The next day, Eki and I met at the same table where we had eaten the day before. I was actually worried that I might have overslept, but things turned out to be fine. We had breakfast and silently set off.
Along the way, I could feel Eki's excitement, but when I asked him about it, he denied it. 'Weird guy.'
I kept following him, since I had no idea where the academy was. We passed by a few big buildings, bigger than the ones I saw in my hometown.
The people also seemed to be dressed nicer and they were more polite, and most importantly, they all were of a higher status. I could tell since they didn't try to conceal their magical presence, and it was a strong one. Despite that, they didn't seem to look down on me... It was as if... They were just straight-up ignoring me.
I brushed off that thought. I started to become anxious seeing this many powerful mages. 'It will be fine, after all, I survived in the forest. It will be fine.'
Finally, I broke the silence.
"So, are we far from our destination?" I asked loudly, hoping this would soothe my nerves.
"Nah," Eki replied, trying to hold back his excitement.
I didn't ask him anything else. Soon enough, we were in front of the academy. I imagined it would be a big, colorful building, with a lot of decorations and sculptures, big towers and a lot of floors. However, it wasn't any different from a regular school. In fact, it looked more like a big flat where richer people would usually buy their own rooms. But it had 2 towers on each side of the building, with minimal decorations, almost a block of stone and a big gate surrounded by brick walls that differentiated it from a regular flat.
After a good look, I thought the walls surrounding the academy were fancier than the academy itself.
However, in front of the gate, there was an infernal line of people, mostly children with their parents or siblings.
"They must be waiting to apply!" Eki said, not bothering to hold back his excitement anymore.
I rolled my eyes. "Does applying take that long?" I asked.
"Didn't you read the rules before coming here? They clearly mentioned it there," he asked, confused.
"As I told you, I just made up my mind to join the academy, so I guess I didn't." This was the first thing that came to my mind, but Eki didn't seem to mind.
"You have to fight one of their students, and the ones that you will fight are the weaker ones," he said.
'Piece of cake.' I thought.
Even though the line was long, our turn came pretty quickly. We were greeted by a lady who asked our names, age, and the previous school we attended. Luckily, she didn't seem bothered when I told her that I was going to a school for the first time.
She noted all our answers in a notebook and assigned us a number. She even gave me a piece of something that felt like cardboard, with the number 065 written on it. From what I saw, Eki's number was 628.
'Another weird thing, do they just assign the numbers randomly?'
As soon as we got inside the building, we got separated. It was very crowded, and I could barely see anything around me. I could only look upwards.
I was in a big room, with a few floors, which were also crowded. In the middle, there was an open space, and from what I figured, we weren't allowed to go there. That space also had a big spiral staircase that connected every floor, but nobody was using it, so I assumed there were some other staircases.
'Ugh, so many people here,' I thought while trying to understand why there were so many. Eventually, I gave up. 'Nothing really makes sense here.'
And as if to prove my point, from a speaker, a male voice started to speak.
"Welcome, applicants. We are very happy to see so many talents gathered here, eager to become stronger and polish their magical abilities."
Everyone went silent.
"As you know, our academy is known in the whole eastern area, and we create the strongest mages, even some that are given permission to leave the eastern area," the voice continued.
"As for the conditions of being accepted, you have to defeat your opponent or prove that you are worth our attention. The first candidate is number 065. Please proceed to the underground arena."
The voice stopped talking.
I didn't even question why number 065 would be the first one. I started making my way towards the middle. That had to be the entrance to the underground arena. I felt hundreds of people watching me, which made me shiver.
I was right. As I got to the middle, two guards fully covered in armor opened a gate for me. Beyond the gate, I could see a long staircase.
'It's now or never.'
The stairs were built out of stone, the same as the walls and ceiling. There were torches on the walls, placed far from each other, but in a way that they wouldn't leave any spot completely dark.
As I was descending, I lost track of time. It felt like a few hours, but I eventually saw the end of it.
I entered a big room, bigger than the last one. It closely resembled a fighting arena. The floor was made of a different type of stone than the staircase, and it was big, very big.
Surrounding the floor, there were pillars of something that looked like marble—I wasn't too sure. The pillars were supporting a second floor, which looked like it was designed for an audience; however, there was none.
The pillars had a lot of beautiful carvings, representing different scenes from a battle. I suddenly remembered my grandpa's diary and my curiosity but quickly dismissed the idea that was forming in my head. 'I must focus.'
Then I saw something that shocked me. On the second floor, facing me, there were three people watching. I couldn't really see their faces from that distance, but I still managed to recognize one.
My jaw dropped. I was pretty sure I couldn't possibly mistake that face.
It had to be him.