1007 HOURS
ALPHEIM
MISTILTEINN ACADEMY
TWO HOURS BEFORE THE ENTRANCE EXAM.
Ilise grabbed her proffered hand and got to her feet, dusting off her uniform and straightening her cap.
"Good morning, Bianca - I mean Bea." Ilise said, completely flustered at how badly she'd messed up in front of the girl who'd literally marched into the ruins of a burning building just to save her. That, and she was also the heiress to the biggest corporation in the world.
This time, Bianca smiled genuinely. She tapped her watch. "Well, you were on time, at the very least. I can't fault you for that. Though I do wish you could've been a little less... clumsy around my windows. Not that it'll be a problem, of course. But you could've gotten hurt, and that's what matters." Bianca sighed and snapped her fingers. The windows above the two of them promptly reformed, glowing a tad brighter than they once had. "I know you want to impress me, but really, getting yourself hurt isn't worth it. I won't hold it against you. Although, We should get you a watch one of these days. God knows how much trouble you'll get into at Mistilteinn if you're always going to be this late."
"Don't worry, Bianca! I'll handle it. Somehow." Ilise said, all her worries forgotten.
"I'll hold you to that. Breakfast's ready, by the way. I had the chef prepare your favourite meal, in celebration of your first day of school. Although," Bianca stopped to help Ilise into a chair. "That entirely depends on whether or not you pass in the entrance exams. Do not let down the Rossweisse name, Ilise. I'm counting on you." At Ilise's horrified look, she giggled and patted her on the back. "I'm kidding! Not getting into Mistilteinn won't be the end of the world, but it will close off a lot of opportunities."
As an afterthought, Bianca added, "Oh, and I'll be judging you. Don't expect me to play favourites, Ilise. I'll treat you like how I treat every junior of mine - like pond scum."
"Gee, Bianca. Why do you have to be so cold?"
"I-I'm not cold! I'm just being pragmatic, is all. You're not dealing with training dummies and instruction manuals here, Ilise. You're going up against other mages who've trained just as much as you do. And while you do have a Rossweisse's natural aptitude and the might of a Kaiser on your side, remember that natural talent will almost never trump raw hard work. Anyway, that's enough of potentially appetite-upsetting topics. The food's getting cold." Ilise wondered how Bianca could switch from the serious, heiress-to-the-Yggdrasil-empire to the girl Ilise had always thought of as a sister in a matter of seconds. She supposed it was one of the many mysteries she had yet to unravel about Bianca.
As she dug into her breakfast, she wondered just why she liked ham and croissants so much. She'd sampled many other foods on some of Bianca's impulsive shopping trips, like exotic fishes and pastries that were artfully decorated. None of them had beaten ham and croissants. The light, buttery flakes that fell on her plate and the scent of the honeyed ham seemed to fill in the gap that once housed fourteen years' worth of memories.
Ilise wished she could've eaten like this every day, but Yggdrasil had her on a strict diet. Most of the time, she was served porridge and a platter of cold fruits, with the occasional cream cheese-lathered bagel. Treats such as this were reserved for special occasions, like going out with Bianca or Christmas.
Still, all good things had to come to an end. Ilise finished her meal faster than she would've liked to. The moment was already fleeing from her, just as her memories had. Sighing, Ilise set her cutlery down and motioned for the inactive MUTHR to come over. It collected her dishes without a word, and puttered off into the kitchen.
"We've got twenty-five more minutes before the transport arrives, Ilise. Want to pass the time with some questions? I'll answer what I can about Mistilteinn." Bianca sat down in the couch next to her, still nursing her glass of orange juice. Ilise took a second to mull over any prospective questions. She finally settled on something that Bianca would probably be able to answer without violating any sort of agreement she'd made with the school.
"What will I be doing in the entrance exams?"
"I don't know. They've made it a point to not tell me because I've got you at home. What I can tell you is last year, they had us run a gauntlet against the teachers. Anyone who made it past the first three was automatically admitted. If I had to guess, it probably had something to do with the fact that the first teacher was the Combat Magic instructor. Chances are yours will involve intensive combat too. We are training the nation's next defenders, after all." Bianca replied.
"How far did you get, Bianca?" Ilise asked.
"I beat all the faculty." The complete nonchalance with which Bianca spoke caught Ilise off-guard. The entire faculty? The teachers at Mistilteinn had to be insanely powerful, for them to even qualify for a teaching post in the first place. She noticed the mix of awe and fear Ilise had written across her face.
"No, it's just - I don't know how I'll ever live up to the things you've done at Mistilteinn. I mean, you're only a second year! People are gonna look to me as if I'm the next you just because I'm a Rossweisse or something."
