What happened yesterday was like a storm that smashed into the night and leave in a flicker. It was loud and chaotic but it went away so quickly that it seems like a dream.
After Nileas had his words with Alene, he broke the dimension and left Alene sitting aloof in the middle of a cold dark street. The chapel and graveyard look very so quiet and calm, like a man of quality sitting still at his place.
Alene went home in a daze. All she could remember is how startled Cheng Yang was. She claimed that she fell off the slope, so she had a hard time coming back. Cheng Yang looked at her and said nothing much, just "welcome home" like what our grandparents would say after we come home from a long journey.
"Well, nothing makes you feel better than the first day of uni! I feel that hot blood pumping in my heart, it says I am ready to soar!" Cheng Yang spread his hands and took a deep breath as if he is enjoying the cool breeze at Filey Beach.
"Really? You are feeling excited about going to class?" Alene asked with a faintly doubtful smirk. Cheng Yang is the kind that gets you to mark his attendance in class every morning, despite promising his mom and god that he will make it the next morning.
"It's not that I never go, I just don't go for the morning class." Cheng Yang said as a matter of course. "I think my gene is well customized for night classes. I am sharp at night really, I could go on DOTO and League of Myth for 4 hours straight without rest."
"It is very subjective and governed by mood. You go when it's not raining, not too early and feeling like a champ." Kang Chin sat on the stairs, tying his shoelaces as he explains. Then, he got up and stretched. "Come on, jio, jio, jio!"
"See? That's the spirit!" said Cheng Yang.
Well, it's not the first day of uni. It's more of a recap session with your personal tutor, right before tea time in the union hall down in the basement. Everyone was called up to report their recent situation, which, to put it bluntly, was one of the procedures to make sure their mentee are alive and healthy.
"Dr Triton Cyrus." Alene read the name aloud. That's the name of Kang Chin's personal tutor. So this man is named after the son of Poseidon.
"It sounds powerful!" said Kang Chin as he looked at Alene.
"Ya... Indeed." Alene agreed.
The long and narrow corridor is very quiet, with a fire door on both ends that comes with viewing glass. The three blocks of faculty buildings were connected using the same hallway, so it looks very restless as if there is no end to it. The fluorescent lights and patterned white vinyl flooring make it resembles the one you find in a common hospital.
It wasn't so bad, Alene thought. You can still hear the raspy chatter of magpies outside the semi-glazed window.
"Come in." A deep voice came through the door, and he sounded annoyed.
"I should calm down..." Kang Chin tried to convince himself, but you can see his hands sweating like he just got off the gym.
Alene shakes her head. Now she wonders why she had to accompany him to meet his personal tutor.
Kang Chin took a deep breath and opened the door. "Dr Cyrus, we are your students and have made an appointment,"
The aroma of brewed coffee made a strong escape. It was too intense that it is almost pungent after trapping in that room for a long time.
Anlene twisted her nose in discomfort and raised her head to have a look at Dr Cyrus. Almost instantly, a shiver run down her spine, and she became petrified. Those eyes... She didn't have her chance to get a closer look last night but she could tell who he is - "Let it go, Alois. See if it could show us if that ditch rat ended up here."
This man, Dr Triton Cyrus is Krios Sethos.
"Take a seat, please. And you are..." He pulled out a name list from the paper tray on the right of his desk. "Circle your names and write down how you want me to call you next time." He said and handed a pen to Alene.
"Right, I just tag along. I am actually not your student." Alene passed the pen to Kang Chin and stepped aside. She could hear her own heartbeat pounding like drums in chase of time. She moved slowly towards the door and looked up, then she saw Dr Cyrus looking at her.
His eyes are olive green, like the last shade of green you could catch in the twilight, but it's not the type that locks you in romance. It radiated a fierce, uncompromising intelligence. When he watches, you feel the unwavering attention that you get from a predator.
She tried to hide her fear with a dry laugh, "I'm going to meet my tutor. Would you excuse me?" She said quiveringly, quickly turning around to leave.
Then she heard a deep voice whispering in her ears: "Six o'clock at Laboratory 1. The Chemistry Hall."
Alene was startled and hurriedly turned to look at Dr Cyrus, but he was looking down at the name list, while Kang Chin trying to point out where his name was. Could it be an auditory hallucination?
No, she told herself. She is hundred per cent sure that it's real.
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River Aire Woods. The Stone Pavilion.
Georgie sat on the steps, lying his back on the stone column lazily. There is another man around his age that wore a purple hoodie, sitting opposite him with a can of beer in his hand.
This man was one of the five men in the Pavillion last night. He was quiet throughout the whole meeting but he was close to both Alois and Georgie.
"Any guess of what happened last night?" Georgie asked casually as he opened another can of cider he received this afternoon. His lively and expressive blue eyes are very much adored by the ladies in his class.
"Must be Nileas! Reason? Because he needs a new toy." Leon smiled, drinking half of the can of beer in one gulp.
"I am not going to complain. He has his way on things," said Georgie.
"I agree. Strange to say they are polar opposites, but they make good partners. Trust me, Kony would have known by now," said Leon.
"She ran like a lost lamb, she wouldn't even survive here for three months."
"So you were searching for her?"
"Well, she did a good job hiding in the crowd. Unfortunately, she wasn't smart enough. I thought of starting a search, then I figure out I am being redundant. The first hint, she is our classmate. "
"What?" Leon laughed in disbelief. He was expecting something more challenging to brighten his uni life for the next 3 years, now this could really keep him entertained for a while.
It was difficult for him, for someone who came from a family with less power and status in Vassonia. He needs to be low profile and show his loyalty to those on top. He needs to repeat this for a few decades and he had already done it twice.
"So what interests you?" asked Georgie.
"Not the scroll, that's for certain. I will never lay my hand on Sethos'. I don't mind watching Alois going around in circles, and I think I would enjoy pretending to be ignorant of her existence."
Georgie smiled as he lifted his beer to Leon in agreement with his words. He knows Krios had been searching for that scroll for decades since it disappears from Vassonia during the cast out of Nine Verse, which the Vassonian prefer to call it Renaissance Period. If they meddle in this, it may turn out nastier than they would like to expect.
After a moment of silence, a dark shadow appeared behind the pavilion, then they saw the figure of a huge creature behind the shadow. It's Minotaur. "Someone seems to have broken the first rune. The enchantment set up had weakened."
Leon raised his eyebrows, then frowned in disgust, "Such bad timing."
"I'll be back when I'm done, keep your pace, Leon." Georgie got up and put on his coat. "Lead the way!" said Georgie as he leave with Minotaur in a haste.