Veron put his hand up so he could acknowledge their greeting and let them stand back up.
“I'm retired now everyone, just call me Veron.”
“Understood, Lord Veron.”
With an exasperated sigh he replied.
“That works too. This shouldn’t be hard for you to surpass right, little one?”
Veron stared straight into Damien’s eyes with an amused smile. Damien shrugged his shoulders and tried to act nonchalant but he stuttered at the beginning.
“T-Th-That’s it…. You made it too easy.”
Inside he was embarrassed he stuttered in front of many others but he still stuck his chest out and acted confident. Veron then continued to walk towards the end of the main hall then turned back around.
“I will even the playing field and give you a starting point. You will not be staying here with me, but I will take you to a good friend of mine.”
“Then why come here in the first place?”
He looked at Veron with a quizzical expression.
“I just wanted to show off to my grandson, isn’t that enough?”
Dumbfounded Damien just stood there. He never thought of his grandfather being this way but it just gave him more motivation to accomplish his goals.
He was only inside the mansion for a few minutes, but he could see how wealthy he was. He has various valuables throughout the main hall. There was no rhyme or reason to any painting, busts, statues, or even carpets. Everything looked tacky and out of place. Damien took a mental note of it and considered if his grandfather was actually a bit out of touch.
“Well don’t get too comfortable, we leave now.”
Veron walked back to the entrance and grabbed Damien leading him towards the destination. The servants soundly sent him off and continued on with their tasks. Damien was being dragged by Veron all the way outside the estate and he thought to himself amusingly.
‘Just like that I’m being abandoned.’
He took a final look at the retreating mansion and started to walk on his own.
“Just lead the way, gramps.”
Eventually they arrived in front of a stone walled enclosure. It encircled a massive space which encapsulated an area that looked like a mini city of its own. There were various buildings and at the center there was a gigantic castle at least 100 times bigger than Veron’ residence.
There were 6 main points in the castle overlooking this space at the tallest spots in the vicinity. At the top of the entrance was a sign emanating a white glow and it spelled out “StarPoint Academy” in flowing calligraphy. It shot out an aura of overwhelming grace, cleansing the being of anyone looking at it.
In front of the gates stood two kids, clad in an all white uniform with black trims. The uniform had a hexagram star embedded onto the left chest area. One was a short haired blonde boy with shining blue eyes, he seemed like the popular type that anyone gets along with. The other was a young icy girl. She had blue hair tied up to a bun and had a stone cold face that was accentuated by her vivid red eyes. She looked like an ice queen ready to freeze you if you came close to her. The only difference in their uniforms was that she had a white skirt on and he wore white pants.
Veron and Damien approached the two and the two students came to attention quickly.
“State your business, we don’t see that you two are affiliated with StarPoint.”
The blue haired girl was the first to speak in an icy tone. Veron stepped forward with an overwhelming presence.
“Tell that lazy bastard, Ari, that Veron is here to see him.”
The girl was dumbfounded with her mouth agape, but before she could reply Veron increased his presence to stumble her back.
“Don’t make me say it again.”
She gritted her teeth before nodding and running off. All that was left was an awkward silence between the three as the other guard was shaking. Damien never saw his grandfather demonstrate this demeanor before but he was too interested in what was going to happen to let it bother him much. He then proceeded to go up to the blonde guard and shyly talked to him.
“My name is Damien, and that is my grandfather. He isn’t a bad guy, I think. What is your name?”
Inside Damien was extremely proud of himself to muster the courage to talk to him. He was expectantly waiting for a reply as he thought that this could be his first friend around his age. The guard tried opening his mouth but didn’t seem to gather the strength to speak. Veron noticed this interaction and made a motion with his brows to indicate, ‘You better answer him, or else.’
That’s when the guard finally spoke up.
“I-it’s Cal.”
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He released a big sigh as it was difficult to speak and just stood still, waiting. Damien felt a bit disappointed at the short reply but he kept it to himself. He decided to ask Veron instead why he was here.
“This is where your friend is? Am I supposed to be going here?”
Veron’s mood did a 180 as he began to talk to Damien.
“Well, maybe. That depends on you…. Look at that, how lovely of her to return so quickly.”
The blue-haired girl quickly came in with a short bow.
“Headmaster Sord is expecting you in his office.”
Veron appeared to have an annoyed look on his face.
“To not even come down when he knows I’m here. That little bastard. Let’s go Damien.”
With that he left everyone dumbfounded and just went on his way to the office.
Veron and Damien quickly made their way through the academy. To Damien it was like entering Gats once again. There were stores and restaurants along the way, the only difference being there were far less people and everyone here was wearing the same white uniform. Many students glanced over the two outsiders and especially kept an eye on Damien. What kept them from approaching them was Veron who was steaming in anger. Damien had no time to appreciate the architecture and the commodities that StarPoint had to offer. He thought to himself that it was just another city within a city. Eventually they made it outside the office of the headmaster. Veron didn’t even bother knocking, he burst the doors open with a simple hand movement.
“Veron you dog, this is my domain. You had yours back then but here it’s different!”
When the dust cloud settled there was a middle aged man standing from his seat with veins popping from his forehead. He had a glistening bald head and a round shaped face. Sweat started to perspire on top of his head causing a steam to rise. Veron calmly looked at him and put on a big smile showing off his bright white teeth.
“Ari, you bastard, you should be happy I’m here to see you! Back in the good ol’ days I treated you like a brother.”
Ari gave a loud snort and sat back down on his seat staring at both Veron and Damien.
