Children Of Infinity (IC)

[Wolfenium]

"I... don't know if I should ask..." Niloofar uttered, rubbing her arm in discomfort, "to be honest, I'm a bit worried about what I might find out... I try to ignore the gossip others keep saying, but sometimes... I'm not sure what to believe. You probably wouldn't understand."

Trying to laugh it off, the Muramasa-jin looked quite desperate to change the subject. The more she probed, the more troubled she started to feel about herself. Despite assurances by her own family and friends, she never quite got over her past. The one thing that bothered her most was how little she actually knew about it, and how everyone there just seemed to think of her the same way, as some dragon spawn.

"Well, it's up to you in the end. But you're right, I don't understand, and I won't attempt to pry. Anyway," said Ellyn seeing Niloofar's uncomfortable face, "anything else you want to talk about? Seems like we all haven't spoken much to each other, and it would be great to get to know more about our fellow students. After all, we're going to be together for a long time. Well, I guess I'll start. What do you want to know about me?" Ellyn asked.

Blinking a bit, Niloofar was a bit taken aback by Ellyn's straightforward query. She knew absolutely jack about the knight, and she had no idea what to ask. Not to mention, it might feel a bit rude diverting the conversation from the trainee all of a sudden. They were here to join the smithing club, first of all. She did not really consider it appropriate to engage in small talk right now.

"We... I'd probably not stay here too long, but I suppose you're right," she admitted, "I don't know where to start, though... How about your name? A name speaks of one's identity and family. I admit, I don't have much of a background to speak of. Maybe a bit about yourself and your house sounds good."

[The Starlight]

Blinking a bit, Niloofar was a bit taken aback by Ellyn's straightforward query. She knew absolutely jack about the knight, and she had no idea what to ask. Not to mention, it might feel a bit rude diverting the conversation from the trainee all of a sudden. They were here to join the smithing club, first of all. She did not really consider it appropriate to engage in small talk right now.

"We... I'd probably not stay here too long, but I suppose you're right," she admitted, "I don't know where to start, though... How about your name? A name speaks of one's identity and family. I admit, I don't have much of a background to speak of. Maybe a bit about yourself and your house sounds good."

"I suppose I will start with the etymology of it then. Ellyn Tarembor. El, meaning first. lyn, dawn. Ellyn, first dawn. Tarembor. It means, blazing light. My father, Teleren Tarembor, is a forger. Not only of armor and weapons, but of tools and toys, for the time when blades are no longer needed in this universe. He taught me all that I knew about forging, but I will never surpass his work. People come from different planets for commissions of swords, armor and tools. He is a co-head of the Forger's Guild upon Acrea. My mother, Windelas Tarembor, is a painter, who taught me how to paint herself. So I suppose I inherited the gifts of both my parents, as I am both a forger, and an artist. From what I've gathered from the family history, House Tarembor have always worked with their hands. I believe the founder of our family was a farmer, who became a forger, teaching himself the art. They are kind people, always supporting me, and I love them dearly. I will miss them, but they were ecstatic to see me admitted to the Academy, and were adamant that I not give up this once in a lifetime opportunity."

"As for me, I was a curious child. I would spend hours, watching my father work, or my mother paint, being fascinated by what they did. Though I was originally groomed for "lady-like" positions I convinced my mother that I wanted to be a warrior like the legends of old. I devised a training system for myself, meant to hone myself into a person my father and mother would be proud of. I spent my time doing three things, exercising, training with the sword and spear, forging, to build muscle and grant me strength, and painting, to keep my hand quick, steady and precise. I sacrificed most of my social life, preferring the company of my parents, despite their insistence. After many lessons, and failures, I succeeded in forging the sword and spear I use today, Dawnbreaker, and SIlverthorn, I christened them. Deciding to test myself, I entered a local tournament, and to my surprise and joy, won. After a few more tournaments, I received a letter from the Academy, and here I am. Any questions?" Ellyn asked.

[Wolfenium]

Blinking a bit, Niloofar was a bit taken aback by Ellyn's straightforward query. She knew absolutely jack about the knight, and she had no idea what to ask. Not to mention, it might feel a bit rude diverting the conversation from the trainee all of a sudden. They were here to join the smithing club, first of all. She did not really consider it appropriate to engage in small talk right now.

"We... I'd probably not stay here too long, but I suppose you're right," she admitted, "I don't know where to start, though... How about your name? A name speaks of one's identity and family. I admit, I don't have much of a background to speak of. Maybe a bit about yourself and your house sounds good."

"I suppose I will start with the etymology of it then. Ellyn Tarembor. El, meaning first. lyn, dawn. Ellyn, first dawn. Tarembor. It means, blazing light. My father, Teleren Tarembor, is a forger. Not only of armor and weapons, but of tools and toys, for the time when blades are no longer needed in this universe. He taught me all that I knew about forging, but I will never surpass his work. People come from different planets for commissions of swords, armor and tools. He is a co-head of the Forger's Guild upon Acrea. My mother, Windelas Tarembor, is a painter, who taught me how to paint herself. So I suppose I inherited the gifts of both my parents, as I am both a forger, and an artist. From what I've gathered from the family history, House Tarembor have always worked with their hands. I believe the founder of our family was a farmer, who became a forger, teaching himself the art. They are kind people, always supporting me, and I love them dearly. I will miss them, but they were ecstatic to see me admitted to the Academy, and were adamant that I not give up this once in a lifetime opportunity."

"As for me, I was a curious child. I would spend hours, watching my father work, or my mother paint, being fascinated by what they did. Though I was originally groomed for "lady-like" positions I convinced my mother that I wanted to be a warrior like the legends of old. I devised a training system for myself, meant to hone myself into a person my father and mother would be proud of. I spent my time doing three things, exercising, training with the sword and spear, forging, to build muscle and grant me strength, and painting, to keep my hand quick, steady and precise. I sacrificed most of my social life, preferring the company of my parents, despite their insistence. After many lessons, and failures, I succeeded in forging the sword and spear I use today, Dawnbreaker, and Silverthorn, I christened them. Deciding to test myself, I entered a local tournament, and to my surprise and joy, won. After a few more tournaments, I received a letter from the Academy, and here I am. Any questions?" Ellyn asked.

"That... doesn't sound very fantastic," Niloofar went, a bit disturbed at her story, "I can tell you put in a lot to pursue your dream, but don't you think there's more to life than just being a warrior? Don't you feel the least bit lonely without any friends?"

In many respects, Ellyn's life story sounded rather typical of most story protagonists to her, a young student with dear and kind parents who grew up in the craft and took on the opportunity to study in a prestigious academy to pursue her dreams. Niloofar was admittedly a bit tired of hearing them, but she tried not to be snide this time, no matter how tempting. After all, if it were up to her, she would have picked a more comfortable life story like Ellyn's compared to her own. The only matter she had to voice, however, was the glaring lack of social life the girl went through. She could not help but think Ellyn might end up alienating her peers with her inexperience with social interaction.

"My full name is Niloofar Shirazi, at least that was my name after I was adopted into the family," she mused, looking a bit solemn, "it doesn't really hold any special meaning. It just means 'water-lily' in Xorshid tongue, which is a direct translation of my old name, Suiren. You see, before coming to Mervarid, I spent my early life on Muramasa. It's a rather inhospitable place... and not something I fondly remember..."

Pausing for a while, Niloofar was a bit lost for words again. She was not sure where to continue. Certainly, she preferred not to speak of her past in Muramasa if she could. Speaking up again, she apologized, "ah, sorry. A bit lost in my thoughts again. I was hoping if you'd ask me something for a change. I hope you don't mind."

[Charmera]

Eamonn's outburst had darkened the mood a fair bit, but seeing as their curators had abstained from acknowledging any transgressions until they had finished their meals was reason enough for Arogisl to pay him no mind. Perhaps had the man taken a moment to filter his own words he would have found a more agreeable return for his thoughts, but seemingly eager to shift the group's mindset from such darkness Brightshield called for attention to instruct upon the details of proper waste disposal following a meal. Seemingly basic material, but he supposed it was always a good idea to ensure a lack of misunderstanding.

Concluding their stay on the top level of the Academy, they continued on with their tour of the facilities. The stairwell proved to be slightly more taxing upon him then expected; He thought it odd, but had noted a growing ache permeating his limbs. His concerns were brushed aside by their next stop, attributed to mere exertion during the earlier match, as his mind had greater things to concern itself with. The library was a breathtaking sight, the endless rows of tomes overwhelming in volume unlike any he had seen before. The family library of the home he left behind was but but a minor collection by comparison, whereas this was an athenaeum, a true respiratory of knowledge. And while he was saddened by the brevity of their time before moving onward, he found himself somewhat consoled at his certainty that he would be more then familiar with the area soon enough.

Their next stop placed them within a common area of the student floors; which, as Brightshield took no delay in informing them, was a dedicated space for the many student organizations of the Academy. One of their group inquired as to the presence of a book club followed by another inquiring as to the formation of new clubs. The thought of a book club was somewhat appealing, however he was loath to have his spare reading time dictated for him and thus he would probably stick with alchemic studies, perhaps a fencing club if he could find one. Recalling his earlier conversation with Jynna, it occurred to him that they might look for a metallurgic club together. She had yet to disembark from the group as some already had, so he had but to take a few steps in her direction before standing alongside her.

