The evening before the new students started Endrian headed home. Fortunately, Ethese’s awakening time was in the evening so Endrian didn’t miss any school. Tonight was the night that Ethese was going to awaken and they could stop keeping secrets. When he arrived at the house everyone seemed to be excited.

Ratrece went over to greet Endrian and saw the slightly surprised and confused face that he was making. This caused her to smile and say “Do you want to know why we are excited this time?” she waited for Endrian to respond to her question before continuing on “It’s because we found out that Shyael is with child again.”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting that. Congratulations,” he said surprised. “When did you find out?”

“A few days ago but I had a healer confirm it today so everyone has been pretty excited. Well, except for Ethese. She doesn’t understand what it means. Ah yes, speaking of her, she has also been asking about you. Ever since she had the talk with Vanya she’s been waiting for you to get home.” Ratrece said with a smile.

Endrian headed up to his little sister's room and knocked on the door jam. After a moment Vanya came out with an irritated look on her face. Upon seeing Endrian she huffed a little and then jerked her thumb towards the room before walking off.

Endrian was a little nonplussed seeing Vanya’s attitude but walked in to see what was going on. As soon as he stepped through the door a little bundle of energy hit and hung on.

“Big brother is it true?! Can you change just like mama says? I wonder if I am going to be scary or fluffy. I think I would rather be fluffy.” Ethese was excited and didn’t filter anything that popped into her head.

Chuckling to himself Endrian said “Hold up short stuff. You have to breathe and let the other person respond before moving on with your thoughts. So what do you want to ask first?”

“Can you change into a monster?” she asked with both excitement and a little fear.

“Nope, no monsters here,” Endrian replied. She looked crestfallen like someone had taken away her favorite toy. “I can change but I’m still me there’s no monster here, silly girl.”

Her face immediately lit up again. Endrian casually thought ‘If this was anime there would be literal stars popping out of her eyes.’

Jumping back and holding her fists tightly clenched she said “Show me!” In a demanding tone of voice. Seeing how excited and eager she was Endrian just smiled and then started to take off his shirt. At the same time, the door opened and Vanya walked back in stopping Endrian from doing anything further with a shake of her head. Although Endrian wanted to say something he figured it was best to let the mother deal with her child. Looking back at Ethese the pout on her face was almost epic.

Endrian tossed some parting words for her “Don’t worry little one, what first mother says is true. Soon enough you will see for yourself.”

Not long after Endrian finished talking with Ethese they all went to the underground room, which Endrian didn’t even know was there. ‘Seriously do they put these things in everywhere?! This is so overly complicated and stupid.’ However, he pushed his thoughts aside as he saw Ethese come in with her new robe. She seemed so excited and anxious and afraid. It wasn’t long after she arrived that her first element started its awakening and her first transformation.

It was difficult to watch Ethese go through the awakening. Seeing such a young and innocent girl suffer so much was painful, to say the least. Endrian got to see the elemental awakening for Ethese and she first awoke the light element, then the earth element. Her transformation when complete also drew some shock from Endrian’s family as she turned out to be a golden dragon that also had wings. After everything was done Vanya wrapped the unconscious Ethese in the now torn robe and carried her to her room.

Watching that and remembering his own experiences Endrian thought ‘Seriously. Who the fuck would come up with such a sadistic idea. You know what, yep, fuck having kids. Just watching my little sister go through this is hard enough I can’t even fathom doing this as a parent. If I ever get the chance to talk to who came up with this messed up idea I am going to smack the shit out of them.’

While these thoughts were going through Endrian’s mind everyone else appeared happy for her. There was a subtle mood of celebration from everyone except Endrian who was a little disgruntled at the moment. Realizing that he was the only one out of sorts Endrian sucked it up and put on a smile, had some dinner and chatted with everyone. It’s not like there was anything he could do about it. It’s the way this world worked, as depressing as that may seem.

