A bright sky shined down as my fore foot hit solid ground. My eyes adjust as I stumble forward a few steps out of the gate. We stood in a similar plaza as before but the surrounding buildings were bigger and mountain peaks can be seen in the distance from every direction.
"Everyone gather over here." Dean's voice rang out gathering the attention of the group. I follow the crowd to a spot under a tree in front of a three-story building. "All right this is the student dormitory this is where you will stay, your uniforms will be provided in your rooms, which are labeled with your names. Tomorrow will be the opening ceremony. Be there before the eighth bell in proper uniform. You will also be provided a campus map to find the appropriate locations of things. And that covers all you need to know for now." The cluster of thirty students stand there until he shows us with his hand.
"Cool it looks like we have time to explore today." I turn and see a familiar face standing beside me.
"Orion? Correct?" He grins at my question crinkling his freckles.
"Yup, and your Alexander. The kid who shocked the dean on your aptitude test. The shock on his face was hilarious. Nice to meet you." He holds out his hand and I shake it.
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting all that attention."
"Well, it's just how it is. Since we are free today want to explore with me? It won't be nearly as fun by myself."
"If we do that, I need to check on my sister first. Make sure she settles in."
"Oh, that's right you're a twin. What's that like?"
"I don't know it's just like having a sister never really had to describe it in words."
"Makes sense." Orion twists the ends his hair pondering before his face lights up. "The dean said that these are the student dorms, right?"
"Uh..Yeah. Why do you ask?"
"So that means there isn't a separate building for the female students," He gives a dopey grin like he just struck gold.
"What does that have to do with…" Then the thought dawns on me as I remember his jokes during the exam. I yank him close so no one hears me whisper, "You are not thinking of sneaking into their rooms, are you?" He lets out a gleeful laugh and removes himself from my grip.
"No not at all. I was just making an observation. You have a dirty mind, Alexander."
"Is the reason you're out here still is to talk about perverted stuff?" A remark comes from behind us causing us to spin around. Maria stood her arms crossed brow furled. It looks like everyone left while we were talking.
"Not at all, we were deciding where to go after settling in." Orion comes in with a quick lie.
"Yeah, I wanted to go to the library and he wanted to go to the Arena." Maria lets out a sigh and places her hand on her forehead.
"Really, are you serious. You are in the isolated Sylph Academy and you still just want to go to the library. Can you be any more predictable?"
"Not just the library, but yeah that's my main destination."
"There are some good-looking book worms." Orion whispers to me from behind. I give him a good elbow and smile when I hear him grunt.
"Well, if your interrogation I'm going to put my stuff up. Then I'll be out here waiting to go explore."
"Fine, I got to drop these off too," She pats her bags.
"Awesome, shall we check out our rooms?" Orion trots off in front. Maria walks next to me as we head in. Through the doors the first thing I see is an open room with furniture and stairs to the upper floors. Beside the stairs stood a wooden table with a man sitting behind it. The man wore silver robes with a golden seam on it. His thin fingers flipped through parchment. He looks up when the door closes behind us.
"New students needing rooms I'm assuming," His voice light and clear, "I'll need your names."
"Maria Cleargrey."
"Alexander Cleargrey." He looks up at me and Maria then looks back at his paper as if he answered his own question.
"I'm Orion." He then looks up staring at Orion for a few moments. Till sighing and giving up waiting.
"Last Name." he spoke coldly.
"Azanar." Orion chuckles. The man shuffles through papers before looking back at us.
"Ms. Cleargrey is room 19 on the east wing third floor. Mr. Cleargrey is room 7 on the west wing third floor. And Mr. Azanar is room 20 in the west wing third floor. Here are your keys everything else is in your room." He hands us each a bronze key then goes back to his papers. We then each head to or respective rooms.
I open my door and look around the room. It was about twenty feet wide and thirty long. I drop my bags at the foot of the bed in the left corner. On the desk sat a wooden box. I open the lid and find clothes, a student emblem, and an envelope. The envelope contains a map, list of important info relating to the mess hall and library, and a list of rules for the academy. I pull out the clothes and inspect them. A white collared shirt and a slim black tie which seems to be my size, they must have used the measurements we submitted two weeks prior. I get changed into the uniform I left off the coat and chose to just wear the brown vest instead. I grab the map and my satchel that held Elliott's book in it and head out the locking it behind me.
Outside the dorms, Orion was already waiting. He changed also but he just wore a shirt, no tie or vest. His dark braided hair pulled back with a green ribbon. As I approach, he sees me and gives a goofy grin.
"Alexander, went with a more rigid version of the uniform I see."
"Well, not everyone wants to have an unkept appearance."
"That doesn't really matter if you are good looking. Anyway, what swords are you going to be learning?"
"I'm going to study all of them even though the second makes me uneasy."
"Yeah, borrowing power seems a bit risky. I'm going to focus on the first, but I might play around with the third."
"If you have the capability, you should try your best."
"Yeah, I guess that's what my father would want. Gathering as much merit as I can, to up hold the family honor."
"Isn't that all parents?"
"I guess. It's just he doesn't understand what I want."
"Which is?" At this he gives me an arrogant grin.
"Obviously succeed my father as count and live a worry-free lavish life." He spreads his arms in a joking manner.
"So, your father's a count?"
"Yeah, not very influential though. On another note, your sister just came out." I look over to the doors seeing my sister in the full uniform.
"Hey, sis you look proper." I stifled a laugh. She hated wearing skirts, and here she was wearing one.
"Shut it Zan, why aren't you wearing the full uniform?"
"Rules only said full uniform during classes that decide on it. It didn't say we couldn't wear it how we like around campus."
"Really, you really are a book worm if you already read the rule book. So, were to first?" I open the map from my room.
"Well, the closest areas are the library, mess hall, and the Arena. Arena is a bit farther than the other two. What do you guys think."
"Arena." They both chime in at the same time. I sigh and put the map away. And start heading around the dorms to go south to the Arena. With two excited pups trailing behind me. I really wanted to go to the library.