"Hello Miss Ayrendor. If you would permit me to be so bold, would you care to accompany me in searching out a metallurgic studies club?"

Jyn was at first taken aback by the library when they had passed it, in awe of it's incredible size and the knowledge it must hold. Though Jyn wasn't the bookish type, she could be impressed by the sheer size of the library and the amount of archaic knowledge present. However that had passed when they had reached the common room, leaving her with a lost sense. She wasn't quite sure what to do at the moment. That was until Arogisl had approached her with the offer to accompany him to find the metallurgy club they were discussing earlier. She smiled and nodded. "Sure. That sounds interesting." She replied, then paused. "So, where should we look? Should we ask someone?"

[Atlannia]

As the group descended, Arcander spoke once again. "Now, there are 199 floors in total, with this being the top floor. We don't really know what goes on in it, for the most part, but the architects were mindful enough to place some restrooms around here, restrooms which you should use now if you need to." The guide advised, pointing towards the door that led to the restrooms, and then to the other staircase, which led further down and had a sign next to it which read: "Students and staff members alike are reminded to discard any food items, wash their hands and dry them before entering." The rest of the floor did not seem too terribly interesting. Aside from the restrooms and the space where the staircases were located, there was only a wall, with a door that had an "Authorized Personnel Only" sign on it.

The group then proceeded further downwards, where they were met with a much different sight. A large white room, with rows upon rows of shelves filled with books, tracking devices attached to their spines so that the librarians would be able to keep track of books borrowed by the students at any given moment. There were several computer terminals as well, for the purpose of either finding a specific book to read or borrow, or to read or obtain a digital copy of any such book; not far from the computer terminals, there were several tables and chairs for people to read comfortably while in the library. There were also several people present, some of them students and some of them men and women clad in dark robes, with one of them seemingly sleeping in his chair behind a desk, evidently the head librarian, or at the very least an assistant.

"This is the academy's library. It's one of the largest in the Order's territory, though not nearly as large as the Phantom Archives. It contains plenty of works of every kind, from essays on the impossible nature of Physis magic to Abyssal cooking manuals - and that's no joke." Aressa said as quietly as she could manage while keeping his voice audible to the whole group, so as to avoid disturbing the staff, the other students, and the man behind the desk in particular. "This floor and the next one are full of books and terminals like these. The floor after the next contains some virtual reality equipment for didactic purposes. The one after that contains a warehouse with additional copies of several of the titles held here."

With that, they proceeded beyond the library, reaching the classrooms, which were briefly described by the two guides. After that, they reached the student floors, which the recruits were already familiar with, and, passing them quickly, they arrived at what was arguably the first major stop in any tour of the Northern Branch of the Silver Hand Academy that didn't start in the cafeteria: The workshop and club floors. After their long descent, they arrived at a relatively large open area with benches running along the walls and several doors with signs on them, with nearby windows allowing one to gaze into the rooms, windows that showed bloodrobes and aspirants alike working on some project or another in some instances, and golden-robed students speaking politely with first year recruits in others.

"Alright, this is where it gets fun. These are places you can spend some time at after classes are over, and there's quite a bit of variety. There's a smithing workshop, a crafts club, and even a tactician club. Or at least, that's what they call it. I've seldom seen them do much more than play tabletop games." Arcander explained. "Regardless, the point is that there's quite a few of these, so you'd do well to visit some of them and see which ones you like so that you can come back to them later. Students are required to take on at least a couple of extracurricular activities along with their regular classes, but one can always ignore that fact and do it for fun. It's better that way." He assured his charges, nodding at them.

"Indeed, Arcander is correct. You should check out the activities offered by the senior students who run these workshops in order to decide which ones you would like to take part in. As long as the shop in question is not closed, there should be an aspirant inside willing and able to answer any questions you might have for them." Aressa added once Arcander was done. "So, we'll give you some time to explore to your heart's content before carrying on."

Exploring sounded agreeable to Alfenn, it was always advantageous to get a lay of the land even if the prospect of after class activities was distinctly less interesting. It sounded well... frivolous, utterly frivolous Alfenn decided, but it was apparently also mandatory so he might as well make the best of things and find the least disagreeable activity. Perhaps it would even be a way to make useful connections. With this in mind, Alfenn silently veered away as the group broke up into small clusters or singles to explore.

He had no particular destination in mind and so took no particular path. He meandered unobtrusively through the throngs of students, eyeing the various clubs with a furrowed brow and healthy dose of scepticism. One room was clearly set up as a sort of kitchen and a girl close to his age was engaged in vigorously stirring something an emerald shade of green. Alfenn could vividly picture the aneurysm his Father would have on learning his only son and heir had turned his hands to "servant's work" and for that reason alone was more than a little tempted to join. It looks a little messy though he mused. Perhaps it was simply the girl's enthusiasm but she had managed to get more of the green stuff on herself and the nearby table then remained in the bowl. Still if I prepared my own food no one could ever poison me, intriguing...mark it down in the maybe section He stayed to watch a little longer and observed an older aspirant sample the green stuff and advise the girl to "make it more gelatinous," Gah, forget it! thought Alfenn, a soft chill running down his spine. Turning curtly on his heels he left in search of better options.

He passed a room blanketed in gaudy shades of pink and lace doilies billing itself as the needlepoint club that looked absolutely soporific. In fact he was certain one of the members was falling asleep in the pillow like armchair he occupied, his cheek bobbing perilously close to the upturned needle. Alfenn continued past the needle point room, flinching slightly when he heard a high pitched yelp of pain from behind him.

The library was next on his route and poking his head in was enough to make Alfenn raise an eyebrow. The towering shelves crammed full of texts were certainly an order of magnitude more impressive than anything the Black Cups' archives could boast. They might even have something on it here, it would be a good place to start at any rate. Still Alfenn presumed he wouldn't need to join a particular club to access the library and he didn't really want to spend his leisure time there as well so he moved on.

He passed a duelling club which looked promising, if a little repetitive and something called the "Chariot enthusiasts' club" which he fixed with a hateful glare before moving on. The art club seemed to be having fun but Alfenn knew nothing whatsoever about art and the boy loudly insisting his rather lopsided sculpture was simply "abstract" took a little of the sheen off of it. There was a baking club which Alfenn felt might have been more accurately called the baking-and-glaring-at the-cooking-club-club because that seemed to occupy an equal amount of their time, presumably the two were rivals.

Finally Alfenn's wanderings saw him end up in front of a dusty little room whose crude, digital sign marked it as the "tactician’s club" it sounded familiar and Alfenn remembered Arcander mentioning it in passing. Tabletop games? Like the ones Father got from that merchant? This could be amusing... he walked closer to get a better look and peered through the window. The room itself was not particularly impressive, the walls were bare and a little scuffed, but a table at the back was covered in elaborately sculpted and painted miniatures. Warriors in shining armour of every colour equipped with a dizzying variety of weaponry, fantastic beasts of all description including an enormous dragon at the centre and at least one water fowl. Closer to the window two students sat opposite each other staring intensely at a game board, it was clear they were engaged in a match and Alfenn watched them with interest.

[Atlannia]

The board was a fairly standard holographic Warfield, with a small projected barrier that obscured any section of the map not in range of a friendly unit. From his vantage point Alfenn could only see the units of one of the players. A short, mousey haired boy whose eyes flicked uncertainly between his units. Even without seeing the units of the player, a girl about Alfenn's age with her dark hair tied back in a ponytail and a devious grin, Alfenn could tell the boy was getting the worst of it. Most of the little bars that hovered above his units and represented their health and morale were perilously close to depleted and their formation was disorganised and vulnerable. Slowly the boy picked up a heavily armoured knight, one of his few pieces still units left in good condition, and moved to advance the unit forwards, into a clump of forest type terrain. The boy's move would get him closer to his objective, an artefact both teams were attempting to capture and return to their base. All the same Alfenn found himself unable to keep his peace and stepped into the dusty little room.

"You know you're walking into an ambush don't you?" he said, startling both of the players. The boy dropped his knight as though it had shocked him and the girl's grin switched instantly over to a scowl.

"Hey you can't tell him what's on my side of the board," she protested indignantly, folding her arms over her chest.

"I can't see your side of the board," replied Alfenn evenly "It's just painfully obvious what your strategy is that's all. He turned to the boy, "You'd be better off falling back and reorganising to regain some morale before making a coordinated push down the other side," he traced a path along the board with a finger.
"And you can't just tell him what to do either!" snapped the girl "That's cheating,"

"Sorry," said the boy with a sheepish half smile "But I think this one is pretty much a foregone conclusion,"

"Mm," replied Alfenn, studying the board with narrowed eyes "No you can win from here,"

"I don't really see it," said the boy apologetically, the girl smirked triumphantly "If you're so sure why don't you play newbie? See if you can do better?"

Alfenn looked at the boy who shrugged and pushed his brown hair out of his eyes "I was just going to anyway, Nari always wipes the floor with me, go ahead if you want to," With that he stood up and offered Alfenn his chair. Alfenn sat down with a little shrug and then cracked his knuckles. "If you don't mind, I'll see what I can do,"

Up close the situation was even direr than he had originally thought. The map was symmetrical and divided roughly into thirds by two mountain ranges that hampered movement n either side. Both ranges featured a fairly open path through them on the left and a much more narrow, forest filled path on the right that was vulnerable to ambushes. He opened up the combat log and ghostly after images of the units re-enacted previous turns for him. It looked as though the girl, Nari, had moved aggressively in the early game to take control of both mountain ranges. A fierce battle at the left pass had gone in her favour and convinced the boy to turn back and try the right path. Of course Nari had predicted that and sent a small force to ambush him there. Now that her ambush had been averted she would probably just regroup and try a direct assault.

