"Hey, aunt v" I called out softly..

"Yes? What’s wrong?" Aunt V’s soft voice sounded from the bathroom as she stepped out, towel in hand, drying her damp hair as she prepared for bed..

I let my gaze settle on her form, nothing else but pure appreciation within my eyes..

"How long do I have to wait before the session and enrollment begins properly" I couldn’t help asking..

The supervisor had said the vessel meant to transport the candidates from the human continent to the central continent would be arriving within the week, it already took a few days for me to arrive back at bright sun when valen dropped me off, so it should be about time the vessel started getting close no?

"Hehe.. what’s this? Eager to get started are we?" She laughed, getting into bed, I raised my right arm and she settled right into my embrace, head resting on my chest as I wrapped my hands around her waist..

"Seems you’re already tired of poor old me and it hasn’t even been a full day yet" her mock pain was honestly quite refreshing..

"Nothing of the sorts, I wouldn’t dare be tired of my lady, it’s just first time jitters, besides, I’ve just arrived at THE central continent, I find it wasteful to stay cooped up in one location" I said sincerely..

My spirit for adventure having been stoked..

I’d barely seen a part of the human continent, yet I’d already relocated to the central continent, it felt like my adventuring saga had been all over the place, with very little actually happening, I was eager to change that..

"Hehehe.. don’t worry, your time at Aeternum will be filled with enough adventures" she said assuredly..

"Why’s that? Because they call it "The graveyard of geniuses?"" I couldn’t help asking...

"Not at all, it’s because, Aeternum isn’t like any other warrior academy where you just sit through lessons and boring combat sessions, the academy encourages going out and completing missions, afterall, without enough academic points, you’ll never progress within the academy and those are only received when completing missions"..

The moment I heard "completing missions" my eyes shone..

"Tell me more" I pressed..

"You’ll be made aware of most of these things at the entrance ceremony anyways, but you’ll be starting the academy as on outer court student, for your information, Aeternum is divided into the outer court, inner court and supreme sanctum.."

"It doesn’t matter if you were a peerless genius, a once-in-a-generation monster, you’ll always begin within the outer court, what separates the exceptional from the mediocre, will be the speed at which they progress through the ranks.

The inner courts are the playing grounds of true geniuses whilst the supreme sanctum belongs the true monsters of their generation"..

Okay, now, that’s a bit more informative, a scaled progression, where the amount of missions you cleared determined your acquired points and points determine your rate of progression, I see clearly why she said I’d have no lack for adventure..

"But the true fun part is the fact that you can steal other people’s points as well and it’s quite easy, if you feel you’re stronger, then just take it. You needn’t anything like demand a duel or sanction a fight, in the real world, your enemies won’t wait for you to get ready before taking your head" she cautioned seriously..

My smile only widened, the bully in me being extremely happy at such a thing..

"But, D, you need to prepare yourself" her voice had turned grim..

"Hmm? Why? What’s wrong?" I couldn’t help asking, anxiety rising..

"Aeternum doesn’t discriminate against anyone or race" she began..

"What does that mean?"

"It means you’re likely to see opposing and absolutely violent factions within the same academy grounds"

"You don’t mean?"

"Yes, that’s exactly what I mean..

Dragons and Drakens..

Dark elves and Light elves..

Vampires and Monster hunters...

The church’s Envoys and... Demons"

Yep.. that did it...

My murderous intent spiked instantly..

The mere mention of them sending me into overdrive, the room trembled and quaked as the atmosphere turned heavier with a suffocating weight of oppression..

Yet before I could spiral further, aunt v, squeezed my palm softly, bringing me back from my spiraling murderous rage..

"No..." the growl tore straight out of me..

"Unfortunately, yes" she replied with a shake of her head..

"Why? They’re the enemy.. why let them study at such a hallowed ground?" I couldn’t, for the life of me, understand why we’d let such a madness unfold...

"Why? You need to understand D, demons had been last viewed as enemies since times immemorial, most people have even forgotten why, the only reason anybody still remembered, was for the sake of history and to instill the urge for progress, but as for the demon race themselves? They’ve been effectively accepted as one of terra" she explained seriously..

The race that invaded your lands had suddenly been accepted as one of you? What madness was I hearing?

"Besides, do you think the demons are the only strangers on terra? The vampires, the celestials, they’re all strangers that "invaded" just because theirs wasn’t a violent takeover like the demons, didn’t make it less of an invasion , their diplomatic approach and offers of fair exchange was the only difference between them and the demons’ initial aggression, the world isn’t black and white D, not everyone shares your hatred and you must be ready to coexist with demons within Aeternum" she concluded...

I was honestly on the verge of exploding once more, the very reason I seeked out Aeternum, was to a find a place that would sharpen me fast enough to eradicate that disgusting race, but now I’m being told I’ll have to bear their existence within the same atmosphere?..

"Don’t worry, with the way Aeternum’s rules work, you should be able to let your pent up aggression out enough to not explode from within" she seemed to have sensed my dilemma, her attempt at making a work around not working in the slightest...

But, it is what it is, if I’ll have to deal with the unpleasant nature of demons, then I’ll deal with it..

"Hooo..." now that my head had calmed down, I couldn’t help latching onto a tidbit she’d let out..

"Celestials? What are those?" I couldn’t help asking, they sounded very "divine-ish" so I wanted to know..

"Oh.. they descended from the skies one day, claiming to be messengers of the gods, they normally stayed cooped up within the church of Ataraxia, there Aren’t many of them, but they’re very powerful and they dislike demons as well" she explained..

"The enemy of my enemy huh?" I mused softly..

"Indeed, so, overall, Aeternum is a battlefield for the elite of the elite, where opposing powers meet and clash for dominance but covertly and openly, the strong succeed and the weak are trampled underfoot..

The only rule that mattered there, BE STRONG"

"So don’t stress about a lack of adventure, once you get enrolled, adventure will be your middle name" she smiled, placing a soft kiss on my cheek..

My mind was swiveling with a multitude of thoughts, most of them still being around the fact that I’d have to put up with the existence of demons, I didn’t believe I could, but for now, I’ll just calm my restless heart and then await the day of enrollment proper..

Hopefully, I don’t have the displeasure of encountering one so soon..

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

A/N: sorry, had to get this out there, the info dumps should be less forthcoming now, it’s Aeternum time soon and hopefully, more action and exposure of the world...

Sigh....

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

Thanks for reading.... 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

(3/3)