Chapter 15: Program
The crowd split up into genders managing their own way to the buildings.
Eliana pushed her trolley towards the girls' building. She was still nervous but so far things were rather boring and uneventful for her.
The building was big. The moment she entered the entrance a lobby with couches greeted her. On the left side was a big staircase probably leading to the rooms. On the right side had a double door with a carved wooden spoon and fork crossing each other on top of the doors. It must be the cafeteria.
Eliana decided to settle finding her room first before roaming around.
Room 207.
It wasn't hard work finding her way to her new room.
The room was decent, all walls painted white. A single bed, a drawer for clothes, a study desk and a bathroom. Eliana guessed all the rooms must be identical to one another. It was good the school provided them their own bathrooms.
She placed her luggages on the space in the middle of the room and stared at them as if expecting the boxes to unpack themselves.
Unpacking.
A part she was never fond of whenever they travelled with her family. But she needed to unpack so she could clear everything and finally relax.
She groaned.
She was sweating.
She finally finished transferring her things to the drawers and tweaking the furniture around the room to her liking. By the time she was done it was already afternoon where the sun was high above roasting her skin with the radiating heat.
She had her body slumped on the bed finding herself staring at the white ceiling.
"This room feels like the inside of a heating oven." She muttered tiredly crossing her right arm to rest on her forehead.
Her eyes felt heavy and her breath relaxed. She slowly succumbed to sleep due to the blazing heat and her tiring cleanup.
"Everyone gather in the colosseum! Everyone gather in the colosseum!"
Eliana's eyes popped open from the loud voice echoing throughout her room. She sprung up into a sitting position before giving herself a facepalm.
"The program! Oh god."
She clumsily prepared herself to look decent since she became hassle from the unpacking and room cleaning session earlier.
The colosseum was packed.
All new comers were called to sit in one section of the circular bleachers of the stadium. Opposite from the entrance was a box like special bleacher with a few seats inside. It was some kind of stage standing out from the rest of the common seats. A few people were sitting inside. And it wasn't hard to tell they were the faculty.
But Eliana was left to wonder why there were a couple of students seated in line up there. They had their own identical chairs.
"Settle down everyone." An authoritative manly voice echoed around the colosseum.
It came from the special box part. It was a bit far making it hard for Eliana to familiarize with the people's faces inside the box.
"Today we are once again starting a new year. Thank you all for joining us to become protectors of the kingdom. It is bravery and pride we see in you for choosing this decision." He paused for a second. "I'm sure all of you are aware how we handle things in Fortem Academy. You have four years to train yourself to deem worthy to be called an official knight. It is up to you whether you surpass your limits and excel to hold one of the most honorable titles of a knight." He tapped his right palm against the podium.
Eliana nodded to herself with the fact that even in this world an hierarchy or ranking of some sort still exists.
"You can aim for the highest title, the honor to be called a Fortem Knight." Once the words left the speaker's mouth the crowd broke into soft whispers.
"I heard it's hard to earn that title."
"Yeah, they say it's hard work."
"I bet it is."
"Oh, but it would be the greatest pleasure to reach that rank."
"Of course. Though you have to at least hold a place in the Ethereal Seven to make that happen."
"That is a challenge."
Eliana couldn't help but hear the conversation behind her. Once again the Ethereal Seven she heard from Knight Astrid earlier was mentioned once more. More questions popped into her mind. She knew too little about Praediti after all.
"There is one way to make that happen." Eliana can tell the guy was smirking from his tone. She saw him twist his head towards the Seven students seated behind him before returning his gaze back to the crowd. "You must earn a rank from the Ethereal Seven." His voice was much louder and firm.
'Five boys and two girls.'
The seven stood from their chairs, chin up. As if practiced, they simultaneously held their left hands behind their waists and placed their right clenched hands on their heart with their fiery eyes looking straight intimidatingly at everyone.
"They are this year's Ethereal Seven!" His voice was proud and held pride. After saying those lines he turned to look at the seven standing proudly.
"Fortissime Praediti!"
The voice of the seven echoed dramatically around the enclosed circle of the Colosseum. It held immense passion and confidence.
Eliana felt goosebumps as the crowd clapped and cheered for the Seven. Every word was said precisely.
'Wow'
"They are the students you have to beat in order to earn the honorable title."
Eliana shook her head recalling what the speaker had said. She still needed more information about how the Academy runs the school.
'Really? Top students?'
'How earthly.'
The program went like a blur, it was mostly about welcoming the newcomers, introducing the faculty and some motivational words, which she noticed was eerily done like a repeating warning. She was now inside her dorm laying in bed staring blankly on her bedroom door while her thoughts run wild.
Back in the colosseum earlier, the cheers was a solid proof to just how popular the Ethereal Seven must be. Given this was a school of knights, Eliana thought of the Seven as one of those badass movie characters. On the real side, she just doesn't know what to expect.
Weirdly, the Seven was never introduced by name. After their phenomenal salute that made her ears ring from the crowd's reaction, they mostly just stood there like valuable statues while the speaker spoke about the Ethereals in general. Come to think of it, Eliana found it amusing how they stood there like lifeless dolls in an auction.
Other than that, nothing more.
Thankfully, the program did explain about the class system. What we have in our schedule is exactly what we must follow. It emphasized how there were no separate sections for the Ethereal and the aristocrats. It was all fair.
That means…
"The possibility of having someone from the Ethereal Seven in one of my classes is plausible." She muttered sillily squinting her eyes on the door.
She rolled to her side now facing the plain wall. They were told just how difficult it was to become one of the Ethereal Seven, additionally it was more difficult keeping the position.
The night was getting deeper and tomorrow was the first day. Eliana dozes off before she goes overthinking over everything.
After that not so peaceful sleep, she was now preparing for the day.
'What is with this cosplay uniform?'
Eliana fixed her cravat that goes around inside her collar and tied it to the front. Once she was satisfied with the knot, she stared at herself in the mirror raking her eyes over her body from up to down.
The uniform was all black. The polo enclosed by a silver rope knot in succeeding down pattern. The pants were black and her shoes were black as well. The white scarf circled on her collar was knotted nicely on the front making her aura elegant and noble. Finally, the blazer a deep blue was not the typical one with long sleeves. Instead, it was similar to a cloak without a hoodie, the sides had slits for the arms.
Overall, it was impressively sweet and very knightly. But Eliana just couldn't help but think of it as cosplay.
She grabs her bag from the study desk containing her schedule, some notebooks and heavy books.
She had breakfast before washing up early at dawn, no one but the staff was there. She was fairly early before any of the students showed up. She wanted it that way, it was intentional. Before washing up she already studied her schedule to the point where she was able to memorize everything.
She was always good with studying, that she was proud of. Memorization will always be her forte.
The sun was now up. Students on their uniforms roam around the school grounds trying to find their first classes.
'Now this feels real.'
Eliana felt her stomach churn. But she didn't allow it to get the best of her.
Her first class was on the second floor. Albeit it sounds like it'll be an easy find, the school was insanely huge.
"Why the heck is this school this big!?" She kept her voice low.
Frustrated and annoyed, she just arrived inside the main building but she was already lost.
She couldn't help but admire the interior of the castle-like school structure. The colours played with ocean blue swirls and a hint of grey. Overall it has a beautiful Victorian feels to it, very pleasing to the eyes.
After what felt like forever. She Finally arrived on her first Class' doorstep. She inhaled slowly clutching her silver amulet necklace to help her calm down. She huffed, finally ready.
She opened the door and went inside.