The cobbled main street of Aienwater, the township upon which Aeternitas stood for more than one thousand years, flew with flags, banners, and every ornament imaginable bearing words of celebration and good fortune as they did every annum.
The denizens of the township, from excited children to those wizened with age, all knew of the momentous arrival of the first-years. They stood upon the sides of the streets to cheer and offer warm handshakes to every new face that passed; often, it was also an opportunity for them to introduce their establishments. Cafes, shops selling stationary, and even taverns, were all fair game. Among the flurries of conversation, melodies of the Qitara and of people singing songs on their balconies serenaded the winds of fortune; those from the rooftops showered petals of roses to the smartly dressed cadre making their way below, to bless the start of the 1,099th Aeternitas school year.
It was altogether a new experience for Elwin and his friends – a delightful moment that made him forget for a moment the family he left behind. It affirmed to him that his future was his to steer.
"Look at all the people cheering for us. I had no idea being a student at Aeternitas carried this much clout. We're not even there yet!" Isaac remarked, leaning into Elwin over the symphony of the town.
"Yeah," Elwin concurred wide-eyed, looking this way and that like a curious bird.
Mirai walked alongside Elwin, twirling her hair in innocent wonder, oftentimes cleverly deflecting offered handshakes so Elwin would take them instead; Katherine led the way, trying resolutely to keep them moving forward on schedule. Many times, she had to drag Isaac from the back to keep him up with the group, because he wouldn't stop admiring the aroma of each rose petal in the air; everyone laughed as it happened.
Before they knew it, the buildings on the sides had become less numerous, and they were making their way among the bristled foliage of celestion-pine that lined the street. Tiny stars seemed to swirl in their needles.
"Pine, a perennial plant. Immortal, some would say," Katherine remarked.
Up ahead of them was an arched bridge of mossy stone, less than the width of five people side-by-side; a small stream from the mountain's lake to the west ran under it. The fanfare in the air was distant and muffled; the group was now far north of the town on its boundaries. Beyond the bridge, they saw the silvery-white entrance gates of Aeternitas National Academy, and a large domed building rising behind it flanked by numerous spires, skybridges between the academy complexes, and a bell tower.
Elwin briefly turned to see that the houses and shops behind him were now far, far away. In the moment of respite before the rest of the first-years arrived upon the bridge, the four kismets mustered the courage to take on their future.
Who would we meet?
What would the future hold?
Where will we find ourselves after?
Those questions were of course not yet fathomable. But made possible by tenuous chance, by serendipity, that called kismet had weaved them together; they were ready to face and answer those questions in each other's company.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
And so, the Four Kismets took each other by their hands with steely resolve, and jumped across the boundary that separated the world of the ordinary from the extraordinary.
***
"Surprised?" remarked one of the upperclassmen, motioning his Quan with air to open the giant doors leading into the colossal domed building in front of them.
"I was too, three years ago," he continued, seeing Mirai crane her head up to look towards the domed spire.
"Head on in, now – don't forget to wish for something from the MAHA of Time!" He hurriedly ushered in Elwin and his group, placing his attention back to the river of first-years arriving from the entrance gates.
To Elwin's puzzlement, the hall they entered was already packed with students. But upon a closer look, their uniforms seemed different.
"Hey, do you think they are first-years? Look at their uniform –" he asked, trailing off as Isaac poked his shoulder and pointed at the marvel of the interior. Katherine and Mirai were already deep in their wonderment.
He focused his eye, and his breath slipped from him.
Ahead of them was a floor of the cleanest, most reflective marble like an ocean of white, with tapestries of red and silver schist flowing through them like rivers; the columns that held up the rotunda, which spanned around them in a mightily wide circle, dwarfed the height of most houses and ran thicker than the trunks of the oldest trees.
Reposed ahead of those columns, placed equidistant from each other, were five statues taller than Elwin had ever witnessed, basking amidst the golden warmth of the waning Sun that shone through the cameras of the dome; in the fortune of the evening, the entire hall was likewise illuminated in that most mysterious and divine light. Elwin could see motes of dust suspended in each golden ray, as Earth might have looked in a sunbeam.
This domed-building and rotunda, which the students' guidebook mentioned simply as the Hall of Eternity, stood as the gateway that connected the world outside to the Grand Dining Hall and the equivalently adorned campus. But to call it a gateway did not do justice, Elwin thought.
And as if this wasn't enough for Elwin to take in, Mirai took his sleeve and turned him around in marvel at a statue even larger still.
No, a monument was the correct word for this visage, the four kismets thought. Up there, stretching from the ceiling to the very root of many columns, stood a divine being, with outstretched wings and comforting hands, as if offering an embrace. The figure depicted was a woman – or Frhi as the term of respect in their ancient tongue – with long flowing hair that cascaded down with her elegant robes, ending in such fine and minute strands past her knees that Elwin thought it couldn't possibly have been sculpted from stone, although it was; on her face was an expression so mysteriously serene and comforting, her eyes closed gently in eternal dream. Elwin, along with everyone in the hall who faced her, felt the warm tender embrace of a mother upon their hearts; it felt as if all in the world could be understood, forgiven, and loved; that absolution and peace could be sought in the grace of her divinity.
"Who's that?" asked Isaac to his friends. He was likewise captivated.
"It must be... AETERNITAS, the MAHA of Time," answered Elwin, reminiscing her depiction in the storybooks that his mother and father used to read to him. He remembered the story of how she weaved the cosmos and created the world they knew; setting in grand motion the wheels of time, the fates of those who lived on its spokes.
