The night was cold, dark, and even peaceful. After the entire fiasco today the train ride was a really nice change of pace.
"I'm so tired…"
My consciousness stared to fade away as I slumped down in my seat. Lilith and I were currently sitting inside a booth on our way back to the campus.
"You won't be able to sleep for another hour or so unfortunately, the headmaster said what he needs you for is important."
Lilith said while looking out of the window.
She was looking at the high skyscrapers with their lights and the bustling streets. Even though it was nearly midnight the city was never still, it was always active and lively.
The city lights were beautiful, neon holograms and even the train rail was lit up.
"Another hour? Well I guess I could get a few minutes of rest while we wait."
"You have about….8 minutes, rest up."
She checked her watch and estimated the amount of time it would take us to reach the island.
The world slowly but surely began to fade to black. The last thing I saw was Lilith, her beautiful amethyst eyes and her flowing dark hair.
She was resting her chin on her palms while looking out into the city night. It was a scene you'd see in a movie. The shot of the main heroine at the end of a beautiful story.
The world finally faded away.
****
"Hey…"
I felt a nudge.
"Hey Keir it's time to wake up."
"Hm? We already there?"
Lilith nudged me awake. My eyelids were heavy and I let out a yawn.
"Ha- alright let's go then."
My eyes watered as I got up from my seat. I followed Lilith to the academy entrance which was a large gate. The gate was 15 feet tall and had the sigil of Aethra on it.
A blade piercing the sky.
"Student IDs please."
We made our way to the security desk and were instantly asked for our IDs. The woman at the desk seemed to be a new employee, I'd never seen before.
"Here."
Lilith pulled out her ID and showed it to the woman.
"Miss Umbra? Welcome back."
Lilith nodded and took her ID back.
I reached into my pockets, but I couldn't find my ID. I rummaged through every pocket or storage space I had on me.
'Shit, where is it?'
"Sir?"
The woman at the desk looked at me in confusion.
"Looks like I've lost my ID."
"Well, in that case sir I cannot allow you to-."
"Wait."
Lilith suddenly interjected and handed a card over to the woman.
"This student is needed by Headmaster Withers immediately."
The woman's eyes widened, and she scrambled to open the gates as soon as she saw the card.
"My apologies, you may enter."
'Was this meeting really important?'
Lilith gestured for me to follow her through the gates of Aethra, and we made our way through the campus.
It was relatively lively tonight with students training instead of sleeping. As we passed by the training grounds, we could hear the clashing of weapons and RC weaving.
Clash-
Clink-
Their swords kept on clashing due to the spar they were in.
"People are always getting stronger here."
Lilith suddenly spoke out.
"Yeah..."
Most if not all of the students here were stronger than me. I was only barely figuring out how to get stronger.
'You'll be stronger than them all.'
My eyes widened at the thought of that. I'm not sure why I suddenly thought of something so ambitious.
Or was it not a thought?
"They're just like you Keir, trying to get stronger."
"Wait how did you kno-"
"We're here."
Lilith suddenly cut me off mid-sentence.
We were standing in front of a massive building that was in the center of the academy, it was situated across from the student council building.
The Offices.
This is where all the professors would go to grade their assignments, and each of them even had their own suites to sleep in.
'Let's head in. Don't keep the headmaster waiting."
Lilith and I nodded at each other before heading into the building. The building was massive and gave off the atmosphere of wealth and class. The lighting was a warm hue, and we headed towards the elevator.
Ding-
"What does the headmaster want to talk about with me?"
I asked once we entered the elevator.
"You'll see."
Lilith didn't even look at me and just kept on looking forward.
A long silence enveloped us in the elevator. Both of us didn't say a single word to each other for the rest of the trip up.
'You really don't know what they want to talk about?'
It was the voice.
My eyes widened, and I looked around in all directions. All I saw was Lilith standing beside me and the reflective walls of the elevator. Until I saw it, until I saw him.
A man with white hair.
He had black horns of flame protruding from his head and a terrifying smirk. I only saw him in the mirror, where my reflection was supposed to be. My eyes strained with fear. I swallowed my saliva and tried to get it together.
It was like innate fear.
Like I was engineered to fear this man.
Ding-
"Let's go."
Snapping me out of the fear was Lilith's calm and soft voice.
We headed out of the elevator doors and what greeted us on the other side were a pair of doors. The doors that lead to the Headmaster's office were large and daunting.
Lilith walked up to the doors and simply pushed them open, revealing the large office space that belonged to our headmaster.
He was sitting at his desk reading a book. Most of the room was dark, but he had a lamp lighting up his desk. Rows of bookshelves lined the sides of his office, and his desk was large.
Seeing us enter the room, he looked up from his book and took off his reading glasses. He flashed a friendly and warm smile to us both, and Lilith gestured for me to come up to the desk with her.
"Headmaster here is Student Keir Licht."
Lilith presented me to the headmaster in a soft and respectful tone.
"We meet again Keir, thankfully not in the hospital this time haha."
"H-hospital?"
Lilith was shocked by the sudden words the headmaster spoke.
"Yes Lilith, the first time I met this boy he was lying down in a hospital bed."
Her eyes widened, and she looked at me with worrisome eyes. I shrugged her off and looked back at the headmaster.
"An honor to see you again, headmaster."
I bowed down in respect to the man that took the time out of his day to see me.
"You don't have to bow Keir. Why don't you and Lilith take a seat? We'll be discussing some important topics for your career here at Aethra."
Lilith and I approached the two seats across from him and took our seats gracefully. The headmaster pulled out a computer and started to type on it.
Soon enough, he darkened the room even more with a wave of his hand and projected a large video behind me and Lilith.
It was the video of my duel.
"Now what we see in this video is you going against Rank #4 Jenna Leclair right?"
I looked at the video with confused eyes.
"Yes, I was dueling Jenna."
"You do realize you are one of the lowest-ranked students in the school as well, right?"
"Of course I do, headmaster."
The headmaster then scooted his chair in closer to his desk and made the video projection play. He kept on letting it play out until he got to the point he wanted to. The end of the first round.
Where I nearly won.
"Now I know you have ties with the Azar family since that was how you were able to get into this school in the first place. Though this is something entirely different, your family has trained you to the level of scions."
"Eh?'
'What was he talking about?'
If I was only able to get into this with connections, then I didn't know what to think. Was I that hopeless? Did Kiran doubt me that much?
"Now Keir, your combat prowess is extremely impressive on par with the six Scion families, but you do have one significant disadvantage."
"I can't use RC."
"That's what we all thought, but footage shows otherwise Keir."
Lilith stared at me silently and looked at me up and down. Was she determining if I was a threat? The headmaster stopped talking and simply stared at me the same way Lilith was.
"What do you mean by that headmaster?"
"The footage near the end of this video shows clear proof of you trying to harness RC to use its weave. This is not the only proof we have of your ability to actually use RC."
"Are you saying that I am lying to you all headmaster?"
Kalem and I locked eyes and stared at each other. He furrowed his brows and his golden eyes formed a piercing glare aimed at my white eyes.
"Well why don't you start explaining yourself, Keir?"