John walked down a sidewalk of a city block and made his way a park in the upper city, the same park he and Aoi went years ago. He sat on a bench in front of the fountain and looked at the necklace, “What do I do now?” John said, clenching his hands tightly around the necklace. John fell asleep on the bench until morning. When morning arrived, John woke up and read the address to the protectors academy that was on his invitation and made his way to it.
He arrived at the gate of the academy, some students passing him, he saw that it was a large, white, colored building, about four or five stories tall. The building was a half-square-shaped building with a few smaller buildings in the back, all of them surrounded by a ten foot bar wall. The main building had a dome on the front of it with a large clock hanging above two large doors that made the front entrance, the building also had a large, grassy courtyard with a tall, bowl fountain in the middle of the yard, facing the front doors of the academy.
“Whoa, this must be it.” John said, standing at the gates.
John made his way to the middle of courtyard where he slowly admired the large statue of a woman in the middle of the fountain, stretching her arms towards the city, holding a gold-colored star. As he looked at the fountain, he saw a small text written in a language that he immediately recognized as Japanese on the star. He tried to read it but before he could, he bumped into a young woman with, flowing golden-brown hair that went down to just bellow her shoulders, and hazel eyes. She wore a black tank top revealing a slightly more muscular figure than the average woman her age. She wore dark blue pants and black leather boots. Her skin was a light pale color. Her arms had a few small, faded scars as well as a larger one on on her left upper arm.
“Hey, watch it.” she said.
“I’m so sorry, I was just admiring this place.”
“Are you a new student?”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“So am I,” the girl said with a confident grin. “Name’s Kya.”
“I’m John.”
Kya shook his hand and said, “Good to meet you John, I should get going and head to my dorm room now. So, I’ll see you around I guess.”
“Yeah, see you around.”
Kya walked off to enter the academy; John looked at the text on the star only to find that it was gone. after a while, John entered the building where inside were walls covered in pictures and various decorations. The floor was covered by a red carpet and where John was facing was a staircase that lead to the second floor, students walking up and down it. The stairs were divided with a left and right case of stairs and in the middle was a hallway to the rest of the building.
“Whoa, this is awesome.” John said in amazement.
“Ah, John, you made it. I knew you wouldn’t turn my offer down.” said Aiden, walking up to John and patting his shoulders. “Now, Let me see the invitation, and I’ll take this to the registration office.”
John handed the invitation over to Aiden and Aiden handed him a piece of paper, “On this is the dorm where you’ll be staying.” Aiden began to walk off. “I expect big things from you, John.”
“Ok, thank you, Sir.”
John looked at the paper and read the location of the dorm room. He walked down a long hallway on the second floor of the left side of the building where the male dorms are and arrived at the dorm room with the number 117 on the door. “Looks like this is it.” John said, opening the door. As he entered he saw standing near a bead on the left side of the room, a young man that was around his age, wearing black pants and a red-colored, scarf-like belt around his waist. The man was shirtless which revealed a large tattoo of a dragon with a lion’s head on his back. He had short, black and light salmon red hair that reached to the bottom of his ears. He also had bright emerald eyes and a slightly faded scar on his bottom lip.
The man turned around and said in a cheery voice, “Hey, you must be my roommate.” he said as he walked over yo John and shook his hand. “Good to meet you, I’m Ezra, first year student.”
“I’m John, I’m a first year as well.”
“That’s awesome. So where did you come from?”
“The lower city.”
“Nice, I’ve never meet anyone from the lower city.”
“What about you, where are you from?”
“I’m from A’Kumen, down south. Have you heard of that country?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of it. Although, you don’t look like someone from that country. Aren’t people from there darker in skin color?”
Ezra chuckled and said, “Yes, but I’m only half A’Kumenian; my father is A’Kumenian and my mother is Mossarian.”
“So you’re here to be a protector?”
“Yep, it’s been my dream since I was a kid. Any way, I should let you get settled in.”
Ezra walked back over to his bed and put a black jacket on. John sat down on his bed and looked out of the window that was nearby the two beds.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Hey John, you have belongings, right?” Ezra asked.
“Nope.” John answered, lying down on his bed.
“Don’t worry about that, tomorrow, I’ll show you where they sell some clothes and self care items. Nice jacket by the way.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Hey, you want me to show you around? I’ve already seen most of the academy, but I’d be happy to show you where everything is.”
“Alright, lead the way.” John said, springing up from his bed.
Ezra and John exited the room and walked down the hallway, “Alright, this side of the building is the guy’s dorm and the other side of the building is where the girl’s dorm is, the back and middle of the building is where the class rooms and staff rooms are.”
“I see.” John replied.
The two came to the entrance of the academy at the balcony where the staircases divide, they then walked down the stairs and went down another hall. As they were walking, John noticed Kya walking in the opposite direction as they were, carrying a few books in her arms. The two locked eyes for a brief moment before John bumped into a student that was standing in his direction, both of there heads hitting the other’s, causing both John and the student to fall to the ground.
“Hey, why don’t you watch what you’re doing? That really hurt.” the student said in an annoyed tone.
