“-But he needs to learn!” Timothy shouts, running towards Salnys and Jonny, Jonny’s still dragging Salnys by the ear.

“Putting him in a fight club is insane,” Jonny shouts, moving even faster now, and still tugging on his ear, “You do realize how much trouble we’re going to be in, right?”

Jonny sighs and tries to speed up, but he trips over, letting go of Salnys’s ear. Timothy laughs and dives for Salnys, and begins to run while Salnys is slung over his shoulder. Timothy begins to pick up the pace, but Jonny quickly recovered from falling earlier and is catching up. Salnys considers trying to break free of Timothy’s grip but decides that this is too amusing to try to stop and that he’s probably not strong enough to break free of Timothy’s grip.

Jonny speeds up even more and grabs Salnys from Timothy’s shoulder, Timothy curses and tries to speed up too, but Jonny swiftly reaches about half his arm into one of the pouches on his hip, which was surprising considering the bag’s fairly small size, and pulls out some thick substance which Jonny immediately flicks off of his hand and to Timothy’s feet which causes Timothy to trip, but not fall as his feet refuse to move.

Timothy grumbles and pulls at his legs to start getting himself unstuck but Jonny doesn’t give Timothy any breathing room and immediately puts Salnys into a standing position and again begins running whilst dragging him by the ear.

Salnys pipes up, “Y’know Jonny, I think that you're using me as an excuse to fight Timothy.”

Jonny sighs and begins pulling on Salnys’s ear harder and moving faster. Salnys yelps and tries to keep up.

Salnys thinks to himself, ‘This is going to be a long day...’

********************

Timothy is heartily yelling in the distance; he’s nearly caught up to Jonny and Salnys by now and is full sprinting in their direction, Jonny and Salnys are already there with Cecillian standing out there with his hands on his hips.

After seeing this Timothy stops himself and yells, “Hello Cecillian! How do you do?”

Cecillian sighs and says, “Come with me for a moment Timothy.”

Cecillian and Timothy walk off into the forest for a couple of minutes. Salnys and Jonny are awkwardly standing there, Jonny does pull out his lute but right as he starts playing Cecillian and Timothy come back, Jonny puts his lute away and smirks at Timothy who just shoots back a blank glare.

Cecillian ushers the group to enter the academy, they walk through the entrance, the various clerks waving, many eyeing Jonny as they walk through. Once they make it through, Jonny asks Cecillian something, Cecillian sighs and whispers something to Jonny, Jonny’s face forms a dejected look, and he walks off. Timothy also leaves but doesn’t go in the same direction.

Cecillian waves goodbye to Timothy and Jonny and turns to Salnys, “You should go get some food and find your dorm,” Cecillian sighs and shakes his head, “Knowing Timothy, he probably offered you some protein breakfast and I’m betting that’s not your preferred food and regardless it is already past midday, you need to have lunch.”

Salnys raises an eyebrow and interjects, “He just gave me some really good eggs.”

Cecillian responds, “That is a protein breakfast.”

Salnys just stares blankly for a moment before saying, “I’m going to go find my dorm now.”

Salnys begins to walk off to his dorm but is then stopped by Cecillian.

“I haven’t told you where your dorm is yet Salnys.” Cecillian says.

Salnys stops and turns, “I can probably figure it out.”

Cecillian shrugs and walks off, Salnys starts making his way to his dorm room. Salnys goes a couple of paths off the alley where he originally met the assassin and he stops by the campus store on the way to get some food where he sees a familiar face.

Elijah flags down Salnys, “Duuuddddeee,” He’s saying this through a mouth full of sandwich, from how many crumbs he’s spewing one would guess he tried downing the whole thing at once, “I thought you were dead, man.”

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Salnys raises an eyebrow, “Why would you think that? I was only a day late.”

Elijah gulps down the rest of the sandwich he was chewing on and continues, “There was a rumor that a monster grabbed you or something.”

“Yeah, no,” Salnys recounts, “I, uh, went off into the city.”

Elijah’s eyes widen, “Bro, you went to the city?” He seems to gain some energy from hearing this, “Don’t they have, like, clubs with wild parties and places where people fight and stuff everywhere there?!”

Salnys sighs and gets ready to say it was pretty bland but decides, ‘What do I have to lose?’

He clears his throat and whispers, “I went to a fight club.”

Elijah gets even more excited after hearing this and presses for more information, “Wait, did you like, fight? Did you see any explosions?”

“No, I didn’t see any explosions, but I did end up fighting,” Salnys continues, “I did lose, but that was because a school guard came in and stopped me.”

"Yeah, definitely the reason you lost," Elijah laughs, nudging Salnys playfully. "So, what happened after the guard showed up?"

Salnys takes a moment, recalling the chaotic events at the fight club. "Well, the guard was Jonny, you know him, right?” Once Elijah nods Salnys continues, “Yeah, he healed me which was nice of him but he then dragged me from the fight club by my ear, which hurt a lot. Timothy then proceeded to give chase and... the run back was eventful.”

