As we walked down the hallway, an uneasy feeling came over me, it was as if the space of my vision became narrow sighted. It only happened for a second but in that time, I swore I saw somebody walked passed us.
"Do you feel that? Why has it suddenly became so cold..." Dayana shivered beside me, I wanted to help her by offering a jacket or something but I only had a buttoned up shirt on.
I didn't actually noticed the cold however since back in my world I was that one crazy guy - that's what people kept telling me - who would wear a singlet in the middle of winter... granted this was an Australian winter, no snow but the winds are deadly cold. Call me strange but all I could feel was the nice chilly breeze that swept across my skin. Thankfully the temperature came back to normal but that made me even more curious as to if what I just saw was true.
As we entered the dining hall which was used as the banquet hall for last night, looked very inviting with all the food laid out on the communal tables. All of my students sat on the far left side one of the four tables. I had about twenty students in my class and the table looked like it could've fit double of my class on one side alone.
As I got closer to the table, I heard Stella's voice and my heart was suddenly filled with relief and happiness. After what happened last night, in that moment as I laid there on the wall outside of her room, I didn't think I would see my students again... that if I died there, I had left this world with the notion that I failed my class twice.
Stella sat in the middle of the bench at table surrounded by her classmates. It looked like she was telling them something but as soon I approached, she stopped talking as if she felt my presence, turned towards my direction and waved me over.
She was cheerful and happy which was a good sign. I only hoped that me taking all her past memories had left only good ones in her mind. Well that's was how I interpreted the way it worked anyways.
"Sir, Stella was telling us about a crazy dream she had last night and how real it felt. She said it started of as a nightmare but then a knight in shining armor saved her!" Chloe giggled as she gave me a brief insight of what Stella had told them.
A dream? A knight in shining armour... I felt embarrassment deep down inside of me of how atrocious I fought last night. I was so sloppy, I knew Sara would've scolded me, that and I would've certainly died last night because of my stupid idea of taking the sword to gain the upper hand... I still needed to thank Loc and Dayana for all that they have done.
I've seen the move done in movies and anime but I wouldn't in a million years attempted it, must've been my will to protect Stella that drove me to think and do such an idea.
"I know it was just a dream but it felt so real and warm too..." Stella looked down at the table and sighed. Rain patted her back to comfort her. If she knew the truth... my hand started to twitch just thinking about it.
"Guys, Guys!" Sam exclaimed to his classmates who were hovering over Stella. "Come on guys. Look around you, were in a freakin castle in a fantasy world... all we need now is a protagonist and we got ourselves a freakin story!"
"Ugh. Can you stop saying freakin please... It's not even a good adjective to describe this. I've always dreamed about being in a 'game of thrones' like type of place. The family corruptions, the betrayals and all that good stuff... Eh... did I say too much?" Ann looked around as her classmates gave her a surprised expression. Ann who was all about health, fitness and sports showed off her more nerdy side.
"Nah, that's cute," sneakered Sam.
"Anyways who is that beside you, sir?" asked Chloe playfully. "Did you find yourself a girlfriend over night? I didn't see her at the party."
I was about to speak when Dayana walked forward and bowed to my students. I felt my heart skipped a beat at her grace and beauty. Dayana kind of reminded me of Casca before episode twenty two of the anime... I mentally blocked what happened after that episode, those scenes still gave me nightmares... oh Griffith why! and to your 'sister in arms' too.
"I'm Dayana Amharic, royal court's healer and the daughter of Chief Kalcu of the Kaluso people." Her eyes and parts of her body started to glow but as I looked closer there were markings on her body, tattoos. I couldn't see much of the tattoos since they were well hidden under her garments but the glow that illuminated her skin allowed me to have a small glimpse of it. "I've come to greet you all and hoped to perform some check ups on you all before the skill's test. Safety is my number one priority."
"Sir, was that why you were late in coming here and why she was with you? You've already had your check up?"
