Elemental Academy Characters

This is my Elemental Academy Roleplay Wiki Character sandbox. If I want to be more secretive about my characters, I tend to put them here instead of their wiki sandbox for me. I'm probably going to end up putting them here anyway...

## Backstories

### Jeong Yi Caelum

Jeong Yi Caelum was born on July 13th in Nashville, Tennessee, the day his aunt died in a car crash.

### Emily Columbia

Emily was born on November 23rd, when her father died in a plane crash north of New Mexico. From then on, all she had was a mom.

However, her mother's heart had hardened into stone, and she showed no mercy to the child.

When Emily was five, her mother started abusing her. If she disobeyed anything her mother said, she'd be cut or beaten, resulting in scars and a fearful obedient little girl. In an attempt to run away from her abusive guardian, she tried climbing out of the window, she fell and broke her leg.

### Aria Di Torrington

Aria was born the younger twin out of Dustin and her, making Dustin the older. "Arianna Mackenzie Di Torrington" was the name she had been born with, but later, of course with her parents' permission, she adopted the name "Aria".

Aria had been born in Toronto, Canada, ironic how she was a fire elemental and she lived in such cold places. Her life had been fairly normal, she had formed a strong bond with her brother over the years, one that seemed impossible to be broken.

As they neared their twelfth birthday, something terrible happened. As they were going to blow out the candles on their birthday cake, the fire flared and spread, unexpectedly. The kids screamed and backed away from their burning birthday cake.

"Dustin, Aria, get outside, *now*!" their mother yelled. Dustin immediately grabbed Aria's hand and dragged them out the door, dozens of other children rushing out after them. They stepped out onto the streets.

Three minutes later, the house exploded, the impact pushed Aria into a mailbox, which she banged her head on, and everything became dark.

**A WEEK AND A HALF LATER**

"Aria? Aria? Sis, can you hear me?" a voice asked, intruding her deep sleep. She groaned, her eyes flickering open. "D-Dustin...?" she slurred, half-conscious. Suddenly, she was consumed in a bone-crushing hug. "I... C-Can't... Breath!" she choked out.

"Oh... Sorry..." Dustin murmured, letting go of her.

### Elijah Jin

A hooded figure rushed through the streets, carrying something in her arms as she ran. She glanced left and right as she sought out the address she had memorized over the past few months. Her golden hair, now a snow like a shade of white from her anxiety, whipped around her face like a hurricane. Her footsteps echoed down the avenue as her feet hit the sidewalk, and splashed in puddles. When she spotted the dull gray semi-mansion ahead she increased her speed, despite the wailing of the child in her arms.

She slowed once she reached the gates and was now down to a simple walk. She allowed herself in, as In-Su had long ago allowed access for her to enter. She rung the doorbell at the large golden doors that sparkled even in the dim moonlight. She left the baby boy in a basket on the last step of the entryway and then disappeared into the night. The baby continued to wail for his lost mother until finally a maid opened the massive doors and peered downwards to find him, wrapped in soft, fluffy blankets, sitting in a wicker basket.

The maid picked up the child and hurried back inside to report this to the head of the house, Insu Jin. The maid did much to hush the baby but it continued to cry and cry and cry to no end. This quickly arose the suspicion of the other servants in the house, and soon they were appearing from every hallway, from every door, lining up on the staircase, peeking through windows to see what was up. As the maid made her way towards the den, Insu—who had also heard the sobbing of the distressed boy—had stood and was now heading to the hallway to question the disturbance.

He was shocked to find one of his newer maids out of breath in front of the doorway with a baby in a basket in her arms. She bowed and greeted her master politely before explaining what had happened. "A child was left on the doorstep sir," she reported. "I didn't know what to do so I brought the baby to you."

Insu narrowed his eyes at the baby and the baby looked up at him. His crying halted until the only thing left were small hiccups and coughs. He squinted his tiny eyes and held out one of his short arms to reach out to the young man. The young Korean sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Bring him in, and then tell the rest to prepare a room for this... *nuisance*," he huffed. He shifted so that the maid could walk in and put the basket on a large armchair near the fireplace, and then watched her leave and close the door behind her.

Insu strolled towards the fireplace and picked up the basket, before seating himself in that same armchair. He studied the baby with precise calculations and tried guessing where it came from before he finally concluded it came from his girlfriend, Clementine Wu, who he had been dating for two years. Why the woman had left this wretched thing on his doorstep, he would not question until he met again with her. For now, he'd keep the child in his custody.

"How long have you existed?" he muttered, removing the blanket-covered baby boy from the basket. He spotted something shaped like an envelope at the bottom of the basket, and he let out a brisk huff. "Well, at least you can entertain Ria."

Ria had been his adopted daughter, who he had merely taken in for business reasons, but had found himself beginning to care for her. The girl shared his interest in poetry and music, so he enjoyed taking her to concerts.

Insu laid the baby on his lap and bent to grab the envelope. The baby squirmed and almost toppled off the chair, which made Insu yelp and catch it at the last minute. "What are you? Crazy?" he exclaimed, glaring at the baby. The child giggled a little and tugged at the sleeve of Insu's blazer. His expression softened and he smiled a little, "Maybe you're not that bad. You resemble Clementine a lot, maybe you'll be just like her."

He switched his attention back to the envelope and opened it, preparing himself for the words he was yet to read. With the squirming child in his lap, he began to read the letter that had been folded and kept tight in a pearly white paper case.

