Deep within the vast evergreen Cercarus forest, of the ancient land of Fzemlya, lived a tribe of warriors known collectively as the Agnus. They were a rather vicious lot, always on the rampage, storming the territories of their enemies and consequently expanding their land. Success was perhaps a noteworthy characteristic of their battles, as the amount of gore, the number of casualties and the area of land plundered all increased with every attempt; the only thing consistent was the fact that they had always won.

That is, however, until the arrival of the Oryctus. This generally more intelligent and calm group of people would have seemed to be the ideal target for the savages of the Agnus horde. But what was hidden from the eye of the casual observer, yet ultimately decisive in the defence of their land, came as a result of their superior mental capability.

Members of the Oryctus were able to utilize telekinesis; they had the ability to move objects of all sorts from varying distances, using only their minds. While not all of the people were equally powerful in this respect, the strength of the mind determined their telekinetic potential so obviously the less intelligent persons would be of little more use than at an Agnus talent show, the combined power of the Oryctan fighters was able to force their Agnus counterparts into a concession.

And there lay the paradox. The Agnus desperately wanted to conquer the Oryctus and acquire their land. The Oryctus occupied said land and were less powerful physically than the Agnus and lacked all thirst for blood, but were able to prevent any Agnus attacks.

The Agnus had realized long ago that war was thus made futile. Yet still, they made no attempts to reconcile with their neighbours, and both clans tended to refrain from all contact.

Therefore, when Limnea, King of the Agnus, sent his only son to be taught formally at a prestigious Oryctus school, eyebrows were raised and the more flexible subjects of both kingdoms turned to follow suit.

was feeling like quite a Prince today! It was his first day at his new school, and he was looking forward to learning more than the typical Agnus teenager did. Sharp swords and the associated skill for using them were impressive, but unlike most of his old friends, he was a lot more fascinated with books of all subjects and their contents.

And today was feeling confident. He was the heir to the Agnus throne, after all, even his Oryctus classmates would be impressed by that, he thought. He was wearing his best robes. They were long and black in colour, and tucked neatly into his belt. Likewise, he had donned a long, black pair of trousers, which were highlighted by grey, silky boots that matched well with his belt. Also, he was wearing a pair of grey gloves, which extended all the way up to his elbows.

All in all, was very well dressed, by Agnus standards at least. And, anyway, what did it matter, he thought, they weren't his future subjects, so it shouldn't even matter whether they accepted him. The fact of the matter was that he would eventually be as knowledgeable as all of them... better than all of them, and he would be the next ruler and remember them. There were those below him in his own kingdom who were convinced that he would be the first ever Agnus ruler to govern in a sympathetic manner- the first to try to bridge the gap between the Agnus and the Oryctus. knew this, of course, but was not as sure of it; though he had figured that his treatment in his new school would somehow affect his future mindset.

And now was about three feet from the gate leading to his school. He glanced up and noticed a sign, carved intricately in wood. It read, "Cunniculus Grove College".

How original, he laughed silently, as he took a few more steps through the open gate and towards the door that it lead to. twisted the handle, opened the heavy oak door, and walked inside where he came face-to-face with a handful of awaiting students, all of whom had their eyes glued to his forehead.

, his pace decreased, was now treading cautiously forward. He looked to his right, and saw that there was a vacant seat among those at the back. He was contemplating whether to walk directly to it and reserve it, but his chain of thought was interrupted when he tripped on a bulge in the underlying rug.

The awkward silence previously encountered gave way to inconsiderate exuberance. Who am I kidding, he sighed, as he pulled himself back up. brushed his hair back, but his finger was then spotted with blood. Apparently he hadn't fallen as skilfully as he was supposed to, and he had a cut on his forehead.

"Damned thing..." he uttered through gritted teeth, as he adjusted his Royal Band. The Agnus Band was composed of an inverted 'V', and was the upside-down version of the Oryctus Band. Its purpose was formerly decorative, but as realized, it also served for distinction. It was made of gold and, evidently, it was sharp.

stood in silence amongst the noise and looked down at his arms, both of which bore the Agnus symbol, as did his legs. There goes all hope of fitting in, he said to himself, while he looked around the room for a more accessible seat.

"No one's sitting here." The voice had come from a girl seated one seat away from where he was standing. She had bright eyes, and she was gesturing towards the vacant seat to her left. smiled uneasily and proceeded to sit next to her.

"Thank you... there." he said nervously, as he unpacked his stuff. He hadn't brought much, as the directors of the school had specified that all of the required textbooks and other reading material would be available at the school. Besides, it was the first day and was more or less devoted to formalities.

"It's my pleasure," she replied, smiling cheerfully at him, "I'm also new, and my name is ."