The man before them was Ari Sord. He is a talented mage who enlisted in the military and worked under Veron. They fought together through hell and became blood brothers. He later decided to not re-enlist and it created a rift between the two. He went on to his own path and became the headmaster of StarPoint Academy.
After a coolish standoff, Veron brought Damien forward to his attention.
“This here is my grandson, Damien. You are going to enroll him starting tomorrow.”
Ari’s veins started to bulge once again. ready to blow, but he took a calming deep breath.
“The enrollment period is over. It’s been a week since classes have started! How do you expect me to just do that and bend the rules? Then everyone will start thinking that the rules don’t matter!”
Veron quickly countered him.
“I’m calling in my favor.”
They both entered into a deadlock stare which seemed like an eternity. Ari was the first to give in, with a big sigh he put his head down and then stood up.
“Fine, but you really want to use the favor for this?”
“There’s nothing else I can’t do by myself, if not better than you.”
Veron shut him down and made him bite his tongue. Damien felt the tense air disappear. If he didn’t know any better he would think a fight happened here. With his intuitive thinking he quickly came up to Ari and bowed his head.
“My name is Damien, thank you for taking care of me from now on.”
With a sidelong glance from Ari, he went up to him.
“Damien? No last name? And what’s with those glasses?”
Damien shook his head with a sad look but he kept his head straight.
“None that I know of and I need them for my condition.”
“Hmmm, alright I’m doing your grandfather this favor. I hope you can live up to his expectations. Here’s a key to room 99 in Point 1. I’ll have someone take you there. From there you’ll know what to do.”
Damien nodded and held on to the key he received. He felt his will resolve as he knew his real life would start from now on. When he turned around to thank his grandfather, he was already gone. Damien went to look at Ari but he just shook his head and led him outside the office.
“He never changes, but trust me from what I can tell he truly cares about you. Miss Yuki here will show you to your room for now. I look forward to seeing what he does in you, Damien.”
Damien gave him a deep bow and saw that Yuki was the same blue haired girl guarding the gates. He took a closer look at her and saw a fang sticking out from her lips. She had red eyes and a thin figure just like him.
Thinking he was up to no good, Yuki snorted and turned her head to the side. Damien, not knowing any social cues, introduced himself to her.
“My name is Damien. I’m sorry for how my grandpa treated you. Hopefully we can get along!”
“Yuki Azurith. You don’t have to remember it as I don’t plan to remember you. Now follow me.”
Damien took a cold deep breath and decided to follow her for now. She started leading the way, not stopping to let him admire the sights. He felt like she was really cold hearted but for some reason he couldn’t find a real reason to dislike her. He tried to ask questions along the way but kept getting either silence or shut down. Eventually they arrived at one of the tallest buildings in the academy. It was named Point 1 and there were 6 of them in total. If you were to look at the academy from above you would see all 6 points outlined the hexagram star which was the emblem of the academy.
They walked through the open arch of Point 1 and Damien entered a different environment. There were students walking all around, traveling by stairs, entering doors that led to classrooms, or hanging out with their clique. Some were even seen on a stone slab that was elevating them up the floors. There were races of every kind and once they walked in, the lively environment turned to silence. They noticed an outsider due to him not having a uniform on. It was unheard of to see someone new come in at this time and a lot of them already began to have their reservations about him. Not to mention his bright white hair and the glasses he was wearing, he just stuck out basically saying ‘look at me!’
They continued to walk past all of them as if they did not exist and they reached an area that had a levitating stone.
“Let me see your room key. Room 99, and it would be good to know that the living quarters are on the third floor. Step onto this stone slab with me and get off when I do.”
He nodded his head and took a step on it with her. They started elevating from the floor and once they reached the third story they got off. They walked down a long corridor when they finally saw room 99.
“This is where you are staying. Tomorrow you will begin your classes, that is all.”
Before she could leave he grabbed her by the shoulder.
“Wait! What classes are they? I don’t know what classes they offer nor how to get anywhere yet. This is all new to me! Please help me.”
With a look of disgust she piercingly replied.
“What, are you serious? Don’t you know where we are? What are you even good at?”
Damien’s face sunk to despair and meekly replied.
“I was just taught swordplay from young, I have no idea what I’m good at….”
“Why did they even let you in? What kind of strings did you have to pull to get into this prestigious academy? Listen, I don’t care about your problems, so don’t show me that frail face or I’ll make you a new one. You better study the school pamphlet if you even want to get a foot in.”
Damien felt so dejected he could slump on the floor and just lie there. He took the key to his room and quickly entered it. Inside there was a twin sized bed with a uniform on it, a couple of candles, and a desk with various documents. Instead of looking into them, he took the uniform off the bed and fell right into it.
He thought to himself that this day couldn’t get any worse because he had no idea what he was doing here. All he knew was that he had to figure it out to start his journey correctly. He slowly closed his eyes and when he opened them, hours passed by. He freaked out getting up in a hurry thinking he was already late. By the time he rushingly put on his uniform he realized it was still the same day. He had just taken a short nap. Feeling the energy pumping through his body he decided to put it to good use and start reading the pamphlet on his desk. It outlined the mission of this academy to raise young talents into their profession of choice. They had many to choose from which ranged from magic, swordplay, all the way to alchemy or rune coding. Eventually they will have to choose their focus but as first years they would adhere to their schedule to give the students exposure to many new things.
Damien was getting his fire reignited as he felt this was the perfect place to come to. Despite the interactions from earlier, he will learn more about the academy and continue on his way.
‘I guess I should head to sleep, I don't want to be feeling tired for the big day tomorrow.’
He went into his bed again and started doing his meditation. He quickly fell into a trance and fell asleep.