Chapter 29 - First Day

*BEEP BEEP BEEP~*

An alarm sounded out for the nth time that day. The blaring sound had zero effect on the sole individual laying in the room. Laying prostrate on his stomach, Icarth continued to sleep peacefully, completely ignoring the alarm.

The chittering and chirping of the birds fluttered through the half-open window along with the mid-day sun. Turning his face away from the sun, Icarth's blond hair caught the sun's rays, making them glow with an ethereal light.

The distant bustle of people moving to and fro filled the silence after the alarm snoozed itself.

Amid all these sounds, the sounds of footsteps slowly increased in volume.

Opening the door, a brown-haired boy stepped into the room. His lips quirked downwards after seeing Ica still laying in bed.

He took a deep breath and announced, "I-" *BEEP BEEP BEEP~*

The boy was at a loss for words while Icarth merely shifted his head in response.

'How much can one man sleep?' The boy thought helplessly as he watched Icarth soundly sleeping through the horrific high-pitched screeching of the alarm.

Turning off the alarm, the boy started to wake Icarth.

"Icarth,"

"Wake up,"

"It's past noon,"

"Wake up,"

"Icarth, it's way past time,"

Seeing no response after multiple attempts, the boy sighed in frustration.

Resorting to the usual, the boy picked up the bed and tilted it to one side making Icarth tumble down onto the floor......

*Thud*

...Icarth was seen sprawled on the floor, or at least that was what some would expect.

Crouching on all fours, Icarth slowly yawned and blinked his eyes. Rising up, Icarth stretched his body and rubbed his bleary eyes.

"What time is it?"

"Half past noon," the boy answered after gently placing the bed back onto the ground.

"Too early, Sef," Icarth gave another big yawn.

"Definitely not," Sefir answered feeling his eye twitch.

"Yes....." Icarth plopped back onto the bed under Sefir's resigned stare.

This was almost a daily routine for the two boys. Each day Sefir would pray ardently that he could wake Icarth up by just using his words. But alas all the prayers were useless and he would have to resort to methods such as tipping the bed.

"Nope, we have practical class now."

Grabbing Icarth by the shirt, Sefir dragged him out of the room.

Disgruntled, Icarth complied and started to walk with Sefir.

"Lunch?"

"You missed it."

"Can we still get it?"

"NO! I will not miss another class because of you."

"Hmmm, a quick bite then?"

"We both know that you'll take an hour," Sefir stated dryly. "Now shut up and let's go."

Moving through the wide hallways, the two boys made their way out of the dormitory, one hurried and the other one leisurely following behind.

Crossing the streets, the pair made their way to a bus stop a couple of meters ahead.

A couple of students each around the age of 15 were standing outside the bus waiting in a line.

"ICA!" a voice shouted excitedly. Scanning the crowd with his pale red eyes, Icarth spotted a girl who was waving her hand at him. She was around the same height as him, with beautiful shoulder-length blond hair, and a thin frame of glasses. But the most striking part of her, was the eyes, shining like rubies glimmering with untold excitement. She was, of course, Emmia Struze, his twin sister.

Icarth waved slightly and got in line with her, with Sefir standing behind him.

"Hey Sef," Mia greeted.

"Hello."

Mia turned to Ica.

"sup'?"

"You're late," Mia stated.

"Nope, I'm on time."

"Yea right." Mia rolled her eyes. "How could you be so late on the first day of classes for the new year!"

Icarth and Emmia were finally turning 15 this year and were going to start their final stage of schooling.

"Again, I'm not late. Also, it really doesn't matter."

"Arghh, can you at least pretend to care?"

"No."

"Guys, could you please shut up" Sefir sighed dejectedly, no one knew how many times he had been forced to watch and listen to the twins squabbling like kids.

"Great idea," Ica stated and clamped his own mouth shut. It really was too tiring to start arguing right after he had woken up.

"Sefir, don't give him ideas!"

Sefir looked at Emmia with dead eyes. 'Is it my fault that your brother is like this?'

"Oh did you know, we have some new transfer students in our class this year," Sefir mentioned trying to change the subject.

"Oh yea, I've already one of them," Mia exclaimed while Ica gave no reaction.

"Who?" Sefir asked curiously.

"Well, you can talk to her yourself." Emmia smiled and grabbed onto the girl's shoulders in front of her. Turning her around, Emmia introduced her, "This is Luna Kires."

Icarth glanced at the new student, black hair and black eyes framed her doll-like face.

Disinterested, Icarth turned away and delved back into his thoughts.

".....hello," Luna spoke softly.

"Hello," Sefir greeted politely.

.....

Silence followed as both Emmia and Sefir shifted their gazes to Icarth.

Elbowing her brother, Emmia glared at him.

"Yo," Icarth finally greeted.

Emmia rolled her eyes, "He's always like this, don't worry."

Luna nodded wordlessly.

"So, where are you from?" Sefir asked curiously.

"Veritas City."

Emmia sucked in a breath. "Isn't that very far?"

"....Yes."

"How far?" Mia asked curiously.

Luna thought for a few seconds, "I'm not sure.....but it took around 3 days to travel by the Caravaan."

Emmia's eyes twinkled with excitement. "How was the trip."

Ica was watching Mia and Sefir listen to the new girl's concise statements about the journey, when he felt a chill run down his spine. Icarth narrowed his eyes and turned his head to watch a teacher approach them.

The teacher approached them slowly, dragging his legs with each step. His snow-white hair covered his eyes in an unkempt fashion. A white lab coat was loosely draped over some casuals. Overall, he gave the look of a sleep-deprived scientist.

As he approached, the temperature continued to dip causing Icarth's hair to stand on one end.

The chatter of the students in the line quietened down as their teacher approached.

"Alright, get into the bus with a single file." The teacher spoke with an ice-cold voice.

"Anoalli"

"Ardet"

....

....

....

He started to call the students in alphabetical order to board the bus and mark their presence.