Tour

Apollo Keating

“So what does this whole Vice President thing entail?” I walked toward the front of the group just behind Kira and Brokk. Mia was to my right, everyone else was behind us making snarky comments, children.

“Enforcing school rules, participating in some teacher meetings, and the occasional royal function.” A royal function? That doesn’t sound like it will go well for me in the slightest.

“Why did you select this kid anyways Kira? He’s not of any royal descent and he hasn’t the slightest clue of politics in any way. Seems like a waste of the Vice President role if you ask me.” Cooper didn’t seem too pleased with the choice of me being Vice President.

“If I wanted a half-wit’s opinion on it, I would’ve asked for it Brokk.” His lip snarled up in anger though he kept his mouth shut. He stepped to the side as we approached a large doorway.

“Alright, kiddos listen up. This is the crafting hall. You can use it at any point other than class time to make artifacts, elixirs, and whatever other nerdy shit you want.”

“Remember if you do make an artifact to use in duels or competition, it must be cleared by a teacher first.” Kira stepped next to him facing us.

They entered the room with us following behind. Much like the classroom, it was much larger due to the manipulation of aether. There were at least sixty different stations with artifact-creation equipment and some cauldrons for elixirs. I was sure it was mostly used by the people in classes 3-5. The people in the top two were either meatheads or political advocates. I did plan on spending some time here though to create some artifacts for myself. The knowledge I possess from my previous world will come in handy.

“You okay Apollo? The groups moving on let’s go.” I must have got deep in thought because everyone but me and Mia had exited the room.

“Yea, my bad.” We made our way out, I took one last glance and saw a strange older man at one of the tables. “Hey, who was that guy in there?”

“I didn’t see anyone, but more than likely just some teacher or custodian I don’t know.”

We caught back up with the group as they were entering a courtyard. Brokk was the one talking to them about it.

“This is the courtyard. Where you can go to just relax, mingle, or study. As you can see, there are plenty of benches and shady areas with grass to sit in. Just please don’t fall asleep, last year we hit a record for nappers. The principal gets very unhappy with that. You hear me, Vice President? Do your civil duty and stop them when you see them.”

I saluted him, “Aye aye, whatever you say tour guide.” He rolled his eyes before continuing.

I was about to follow the group when I looked back and saw a familiar face. It made me grin at the sight. The Sergeant from earlier who was escorting Mr. Heller was talking to the female Lieutenant. This time, he had his helmet off. I recognized him immediately. I decided to go have a chit-chat instead of continuing a stupid tour of the campus that I had been on.

Mia turned to ask what I was doing, but she must have noticed who it was. She shook her head and went back to the group.

“Well there, if it isn’t Mr. Isiah. It has been a long time.”

He seemed much more displeased to see me than I was to see him. The Lieutenant looked back and forth between the two.

“You know each other?”

“Nope, never seen this kid in my entire life. He must be a schizo or something.”

I grinned even harder before sitting between the two and putting my arm around him. “Come on now, don’t you recognize me? We go back what, four years?”

He turned away, not wanting to meet mine, nor the Lieutenant's gaze. “If I remember correctly, four years ago you had an unfortunate circumstance with a ten-year-old and his sister. Did you not, Sergeant?”

“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about Ma’am. You must be confused with another soldier.”

“And if I do remember correctly, I was told by our higher-ups it happened to be Major Keating, who was the sister.” She began to grin like I was as she pieced together what was going on.

He scooted away from us as we pressed on grinning like devils. “Like I said, I… I…”

“Boy tell me, what does your name happen to be?”

“Well Ma’am, my name happens to be Apollo Keating.”

At this point, he was almost on the edge of the bench face flushed with red.

“Come on Isiah you remember me r…”

“I would like to apologize to you for that day, Apollo.” This caught me and the Lieutenant in shock. He had seemed so adamant that day about killing me. Now he’s sorry? Was this due to my sister's position in the military?

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I lost fair and square to your sister. I wanted to make up for that. To get on the King's good side, I attacked you. I’m not saying it was right, but with the embarrassment I faced, the pressure from my parents, and the expectations of our kingdom placed on me… I am truly sorry for the way I lashed out.”

A genuine apology, now this caught me off guard. I didn’t expect us to be chummy, but an apology was not on the list of what I had in mind.

“I’ve never seen you so modest before, Sergeant, are you feeling okay?”

“MA’AM BE QUIET!”

I chuckled as I stood up and began to walk off. “I accept your apology. Next time we go at it, I hope it’s a little more fun for the both of us.” I turned smiling and gave him a thumbs up.

