"Were you really going to let me fall? You might be more mentally unstable than I originally thought." Luck muttered as he watched Arlder slowly descend walking in the air as though he was climbing down an invisible staircase.
"I knew you would be alright, you have an enigma after all." Arlder said.
"I don't have an enigma."
"Wait, you're still going with that story?" He asked surprised that someone caught red handed would still uphold such a blatant lie.
"You know if someone tries to hide something he probably has a very good reason for hiding it." Luck sighed as they both began to walk down the street.
"Still can't control yourself?"
How he knew about that Luck had no clue, they had been friends for a while now, since the day Arlder 'coincidentally' ran into him one night when he was on the verge of dying of hunger.
During the time they had known each other Luck had been very careful to avoid speaking about things he would rather have kept secret.
But somehow someway Arlder still always managed to dig them out, this being the height of it all.
Arlder definitely knew far more about Luck than he let on while he on the other hand knew little secrets about him other than that he was a top ranking Venator. 'He does little to hide it though.'
"Has anyone told you that you are pretty weird and inquisitive?"
"Weird, no. Inquisitive, yes," Arlder replied, running his hand through his hair.
"By the way, where are we going?"
"You just started following me, after rejecting my job offer. Even though you promised." He sulked.
"That is because I'm still trying to decide if my secret is safe with you– or if I'll have to make you disappear along with it," Luck said oddly as they both entered into an alleyway.
'Wait, I probably shouldn't have said that out loud.'
Arlda stopped, turning around to stare at him.
'Really? Are we going to fight like right now?.'
The laugh that came after made Luck wonder why he ever took Arlder seriously. Arlder suddenly began to laugh as if he had heard an unknown joke, he laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed until he was almost tearing up.
"Your confidence is really inspiring, do you really think that you can defeat the number 1 venator in the country… at night nonetheless."
"The moon clan are not the only people that can do amazing things at night."
"And I should assume that you too can do amazing things at night?" He chuckled. "How do you know what clan I'm from?"
"The white hair with blue highlights was enough of a giveaway."
Arlder ran his hand through his hair. "Beautiful isn't it?" He said, opening the door to an old worn out building.
"I'm not interested in selling drugs."
"Yeah yeah, be quick I'm getting late." He suddenly shoved Luck into the darkness of the room.
Immediately Luck entered it felt as though he was submerged in water, he pushed himself back but there was nothing behind him, then it felt as though he was placed in oil and after that was a space where he felt light.
'There was no air in this space.'
He thought just before he fell down flat on his back on a stone pathway with Arlda standing next to him trying his best to not laugh but failing miserably.
"Explain."
"I'm guessing you were wiggling around in the portal," he said between chuckles. "Classic newbie move."
"Portal? Where are we?" Luck got up to clean the dirt off his clothes.
'That was a weird experience.'
"Welcome to the Venator academy."
The Venator academy was located on one of the most well known islands in the country, after news of the academy's location sprung up the island saw a huge increase in the amount of tourists that visited the area.
Although outsiders were not allowed in the academy the tourists seemed to be happy with just staring at the building from a distance.
Luck noticed a cool breeze that washed over them the moment they appeared on the island, one of the perks of being surrounded by the sea.
He stared at the academy from where he stood, a group of tall elaborate buildings that were built right in the midst of the forest.
The buildings seemed to flow so well with the natural vegetation, some buildings even having plants that climbed them from the base of the building up to the very top.
Up ahead towards the northern part of the academy was a large tree that dwarfed all other trees in the environment; it was the biggest tree Luck had ever seen.
"Some people say that tree is older than the phantoms," Arlder commented when he noticed Luck's attention was on the tree.
"That is not the only thing ancient about this place."
He said out loud as he stared at the tree. The tree had a certain allure, it had a strange way of instilling a sense of calmness and peace, Luck couldn't help but stare at it for a while before finally shifting his focus to the rest of the compound.
From where they stood Luck could see people filter in and out of the gates each going about their own business.
"How many people live here?"
"Hmmm, most students, and a ton of other people like researchers, engineers and technicians plus a bunch of other nobodies."
"And the government pays for all of this?"
The academy after all was a highly funded school that raised venators in order to counter the phantoms. An Island city in its own right situated not too far from the country in the case of an emergency.
"Yes the government does provide a good amount of money used to fund the place, but the academy is fully autonomous. The true people with power over the academy are the 5 major clans. Which are the Moon clan, The Earth clan, Scarlet clan, Kuroski clan and the Shadow clan." Arlder said as they began to walk towards the gate.
"In order to be able to dispatch easily we make use of the portals, and with them we are able to go in and out of the city with ease and on tim–. Hey are you even listening?!"
'That portal was so weird, it's a shame people have to go through that everyday. Anyways all this walking around should at least guarantee me a second dinner.' Luck reasoned completely lost in thought.
Suddenly he felt his feet kicking against the air, he was off the ground again. He turned around to see Arlder holding him off the ground with his left arm.
"Wait, wait, wait. Don't toss me into the air like last time!" Luck wasn't a fan of using his enigma for useless things.
"Have you been listening to anything I've been saying?" He asked looking irritated. "Why do I even bother, you'll learn everything in the intro class afterall, I guess the most important thing is not to cross anyone from any of the major clans."
"You're late!" A young woman resting at the side of the gate yelled. She had her hair up in a ponytail but little stubborn strands still managed to evade the grasp of the elastic band. She looked angry, very angry.
"Ayra! Well you see this boy is very fragile and kept throwing up after going through the portal, I had to give him time to get some air."
"Hey, that neve-," Luck froze the moment Arlda grabbed onto his shirt again. "Oh yes I remember the portal was so weird that it made me throw up all my dinner!" He quickly said.
"Is he the one?"
"Yup he's the one alright."
"Hurry up and get going, I'll take him off your hands get him cleaned up and fed." She said as Arlder headed into the school.
"Fed? I like her already!" Luck chimed.
"I'll see you soon Luck, and try not to eat too much," he said.
"Let's get you registered and in your official academy jacket, classes starts in 30 minutes."
'Wait, class?' Luck thought the word 'class' bringing him back into reality. "I think there is some sort of misunderstanding somewhere, I never signed up for any classes." He said as he slowly backed up from the gate.
'This would be a good time to run.'
"Stop, are you actually thinking of running? Come on let's be serious here, you aren't a kid and it's not like I can let you leave."
He continued his slow retreat. "Of course you can, just tell him I disappeared." He said as he turned around and took off and to his surprise she began to chase after him.
"Hey, you shouldn't really be running in heels you know!" Luck yelled.
She was fast, fast enough to keep up with luck but not fast enough to catch him and the space between them was slowly getting larger.
"Stop running!" She screamed.
"I guess I'll just stop because you told me to!" He yelled increasing his pace.
"Alright, wait! You can pick anything you want from the pantry!"
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I hope you like the progression of the story so far. Now that Luck has arrived at the academy we are going to be seeing a lot of new characters.