After dinner and a restless night, Endrian got up and went to school early in the morning. Arriving at the main gate he noticed there was an influx of people. Looking around he could see that there were probably a couple of hundred people. Some were parents seeing their children off for the first time. There were other students and some staff that were verifying the students' identity and their name. Other staff were giving directions and in general, it was a cluster of activity. Seeing this made him think of a weird cross between his boys first days of school and his first day of college from his old world, it was a really weird combination. Shaking his head at those memories he made his way to the gate. As he joined the queue for entry, he noticed that there were a number of additional guards on duty and that none of them were the ones he usually saw. Smiling he thought ‘Typical pageantry. Have to put on a show so that it looks good for the new people.’ Then with a sigh, he realized that there was probably going to be a problem since he wasn’t in any of the normal classes and didn’t have a badge or anything as proof that he was a student.

When he arrived at the guards he had a number of different statements depending on what they would do. Outside of his expectations, the main guard woman greeted him cordially “Greetings junior brother Endrian. Please go on in.”

Endrian was surprised and responded, “You know me?”

Smiling the guard woman said “Of course I know you, we all know of junior brother Endrian. The boy who caused the commotion during the entrance exam, and then got two of our guard sisters in trouble the few days after. The boy who the priestesses fight over, and who was run all over the place even through the dining hall.” The more she talked the closer she moved towards him and the stronger the gleam in her eye got. Looking around he noticed that she wasn’t the only one eyeing him.

“Uh..Okay.. Nice to meet you. Maybe I’ll see you around.” He said while skirting around her and moving into the academy grounds. As he passed he saw a rather ambiguous smile on her face. He wasn’t sure what she meant by that smile but decided to ignore it as he made a note to avoid her in the future.

After entering the grounds he saw that everyone was streaming over to a part of the academy that he hadn’t been to yet. After following the crowd he saw an open field inside a ring of the coral buildings. This area was about the size of a football field from his old world. Sighing to himself and feeling somewhat nostalgic due to the overlap between this world and his old. ‘I guess school is pretty universal.’ He thought to himself. Smiling Endrian started to play the winds of change by the Scorpions in his head as he entered the field. It was kind of funny considering he had been going to school for a month but only now was he really appreciating the correlation between this world and his old.

Stepping to the side of the flow of people coming onto the field. Leaning against a wall and people watching. Something he hadn’t done in a while. He could definitely see the differences between the nobles and the wealthy merchants. Most people forming into groups for socializing especially the parents. Teachers would travel between the groups talking to students and parents about various subjects and interests. Endrian watched from the back of the field and sighed in his heart as he felt that this was all rather pointless for him. Closing his eyes he just played the Wind of Change in his mind again and whistled along with it this time. After the song finished Endrian opened his eyes and was surprised to see a few girls standing in front of him.

“That was really pretty.” one of the girls said.

“Can you do another one?” another girl asked.

Right at this time, another voice came from the entrance, “I see you're doing well. Though I have to wonder how you managed to sneak your way in here.” Xerael said with a sneer.

Endrian sighed and shook his head but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure what it was but there was something about this kid that just rubbed him the wrong way. The first impression definitely made a large impact but it was just deeper than that. There are just some people that rub you the wrong way no matter their age. That’s why he kept his mouth shut because he would probably say something that would just piss everyone off.

Just as Xerael opened his mouth to say something else his mother grabbed his arm and pulled him away towards the other people.

Looking at the girls around him Endrian sighed and said “I have some personal issues with that boy, Xerael Naxxremis. So, if you don’t want to get on the wrong side of him then you should probably avoid me.”

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Two of the girls opened their eyes wide and departed. The third and last girl shuffled forward a little and asked “How did you manage to get on his bad side?”

Smiling ruefully Endrian said “That little boy insulted my mother and so I called him and his mother walking piles of shit. Him for the insult and the mother for not correcting him.”

The girl's mouth opened so wide you could probably fit a goose’s egg in it. After a few seconds, she then chuckled and said “Well yes that would definitely put you on their bad side. My name is Oricia Blackward, a pleasure to meet you.”

Endrian looked her over carefully. She was cute. She had somewhat chubby cheeks but she didn’t have what Endrian would consider a manly face. Nor did she look overly heavy like some of the noble children. She had red hair that reminded him of the Black Widow’s hair from Avengers. She had baby blue eyes with a button nose. She looked about 9 or 10 years old. “Nice to meet you as well. My name is Endrian.” he finally said to her in a reserved tone.

Right at this time, a group of teachers came through including academy head Chiyo. Endrian, seeing that she and a number of other teachers and the priestesses were here, he pointed at them to Oricia and said “Things are probably about to start so we should head to the seating.”

