The towering gates gilded with intricate golden carvings sparkled along with the vast garden that greeted the students. Everyone of them came carried by lovely and huge carriages pulled by gallant horses, black, white, and brown. Just like what she'd hoped it would be, the school looked like a place where everything is possible, that even someone like her who lacked wealth and was only able to get in because of what she can only dismiss as luck, can become something.
Enamored with the beauty of what would be her second home, Uriel looked at every bush of colorful flowers, ' The person who takes care of this must really love flowers ', she thought. She marvelled at the enchanting fountain whose water gushes under the sun sparkling ever so brightly. Even the pathways that everyone around her is walking are so smooth, something she'd never seen even as she traveled to the capital. Filled with giddy, her heart beat faster with every step, the realization that she is now a step closer to her dream made her forget the strange lapses of memory she has. What matters is that she wasn't harmed, what matters is that none of her loved one got hurt.
As she gets closer to the auditorium, a familiar sensation approached her once again. The beating of her heart started slowing down and cold sweat broke on the back of her neck. Then suddenly, she's at the gate once again. The entrance which was bustling with the sound of horse hooves and chattering students now looked empty and solemn, like everything had just disappeared in a blink. She felt her stomach churning and her strength left her frail and thin legs and as she's about to collapse on the ground, someone suddenly held her right arm, preventing her from collapsing any further.
The arm that's holding her was strong and big. It felt warm but strange enough, it gave Uriel goosebumps. Silently catching her breath, she slowly turned her head to look at whoever is holding her at the moment. She's met with a face so blinding, it rivaled the gilded gates and the sparkling fountain. The young man's face is adorned by his partially curly hair of dark ash-like color. his gentle purple eyes bent slightly as he asked Uriel if she's alright. However, unlike what everyone would expect Uriel is unfazed by the beauty of the man helping her.
After getting herself back on her feet, Uriel expressed her gratitude then immediately left, running towards the auditorium. As her frame grew father and farther, the man could only speak of nothing but the word " Interesting ".
******
Uriel barely made it to the auditorium. The students are lined up under the shining stars right above their heads. Every array of students had different color of stars; blue, red, green, yellow, and white, with the fewest students underneath. Not knowing which line she's supposed to go to, she discreetly scanned the student under every star with her eyes and one detail stood out; the color of the star on the left chest of the uniform corresponds to the color of the star the students stood under. The star on her chest is of white color which she understood as an indication that she's supposed to fall in line under the white star. She took advantage of the weary speech of an old man on the podium who gathered the attention of the audience and walked towards the white star. As she was almost there, everything suddenly went black once again and she found herself back to the entrance of the auditorium. However, unlike what she expected, she did not turn back in time from where she started, instead, it looked like only she suddenly moved back there and no one seemed to have noticed. She once again tried to go to the line but then again, she went back again and again until she grew tired.
Eventually giving up, the old man finished his speech and a familiar face took the podium. It was the man she first met at the dark alley of the capital. As she looks at the man, their eyes met, as if it was made to. A brief silence was followed by an introduction of his name. Uriel had just realised she never knew the name of this man who helped her and the child then it turns out, he's the crown prince of the kingdom she's in and his name is Leonard Yveller sol Brun. The speech was brief, as if the speaker wanted to finish it immediately and just before he left the podium, Uriel felt like she's under a watchful eye, staring at her and the surroundings darkened once again.
Finding herself in an unfamiliar place within the school while she's never even left where she stood from, Uriel couldn't help but finally feel an annoyance with what's happening to her. It's like someone's dragging her to places and putting her to wherever it wanted to put her and it seems like there's nothing she can do against it. However, she's a girl of intelligence and composure, knowing she does not have an idea where she is, she did everything she could to know what she needed to. From asking those who passed by, to reading every writings she could find, hoping they would help her reach her class' room. Moving as fast as she could knowing that it would be bad of she were to be late, she walked hurriedly, almost in a brusque manner. As she's marching her way on every corridor, she bumped unto someone. The bump made her stumble a little and as she's about to apologize with a bow, the girl she bumped unto touched her shoulder and asked her why she was in a hurry. Stunned, Uriel raised her head and spoke. Thinking she'd be seen by this girl as a crazy person, she only told her about losing her way and suddenly finding herself in an unknown place. The girl gave her a warm look. Her tiny face framed by her curly hair as dark as charcoal was adorned by her equally dark eyes that bent almost as if it's closed. She then offer Uriel to go with her after seeing that she and her had the same star color. Uriel couldn't help but be relieved to the extent that her knees almost went weak. On the verge of crying, she thanked this young lady. She wouldn't have known what to do if she were to get a bad record knowing that she's a scholarship student who had just luckily climb up to this place she wouldn't have had a chance of stepping her feet into, for her family, she's the eldest child and thus she now knows she received a great responsibility. Who knew that such a simple kindness in this time of need would be enough to make her so happy that she's about to cry. Embarrassed, she looked at her feet and hurriedly wiped the tears building up in the corners of her eyes.
" Everyone is nervous on the first day, specially if you are new to the environment, so I guess, other people seem to cry from that " the girl said as they were walking.
Uriel understood that this is her way of saying it's fine for her to tear up like that.
" I - I'm not crying, I'm just wiping off sweat. " Uriel replied.
" Yes, yes, you didn't " the girl said as she and Uriel giggled.
" You know what, the class hadn't started yet, that's why I was able to come out so we'd be probably just in time if we were to hurry " the lady told Uriel.
As the girl was about to say her name, the feeling came again and everything, as expected, turned black and she's back to where she was just in time when a door opened and a young man of golden hair walked out of that very door.