"Here we are." Draven announced, motioning towards a doorless room full of students.
Vera smiled with forced politeness, and went through the empty doorway. "Thank you for taking us here, we don't need your assistance anymore."
"Ooh harsh." Draven folded his arms and leaned against the wall in relaxation. "Sorry ma'am, I'll be waiting here. Don't wanna be facing the wrath of your sis like Ray is."
Vera rolled her eyes and looked at Káel. "Come on, follow me."
The room had the same same stony texture as most of the building's interior, but Káel noticed the red carpet paving the lobby and main hallways didn't reach into the other rooms, or smaller corridors. This room didn't have skylights either, since there was another level above. Instead it was lit with multiple floating blue balls of energy.
Vera walked to the other end of the room, where adults in formal wear sat behind large wooden desks. Whenever a teenager approached them, they would greet them with a smile, take their blue slip, do something to it under the desk, and then hand them a white envelope.
Except for the one in the far right corner, he didn't accumulate a line. It was likely due to his pessimistic appearance, and the fact that he had his nose in a book, oblivious to any students that tried to grab his attention. Vera, ignoring the signs of a disgruntled worker, approached him nonetheless.
"Hello Mr. Mudelin." she said as she approached the desk.
He didn't react to the greeting, pretending to be immersed in the small novel he was holding as Vera audibly cleared her throat.
The man slowly lifted his head, so he could look upon the two students with dissatisfaction. "You must be the new Strylez." He looked Káel up and down impassively, his lips firmly sealed from addressing his strange attire.
Vera handed him her blue slip, and Káel did the same. He did Vera's first, dropping the blue slip into a black box, and then pulling a white envelope out from beneath it. When he got to Káel's he quickly read it and paused, giving Káel a weird side glance as he dropped it in the box and handed him his envelope.
Vera wished him a good day, as they left his desk, but his mouth remained crooked in a dreary scowl as he watched the two students walk away.
When they got to the middle of the room Vera grabbed Káel's shoulder and stopped him. She was mischievously smiling at him as she cupped her hands around his ear to whisper. "You wanna try and lose Draven?"
Draven was still propped up against the wall, paying no attention to the juniors he was supposed to be watching, and Jeremiah was curled around his feet, dozing off in a light cat nap.
Káel nodded, and they intermingled themselves within the large groups of chattering students, stealing away through a separate door they discovered. Káel was curious as to what was in the white envelope he'd received, whatever was in it, it's substantial weight gave away the fact it wasn't just paper.
They walked down a vacant hall, lined with doors and even more strange paintings. There wasn't a single person around, and even as they pushed further into the building, it remained hauntingly empty. The whole population of the school appeared to be compacted in one specific area, the lobby and front entrance; and as Vera walked by his side, Káel felt more and more out of place.
They stopped after taking multiple turns to ensure the irritating giant wouldn't find them, and Vera tore her envelope open, fishing out a crystalline looking card. It was a light silvery white, strung up on a silver chain. She looked at Káel and flashed the card at him. "What colour did you get?"
Káel ripped off the side of the envelope and looked into it. He could see the silver chain sitting on top of some strange looking black and silver pin. It was a dragon, sitting in a way that filled it with prestige and power, with perfectly arching horns and broad powerful wings resting above its head. He pulled on the chain harder, so a silver card came out of the pile. "What are these?" he said, mindlessly dropping it around his neck.
"It's an identification crystal, it holds your information and provides access to specific locations." She said, removing an identical dragon pin from her envelope. "Looks like we're in the same class, since you beat my rank." After putting on the necklace, she tore a folded up piece of paper out, straightening it for reading.
Káel pulled out his piece of paper and waited for the strange runes scrawled across its surface to morph into English. The concern on his face was anything but discrete as he skimmed the blurb.
Welcome to Cobalt, the Academy for Advanced Studies in Combat Based Lumience. We are happy to welcome you into our program as a valued first year, and hope to help you in expanding your skills with lumience and academics, with the most efficient methods possible.
Káel skimmed over the rest of the letter, as it rambled on about Cobalt's history and its presentation. Strangely enough, the first page was an informative college acceptance letter, but there was still two more to go.
He flipped the page to see a list of supplies. Of course it stumped him in every way possible when he started reading it, it was like the spells in that little booklet he'd dropped, complete and utter gibberish.
He turned to the last page, it had a strange silky texture and was abnormally light. The page was lined with multiple bullet points with a space for his signature at the bottom, and it wasn't giving off a good vibes, so he read the points.
Before enrolling in Cobalt's programs I agree and understand the following:
So long as I am enrolled in Cobalt's programs, I am to remain as a permanent resident of Cobalt. This does not include extended holidays, and periods where Cobalt is not in operation.
Cobalt, being an academy for advanced studies in combat based lumience, will have full permission to employ me in sometimes rigorous, dangerous, or uncomfortable situations.
Cobalt is not responsible for any magical, physical, emotional, or lumience caused damage, even in the case of permanent injuries or death. (The latter two being unlikely, since Cobalt's staff and elites will do everything possible to prevent such cases.)
He stopped reading as Vera pulled a pen looking object out of the envelope and signed her page.
Káel, being fully aware that he was standing on an alien planet, surrounded by human looking aliens, was caught off guard by the waiver he was holding. If he hadn't gone through that weird portal, or been chased by a pack of Molves, he wouldn't have believed this wasn't Earth; because so far it was freakishly similar to it.