Oh... no.
"I... uh... Yes, I already had my check up. Yup I sure did..." I felt the sweat trickle down the back of my neck and my ears started to heat up.
"And how was he, doc? tell us," asked Lucy with a hint of concern.
"Perfect," stated Dayana with a straight face. It was a weird answer to give, I didn't know what part of me gave off the idea of perfect.
I could see Lucy whispering something to both Rain and Stella and from the way her eyes moved she must've been whispering about Dayana.
Lucy was the smartest student in my class, if not smartest at our school. Sometimes I felt like she was the teacher and I was her student. During my final exams to obtain my teaching certifications, Lucy offered to help me study. What's more impressive was the fact that she practically had looked over all my notes and textbooks and developed a step by step studying guide for me. If she wanted to be a teacher, she would've been a professor at the highest level but also have the compassion of a primary school teacher. Half of my credentials belong to her and honestly I'm happy to share my degree with her, she earned it tenfold.
"Okay guys," I called out and my students all turned their attention to me. "Dayana will give you all a check up whilst I'll grab something to eat... I'm starving. What we're having?" I felt my stomach growled as it sensed the food on the table.
"Eggs, Eggs and more eggs," exclaimed Rex. All his classmates turned to him in surprise but then they all looked at his plate. What they saw was a pile of eggs on his plate and I don't mean a stack or something but almost a platter full. I think he may have just took the platter of eggs from the middle of the table and placed it in front of him. "Eggs are a great source of protein and rich in vitamin A,E and K. Eggs and exercise are the best way to gain muscles."
"We're not macho man like you! Rex," scoffed Stella.
"I think it's kinda hot," replied Bella, Chloe's best friend. Since she was sitting next to him, she placed a hand on his arm and felt his muscles. Rex looked at her hand which was now squeezing his arm and sighed. I could tell he must've gotten this type of attention a lot. Even though Rex was big and have a tough look about him, I knew he was very shy, especially to girls. Girls comes to him because of his body and due to his shyness, he just tolerated it. I could also tell that Stella must've tried many times to help Rex overcome his shyness with girls but I knew from experience that shyness takes time and patience. A lot of it has to do with our minds and the thoughts that flies around in there.
I walked over and sat down next to Rex on the other side of him and he spooned me some of his eggs onto my plate, thankful that I gave him something to do to shake off Bella who pouted.
"Sir! That's so mean!" Bella cried to her friend. Chloe who comforted Bella mouthed 'sorry' to Rex over Bella's shoulder. Rex gave her a small smiled.
As I looked down onto my plate filled with eggs, I shrugged and began eating... I was so damn hungry. I forked some other things as well like bacon and pancakes but I will admit the eggs were very good. I couldn't eat the amount that Rex could but I will eat my fair share of these perfectly cooked yoke oozing eggs. After we're done eating and nearly all my class had gotten their check ups, we got ourselves prepared for the training grounds.
The first time I saw the training grounds, I felt a little bit scared as I watched a fight between two knights in a sparring match. When you watch it in a movie, you watch it for entertainment but when you watch it happening right in front of you it felt real. Every time a sword would clash against another, I would get this chill through my body like at any moment, one wrong move and the blade would slice through a part of your body. The same feeling as nails on a chalk board.
Once, Dayana had finished the check ups, Loc escorted us through the castle grounds to the back where a dome shaped building was located. It was huge like the colosseum in Gladiators. That was the battle arena as I recalled, it was mainly used for tournaments and private duels.
The training grounds on the other hand was where anyone and everyone spent most of their time at. It was a big open field and at specific spots were groups of tents, each one looked different from the others. Some had steam coming out of them, while others had animal noises. Their were knights scattered everywhere on the training grounds, some were doing training alone and others were in groups or classes.
Loc had led us to a small opened area where a gruff looking guy stood in the middle of it. Garret... It felt great to be able to see him again.