"Anton…"
"Anton!" Frank stammered, slapping.
Anton on the back of his head. "Classes start tomorrow and you have not stepped outside our room even for a second since the opening day. Did you even eat the sandwiches I left for you?"
Anton didn't lift an eye from the book he was currently reading. "Outside? Why would I go outside? I have 40 books here, of which only 35 I have read, and I still have to advance my own projects; and yet you expect me to go outside and waste my time with…?"
"Get some sun, get free food from the lunchroom, make a new friend and get someone to talk to besides your own brother, go buy some materials for your future lessons, I'm sure that you will need an infused ink vial or two for your Manamancy class."
"Not interested, not interested, not interested, and I already have all the materials that I'll need. Double checked the list for each class." Anton turned a page.
"You are prohibited from touching any of your books until 8 in the afternoon, and at that time you are to meet me at this dormitory's lunchroom." Frank pulled the book from Anton's hand, holding it over his head. "Got it?"
"I hate when you do this." Anton sighed, lifting himself up from his chair and staring at the room's window. The sun that entered through the room was blindingly bright, indicating to Anton that it was time to stay at home and study or practice.
"You ARE allowed to have fun once in a while, you know?" Frank put the book he lifted on Anton's shelf, which was already full. While there were 40 books given to his brother due to the lessons, it seemed he had brought even more to the university. He picked his brother's backpack, alongside the old wooden and metal staff, and gave them to Anton.
"What is fun?" he asked in an ironic tone.
"Fuck off." Frank pushed his brother out of the room, and locked the door.
Anton found himself in the dormitory's hallway, prohibited from entering his own room.
He sighed, and started walking.
--- --- ---
Anton had at first tried to walk to random directions, but due to the mental map that remained in the back of his mind, he found himself always knowing which direction he was headed to. He decided he would look at every building for himself, instead of relying on the mental map which vaguely described every location in the island; vague names such as "commercial area", "library", and "meeting hall" were not enough information for him.
The corridors from the dormitory building were mostly empty, with a couple outliers talking in the hall or climbing the stairs holding bags. Going through a corridor he decided was random enough, he saw from afar a blue fire, shaped somewhat in a humanoid shape, which sent his senses into overdrive. The flaming figure floated closer to him, the flames not touching the ground or walls.
It was a Kaedra. A fire Kaedra, more specifically. Anton rushed his head to remember everything he read about Kaedras, and his mind quickly printed out the results. (Ding!). Kaedras were manifestations of elemental mana, created by concentrations of mana so absurd, they could destroy whole cities.
Due to the nature of origin and appearance, they used to be feared among intelligent folk, but time quickly showed them to be curious and wise beings, and they were accepted into society in less than a century. Or so "Biology III" had told Anton.
"Good Morning, young Human." A deep, fiery voice manifested from the Kaedra. The voice rasped softly, as if spoken with the warmth and care from an ancient dragon; The words flowing out somewhat slowly, with an accent that was somehow heavy and light at the same time. If one had to give a single attribute to the voice, it would be 'grand'.
"Good morning… Fire Kaedra." He answered, a bit surprised at meeting one so quickly in his life. He had hoped to meet one, eventually, but a week into this university life and he meets one that sounds old and wise.
The fiery being emitted a sound that Anton decided to interpret as a laugh. "Not Fire, no. But I am a Kaedra, so I'll award you a point for that. What is your name, white haired, unhealthily thin, very pale, human boy?"
"Not fire? Uhmn… Well, I am Anton Kurona Voya." Anton bowed deeply, feeling intimidated by the overwhelming aura the being emitted.
"A pleasure to meet you, Anton Kurona Voya. The name which was given to me is Amir." The Blue Figure imitated the gesture, the top part of the flames curving downwards, and then rising back again. "Your surname is not unfamiliar to me. I believe I have met one Missus Voya somewhere in the recent past."
Anton's ears shot up. "Have you met my mother? Her name was Lilith, do you remember meeting her?" His tone grew in hope.
"I'm afraid that I would not remember, as it has been somewhere in the last thousand years that I have heard the surname." The flames shook from side to side. "Forgive me, it is not often that my memory fails."
Anton sighed, and nodded. "I s- suppose the Voya name brings a long history with it. I- i- it has been an honor to meet a Kaedra such as you, Sirre Amir." Anton adjusted his backpack on his shoulders.
"The honor is mine. I assume that you shall be studying Manamancy in tomorrow's classes, am I correct?" Amir inquired.
"Yes, how did you guess?" Anton tilted his head, a surprised look on his face.
"Just a skill you pick up after interacting with your kind for centuries." The flames crackled slightly.
"My kind?"
"Interesting beings." A chill was sent up Anton's spine, with the Kaedra's voice suddenly growling in tone. "I shall see you again at tomorrow's class, Anton Kurona Voya."
The blue flames changed in shape, taking the format of an eagle, and flew out of the nearest window. Anton felt his tension dropping, as the enormous source of mana faded of sight and sense. He sighed.
He glanced at the now empty corridor, and decided to take a seat against one of the walls. He put his backpack on his lap, and took out one of the pamphlets that was given to him; more specifically, a map pamphlet.
The mental map was irritatingly incomplete with information. Although it quickly revealed the locations, and the way to get there, the descriptions were just empty enough to leave Anton frustrated. He decided that until the end of the year, he was going to document every centimeter of this location properly.