*Dear Insu,*

*I am sorry to trouble you with this, but I am leaving the United Kingdom for awhile, and you may not see me again for a long time. My name is Clementine Wu, who you know as a water elemental from a small village of the Water Kingdom. Do not try to look for me here, for I will not be there. The truth is, I am actually a Chromathymina spirit from the mystical well buried deep in a forest that is found in the Water Kingdom. It is my time now, I must return to my spirit form or I will dissipate and will never be able to re-appear again, for I will no longer exist.*

*Thank you for everything you have given me over this span of two years, I will forever remember this love and try to keep it alive from afar. For now, please keep me in your memory, I promise one day I will come back to see how you are doing, and how our son is doing. In case you haven't figured it out—which I doubt—this boy is our son. I gave birth to him three months ago on the Fourth of May, and I wish that you take good care of him. His name is Elijah, but I have also named him Hwanyeong for your Korean heritage.*

*Please raise him as a loving father would, and tell him of me when the time is right. I wish you a happy life, and that you find someone better than me, who can stay in your life forever.*

*With Love,*

*Clementine Wu*

Insu read the letter a couple more time to make sure what he read was correct. A million things were buzzing in his mind, and his emotions were at the rapids. Finally, he folded the letter and threw it in the basket, a corner of the paper charred from being so close to the mantle. He studied the boy one more time and took the time to find any resemblance he may have to his dear Clementine.

The boy's brown eyes sparkled similarly to Clementine's giving them a bright hopeful look, and that alone made Insu smile. Although being only what—three months? if he could remember correctly—, the baby boy had a head full of black locks like Insu's that brushed his forehead.

"So, Eli, do you change color in any way?" In-Su asked, recalling what he knew about Chromathymina spirits.The boy giggled again and waved his hands, kicking his feet beneath the blankets. "Well if you don't that's fine. You have Clementine's eyes and that's enough for me."

That night, the night Elijah's existence was brought into the light changed many lives, and one of those lives happened to be Ria Jin, who did not like to share.

Ria Jin to put in simple terms enjoyed the attention. She loved the spotlight on her, and her only, and she realized this at a young age because of how much she strived to get approval from her stepfather. She didn't really have a problem with this, however, and there was no issue because the only competitor was her stepfather's work, and that had nothing on her.

But Elijah did.

Suddenly Ria was no longer the special child to be spoiled. That night Elijah was found on the doorstep, Ria knew in her gut things we're going to be different, and she didn't like different unless different was good for her. The next morning at the breakfast table, Ria was startled to find a high chair in the dining room in place of the empty seat that had usually been saved for her stepfather's girlfriend who occasionally came for breakfast and lunch.

Ria held resentment towards Clementine, for the woman had stolen valuable time with her stepfather from her, and for that, Ria wanted her to pay. Like usual, she hid her angered expression with a sweet innocent smile as her stepfather approached the dining table. But her stepfather was carrying something in his arms, swaddled in blankets, that appeared to be moving.

The first thought that went through her head, *It's a baby. Daddy adopted a baby.*

Ria could not publicly seeth, for it would be unfair to the child, and she would obviously reveal her distaste, so she kept her smile and softly asked, "Daddy, is that... a baby? Am I getting a sibling?"

The six-year-old was cunning, that was something anyone could admit. She knew how to manipulate people because she was at a level of maturity most six-year-olds were not, but there was still childish envy in her for she was just that, a child.

Insu smiled back at his stepdaughter as he placed Elijah in the high chair. The baby boy giggled and twisted around in his high chair, kicking his tiny feet. Unlike Insu, Ria's heart *did not* melt. From the corner of her eye, she glared at Elijah but the baby had no response but to gurgle and wave his hands around excitedly.

"Isn't he adorable Ria? His name is Elijah," In-Su informed her. Ria contained the urge to gag and pressed the fake smile further.

"Awww, he's so cute Daddy," she cooed, a soft undertone of a scoff hidden in her honeyed voice.

"Elijah is going to be your new brother alright? So I want you to take good care of him with the rest of the servants while I'm at work, okay sweetie?" Ria's left eye twitched a little at these words.

"Of course Daddy. I'll take good care of Elijah," she mumbled.

It didn't take a genius to figure out this was a total lie, and all the servants in the dining room knew it. They'd been around when the spoiled brat wreaked havoc and then blamed it on them. They knew that look all too well. Hell was about to go down, a lot of good innocent people were about to be fired, and Ria was going to get her away once again.

Several years are running down the line, and now, Elijah is five, and Ria is ten, almost eleven. Insu had been teaching Elijah Mandarin and Korean as well as English so he could effciently speak three languages.

Ria has learned to adapt with Elijah around, but still greatly disliked his presence. She was still convinced he was taking attention meant for her. No matter what she did, the subject always seemed to switch to Elijah after time and time through, and she was beginning to get fed up with it.

*"Daddy, I won an award."*

*"Good job Ria. Can I see it?"*

*"Of course Daddy, let me go get it from my backpack."*

Ria turned around and Elijah rushed up to their father, holding a golden star only slightly bigger than his hand.

*"Daddy! Daddy! Look!"*

Ria's blood was boiling.

On Ria's birthday, she finally drew the last straw. She had finally convinced her father to let all her classmates come to the mansion for her birthday party and had been excited for weeks on end. She wore a brand new party dress just for the occasion, and had her dark hair in curly pigtails just like her favorite character from the Japanese adaption of the Powerpuff Girls, called the Powerpuff Girls Z.

As she ran down the stairs towards the ringing doorbell, her blue eyes shone brightly with happiness. The party started fair enough, as everyone started to arrive. A few congratulated her and wished her a happy birthday, while others kind of half waved to her and then set their present on a table in the large ballroom that the party had been set in. She went around greeting everyone and thanking them for coming.

Even though she had carefully planned everything, she overlooked Elijah, and the thought of what to do with him until the party ended dawned on her. The five-year-old nuisance would definitely steal the focus. He would be considered too cute for his own good... and Ria's too. Unfortunate for her, it was too late for her to think of a plan, because that one nuisance had entered the hall, calling Ria's name.

