At least it felt like ages that we were falling. My mouth was dry, and my limbs ached. The screams died down after what seemed like half an hour and finally a crack of light formed beneath us getting closer. A gush of air flew up at us once we reached it. Vertigo kicked in when the sky formed when we shot straight up out of the ground as it pulled itself back together. Gravity came back just as fast, and we came back hitting the ground hard.
"Oof!" The sound came as I landed, getting up almost instantly to look around. It was close to the cliff I started at except below the cliff was water reaching out to the horizon. Above us the sky was dark with black and gray clouds hugging the water and blanketing the sky. The waves crashed hard against the racks below as the wind picked up speed.
"W-what just happened??" Halla's voice was barely heard over the whistling wind. Halla stayed on the ground to get her bearings. Her head rolled from side to side keeping her eyes shut.
The clouds' color changed to have hints of green in them. "This is not good.." Having speculation that it was a type of magic that Savrin used to get us here. I still did not know why he did not tell us about it, but right now there is more to this. The green to the clouds darkened and the whistling grew, deafening us all. Our hands go to our ears, and I try to motion for Garthe to move towards Halla. We get to her soon and they look a little confused. I had to yell to be heard, "we have to stay together, get to the ground! As flat as possible!"
Our hair began to fly everywhere, the sea spray being pulled up into the air. The funnel was finally visible as it got closer. The wind pulled dirt, debris, and water from all over creating a large waterspout. Yelling out was not an option anymore when the wind finally started to pull Halla off the ground. I grabbed her wrist and held tight about to be pulled along. Garth wrapped an arm around my waist and after grabbing his necklace he ripped it off. In place of the metal band now sprung out a pick which he shoved into the ground to hold us steady. This is terrifying. If you ever wish to see what it is like to be being pulled by a hurricane, be my guest. It was like being strung and tossed like a ragdoll towards a vacuum. The ground shook and the pickaxe tears free, launching us now into the air towards the tornado. Once we hit the water, we were torn apart by the pressure being sent towards the middle. My body became soaked in the water and once towards the middle it was just a floating sensation.
The strangest part is that I could breathe, I always thought that the center of a tornado created a vacuum effect. Instead, it was drying my clothes and I was just floating up. I could see Garthe and Halla both floating nearby with confused looks on their faces. I could not control myself at all, I tried to use my arms as if I were swimming to no avail and I just looked up towards the blackened clouds above. As we floated closer the clouds began to shine and part ways. It felt as if I was being pulled through jello by the time I was laying on a hard tiled surface.
Directly surrounding the three of us was a raised platform with a grayish looking tiled finish. Almost like smoke, it swirled around and made me a bit disoriented. I shook my head to peer around. Roads led in a few different directions, but what was most prominent was the large castle-like structure directly ahead of us. Garthe and Halla were getting up at their own pace. The building had five main towers jutting out from a large central building. A fenced off courtyard and it had to be about a thousand feet in length. I thought of some books back home that only shone brighter in memory thanks to this sight. There was a tree line to either side stretching further in and around the back. Smoke drifted up from one of the towers. The material used was foreign but looked like obsidian.
"By the forge, I have not seen craftsmanship like this before…." Garthe stated his mouth agape.
Halla just smiled towards the trees and when she saw Garthe, she reached up pushing his chin back up which made him shake her off with a look. I laugh a bit in astonishment and amusement, "Okay, so I think I know where we must go." Ready to stop questioning how we got here, the simple answer would be one word as stated by Savrin, magic. I point towards the main doors of the central building through the courtyard, "that should be the start."
Getting up to the massive doors, which had to stand at least ten to fifteen feet high, had large knockers attached on each door. The knockers were of statuette heads, the left being a tiger and the right a hawk, both with rings in their mouths. Garthe went to one and I the other, but when we got in front of them the heads began to move, and a grainy voice rang out of the tiger.
"Yes, that's right, take the left door. Choose my side and you won't be disappointed." The tiger head began speaking, lolling its head gesturing us closer.
Garthe's eyes lit up even more as he exams it and mumbles, "How do you work?"
To the right, the hawk began in a higher pitched voice, "Oh please, you will learn some magical engineering in your later years. I believe you are here for the opening ceremony. Please come right on."
"Yes, and please come in the left door, you will be the 10,000th person to have entered this door alone."
The avian rolled its eyes, "Winner by tail feathers, you know that we have not had that many yet let alone yours, even this year you have only had 167 enter your doors."
The tiger tries looking at the hawk, "Even if you have to do more than I this year, I am still beating you. Having 4,239 while you only have 4201."
