"You are Aron?" An old man asked amicably, to which the boy in front of him nodded with a smile. "That will be me." Watching him holding onto his belongings in a shoddy cloth bag, the person smiled back. "I guess you are ready to relocate."
The old guy asked him to carry his bag, but Aron politely refused him. "I can do this, uncle. I am strong... believe me." "Haha.. you are a good lad." The aged person shared a short laugh with the boy before they left the slave dorms together.
"You can call me Decan, young one. I am the person overlooking the boy's hostel." The old man introduced himself once they hit the road. "Oh.. nice to meet you then, uncle Decan. Looks like I will be under your care then."
The old person possessed quite a deep look in his eyes as he inspected Aron once from head to toe. "It's not every day I come to pick academy students from the slave quarters. You must have worked incredibly hard for this."
Aron flushed up a little, not used to being pandered. "Haha.. well I did. But for the most part, I will say it was all because of my parents and some lucky encounters." He stated, scratching the back of his head.
"Kids need not be this sophisticated my boy. You can let loose every once in a while." Old man Decan advised. "I will. I will. Getting into the academy was the hardest. I shall have some rest now."
Decan smiled and patted his back. "Good." They talked all the way with mostly the old man asking the questions and Aron answering them as best as he could.
"Your friends told you correctly. Mana tokens are very valuable. Simply speaking, the rate of hundred gold coins you quoted for every such token is what they fetch you outside our academy's premises. In here, their worth is even more than that." Aron couldn't agree more with the guy.
"We are here." This was the first time Aron was face to face with the archaic building. It was in proximity to the girls' hostel, but he never got a chance to venture here.
The very first difference he noticed was the age of the structure. It presented a stark contrast to the new and posh look of the girl's hostel. Such was its decrepit condition, Aron felt the old man had brought him to the wrong place. But standing at some distance from him was someone who eroded all his doubts.
"You are here, brother Aron." Chris came forward to greet him with a spirited handshake and a charged-up bear hug. "You did it brother.. I am happy for you."
Chris was someone who brought positive vibes to people in his vicinity. Even now, Aron can sense veritable excitement coming from the guy. "Yes, me too. Especially to have met a friend like you." His answer made the boy grin with even more brilliance.
"If both of you don't mind my intrusion, here is the key to your room. It's sequenced 405." Decan interrupted their touchy reunion with a cough, handing out their identical keys.
"Ohh.. are we staying together?" Chris inquired, nonchalant about the answer. "Yeah. Things are different from those guys over there." Decan pointed to the girls' hostel situated in the vicinity of the property. "We don't have the luxury of offering single rooms. You two will be staying with another guy from the first year."
Both boys picked one key each with an understanding nod. "Now since you two don't need me here, allow me to take my leave. I might be needed somewhere else." Decan commented with a courteous attitude.
"Sure uncle. Please do so. We will navigate our way. No issues." Aron was quick to proclaim, gaining Chris's approval as well. "We got good students. Hope you blend in well. Take care."
"See you around, old man Decan." Both boys watched the person leave as they picked up their luggage. "Let's go then." On their way, Aron consulted Chris on how he knew about his selection into the academy.
"Well to tell you the truth, the master had trained us quite well. So the screening test was more or less a formality for us." Chris answered with a crafty grin. "With that said, I would like to thank you, brother."
"Thank me for what?" Aron asked as the sun slowly set behind them, wrapping a red hue over the serene backdrop. "I am sure it was the same for Christina as well." Chris took a pause before continuing. "Both of us had gotten quite proud of our accomplishments. It was only because of you we had a rude awakening."
Aron wasn't sure he heard the boy right. But Chris did look at him, resuming his line of thought after a brief mulling. "There is a long way ahead of us. We could not have afforded to be complacent. Now that you have beaten us, we are going to work doubly hard."
The respect in Aron's heart only grew for Chris. "Contrary to you, I don't see much difference in our performance. All three of us reached the fifth stage. I think that counts the most." Aron explained and Chris didn't respond, only nodding his head in acknowledgment.
"So previously you told your master was here as well. Is she gone now?" Aron changed the direction of their conversation once they reached the large lawns of the enclosure.
"Yes, she was here for a few minutes. Then she left with Christina." "Ohh... I would love to meet the Saintess one day. She must be an amazing lady to have taught you guys."
"Hahaha... I am not so sure about that." Chris laughed out loud. "I am telling you, she is a very strict woman. After living through the punishments, I can assure you that at least." His tone turned a bit snarky as he revealed that. Both the boys had reached the
the main door of the building.
Unlike the well-decorated condition of the girl's hostel, all they found was a shabby-looking with a single person waiting on them. *Whee* *Gwee* *Whee* Even that person was fast asleep with his legs spread on the counter.