The teachers and staff that were there helped everyone get situated. Endrian was hoping to avoid conversing with most of the people because he honestly wasn’t sure how to interact with most of them. Adults, not a problem, children… It felt overly awkward talking with them as a peer and he felt like he would be condescending to them by viewing them as children. Well, he didn’t feel like he was going to be condescending but he knew that’s how others would take it.

Unfortunately for him, Oricia seemed like she was interested in him and sat next to him in the seating. She leaned over to him and said “You didn’t say your house name when you greeted me earlier.” she whispered.

At first, he wasn’t sure how to respond and then he remembered the fight his dad participated in and how they introduced him, so he said “House of Vanya.”

“Wait you aren’t from a noble house, and you still said that to the matriarch of the Naxxremis house?” she whisper shouted.

“Look, no offense, but I could care less about nobles or commoners. If you are rude and disrespectful I’ll treat you as such. If you treat me with cordiality then I will treat you the same.” Endrian said.

“Aren’t you afraid that they will retaliate?” she asked with incredulity.

At this point. the parents, teachers, and children had all been situated and Chiyo stood on the stage and pressed on a stone on her necklace that she was wearing and then cleared her throat. The sound of her clearing her throat echoed across the field and got everyone’s attention.

Oricia wasn’t interested in what was going on at the stage and poked him in the side while saying in a hushed tone “Hey I asked you if you were afraid that they would retaliate.”

“No I’m not, and now is not the time to discuss these things,” he said with an authoritarian tone.

“Well look who turned into the goody, goody all of a sudden. I was just asking.” she replied snidely with a little pout at the end.

Endrian closed his eyes briefly and then focused on Chiyo only to realize that it was a typical opening ceremony type speech. She talked about how hopeful she was for all of the students, how proud she was and the different courses that were available. She also explained that they would be put in classes where they could talk to their teacher in charge. They could talk with them for their required courses and their courses that they wanted to pursue. As she said that some other people who looked like older kids, probably student helpers, moved down the sides of the rows where the children were sitting passing out papers. It seemed a little extravagant but Endrian assumed it was more showing off for the upper class and nobles.

He took his paper and passed on the rest but didn’t bother looking at it since he already knew his courses and everything was laid out for him. However, in just a second he heard Oricia say in an excited whisper “Ha! Me and you are going to the same class and guess who the teacher is. You’ll never guess it. It’s going to be Academy head Chiyo.”

Chiyo waited until everyone had received their slip showing all the students names and the teacher who was going to be in charge of them. After everyone had quieted down she then proceeded to introduce the different teachers. They all stood up in turn and spoke a little about themselves and their qualifications. He read over the list and looked to find his name under Chiyo’s as well as Oricia and Xareal. ‘Great. So now I am going to be in a class with a bunch of stuck up nobles. That’s just what I need.’ Endrian thought with great sarcasm. He kept the thoughts to himself and smiled at Oricia so that he didn’t offend, potentially, the only friend he would have in there.

After he smiled at Oricia he kind of tuned her out as his mind was working on why Chiyo would put him in any of these classes. His mind was also working on some worse case scenarios for what could happen with the nobles and him in the class. Looking at the list again he counted 12 names including his. He decided to talk to Chiyo about it and see if there was a reason. If it was just socializing with his peers then he needed to get out of this class quick before he could burn any bridges.

While Endrian’s mind was trying to work on things Oricia hadn’t stopped talking. However after a few seconds of being ignored as she asked him questions she smacked him on his shoulder to get his attention. “Hey, I was talking to you. Where is your family I would love to meet them.”

“Huh? Oh, I didn’t bring my family with me.” he said absently as his mind started to work on the problems in his head again.

“What?! Why wouldn’t you bring your family during the opening ceremonies? It’s only the best time to network with others students families, at least that’s what my mom says. Well come on let’s go, I guess I could let you visit with my family.” Oricia said.

Looking around Endrian noticed everyone getting up and socializing with each other and heading out of the arena area. “Where’s everyone going?” he asked somewhat confused.

“Well at least you aren’t just ignoring me. Academy head Chiyo said that there would be free food for everyone today in the dining hall. Come on I’ll introduce you to my moms and sisters.” Oricia appeared excited and grabbed his hand and drug him along. Endrian helplessly followed along after he realized that there was no chance of talking with Chiyo about the classes.

