Emily Bright, born to seemingly normal parents, possesses magic from birth. While her parents hide her powers, Emily cannot stay hidden for long with mystical forces aware of her growing abilities. She gets accepted into Strange Academy where other young students like her can learn how to use their gifts.
Born with Magic
From birth, Emily Bright displays great power and ability with the mystic arts. Her parents help her keep her abilities a secret out of fear that if people knew about her, they would take her away. When she becomes a teenager, she finds that her abilities change from levitating a book and vanishing to bringing animals back from the dead. When her dog runs out into traffic, she feels death coming. After the dog is struck by a car, she pushes death away, saving her dog in the process. She sends a letter to a Doctor asking for help and in the meantime, she tries to learn more about her powers over the internet. She then causes a tree to come alive which threatens her life. Using her energy projection powers, she blasts it back as much as she can, but is unable to keep it at bay until Zelma Stanton arrives to offer an assist. Zelma also offers a lesson in her powers, telling Emily that she can learn how to balance her power and its cost if she attends Strange Academy, a magically hidden school in New Orleans for mystically-inclined students.
At first, Emily’s parents are not supportive but when Zelma reveals to them that the creature that attacked Emily was drawn to her, and that it would happen again, it was for her own safety that she attend the school and learn help her realize what she’s capable of. Her parents accept and Zelma takes Emily to the school. She meets her roommate, the human-fairy hybrid from Otherworld, Shaylee Moonpeddle, who is super positive and excited to be there. Emily and the other students learn more about each other and get a tour of the campus grounds, and how not everything is what it seems. Emily gets to know Shaylee while they unpack their belongings and don their school uniforms.
Magical Abilities
Born with powerful magical abilities, Emily can make things float, possibly suggesting a form of telekinesis, and she can feel death coming. Without knowing what she’s doing, she can bring animals back from the dead by pushing death away. She can also cast spells but finds that her magic attracts an unknown mystical force. She can also emit and project powerful energy blasts from her hands.
Mystical Allies and Enemies
Keeper of arcane and magical items, Zelma Stanton, is Emily’s teacher at Strange Academy. She recruits her into the school and is the first person to acknowledge that while she has incredible abilities, she can learn to control them.
When she first arrives to the academy, she becomes fast friends with her roommate Shaylee Moonpeddle. Shaylee has an exuberant spirit that makes Emily feel comfortable right away. She also grows close with her classmates, defending them from mystical enemies and dates fellow classmate Dolye Dormammu.
Emily Bright’s Biography
After donning her new school uniform, Emily rejoined her classmates and learned who her teachers were going to be throughout the school year. When fellow student Doyle Dormammu asked whether the academy’s namesake Steven Strange, AKA Doctor Strange, would be joining the staff, Strange immediately emerged from a portal battling a Throzil, a many-armed beast. Strange asked for the students’ assistance and Emily volunteered to battle. She and the students helped defeat it and then listened to a welcome speech from Strange who ended it with a warning of, “try not to die,” which shocked Emily and the others.
Emily’s first day of class started in History of Mystical Objects led by Yao, AKA Ancient One. Her and her classmate’s first lesson began with the Lamp of Kolmycan, in which a Jinn resides and their task was to get it back in the lamp before the end of class and without magic. Her second period is with Jericho Drumm, AKA Doctor Voodoo. In third period, she learns about the elements of chaos magic from Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch. Her fifth period is Inferno 101 with Illyana Rasputina, AKA Magik, and Daimon Hellstrom, AKA Hellstorm. When fellow students Iric and Doyle disrupt the class, Magik sent them both to Hell. Before lunch, Emily visited Zelma in the library where she asked about the cost of magic, and recognized how it does not seem to exist within the school as it did outside of it. Zelma informed her that the teachers have taken care of it and they’ll continue their discussion at a later time. Later that night, Emily became frustrated while studying and felt as though she didn’t belong there, but fellow student Calvin Morse related to her feelings of not belonging.