Ria had made sure not to tell anyone who was coming to her party about her *adopted* little brother, as she likes to call him. She doesn't actually believe Elijah is In-Su's biological son. The people closest to the door turned around and immediately caught sight of the little boy running towards his older sister. They all awed as they watched Elijah toddle his way to the center of the room towards Ria.

The temper was slowly rose as he got closer, but she kept her cool and asked what he wanted. He told her he wanted cake and ice cream. She glanced at the table that held the giant birthday cake and looked back down at her brother. "How about I make you an ice cream sandwich instead?" she suggested. She refused to let this idiot go anywhere near her birthday cake.The five-year-old didn't seem to care and excitedly bobbed his head up and down.

Ria was about to ask Elijah to go back upstairs once he was done eating, but one of her friends asked if the boy could stay. She wanted to yell, "Hell no!" at the girl, but once again kept her composure. She shook her head and told him it was nap time for him anyway although Elijah stopped taking naps two years ago. Elijah obviously didn't care because as soon as he finished eating his ice cream sandwich and he jumped up from his chair and began bouncing around the ballroom, giggling as he interacted with the guests that cooed over him.

Ria watched in disbelief before she ordered Elijah to go back upstairs for naptime. The excited and oblivious five-year-old agreed as long as Ria came with him. She rolled her eyes and grabbed his small hand, exiting the large room and heading towards the stairs that lead to the floors upward. Elijah hopped up each one, unaware of the evil glint in his sister's eyes as she led him upstairs to his room. When they reached the top, Ria turned and shoved her adopted baby brother down the stairs and watched him cry and scream for help as he helplessly tumbled down the stairs.

The noise attracted the sound of nearby maids and servants but was too faint to reach Insu's study or the ballroom, so Ria peacefully returned to the party using a different staircase. Ria didn't get time to enjoy the rest of her part though, because a mere half hour later, Insu was dismissing all the guests because of a family emergency. Ria didn't learn until they got in the car and began driving to the hospital, that Elijah had fallen unconscious when he reached the bottom floor and was badly injured.

The fact made Ria smile, but she hid this satisfaction under a fake concerned frown. "Will he be alright?" she asked sweetly as if she actually cared.

"I don't know sweetie, but let's hope he will be," Insu replied, as oblivious as ever.

At the hospital, the doctor reported to Insu that Elijah had received several severe injuries including two cuts on his head, a broken rib, a twisted ankle, and a sprained wrist. He would be hospitalized for at least a month and from there the doctors would decide how much longer depending on how he was healing. Throughout this whole explanation, Ria felt not one drop of sympathy or regret.

A year passed, Elijah healed quickly and was fine but had developed a fear of stairs which meant a servant always had to walk up the stairs with him. Around this time, Insu had adopted two other children as a result of his newfound love for the sound of children's laughter due to having Elijah and Ria around. The two were fraternal twins named Martin and Ben who shared the same blue eyes, but one had brown hair while the other was blond. Martin was taller than Ben but Ben was older by several minutes. Their mother went missing a year after their birth so they were taken to a foster shelter.

It was also around this time that Elijah starting developing the same symptoms as a Chromathymina spirit—appearance-wise. His hair began to subtly change colors depending on the few moods he had as a six-year-old. Insu, being an elemental and knowing about Clementine's true self, found it absolutely normal and actually quite adorable. When Ria first witnessed it she was shocked but later found it something else to be jealous of. Martin and Ben who were older than Elijah but younger than Ria concluded that Elijah had been bitten by some weird radioactive spider, like Spiderman.

Another year had passed and now Elijah could do the unthinkable, create *fire.* It had happened accidentally when he was eating dinner. His hand had caught on fire and was melting the silverware in his hands but he seemed perfectly fine. Martin and Ben thought it was cool and that their theory was correct, but instead of a radioactive spider, he'd been given some weird serum that allowed him to make fire. Ria was astonished and didn't understand, while Insu calmly finished his meal and requested for Elijah to follow him.

Once they were in Insu's study, Insu began to explain everything. However, he wasn't aware that Ria was leaning against the door, eavesdropping.

"Elijah, I need to tell you something," Insu began.

"Okay!" Elijah exclaimed, swinging his feet.

"Do you know why your hair changes color?"

The little boy shook his head.

"Do you know why you made fire today?"

He shook his head again.

"Elijah."

"Yes, appa?"

"You are of a species elite to human beings in an unimaginable way. You are an elemental, capable of creating things no human can do. You are also part of a spirit that changes color based on mood. Because you are half and half, only your hair changes color."

It took him a couple minutes to digest that, but once he did, he concluded with "Cool!" and went off to do his homework. Insu warned him not to tell anyone as he made his way to the door, for humans want to understand what scares them, and someone who is not like them scares them. On the other hand, now that Ria knew about Elijah she would be able to blackmail him in the future.

Throughout his primary school years, he made two friends—Christopher and John. The three were always around each other and their classmates had a joke about them being the "Golden Trio" from Harry Potter. Elijah also developed a small crush on a girl named Maisie who he was distantly friends with. The summer after Elijah's sixth and final year in primary school was spent in South Korea where Insu would be visiting family and updating business there.

Elijah met his aunt and two uncles in Korean for a two-week long family reunion before his uncle Karl went back to America. He also met his cousins Geun and Dabin who were in Secondary School and Year Fours. They were nice enough but it was hard to really get to know them so Elijah reserved to exploring the area. This is where he met Kang Jiyeon and fell hard for her. She was roughly seven months older than him but she was fierce and confident he and adored that.