"The glares sent both ways created a tense atmosphere. The two seemed to bicker quite a bit. The avian withdrew her statement. "At least I do not lie to the new students, let me guess the next ones are going to be the next 10,000th winners?"
Feigned flattery shown across the feline's face as he beamed, "You know me so well."
I could not keep it in, " You count how many have entered the building??"
They both look down and say in unison, "Yes."
Well okay then no need to question too much. Halla just goes up and starts to rub under the tiger's ring who I swear I could hear purring, and tigers don't even purr.
"You three can decide whichever door to go through, it does not matter. She swings her ring down hitting the door which swings both doors open slowly. Walking past we hear once more from the tiger, "Go down this hallway and to the right you will see a large doorway with black tiled stairs, take those down to the ceremony." We thanked them both and entered. The doors shut behind leaving the sound of muffled bickering of who entered whose side. The hallway was long and had two doors, one on either side. A long window next to the one on the left showing a large swimming pool longer than a football field almost that of a lake. I stopped and stared inside, towards the front were some diving boards and the further back you looked the more natural it seemed, there were even large rock formations. The bottom from what could be seen dropped off and became dark the further out, like the Balmorhea State Park swimming pool back in my home. I could see movement in the water further in the deep end. Turning around I see that the other side shows a plaque reading "Communal Hot Springs and Separate Baths." The double doors were fogged up by steam that filled beyond that.
I turned and Garthe was waiting for me under an archway. I hurried to see that Halla was just further in kneeling down looking at a small garden. The area just opened into a large spacious area. Grass mounds with trees filled the median with tables and benches all throughout. The balconies went beyond what they should. On either side of the room were platforms like the one that we woke up on outside with the dark swirling tiles, the air could practically be seen going up on one side and down on the other. The ceiling above looked like a scene in a forest from a top-down view changing slightly ever focused on something I could not see.
"There it is!" Halla states as she heads over to the open doors leading to a dark stairwell.
A poster hanging on it states that new students head down to the Training Hall with an arrow pointing down.
Shrugging, I just laugh. "Guess you did Halla, this place is too much to take in all at once."
Garthe followed after Halla who rushed ahead of us. "Yeah right! This is something all right, this place is wondrous."
If there were already 167 students crossing through the tiger's door, then what number did that make us? These thoughts held as we went down a few stories before an opening led into the largest room yet. There were hundreds of others around filling the room which was like an amphitheater. Different races milled about. I could see some that were more obviously different from the more native human standard. A minotaur standing far over to the leftmost and a girl hanging on him with blue skin, something akin to a person with a spider lower half and a humanoid upper body, and the rest were a mishmash of others that I could not even tell.
We followed Halla along towards a table which held a man who looked like that Professor May. He must have only been able to stand around 5'6" with a stout build. Short reddish-brown hair, he wore a light shirt underneath and an over shirt over some pants. did all these professors other than Savrin not know how to make this seem more mystical! I swear that this is something that I need, there is usually always a uniform or something for both students and teachers in these situations. The man stood up and extended his hand. instinctively I took it for a shake.
"Good to have you here, I have all three of your student numbers so make sure you put them somewhere safe. there is no telling what you will need them for, and it is a pain nonetheless for all parties if you lose them." His voice was warm and gentle, his eyes were the color of a burnt ember of a fire. "Your things will be placed in your rooms after this event. I just know that this is something everyone must go through. Now please take a seat and we will begin shortly."
The only difference between May and this man is the colors. He has red everywhere while she is blue. Nevertheless, I took my number and a bag that was handed out to each with our names. seeing as most of the students are here, I lead the three of us off towards the central part of this room where a few spots still hung about ready for the taking.
Sitting down now was just the start of the nerves and anxiety. It happens to everyone. First, I'm in a new place without knowing anyone, then I am surrounded by this crazy magical world filled with races completely different from humans, and finally the excitement of it all. This is something I always have kind of wished for. It's not something that I could have accomplished so now is the best time for something like this. I looked down at my number having it read out 329 and I could see that we were waiting on a few more to arrive before everything got started.
Sitting close by was another group of three. Two females and a male. They looked over at us and waved. One had charcoal black skin, light purple eyes, and a tattoo of the moon in silver along her left cheek. She had braided white hair folded back over her shoulder and her pointed ears. She was wearing a chain shirt and I just shook my head as she had a weapon on her back, a large greatsword. If she did not hold it to the side, it would drag all along the ground, she could not be any taller than 5 '2". The man didn't look any older than Garthe was, he held his head high with a leather jerkin and a lot of different pouches along his belt. He held between his legs a glaive of ornate design. The third person has a deep copper skin, a serpentine barbed tail coming from behind through her own outfit that resembled a sailor without any weapon at all. Her gaze mesmerized through the purple hued eyes unable to see any iris. Horns come up from her head jutting around just under her ears to come out leading the one.
