Trenton couldn’t move, couldn’t breath, couldn’t even fathom. Yissle was dead. Yissle died. It broke mother’s heart. He was gone, fully and truly. He had to be, right? They got the letter in the mail with all the information, they got reparations from Dasellium, they got everything they needed to be certain of his death…except his body. They never got his body.
Leo’s eyes widened, “Is that…Yissle, is that really you? I thought-I thought you died!”
Yissle looked over to Leo, his expression shifting slightly, “I did, or he did I guess. Still, good to see you, Leo. You’ve grown a lot. Your father would be proud.”
“Hold on, what’s going on here? Are you two related, Trenton?” Kiva asked, head swiveling back and forth between Yissle, Trenton, and Leo.
“Back when I was young, I had two brothers, not just one. Yissle was the oldest among, Delis the second, and me the youngest. But Yissle left Aria when I was still young, died out on the plains from what we were told,” Trenton responded, his mind numb from the sudden shock.
“And yet, here I am. It’s…a long story, and not one I can tell out in the open.” Yissle said, eye down cast.
Yissle jumped down from the wall, passing through the spatial barrier without any difficulty. He stopped before Trenton, looking ever so slightly down at the boy, his stature just taller than Trenton’s. Before Trenton could say anything, he embraced the boy, a single tear falling to the earth.
“I heard what happened to Aria. Is everyone…?” Yissle whispered.
“Yes,” Trenton said, shutting his eyes and allowing himself to fade away in Yissle’s warmth.
Even as the winds raged on, as everyone watched silently, for a moment, they were alone, their pain and tears melding together as one, a familial bond made whole once more. With the destruction of Aria, they were all that was left, the only descendants to the Boulregaurd name. Then, Yissle pulled out, taking Trenton by the shoulders.
“I’m so proud of you, of how far you’ve come. You have no idea how hard it’s been to hide away here for so long. You’ve become quite the man, Trenton, more so than I could ever hope to be…but there'll be time to talk in a moment. You’re here to see Era, right? We’ve been expecting you,” Yissle said, walking back towards the closed entrance to the academy.
He dredged a small clock-like device from his pocket, holding it up to the spatial veil covering the academy grounds, “Veil release.”
In an instant, the veil section that was covering the door vanished, leaving a perfectly arched opening for them to enter through. “That’s the easy part. Now, door…” Yissle walked towards the door, placing his foot on the seam between the two halves, and pushed, grunting from the effort, “...release!” The door flew open, each half slamming into the stone wall on either side.
“Come on, it’s much warmer inside,” Yissle nodded, taking the lead down the main path.
The moment they stepped through the door to the academy, the atmosphere immediately shifted, switching from a bitter swell of whipping winds and snow stinging to the touch, to that of a warm summer day, clement winds flittering through the open castle grounds without a care in the world. He could still see the outside world fighting against itself, thrusting small stones and chunks of ice into the barrier, but inside, it was like a completely different world.
The courtyard was beyond massive, large swaths of grass patches wrapped atop small hills sprawling for miles everywhere Trenton looked. It was like a paradise, an artificial safe space among a notoriously hostile environment. People, mostly young, and of a wide variety of races, milled all about, some sitting around picnic tables reading books and chatting, others laying atop blankets spread on the grass, resting and enjoying the nice weather, and others still walking across side paths, making their way from building to building.
Trenton even saw people using the sky bridges connecting the buildings hundreds of feet overhead, people flying around the many spires of the academy–graviturgy mages playing tag in the ultimate 3d space–and people gazing longingly out the windows of their lecture halls. It was unbelievable, a peaceful society unlike anything else in the world, a microcosm of human potential.
But the moment they entered, the energy shifted. People who, a moment ago, frolicked and danced together, started to gather in dark corners, pointing, whispering, glaring, some with mouths upturned. This was a sight he knew all too well, nobleman superiority.