In the small window of time that Elijah was in Korea, he began crushing on Jiyeon. He also met Jiyeon's younger brother, Seung, who was just as intelligent, maybe even more intelligent, than his sister. He was quiet and shy though but they got along easily enough. Later in the summer, Kang Hyuk and Hyungseok came to visit their older brother and sister and met Elijah as well. The three hit it off quite easily and kept in contact even when Elijah went back to the UK.

### Byun Sam

The Byun triplets were the result of an affair between their mother, Byun Mineun and the son of the CEO of SKYE,—an electronic company—Min Sangcheol. Mineun had been hopelessly in love with him since college where she had first met him. She was so deep in her affection that she cheated on her current husband, Byun Yeol, for five years in a scandalous relationship that was only revealed when Yeol discovered Mineun was pregnant with another man's baby.

Yeol tried to reveal the relationship after filing a divorce. He, as well as Sangcheol's father, were infuriated, for Yeol had told him of the ordeal. Sangcheol's father disowned Sangcheol in disgust and in response, Sangcheol took all his money out of the bank in cash, stole a few million won from his father and took off to Russia with Mineun to live with his lover freely.

Mineun gave birth in a hospital in Moscow about six months later to triplets—two boys, one girl. After arriving in Russia, Mineun and Sangcheol were housed by a cheerful, young couple who helped them out and taught them Russian until the two could care for themselves. Sangcheol had traded in his won for Russian currency and the two changed their aliases and parts of their appearance to avoid revealing their original identities. However, their children still bore their original hair color of ginger and raven.

The first of the three born was a girl, who Mineun named *Sarang*for *sarang*meant *love*in Korean. The second was a boy who she named *Seokjin* for she perceived him to be a boy made of stone. The last one, a boy as well, she named *Sam*for he was the third of them and Mineun found nothing special about him. Seokjin and Sam hailed ginger hair while Sarang was born with black hair which was later died blonde.

The strange thing was that they all had different eye colors, Sam ironically, was the only one who had any of his parents' eye colors. He shared his mother's golden eyes, while his siblings inherited eye color genes from past generations.

Sarang, Seokjin, and Sam grew up as close as siblings could be. They followed each other around, played with each other, bathed together, did pretty much everything together. As Sam grew, the more he resembled Sangcheol and his father's personality. He quickly became Mineun's favorite and she pampered him constantly and held him over the rest of the triplets.

By the time Sam was three, Mineun and Sangcheol were fluent in Russian which they taught to their children alongside Korean and English. It had slowly become obvious that Sam was of higher intelligence, so his father convinced a friend at his workplace who knew a number of different languages to teach Sam Mandarin, Japanese, Thai, Tagalog, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.

By age six, Sam could speak about ten different languages and counting. Mineun had also purchased a computer for her husband to teach Sam to use. It barely took a month before Sam had figured out the inner workings of the computer and its programs by "exploring".

The Byun triplets were still as closely knit as ever and had developed their own language which they called Samrangjin—a combination of their names. Sam had developed the alphabet, using his knowledge of language's alphabet structures. As the founders of the language, they were easily fluent in it, adding new words every day, every hour. There were only two more people who know their language and it was Sam that taught them.

When all three of them were six, they were enrolled in primary school. Through the first year, the three rarely expanded their friend circle, but the year afterward they were separated into different classrooms, so they were forced to. It took three years for Sam to make a real, trustworthy friend while Sarang's and Seokjin's inner friend circle was quickly expanding.

Sam met Aliksandr in year three of primary school when they were placed next to each other on the seating chart. Sam had begun to sneak glances at the new student until Aliksandr caught him in the act and waved at him. When the class was required to do partner work, Sam was prepared to work alone when Aliksandr requested to work with him. He was a bit shocked but happily accepted the offer.

This was the birth of a strong friendship that later developed into an affectionate relationship. Unfortunately, months later, Sam's father died. Sangcheol had been mysteriously assassinated while he was out at work. It was later reported he had been poisoned and died later that day.

When the news reached the Byun household, Mineun stood in a pit of denial for days. When Sam and Seokjin came home, she confused them for Sangcheol and spoke to them as if they were her husband, stuck in her delusions (It's discovered years later that she developed Psychosis as a response to Sangcheol's death). By the fourth day, Mineun had half-entered the second stage of grief, one she would be in until her death.

Unable to accept her husband's death, she took her anger out on Sam who resembled Sangcheol the most. In short, she turned his once peaceful life into a living hell. Mineun quickly became a strong alcoholic, staying late out at night to drink and came back around midnight to one A.M. When she came home she trudged up the stairs to harass, beat, and molest Sam. Sometimes, Mineun came home early, bringing bottles home with her. She would cook dinner but Sam would never receive some. Mineun would keep him after dinner, forcing him to hungrily watch his siblings eat and then force fed Sam a disgusting concoction of wine and whatever rotten leftovers were in the fridge.

Then, she made him clean the whole house. She would inspect afterward, and if she found a single mistake, she would beat Sam till his blood ran down his back and she made him restart, This cycle would continue until Mineun was satisfied with his work. By then, she was delirious with the constant denial of Sangcheol's death and would lead Sam upstairs to her bedroom to sleep.

Mineun would wait until he fell asleep to rape him.

Sam's siblings had gotten used to his pained screams by the next year. Aliksandr however, noticed something wrong with the cheerful wallflower. He had begun sporting a very noticeable limp and would wear large sweaters and sweatpants to hid his bruises and cuts from his mother's beatings. Aliksandr constantly questioned Sam, but the other lied about the source of the injuries.

Eventually, Sam got annoyed and angrily demanded Aliksandr to stop. Stunned, Aliksandr obliged.

