids and their own parents walking into the grounds. 

This grade school was obviously much smaller than the academy, though it still held tons of children. Apparently, this was also one of the best schools in the city. Though, Dirk wasn't sure how amazing a school for a bunch of kids could be. 

After parking their carriage in an actual parking lot, the three were soon walking into the grounds of the academy. As they did, they came across lots of different classrooms with colorful signs and various pieces of art along the walls. It was flowery and childish, two things that instantly turned Dirk off to the place. 

However, there was one thing that he quickly discovered. Not all of the children and people were humans. 

He had realized that there were other intelligent species in this world when he learned about his father's and sister's elven natures. Even then though, he had only really seen humans, and the only out of place thing around him was Rita's pointed ears. Now though, his horizons were broadened. 

Although they were sparse, Dirk could see several people who had fantastical features. There was one family of tall elves who had gold and green hair as well as pointed ears. A couple families were humanoids with the fluffy tails of a tiger or wolf as well as ears on their head and claws on their fingers. Finally, there was a single family of short people, the father and mother of which were 5 foot and 4 foot tall respectively. In that family, Dirk was surprised to see that the child, a boy, already had some facial hair while the dad had a massive beard going down to his waist. It looked odd.

"Mother, those people over there..."

Dirk tugged on his mother's sleeve and gestured to the humanoids, not sure what to make of such odd creatures. Seeing her son's confusion, she kneeled down to his height and explained. 

"This is something you'll learn in school. Human's aren't the only races. There are other races, for example, those short people over there are called dwarves. Those people with pointed ears are elves like your father. And those people with tails and ears are called hybrids. There aren't a lot of them in this city, but they do have their own empires in other places. Now, I'm not too worried about you doing this, but I'll say it anyway. Don't look down on them, alright? There are lots of people who treat them differently, but you're not one of those people. Treat them normally. Understood?"

"Yes, mother."

"Good. And don't stand by if someone is getting picked on. You're a good boy, so be good to those around you. Now, let's go visit your guys' classrooms."

After lovingly ruffling his hair, Dirk's mother stood back up and led him and Rita to a classroom.

For the next few hours, the three went throughout the school. First, they visited Dirk's future classroom. The teacher there had worked at the school for a long time and was a nice and patient old man, something you'd need to be to deal with children for so long. The classroom was also filled with various small projects the previous class did throughout the year. Seeing the miniature zoos full of crudely made wooden animals and dozens of paintings of only god knew what was not thrilling to Dirk, since he knew he would be doing those projects soon as well. He had already made his peace with his new life though, so he just sighed inwardly. 

While they were there, Dirk also saw some of his future classmates. Turns out, the boy who was already growing facial hair was in his year, along with two hybrids. One of the hybrids was a boy who had the tail and ears of a tiger as well as eyes that were vertical slits like a cat's. The other hybrid was... a deer?

Dirk looked weirdly at the other timid hybrid, a girl who had what looked like antlers sprouting out both sides of her forehead. They were still only small nubs, but after close inspection, they were definitely antlers. 

As Dirk stared at the girl, she was beside her parents looking around at everyone as if she were paranoid. However, as if she sensed his gaze, the girl turned to him, and they locked eyes.

Dirk didn't seem to care that they were looking directly at each other though and just kept staring at the odd little antlers as well as the girl's brown hair. The concept of hybrids was new to him, so he was processing in his head how the additional body parts like tails or antlers would work. Did the antlers attach to the skull? Would they grow really big? He looked at the parents, and after seeing their large antlers that looked just like a deer's, he answered his second question. He then kept staring at the girl, wondering what she would look like with big antlers.

The girl though started to cower under his gaze. At first, she just tried to ignore it, but as he kept blatantly staring for an extended period of time, her face reddened and she shuffled behind her parents, breaking line of sight.

"Hey! Are you smitten with that girl or something?"

Suddenly, a voice came from behind him, snapping Dirk out of his focus. He turned to see Rita looking at him with squinted, judging eyes. He shook his head in response.

"No, I am not 'smitten'. That girl had antlers."

"So?"

"I've never seen antlers on a person before. It was odd and I wondered how they worked."

"So you just stared at her? For that long?"

"Uhh, I guess?"

"..."

Seeing how innocent her brother was being, Rita went quiet. She then shook her head and spoke.

