Sotiarius: The Beginning*

Thursday, January 29: Orientation Speech

"Wow, so this is Aurin," I say as I exit from a portal gate and catch my first glimpse of the planet that I was going to be calling home.

That is before I bend over and try to quell the unsettling feeling in my stomach that me and other inexperienced portal users get. Portal travel may be easy and really convenient at times, but what with the extremely busy portal hubs and the chaotic hassle that ensues along with possible side effects and complications from portal travel. Well let's just say that I only want to use it as a sort of last resort.

Looking around the hub, I see that this portal hub is not so bad. Probably because of its much smaller population and because it's not a tourist stop. Looking up the planet earlier I had seen that the only real main attraction here was the Hybrid School that I was attending, Freedom Academy. Its seasons coincided with my home planet's which explained the nippy weather and the snow on the ground which was awesome because even though it was cold on my planet it didn't actually get cold enough to snow so for me it was like a bonus.

"Excuse me," I heard a male voice say as I felt my stomach finally settle. I turn and see a male and female gate guardian approaching me, "Are you going to be a student at Freedom Academy?"

I nodded and asked, "Do you know where I have to go for orientation?"

He got a thoughtful look on his face as he stroked his beard, "No, I can't say I do. Do you Yaya?" he says in the end asking the female GG next to him.

"Yes of course I do. Unlike you I don't slouch around all day and laze about. I actually work," Yaya responds with a high nasally whine. Turning to me she says, "You have to go outside and take the left diagonal path which should take you to what they call the 'examination area'. I've heard it's a really large building that you are supposed to go into called the Soul Examination Room. That's where they will be having orientation."

"Okay," I say getting my suitcase and carry-on, "Thank you, I hope you have a nice day." I begin walking away.

However, before I could get far. "Wait!" I stop and see the male GG coming towards me and holding something. "Here they gave us this to give to new students. They said you were required to wear them." he hands me a robe so white that I could blend in the snow outside if I wanted to.

"Do I have to?" I whined looking at the biblical equivalent of cool and fashionable. He nods and gives me a sympathetic smile. I sigh and quickly put it on. At least it will help with the cold outside, I think. I thank them and say goodbye before I head out into the cold winter air.

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"Finally," I say as I exhale a visible breath of relief, finally coming into sight of a building in the nippy air. It looked very much like a huge dome. Though I may have been wrong because it was quite large.

"What are you doing? Quit standing there and get in here!" shouts a loud barking voice. I look at the building closer and see a figure in an open doorway beckoning me to come on. I hurried and did as he asked and as I passed him he said, "You're lucky. I was just getting ready to close the door when I saw you come into view. If I did close the door then you would have had to stay outside to even get a chance to come into the school."

"Thank you," I say trying to warm myself up. I look around and practically forget how cold I was.

I could see why Yaya called it a Soul Examination Room and not a building. It was an absolutely huge room with a dome roof, almost like an indoor arena. The roof was split into 4 sections by four lines of glass that started from four corners of the room and met with each other in the middle of the ceiling, almost like gigantic compass points. I look down and see the room's floor was like a dart board with four circles: outer, middle, inner, and center.

In the outer circle on one side the place was packed with students in seats arranged arena style. I let out a sigh of relief as I saw that they had the same biblical dress code as me.

I set my things down next to what I guessed where other student's suitcases that were packed next to the door. I then made my way to where the others sat, still examining the room along the way. I sat and looked at the room seeing with a higher vantage point that what I thought were weird bumps or scrawls on the floor and in the ceiling were in fact something like sculptures. Sculptures of all manner of creatures and monsters, both humanoid and bestial, creatures considered the stuff of legends and animals you see everyday, prehistoric and futuristic. They were all there looking as if they were trying to break free of their stone prison.

On the other side of the room were probably the staff of the school, school investors, military commanders, and from their bright white raiment there were also Scholars. A lady soon stands up and walks to a pedestal that was set up. "My name is Cornelia Twain and I am the principal here at Freedom Academy," she began with me agreeing that she sure looked the part. A beige business suit and a skirt going down below the knees. Very conservative.

"We are here today to witness a glorious event. The beginning of a young student's life here at Freedom Academy, and hopefully the beginning of a long and successful career as a Hybrid. Though we are a branch of the Soulengarta Military we are usually not thought of in the same category. People usually think of Hybrids as being in the same line of work as bounty hunters, treasure seekers, or mercenaries. We work on both sides of the law, usually on the wrong side. We usually get our work from Scholars in their quest for the Long Term Control Factor, or LTCF for short. That will however be explained in more detail by a Scholar one day when you start to actually work for them." I look at the Scholars in the adult's crowd and feel...uneasy about them. Something just bugged me, though I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

The Scholars if you can compare them to anything are like a shady corporation. They have a obvious purpose and service. However, they have also been and are still under speculation for a lot of shady things that seem to go back to them. Definitely one of those organizations that cops give their whole lives trying to take down.

"There are three things that are in a Hybrid's arsenal. Our weapons, magic, and our transformations. The one that you will be acquiring today are the transformations, or in proper terms our 'spirit forms'. As you can see all over this room are drawings of different creatures, species, tribes, clans, and races in all the galaxies known...and unknown. These drawings act as portals for the different species that have given their permission for us to use their power," she pauses for a moment as students look at the different drawings around, some even pointing at ones that they recognize.

"The way that this works is quite simple. When you are called you will walk to the center of the room and wait for five minutes to see if you are chosen by any of the spirits. If nothing happens then you will return to your seat. If you are chosen then the student will receive a...gift of sorts. After it's finished the student will then return to their seat to await further instructions."

She then switches to a more foreboding tone, "What you get is what you get. After this test it is final. You cannot change, add, or remove any of the spirits that you get in this test. Horrible and, if I may be honest, fatal things have happened to students who rejected or were otherwise not content with their gifts. All I can tell you about them is that they never even left the center. As for those who don't get a gift at all, don't try to force one to come out or else it can also happen to you. For those that do this, know that all we will do is pick up the pieces afterwards. If there are any left that is. Students that are outside the circle are safe from anything summoned inside. However, if you step in then you are fair game. Simple as that."

Students talk in hushed tones or are completely silent as she lets her warning sink in. She soon smiles as wide as the Cheshire Cat saying very pleasantly, "Well lets begin shall we?"