Irritatingly it didn't look like he could turn the mountains to his advantage as a defensive bottleneck, his units were too spread apart to regroup in time for Nari's assault and his still healthy knight, who would be critical in a defensive battle was on the other side of the map. With a Reluctant frown Alfenn decided to move most of his units onto the low hills nearby instead, although an overall weaker position it would give his units time to rest and recover a little as well as move into a half decent formation with his casters at the rear and his melee units at the front.

Nari saw his frown and her grin retruned with a veangance "What's the matter?" she asked mockingly "Not so confident now you're in the front seat huh? You know you can always give up, maybe I'll even let you have a rematch on a clean slate,"

"I think I'll play this one out first," said Alfenn calmly. The barrier preventing him from even seeing where her arms were moving but he knew roughly where they were anyway, or he could guess at least. Soon enough she sat back with a satisfied look and the turn passed to Alfenn again. It was a quick one as he only had to make a few quick moves and then give his units time to rest. Soon it was Nari's turn again and her units came into view. They had hardly taken any damage and made a beeline for his weakened frontline. Although it took them into range of Alfenn's mages and they got off a few good attacks it wasn't enough to slow down the assault and soon his frontline was destroyed and Nari's units began to advance towards his mages. Her turn was up however and Alfenn was able to pull them back further. They won't last more than a turn though he thought, his brow furrowing.

Nari smirked as her turn came around again, her knights came into view once more and cut down his last mages, leaving the route to his base unguarded.
"I'd say that this match is just about over, you've only got one knight left and he won't be enough to stop me taking your base," she said triumphantly, "Go ahead and take your last turn,"
"Alright I admit it," said Alfenn with an air of resignation "This match is over," With that he moved his last knight back into his base, the artefact safely in tow.

"Wh-Wait!" insisted a startled Nari "There’s no way your knight could move all the way to the artefact in time, you pulled back from the forest pass!"

"Mm no," said Alfenn evenly "I told your friend here to pull back, but when I took over I figured you would give up your ambush and it would be safe to make straight for the artefact, I guess I was right,"

"You sneaky-" began Nari as Alfenn stood up "I want a rematch!"

"I'd love to," said Alfenn, with a wry smile "Unfortunately I think I'm running late," he said, walking towards the door.

"Then join our club!" she called after him "So I can wipe the floor with you some other time!"

"I'll think about it," he called back, stepping out into the hall. After all it could be amusing.

[The Starlight]

"That... doesn't sound very fantastic," Niloofar went, a bit disturbed at her story, "I can tell you put in a lot to pursue your dream, but don't you think there's more to life than just being a warrior? Don't you feel the least bit lonely without any friends?"

In many respects, Ellyn's life story sounded rather typical of most story protagonists to her, a young student with dear and kind parents who grew up in the craft and took on the opportunity to study in a prestigious academy to pursue her dreams. Niloofar was admittedly a bit tired of hearing them, but she tried not to be snide this time, no matter how tempting. After all, if it were up to her, she would have picked a more comfortable life story like Ellyn's compared to her own. The only matter she had to voice, however, was the glaring lack of social life the girl went through. She could not help but think Ellyn might end up alienating her peers with her inexperience with social interaction.

"My full name is Niloofar Shirazi, at least that was my name after I was adopted into the family," she mused, looking a bit solemn, "it doesn't really hold any special meaning. It just means 'water-lily' in Xorshid tongue, which is a direct translation of my old name, Suiren. You see, before coming to Mervarid, I spent my early life on Muramasa. It's a rather inhospitable place... and not something I fondly remember..."

Pausing for a while, Niloofar was a bit lost for words again. She was not sure where to continue. Certainly, she preferred not to speak of her past in Muramasa if she could. Speaking up again, she apologized, "ah, sorry. A bit lost in my thoughts again. I was hoping if you'd ask me something for a change. I hope you don't mind."

Ellyn shrugged. "I'd wager that if you asked people around here, their lives weren't particularly fantastic, not until they came here, however. As for me, some might have called the tournaments fantastic, in their own way. And yes, I suppose it was a bit of a lonely life, though I did have a few friends, but not many. And I've learned over the years that there is much more to life than fighting, but I don't know if or when the day will come when I hang up my sword, figuratively speaking."

Ellyn then listened as Niloofar began telling her story. After her new companion had admitted that Ellyn should ask questions, she sat in thought for awhile, before speaking up. "Here's one. I'm afraid I don't know much about the Xorshid Order, so, my question is, What is the Xorshid Order? And how would you describe Mervarid?" she asked.

[Wolfenium]

"That... doesn't sound very fantastic," Niloofar went, a bit disturbed at her story, "I can tell you put in a lot to pursue your dream, but don't you think there's more to life than just being a warrior? Don't you feel the least bit lonely without any friends?"

In many respects, Ellyn's life story sounded rather typical of most story protagonists to her, a young student with dear and kind parents who grew up in the craft and took on the opportunity to study in a prestigious academy to pursue her dreams. Niloofar was admittedly a bit tired of hearing them, but she tried not to be snide this time, no matter how tempting. After all, if it were up to her, she would have picked a more comfortable life story like Ellyn's compared to her own. The only matter she had to voice, however, was the glaring lack of social life the girl went through. She could not help but think Ellyn might end up alienating her peers with her inexperience with social interaction.

"My full name is Niloofar Shirazi, at least that was my name after I was adopted into the family," she mused, looking a bit solemn, "it doesn't really hold any special meaning. It just means 'water-lily' in Xorshid tongue, which is a direct translation of my old name, Suiren. You see, before coming to Mervarid, I spent my early life on Muramasa. It's a rather inhospitable place... and not something I fondly remember..."

Pausing for a while, Niloofar was a bit lost for words again. She was not sure where to continue. Certainly, she preferred not to speak of her past in Muramasa if she could. Speaking up again, she apologized, "ah, sorry. A bit lost in my thoughts again. I was hoping if you'd ask me something for a change. I hope you don't mind."

Ellyn shrugged. "I'd wager that if you asked people around here, their lives weren't particularly fantastic, not until they came here, however. As for me, some might have called the tournaments fantastic, in their own way. And yes, I suppose it was a bit of a lonely life, though I did have a few friends, but not many. And I've learned over the years that there is much more to life than fighting, but I don't know if or when the day will come when I hang up my sword, figuratively speaking."

Ellyn then listened as Niloofar began telling her story. After her new companion had admitted that Ellyn should ask questions, she sat in thought for awhile, before speaking up. "Here's one. I'm afraid I don't know much about the Xorshid Order, so, my question is, What is the Xorshid Order? And how would you describe Mervarid?" she asked.

"Well, you don't necessarily have to retire, in my opinion," she quipped, "my family comes from a long line of guardians for the Xorshid Order. My grandfather never hung up his sword up to his dying breath, and neither has my father. If it's not possible for you to fight, you can still train others. I don't know about you, but I find retirement to be a very loaded word. Some people just find enjoyment in their work."

Hearing her queries, Niloofar could not help but give a coy smile. Shrugging, she mused, "it's quite a long story, but I suppose I'll try my best to summarize. I have to warn you, you might not like what you hear. If you've been hearing my brother's rants, you'll know why."

"The Xorshid Order is a scholarly order dedicated to the collection, spread and expansion of humanity's knowledge through archaeology, archival of lost texts and original research and discovery of the universe's secrets. It was founded by refugees who fled the dragons' carnage to our home Cathedral, Mervarid, under the guidance of our first founder, a wandering scholar named Ahmed. It was said that Ahmed was an exile from humanity's once-foremost scholarly order before the Chalice Wars, the Order of Ay. During the Chalice War, the dervish of Ay sent their finest fighters to aid our efforts against the dragons, while its librarians hastily evacuated what little knowledge they preserved in their libraries to a distant world far from the conflict. However, when the dragons were finally defeated, Ay rapidly disappeared outside the fringes of civilization, severing all contact with the known universe and taking what little knowledge they had preserved for us with them. As our founder put it, his former Grandmistress, the 'Dragonslayer' Aylin Sadik, considered this a collective punishment on humanity for their misuse of human wisdom and a personal one on the Red Knight for his avarice for the Chalice. She held the Red Knight personally responsible for unleashing the apocalypse, failing to heed her warning about the Chalice and failing to hand the artifact over for Ay's safeguarding. Petty charges, some might say, but her position meant that she was free to deny humanity what little wisdom we had managed to scrape back from Gaia's destruction. Maybe she hoped to shame the Phantom Blade. No one really knows by now. What is known is that Ahmed could not accept the stand of his order, and returned to the known universe to build a new one.

In any case, since then, the Xorshid Order has since dedicated itself to reversing the damage caused from Ay's self-imposed exile, now known as the Eclipse. The name of our order itself means the 'sun' in Xorshid tongue, both a contrast to the 'moon' Ay names itself as and as a way to imply our stated purpose. Rather than simply guarding what tomes we archive for safekeeping, we actively make them available to the wider world, translating and distribute them to anyone interested in learning. Like a sun illuminating on the various planets, we too hope to educate and enlighten those seeking knowledge. There's still a long way to go, but I believe we can recover what has been forgotten, and more.

