TWO

What other good first impression is there than breaking the unbreakable protective seal set around the camp on your arrival. Yeah, exactly, no other entrance could be considered to be as grandiose as that. That is definitely sure to be forever imprinted in the minds of the members. Who knows, it might even make it to the historical records of ‘never been seen before’ events.

It seems none of you know the gravity of the seal's powers, allow me to expatiate. 

The seal had been around the camp for decades, maybe even milleniums. It was placed there together with an invisible magical dome by the seven elders of Arietis called The Stanchion in order to protect the camp from any threat whatsoever. 

The camp used to face attacks and the founders, The Stanchion had thought of a way to protect the camp from intruders, thereby merging their powers to forge what we now know as the seal.

The camp had been found for years now, precisely it had been in existence for millenniums now. The Stanchion had thought of a way to train magical beings to be potentially independent in not only the field of martial art but also in all aspects of life–etiquettes, home making and all educational aspects. 

But the sole purpose of the establishment of this camp was to maintain peace and unity amongst all humans and supernatural beings. And what better way is there than bringing the new generation together and making them interact and know each other better but due to the unexplainable tragic incident that occurred which changed life as they knew it, humans started to fear supernatural beings and this action caused them to drift away.

All human kids and most mortal teachers were withdrawn from the camp. Some however, remained because apparently, the supernatural life was more peaceful and of less mental tension than the human world. But most importantly, the pay was greater than the pay from most human jobs put together. Of course that factor and other miscellany were sure to entice some mortals.

Back to the seal, the key is passed down to the deans of the camp and dean Lee is the only one with the key. No enemy has been able to penetrate the camp due to this seal. Even if they were able to pass the dome, they could never make it past the seal. But seeing as the seal had been destroyed, they had no use of the key anymore.

This seal, together with the dome, made the camp invisible to prying eyes. From the outside all you would see were trees and mountains in the distance but the people in the camp could see whatever was going on outside. That's how powerful the seal was.

The Stanchion is made up of the seven most powerful kingdom leaders. They include the three brothers-the god of thunder, Zeus, the god of the seven seas, Poseidon and the god of the underworld, Pluto with four other kingdom leaders. 

They help to keep the supernatural world in balance and seeing as those who made this seal were exceptionally powerful and had been undefeatable all these years, not that anyone had ever dared to defy them, you could picture how strong and impenetrable the seal would be.

So imagine the shock on their faces to see a person, one person not an army, standing right where the seal was meant to be. A person clad in black- skinny jeans, spiked boots and a hoodie covering the whole face with hands tucked safely in the pockets.

The intruder took a step forward, immediately causing the whole camp to be extra vigilant. They all wielded their weapons, assuming a battle stance. Enjoying the reaction she was getting from them, she continued to take slow and steady steps forward.

"Stop!". A voice shouted from the crowd, revealing one of the teachers, Professor Ethan with a few other men behind him, assumably security. She stopped walking, a few but adequate steps away from them.

"Who are you and what is your purpose here?". He asked, maintaining a battle stance. He emitted a murderous aura as he glared at the mysterious figure before him. The figure looked rather puny in the hoodie that blocked their view of his face. 

‘What guts did such insect like person have to consider breaking into the camp of the gods?’.

Professor Ethan thought as he continued to drill holes in the body of the figure. He was overly confident that he could beat, no, not beat, expunge this intruder. He didn't need the entire camp to finish off this intruder, he alone was enough. After all, he was a Titan and he was a young, vibrant and experienced one at that. But what the professor didn't know was that he had greatly underestimated this puny looking intruder.

Finally returning to his senses, he noticed that the intruder had not answered his earlier inquired question. He got neither a reaction nor a slight movement from her, making everyone wonder if the intruder, by chance had turned into a statue.

This act of defiance infuriated the professor as he growled out

"Are you deaf? I said state your purpose here". All he got from her this time, was a slight raise of her head, though her face still completely hidden.

One word played in her head as she observed the loud and cacophonous man before her with a jaded expression. 'Impatient'. She had seen that the man standing before her was clearly ardent, sentimental and hot-blooded. One look at him and she knew that he was a sentimental being, one who let his emotions cloud his judgement. 

'People like him were always the first ones to die in a war as they let their actions cloud their senses', she thought.

Further infuriated by this disrespect and mockery, he took threatening steps forward.

"Why, you filthy-".

"Wait!". The dean, who had been watching the scene unfold, suddenly spoke, stopping the professor from taking further steps forward.