The man seemed to be human by all accounts and he smirked looking our way once the horned girl pointed us out. He got up and walked over to stand above us. His glaive he held up and across his shoulders, which seemed to shrink so as not to hurt anyone when he walks around. I wondered if he did that a lot. "Look here, we are all new here. The name is Faulan and I wanted to introduce myself to this lovely young woman here." He says towards Halla who raises her eyebrow.
"Do I know you?" She is a bit blunt. "I mean it is good to meet you as we are all here for the same thing, my name is Halla."
Faulan takes a step back looking hurt from the trade of words. The elf just facepalms and comes up nearby Halla. "I am sorry about my companion, he does have the best intentions, but does not know how to speak to others properly." Her words were smooth indeed, but the laughter of the third as she walked up is what caught my attention.
"Okay it looks as though we are all starting an introduction of sorts. Faulan and Halla, Eldria and..." She pointed over towards Garthe and I. Garthe spoke up, giving his name next. "You may call me Zaya. It is good to see more people are taking it as easy as we are." She has confidence to boast..
I just let out a smile and stood again to give a curt bow, arms outstretched before standing back tall. "You can call me Atakean, Taki for short." We all gained a smile at this.
Zaya spoke up again. "So how did you gain your acceptance?" Her eyebrows raised as we all sat together in a small circle. I did not know why, but there was something that struck me as familiar. "Mine was wild, we were sailing and there was my letter inside of a chest that we commandeered. How it had my name on it, I will never know."
Garthe brings out his letter from a pocket which showed it was mostly burnt. "I was helping my family smelt some metal. There was a loud popping sound, and a piece blew out from the forge. Turned out to be this acceptance letter balled up and hidden inside some mithril. My family was thrilled, but only after I finished the project I was working on."
We shared what we could with each other. Eldria stated that her goddess had personally handed it to her, Halla states that she got hers from a herd of wild deer that were passing by. Faulan got his while helping on a farm with a demon goat. All of us stopped at that one.
"It really is strange and interesting how they were able to get all of ours to us by any means." Feeling as if I was lacking, I just sighed and went for it. "Mine is not that special, I found it sitting in my mail slot and after reading it I forgot about it. Finally, I was able to hear something, and it felt as if I was attacked. I blacked out and when I awoke, I found the letter in my pocket with one of the professors behind me." I tried to make it sound as close to the truth, yet far from my normal as I could.
I wonder, with all this magic in the world, how would people feel about cars? Maybe there were some that were more advanced?
We spoke off and on for the better part of half an hour with students coming in every so often. Zaya worked on a ship, Halla worked with animals, Faulan was a mercenary, and Eldria was a missionary from what I could gather. It was soon my turn. I shrugged. "Honestly I am not all that much, I come from a family who once worked for faith, I worked as a collector, but in reality, I was an entertainer."
"Collector? What did you collect?" Halla tilted her head and some of the others leaned in a bit."
"I collected people's resources, money, currency, if you will. So that we could get them the proper 'gear' to help them hear better. It was a small device capable of helping bring out the sound from all around for the elderly."
Zaya whistled out, "Boy, if you could get me some of that gear, I know quite a few who need that sort of treatment. Old Dalia, she can hardly hear anything except a cannon," Her laughter filled the area. It was a little contagious.
"If I hear another story about old Dalia, I am gonna puke." Faulan interjects with his own take.
Just as we were beginning to get comfortable around each other, the lights and the floor dimmed and toward the far end of the room a few of the tiles were raised into the air near the center of the amphitheater space. It looks as though the entire room can change for the given purpose at hand. All sorts of people stood atop it. Large panels were coming out on each side showing the faces of those that stood in front of them. Savrin, May, Voltas, and the man we just met were all up there in the background standing all nonchalant.
There is a large gust of wind surrounding the platform and from above a tile folded to the side. There was a person floating down on the wind. The panel behind showing his face. He was an Anthropomorphic Jackal, as far as I could tell. He had on spectacles. A black robe like Savrin and many odds and ends showing around his belt and back. His fur was black with light green markings under his azure blue eyes. His voice was deep and resounded throughout the hall.
"Hello and welcome, I wish to congratulate all of you, "He took a small bow of his head. "Welcome to your new school, your new home. Our home. Welcome to Tolga."