Oricia continued to chat about things and ask about different buildings, subjects, and his family. Endrian was a little irritated but decided to take her as his little sister's friend. If he looked at her in that light it was much easier to talk to her about everything. He found out from Oricia that she had three sisters in the school already but they had entered at different times. This allowed them to enter different classes and interact with more people their age. He learned that most noble families did this as well and those commoner families usually joined as their pride to help protect them from bullying. It was actually a somewhat intriguing dynamic that went on at the school. Also, most of the families that were viewed as commoners were actually rich merchant families that had hopes of marrying into nobility or making important connections to expand their mercantile empire. They were often commoners that wound up interacting with nobles anyway and so needed to make connections and learn manners.

After they had arrived at the dining hall Endrian was introduced to Oricia’s sisters and mother. There was Rosedue who was the head mother of the family. She was tall and masculine with a very strong jaw. She had well-defined muscles but wasn’t a body builder type. She had distinctive red hair just like Oricia and had silver eyes which were a really striking contrast. Oricia’s sisters were Chelone who was the oldest at 15 years old, Ravannae was next at 13 and finally Baeye who was 11. All of them had red hair which appeared to be a Blackward trademark. Other than Oricia all of them were very masculine looking. They had strong bodies and strong features and were muscular similar to their mother. It was interesting too along with the smell of food that was in the dining hall there was a peculiar smell about the women. Like fresh herbs. It was similar to having a bag of potpourri sitting in the room when he was sitting with these women.

After Endrian had been introduced and greeted everyone he looked around he found that he was getting a lot of jealous looks from the commoner section where the students were mixing around especially from the family with the boys. There were some condescending looks from the nobles as well as some jealous looks.

When Endrian refocused on the table Rosedue took the chance to ask “What pray tell has brought such an innocent young man to the attention of my youngest daughter?”

Before Oricia could say anything Endrian responded “My charming demeanor and my roguish good looks?”

“Roguish good look? You?” Rosedue responded with a chuckle.

“Yeah, you got me, but I’m working on it.” He said with a wink and a smile. Endrian wasn’t really flirting with Rosedue but he enjoyed witty banter and flirting especially with women who wouldn’t take offense. Well, at least he hoped they wouldn’t take offense.

Rosedue gave him a somewhat discerning look and said “I do believe you are.” After that, it devolved into conversations about what his parents did to earn money and what he hoped to gain from going to school. It was just idle banter that Endrian paid little attention to while responding. Interestingly the food was served to everyone by bringing around dishes to the different tables and letting the gest choose what they wanted. Finally after eating everyone went their separate ways with Endrian looking for Suseras to see what needed to be done about his cultivation.

After leaving the Blackwards, Endrian spent a little bit of time trying to find Suseras to see if he was ready to start properly explaining cultivation. It was fortunate that school was only a half day so there were no requirements for Endrian after lunch and the long welcoming ceremony. Endrian decided to start his search where he usually met his cultivation instructor. Arriving at his classroom it was much like he had expected, Suseras was nowhere to be found. That being said there was a strange old man sitting where his teacher normally sat.

The man appeared to be older with white/grey hair and a beard that was on par with Pai Mei. It was actually pretty impressive. While Endrian was looking at him trying to determine who he was, the old man opened his eyes and looked at Endrian. He didn’t say anything or smile or really take any kind of action to acknowledge Endrian’s existence other than to watch him with his eyes.

“I apologize if I interrupted you. I was just looking for my teacher.” Endrian said respectfully.

“You have found him.” the old man replied.

When Endrian heard this he had a confused and quizzical look appear on his face. However, the person continued on saying “I will be your new instructor for cultivation. Come and sit.” he said while pointing to a spot that was less than a meter from where he was sitting.

Endrian was a little surprised but figured this was the result that Suseras had come up with after learning about his initial cultivation, so without further complaint, he moved and sat down in front of the old man. The old man then held out a hand palm up towards Endrian and appeared to be asking for him to place his hand there, which he did, still a little confused.

As soon as he placed his hand in the old man’s hand, the old man pulled and then both hands landed on his head. Endrian had just enough time to this ‘Oh Shit’ before he blacked out.