SilverWind

CHAPTER 2 The Guardians

"What's up with all the stone and gems, and what kind of material are the walls made off?" James inquired as they passed through the huge space.

"You'll find out soon enough. I see you didn't learn of the history of this institue while you were in basic training." Sandra said as they took a right turn.

"No. We only learn't of the different interests and beliefs and the war that split us into nine tribes and the different types of life styles." James answered

"I see." Sandra said looking amused.

James noticed that there were sign boards hung in every turning and intersecting point. "As you can see, you don't need to be worried about getting lost in this titan institute." Sandra said looking at James "We go left."

Upon taking a left turn, James was greeted by a bizzare scenario. The route was split into two but re-meeting at one destination ahead. The route was made in such a way that if you were to look down at it from the sky, it would look like a diamond. Infront of him, past a row of pillars was a huge courtyard. But what caught his attention was the silver statue in the middle. It was an eagle, wings spread out and opening it's beak in a silent scream to the sky.

Even though he knew it was just a statue, it looked almost as if it was alive and for a momment he thought he saw it's eye flash at him. Ruth also was looking at it but didn't seem to be affected by it's magnificence. James noticed Sandra studying him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing much, you're the first trainee who seems to be so interested in that" she said looking at the eagle, "Everyone else just passes by it even when they see it for the first time."

James shrugged and tried to see what was on the other side,

"Let's continue on shall we?" Sandra said looking at her watch "Orientation starts in five minutes, the hall is at the end of these two paths behind the eagle."

James nodded and followed her with Ruth beside him. They walked on the left path and reached the point where the two paths met again and faced two large polished oak doors. James guessed that it was the Orientaion Hall. Looking back, James took one last glimpse at the eagle and was in awe with how smooth and precise it was crafted. A hand landed on his shoulders making him jump and yelp. "C'mon! We can look at that later!" Ruth said pulling her brother to the doors.

Walking past the oak doors, James occupied himslef by studying the hall. It was a huge dome like hall and could probably fit atleast a thousand people. Most of the seats were occupied. He took notice that the circular hall was divded into seven parts, and each part had students with different color codes.

The hall grew quiet as the trainees noticed their headmaster's arrival. "Go and sit down." Sandra said to the siblings pointing to the row of chairs meant for freshmen. James was surprised to see only fourteen people seated in the freshmen seats. While looking for where he could sit, one of the freshmen in the frontrow moved and offered James to sit beside him. Nodding gratefully, James sat down while Ruth sat beside another fellow girl freshman at the back.

James looked at the one who offered him the seat and introduced himself, "Hi, I'm James. Thanks agian....?" He paused

"Anytime, the name's Danillius." replied the freshman.

"Pleasure meeting you Danillius." James finished.

"Same here, you can call me Dan for short. My name can be quite a handful." He said grinning.

They both watched Sandra as she walked up to the center of the circular hall where a platfrom with a microphone stood. She cleared her throat before addressing the crowd, "Good morning Trainees. Welcome to Argentine Institute!" she paused as the hall was filled with whooping and applause "and to the new batch, the Institute also welcomes you. Today we have sixteen new trainees, and I want each of them, starting with the boys in the front to come and give a short introduction of themselves."