Chapter Five: Life at the Academe

The cheers outside hasn't subsided. The thrill of the exam was still on going the crowd wasn’t even growing tired while I on the other hand felt a thousand sharp knives piercing my body. The mental challenge was even harder than any physical exercise! Plus the mana exhaustion I was feeling, my body was ready to retire to bed anytime.

Currently I am in the orientation hall of the academy. The 30 white mahò users who passed the second test were all gathered here. Out of the 150 examinees only this bunch withstood the challenges. Everyone’s appearance was traced with tiredness and faces were haggard as if they have ventured in a 1o kilometer run before arriving her but they also had satisfied expressions, proud that they have come this far. The headmaster himself will welcome all the incoming 1st years and will brief everyone regarding the rules and regulations of the Academe.

"Did you know? They say the principal is an aberrant," said Antonella, the second placer of the first exam and the fourth to surface in the second. This girl is so friendly that I warned up to her quickly. Her face is filled with innocence and she's just like a baby. Antonella Locke. As far as I know she is from the Locke family, the owner of the Academy. 

"Yes, I heard about it from Monk Amon. He's an immortal right?" I answered whispering the last sentence. Antonella's eyes shone brightly as she nodded consecutively. 

"It's amazing isn’t it? I also heard he witnessed the last war 100 years ago!" Antonella whispered.

The talk about the war intrigued me that I wanted to talk more about it. But I was distracted when something moved at the chairs behind us. I almost screamed when I saw it was a person. He was wearing a black jacket, black pants, black shirt, and a black cap hiding his long untrimmed hair. A man in black? I shoved the thought away and squinted my eyes a little bit to see better of this person. Antonella noticed my actions and faced the direction I was looking at. 

"Oh, that is the third placer of the first exam and was the first to surface in the Empousai challenge. How strong is his mental strength anyway, I heard he resurfaced just after four minutes. Hmm, if I'm not wrong, I think his name was... Luther!" As Antonella spoke his name Luther raised his head and looked at us but quickly averted it as soon as he met our eyes. 

"Guess he's the shy type," whispered Antonella in my ear slightly giggling. This girl, she really is so cozy. I don't feel any bad aura from her so this should be fine right? To finally have a friend! 

Antonella and I continued to talk about things when the giant door of the orientation hall opened. There were two figures that entered the hall, the first to enter approached me and gave me a hug. I heard Antonella's gasped together with the murmurs from the other passers.

“Are you okay?" Johann asked in concern looking at me with serious eyes. I laughed a bit and tapped Johann's shoulder.

“You’re overreacting Johann. And why are you even here?" I said, whispering the last question. Before Johann could talk again the person he entered with cleared his throat. He looked like a man on his 20's with eye catching red hair and a friendly smile. But his eyes weren't smiling at all. It was focused, dedicated, and confident. 

“Captain, would you please move for a moment?" Johann looked at him with a "what?" look. And the person just shrugged him and gestured for him to move to the side. Johann sighed. He tapped my head and complied to step aside. When Johann settled the man clapped twice and began speaking. 

"Very well everyone! First let me introduce myself I am Nathaniel Arammi, headmaster of the Gaearandys Academe of White Mahò. I have honored myself to call all 30 of you here to personally congratulate and orient you. But I think the orientation can wait, for now let me lead you first to your respective dormitories so you can rest for the mean time. I believe everyone here is exhausted," the headmaster declared. So he was the headmaster.

We heeded and followed the headmaster towards the dormitories. Johann was about to approach me when the headmaster stopped him and whispered something, his face turned sour and was filled with irritation. He followed at the head master's tail reluctantly.

Antonella bumped at me and linked her arm and mine. She also called out to Luther. What a friendly kid. 

"Hey Luther! Hurry it up. Let's go." Luther looked at her as if comprehending an extinct species but later on nodded and followed Antonella's lead. The other passers also followed suit and not long everyone was parading with the headmaster affront. 

"Soooooo, Moria, how do you know the Captain?" Antonella ask suspiciously. Her ‘so’ was so long her lips formed into a pout. 

"He's my friend" 

"Ehhhh? How?" she further asked. 

"What do you mean how?" I asked not quite understanding the question. 

"Now that I've noticed it, you have the same hair color! Are you related?" she asked. I laughed awkwardly and caught a glimpse of Luther looking at my hair curiously. 

“No we aren't, it just happened that we have the same hair color." I said. 

“Is that so? Then are you also a manipulator?" she asked. Oh yes, Johann's attribute is Manipulator. When I first knew about it I was very much amazed. It was direct object manipulation according to him. He can control things he has marked as his piece. I met one of his pieces, the satyr named Thomas. Thomas was a funny satyr, he likes to joke around and make fun of Johann every now and then and every time he does Johann will undo his summoning leaving only the satyr’s echoing laugh in the air. He used to make Thomas fight with me when we're having a mock battle. 

"No I am not." I answered her question

"Ehhh, but is your hair your change?" she asked again. I get it that she is interested about my change since it representation of power and shows the evolution of prowess for us wizlings but I’m not sure about mine yet. It is said that the most common change is the eye color and the rarest is the hair color. Goddess descents are characterized by their unique hair colors that’s why often times those with hair color as their change are referred as god descents. Johann's change is his hair color, the streaks in his ashen grey hair turns from pale blue to cyan blue. No one in the kingdom of Llfhame has the same hair color as his so it’s probably why Antonella was curious about my hair. 

"Yes, my change is my hair length." 

"Wow, that's amazing, mine is eye color so it's really nothing special." 

"But I think your eyes are pretty." 