By now, triplets were twelve, and one year closer to discovering their elemental powers. Sam began seeing odd things as if clues had been laid out for him. Aliksandr had seen them too and together they began digging further and discovered a collection of diaries written by an elemental studying human life.

Although Sam acted the same as always—cheerful and weird—his mother's abuse began to mentally mess with him. He quickly fell into depression yet acted the same or as close as he could get to his old self around Aliksandr. His siblings noticed, however, especially Sarang.

She noticed the mental scars that their mother had left on Sam. She would hide downstairs to witness the torture her twin had to endure almost every day. The sight of the torture began messing with Sarang psychologically. She believed that she would change the world by turning it into a peaceful paradise. She kept her ideas to herself for awhile but then she shared it with Seokjin who agreed with her belief and agreed to help her. They decided to recruit Sam but he rejected. He stated that paradise did not exist and depressingly stated that he was living proof.

On the triplets' thirteenth birthday, Aliksandr told them about Elementrium and elementals as their birthday present. He revealed that they were elementals and congratulated Sam on being the only one to figure it out by putting the clues Aliksandr had left, together. He then told them he's enrolled them in a prestigious academy that helps elementals control their powers.

This would soon be a doorway to Sam's recovery from depression. But currently, he fell deeper into depression every day.

When he had found himself alone, Sam would add to the bruises and cuts his mother had already given him by inflicting more wounds upon his arms and legs. He blamed himself his father's death, blindly ignoring the scientific proof that Sangcheol had been poisoned and shamed himself for his mother's mental condition and not taking better care of Mineun after his father died. He was overcome by this belief and willfully did as Mineun asked to replace the missing presence of a husband in her life.

The abuse Mineun was putting her son through was beginning to make him just as insane as she was. The delusions infected his mind too, and instead of seeing Sangcheol in family photos, he saw himself, golden eyes and all.

Aliksandr's concern for Sam's well-being increased rapidly during the period between Sam's birthday and the end of August. He continued to pester Sam about his wellbeing until the other finally snapped and told Aliksandr to "fuck off".

Aliksandr, who was stunned, avoided talking to Sam for the rest of the day but still followed him around like normal.

Later, Aliksandr reported his suspicions to the counselor at the school. The school called Sam's mother several times but she never replied and the office said they'd look into it. A month later, Sam was put into therapy. It took several weeks of denial before the therapist concluded Sam's depression was the result of domestic abuse.

The Byun family was questioned about this many times. Sarang and Seokjin honestly told the therapy agency what they knew while Mineun constantly avoided the question. Through some extensive persuasion and cleverly phrased questions, they got the information they needed.

Sam began attending therapy on a regular basis to improve his mental state. Progress was slow and in June, when school let out, progressive rates began dropping shockingly quick.

Mineun was still abusing Sam when the therapy sessions had begun and her broken mindset prevented her from changing. That made helping Sam much more difficult. Now that Sam was home all the time and Mineun's work shifts had shortened, the daily torture became much longer and much harsher.

The thirteen-year-old had at least began to identify the horrid punishments and tasks his mother put him through as domestic abuse. He was still confused his identity, however, half convinced he was still Sangcheol. Aliksandr decided the best solution to this was to take Sam to Elementrium early.

Mineun however, refused to be separated from her "husband". The insane woman was clingy in the most horrid way. She literally dragged Sam around a leash. She barely had enough sense to not use the leash on Sam outside, but inside her household, Sam had an even lower status than a common dog. She even began referring to him as her property and wouldn't let Seokjin, Sarang, or Aliksandr near him.

Meanwhile, Sarang and Seokjin's paradise club was expanding. The two had an underground popularity in their school, and once they were exposed to the Academy, the cult they dubbed Silver clouds would explode. Their goal was to create a paradise where everyone would live together in peace. The idea spread pretty quickly and it was something, no matter how impossible the concept seemed, everyone wanted.

Mineun's abusive nature had gotten so bad that Aliksandr had to sneak Sam out of the house to send him off to therapy. Aliksandr eventually decided to try something riskier to get better results faster. The current therapy that Sam was attending on Earth would be cut, and instead, when they got to Elementrium, he would restart therapy, away from his mother's reach.

In the middle of August, Mineun—convinced (quite easily) by Aliksandr—terminated the therapeutic sessions. Since the Academy didn't start up again until September First, Aliksandr would take the Byun triplets to Elementrium the day their Earthen school started. Slowly Aliksandr sneaked their belongings into Elementrium without the notice of Mineun. It was much easier than originally perceived due to the fact Mineun was drunk most of the time.

Since Sam's therapy was cut, Aliksandr sort of stapled himself to Sam's side. He began coming over constantly to daily to monitor Sam and buffer Mineun. It worked fairly well but wasn't always efficient. Mineun had the right to kick him out but for some odd reason, never did.

Towards the end of August, larger components of the Byun triplets' belongings began going missing causing minimum suspicion. Mineun said nothing, however.

The first day of school approached and the final part of Aliksandr's plan began. It was quite difficult getting the Byuns away from their mother's eye but once they did, getting to Elementrium was much quicker. Since there was a portal to Elementrium in every country capital and/or highly populated cities, Aliksandr simply needed to get them downtown undetected.

Aliksandr spent much more time herding Sam along than anything else. The broken boy was anything but excited compared to his siblings. He was more anxious than terrified that all of this was a dream. He was also partially conflicted with himself, wanting to tell Mineun about everything but at the same time bathe in the secrecy of the adventure.

Elementrium, was, in short, a place of fairytales. Sam, entranced by its beauty, quickly forgot all his previous fears and fired question after question at Aliksandr, much more cheerful than usual.