Káel neatly refolded the pieces of paper and slid them back into the envelope, the last thing he was gonna do was sign that thing, and subject himself to being legally chased by ferocious beasts.
Vera watched Káel stuff the thick envelope in his pocket. "Not gonna sign it?" She gazed around at the hallway, her face turning sour. "How do we get back to the lobby again?"
Káel looked down the way they had come, trying to mentally retrace their steps. It wasn't going so well, since he thought Vera had known where she was going, which didn't give him a reason to pay attention to the path they took.
They figured out the last three turns they had taken, but we're quickly thrown into a contradictory argument between two familiar looking hallways that forked away from one another in opposite directions. After firmly trying to convince the other their path was the right one, Vera proposed the idea to inspect each route, then decide the winner.
They both walked down each hallway, inspecting its attributes closely, coming back to realize neither route successfully perked their memories. It was at this point the two gave in to defeat. They were hopelessly lost in the arms of the colossal building.
—————
Mariel let out a scornful sight. This was unbelievable. She had given him the simplest task, the task she thought no one with a half decent brain could possibly screw up. Yet there stood Draven, hoodwinked by two teenagers.
"You lost them... How in the name of Tesirus did you possibly lose track of them!?"
"Well, simply put. They jus' disappeared," Draven replied, acting as though his answer was perfect.
Mariel tugged on Draven's arm, so they both stood in the doorway. "You can see the whole bloody room from here! So don't give me that, 'they jus' disappeared' crap."
"The tour will be starting soon, they've already sorted the newbies into their groupings." Ray scooped Ragdoll off the ground and attached a little metal clasp to her ear. She jumped out of his arms, looking at him with an intelligence unfitting for a feline. "Track him down Ragdoll, and tell me when you've found him."
She nodded, darting away into the crowd of people.
Before Mariel could question Ray's actions, he stuck his finger up to silence her with a passive grin. "I put a tracker on him so he wouldn't get lost. Don't worry, it's harmless." Ray clapped his hands together and watched as the groups of new students orderly walked down the hallway, each of the five groups being lead by multiple guides. He turned to his companions and brushed some loose bangs away from his face. "Sooo, drinks anyone?"
—————
Vera wasn't comfortable getting lost with a lanky boy of she'd just met. Alas, it was a hundred times better than getting lost with someone like Draven, an experience like that would have destroyed her mental state.
They wandered the halls of a colossal academy, yelling hello at random intervals. Káel was getting tired of opening every door he came across, but the hopeful thought of finding a living person with directional knowledge kept him going.
The two finally stopped at the top of a dreary looking staircase that dropped down into a small hallway, dimly lit by a scarce amount of the floating flames that littered the building. Only these ones were a deep ruby red, looking more like floating lava lamps filled with fresh blood than the friendly blue lights sitting just a couple halls down.
Vera dropped down into a squat, and peered into the dark hallway. "Hellooo?" she called, cupping her hands around her mouth for amplification. The two waited curiously for a response, but none came, and they turned away to check for directions elsewhere.
Just as Vera readied herself for another hello something shattered, startling the two and sending spiking shivers down their spines. She whipped around to lock on to its origin, her gaze falling down the rugged stone steps, and into the abysmal mouth of the creepy dark hallway. Something was the cause of that object's destruction. Something was down there.
Vera let out an unamused huff of air, while Káel stood there slightly paler. She quietly placed her foot on the first step, but Káel grabbed her shoulder before she continued. "What are you doing?"
"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm gonna go see who's down there, you coming?" She brushed his hand off her shoulder, taking another rigid step.
He didn't budge.
"Come on, I'll hold your hand if you're too scared princess," she teased grabbing his wrist and pulling him down a couple steps
The unshakeable feeling of imminent danger washed over Káel as Vera practically dragged him along. He was hoping his company had more wits than Ray, but she was falling along the lines of a reckless misfit unable to hold back her curiosity even if it meant walking down a shifty looking hallway. Something clearly wasn't right. He grimaced at the moist bundles of cobwebs lacing the stone walls as the darkness ate them, it didn't fit in with the rest of school. Was she just blind? Or that stupid?
Káel grabbed the long, talon-like tooth that served as a pendant, tied around his neck by a black leather like cord. It was a natural reaction he had in unnerving situations, for as long as he could remember. The necklace was the only thing left from his parents. At least, that's what his uncle claimed.
Giving his uncle the benefit of the doubt and not taking the likely alternative it was some tropical souvenir, Káel held onto it, and seldom took it off. It was his most valuable possession, in fact, it was his only valuable possession; excluding his phone.
They reached the bottom of the steps, and were confronted by a lonely black door. Vera was turned off by the door's unsettling placement, and Káel was reciting every horrific movie he'd seen that contained strikingly similar situations to the one he was in.
Two idiot teenagers? Check.
Vera bit her lip as she contemplated the direction of her next steps.
Creepy dimly lit area? Double check.
She looked over her shoulder at Káel's mortified silence. He clearly didn't want to be down here, but he wasn't putting up much of a fight to go back up the stairs. A playful grin touched her lips as she tugged on his wrist to drag him a few steps closer to their impending doom.
Káel felt the ice wash through his face as his heart worked double pace. That one door with the murderer behind it?
Bullseye.
"Hellooo?" Vera stage whispered.
As if it was an animate object, the door responded to Vera's cautious greeting with a click, and slowly creaked open.
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Next update:
4/11/2018