"Ilise, don't stress too much over it. You are a Rossweisse, and a Kaiserin at that. You've got self-control as well as potential. You'll do fine. You won't be alone at Mistilteinn. If you ever need any help, the student council is a door's knock away. There's someone on it that I'd like for you to meet. Besides, I don't think anyone would be too eager to bully a Rossweisse. At the end of the day, don't stress it. You're more than enough in my eyes - and you know how high my standards are. I'm proud of you, Ilise. As a sister, mentor and friend."
"Thanks, Bianca." Ilise said shyly. Her usually pale cheeks were now patches of rosy red. "Who do you want me to meet? Are they another Kinetic magic user?"
"And that," Bianca smirked, "Is for me to know, and you to find out."
--
Twenty minutes later, the both of them found themselves inside one of the Rossweisse fleet's many cars. The streets of Alpheim were already flooded with people, whether or not they were on their way to work or simply tourists here to admire the city of lights.
Yggdrasil loomed in the distance, a constant reminder of the company's influence. Ilise remembered something about how the vast majority of Alpheim's population worked for Yggdrasil, from delivering supplies to studying magic in one of its state-of-the-art laboratories.
Yggdrasil gave just as much as it took from Alpheim - it contributed not just to the city's economy, but to its beauty as well. Yggdrasil Tower - Midgard - had been built in the shape of a giant milky-white tree, reaching up into the clouds and beyond. Its branches were adorned with infinitely moving solar panel leaves that provided Midgard with an alternative source of power, in the event that something ever happened to its core.
And even higher above it, perched on the canopy of Midgard's leaves, was the Rossweisse estate. Ilise had been there once or twice with Bianca, and it was, in every sense of the word, a castle in the sky. The finishing touch that made Alpheim truly special. The Rossweisse estate was the crown jewel of Alpheim, a monument to Yggdrasil's achievements and the changes it had wrought upon the city. Held aloft by a mixture of Gravity magic and gold-woven bio-engineered vines, Bianca's ancestral home was straight out of a fairytale.
At the base of Midgard was none other than Mistilteinn Academy. The roots of Yggdrasil, so to speak - the city's finest had all received their education there. Securing an education at Mistilteinn was equivalent to securing a cushy job at Yggdrasil. Its campus and facilities were simply unrivalled by any other educational institute in the region, though it still held tournaments in the hopes of maintaining good relations with its brethren.
Ilise fingered the sleeve of her uniform nervously as her ride drew closer and closer to Mistilteinn Academy. The front gates were more packed than Ilise could've ever imagined. The massive amount of reporters, graduates, returning students and first-year hopefuls had flowed out into the school's driveway.
"Bianca? How're we going to get past all those people?"
"The student council uses a separate entrance. It's so most of us can get into school on time and prepare for the welcoming ceremony. I don't know why they've made a habit of televising it. I should speak to father about that." Bianca lowered her shades and sighed in exasperation. "Ah, well. The media. Can't be helped, can it?"
Their driver veered around the crowd. No one paid any heed to them as they turned down a different road and passed under the shade of a copse of trees. The path itself didn't look like it belonged to Alpheim - it lacked the crystal-paved roads and the sparkling fountains. No wonder Bianca had said it was a separate entrance. Nobody would've been able to tell it led into an institution as prestigious as Mistilteinn. To Ilise, it had looked like a dilapidated park entrance.
They stopped at a secluded gate. As small as this one was compared to the one Ilise had seen up front, it was equally as advanced. The gate's bars thrummed with electricity, crackling every now and then. Ice magic-laden traps were buried in the road, primed to freeze anyone who attempted to break in. Ilise's preliminary sweep of the compound had told her as much. Four armed guards flanked the gate itself, all toting threatening-looking weapons. High up in a watchtower, a mage stood on standby. One of the guards marched up to the car and knocked on the window.
"State your name and purpose."
"Bianca Rossweisse, vice-president of the student council. Here to escort Ilise Rossweisse and oversee the proceedings of the entrance exams." Bianca replied smoothly. Ilise shrank slightly in her seat.
The guard bowed, taken aback. His surprise didn't show through his visor, but by the way he'd imperceptibly flinched the moment he heard the name Bianca, Ilise could tell he was shocked. Her Kaiser powers allowed her to read a person's actions at a higher degree than any machine could.
"Good morning, ladies Rossweisse. Please, right this way." The gates slid open, admitting them into Mistilteinn Academy.
They continued down the same shrouded path. Midgard was no longer looming - it was casting its shadow over them, rendering the road they travelled a darkened one. Dappled light streamed through Midgard's perpetually moving leaves, leaving tiny shapes on the ground in intricate, almost glyph-like patterns.
"We've arrived, ladies Rossweisse." Their chauffeur suddenly said. His voice shook Ilise out of her reverie. Her palms were sweaty, having been wrung over and over again for the past seven minutes. The part of her that was currently trying to think about everything that wasn't the entrance exam settled on an inane observation - their chauffeur hadn't spoken for the entire duration of their drive to Mistilteinn.
--