Aliksandr explained that he and a couple of other kids lived in a residence owned by his parents in the large town the Academy was located in. Most students lived in the school dormitories but some lived in houses near the Academy. They took a tour around the town and later the Academy. While eating at a cafe, Aliksandr asked Sam to be his boyfriend. Sam, who had never really had time to contemplate his sexuality, was somewhat flustered but accepted the request. Aliksandr was overjoyed.

The last stop was the residence that the Byuns would be living with Aliksandr and other students. Once the tour of the house was over, Sam retired to rest in the bedroom he and Aliksandr joint occupied.

He was surprised to find a boy he didn't recognize from the tour there. The stranger was turned away from him, gripping a photograph of a smiling Aliksandr. His head was turned down, strands of his fluffy white hair raised to the ceiling. The boy's skin was a light bronze, and despite the fact that he was sitting, Sam could infer by his long legs that the stranger was tall.

When the boy realized someone had entered the room, he jumped suddenly and tumbled off the bed. Sam now could see his face clearly which was framed by his silver bangs. The boy's eyes radiantly reflected like blue diamonds. He looked Korean from Sam's perspective, but his eyes larger—more foreign looking. It only made him more attractive in Sam's opinion. Sam found it incredibly difficult to deny the boy in front of him being an angel.

The two engaged in a staring contest for a couple of seconds before the boy stood, and shoved his way past Sam to the door. Sam turned to witness the angelic looking boy disappearing into his room across the hall with a bang of his door.

It was not to say the stranger didn't intrigue him, it was just the fact that the other avoided him—for a whole year school year. Sam questioned Aliksandr about it and his newfound boyfriend informed him about the boy dubbed "Yeol" or so Aliksandr likes to call him. According to Aliksandr, he only allows certain people to call him by his full name. Per Yeol's rules, Aliksandr couldn't tell Sam, Yeol's name.

The angel, Sam had gotten used to calling him, was mysterious and rare to see. Aliksandr stated that Yeol woke up extremely early and when he came back from school it was either extremely late or extremely early. Either way, he arrived undetected and rarely ever announces he's home. He keeps to himself and is considered antisocial to an extreme degree. Aliksandr advised Sam to stay out of Yeol's room for his own safety.

The first day of school was one full of burning excitement. Sam wasn't exactly acting like his old self, but he was quite cheery compared to the new usual. Sam's teachers were quite friendly, and most of his classmates were kind of chill as well. Sam had a few classes with Aliksandr and the others but was strongly disappointed that he could not find Yeol in any of his classes. He saw a brief flicker of Yeol that morning, and that was all he would see for a long time.

The school year passed by way too quickly, and soon it would be May thirty-first. Sam had learned a lot about himself and Elementrium for three months. There was one thing Sam desperately wanted: the opportunity to hear Yeol's voice.

Aliksandr wanted to make Sam happy and knew of Sam's desire to know more about Yeol. He took a risky measure and snuck into Yeol's room to record his voice. As Sam's farewell gift, he received a recording of Yeol singing "The Hanging Tree" from the popular book and movie franchise, *The Hunger Games.* Sam nearly squeezed Aliksandr to death.

Sam's boyfriend had pampered Sam all year to accompany his therapy. Aliksandr had convinced his parents to buy Sam his own laptop and phone. Aliksandr used his own money to buy headphones to accompany them. He devoted most to all his time on Sam.

Sam, on the other hand, had recovered much faster without Mineun's constant looming presence. He was a bit hesitant to return to Earth but was prepared to face Mineun.

The three fourteen-year-olds were stunned to discover their mother had perished shortly before their arrival. Out of extreme sorrow and neglect, Mineun committed suicide. That meant two things. The Byun triplets needed a cover story for why they were gone for three-fourths of the year and they needed somewhere new to stay.

Now orphans, they were taken by social services and handed over to their aunt, Oh Minhee, who lived in Los Angeles, California. The Oh family were from Mineun's side of the family since Sangcheol had no siblings. They were composed of Mineun's sister, Byun Minhee, her husband, Oh Minho, and their twin children, Oh Minseon and Oh Minseok. Sam was still in partial shock when they arrived in America and met the Oh family. They seemed nice enough, but so was Mineun in the presence of the public.

Driving home, Sam received a message from Aliksandr that made the saddened male smile. Even after he had reached his new home, he continued texting Aliksandr until later at night. The Oh family owned a group of cafes near their estate which is where most of their additional income comes from. Minhee worked as an author so she was home most of the time, while her husband worked in business, improving the cages they owned, signing major deals with major food corporations, and kickstarting his own restaurant company. From all the income they received, they owned a pretty fancy estate.

A.K.A. a mansion.

Each of the triplets had their own room, bathroom, walk-in closet, and mini library. The Ohs owned a pool with large waterslides and a mini zip line.

There was one thing that bothered Sam though. The Oh family were absolute jerks. Minhee saw Sam as her new servant who was supposed to wait on her hand and foot. Minho avoided him and interacting with him as if he were the plague. Minseon was self-absorbed and obnoxious and so was Minseok. They both seemed to believe they were higher than the triplets, which all three found annoying. Minseok, like Sam, was a tech genius, but unlike Sam, had been taught hacking which Sam had taught himself.

Surprisingly, Sam got along with Minseon the most if he ignored her narcissistic attitude. She insisted he hang out with her anyway.

The Byun triplets weren't aware the Ohs knew about their identities as elementals until they confronted them about it during dinner on a random July night. Minhee and Minho understood and said they'd provide transport to Elementrium alongside Minseon and Minseok.

Sarang explained that they lived in a residence instead of the Academy dorms and Minhee said she didn't care. Once they got to Elementrium, they were to find their way to the house.

