The nurse walked away after berating Vino for all the trouble he has put her through over the years.
Vino felt conflicted. He truly did want to stay with his mother while she was ill, but he had just been promised she would be taken care of. Aria also mumbled about going to the academy in her sleep.
Should I really go?
A childlike giggle was heard: "You should, Vino."
Frags? Where the hell have you been?
"I couldn't help with that fight. If I even told you to do a single thing that day, we wouldn't be here." Frags kicked his legs while sitting comfortably inside of his bed at home.
But you weren't there when I had the dream about the creature!
"In fact, I was there!" Frags giggled. "I dunno what you saw though. I just know you definitely had a bad dream."
"Vino!" Rina called out, grabbing his attention.
"I am sorry. Sorry for being so useless," Rina said.
"I told you its ok. Please don't say another word." Vino noticed she had started crying again and just hugged her tighter. He let her get it all out. He really didn't know how else to help.
"Rina, we should try to make it before the induction ceremony." Vino said.
"Well yeah, it IS the first step to being enrolled!" Rina chuckled, and her face turned serious.
"There isn't a cost, but damn, its hard to make it far. Only around 500 people make it through a year."
"And the academy is so big that its considered its own autonomous zone! With providence greater than between the three big nations!"
Frags interrupted and explained in more detail while Vino and Rina got ready for their expedition to the academy, also known as The Concordium.
"The Concordium is a place the nations never touch, not because of fear but because of the agreement to knowledge and learning. Lots of people don't even make it to the ceremony, let alone the trials."
"The year may start off with 15 thousand to 20 thousand students. Over a million people a year never make it due to nations thinning out the numbers to get the best of the best into the place. A lot of death happens over this place."
"It isn't a nice place. I am assuming that the rewards for graduating are immense." Vino said whilst watching more void fairies carrying things around above his head.
"Hm?" Rina turned around; she was packing some things that she found from the remains of Vino's house.
"Oh, sorry, it's nothing." Vino responded. Rina noted that he definitely had something on his mind. He already had over a month of past memories floating around in his mind, but most of them were of random studies and notes Frags had taken over the course of that month. There was nothing to really help him remember the times with Rina.
They seemed so close, but maybe that was a lie. Maybe Frags led him to believe something that was untrue.
Frags.
"Yeah?" Frags responded.
You are hiding things from me.
"I am."
Tsk.
The noise of Vino smacking his teeth caught Rina's attention once again. She let her thoughts trail off.
'I definitely upset him. I didn't mean for all of this to happen. What if he hates me for good?'
Rina got quiet until she and Vino were done packing.
"Rina?" Vino asked, smiling slightly, "Are you ready?"
They both left the room and began walking along the road that led to a matrix for teleportation.
Vino still had the sword from what seemed like another dimension, but he realized something. When he let go of it, its form began getting unstable once again, and it looked as if it was
Vino lifted his hand and shook the sword around, trying to get Rina's attention, but she didn't see it at all.
"Excuse me."
Vino and Rina both looked to the side. Seeing a familiar face.
"Looks like you are trying to leave without me! What an atrocity!" Anne flicked her golden hair around and smiled at the two of them.
"Now we must leave! My escort will protect me!" She grabbed both of their arms and turned into the little cute squirrel form from before.
"I like her better like this." Vino laughed a bit.
"Agreed." Rina picked her up and put her on Vino's shoulder.
"Is she more of a pet or friend?" Vino asked quietly.
Rina just shrugged and they continued walking. Vino and Rina had a long day ahead of them, but nothing would stop them from getting to The Concordium.
<
"Are you guys going to keep me waiting?" A young boy said.
Two other boys followed him. The boy had turquoise hair and a gem embedded into a wrap he had on his left arm. He didn't have a shirt on, showing his chiseled body, and had baggy pants to go with.
"Sorry, prince Adrien!" The boys said it in unison. They had similar outfits, but without the wrap. One had a marking of a ten-pointed star, and the other had the same mark, but on the other arm.
"Stop calling me that! We are friends here!"
Adrien stepped down from the little hill he was on and jumped at the other boys, ruffling their hair.
"Reginald and Kingston. Are you ready?" The two boys looked on in glee. They both had light brown hair and looked like twins.
"Hell yeah, we are! We trained since we were kids to protect you, and now we get to go to the academy!" Kingston replied.
"Mhm. We trained hard." Reginald added on quietly.
The three of them kept walking forward, and they looked down a hill. There was what looked like an enormous city, but it was all just an academy.
"Holy hell, that thing is huge!" Adrien said with his gloved hands on his head. There was a giant forest that separated them from the Concordium, but somehow it was still visible from where they stood.
"One more step, and we leave the kingdom of Horas! This place doesn't follow the same rules, so watch out!"
Adrien began running down the hill, and he was laughing like there was no tomorrow. This was the most joyful moment of his life. He was finally free.
When he got down to the bottom, he looked into the forest and had the biggest smile on his face.
"Kingston! Reginald! look at this!" He turned around with a smile.
Adrien watched as two bodies rolled down the hill, splattering blood on his face when they hit the bottom.
"A-a-a-a-a." He couldn't mutter a word. He just looked up towards the top of the mountain to see a pink-haired man with no eye color. It was just pitch black. The man had both feet just barely over the boundary between the kingdom and the Concordium.
Adrien began running through the woods at a speed far greater than your average boy. He had just turned 18 but had the speed of a cheetah.
"Damn. Damn. Damn!" Adrien tried to keep his tears from flowing, but they began blurring his vision. He tripped over a root, but still kept running, almost tumbling over.
"I need to get out of the
"I've got you now, brother." A voice reverberated in Adrien's mind.
He felt his body slowly levitating into the air, but he stomped harder and harder, until he stomped one last time and missed the ground.
He could see a bridge a couple hundred meters away, but it was too late. He was floating in the air by a force that felt like it was gripping his head.
The wrap on his arm loosened to reveal a waning crescent mark.
"You killed my friends." Adrien stopped struggling in the air, he let his body hang loosely. There was blood coming out of his nose.
"I do not think they like feeling that pain."
The mark under the bandage turned into a chain and went across his chest and covered his entire left arm.
"Break." One of the chain links on his mark broke and crumbled into nothing. Adrien lifted his arms in the air.
Adrien's skull collapsed, and his body dropped to the ground. Lifeless.
"You were a rather weak one." The man with pink hair said.
His body started glowing, and he rose back from the ground, unharmed.
Oh?
"I have 10 seconds." He began sprinting once again, at a speed faster than before, and the bridge was a few steps away. He managed to cross it and the markings on his body faded. He pulled on the bandages to tighten them and continued on his way.
"I don't like that feeling. It always gets me." He had a bitter look on his face before breaking down into tears.
"Why?" Adrien wiped his face clean of tears and looked back to see a pink-haired man walking over the bridge.
"Adrien~!" The man said in a mocking voice. "I recognize you! The 7th prince to the kingdom. An illegitimate heir. You have no relation to the king, yet you fight for him so earnestly."