I couldn't believe what I had seen. I was left astounded! The whole area didn't even feel like an underground place at all! I expected that I would see the walls entirely made out of soil. But, all I saw were yellow cemented walls which were carved with eagle figures.
Attached on the ceiling were silver colored chandeliers that lighted the whole place with different shades of yellow. There were three passageways inside that academy. One was on the right, another was on the left and the third was on the center. In the middle of these passageways was a black tiled foyer which made the school look like a royal palace. On the center of this foyer was a huge eagle statue which was intricately carved with gold and silver.
In terms of the students, they all had worn blue coats with an eagle symbol printed nicely at the back. The coats were paired with white colored pants which were made entirely out of silk. With books carried by their hands, they chatted with their friends as they walked along the passages.
"Majestic!" Kate looked around with an awe.
"Oh this is threatening," Darwin murmured. "I should have not joined this shit."
"I'm sure going to love it here," Patricia smiled.
"Me too," Alex added softly.
"Come on now, kids," The man called our attention. "The principal must meet you all."
"Sure," Cole nodded as we followed the man towards the left passageway called Domination.
"It is good to see that we are the only clan who thought of this wonderful idea... An underground school for the intelligent Rosario youth," He spoke with pride as I looked at the sides of the said passageway which was filled with blue colored doors.
"Oh... I see," I nodded.
Then, he continued to brag with the words, "Well obviously, the other clans are just too dumb to think of having a complicated idea like this. I think their bases are prehistoric or made from the lowest quality of materials. Well, that is pathetic,"
"Are you sure about that?" Cole looked at him with his eyes narrowed.
"Of course," He answered as Cole gave him an awkward smile. "I'm sure about it."
With the man's statement, I could not help myself but boil a tremendous fury inside of me. It seemed that my inner volcano had just erupted with an intense amount of raging lava.
He is such a bitch, I said to myself. Is he calling us dumb? He doesn't even know that we are rebels! He is such a pity... Nevertheless, I have to stay calm. I don't want to feed him with suspicious acts.
We were not informed that the Principal Office was located at the very end of the Domination Passageway. Because of this, we all wiped our sweats as we stood in front of its cream colored door. Slowly, the man took a peek inside. Then after a few seconds, he slowly looked back at us and closed the door with the words, "Wait here, students... It seems that the principal is a bit busy with her flower sessions."
"Flower sessions underground?" Kate asked with a puzzled look.
"Yeah," The man nodded. "The principal can be weird sometimes."
"Okay... We are willing to wait," Cole smiled awkwardly.
"It's good to hear that. By the way, I need to leave you all here. I have some other businesses to accomplish," He smirked.
"Sure... Thanks for the service," Hazel thanked kindly as the man bent his knees and walked away.
~~~o0o~~~
For twenty straight minutes, we stood patiently in front of the Principal's Office, until a lady about in her late Sixties opened the door. She had a fair skin and a white colored hair. She had worn a dark blue suit which was paired with white silky pants. Around her neck was a white scarf which was designed with small images of an eagle.
At the moment she looked at us with her black dazzling eyes, she said, "Come in."
"Okay," I nodded as one by one, we immediately walked inside her office.
At the moment I passed by the door, I realized that her office was filled with different kinds of flowers. There were roses on the right while tulips on the left. Some of the flowers were even hung on the white colored ceiling! Despite this wonderful scene, we had felt a little inconvenience. Her office was too populated with these flowers that we barely had fitted inside.
"Ma'am, why do you have a lot of flowers inside your office?" Kate asked as she tried to move some of the potted flowers towards her right.
"I barely go out of this underground school. So I decided to let a part of the earth's surface join me underground. In that way, I can keep in touch with the beauty of the outside," The principal answered as she slowly sat down on her vine-filled seat and organized all the papers on top of her wooden table.
"Oh this seems nice," Scott said awkwardly as he looked around the room.
"Thank you for the adoration, young man," The lady smiled as she leaned comfortably on her seat.
Then, she looked at us and continued with the words, "Anyways, welcome to Rosario High, where we mold Rosario students for a stress free Rosario world. I am Principal Sky and how can I help you?"
"Good evening, Principal Sky. We are Rosarios from the Cebu City Division and we would like to enroll in this school," Brandon answered as we bent our knees in front of her.
"Oh!" Principal Sky widened her black eyes. "It's good to see new Rosarios in this prestigious academy!"