John, a little disoriented from the bump on the head, opened his eyes and saw the student he bumped into: a beautiful young woman, her hair as white as snow and reached down to her waist. Her skin a light pale color and her eyes were bright red like rubies. Her eyes burning like fire as she gave John an agitated stare, and shining like gems in the sunlight that curtained the hall from the large windows on the wall. She wore a red and white sleeveless dress that gave off a certain elegance as it moved with her steps.
“Wow!” John said with a dumbfounded look.
The student had a furious look on her face and said, “Are you blind or something? Watch where you’re walking, you fool.” She stormed off, leaving John and Ezra alone in the hall with the exception of a few students.
“Are you ok?” Ezra asked, helping him up.
“Yeah, I’m good. It seems I’m always bumping into people. Who was that?”
“Hinata Xander, daughter of one of the most wealthy and powerful men in Oriana. She got in this school by recommendation. Apparently, she’s supposed to be very skilled. But all I see is a pampered rich girl.”
“She always this mean?”
Ezra laughed and said, “She’s got kind of a short fuse. I ran into her when I first got here and I thought she was gonna take my head off. I’d stay away from her if I were you, my friend.”
“Bruh, why is it always the total knockouts that are the mean ones?” John groaned.
“Don’t worry, there are plenty of attractive students here.”
Ezra continued to show John around the academy; as they walked around the academy, the two ran into Aiden, who was talking to some of the academy’s staff members. “Ah, John. We meet again.” Aiden said.
“Good to see you again, Sir. Last time I saw you I was handcuffed.”
“It’s amazing how circumstances change, you also still have that ankle devise on you, so you might have to talk to a security guard and have them take it off. We wouldn’t want the tools to be tracked by the shed master, now would we?”
“What?”
“Just a saying that my father used to tell me. He is a man of many wise sayings.”
“I’ll go to the security right away.”
“Good to hear, and who might this young man be?” Aiden asked, gesturing to Ezra.
“I’m Ezra, Sir.”
“Good to see you, I hope you do whatever it takes to be a protector.”
“Already on it, Sir.”
Aiden pulled John aside and said quietly, “Now that you took my offer, the council will watch your every move and make sure you’re useful to us. That was the agreement I made with them, so please don’t do anything to provoke them. Also, do not tell anyone how you got into the academy.”
“I’ll try.”
“Good to hear.” Aiden said in a normal tone. He then walked off with the staff members he was talking to.
“You were handcuffed?” Ezra asked.
“It’s a long story, I’d rather not bring it up. Should we continue checking this place out?”
The two left and continued to walk around the academy. At the end of the day, the two retired to their dorm room.
Meanwhile at the female dorms, Kya entered her dorm room being greeted by a girl with dark brown hair with red-dyed ends. The girl was the same age as Kya; she was short and wore a black-colored hoodie that’s sleeves almost fully covered her hands. She had black colored nails, almond-shaped eyes and had fair skin that gave off an almost dark yellow color.
“Hello there, I’m Ash.” the girl said in a friendly voice.
“I’m Kya, good to meet you.” Kya said.
“You must be the third room mate. We might get a fourth one, but that depends on how many students have been accepted this year.”
“Yep.”
“Well, you can have the bottom bunk, we already picked our bunks, sorry about that.”
“No no, that’s fine. I don’t care about where I sleep, as long as it’s comfortable.”
“Hey, Hina. Come say hello to our roommate.”
Kya looked and saw Hinata Xander sitting on the floor against the wall, reading a small book. Hinata then stood up and walked over to Kya and shook her hand, “Hello, I’m Hinata. But you can call me Hina if you want.” she said.
“Good to meet you, Hina. So, what brings you here?”
“My father. The Xander family has a close relation with this school and it just so happens that I am protector material.”
“Oh, nice.” Kya said. “What about you, Ash?”
“To keep an eye on my brother Lee. He’s a first year like me and doesn’t know I’m here so it’s gonna be a huge surprise when he finds out.” Ash said with a chuckle.
“What about you?” Hina asked. “Why do you want to be a protector?”
“It’s a bit personal. Let’s just say that I’m looking for something and the only way to quickly find it is to become a protector.”
“Hmm, interesting.” said Ash.
Hina walked off to where she was sitting and said to Kya, “You should get settled in and get ready to go to sleep. The academy has a curfew in two hours.”
Kya unpacked her things with the help of Ash and settled into the dorm. As Ash and Hina slipped into their beds and fell asleep, Kya had just finished taking a shower and changing into her sleepwear; she sat on her bed and pulled a small silver ring from her pillowcase and whispered, “I promise. I will find you.” before kissing the ring and putting it on her right hand ring finger. She then slipped under the covers of her bed and fell asleep.
A few minutes earlier, back at the men’s dorm, Ezra and John got ready to go to sleep, John sat down on his bed and looked out the window. Ezra flopped down on his bed, Tomorrow, we learn how to be protectors. I can’t wait. Goodnight, John.” he said.
“You too.” John said.
Ezra fell asleep, John stayed awake and continued to stare out of the window and saw the upper city as it shined in the darkness with its many brilliant lights. He saw the statue in the courtyard as the gold-colored star shined from a dim light inside of it. "So, this is my new life. If I’m going to be a protector, then I’ll be one of the best ones that ever walked this land. At least that’s what I’ll believe. My only goal now is to find my father—whatever it takes."
.”