As for Mervarid, it's really quite a coincidence," she quipped, "the planet itself was actually Ay's old home Cathedral, known as Inci by their language. Its current name is basically a translation of it, meaning 'pearl', due to its universally white appearance from space. However, far from a smooth white surface, Mervarid is a very cold, icy wasteland. Practically no one lives at the surface beyond our few starports. Instead, most of us live underground in the caverns, most of which had already been dug out by the old Ay dervish and now reused as archives just as they had before. The rest had become sprawling towns and universities. You might think we're crazy to stay in a place like that without terraforming it to be more inhabitable, but there, the cold, arid weather actually works to our advantage - books won't rot nearly as quickly than it would elsewhere."

"I suppose that all there is to it," she concluded, "I could say more, but I don't want to overload you too badly. I don't suppose you've heard of Sadik as well? After all, she was one of the few who journeyed with the Red Knight in their retrieval of the Chalice."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Soon, the group met back on the hallways of the workshop floor, briefly tallking with the aspirants about their experiences with the clubs and such before everyone moved on with the tour of the Northern Branch of the Silver Hand Academy. They spent quite a bit of time going through everything, with the guides showing the recruits the swimming area, the training grounds, the stadiums, the medical ward, and, most importantly, the classrooms, where the aspirants explained how classes worked and gave them their respective schedules, explaining which classroom was meant to host which class and such so that they would not be lost in the future. After that, they also went to the landing platform where they had arrived that morning, where Arcander proceeded to explain that, should it ever be necessary, the students could board their Pegasii there when they were given clearance to ride one.

Eventually, the tour came to an end, and so, the students were shown back to their dorm, where pairs of the same gender were assigned a room to inhabit during their stay at the Academy. The rooms themselves were fairly comfortable, with a bed and a desk for each student, plus plenty of space for any other things they wished to have in their rooms, along with a large window that could be easily closed upon uttering the command.

The recruits were allowed to do as they pleased during the rest of the day while Aressa and Arcander went to spar at one of the arenas, though they were warned to be back to the student floors early, as there was a curfew in place.

And so, eventually, the recruits' first day at the Academy came to an end, and as the marble moon sang in the sky, the Silver Hand drifted off to sleep.

---

A spear of light streaked through the eternal darkness of the void, unseen by the living, nor welcomed by the dead. It traveled far and wide across the stars, moving closer and closer to the seemingly everdistant Gryphon Constellation, standing proudly upon the black sea, its wings spreading across worlds.

There was not a single living creature nearby to see it, and there was not a single living creature nearby to hear what happened, either, but even then, the stalwart object continued its journey. Suddenly, it began emitting an electronic noise, soon to be followed by the grave, jaded voice of a man whose sentence was broken and obscured by the constant noise and other such complications. In the end, only two words were spoken by the man.

"Song... Prophet..."

And then, slightly clearer audio began playing. Now, there was no jaded male voice. Instead, there was a female, speaking no words, but rather singing a delicate, beautiful song. It was the voice of a world that died a thousand years ago, singing a song in a lonely concert to the abyss.

---

The blazing star of the dragonslayers, Antagon, rose inexorably upon the vermilion skies of the Crimson Citadel, Arcadia, where most of the students were beginning to awaken from the slumber of the previous night. The situation was no different in dorm room A-23. On the common room, Arcander, already clad in his pristine white uniform, was whistling to himself as he prepared a meal for everyone, anticipating that at least some of them would likely prefer to eat quickly and head off to their classes instead of having to go all the way to the cafeteria, stand in line to order their food, eat at the speed of light and then run back down, possibly throwing up their breakfast in the process, thus defeating the whole purpose of risking a lack of punctuality like that.

Suddenly, one of the rooms opened, and out shuffled a groggy scarlet-haired aspirant in civilian attire, holding in her hands a towel and a set of neatly folded clothes. Aressa quickly shielded her eyes upon stepping past the threshold of her room, the light that was bountifully streaming in from the large window of the common room blinding her momentarily. Afterwards, however, she simply began shuffling towards the bathroom, taking a moment to sniff the air and then spare a glance at her partner, who was currently busy cooking some breakfast for everyone.

"Morning, Arc." She mumbled quietly before resuming her slow advance towards the bathrooms.

"Oh, morning, Ari." The white-haired aspirant replied, glancing at his still half-asleep partner for a moment and then simply shrugging, returning to his cooking and his whistling, ignoring the high-pitched yelp that came out of the bathroom after one of the showers activated. He was used to it by now.

Several minutes later, Aressa stepped out of the bathroom, looking much different. She was clean now, her hair neatly combed and no longer so awfully messy and her face much more presentable and alert. She was wearing her uniform now, holding some rolled-up dirty clothes that she promptly tossed into a nearby bin, before heading towards the sink to wash her hands.

"Remind me, what's our first class?" The scarlet-haired guide asked her partner, whose expression turned thoughtful for a moment.

"Redemit History, I think." He replied after a few moments, taking some plates out of a nearby shelf and placing them on the tables, though they were empty for the time being. "Hold on, that was for the recruits. Ours is Advanced Pegasus Combat." He corrected himself afterwards.

"Hm..." Aressa wondered as she reflected on the answer given to her while taking one of the plates and standing next to Arcander. "I guess I can survive without dropping off the contents of my stomach. What did you make today?" She asked afterwards, changing the topic to something else.

"See for yourself!" He replied cheerfully, taking her plate and placing on it a juicy steak with a generous ammount of mildly spicy brown dressing, along with some boiled potatoes, a serving of rice and a bit of cabbage salad. He then gave it back to her, smiling. "There you go."

"Thanks, it looks great." She said, smiling back before headin over to sit at one of the tables, quietly eating her meal. There was still quite a bit of time before classes actually began, so there wasn't actually any hurry. With that in mind, serving himself a plate of food as well, Arcander sat down next to her and began eating silently as well as he waited for the recruits to wake up.

[Esternial]

Though her body felt exhausted from a whole day of exploring the campus, Ritz' mind felt quite the opposite. Even as she lied in her bed she couldn't quiet down the excitement coursing through her limbs, trying to force them into action even though, physically, they refused to do anything of the sort. While brief, the time she spent with the Literary Club had managed to excite her otherwise calm and aloof personality. In all her haste, she even failed to introduce herself to the members and spent a fair amount of time barraging the club manager with questions about their activities and the library. Not a good first impression to make, but hopefully they had some degree of appreciation for her above average interest in what - to most students - is a pretty boring club.

In time, even her mind began to quiet down and sounds of the ocean outside finally lulled the young woman to sleep. The wind sang to her as she slept, continuously murmuring as it poured into her room through a window, opened just far enough for the cool breeze to waft in.

Deep inside the head of Ritz Bathys, the young woman descended into a world of her own creation, formed by the impulsed around her slumbering body. A pale white beach stretched out before her, with waves constantly advancing and retreating in tandem with her own breathing. A gentle breeze caressed her face as she looked up at the sky and felt the warmth of a nearby star stretch out across her skin in a warm embrace. Here, she felt truly at peace, a place of respite from the chaos of daily life. A place she felt truly safe and sound.

The state of calm she achieved this way was enough to focus her abilities, to become one with the energy around her and stretch the essence of her being beyond mere physical barriers, tethered to invisible threads and drawing from them an energy even she did not well and truly understand; beyond the mere knowledge that it was there she know little more. As she slept, the woman with the distinct champagne-pink hair produced a pleasant warmth that wrapped itself around her and gave her comfort above and beyond what anyone could ever experience. In the darkness, her skin shone ever so dimly. Barely noticeable, almost a trick on the eyes.

Needless to say, Ritz slept splendidly, waking up the next day as well-rested as any other day. At home, she had the habit of getting out of bed and navigating her homestead as naked as the day she was born, but from experience she knew that kind of behaviour was frowned upon in schools. As she emerged from her room, Ritz had her bedsheets wrapped tightly around her body and held the entire bundle together with one hand. In the other, she carried her uniform, with a towel draped across her shoulder.

Unlike Aressa, Ritz looked splendid in the morning. Spending an entire night in a cocoon of soft and pleasant warmth had its effect on a girl's complexion. She was vibrant as ever. The bright light didn't bother her much as she stepped out of her bedroom into the common room, she even enjoyed it, and rather than make a beeline straight for the bathroom she decided to linger around the common room for a few moments.

"Good morning." She said with a soft and frail voice. Calmly the girl shuffled forward, noticing the aroma of a freshly cooked meal surround her as she approached the kitchen. Without any kind of verbal interaction, almost as if she had yet to notice the two aspirants despite acknowledging their presence moments ago, Ritz tracked down the origin of the scent and briefly placed down her clean uniform and towel to put a knot in her sheets to keep the ensemble together and prepare herself a plate.

"Lovely." She said to nobody in particular.

Gingerly she sat down in front of the two aspirants, placing her things on the chair next to her and taking a careful - or exploratory - bite of one of the potatoes. They had cooled down enough to eat comfortably. With two glassy eyes she looked at Arcander and Aressa and smiled softly, opening her mouth to utter two words. While a morning person, Ritz was never one to use many words after just getting out of bed.