"Oh thank you very much, ma'am," I smiled.
Principal Sky pulled a drawer on her table and grabbed sheets of yellow colored paper inside of it. Then she handed it to us with the words, "Write your personal data on these papers."
"Okay ma'am," Alexander spoke as he grabbed the sheets of paper and distributed it to all of us.
With pens on our hands, we made everything up to hide our real scheme.
At the moment we gave our personal data sheets, she neatly put the papers on top of her table and said, "Okay. Please wait for me outside. I'll just work on your papers and after that, I am going to give you a tour around the campus."
"Okay ma'am," Brandon nodded as we immediately left her alone inside that room.
When everyone was already outside, Kate closed that cream colored door and looked at us with the words, "I hate to say this, but she is a bit weird."
"Let her be weird," Alex defended softly. "It's her way of dealing with life."
"Alex is right," Cole said. "Being in this underground environment for a very long time will surely make you miss the wonders of nature above."
Suddenly, our conversation was interrupted when Principal Sky opened the door and said, "Follow me children. Let the tour begin."
"Well, that was fast," Alex spoke softly.
"Thank you, ma'am for giving us the opportunity of a tour around the academy," I thanked as I looked at her. "We are certainly grateful."
"It's my pleasure," She smiled as we started to walk along the Domination Passageway.
Then, we walked passed the school's foyer and headed further towards the right passageway which was named as Superiority. As I looked above that specific passageway, I realized that its ceiling was elegantly decorated with different kinds of flowers.
"Oh this is such a beauty!" Hazel looked at the flower-filled ceiling.
"It feels like we are in the middle of a garden," Patricia said with an awe.
"Thank you for those wonderful remarks," Principal Sky smiled, quite contented of their astounding praises.
"It is our pleasure, ma'am," Hazel spoke kindly.
As I looked on the sides of the said passageway, I had found out that it was occupied with the school's classrooms. Attached on top of each door frame was a circular white colored marble which was carved with a specific Greek alphabet. Only then I figured out that its use was to mark each sections with different symbols to differentiate one from another.
To satisfy my curiosity about the whole place, I took a peek in one of the classrooms and the first thing that had caught my attention was its white painted walls. As I looked above, I was dazzled with the ceiling that was filled with different kinds of flowers. As I focused my eyes below that garden-looking ceiling, I saw the Rosario students sit attentively on their wooden seats as their professor stood in front of the white board and discussed about the history of their clan.
However, my sightseeing came into an end when Principal Sky called my attention with the words, "Come on now, child. You are going to meet them anyway soon."
With a sense of guilt, I looked at Principal Sky and walked back to the group with the words, "Oh! I'm sorry."
After three straight minutes of that nonstop walk, we finally passed all the 24 classrooms and stopped at the end of the Superiority Passageway which surprisingly was built with something extraordinary. With a wall made entirely out of transparent glass, I saw a number of students inside wear lab gowns with scientific apparatuses held by their hands. There were graduated cylinders, test tubes and Bunsen burners placed on long white colored tables. Fluorescent lamps arranged in a zigzag manner were attached on the ceiling.
"Children, this is the Science Laboratory," Principal Sky pointed the glass walled room with her right index finger.
"Oh this place is impressive!" Alexander smiled with a nod.
"This is where our students conduct researches to produce chemicals which are essential for the destruction of our clan's foes," The principal explained kindly.
"Oh this place is disturbing," Alexander said as his smile started to fade.
"Through the intelligence of our clan's students, we already produced poisons and drugs that can literally burn a person from the inside! Isn't that amazing?" Principal Sky asked excitedly.
"Oh this place is terrifying," Alexander said as he widened his eyes.
Then, Principal Sky continued with the words, "Some of these small but terrible products are even brought to the place where we are hiding the crystallized heart."
"So where are you hiding the crystallized heart then?" Cole asked kindly.
"I'm sorry, but we keep the location of the crystallized heart a secret to the students until the right time comes," She replied sadly.
In an instant, I felt a sense of disappointment. Our stay inside that academy would take some time after all. Honestly, I expected that we would get the information in an instant, because we all thought that the information was freely told to everyone. But I was wrong. What made things worse was that in the middle of that tour, I had seen no libraries. I guess it was also their way to keep the crystallized heart's data as a secret. Because of this matter, we all were left no choice but to follow what she had said and let our own patience do the work.
