Chapter 8- Grieving History

“William Scarlett Rosewood?” asked William as Elena nodded to the counter lady, she turned her head down and started doing the job she is given in this counter. “Oh, right. Rosewood is your last name; your mother put her first name as your middle name.” explained Elena, “So my mother’s name is Scarlett…?” William muttered, “Scarlett Candace Bellarome to be exact.” Elena corrected him.

Yet another gushing feeling filled the insides of William. he had never knew his own mother’s name, and now it felt like as if he had unlocked yet another secret, the secrets that have kept him in the dark for 13 years. “Alright, Mrs. Cornelia, your registration for Mr. Rosewood has been completed, you can now bring him to Centaur’s Forest so he can unpack his things and explore his surroundings before the Classification in the evening.” Said the lady as she handed Elena a flat square piece of rock, a strange symbol has been engraved onto the stone. “Thank you.” Said Elena as she turned around and got ready to leave, “Wait!” the lady shouted as Elena turned back, “I truly respect your grace, Second Daughter of the Immortals, so I was wondering if you could give me some advice so I can be a more successful woman…?” the lady stood up and asked nervously, Elena gave a laugh and waved her hand randomly, “As you said, I’m an Immortal, not a career therapist, I’m afraid I can’t help you with that. Good bye.”

Even William can’t help but to laugh, the face of the nervous registration lady gave him a laugh, not to mention about the ridiculous request she had. “Mrs. Cornelia,” William asked as they are walking into a large hallway that connects the first hall to the next, “what did she mean by the Second Daughter of the Immortals?” “Oh, that? It’s just a title given to me.” Replied Elena, “For what?” he asked again as Elena sighed, “I’d really wish you could learn this in Ancient History, but guess you can’t wait, huh?” William nodded continuously.

“There are four different types of Hordicals, the main three are classes are the Squire, Mage and Archer; and then there’s this class consisting of only 3 people in existence, they are known as the Immortals like one myself. We are given titles of numeric orders, so the founder of Hordicals who became Immortal will be known as the First Son of the Immortal.” Explained Elena, “You said there are 3 Immortals in existence and you only named two, who is the last one?” asked William as Elena stopped in her pace, and all of a sudden, the noise around William seemed to cease as he focused onto Elena. “Thus, having the Third Son of the Immortals has been the greatest mistake the world had made, the Third Son is Haidrous Dameucan, now better known as Fonte Maximus.” She muttered and continued walking again, William gasped as Elena continued.

“We three used to work together, help to maintaining evil in the other side of the world. I used to tease him a lot, saying that he’ll never surpass my strength and power,” said Elena, her eyes looking forward and didn’t even care if William was listening or not, she went on, “and I guess he can’t take it anymore, he disappeared from the Hordical board, and from the face of the land. Then…..” William could’ve sworn he saw tears in Elena’s eyes, but then there isn’t any and William thought if she used some sort of magic to cover her weak side. “After a million years or so, he came back and he declared war to our world.” She took a deep breath, “At the very end, we saw each other again, so we fought.” “He grew extremely strong for the pass million years, and to tell you the truth, he had already surpassed me.”

“So in the end, before he gave me the fatal blow, I opened a portal to the Nether world and sealed him for good.” Said Elena, “Whoa… You fought with Fonte Maximus? From what I heard you must be like the strongest!” said William. He can’t help it, even though it is a grieving matter, he can’t stop feeling bewildered by what this woman in front of him had committed, “He’s coming back though, and I can tell, he’s not going to be happy this time.” replied Elena.

They stopped in front of a statue; it was a marble figure of a bold centaur holding his bow highly, as if he is aiming to shoot down a hawk or some sort. On the surface of the podium where the centaur stood, a slot was seen clearly and seemed to fit the square stone. Elena bent and pushed the stone into the slot and all of a sudden, the centaur moved. “Mrs. Cornelia, how may a humble statue such as myself be able to assist you?” asked the statue as it bowed, William startled and took a step back. “Yeah, I would like you to teleport Mr. Rosewood here to your dormitory.” Said Elena, “Oh, so it’s a dormitory? I thought I was about to live in a real forest.” Said William in relief, “Would you like to?” asked Elena as he shook his head hard. The centaur nodded at Elena’s orders, a portal ripped open behind Elena and William, a hallway was visible from the portal.

“Well, off you go.” Said Elena as William looked into the portal then he asked, “Mrs. Cornelia, will the people here still tease me?” Elena bent to his height and put a hand on his shoulder, “William, the people here are the same as you are, you will never feel left out anymore.” She gave him a warm smile, hearing that, William bided Elena goodbye and stepped into the portal. For the first time, he felt as if he belonged.

Chapter 7- Fadhalion

William opened his eyes slowly, his head is resting on the soft and comfortable pillow. He looked up at the ceiling and saw the moving heavens; he could now see a sun slowly coming into the centre of the ceiling, where the fan is spinning.