"Sleep well?"

[Zarkenis Ultima]

"Oh, I slept wonderfully, Ritz." The scarlet-haired aspirant said with a gentle smile after yawning briefly, something about Ritz's gaze driving her to do it. "Why else would getting out of bed be such a bother?" She joked light-heartedly, laughing briefly at herself before turning her attention back to her meal, picking up one of the potatoes with her fork and nibbling on it, eating without hurry as there was still plenty of time for her to finish.

"I take it you also slept well, Ritz? You seem to be feeling quite well this morning." Arcander chimed in as he carefully cut a piece of steak, making sure the dressing didn't fall off before eating it. "You look pretty good, for one, unlike certain individuals who need to take a trip to the restroom in order to look presentable." He remarked after finishing his current bite, sneaking a more than obvious glance at Aressa, who merely shook her head lightly.

"Stop flirting with the recruits and finish your meal, Arc." The Phantom told him in order to shush him, though it was more than evident from the smile on her face that she was not at all bothered by the comment. She was fully conscious of how she looked after a good night's sleep, after all, there was no point denying it.

""Hmm? Are you jealous?" The white-haired aspirant asked despite clearly knowing that was not the case, only to elicit a chuckle from his partner.

"Well, I did spend a significant part of my childhood and adolescence in a forest. I'm very protective of my food sources." She stated before digging into the steak, though she was careful enough to make sure that none of the dressing would stain her pristine white uniform.

Turning back to Ritz after chuckling amusedly at Aressa's remark, Arcander continued cutting his steak into smaller pieces as he spoke. "Anyway, I hope you're ready for your first day of classes. The first class you'll have today is Redemit History, I believe. It can be a bit of a tiresome subject, especially if you're alreaddy a well-read person, but I'm sure you will learn plenty of useful information nonetheless." The Viridian said encouragingly, greatly hoping that these new students would learn to enjoy their stay at the Silver Hand Academy like he himself had. Some of them didn't seem very enthusiastic about it, after all, so he hoped that the classes would serve to change their mindset somewhat.

[Esternial]

Passively, Ritz watched the banter between the two Aspirants and chuckled softly. The two were good friends, that much was obvious at a glance.

"I like a good story" She said with mild enthusiasm, recollecting her times spent reading books on the very subject. To her, learning history was both fun - in its own way - and educational. Many lessons could be taught about the past, but for Ritz is was mostly about the stories.

Humming quietly, the girl finished her meal, looking forward to her first day of classes. At an early age she learned that she had no aptitude at combat, showing no extensive magical prowess beyond her innate grasp to fundamental magical energy. To compensate, she focused more on honing her mind than her combat abilities. She embraced academia.

After the last bite of steak - she ate quite quickly, a quirk her parents never deemed appropriate for a woman of her descendance - went down the gullet, Ritz stood up with a satisfied smile.

"Time to freshen up"

With a firm grip she held onto the sheet, wrapped around her like a crude dress, and brought her plate back to the kitchen. A device not much unlike a dishwasher spared her the time of cleaning them herself, so within minutes she had retrieved her clothes and towel and made her way to the bathroom. Untying the knot she made in the pale white sheet, she allowed the cloth to slide off her body and discarded it in the clothes bin just before she went inside and closed the door.

Cautious of the water, she turned on the shower first before daring to step under it, a mistake Aressa made in her morning stupor. Though hard to hear above the sound of water trickling down, a soft humming could be heard from inside the bathroom, which stopped as abruptly as the shower.

A short while later she emerged from the bathroom, now fully dressed in her uniform and hair in proper form, ready to start her day.

[Atlannia]

It should be late enough now thought Alfenn, raising a dark eye to watch the cracks of sunlight infiltrate his new quarters. He closed the book with an inaudible clap. It was inaudible because Alfenn had been deliberately suppressing the sound with magic of course, sharing a room with someone was a new experience for Alfenn but he wagered waking them up with the rustling of pages was considered poor form. Sleep had eluded him, or he had let it escape him after a few fruitless hours in bed. Instead he had silently unpacked a small penlight and a text he had been putting off for some time.

A rather dry account of the economic degradation of the smaller settlements in Charen's southern hemisphere, Alfenn had hoped the report would lull him to drowsiness or at least capture his attention. Neither of the desired outcomes came to pass and instead he found his attention wondering between the report, the events of yesterday and the things to come today. This was to be their first real day after all, despite its ceremony yesterday had been essentially a tour of the grounds so today would give him a much better idea of the days to come here at the academy. Oddly he also found his attention pulled back to yesterday's match and the girl he had played against and the small smile the memory drew on his face was not quite the wry smirk recollections of past victories normally gave him, it was a little softer at least.

But now was no longer the time for recollecting or, mercifully, report reading. Alfenn stood up and straightened the collar of his sleeping clothes, even if it would only be visible on the short voyage from his room to the shower he disliked appearing ruffled no matter how briefly. With a clean and crisp uniform folded neatly under his arm he exited the room and cut straight across to the bathrooms, entering after a cautious knock to ensure its vacancy. His morning ritual was quick but no less exacting for its briefness, a precise grooming standard being one of his Father's many iron clad dictates. He exited the bathroom with his usual neatness fully in place and, after depositing his dirty clothes sat down at the table with a brisk, "Good morning," to everyone present. Seeing that everybody else was already eating Alfenn helped himself to rice and salad, feeling it too early for steak or potatoes although he dribbled some of the spicy dressing over his rice. His meal laid out before him Alfenn studied it intensely, the familiar sight of a furrowed, frowning brow marring his features.

Standing up quite deliberately he made his way over to the kitchen area. "I'm making tea," he said with the tone of someone on a grave mission of vital importance "If anyone wants some,"
Always start your morning with tea unless someone is trying to kill you. came the words of a favoured instructor unbidden to Alfenn's mind. And if there is someone trying to kill you see if they will break for tea.

[Charmera]

Vynna had awoken with a start, panting and sweating. She had almost screamed, but she managed to resist the urge.

She had been running again. Running away from something. Panic had stricken her face as she ran through a seemingly endless crowd. Not sure where she was going and not sure if she was even moving, or if she was just running in circles, trying not to drown in the sea of people. Then she got caught. She always got caught. There was no way to escape. Never any way to get away from them. It was always only a matter of time. She had been grabbed on the shoulder, and had gotten a glimpse of her pursuers face. Then...

She woke up. Glad to have been spared what happened after... that's another set of nightmares entirely.

She had got up, yawning as she moved to the bathroom, still a little shaky from the dream. She hadn't had that one for a while. She hid this though, as it would not do anyone any good to bring it up, least of all Jon. She grabbed a couple of her clothes and hastily got dressed and did her morning hygiene routine before anyone else needed to change. She was a little annoyed that she had to wear uniform, however it wasn't horrific. Besides, focusing on it helped her not think about her dream.


Speaking of taking my mind off things... I should see how the others are doing.

She popped out of the Bathroom, heading into the kitchen with a tired smile, having still not shaken the morning drowsiness. "Morning." She said, "What's for breakfast?"

[The Starlight]

Ellyn awoke with a yawn, sliding off her bed and squinting at the light. Her dreams had been serene and quite peaceful, allowing her to recharge both her energy and magic. Looking inside of herself, she felt the hum of it, ready to be used when called upon. Drawing herself back out, she smiled. This would be interesting indeed, her first day of classes, and possibly some extracurricular activities later on.

Taking a towel, and her uniform, she quietly pushed the door open, resolving to let her roommate enjoy their sleep a little longer, slipping out. She wondered how many of her fellow students were morning people, like she was. She looked back fondly to those memories of waking up a dawn and going for a brisk jog before all else. Stepping towards the bathroom, she spared a glance to the table and raised a hand in greeting, "Good morning, everyone," before continuing to the bathrooms and taking a shower.

After dressing, some 10 minutes later, fully dressed, getting rid of her night clothes and sliding in next to the rest, taking some rice, a juicy steak and a dollop of the dressing, along with some of the salad. Starting to chew, she nodded in appreciation, it was quite good.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Arcander smiled appreciatively when Ritz indicated that she enjoyed stories, happy that she seemed at least a bit enthusiastic about her upcoming class. Indeed, if one looked at it that way, history was little more than a progressing chain of stories that have over time shaped the world of the Redemit, just like it had shaped the world of their ancestors, the humans who had come before them. Ritz seemed to understand that, thankfully.

The two aspirants continued to eat in silence, enjoying their morning meals and eating with little hurry as they watched the recruits slowly trickling into the common room, either serving themselves a meal or heading to the bathrooms to clean themselves before their classes. The guides replied to any morning greetings politely as they continued to eat, kindly refusing Alfenn's offer for tea. As Vynaria walked into the common room, Arcander looked up from his meal.

"I cooked some steaks, along with some rice and potatoes. There's salad as well. Go ahead, help yourself." The white-haired aspirant offered, before returning to his meal.

Once everyone was done and the time for classes approached, Aressa stood up, picking up all of the plates from the table and depositing them in the dishwasher. Arcander, meanwhile, also stood up, turning to address the students. "Alright, your first class is Redemit History, with Professor Cyranis. She's not too bad, but you won't hear the end of it if you're late, so, go on, get there in time. I trust you still remember from yesterday's tour which classroom is the one you'll be attending to, and if not, you can always consult the maps we gave you. Worst case scenario, if you get lost, girls, you can always claim-" He was cut off when he was suddenly grabbed by the collar by the scarlet-haired aspirant who had just finished making sure that all of the dishes were clean and had no intention of letting her partner complete the sentence he was about to speak.