“You may have been a monster back then but I have improved a lot too. I won’t lose to some kid again.”

“But, you did.”

“MA’AM!” They continued bickering as I went to find the group. What an interesting change of character, though I supposed from my last life I wasn’t the same person either. Getting destroyed by my sister and then almost buried alive by gravity might change your perspective a bit.

“Where the hell have you been?” Kira approached me, fists clenched looking as if she was ready to beat me to a pulp.

“Chatting it up with the knights, what’s the big deal? I’ve already been here countless times. I know everywhere.”

“So you know where the Student Council office is, the staff meeting room, our dorm rooms…”

“Well… maybe not everything, but I do know where the dorms are.”

“I said our dorm dingus.”

“You lost me.”

We made our way through the buildings to a part I hadn’t been to before. It was a little fancier and had no one to be seen.

“This section of campus is for the Student Council, teachers, and those allowed by the Student Council and teachers. Not just anyone can come through here.”

“I thought we were the only part of the Student Council?”

“I wish it were that simple, however, there is more to it than us. We have a financial advisor, an enforcer, and a representative.”

“What do we need a financial advisor for?”

“I have no fucking idea, but he acts sooooo busy.”

We approached another room, this one though a nice door, didn’t seem to have been very kept up on.

“The area of this room hasn’t been cared for nearly as much since it’s so far out of everyone’s eyes. To be honest, I kind of like it. Gives it a more homey feel to it, rather than a giant palace-like academy vibe. It also connects to all of our rooms, sort of.”

“Sort of?”

Instead of answering my question, she went inside the room. I didn’t care to ask again, so I followed. Two people sat at a round table in the center of the room. It was a fairly ordinary room with a few stocked bookshelves, a globe, and some artifacts around the room. There was also a painting of a man I had seen once before in a book that I read when I was younger.

He had curly brown hair and was in his mid-thirties. He didn’t dress like anything too fancy for his position. His name was Lance Steele, he was the founder of our nation, though he wasn’t from here. He and about a hundred humans traveled from the Dark Isle on the far side of the continent to here in search of a new home. He is the only recorded Aether user to have control over all four magics and refined magic from each category.

“So this is the new Vice President up close huh? Little scrawny.” One of the guys from the table was now approaching me. I recognized him from our class. He was a second year. He went to smack me against the shoulder more than likely thinking I would fall or be pushed off balance. However, his hand couldn’t move past the initial point of contact. “Well, maybe there is more to you than I initially thought!”

“Apollo, this is Onyx Hulim. He is the Enforcer. His job is to keep an eye out and make sure nothing bad happens and everyone follows the rules.”

“That’s a dwarven last name, but you seem a bit tall for a dwarf.”

He laughed at this and continued to pat my arm. “My mother was a dwarf. My father was a filthy rich human who couldn’t keep his hands off his servants!” He continued laughing.

“Ahh, I see…” Who just says that?

“He’s a bit of a weirdo if you ask me, but he’s the strongest in our class. Moving onto our lazy, no-good accountant.” We all turned to a scrawny boy with red hair, so curly you would think it was a perm. He was your average nerdy guy with glasses, freckles, and even a little bit of a bucktooth in the front. But something I did notice was he was in the second class, meaning he wasn’t a pushover. Or at least in some way, he couldn’t be.

*sniffle* “Princess, I don't expect someone who has no sense in the ways of money to understand the things I do for us. And as for you, Vice President, welcome to the Student Council. I hope you have more brain cells than these Neanderthals here.”

With the look he was receiving from these two, I thought he might get hung from the chandelier above us.

“Thanks? I didn’t catch your name, what was it?”

“Oh that’s right, I do apologize for my rudeness. My name is Wesley Pennex, and I already know who you are.”

“Pennex, any correlation to Pennex artifacts and wonders?”

“I do hate that name, yes it is my father's business. Are you a shopper there?”

“No, I grew up under the Thorne family's roof so I know all the businesses they are involved with.”

“I see, I do love Patrick. He is a wonderful man.”

“I agree.”

“These two bonding kinds of disgusts me,” Kira said with her upper lip curled, Onyx nodded with the same expression.

“That reminds me, you said we have a Rep, where is he?”

Her facial expression darkened, “He was chosen today by the staff while we did our tour, you were off with the knights.”

As she finished the door swung open and footsteps approached. “Well isn’t this a nice little gathering, shall we get started.” With a sinister grin, Kestrel Steele entered the room.