The summer was like an extremely low scale version of living with Mineun. As Minhee's "servant", Sam was expected to speak in formal Korean at all times even when talking to Minseok or Minseon although he was older than them. He was expected to complete chores such as mop the floors of the mansion, do the laundry, run grocery errands at the last minute, even though there were actual maids for this, He was to fetch things for Minhee whenever they were requested and had to stand by her side unless dismissed.

If not, she punished him with more work, long lectures about his worthlessness, and no food for three days. Sam could not complain. Compared to Mineun's abuse, this was heaven.

Around the end of August, the Byun triplets and the Oh twins were sent to Elementrium to prepare for the new school year. Sam was greeted by Aliksandr with a tender kiss at the bus station.

Over the summer, Aliksandr had been studying in Italy. He brought back a lot of presents for Sam and the others and couldn't wait to show him stuff. Aliksandr asked Sam what he did and Sam, who was incapable of lying since his recovery, informed of everything. Aliksandr cursed Minhee and Sam laughed.

More surprises arose when they got home. Yeol, who Sam had been secretly anticipating to see, was lying on the couch watching old reruns of a Cartoon Network show—the Powerpuff Girls. Sam could tell Yeol had grown an inch (or four) because of his longer legs. Yeol's hair was a ginger auburn and styled nicely so it framed his unique eyes.

Meanwhile, the only difference between Sam now and Sam previously appearance-wise, was that he had gotten yellow and red glasses over the summer.

Yeol noticed sam and stood. He apologized for last year and introduced himself as Byun Yeol. Sam was curious to know why they shared the same last name so Yeol explained.

He said that Sam's mother was his father's ex-wife. They both had been cheating on each other, Mineun with Sangcheol and Yeol with an American woman named Julie. Yeol was named after his father, but Julie changed his name to the one he identifies as to Aliksandr. After the divorce, Mineun kept the last name as part of her alias.

Sam simply listened dumbfounded, at all the new knowledge, As a final note, Yeol stated they were not related since their parents had never engaged in sexual intercourse. Then, Yeol calmly turned off the television and returned to his room.

Sam ended up having seven out of all his classes with Yeol, five with Aliksandr, three of which overlapped with the classes he had with Yeol. Sam was overjoyed, and Yeol quickly realized Sam was never going to stop bugging the other.

They partnered a lot on projects because Sam insisted and Yeol seemed to be sticking to his strictly antisocial agenda. Up to Winter Break, it was pretty peaceful. The New Year brought many struggles and heartache.

Sarang and Seokjin had gone missing and Aliksandr seemed to be falling ill. Yeol had suddenly become closed off and aggressive, and the others didn't really want to be around Sam.

In February, Aliksandr was discharged from the hospital but was quickly losing strength. He died a week later from an overdose of medicine. Some speculated to be suicide, but no one knew for sure,

The rest of the school year wasn't any better. Sam was struggling to get over Aliksandr's death and was desperately searching for his missing brother and sister.

Returning to Los Angeles without them felt wrong, so Sam risked requesting for absolute denial. He approached Yeol on the twenty-third of May and asked if he could stay at his house for the summer. Yeol stared at him blankly but said yes to Sam's surprise.

It took a while for Sam to comprehend the fact hat he was going to be living with Yeol for a complete three months. When he did, he left Elementrium in a bout of ecstasy. Yeol promptly entertained himself, watching the younger bounce around in excitement, an obvious difference to the gloomy demeanor he's had recently.

Yeol lived in a calm, quiet, suburban village in the United States named Mahomet, which was located within the state of Illinois. His parents were a bit skeptical when Yeol told them who Sam was but eventually eased up. Sam quickly learned that opposed to Yeol's behavior on Elementrium, he was much more lively on Earth.

He maintained a more average schedule of waking up and roaming the kitchen for breakfast like a normal teenage boy. Surprisingly, Yeol could cook and bake very well. In fact, he cooked a lot of the meals that they ate. Yeol enjoyed making a lot of exotic desserts from different countries and Sam could find him searching up recipes for homemade ice cream.

In addition to that, Yeol liked walking or biking around town. He often stopped at a DQ restaurant to get ice cream or a blizzard. Yeol took Sam along most of the time and they engaged in casual conversations that Yeol would usually not partake in if they were in Elementrium.

Fifteen-year-old Sam was conflicted beyond comprehension. He was still quite hung over Aliksandr's death, but at the same time, he was quickly becoming infatuated with this new side of Yeol. He wanted Yeol's attention—all of it. He wanted to sit in Yeol's lap and run his fingers through the other's soft ginger hair and laugh with him over weird things and kiss him.

Oh, he wanted to kiss him so badly... his tongue in his mouth... their bodies grinding together... tugging at each other's clothes...

In short, Sam had some very impure sexual fantasies about Yeol and him.

Sam didn't want to see the old Yeol once they reached Elementrium so he approached Yeol with another request. He wanted to do a year of high school on Earth together with Yeol. Yeol was very hesitant but said he'd ask his parents if it was possible.

Yeol's parents were fine with it as long as the two made an attempt to learn about their powers on their own and train with each other.

Earthen high school felt more relaxed than the Academy and Sam loved it. He felt like he had more freedom and more time. It was so enjoyable, that Sam wanted to stay on Earth forever.

The school had some type of event called *Homecoming*where there'd be a parade, an American football game, and a dance. It was a big deal to the village apparently, especially the parade. Sam contributed to making a few floats for the school for fun and Yeol helped too.To the high schoolers, the Homecoming dance was a big deal. Sam quickly discovered many people took dates to Homecoming. The thing was, Sam wanted to ask Yeol but was terrified he'd be rejected.

Lucky for him, Yeol said yes without Sam even asking.