"Shut up, Arc. We have classes to attend to as well." She told him, before briefly turning back to the recruits. "Off you go, recruits. We'll meet again soon enough."

And with that, the students were left to their devices once again, with ten or so minutes until the classes began, plenty of time to get to the intended classroom.

Once they arrived, they would find a sight quite similar to the one that they had been shown the previous day: A large room, pristine and well-lit, of smooth blue walls of gentle hues, large windows allowing the sunlight inside. The classroom in question was one of the few that were on the edge of the building, after all. Inside, there were several desks, and on a slot next to each desk was an electronic device of sorts, though they were deactivated for the time being. There was a large screen on the far end of the classroom, just behind the teacher's desk, and on the ceiling a holographic projector sat by, waiting. Finally, on the teacher's desk, there was a woman with long black hair and dark blue irises wearing a black robe, a scarred visage providing a fearsome sight, though she herself projected no animosity. In fact, she didn't seem to project much of anything, focused as she was on a book that she held before her face, titled "The Legacy Of The Dragons In Religious Thought."

She didn't seem to take much note of the students as they trickled into the room, merely returning their greetings with a brief nod and a polite word. If the recruits looked at her, some of them would likely recognize her as the teacher who had brought Alfenn and the others to the group the previous day.

As the last ten minutes passed and the time for the class officially began, the teacher closed her book and placed it on a space beneath her desk, turning to face the students. "Alright, cease any chattering, children, time for class." She said casually, her voice lacking the stern tone one would expect from a teacher, or the authoritative edge one would expect from a military officer. "As you probably know - and if you don't I'll commend you for finding your way here - this is the Redemit History class. Now, I know that many of you hail from different places and were raised in different circumstances, so today's class will be spent going through basic historical concepts in order to bring everyone up to speed. If some of you are well read and already know about the things we are going to discuss, I'll make sure you regret it if you try to be a smartpants or make fun of your classmates." She explained, smiling briefly at that last bit before carrying on.

"Now, let's get started." She stated, clasping her hands together and leaning back slightly on her chair. "As you all know, the history of our civilization and that of our forerunners is divided into three great periods. The first is known as the Ancient Hour, and it refers to the time when our human forerunners, who were born in Old Gaea, lived and thrived in their eleven Cathedrals in the Lost Realm. The second is known as the Aeon of Strife, and it encompasses the time during which the humans wandered the stars after being expelled from the Lost Realm. Sadly, we know little about either period of history, as even though much was discovered after the Chalice War, plenty of information about the ways of the humans has been lost and not even the most renowned foreign scholars have had much success in recovering it. What we know is thanks to the writings recovered and compiled by some of the twelve Disciples of Aradain, as well as the revelations that came after the Chalice War. We'll see more about that in the near future. For now, keep that in mind." She explained, pausing briefly before continuing. "The third period is called the Age of Aradain, the age we live in now, marked by the arrival of the God-Knight as according to the testimony of the King of the Wizards, the writings of the Twelve, the ancient Galactic Encyclopedia of Year 42, the recovered texts from the Scholarly Human Society of Arcturus and the Twelfth Codex of the Giants." The teacher said, pausing again after reciting all of that evidence. "We have copies of most of that, by the way." She remarked, before continuing. "This period, however, is also divided in two subperiods. Can anyone tell me what they're called and why?" She finally asked, looking at the students intently as she waited for someone to raise their hand and speak.

[Atlannia]

Nobody else wanted any tea thought Alfenn, as he made his way to class. The universe is truly a vast place, full of strange people His mind was only partially on the task of navigation but the corridors were open and the students in them proceeded in a fairly orderly fashion so that Alfenn made it to the classroom without incident. He passed thought the door and nodded politely to the teacher, a dim jolt of recognition hitting him as they made eye contact. Her again he thought, picking a seat near the back. This should be interesting. Indeed compared to Alfenn's expectations it already was interesting. His last history teacher, a Professor Kenndle, had been unspeakably ancient, apparently subscribing to the notion that to have any worthwhile opinion on history you had to have lived through half of it. The man had possessed a floor-scrapingly long beard and an infuriating habit of dozing off mid-sentence so Alfenn anticipated Cyranis to be a vast improvement. She was as different from the old man as anyone Alfenn could imagine, between her stern features and bright, alert looking eyes. Completely unbidden, an image of Professor Cyranis wearing Kenndle's long, snowy beard invaded his thoughts and Alfenn had to turn quickly to face the wall next to him to regain his composure, Missing in the process the question Cyranis had addressed to the class.

[The Starlight]

Walking to her first class in Redemit History, she looked around. Walking through the door and smiling at her professor, one Professor Cyranis, she picked a seat near the middle, as she usually did. Reminding herself to keep focused so she didn't embarrass herself on her second day, in her first class, she recognized Cyranis as the person who had brought several of her classmates to the group. After 10 minutes of small talk and introductions, she turned around in her seat and gave her attention to the Professor, listening as Cyranis described the rules of her classroom and started off talking about the three periods of Redemit history.

As Cyranis asked of the two subperiods of the Age of Aradain, she searched her brain, only to find nothing. She glanced around at her classmates to see thoughtful faces, and then an answer struck her, so she raised her hand, beginning to speak as Cyranis nodded to her. "The Age of Aradain is divided into the two subperiods Before and After Dragons. I believe it's called that due to the Chalice War." Ellyn stated, looking up to see if she was correct.

[Wolfenium]

Morning was, to the Shirazis' disappointment, very normal. Beyond the routine chores of brushing their teeth and preparing for the day, there was not much else they could do. Mehran, especially, was starting to miss the morning exercises with his sword, now impounded in the armoury as per school rules. He quickly made do with a set of rigourous exercises to train his body. But it just did not seem the same to him, and neither would using any kind of rod as a substitute. Niloofar, on her part, was disappointed, this time by Arcander. She was hoping to try her hand at cooking again, but this time, the aspirant had beaten her to it. Dejection followed her the rest of the way as she stuffed herself silly. Both eventually made their way to the class for their very first lesson, bearing not much of an anticipation for the day to come.

Eamonn, however, was a new set of bizarre. Stepping into the classroom in his usual silent disposition, he sat himself at the back of the class, staring again into space with his sullen eyes. He did not appear to have slept very well. In fact, he was out of bed by the time his roommate Aris had woken up. The rest of the way, he was seen only in brief glimpses, working himself out in the gym before showering and taking a bite out of another plain rye bread loaf. His austere, brutal lifestyle made the Xorshids look extravagant by comparison. And his attitude had barely improved at all, his temper still on a knife's edge.

Walking to her first class in Redemit History, she looked around. Walking through the door and smiling at her professor, one Professor Cyranis, she picked a seat near the middle, as she usually did. Reminding herself to keep focused so she didn't embarrass herself on her second day, in her first class, she recognized Cyranis as the person who had brought several of her classmates to the group. After 10 minutes of small talk and introductions, she turned around in her seat and gave her attention to the Professor, listening as Cyranis described the rules of her classroom and started off talking about the three periods of Redemit history.

As Cyranis asked of the two subperiods of the Age of Aradain, she searched her brain, only to find nothing. She glanced around at her classmates to see thoughtful faces, and then an answer struck her, so she raised her hand, beginning to speak as Cyranis nodded to her. "The Age of Aradain is divided into the two subperiods Before and After Dragons. I believe it's called that due to the Chalice War." Ellyn stated, looking up to see if she was correct.

Raising her hand, Niloofar tried to get the professor's attention. The answer was right at her lips, and she began to hunch a bit forward just to blare it out. Sadly, the professor, or rather, no one noticed her in the slightest, having been pressed to the side tables by the filling classroom. All she could do was pout when Ellyn finally answered. She had reason to be mad, but she held her tongue anyway.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

After casting her question out to the group of students before her, the professor studied the students with a keen eye, literally. Some of them seemed to be concentrated, still taking in the information she had just given them, as would be expected of those who had come from less privileged families or areas, thus receiving less than stellar education, arriving at the Academy only thanks to the martial excellence they displayed. Others still merely seemed clueless, clearly aware of most of the things she had just spoken about but not quite able to answer her question, either due to ignorance or forgetfulness. One student in particular, whom she recognized from the previos day, seemed to be staring intently at the wall for some reason she could not quite decipher. Either way, no hands had been raised that she could tell, which was beginning to worry her. Did no one truly know the answer to such a simple thing, inspired by events that in the grand scope of things were fairly recent? She was about to look to the fringes of the classroom in hopes of seeing some such hands raised, when one of the students claimed to have an answer, a girl with golden hair. Nodding at her, the professor waited for the answer to be given, nodding once again when she confirmed it was the correct one.

"Yes, indeed. The Age of Aradain, as you say, is divided in the years Before Dragons and the years After Dragons. More specifically, the line is drawn at the day of the opening of the Dragon's Gate by the Lost Chalice's power, which marked the Descent of the Dragons and the beginning of the Chalice War. Though it is believed that dragons have been present since much earlier, such suspicions have never been confirmed, and in any instance, historians all over the Known Universe deemed this event as decisive enough to warrant the division of this current period of history." She explained. "I expected more of you to raise your hands, to be honest. I suppose that means I will have to work hard for your sakes." She stated afterwards, no disappointment or animosity in her voice as she had only made a simple comment on the apparent state of the group she was currently imparting classes to.

