Elowen laid in bed, moonlight illuminating the page of the journal she read. She had prepared herself during dinner to read another entry from Nuri. After the first one, it became clear that she wouldn't be able to handle all of Nuri's writings in one night. Just the first one put her on edge and maybe even made her sick the next day. No, Elowen had to take this slow like her father did. Homesickness had begun to creep its way into Elowen, she had been missing her fathers careful guidance. She had written her first letter to her family, of course leaving out any details that could get her in trouble. She blinked the sleepiness out of her eyes and focused back onto the next journal entry, dated for the same year.
November 19th, Dorian Academy
Over the last week, I have left more notes scattering this journal and have realized its not very practical. My apologies for how crowded it looks. I write this under the assumption that it's you, Elowen, reading this and not someone else. But I must write this down in more than just quick words that don't make sense. Do not trust the teachers here and beware the hall walkers. No, not hall monitors, they don't have those here. Instead they use a kind of magic I've only read about, which must be old from the way they look. Statue magic is what I call it, I've forgotten the correct term. But these walkers are made of stone, cracked from age that wander the halls during class time. Without a hall pass with a stamp from a teacher, I assume they get violent. I fumbled with a hall pass today and the walker got more aggressive the long I took to get it out of my pocket. One of my roommates disappeared this week, she had been talking about how she failed an important exam and the next morning, she was gone. Her bed was made, her things packed and nothing of hers that would suggest she was even there. When I asked Esther about her, she told me had been kicked out due to low grades in her classes. I haven't been able to find anything about her, some teachers just act like they never knew her. Whatever happens to the students that get kicked out here, I'm afraid to think about it. I don't want to get my head all fuzzy thinking about what happened while I try to survive here. I now have 9 roommates, instead of ten.
Signed
Nuri Everglass.
The entire thing was jumbled and hard to comprehend, Elowen had to read it back twice to understand what Nuri was rambling about. But seeing that her roommate number had gone down made her stomach twist, especially given what supposedly caused it. Elowen reread the part where Nuri mentioned the hall walkers and what they do. She hadn't seen any, but she hadn't been tardy or used a hall pass yet. Elowen thought of her mothers dishwasher or the shower they used, simple water magic that most houses had. She recalled how her father had once saved up money to get a more rocky part of the farm flattened by a landscaping company who only had to wave their hands to remove the boulders that made it impossible to farm there. She tried to comprehend the idea of walking statues who were programmed to be violent if they caught a student wandering the halls. She knew which type of magic Nuri was talking about, stone animation was its proper name. Most commonly used to create tomb guardians back about 300 years ago when grave robbing was a large worry among the noble population. They would pay large sums to get stone animators to craft tomb guardians; it fell out of practice when cremation began widespread during the wars.
It wasn't crazy to think that Dorian created hall walkers during the peak of popularity among stone animation. And if the statues were given good upkeep, they could survive the hundreds of years it's been since their creation. Elowen closed the journal after seeing the time on the clock and put it back in the hiding place. Delphi had boasted about her knowledge of magical history, and Elowen decided that she would quiz Delphi's memory by recalling stone animation.
Before closing her eyes, Elowen prayed for what felt like the first time in a long time. She wasn't sure what she was praying for but sometimes, it brought her peace of mind. Bringing back fuzzy memories of when her family would pray together when she was little. Nuri had always been religious like her mother, encouraging her father and Elowen to join in. Maybe, Elowen thought, Nuri's praying tonight as well.
Elowen awoke with a start, being shaken awake by one of her roommates, "Come on, you have fifteen minutes." Her roommate hissed in a hushed voice. "Get ready." She blinked a few times, the words processing in her brain before it clicked. It was 5:30, she had fifteen minutes to get ready. As quickly as she could, she got into the uniform, wrestling with the buttons for a minute before throwing her hair up into a ponytail to hide the fact she didn't brush it. She could feel the adrenaline rushing through her veins as she remembered how Esther smiled at the idea of punishing one of them. Just barely when she strapped her final shoe into place, did the door swing open. A thin layer of sweat had formed on Elowen brow, a testament to just how fast she got ready.
Once again, disappointed, Esther let them know that there would be a fight ring match today after regular classes if they wanted to attend. Elowen blinked, a fighting ring? Dorian had a fighting ring? She wasn't sure why she was surprised, Dorian seemed to have everything. Including statues that wandered the halls apparently. Feeling numb as the adrenaline left her system, she sat down at her desk next to Delphi.
"I'm so excited for the fight ring tonight." Delphi immediately started, forcing Elowen out of her mind. "My brother talked about it all the time during his letters home. Especially how your sister dominated the ring." Delphi smirked at the last sentence, referring to her theory that her brother had a crush on Nuri.
"I'm sure my sister was very good at fighting. Our father taught her a couple moves." Elowen mentioned. Her father had also taught Elowe, her muscles still ache when she thought about it. Looking over at Delphi to see a sparkling look in her eyes.
"Your father taught you guys to fight?" She asked, practically jumping in her seat. Elowen quickly hushed her, even putting a finger to Delphi's lips.
"Yes, but it wasn't anything special. Just self-defense stuff, although I'm sure my sister got more training then I did." Elowen said the last part is a little quieter. She looked similar to Nuri in some ways, like her hair and eyes but thats when the similarity ended. Her mother had a couple of pictures of Nuri hung around the wall. Nuri's tanned skin and muscles were still visible when compared to Elowens own pictures, even in black and white. Windor entered the room and everyone quieted town and throughout the lecture, Elowen would glance over at Delphi.