Of course, he should’ve known. The academy program is made up of kids all across the world of remarkable talent. It just so happens, however, that most of that talent is from rich, noble families able to pay for expensive trainers. And now here come waltzing in foreigners, uninvited in their eyes, dirty, grimy warriors without the class and dignity of the naturally affluent. Yissle’s presence was likely the only thing keeping the kids off their backs. Their eyes shifted to him every now and then, mirroring something akin to reverence, or maybe fear.
“Reminds you of home, doesn’t it?” Yissle commented, gazing out passively across the gathering hoards.
“All the worst parts,” Trenton said, pulling himself perfectly straight, striking absolute confidence into his step.
There was no telling what the students here would try when given the opportunity, and with many of them studying here together for a decade or more, their magic was sure to be formidable. The best way to avoid a confrontation was to appear confident, levy his name and history to keep prospectors at bay.
Behind him, Leo shriveled under the scrutiny, drawing into himself to keep away as best he could, Millie blitzed her way through the lustrous fields, diving in and out of various lakes, rivers, and pods, which wrapped themselves around the natural environment, Kiva took in the scenery and building like a child's christmas, Maria shot glares of her own back at the students, Raligoth remained unconscious–his form covered under a cloth at Trenton’s waist–Avardis seemed to be looking for something or other, head snapping side to side, and Karfice looked like he was about to fall asleep.
“I know,” Yissle sighed. “If the kids give you trouble, feel free to fight back. Just so long as you don’t irreparably harm them, I can look the other way. I’ve my own way of reprimanding, but excessive physical punishment is forbidden, even if they deserve it.”
“The children are terrified of you,” Avardis said.
Yissle laughed, “Like I said, my own way of reprimanding.”
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“What exactly do people do here? I’ve heard rumors, but never anything concrete until now. It’s a lot more civilized than I imagined, like a school yard,” Kiva asked.
“That’s the general idea, more or less. Give the young talent of the world a place to study free of danger, protected by a staff of experienced warriors and teachers. Most of them were actually once students here, with a handful of exceptions,” Yissle explained.
“What about you? What do you do?” Millie asked, practically clawing at Yissle’s leg.
Yissle grabbed Millie, lifting her onto his shoulder with a broad smile, Kiva prodding Trenton in the side and discretely pointing, “Wow, he really is your brother,” she whispered.
“When you’re big enough, you tend to make a good platform for the little ones,” Trenton said, eliciting a hearty giggle from Kiva.
“That’s a great question,” Yissle said, continuing over Kiva and Trenton. “My official title is groundskeeper, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. I’m effectively the head of defense, certifying that no intruders enter the premises, and if they do, they are summarily executed. But I also serve as the chief of staff at the academy, overseeing all operations run here.”
“So you’re like the top dog! That’s so cool!” Millie exclaimed.
“Top dog just below Era. But among the lower and upper staff, I’m number one. You’re familiar with Walibeld and Remma, right?” Yissle asked.
“Yeah,” Leo said.
“Well I’m on the same level as them. Walibeld handles project origin, Remma handles project vault, and I oversee the academy, along with a project of my own,” Yissle said, stepping up onto a massive staircase leading to a large circular landing just before the main entrance.
Off to their right, the light began to refract, around a point as if the space itself was being bent to mages whim. It twisted round and round itself, folding over and over until it was dense enough to be clearly visible to even the naked eye, a brilliant white gleam in the shape of a woman. Then, she materialized, the light peeling away from her skin in chunks, her rather ornate white garbs flowing in the breeze. Everyone turned to watch her spectacular entrance, entranced by the light show. There was no denying her beauty, an angel too enthralling to look away from, a feast of shifting colors twirling around her perfect, slightly wavy, golden hair and silky white skin.
But at the same time, known only to Trenton and Yissle, the shadows lining the ground off to their left began to coalesce, giving rise to the bubbling black approximation of a human before they peeled away, revealing a lanky, dark haired man with baggy eyes and a red eyed crow of the deepest black atop his shoulder, watching patiently. Trenton watched the man as he sulked amidst the darkness, his form impossible to see, but still there to feel.