"Isaac, how do you not know of the MAHA of all MAHAs?" quipped Katherine, cocking her head to her side.
"I mean, I knew the name and what it meant, but I had no idea what the MAHA of Time actually looked like. Sorry," he rubbed his head, still mesmerized by the monument.
Mirai raised her eyebrow.
"It's in everyone's storybooks! From Heian to Ascension, from the East to the West –" She stopped as suddenly as she excitedly began, recalling Isaac's tale of how his mother passed away when he was young, and his father was afflicted by disease soon after. Of course Isaac couldn't have the benefit of storybooks that other children so often enjoyed. To remind him of the past would be cruel; just as she felt when others did the same to her. She fell silent again, feeling sorry.
"I guess I have a lot to learn from you all," Isaac said rather sheepishly.
"Say," Elwin continued, trying to steer the conversation in a way that didn't remind Isaac of his past, "why is DEIA AETERNITAS always depicted with her eyes closed?"
"Come to think of it, you're right," Katherine mused, adding to Elwin. "And not just AETERNITAS. It's the FOUNDERS as well – look –" she said, pointing to the five statues, although with the entirety of her hand and not an index finger as they'd usually do.
"Um..." Mirai hesitated, trying best to give an answer, "it's a tale I heard from my great grandmother a long time ago in Heian, but –"
"Do continue!"
"Okay, so... if you're the MAHA of Time, knowing the past, present, and future is a given, right?"
"I suppose so," commented Katherine.
"If you know the story of all people and all creations from beginning to end, all their actions, their choices, their thoughts, then why would you need to physically look at what's in front of you?"
"Oh! Since she already knows everything, she doesn't have to see?" Isaac remarked passionately, hearing a story of divinities for the first time.
"Exactly."
"But why the FOUNDERS too? They were once human, weren't they?" quipped Katherine, prying the topic tenaciously as she usually did.
"Um... that's – I'm not too sure of that," replied Mirai.
It was Elwin's moment to shine. His father had told him plenty of stories about the FOUNDERS.
"The FOUNDERS were once human, but it is said that because they were the first to create the Elemental Arts, AETERNITAS lifted them to divinity."
"Ohh..." Katherine remarked, understanding at once the flow of the point.
"The Founders became the greatest of the MAHANIR, knowing the past, present, and future of all things, just as AETERNITAS does. Their power is only eclipsed by the creator herself."
"And that's why all of their eyes are closed. That's really cool!"
Mirai and Elwin briefly glanced at each other at the same time, and both of them noticed and became embarrassed; they didn't know why they were embarrassed yet, of course, just that they were. They blushed.
"It's awesome you guys are well-versed in mythology already. I thought mythology was rather trite, growing up," Katherine remarked, playfully punching both of their shoulders.
"Ow!" said Elwin.
The statue of the FOUNDER MANASURA smiled at their arrivals. He was robed in oceanic waves, upon his head the crown of insight, in his right hand the scepter of the first King; in his left hand rested the ringed Moon.
With the initial wonder of the Hall of Eternity now settled, Elwin and others freed their gazes to look behind them. Almost all the first-years seemed to be there, along with the other students Elwin deduced could've been upperclassmen. But it must've been only a portion of the upperclassmen – those that stood in the hall was too few to count as the entire student body. He craned his neck to see if Sandora and her crew were there, as well as Maximus whose stories he'd only heard.
The hall echoed with various tunes of hushed voices and the occasional laughter, together with gleeful recognition from friends long separated, and overall, an atmosphere of anticipation – until at last, the serious and nice-looking upperclassman who'd opened the doors for them approached a small podium that stood him atop everyone.
"Good evening, everyone," he said, his Quan shining like a star. His voice cascaded throughout the hall like a shot from a cannon.
The hall fell quiet immediately, craning in to listen.
"I am the fourth-year consul of the House of ARTAIA. I am this year's apprentice of ceremonies."
"Second-years, please remain here until called for your House Ceremony."
"First-years, please follow me to the Astinel Concourse to the north end of this hall."
He raised a large banner standard of burgundy with the gold sigil of Aeternitas, stepping off the podium so everyone could see.
"So it begins," monologued Katherine.
The throng of 160 first-year students followed the apprentice of ceremonies to the Astinel Concourse. Elwin was rather sad to leave the marvel of the Hall of Eternity behind; but his thoughts were quickly replaced as was the environment around him.
The floor turned to that of flagstones of deep brown with trims of amberlike bronze; large carpets lay on them, with pillars of maroon holding up the ceiling. Dimly lit chandeliers sparkled on them from above. In front of them was an enormous door, more like a gate, embossed with square-patterns of which Elwin hadn't the faintest idea of origin – and on top the gates were engraved the words "Grand Dining Hall".
"Spared no expense, it seems. Just my style," remarked Katherine.
"The Ceremony of Initiation and the start of the year banquet shall begin shortly," the apprentice of ceremonies announced. Though this upperclassman was just 3 or 4 years older than Elwin, he was so much taller and better-built; he possessed an expression of maturity and understanding on his face beyond the ordinary man, and looked like he possessed the strength and skill to take on ten men in combat. Elwin imagined whether he'd be anything like him, come his senior year.
"The gates will open in a few minutes. I suggest you smarten yourself up as much as possible before you face the professors and the headmaster."
"Wait – is everyone already in there?" A voice piped up from among the crowd.
"Yes – everyone except the first and second-years. Now then, please wait here, quietly."
With dignified air, he walked off to the other end of the concourse, and disappeared from view.
And just as he was about to remark something to his friends, Elwin caught eye of quite possibly the last person in the world he wanted there at that moment.