The dean walked forward as the professor begrudgingly moved back but stood still very close to the dean just in case the intruder attacked. 

"Who are you?". The dean asked firmly but softly, truly curious about the intruder's identity and how such one person, not an army, was able to penetrate the most powerful seal ever made by the gods themselves. He was greatly troubled but he was able to mask it well.

Sensing the power radiating off this man, she assumed he was of high importance in the camp, probably their camp leader. Assuming that he would be less discordant and would actually think well before acting unlike the man earlier and also seeing that she could talk to him and wanting to tease the man beside him, the one whom she had bruised his ego earlier, she stepped closer, making the egotistical man rush to move in front of the camp leader protectively.

The dean touched the egoist's shoulder, assuring him that he was fine. He warily stepped back again but not without shooting an intense death glare at her, just like he had been doing since she walked in.

"Please state your purpose here". The dean said again. She looked around at the present camp members who were all staring her. They had relaxed a bit but when they saw her head turn in their direction, they seemed to have awoken as they hurriedly reassumed their rigid formation. Her eyes swept through the crowd before looking back at him, seeming to say 'not here'. 

"Hmm... come with me". The dean nodded, understanding her need for privacy, then proceeded to walk back into the camp when suddenly they were interrupted by the egotistical Professor Ethan.

"What?! Dean Lee? You can't possibly consider bringing this... this thing with you? We don't know anything about it. We should capture and torture it until it talks!". Professor Ethan spoke with anger and disgust directed at her.

‘It?! How dare he call me a thing?! And torture?! He knows nothing about what I've been through!’. She seethed mentally, her fingers curled up in a fist. She was overly umbraged at his words. She was shaking with anger and her figure tensed, this action not going unnoticed by everyone. They each tensed up and if possible, their rigid figures seemed to become even more rigid, almost as stiff as rocks.

A sudden gust of cold wind blew, making everyone stagger backwards, covering their faces. A rumble was heard afterward and about ten to twenty trees around the camp grounds fell to the ground. Everyone jerked their heads toward the sound with flummoxed and surprised expressions.

They all couldn't help but look dubiously at the intruder before them. Strange things were happening concurrently. First, the most powerful seal that had been placed around the camp for millenniums was suddenly broken, now without anyone touching the trees, they just came crashing down, these happening all in one day because of this mysterious, uninvited person that seemed to have formed from thin air.

Alaria took deep breaths, trying to put her emotions under control. This camp was her only chance left, she couldn't afford to destroy it. And as much as she wanted to eviscerate the professor, she couldn't because then she'd never get a chance to stay and she would have a whole camp of enemies on her tail which was twice of what she could handle.

The camp was eerily silent like the calm after a storm and she was the storm. Once again, she was the centre of attention of all camp members, something she hadn't intentionally caused. 

"Do not worry, professor Ethan, everything will be fine". The dean said, breaking the tensed moment of silence that seemed to have stretched for an eternity before he turned towards her and said,

"If you would please follow me".

He said and started making his way through the crowd. Alaria looked at the professor emotionlessly one more time before following after the dean, the crowd getting as far away from her as possible.

As she walked through the crowd, the wheels in her head turned vehemently as she tried to figure out how to go about this interrogation that was sure to come up. She couldn't afford to reveal anything that could give them a clue about her. As far as she knew, this was the safest place to hide and she couldn't mess it up. 

The last thing she needed was more enemies to add to the list of the endless ones she already acquired even without lifting a finger and from the looks of things, it seemed she had destroyed something valuable to them and she was already on the blacklist of one of the teachers. That factor was a wrong move that could ruin all her plans. She needed to make amends and couldn't afford to make more mistakes. She continued to think, completely ignoring the wary looks she gained from the camp members.

Amongst the crowd, there was a person whom the intruder had piqued his curiosity. It interested everyone to find out that the cause of the seal breakage was just one person and not an army of powerful men or giants. Their interest was further intensified when the intruder was brave enough to face Professor Ethan, who was clearly much more muscular and bigger than the minute figure and even peeved him with the whole camp armed and ready for battle. It showed how confident and fearless the intruder was. No enemy stood against Professor Ethan and lived to tell the tale.

The whole camp was curious as to know how this intruder was able to break in but this one person was curious about the reason for this break in. 

The question that swirled through his mind was why? What could be so important to warrant a break in? And not a break into just anywhere, but a break in into the camp of the gods. 

This person was greatly curious and he sought to find out the reasons behind this action of the intruder's. He was bent on getting to the bottom of it but would he be able to survive from what he would discover?...