Homecoming was amazing, especially with Yeol besides him. Sam enjoyed the parade and kept asking Yeol about how American football worked. The Homecoming dance had something called the Homecoming Queen and King, and you voted for whoever you wanted. Sam voted for Yeol of course.

As enjoyable as high school was, it still had a degree of stress to it. It wasn't the schoolwork itself, Sam was highly intelligent and learned skills quickly as well as applied them to his work. It was the constant peer pressure of other students to do certain things to fit in. He had always been an outsider so normally this wouldn't bother him but Mahomet was different. They wanted him to be like them because he had Yeol and Yeol was a highly popular figure in the town.

No one was aware Yeol and Sam were dating, until a month after Homecoming. It didn't bother Yeol who seemed to show Sam off as a prize that only he could have. Sam quickly discovered Yeol was possessive beyond measure. Sam was his and only his and no one could be more than five feet close to him. If you hit on him, Yeol will turn you into a pulp. If you teased or pressured him or did anything negative to him that he wouldn't like, Yeol would straight up send you to a hospital.

Sam didn't have an issue with Yeol's possessive nature and loved being the center of Yeol's attention.

The rest of the year was practically heaven for Sam and he wanted to stay for another year. Now sixteen, Sam had a genuine level of control over his powers but Yeol's parents insisted the two go back to the Academy for their fourth year.

In Elementrium, Yeol's old attitude returned but dispersed when he was alone with Sam. The Academy wasn't much different just extremely more stressful and dreary than Sam remembered. However, Yeol always found some way to make it feel like heaven. Nothing else mattered as long as Yeol was there.

Strange things began happening, however. Notes and odd propaganda for a group called Silver Clouds surrounded the school in a mess of conspiracies. Gossip spread and suspicion arose. It had happened at just the right time, giving the news a huge impact. Early enough so that the gossip would spread around the school but late enough so that the staff couldn't actively investigate.

The summer after fourth year was spent on Earth again between peacefully enjoying Yeol's presence and worrying about the alleged, "Silver Clouds" organization. In August, an attack was launched on the school. A virtual attack. Because of this and the struggle to find all the school files needed for the upcoming year, the opening of school would be delayed until everything was fixed.

Curious, Sam looked into it. It took awhile to access the school server since he was on Earth but he did it. He didn't find any obvious traces of a hacker but he found a strange virus that was literally eating school records and replicating them. He disabled the virus eventually but it interested him so he looked further into it.

Th school still remained down for half a year because the files left behind by the virus were corrupted and spawned more of the viruses. With some more digging, Sam discovered the hacking incident was connected to the rumored Silver Clouds Organization. By the time school rolled around, there were just four months of school left, which made it optional.

Sam's birthday passed, making him now eighteen but he hardly considered it. Yeol did celebrate his birthday with him but the day after Sam was back to research about the Silver Clouds. In April, he struck gold.

Silver Clouds wasn't an organization—it was a cult that believed in creating a Utopia. The popularity of the cult had grown massively since it was established five years ago. The founder was unknown but thousands were estimated to be involved in the workings of the cult. Sam conducted more research and discovered the headquarters were situated in Elementrium on an island off the coast of the town the Academy was in. Sam convinced Yeol to go with him to investigate.

They successfully infiltrated the headquarters but were caught hours later when they tried to leave. They were brought to the cult's 'glorious goddess' who would redeem them and bring them to join their cause. They separated the two of them, which angered Yeol who lashed out at the guards who eventually overpowered him.

Maybe hours later, the two were brought before the supposed 'glorious goddess'. Sam was completely, utterly shocked beyond proper speech. The 'glorious goddess', though somewhat different appearance-wise, was indeed Sam's twin sister, Sarang. Sarang was dressed in long silver robes that glided along the floor and sparkled like... clouds. Her black hair was now long, wavy, blonde hair that cascaded down her back. Her green eyes glittered with insanity, a look that drove shivers down Sam's spine.

Behind the throne she sat in... was Seokjin. Sam's twin brother looked dejected, his once vibrant green-blue eyes were quite dead-looking as he sadly stood behind Sarang's throne. Sarang greeted the two, her words accented by psychopathy. Sam engaged in an argument with Sarang that led to the threatening of Yeol's life. Stunned, Sam stopped firing back and glared at Sarang. He swore he'd kill them all if they even took a step in Yeol's direction. Sarang laughed at him, then Seokjin stepped in, surprising them all. He told Sarang to stop and leave Sam and Yeol alone.

Sarang's patience dispersed and she slapped Seokjin, who flinched. In anger, Sam broke free from the guards' hold and bounded towards Sarang, tackling his sister and strangling her in her golden throne. Other cult members ran to stop him but Yeol constructed a barrier of light to stop them.

Sarang passed out minutes later and Seokjin pulled Sam away from her. Seokjin yelled at the guards, who were pounding on the barrier, to leave. They obeyed reluctantly and released Yeol who collapsed, the barrier collapsing with him. Sam tore himself away from Seokjin and ran to Yeol's side, lying the other in his arms.

He begged for Yeol to wake up as his lover's heartbeat faded. He then frantically called the police and the hospital. Sam told the police what happened and organized for Sarang to be sent to an asylum.

Yeol was sent to the hospital where it was later reported he was in a coma. His vitals were stable, but it would be unknown when he would wake. Seokjin was sent to rehab to help ease his mental state. The ones involved in Silver Clouds who had not already escaped were rounded up, arrested, interrogated to help find other members, and soon sent to rehab when they revealed signs of abuse caused by Sarang.

Sam decided to re-do his fifth year. Depressingly, he realized, he wouldn't be schooling with Yeol for the first time in years.

## Byun Sam

Byun Sam

Owned by Audrey-san.

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