⚠️ Inappropriate words may be found in this chapter. Proceed with caution.⚠️
This building is so fucking huge..!!
Marls legs tremble. Marls has never worked out all his life. He is quite literally malnourished at this point of his life.
"It's healthy!" Prof. Hitchson says.
Healthy my ass..!! Is he an actual death angel sent to kill me..?
Marls has been taking stairs since the first floor. He is now on the 5th floor, and there are 3 floors left up to the meeting place.
"I bet you don't take the stairs all the time..!" Marls writhes in pain.
"I do!"
"and I'm proud of it!"
Is it what I think it is..?
Prof. Hitchson contracts his muscles to show Marls his muscle definition on his legs. It's all muscle! Solid, no fat!
This dog..! I ain't losin' to a dog..!!
Marls asks the power of his ancestors to give him strength. He is very sure, with the power of his spirit and determination, he dashes through the stairs, one floor to another.
"Watch out your steps." The sound of a man, half heartedly warns Marls. But Marls ignored him, he is too much in the mood.
He dashes through to the 6th floor.
"Watch out your steps." The sound of the same man, half heartedl- Marls ignored him, he couldn't be bothered.
He dashes through to the 7th floor.
"Watch out your steps." The sound of the same man, half heartedl-
Huh..?
Marls realized he has been going pass through the same person over and over again. He immediately looks over the man that has been telling him the same warning.
The man looks like an ordinary person. He wears a blazer and white shirt with a grey tie. He is sitting on the floor just at the end of the stairs. He has a short wavy jet black hair that seems neglected.
"Watch out your steps." The man says.
"Damnit..! It's those endless spiral stairs upwards!" Marls curses. Soon after Prof. Hitchson appears behind Marls. He is walking up relaxed.
"Don't worry Mr. Marls, it's not." Prof. Hitchson says.
"Follow me" He continues.
Marls scratches his head. He couldn't leave his eyes off from the person sitting on the stairs.
"Then what was that..?"
"It's nothig but an alert system, to spook someone that is reckless around the stairs."
"Er.. okay, so there is no such thing as an endless stairs, right?" Marls asks.
"No, no, there is such thing. But the thing you encountered, was not."
The eighth floor of the academy is very high up, Marls can feel the wind packs more force when it tries to move past around him. Despite of being on the eighth floor, the building still has a lot of activity around.
Accelerating shadow on the floor caught Marls' eye. It is followed by the swift and gentle feathers flowing down towards the ground. Before Marls eyes blink, a dozen of winged figures flies down and lands on the ground.
Marls eyes stares in shock.
"A-are those angels..?!" Marls stutters surprised. It causes the students to look at Marls pointing at them. Prof. Hitchson eyes tensed when he sees Marls casually points his hand towards the students.
"No, Mr. Marls, I'm sure they are not..! I apologize for how it is complicated for me to explain now, rest assured, I will satisfy your curiosity if we manage to finish the current task at hand." Prof. Hitchson says, he is sweating a bit out of embarrassment, so he pulls Marls away, away from the scene. He looks at the teacher and tips his hat, which prompts the teacher to smile and bows her head down.
ROAR..!
"Of course there's a dragon." Marls says.
In front of them is the entrance to the meeting chamber. The door is made out of wooden frame, used to protect the stained glass that is the main material the door is made out of. It displays the artwork of a long gone (but beloved) craftsman, the picture of a leviathan roaring in front of a fearless warrior lady, the platinum knight.
Prof. Hitchson pushes the door to open it up. Marls looks on the floor, seeing how there are lots of rubber marks, it's hard to not think how many meetings they had gone through lately. The moment Marls enter the room, he could feel the amount of pressure is in the air.
The room is an indoor half-amphitheater, it has a stage in the front, surrounding it are seats that are arranged in several levels upwards as it goes from the front to the back. The seats are divided in the middle by an empty hallway, the hallway that connects the stage to the entrance, which is where Marls is currently at. Behind the stage is a large window that spans from the floor to the ceiling, showing the warm golden light that spills over the city, opposed to the stone cold atmosphere of the room.
Prof. Hitchson leads Marls to get into one of the empty seats, but Marls couldn't help but notice the sharp eyes around the corner observing him in detail, without hesitation. The eyes, it reminds him of the crows that used to sit in front of his room when he was just a kid. Silent, but eerily concerning. The tension is much more harder to bear considering Prof. Hitchson hasn't spoken a word, he has been silent since they arrived here.
Prof. Hitchson with his paw, pats the seat to the right of him, so Marls comply. It's quite in the exposed side of the room. Marls instinct stings him since his back is left unguarded, in a room which from his perspective, comparable to lion's den. He notices a strange person on his right. He has a short wavy jet black hair that seems neglected. His eyes is looking down at the floor. It seems soulless. In the grip of his hand is a rubik cube.
He seems like a depressed math teacher.. his wife left him or something? poor guy.
The murmur becomes louder as the hall slowly gets crowded. What Prof. Hitchson said is true, and Marls finally understand.
this isn't a hero's welcome.
Something tells him that he is the bad news.