The University, according to the pamphlet, was built as a hexagon, with 6 rectangular buildings forming the shapes on the outlines. In the middle of the hexagon, stood the meeting hall, shaped like a dome around the obelisk. The buildings were named after constellations, an odd naming scheme, Anton noted.
Aquila, Corvus, Draco, Hydra, Lupus and Orion were the 6 buildings. Aquila was the main building, containing the Athena, a library that was legendary across the mainland; alongside many classrooms for the less practical disciplines.
The diversity of facilities which the buildings accommodated was astounding, with even a market area on the Lupus building, which Anton decided to visit next. There were infirmaries, a bestiary, a greenhouse, many laboratories, a hrystalarium, and many other rooms that he had no idea what they were used for.
Anton lifted himself from the ground, put the pamphlet in one of the pockets of his hoodie, and headed out.
--- --- ---
The existence of a market area inside a University surprised Anton. It seemed as if someone took a whole floor of the building, and decided to fill it with shopfronts instead of classrooms.
There were many diverse stores, more than in his own hometown, some selling things that he never heard about before. The front-signs were written in fancy lettering and design, mages being known for being very aware of "style".
He began traversing through the corridors, is eye scanned his surroundings, searching for something that called for his attention and keeping an eye out particularly for any stationery. It stopped on top of an ordinary sign, made out of wood, with messy lettering seemingly charred in, as if by fire.
"Mia's Magical Trinkets" he spoke to himself, entering the shop through it's wooden door.
"Good afternoon, cusstomer!" A raspy voice, but somewhat girlish at the same time, echoed across the hall. "Or would it be day? or night? Ahh, Alorian costume does NOT sstick to me, anyways, so, good whatever time it isss!"
Her voice was quick and anxious, and the words came faster than Anton could process them. He looked at the counter of the shop, and sitting on it, stood a girl wearing leather armor over simple clothes. Her curly, messy hair was a light grey, and her skin looked… different; It seemed to shimmer slightly, under the blue lights from the flames.
She jumped out of the counter, startling Anton, and shook his hand.
"Lizardfolk." He muttered, among many words that seemed to come out of the girl's mouth but didn't reach his ears. "You're a Lizardfolk, your skin feels… scaly"
"Ah? That'ss correct, but anywaysss, as I was saying, I have many things here! I have been, you see, toying with Artificing for years now and you are my first costumer and I'm so excited to sell for a costumer and you're my first one so l-" Anton backed out, letting her hand go.
"I- I- I have to go, exc-"
"No! You're my first cosstumer, you can't just leave right now!" She took his hand again, pulling him towards one of the counters. "Just look through my waress first, at leasst!"
Startled, Anton looked at the counters, and then, they all caught his eyes: dozens of interesting trinkets and machinery, little devices with all sorts of different, attracting names; Thunder Cogs, Fire Quill, Feather Boots, and other paired names, all claiming at his attention.
He took a good, hard look at the Fire Quill. It was a red feather, with crimson runes glowing near the tip.
"Do you write a lot, pale human?" Mia asked, noticing Anton's interest.
"Yes, I -uhmn, I write and read in my free time." He nodded.
"Thiss item should assist you with this then," She slid open the glass cover, and took out the artifact. She handed it to Anton. "instead of having to buy ink and infuse it with mana, you can just use your own mana. This Quill burnss material directly." She pointed to her store's entrance. "Workss on any material, I use it myself to notch runess in other artifactss of mine."
"Well, I... How much is it? This sounds quite useful." Anton carefully flipped the feather in his hands, and slid his finger across the runes, which were somewhat hot. He closed his eyes, channeling a bit of mana into it.
The tip of the feather burst into flames.
"Arlin'ss beard, what are you doing?" Mia quickly took the item from his hand. "It'ss just a little bit of mana, it'ss not a entire spell, little wizard!"
"P-pardon, my mana sense is really chaotic in this area." Anton coughed a bit from the smoke. "Anyways, I'll take one, it sounds useful."
She inspected the Quill. "It'ss 15 glimmerss for one, but I'll have to make a new one, so 30 glimmers." She lifted the Quill near his eyes. It's tip had completely melted, and the runes were all distorted. "Just tell me your room's number and I'll deliver it once I make another one."
"S-Sorry." Anton took out a small pouch, and from it, he took a long chain of Glimmers. He counted them and snapped out a chain of 5. The glimmers shone brightly while being held by Anton.
He put them in the counter, and bowed to the Lizardfolk girl. "It's room 30-3."
Mia picked up the five glimmer, and put the coins on her own pouch.
Glimmers were the standardized coin of the world. Made out of bronze and Praxis, an alloy which allowed for great mana conductivity, they were bigger than other coins and in hexagonal shape, designed to be snapped in sixths. The six parts together would form a rune that allowed the pieces to fuse together when in contact with mana. After being fused, the glimmers would constantly emit a gleam, which gave them their names.
"It should be done in about three dayss if everything goess well." Mia gave him a smile, revealing her sharp teeth.
"Thankss for the business, sirre..."
"Anton." he gave her a warm smile and nodded, leaving the shop.
--- --- ---
"There you are." Frank waved to Anton, as he sat in the table, a plate full of different vegetables. "The food here is really good, have you even tried any of it?"
"Eating is too much trouble." Anton sighed, sitting next to his brother, with a plate full of different meat cuts.
"Although the food here looks great. Felyne food is always the best."
"If you don't eat properly you won't be able to even cast spells, you fool." Frank gave a quick knuckle to his brother's head.
"Wha- You asshole, you-" Anton elbowed him.
The two laughed, and enjoyed their night together.