Elijah leans in eagerly, eyes wide with curiosity. "That sounds pretty intense dude; did you get in trouble?"

Salnys chuckles, "Surprisingly, no. I guess I just had a stroke of luck."

Elijah's expression turns puzzled. "Also, I know I said I knew Jonny and Timothy, but I don’t actually. Are those the new guards?"

Salnys nods, "Yeah, they are.”

Elijah perks back up again, “So, do you know them personally? What do they do?”

"Yeah, they're... interesting," Salnys replies, choosing his words carefully. "Jonny's a bard, and Timothy... well, let's just say he's got his own way of doing things."

Elijah grins mischievously. "Man, I wish I could join in on something like that! But I guess being here at the academy is exciting enough. Speaking of which, have you settled into your dorm yet?"

Salnys shakes his head. "Not yet. I was going there when I stopped to grab some food."

Elijah's face lights up. "Hey, want me to show you around? I know all the best spots on campus! We can swing by the mess hall afterward, apparently, they’re serving dinner almost every night this year."

Salnys considers the offer for a moment. Having someone familiar to show him around could be helpful. "Sure, that'd be great. Lead the way."

As they stroll through the campus, Elijah points out various places—the library, the training grounds, and a courtyard bustling with students. He regales Salnys with stories about some of the academy's legends and peculiar occurrences.

Eventually, they reach the mess hall. Elijah gestures toward the building, "There you go, I’m going to get going now, I haven’t finished unpacking my stuff, just a suggestion though, do NOT get the Yubom."

Salnys Raises an eyebrow, worried, “I don’t even know what that is; why not?”

Elijah chuckles at Salnys’s reaction, “Sorry man, I phrased that poorly. It just tastes horrendous, pretty sure it’s made of some monster meat. One of the staff requested it apparently because they ‘needed the protein’.”

Salnys thinks for a moment before breaking out laughing, he wipes tears from his eyes, “Definitely Timothy,” Salnys states, “That man loves his protein.”

Elijah smiles again and says, “Make sure to sock him next time you see him, someone tricked me into eating that stuff and it was nasty.”

Salnys shakes his head, grateful for Elijah's guidance, "Anyway, thanks for showing me around, though. I appreciate it."

Elijah grins. "No problem, dude! If you ever need anything or want to hang out, just hit me up. I'm usually around."

"Will do," Salnys replies with a nod, giving Elijah a friendly wave.

Salnys chuckles and walks into the dining hall, Elijah walks in the opposite direction, presumably towards his dorm. As he walks in, he’s assaulted by a wave of smells, mostly good ones but there’s a rank smell lying under it all, likely sweat. The room is large and rectangular, there are multiple large tables in the middle; workers behind them serving food to students and other staff. It’s also rather loud, with hundreds of conversations being held by many people. Most of them are wearing uniforms or robes, some are wearing armor with various weapons and defensive implements at their hips or back.

He runs to grab some food, waits in line, and gets a mediocre-looking meal. There were some meats, mainly comprised of Chalsik meat, which usually has a sweet flavor to it. There were some greens, he wasn’t sure what they were, but they looked like they were fried, and they smelled good. He got a drink, merely some juice, which again, he has no clue what it is, but it looks fine.

He finally heads over to a mostly empty table and begins to eat. Nothing eventful happens except for Cecillian having to step in to separate a fight happening between two 3rd years who were talking about whether using magic or a sword is better. Some choice words were thrown in during the argument, resulting in one of the arguers pulling out their sword and getting ready to attack, though they were interrupted by Cecillian disarming the sword user. They were then told to the headmaster’s office, the two students immediately straightened themselves out and ran out of the building.

Many students began approaching Cecillian, mainly asking how he disarmed the sword-wielding student so easily, he simply just waved them off with “Pay attention in classes and you’ll find out.” Many students weren’t satisfied with this answer but after he began to walk off, most of the students stopped pressing.

Salnys finished up his plate and downed the rest of his drink; he has to admit, this food is pretty good. He promptly stands up and heads out of the dining hall, there were probably some people who wanted to talk to him, but he isn’t really in the mood to talk to other people tonight.

He heads over to his dorm, he doesn’t take any alleyway shortcuts this time. He makes it there and sighs before entering his room, he puts his hand to a small circle on the door handle and pushes magic into it, the door clicks open, and he walks in.

Entering his new... returning to his old living space, he’s not sure what to think of it, Salnys takes a moment to look around. It's a modest room, but it’s a start. He unpacks his belongings and begins setting them neatly in their designated places.

As he settles in, thoughts of the recent events swirl in his mind; He is pretty pumped to get to school.

Until he remembered what happened the last time he slept in a dorm...

…

Crap

Salnys immediately begins scrambling and starts casting a basic alarm spell around the perimeter of his room, he fumbles the spell a few times but gets it eventually. He then bars some of his luggage against the windows, they can wait to go to the right spot. He then laid down in his bed and just stared, he wasn’t able to sleep from anxiety.

He sits back up and thinks to himself, ‘This is going to be a long night.’