"Now, back to the topic, the arrival of Aradain had several very imortant, long-lasting consequences in the Known Universe and in our civilization. The most well-known and evident of these is the emergence of a religious doctrine following the teachings of Aradain, as well as the spread of this doctrine throughout the Known Universe and the emergence of other minor religious doctrines which opposed the followers of Aradain. The religion that was given shape by the teachings of the God-Knight is known to most people simply as the "Doctrine of Aradain", but scholars, historians and scientists call it by the name of Stratotheism." The one-eyed woman stated. "This is the most well-known consequence, as I said, but there were many others. With the end of the Aeon of Strife, much of the technology of our human forerunners was forsaken and scorned. Their weapons of mass destruction in particular were destroyed, ironically enough, to such point that to this day we do not know how they were able to cause such widespread destruction without the use of magic." The professor continued, snapping her fingers once, causing the screen behind her to display images which portrayed the destructive capabilities that the technology of the humans was thought to possess.

"At the same time, the prevalence of the rising religion called Stratotheism brought along different technological developments, including the basis for the armor and weapons which are now so widely used by us, the Redemit. It also caused the eventual collapse of many societies composed of raider tribes or nomadic kingdoms such as the Sundering Blaze some of you may know about. This in turn caused a resurgence of sedentarism as a way of life, prompting the rise of different Orders founded by important men and women, as well as the establishment of a council that would regulate interactions between the Orders that were alligned with it. Such a council exists to this day, and it is called..." Cyranis spoke, trailing off at the end and smiling slightly as she once again looked inquisitively at her students. However, unlike the last time, on this occasion someone quickly raised their hand, a girl with coral red hair who seemed like a rather excitable person, judging by her demeanor.

"It is the Apostolic Council, so called because it was founded by the Disciples of Aradain, excluding Mael. It exists to avert conflicts and resolve tensions between different Orders that adhere to... ah... S-Stratotheism, right?" She said, faltering a bit at the end due to her unfamiliarity with the word.

The teacher, however, did not seem to mind, merely nodding once again as she'd done with Ellyn earlier. "Stratotheism, yes. You are indeed correct. The Apostolic Council, founded by eleven of the Twelve, including Lady Sylvalladine, founder of the Phantom Blade. This Council more or less stood together and maintained peace for thousands of years, though it has had some rough times, such as the time the legitimacy of the Order of the Phantom Blade was contested by a smaller Order claiming to have been Lady Sylvalladine's true legacy, or the loss of one of the members of the Council after the demise of the Order of the Void during the Chalice War. As I said, though, they have done their job, for the most part. Nothing is perfect, after all, least of all us Redemit." She said with a small shrug of her shoulders, before glancing at the door as the subtle sound of a bell ringing was caught by her ears. Turning back to the students, she gestured towards the door.

"Well, it looks like class is over for today. Before you go, I would like to ask all of you to read some more about this in your own time. The library has plenty of resources on the topic, so it should not be hard to find what you need. Also, if anyone needs me for whatever reason, ask for Professor Sapphira. You'll avoid any confusion that way, since my brother works here too." She stated. "Now go, and have a nice day~" She added afterwards, smiling at the students before picking up her book once again and opening it to continue reading while her next batch of students arrived.

---

And thus went classes for the members of dorm A-23. Other teachers were met, and classes imparted, until finally they found themselves about to begin the last class of the day, in one of the large indoors fields of the Northern Branch of the Silver Hand Academy. As the students filed in, they would come face to face with another familiar face: this time, the one who seemed to be their teacher was the black-haired blindfolded man who had served as the moderator for the Silver Games which had taken place yesterday. He stood facing the students, his hands folded into the sleeves of his sable robe as he waited. If one did not know better, one would surely believe that this man was deep in meditation, as he stood motionless, his breathing and the beating of his heart barely noticeable.

However, as soon as the last student had walked in through the door, he spoke.

"Greetings, children." He said with his calm, level voice. "I am your Basic Combat Training instructor. My name is Xan Cyranis. You may call me however you like." He introduced himself, likely surprising a few of the students. "First of all, I will need all of you to state your names, physical and magical abilities, and any weapons you possess." He stated.

[Esternial]

Though the subject was definitely interesting, the part of history being taught today was one Ritz was familiar with, to the extent that she had no intent to listen to any of it again. It was a story she read several times before, and a good story had only so much replay value. Instead of paying attention, she opted to read the history book they needed for this class, browsing through it and getting lost in the endless sea of words, so much that she didn't even hear the questions.

Then, the bell rang, breaking her focus. Class has ended, and Ritz barely caught a word of it. With a twinge of guilt she left, but mostly she was satisfied with all the reading she managed to do.

---

"Ritz Bathys." She said, taking a small step forward. She whispered the name of her weapon, Esper, calling it forth from hyperspace storage straight into her hand. The blade had a sturdy metal frame, emitting a dense energy field that was sharper than any alloy could ever accomplish. With a swift movement of her arm, the frame of the sword changed, pulling back the blade and jamming it between two thick parts of metal close to the sword's hilt, which tilted slightly to the side, bending the sword's axis and turning it into what seemed like a tonfa. Rather than a dense sheet of energy, it now emitted a wider field, mainly for defence, but just as useful for inflicting blunt force trauma.

"My House has used this type of weapon for ages, though I'm not as proficient with it as I'm supposed to be. I've mostly been trained in unarmed combat."

"It...compliments my magic."

As soon as she finished her last sentence, Ritz found herself at a loss for words. Their instructor had asked them to state their magical abilities as well, but she found it particularly hard to describe her abilities concretely and with few words.

"I can...ehh...manipulate energy..." She began, not sure where she was going with that sentence. She intrinsically knew what her power was, it was like breathing to her, but explaining it to someone else was harder than she thought.

[Charmera]

"Vynaria Ayendor." Vyna replied after Ritz had done so. She was somewhat curious about the other students "Energy Manipulation" having not seen her in the games, so Vyna had no idea what her power would be like. There were a few others she was keen to see in action, and this class may very well allow her to do so. For now though, she responded to the teachers question. "I'm proficient with light blades." She continued. "I have both Wind magic and Vector magic." She wondered briefly if it was worth telling him her powers, since he probably saw her during the games. She reconsidered such a second afterwards, as firstly he might have some reason for making her say so and secondly Vyna didn't particularly want to remind anyone of her performance during the games.

She noticed there was a silence after she spoke, so she elbowed Jyn, who looked confused at first. "Hmm.... Oh yeah!" She said, realizing she was next and she had been daydreaming. "I'm Jyn... Jynna Ayendor." She spoke, a warm smile on her face. She too was quite excited for this class as it might be more hands on and active than the history class, which she didn't dislike, it was just she preferred this sort of thing. "Well... I'm good with axes. I suppose." She continued. "I can move earth and absorb and redirect kinetic energy."

Jon was next, and he did not get much sleep, so he was in a less than happy mood. "Mmmhhh.." he groaned. "Oh. I'm Jonran Ayendor. Or Jon. Whichever you prefer." He paused awkwardly after saying so, his brain not yet in gear. "I can project bio-electricity and summon tendrils of energy." He said simply.

[Wolfenium]

And thus went classes for the members of dorm A-23. Other teachers were met, and classes imparted, until finally they found themselves about to begin the last class of the day, in one of the large indoors fields of the Northern Branch of the Silver Hand Academy. As the students filed in, they would come face to face with another familiar face: this time, the one who seemed to be their teacher was the black-haired blindfolded man who had served as the moderator for the Silver Games which had taken place yesterday. He stood facing the students, his hands folded into the sleeves of his sable robe as he waited. If one did not know better, one would surely believe that this man was deep in meditation, as he stood motionless, his breathing and the beating of his heart barely noticeable.

However, as soon as the last student had walked in through the door, he spoke.

"Greetings, children." He said with his calm, level voice. "I am your Basic Combat Training instructor. My name is Xan Cyranis. You may call me however you like." He introduced himself, likely surprising a few of the students. "First of all, I will need all of you to state your names, physical and magical abilities, and any weapons you possess." He stated.

At first sight alone, Niloofar could recognize the blindfolded judge from the Silver Games the past day. Not that it was that hard, considering he was quite recognizable with the blindfold alone. What surprised her, however, was his name, given that the professor in the first class mentioned about her brother as a colleague. It was not much to dwell on, but it was an interesting thought.

"Niloofar Shirazi," she chimed excitedly, stepping forward to speak, "my specialty is water magic, and I'm skilled with polearm weapons and hand-to-hand combat. The trident is my personal favourite. Brother," she called, poking him to respond. He seemed awfully quiet. She would have assumed this was the kind of class he would be eager proclaim himself. Stepping forward after her, however, he kept silent for a bit. And then... sound.

"I am Mehran, son of Maykel, heir of Clan Shiraz-," he blared in a fired-up voice as he choked for a bit. Smarting a bit from an ache in his abdomen over his old injury, he introduced in a toned down voice, "yeah. Heir of Clan Shiraz. My power is barrier projection, and I fight with dual blades. Of course, if anyone prefers to fight hand-to-hand, they're welcome to try. Sorry-" he apologized again, letting out a slight cough. Stepping back, he continued to stare at the class with his sunglasses, avoiding Niloofar's suspicious gaze. He felt that he might have fired up a bit too much there. He did not want to reopen his injury so soon.