Her eyes are truly enticing. It's like peering into a window of sunflowers. Fresh yellow that can make you relax. 

"Oh my! Thank you!" she beamed. Then she turned to Luther 

"How about you Luther?" Antonella asked. Luther stayed quiet and looked at us with a pair of unsure eyes but answered us either way. 

"Body built.” He briefly answered as if ceasing any further queries. But Antonella was not fazed at all.

“Wow! It totally doesn’t suit you. Can’t imagine Luther getting buff,” she said laughing her heart out while gazing in the vacant air as if imagining Luther with a larger body. Luther scoffed at her remark and opened his lips attempting to correct Antonella but stopped mid-way realizing it would be bet to let the latter imagine what she wants.

Antonella continued to chatter as the headmaster lead us to the dormitory halls. I glanced at Johannes’ back far front and as if he knew I was staring he looked backed and smiled at me. Antonella, in the midst of talking halted and pointed at me accusingly mouth agape.

“I saw that! “ She exclaimed.

“What?”

“The captain just smiled at you. I knew it. Something’s going on!” She said excitedly. I shrugged, brushing her comments with a little laugh while shaking my head.

“Everyone please look forward, we have arrived at your dormitories. Let us skip the pleasantries and just rest for now. On your right is a door leading to the girl’s dormitory and to your left is the boy’s dormitory. You can see your names on the door so just follow suit.” The headmaster clapped his hands twice and everyone spread the boys to the left and the girls to the right.

“Enjoy your stay everyone, tomorrow we will begin the briefing so rest well for today. Ah, by the way your schedules will be on your doorsteps so please read it if you have time. May the blessings of the sacred tree Gaearandys be with you,” the headmaster dismissed.

Antonella dragged my arms towards the girl’s dormitory as she waved goodbye to Luther who just gave her a nod. Entering the dorm, we were welcomed by a huge living room, eventually called lebensraum. The doors for our respective rooms formed a circle around the lebensraum perfecting the shape for the wide round carpet in its floor. On the opposite direction facing the dorm’s entrance was another doorway for the kitchen and the bathrooms. The dorm’s walls were painted with cream white and were accentuated by the lushness of the green potted plants in the corners of the rooms. There was also a glass staircase leading up in the left side of the lebensraum.  In the center was a sofa seat with huge fluffy pillows calling me to their embrace. The other passers ran and dived to the soft pillows and so I too let myself be pulled by the enticing softness. Antonella followed beside me and rubbed her face in one of the pillow embracing the soothing cotton ball. The thirteen girl passers now officially first years of the Academe looked at one another smiling in recognition. One of the girls was oddly familiar, I thought hard where I have seen that face and realized that it was in Einsmyr that I saw her, Kimi Karina Hallivil, second daughter of the head of Einsmyr. Kimi saw me looking at her and smiled.

“Hi, I’m Kimi Karina Hallivil, I believe we’ve already meet once?” She said reaching her hand for a handshake. I reached for her and nodded. It was when their family paid visit to the temple. Their daughter Kimi was let into the afternoon ritual to thank the gods.

“Yes I believe so to, I’m Listarte Moria Graciana.” I said in reply.

“We know, you were amazing in the test. Right?” She asked suddenly in a formal but excited tone addressing another two girls on her side. The two nodded in agreement.

“I’m Euna Faera Hespana Junio, I think I became your fan,” the girl said with twinkling eyes while shaking my hand. I chuckled in embarrassment. 

“I’m Joanna Drake Koral,” said the other timidly. Her head was lowered afraid to make eye contact.

“Hi everyone nice to meet you, thank you for your praises,” I said smiling big. Then I motioned Antonella closer.

“This is my friend, Antonella Locke.” Antonella’s face was beet red and shyly smiled at everyone. I was quite amazed how the boisterous girl suddenly became so timid.

“I’m really your friend now right?” She whispered in my ear. Ah so that’s why. I replied an obvious of course and she returned her attention to the girls who fell silent.

“Locke…” I heard the timid Joanna whisper. This girls seem to put Antonella on a high regard because of her status making them uncomfortable. Antonella’s smile faded biting her lips she clapped her hands to get the ladies attention.

“Hi I’m Antonella, you can call me Nellie or whatever you want, I super love Lista because she’s so amazing!” Antonella suddenly blurted. I looked at her with wide eyes unable to believe what she just said but then everyone started laughing and the atmosphere lightened. The powwow began and everyone started to warm up to one another.

“You were raised in the temple right Lista?” Kimi asked.

“Yes, I was.” Now that she mentioned the temple I began to feel the heaviness of my heart realizing I won’t be able to meet the monks for a long time.

“Wah, I’m so envious, you get to see every day the amazing monks of the Willows. Especially Monk Amon, she’s so graceful and demure.” Kimi said dreamingly. I almost laughed with the way she described Monk Amon. It was quite far from her reality. Come to think of it, the monks have a really good reputation in Llfhame. The other three girls began to fervently agree with what Kimi said and demanded me to tell them stories. I held my hands in resignation and told them I would when the entrance doors burst open. A group of girls entered. It was the fourth years. In every dorm, the first years are place together with the fourth years so the latter can guide the former. They greeted everyone and told us to sleep even if we still want to talk. In a friendly way they tapped our shoulders and lead us to our rooms.

I was in a room together with the four girls I was talking to. I was relieved to know that I would not struggle to fit with my sleep comrades. When we neared our doorstep we saw envelopes on the floor with the Academe’s insignia. We picked it up, entered our rooms, and resigned to our beds and let the goddess of sleep lull us to our dreams.