With a sigh I said to myself, Oh well...
"Okay, children... Let's proceed to our next destination," Principal Sky clapped her soft hands as we followed her back towards the classrooms and out of the Superiority Passageway.
Then, we passed by the foyer again and continued to walk towards the passageway which was placed in the middle of Domination and Superiority called Excellence. As we walked along that passage, just like the Superiority Passageway, the ceiling was entirely decorated with flowers. However, the thing that made it different from the two other passageways was the absence of rooms on its both sides.
As we reached the far end of that passageway, our minds were instantly filled with curiosity as we stopped in front of a huge white door made entirely out of steel.
"Hey! What is this place supposed to be?" Darwin asked impatiently.
Disregarding his question, Principal Sky opened that door. In an instant, our stomachs crumbled with hunger as the place revealed to us a cafeteria.
"Oh sweet mother of pearl," Alexander widened his eyes. "I have just seen heaven!"
"Absolutely," Patricia slowly nodded.
Presented in a buffet-like manner, the left side of that yellow walled room was filled with meals for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. On the other hand, presented in a colorful child-friendly way, the right side of that room was filled with different kinds of snacks. From chips to cookies, I was pleased that they had it all. All these scrumptious food were placed on top of long metallic tables.
On the center of the said room were yellow wooden tables which were surrounded with white plastic stools. It seemed that all of them were brand new due to their bright shiny textures.
Moreover, the whole place was completely scented with all sorts of aromas. And as expected, they all came from the freshly cooked dishes. The smell of fried chicken, bacon and beef swayed gracefully to our nostrils and we just couldn't help but sniff loudly to fully enjoy the pleasing scents that they could offer.
Suddenly, Principal Sky interrupted our simple adoration when she looked at us with the words, "Well, if you guys want to eat something, just go inside this place and ge—"
"Actually, as of this moment, my stomach is grumbling because of hunger," Alexander complained as he held his stomach.
"Well, in that case, get as many snacks as you want," Principal Sky giggled. "They are all free of charge anyway."
"Have I heard it right?" Alexander asked with his eyes widened. "Are those snacks free of charge?"
"Yes they are," Principal Sky answered. "Actually, all the food in here are free of charge and it's all thanks to the generosity of our queen."
"Well if that's the case, get out of the way, bitches. Because Alexander is going to pick a feast!" Alexander rapidly walked towards the snacks section and grabbed a blue plastic bag inside his left pocket. Then, with an astounding determination, he completely filled the plastic bag with the cafeteria's chips and cookies.
"Now that is such a surprising attitude," Principal Sky said awkwardly. "By the looks of it, he really eats a lot."
"Yup... He sure does," I nodded as Alexander ran back at us filled with contentment.
"Anyways, now that your friend has a bag of food, we must proceed to our last destination," Principal Sky spoke.
"Sure ma'am," Scott nodded as we started to leave the cafeteria and head back towards the Domination Passageway.
~~~o0o~~~
In the middle of that walk, everyone was completely silent due to exhaustion. Our feet were already sore. Our reddish eyes were ready to catch some sleep. Of course, as usual, Alexander was excluded from these descriptions. When everyone was already on their "Draining Mode", he was still pumped up to the highest level known to mankind! He seemed to have a lot of energy on his sleeves and I sure would want to know where he got it.
With his usual "Energetic attitude", Alexander looked at Principal Sky. And out of the blue, he broke the silence with the words, "I'm sure this last destination is the best."
"We'll see about that," Principal Sky smiled.
"Oh let me guess," Alexander spoke. "Will you bring us to a casino?"
"Child, this is a school and not a gambling facility," Principal Sky answered.
"Umm... Will you bring us to a secret mall?" Alexander asked again.
"Oh that is ridiculous," Principal Sky giggled.
"Oh this guessing really excites me!" Alexander revealed a wide smile on his face.
"Speaking of which, we are almost there," Principal Sky spoke as we all started to walk faster.
"Oh my gosh!" Alexander whispered.
"Any second now," Principal Sky clarified.
"Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!" Alexander tightened his fists.
"And here we are," Principal Sky said as we all stopped in front of one of the blue colored doors.
"This is the moment of truth!" Alexander spoke softly as his smile started to get larger and larger.
Then, Principal Sky slowly opened the blue colored door and revealed to us—