Eamonn, however, merely stayed mum. He felt very reluctant to speak. However, as his turned reached, he tried to dodge the gazes of his fellow classmates. He felt like he was revealing too much.

"Eamonn MacÌomhair," he finally introduced himself, "dual swordsman. My powers are matter manipulation and... anger."

It was vague, to say the least, but Eamonn himself was not sure what to call it. All he knew was that he gets stronger the more angered his is. It was like an uncontrollable wave burning in him. It made him numb to pain. Noting the confusion, Eamonn merely shrugged it off. He did not want to reveal more than he should. If anything, that was all he could say, barring a better description.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

The professor stood perfectly still as he waited for the students to introduce themselves, his breathing barely noticeable, even to the keenest of students. He seemed to be in a near-sepulchral state as he stood there, in the center of the room, in front of the students, listening as the first of them began to introduce herself. Though he was unable to see, he seemed to be satisfied with Ritz' explanation about her fighting style, despite the fact that she had technically neglected to name her weapon in lieu of talking about it. Regardless, he said nothing about it, apparently satisfied with the explanation of her magic style as well, despite the fact that it was undoubtedly lacking. There was no need to be concrete at the time, he believed. All would be shown in due time.

Soon, others began introducing themselves. Though he had been witness to the abilities of many of the students present there during the Silver Games, it was still interesting to note that there was quite the variety of magic and fighting styles among his students. Energy, fire, earth, thunder, and different types less oriented towards elements and more towards laws and forces, such as barriers or vectors. Certainly, this was an intersting group. He noted with disapproval how, while some of the students seemed more than eager to respond to his command, others did not seem to eager to share the information requested. No matter, once again he said nothing of it. He would see their abilities soon. Sooner than any of them thought.

Once everyone in the class was done introducing themselves, Xan seemed to break out of his funereal meditation and address the class once again. "Very well." He said. "Now that you have all introduced yourselves, we will begin with the class. I want each of you to attempt to land a strike on me. Holding back will not be tolerated." He stated calmly, pausing for a moment and opening his left hand.

"Antares." He called, and in his left hand appeared a black hilt. After a moment, the enery dormant within the hilt flared to life, and now on the professor's hand was a glowing golden greatsword, almost as long as he was tall, the energy blade shimmering brilliantly as patterns of differently colored sections of the blade seemed to shift around, smattering it with red and white here and there, always moving.

"You may begin." He said to the students, waiting for one of them to step forward. Surely enough, the same girl who had fought against Arogisl during the Silver Games decided to take the initiative, taking a long step forward and summoning her own weapon by uttering the name 'Salamander', a huge broadsword that looked as if it was made of boiling magma appearing in her hand after the command.

Now armed, Elsis rushed towards the blindfolded man, trying for an overhead slash. Xan, however, merely raised his own sword, holding it in an horizontal position above his head and blocking the attack with ease, despite the force it carried. Surprised by Xan's deceptive strength, the girl backed away and began attempting to slash at the professor with attacks as swift as they were deadly, but each and every single one of them was effortlessly deflected by the blindfolded man wielding the golden greatsword, who seemed to be barely bothering, merely opting to counter the girl's every attack with a flick of his wrist. Frustrated, the girl began chanting as she continued attempting to break his impenetrable defense, preparing her magic for another attack. She began swinging her blade horizontally towards him, but pulled back at the last moment and instead attempted to deliver another overhead slash, unleashing her spell, which caused a jet of fire to shoot forth from the back of her blade, propelling it forward and increasing several times the strength of the blow. Alas, this, too, failed to affect the professor, as he merely held his greatsword over his head in a diagonal position this time, causing the attack to be deflected and lose much of its power. The girl was carried forward by her momentum, but chose to try to use that to her advantage and attempted to slash horizontally at the back of the sable-robed man, but this time he held Antares over his head in a vertical position, pointing down, blocking the attack once more.

"That will suffice." He said to the girl, who opened her mouth to protest, not wanting to let up just yet, though she soon reconsidered and complied, dismissing her blade and returning to the rest of the students with a defeated expression on her face. Surely this was to be expected, considering how this man was a teacher who was several times her elder, with likely centuries of experience in combat. And yet, she could not help feeling somewhat disappointed in herself for being unable to land a single hit on a man who wore a blindfold around his head. She had to admit she had no idea what kind of monster he must have been, to be able to defend himself with such ease without his sight.

"Next." The man said with his calm voice, having returned to his initial position as he awaited for another brave soul.

[Wolfenium]

The professor stood perfectly still as he waited for the students to introduce themselves, his breathing barely noticeable, even to the keenest of students. He seemed to be in a near-sepulchral state as he stood there, in the center of the room, in front of the students, listening as the first of them began to introduce herself. Though he was unable to see, he seemed to be satisfied with Ritz' explanation about her fighting style, despite the fact that she had technically neglected to name her weapon in lieu of talking about it. Regardless, he said nothing about it, apparently satisfied with the explanation of her magic style as well, despite the fact that it was undoubtedly lacking. There was no need to be concrete at the time, he believed. All would be shown in due time.

Soon, others began introducing themselves. Though he had been witness to the abilities of many of the students present there during the Silver Games, it was still interesting to note that there was quite the variety of magic and fighting styles among his students. Energy, fire, earth, thunder, and different types less oriented towards elements and more towards laws and forces, such as barriers or vectors. Certainly, this was an intersting group. He noted with disapproval how, while some of the students seemed more than eager to respond to his command, others did not seem to eager to share the information requested. No matter, once again he said nothing of it. He would see their abilities soon. Sooner than any of them thought.

Once everyone in the class was done introducing themselves, Xan seemed to break out of his funereal meditation and address the class once again. "Very well." He said. "Now that you have all introduced yourselves, we will begin with the class. I want each of you to attempt to land a strike on me. Holding back will not be tolerated." He stated calmly, pausing for a moment and opening his left hand.

"Antares." He called, and in his left hand appeared a black hilt. After a moment, the enery dormant within the hilt flared to life, and now on the professor's hand was a glowing golden greatsword, almost as long as he was tall, the energy blade shimmering brilliantly as patterns of differently colored sections of the blade seemed to shift around, smattering it with red and white here and there, always moving.

"You may begin." He said to the students, waiting for one of them to step forward. Surely enough, the same girl who had fought against Arogisl during the Silver Games decided to take the initiative, taking a long step forward and summoning her own weapon by uttering the name 'Salamander', a huge broadsword that looked as if it was made of boiling magma appearing in her hand after the command.

Now armed, Elsis rushed towards the blindfolded man, trying for an overhead slash. Xan, however, merely raised his own sword, holding it in an horizontal position above his head and blocking the attack with ease, despite the force it carried. Surprised by Xan's deceptive strength, the girl backed away and began attempting to slash at the professor with attacks as swift as they were deadly, but each and every single one of them was effortlessly deflected by the blindfolded man wielding the golden greatsword, who seemed to be barely bothering, merely opting to counter the girl's every attack with a flick of his wrist. Frustrated, the girl began chanting as she continued attempting to break his impenetrable defense, preparing her magic for another attack. She began swinging her blade horizontally towards him, but pulled back at the last moment and instead attempted to deliver another overhead slash, unleashing her spell, which caused a jet of fire to shoot forth from the back of her blade, propelling it forward and increasing several times the strength of the blow. Alas, this, too, failed to affect the professor, as he merely held his greatsword over his head in a diagonal position this time, causing the attack to be deflected and lose much of its power. The girl was carried forward by her momentum, but chose to try to use that to her advantage and attempted to slash horizontally at the back of the sable-robed man, but this time he held Antares over his head in a vertical position, pointing down, blocking the attack once more.

"That will suffice." He said to the girl, who opened her mouth to protest, not wanting to let up just yet, though she soon reconsidered and complied, dismissing her blade and returning to the rest of the students with a defeated expression on her face. Surely this was to be expected, considering how this man was a teacher who was several times her elder, with likely centuries of experience in combat. And yet, she could not help feeling somewhat disappointed in herself for being unable to land a single hit on a man who wore a blindfold around his head. She had to admit she had no idea what kind of monster he must have been, to be able to defend himself with such ease without his sight.

"Next." The man said with his calm voice, having returned to his initial position as he awaited for another brave soul.

Hearing the professor instruct them to strike him, Niloofar could not help but feel ill at ease. Sure, she could expect him to be skilled enough to fight novices like them, but she was raised to respect elders, and she was not sure if she could actually go all out with a hit. It was not that she wanted to dishonour him. She just did not want anyone to get hurt. Well, besides herself...

"'Holding back will not be tolerated'," whispered Niloofar concernedly, "that's pretty dangerous, isn't it? Even I take this seriously, I'm not sure I can actually go all out to injure him-"

"DAAAHHHHHHHHHHH," a screech echoed at the top of his lungs as Eamonn lunged forward past the crowd. By contrast to his first fight, Eamonn had both hands armed, flailing a downward swing at the professor like a raging berserker. He did not think twice this time, compared to Kiri. If his first swing failed, he had another on his other hand to strike at the instructor's abdomen.