"Sigh, I have much to teach you, Dirk. Don't stare at people. It's weird, especially when you stare at girls. Okay?"

"Alright?"

"Good."

"What are you two talking about?"

As Rita nodded in satisfaction, their mother turned and spoke to them. She had been talking to another parent, so she hadn't seen what happened. 

"I was teaching Dirk social skills!"

"Really? What for?"

"He was staring at a girl!"

"Oh?"

"She was a hybrid with antlers. I thought it was odd, and I accidentally stared for too long."

Dirk clarified for his sister before she could lead their mother down a road of misunderstanding. Hearing him, Cecilia nodded. 

"I see. That deer hybrid over there?"

"Yes."

"Mm. Those are a fairly rare hybrid race. Deer have a talent for psychokinesis and Light mental magic. Looks like that girl has somewhat of a talent since she looks so paranoid."

"Why would being paranoid signify talent?"

"It has to do with their mental magic. If you had dozens of voices or sounds appearing in your head at random times, I'm sure you would be scared as well. It helps when they concentrate though. Why don't we go talk to them? Come on."

Putting her hand on Dirk's back, Cecilia led him toward the deer hybrids. The parents of the girl noticed their approach and greeted them. 

The father was a tall man who towered over Dirk's mother, and the majestic antlers only added to the height, making it so he almost reached the roof of the classroom. The mother was shorter but still tall, several inches over Cecilia by head, and a foot including the antlers.

After giving their greetings, Cecilia gestured to Dirk.

"I believe my son here is going to be in the same class as your daughter. He was actually interested in the antlers since he's never seen them before."

"Is that right? Well how do you do, little one? What's your name?"

Hearing Cecilia, the father deer smiled and squatted down in front of Dirk. Dirk activated his almost instinctual greeting procedure and gave his name. 

"My name is Dirk, sir. Nice to meet you."

"Well Dirk, it's mighty nice to meet you too. This here is my daughter, Ava. She's a bit shy, but I'm sure she can come say hi to you."

The father motioned his daughter over as he spoke in a cool tone, prompting her to timidly come out from behind him while looking down at the floor.

"...Hi..."

Ava softly spoke, and with the surrounding chatter, Dirk could barely pick up on her. He did though, and he gave a proper greeting to her too.

"Nice to meet you, Ava."

"...Mm."

Ava nodded while glancing up at him. At first, she couldn't really make eye contact, but as she looked at him more, her timidness seemed to go away. Both of them looked at each other, Dirk looking at her antlers, and her looking into his eyes. 

"You're quiet..."

"Quiet?"

Dirk tilted his head at her mumble. Sure he didn't speak much, only when necessary, but it wasn't like she knew that. Was she just blurting out words?

It didn't seem like that though. As she looked at him more, her gaze became more concentrated and focused. Now, Dirk was the one starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Alright Ava, don't start poking into him too much."

"Oh... Sorry..."

Hearing her father, Ava realized her mistake and pulled back, turning her head away. Her previously timid and embarrassed demeanor returned. 

"She's still adjusting to her powers, so she's still a bit shy."

The father spoke, chuckling at his timid daughter. Cecilia nodded.

"Looks like it. Has she recently awakened them?"

"Indeed. Do you have experience with deer?"

"A bit. I've been to the Unity Empire a few times."

"I see. Well, it will probably take a month or two in school for her to adjust."

"I'm sure she'll get through it just fine. In fact, Dirk, why don't you be Ava's first friend? If you see her at school, be sure to say hi."

"Understood."

Dirk nodded to his mother, accepting whatever requests she gave him. The father deer smiled.

"I appreciate it young man. You too Ava. Make sure to say hi to Dirk when you see him."

"..."

Ava, who was still silently hiding behind her parents, slightly nodded her head. 

Seeing her so scared, Dirk was curious.

'How can she be so timid? Is she supposed to function like that in school? I do not understand.'

He shook his head inwardly. 

After conversing for a bit more, Dirk, Rita, and his mother left the classroom and walked around the school more. When they did, they went to go see a large playground, Rita's new classroom, some of her friends, and other various facilities. 

This took up a few more hours, after which the three left the school and went back home. For the rest of that day, they didn't do much except prepare themselves for school which started the next day. 

That night, Dirk went to sleep only after mentally preparing himself for the days ahead. He truly didn't know what to expect, except for childish projects and hopefully, the discovery of some valuable knowledge.