He was rather disappointed. Before he slept he wished that all these would be just a dream, that he would wake up the next morning to celebrate his 13^th birthday by himself. Instead, he really is in another world and his life on the line. The next thing William thought was whether he should stay in this room and wait for someone to pick him up, or he should just march out of the room through the only visible door. The minutes passed, William was eager to know what is behind the other side of the door. When his patience finally evaporated, William stood up from his bunk and walked towards the door, his hands on the doorknob but the door opened by itself. He thought there is magic in the door but Elena was the person who opened the door on the other side, he cleared his throat to shake the embarrassment off his head.

“I see you’re awake already.” Said Elena as William nodded, “Good, now let us get moving. We got a busy day ahead of us.” she said as she led William into a typical white hallway of a hospital. Doctors walked around the hallway, entering and exiting rooms. As they walked towards a T-junction, Elena turned left as a final door indicates the end of the hallway, the door to exit the hospital.

Suddenly, a group of men rushed through the door with a pale man on a stretcher. The stretcher passed William as he looked at the man; he was whiter than marble and lay in a rather stiff position. To William’s shock, the man looked as if he has been turned into a statue, the pupil in his eyes showed no sign of life and the colour of his skin drained into nothing but plain, cold and white. “Poor man, he shouldn’t have gone head on on the Gorgon mission if he wasn’t ready yet, now he’s been turned into stone.” Said Elena in a disappointed tone, “What’s going to happen to that guy?” asked William, “Depends, if the stone aura got to the heart and turn it into stone, obviously he will die.” She said as she walked out of the hospital.

It took William a second or two to accustom his vision from the lights in the hospital to the dim surroundings around him, a city of buildings appeared in front of his eyes, people in clothes, robes or even armour walked around the crowded streets. Tiny hawker stalls were everywhere, sellers promoting their products aloud and some even brought a bell with them and rang it, catching everyone’s attention. “Where are we?” asked William, “We’re in the capital city on Grazelbroth- Nathurm Silvize, better known as Silvize city.” Replied Elena as the walked down a slope, where a larger market appeared in front of William’s eyes. From there he saw the sun slowly rising from its horizon hundreds and thousands of miles away, behind the far-away mountains.

“It’s very beautiful.” Commented William, from the edge of his eye he saw Elena nodded, “Yes, indeed it is…” she muttered softly and continued walking down the slope as William followed automatically, the idea of getting lost in a new world is simply horrifying. They walked pass a few street and at last, they came to a final halt. A large building was stood firmly in front of them; if they weren’t in another world William would’ve thought it is the White House, except for the fact that it is grey instead of white. From far, William could tell that its walls are fully made of huge grey bricks. The wrought front gates were made of steel bars, each with a razor sharp tip to prevent thieves from climbing over.

“Where are we?” asked William, “We’re at Fadhalion’s Hordicals Institute, the teachers here train young kids like yourself to become a skilled Hordical based on your classes.” Said Elena as she tapped the steel gates with her fingernails, it opened smoothly as a path of pebbles stretched towards the huge building. William followed her tour guide and walked over the rocky path. At the end of the path, Elena pushed open the wooden, elegant front doors and stepped inside, William followed.

There was a breeze of cool air and to William’s surprise, the interior of the building was way bigger than its exterior, so much bigger that it didn’t make any sense. In front of William is a huge hall, it is so wide that the ends are hard to spot. From the outside it seemed as if the institute is only 2 stories high, but from the inside the ceiling is about 30 floors above, sunlight glimmered softly through the transparent ceiling glass above. “Whoa, this is…” William can’t find the words to describe, the tingling sensation of the excitement and amazement mixed together, “I feel you.” Elena ended his unfinished sentence as William nodded.

Elena continued walking as William followed, he looked left and right as they walked, watching the beauty and magic at work. The male students in the institute wear brown long sleeve-less top with a black blazer, a symbol of a strange creature (that William had not seen before) has been engraved on top of the left breast pocket and they wear a pair of black long pants as their bottom wear; the female students wear a plain brown t-shirt and black short skirts with the same black blazer as the males.

William bumped into Elena, their journey seemed to stopped in front of a counter, a plump woman at the age of 40 sat there, chewing something in her mouth. “Yes? May I assist you?” asked the lady lazily, “Yes, I would like to confirm a registration under me please.” Elena asked politely. “Hmm,” the lady randomly grabbed a clipboard and continued without even looking at Elena, “And who may you be?” “Elena Handress Cornelia.” Replied Elena as the lady looked up immediately, her mouth was opening and closing in small spaces it seemed as if she is shaking, Elena and William looked at each other and raised their eyebrows at the lady’s nervous breakdown. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry, Mrs. Cornelia, I didn’t know you were here- confirmation of a registration? You got it, hmm….” The lady’s jaws finally stop shaking as she browsed through the clipboard oh hers, her eyes rolling up and down through the list of names and finally she looked up and asked, “Is the boy you wish to confirm your registration William Scarlett Rosewood?”