Compared to the ambiance of Julia's place, this building came out to be straight out of a horror drama sequence. The massive hall was empty other than a few old pieces of surviving furniture.
The paint was peeling off the walls and termites had infested the wooden floor. More than the hostel of the prestigious institution, this place came out to be more of a horror house. There was no proper lighting and half of the area was drowned in darkness with a rotting smell prevalent.
In many ways, even his slave quarters were in a better condition than this ancient building in some regards. To say they were distressed by the sight with being an understatement.
*Whee* *Whee* Snores kept echoing through the battered hall, further aggravating their moods. "Ahem.. it is what it is." Aron sighed, sorrow seeping somewhere in his chest.
"Yeah, I guess he is not much interested in us as well." Chris remarked, pointing to the person fast asleep in his chair. Aron agreed and sidestepped the reception for the stairs.
"I never knew there will be so much difference between the boys' and girls' hostels. Did you know it will be like this?" Chris shook his head swiftly. "No one told me."
Instead of the usual buzz they had expected, all they were met with was a gloomy silence all over. There was not a single sound in the corridors. "You deal with necromancy, brother. Please don't tell me this place is truly haunted in reality."
Aron was not surprised Chris asked that question. Anyone will have the same doubt in the backdrop of the deathly aura all around them. "Nope. I can't sense anything. I guess it's just the building that is dying."
"Haha.. that's funny." Both of them faced stopped at the fourth floor and an unkempt blue signboard hung on the wall directed them on their way.
Floorboards creaked under their feet as they stood in front of a door numbered 405. *Knock* *Knock* "Looks like it's occupied by someone already." Chris proposed.
The door opened and they were met with a boy rubbing his eyes lazily. "What do you want?" The person didn't come off as anyone too prominent. If Aron had to take a guess, he did look like a slacker.
"Sorry, for the disturbance brot..." *Bam* Chris was not done introducing himself when the door was shut on his face, cutting him off midway. "Haha.. that I was rude and funny at the same time." Being an easy-going guy, he laughed it off.
"Let me try." *Knock* *Knock* Aron came forward to try to convince the occupier to let them in. The door opened once again after a small delay. "Hey there.. We are new here." Not wasting any time, he fished out the key old man Decan gave him. "See?"
"Ohh? You are the new recruits?" This time at least the boy was not in a hurry to shove the door to their faces, still, he remained vigilant. Aron smiled to ease him down. "Yes. I am Aron and this is Chris. Both of us will be staying here."
While Aron did the introductions, the boy holding the door was sizing them up. "Hmm? You listening?" Chris wasn't sure if the guy was even interested in hearing their side of the story.
*Thud* Suddenly, Chris saw him tackle Aron to the opposite wall. Having not expected the attack Aron was caught off-guard as his body was rammed into the mortar. Had it not been for his strength, he would have definitely felt that.
"Listen up ya punk..!!" Aron felt the hand grab his collar. "If don't want me to break a bone for you, then bugger off." The boy iterated with a grim tone, trying to threaten him.
Needless to say, Aron didn't lose his temper. Why? Because he failed to perceive any sense of danger from the guy. But standing next to them, the same can not be said about Chris.
Flames manifested all around Chris's forearm. "That old man should have told us from the beginning. Things would have been easier that way." *Bang*
Five minutes past that episode, Aron and Chris stood inside the room with a person groveling up on the floor. "Please don't hurt me, boss.. please!!"
Aron was at a loss, smiling dryly at the drastic change in the attitude of their presumed roommate. They didn't even have a real fight. Who would have known a single punch from Chris will beat him into thorough submission?
"Was he faking all that bravado?" Aron questioned. "Ahh.. who would I have known?" Chris sighed. By the looks of it, he might have used a gun to kill a fly.
"Oi.. how long are you going to be down there man? Have some dignity. At the end of the day, we are to live together." Chris tried to console the boy with a big burn mark on his right cheek.
"Yeah, get up. We won't hurt you, brother." Aron's voice was a bit more convincing and finally, the boy raised his head. "Forgive me, boss. I didn't realize you will be so crazy strong."
Aron's eyebrows twitched. Strong? The punch was probably not even the tenth of Chris's strength. More than his friend being strong, it was the boy who was overly weak.
"Okay.. okay. We just had a big misunderstanding, so let's move ahead." Aron stepped forth to hold the boy up. "Let's start with your name. You already know ours."
The guy took one look at Chris, a bit shaken by the violent reaction of the fire boy. Fire magic users were quite rare to start with. What bad luck that he had to share the room with one. "Ben Gallant at your service."
"Gallant?" Can there be a bigger irony? Both Aron and Chris barely suppressed their laughter, not wanting to crush his self-esteem any further than it already was.
< Kudos!!>>