The woman leapt forward the moment she finished appearing, bounding towards Trenton, “Yissle, my word! Is this your brother!? You didn’t tell me he was such a cutie!” She cried, puckering her face together and pinching Trenton’s cheek.
“Please, Y’yorilye, have some class,” the dark man sighed, his voice sounding like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world than with them. He walked forward out of the shadows, revealing himself to the group and stopping just before Trenton. With a step's distance between them, he scrutinized Trenton, cocking his head this way and that as he squinted to get a better look at…whatever it was he was looking for. “He does look like you, I’ll give him that. And he’s got a good eye on him.”
“More than a good eye, I’d say,” he turned to Y’yorilye, “and stop touching him. It’s weird.”
“But I’m not doing anything wrong,” Y’yorilye pouted. “And besides, he looks just like you,” she said with a slight seductive tone to her voice, eyes glancing back at Yissle, her lips curving up into a slight smirk as she poked Trenton’s chest like she was playing the smallest set of bongos in the world.
In a burst of air, Yissle disappeared, suddenly standing just next to Y’yorilie. He snagged her arm, holding her up in the air like a child, “I told you to stop. Do not make me repeat myself,” Yissle said, booming across the courtyard like a siren, worming its way into the skulls of all present, many of the kids relaxing on the grass plugging their ears to stop the ringing.
“I know why the children fear him,” Avardis said, bopping his ear with his palm.
“Yeah, I think I do too,” Karfice said, suddenly attentive again.
Y’yorilye melted in Yissle’s grasp, placing her hand on her ample chest, “Oh, I love when you talk to me like that. You’re so assertive,” she teased, laying her head on Yissle’s left breast.
“I hate you,” Yissle said.
“Hate is practically love when you think about it.”
“In that case,” Yissle drew her behind himself, stepping towards the top of the staircase where there was some free room, “I’d be glad to give you as much time to think as you need,” Yissle grunted as he whipped her body around by the air, sending her body flailing straight through the veil and over the horizon at a speed of, approximately, very fast.
A resounding boom echoed off the building from the raw strength of Yissle’s shot put, the students in the courtyard staring agape at where Y’yorilye once stood. They snickered amongst themselves, chatter rising a full octave. Yissle meandered back towards them, clapping his hands together to remove any dust while looking quite pleased with himself.
“Thanks,” Trenton said, extending his sense through the earth as far as he could muster to try and see where Y’yorilye landed.
“Oh, no need to thank me. I took a lot of pleasure in that,” Yissle laughed. “Now where were we?” He turned to the dark man, raising his eyebrows.
“Nope, I’m good,” the man said, falling backwards into the shadows and disappearing again.
“Yeah, thought so.”
“Who were those guys, an-and is she dead!?” Maria stuttered.
“Y’yorilye and Oluerut, the light and darkness department heads respectively. I’d rather not talk about the former and the latter would rather me not talk about him, so I’ll leave the introductions for another time. And no, she’ll be back. Like I said, excessive physical punishment is forbidden, even if they really deserve it. That goes for students and teachers. Luckily there’s no rule that says I’m not allowed to send clingy women on an impromptu mountain hike. Do you hear that?” Yissle paused, the far off shouts of children playing and laughing filling the air.
“Hear what?” Kiva asked.
“Precisely.”
Millie jumped off of Yissle’s shoulder, running forward and presing with all her little might against the entrance doors, “COME ON COME ON COME ON COME ON COME ONNNNNNNNN!!!! LETS GOOOOOOO I WANNA SEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!”
“Sorry, sorry. I don’t mean to keep you waiting. Era said he’ll see you tonight, so you all can do whatever you want in the meantime. I-” Yissle stopped, turning back towards the gate, the corners of his mouth tipped down, “...should go handle that. Trenton, Leo, find your way to my room and we can talk when I get back. Everyone else–welcome to the academy,” Yissle tapped the tip of his foot against the ground, and as he waltzed off towards the entrance of the grounds, the colossal double doors barring entrance to the great building grinded open. It was finally time. They had made it.