By Arforenthia

1 - Cyra

Humans can suck.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not condemning the whole population. Right now, I'm only denouncing one particular individual. Aaron Rexcaber. He is, in a word, toxic. The cruelest, meanest, most obnoxious person I've ever met. Honestly, I don't understand where he pulls that nastiness from. But he appears to have a personal grudge against me, and I can't say I blame him, but was it really necessary to push me off a cliff?

Jerk.

I was sitting under a tree, eating the apple I'd plucked from its branches, when good old Aaron snuck up on me, effectively causing me to jump out of my skin, and then, laughing, shoved me off the cliff behind the school.

Seriously. I mean, it happens. I'm pretty sure everyone in my family has fallen off a cliff. But I wanted my first time to be for some noble reason on a quest, not because a stinking antimagi decided he wanted to know if it would break my leg.

At least he wasn't trying to kill me. I hope. If he was, he should have known that thousands of fauns have been pushed off that cliff, and no one's heard of a faun dying from falling from a height yet.

My hooves hit the ground, the impact sending a loud crack rippling against the sheer rock face, and I toss my dark braid over one shoulder. Glaring at Aaron I contemplate throwing a rock at the dirt beneath his feet so that he falls too. But alas, humans aren't as resilient as fauns, and I would be convicted for murder and join the rising numbers of fauns in the city prisons.

Fauns get a pretty bad rap.

We're about twice as strong as your average human, and we're much more durable. Like, I just fell off a cliff and I'm fine. Unfortunately, that led to several incidents including the "storming of the Eiffel Tower" (it was not a storming. The elevator was on fire and people were still inside, so a few fauns went to save them. The moral of the story: tall, spindly, burning buildings generally can't withstand the weight or speed of eight full grown fauns). But if humans were stronger than us, they would absolutely make mistakes too. Everyone does. And honestly, they're the ones tramping around the woods with weapons to hunt. Of course we would assess that as a threat and land a few people in the hospital. Who wouldn't?

I scowl harder when I hear the bell, faint in the distance. "Now I'm late for class, you idiot!" I scream at Aaron. He smirks.

"Stinking animals like you shouldn't even be in class! Just go to the barn or something!"

Oh, he is so paying for that. I'm a faun, your royal dumbness, which means I'm part deer, not horse. If you're going to insult someone, at least make sure it's politically correct.

But before I can hit him across his smug face, I have to climb the side of this stupid cliff.

Aaron kicks some pebbles down the side, silencing my threats before they escape when a clod of dirt falls in my mouth, and saunters off. I spit out the soil, growling in disgust, and take several steps back.

With a few less-than-PG remarks, I charge at the side of the ridge and power myself up it. I grab at any handholds and footholds I can find, but the four-legged part of my body is not built for climbing, and I quickly fall back to the ground.

I'm momentarily distracted by wondering if Aaron has already been assigned his quest and it's to forever irk me and ultimately ruin my future. The number of classes I've missed due to him is comical.

Then I shrug. It'll take a lot more than seventeen missed classes to stop me from success, no matter what crap he pulls.

I wipe the sweat from my brow and straighten my dirt-streaked T-shirt. Guess I'll just have to go the long way.