"The pleasure's mine, . I'm ." he said, extending his hand which then shook heartily.

felt as if someone was staring at him and instinctively turned around. Sure enough, there were a few more Oryctus students who had walked in after him and hadn't taken their eyes off of him since.

"Bunch of jerks, aren't they?" scowled at one of the smaller boys and he burst into tears. She giggled and continued, "I got the same reaction when I walked in, but..."

"But you're an Oryctus, aren't you?" he had cut her off, and she was now staring angrily at him. He pointed to the symbols on her glove.

"Ugh... I was going to say that 'I'm able to manage with such jerks'." She had folded her arms.

felt horrible. The others had discriminated against him on the sole basis of his heredity, and there he was, finally meeting someone who didn't seem to mind, and the first thing he did was point out their differences.

"I was out of line," he shifted his eyes down towards his bag, "I'm sorry." Then, he had an idea, and began digging inside the bag. was still sulking and glaring at him, although her eyebrow was raised slightly out of curiosity.

A few seconds later, 's hand emerged and was holding a shiny, fresh pear. 's eyes lit up suddenly, and she licked her lips as she looked innocently at , and then at the pear.

laughed, "It's okay, you can have it. I picked it this morning to offer to the teacher, but for some reason I don't think she's going to deserve it as much." Before he had finished, had smiled and snatched the pear out of his hands, and was soon nibbling at it.

had taken the opportunity to get a better look at her. 's hair, he realized, was unusually beautiful. It was dark brown in colour, as was his, but it ran just below her shoulder. It was well groomed, and it had an attractive way of gathering about her shoulder. Her ears were partially hidden by it, but he was able to see enough of it to spot earrings made of pearls, dangling lightly as her head moved while she munched on her snack.

was about to look down at her garments, but she seemed to have noticed his wandering eyes and she blushed. Instead of looking at artificial beauty, then found himself unable to look away from her face; had a very pretty smile.

"Have you got any more?" she asked, her head was tilted like a child. felt as if woken from a trance.

"Uh... what was that, ?" he asked, his eyes now focused on hers and he was trying to keep them there. She smiled once more.

"Never mind." She had turned her head to look at a fellow Oryctus girl who had brought an apple for the teacher and was now placing it on her desk. At this point, was practically staring at the big, red apple.

shrugged and diverted his attention to . She was wearing a long, highly decorative robe, which was dark purple in colour, and was laced with Oryctus symbols which was, of course, normal. She too was wearing gloves and boots, but hers were each longer, and matched her robe though they were slightly lighter in hue. At her waist, she had tied a white belt of some sort, he wasn't quite sure what it was really, but it seemed to cause the robe to fit more closely to her body than the more reserved older women of her family would have probably worn it. liked it.

At this point, looked up, and observed that was now eating an apple. He glanced over to the teacher's desk and, sure enough, her apple had vanished. saw his head movements and flashed him a naughty smile.

"What... you feel sorry for the girl? She wasn't nice to either of us." she insisted, her eyes were bright again, and she was trying to appear innocent.

"I don't feel any pity for her, no... but... how..." wasn't very articulate as he spoke.

"Huh?" had begun munching away on her apple but was still maintaining eye contact with , "Oh, this?" she asked, pointing to the apple and trying to stifle a giggle. "I've already completed my telekinesis training."

"I see." replied, not doing a very good job of hiding his bewilderment. He then looked at her forehead and saw that she too had a Royal Band, which was mostly hidden beneath her smoothly flowing hair. He knew that the symbols represented the people, and so even the common man would normally wear replicas on his clothing and ensure that they are present on his weaponry; a Royal Band, though, was exclusive to the direct family of the rulers. Even the highest nobles were forbidden to wear them.

However, followed his adventurous eyes, and read his mind, "Yep, I'm their Princess. So they have to be nice to me otherwise daddy'd get mad." She had enunciated the key words, and was now twisting her face. She sighed, and returned to her apple, which seemed to settle her somewhat.

When she was almost finished, she tapped on the shoulder and winked, pointing at the barrel in the corner used for trash.

"Think I can do it?" she asked, the precious stone built into her Royal Band shining as she effortlessly made the remains do cartwheels in the air in front of her.

"Yes," he said, "so why don't you try doing it with your eyes closed instead?" winked back at her, "If you can, then I'll treat you to a basket filled with fruits when school's done."

nodded and hesitated; she seemed to be doing the calculations in her head, but soon looked confident that her maths was right. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Her Royal Band shone brighter than ever as she used her psychic power to create an impulse, causing the remains of the apple to be shot rapidly across the room towards the barrel.

Unfortunately, the teacher chose this precise moment to enter the room, and it hit her smack in the head. She was unhurt, but was glaring in the direction of and . , more concerned with her basket of fruit on the line, turned to and said, "That was going in."