Arcane Academy
A prestigious school for those chosen few who could absorb arcane energy.
On this auspicious day, the stores lined the pathways leading to the Academy proper all celebrated the students' arrival, old and new alike. Confetti's and balloons rained in all directions as loud reverberating claps and cheers welcomed the students.
Rain and Ethan held their breath as their eyes bulged more, taking in the intricate details of the Academy. They saw it from afar and were lost in its grandeur, but having to look at it up close, was like looking at a mystical place. No words could describe its splendor.
(Pic)
The student council committee led the students with each year forming a line. As they walked steadily, their heart beat faster as they were nearing the university gates proper.
But instead of entering the university hall, the lines of students forked.
"W-what's going on?"
Ethan couldn't help but asked Rain, who was walking just beside him.
The second years, third years, and fourth years were being led inside the university gates with a smug smirk on their faces, while the first years were led at an abandoned, dilapidated mansion in the left part of the Academy.
"I don't know."
Rain felt a tingling sensation of danger as they neared that dark, dilapidated sorry of an excuse mansion. With the way the older students looked at them like they were going to be skinned alive before being admitted into the Academy, Rain felt a cold sweat ran down from his back. Not because of the impending initiation, if there ever would be, but that foreboding feeling that the mansion gave off.
Unconsciously, he gripped his left upper chest as if in pain when it started to throb like something was calling for him.
"Alright, everyone! Huddle up!"
Yelled a tiny yet twinkling voice like a melody from a wind chime, coming from a woman.
Her voice was enough to silence all the first years.
Rain and Ethan tried to see where that voice came from. But alas, with the many first-year students blocking the front, they couldn't see a thing. Thus, they were contented with listening to that voice instead.
"As you all know, Arcane Academy has a traditional way of welcoming newcomers into its doors, and all the first years must undergo this . . . rite of passage."
The little twinkling voice continued to resound while the students all barked in whispers until that twinkling voice hushed it up again.
Rain frowned.
A rite of passage?
No one mentioned this, not even in the booklet.
That tiny twinkling voice continued. Rain gazed at Ethan when the latter slightly elbowed him.
"What is it?" Rain asked when he saw that Ethan's eyes were focused somewhere past him.
"That girl has been staring at you."
Ethan whispered, and Rain turned to where Ethan was pointing at.
Rain held his breath when he laid eyes on a woman with peerless beauty and grace. The woman's long ocean blue hair was raised in a high ponytail, swaying with the wind as her dark blue eyes held power and tenacity.
"You know her?"
Ethan asked, which pulled Rain out from his reveries.
Rain immediately steadied his gaze forward and said with an even voice, "No."
Although the girl was indeed beautiful, Rain felt a tinged of discomfort with how the girl was staring at him.
"Hey, look at that. That's one tall man. It's my first time seeing a man that is covered in markings. Do you think he's one of those famous tribes in the south?" Ethan kept on going with his innocent tone.
Ethan was just curious without any hint of malice, but of course, it was still rude to point at others.
Rain shifted his eyes to see a tall man about six feet more with strange markings covering half of his face. With the trademarks and that incredibly tall and well-built physic, it was hard not to notice him. Although the man looked menacing, the aura he gave off was that one of gentleness and peace.
"Tsk! Look at him and his lofty all high and mighty air. Like he is some kind of a God that everyone should bow to. Hmp!"
Rain and Ethan immediately turned to that voice of a man that was filled with contempt.
Beside Ethan, a dark green-haired youth had a disgusted expression plastered all over his face with eyes burning with hate, staring at someone.
Rain and Ethan glanced at each other and then ignored the man altogether as they focused on that tiny twinkling voice once more.
"What do you think the rite of passage is? They're not about to let us fight each other now, right? I'm w-weak at fighting." Ethan started to bit his nails as he shifted his eyes left and right, looking all uneasy.
"Unlikely. If they wanted us to fight each other, we should be at the school's arena. But they purposely led us here, which I presume to have something to do with that mansion," Rain answered coolly, yet in truth, his blood was pumping in anticipation and excitement.
Every man always wanted to prove themselves, to their peers, their family, and the whole world –– and Rain wasn't an exception.
Since the age of four, Raymont Rizwalde has trained Rain in different situations and settings. This was not Rain's first battle if ever since he already battled beasts and bandits in the past.
While Rain and Ethan were emerged in their thoughts, that tiny twinkling voice turned high-pitched as if about to say a final verdict.
"Alright, with that! Let the rite of passage––begin!"
RUMBLE!
RUMBLE!
Just as that tiny high-pitched voice ended, a thunderous rumbling sound reverberated as the ground shook like the earth was being split into two, slowly opening a crevice.
"W-what the––!"
"Shit!"
"The Hell!"
"Kyaaah!"
Screams of terror, fright, and shocked echoed in the air as countless students fell one after the other in that gaping hole.
Those who have fast reflexes quickly jumped to escape the trap, but as they got nearer the boundary of that hole, an invincible force repelled their body, causing them to scream in surprise as they fell into the hole, wide eyes in disbelief.
Rain, who had watched this happened, felt resigned.
There's no escape.
Rain and Ethan were at the center of that hole, trying to balance their footing as the gap was getting wider by the seconds, and with an invincible barrier preventing them from leaving, the only choice was to accept their fate of falling into that dark abyss below.
Damn it!
Amidst the panicking students running and falling, Rain focused his gaze on those group of students with different colored uniforms standing just in front of the widening crevice, away from the gaping hole, as they smiled with mirth in their eyes as if watching their favorite show.
Rain's eyes especially focused on that small girl about four feet eight inches tall with long curly brown hair, smiling at them with sparkling eyes –– until the darkness swallowed his vision.
----
"Is it done?"
Asked a white-robed elder with his long white hair and beard, fluttering against the wind while his opaque pearly eyes gazed down at the scene below from the highest roof of the Academy.
At one look, it seemed that he was blind, yet it felt like his eyes could see everything.
"Yes."
Answered a smooth voice of a woman. Red long hair and a 'to-die-for body, only lacking in grace and poise as the woman's hands stretched across the back of her head, looking all bored while chewing a thread of wheat.
"Hmp!"
A middle-aged man sneered. He was wearing layers of black robes as his dark hair, almost bald at the front, was swept cleanly. A round dark spectacle on his right eye. He had an elongated face, high pointy cheekbones, sharp chin, and coupled with his dry, dull-looking skin and bony stature –– the man could pass as an evil villain.
The black-robed man sized up the alluring woman in red as he shook his head in disapproval. He didn't understand why the Headmaster invited this . . . brigand to teach at their prestigious school. Nevertheless, he remained tight lip.
"Do you think this time . . . one will succeed?"
Asked a deep baritone voice of a man wearing layers of metal and leather armors. The man could be considered handsome if not for those bulky muscles and intimidating physique.
The white robe elder just smiled but didn't say anything.
He felt that this time was different.
He sensed that the air was shifting.
The tide of destiny is nearing, bringing with it a calamity . . . and as the catastrophe nears . . . a new generation of heroes will be born.