Theo is surprised as he leaves the alley with Sarah and comes face to face with a young man with white hair and a delicate appearance. The mysterious young man also seems somewhat surprised to see Theo, a curious and expectant smile forming on his rosy lips.
"Big brother? Could you tell me-" He starts to ask Theo something, but Sarah steps in front of him and throws a hostile look at the young man. "No, we can't help you."
The white-haired man glances at Theo with a sad expression while Sarah continues to glare at him. "But I didn't even get to say-" He begins to speak again, but Sarah ignores him and tries to pull Theo away. "We're busy right now. Goodbye."
She pulls him forcefully, but Theo holds his ground and whispers to her. "Wait, I want to hear what he has to say." He speaks in a firm tone, but Sarah looks at him with confused and pleading eyes. "He's weird, and I don't like him."
"You are weird," Theo smirks provocatively at Sarah. "But I like you, so why not give him a chance too?" Theo doesn't wait for Sarah's response and turns toward the mysterious young man, seeing an excited smile appear once again on his delicate face. "Big brother?"
"Why do you call me that?" Theo gives a curious expression, and the young man looks at him with shining eyes full of admiration. "You remind me of my older brother; he protected me from everything when we were younger, and well, since everyone seems so much taller than me, I got used to saying it like that."
Despite the nostalgia Theo feels in his heart while looking at the white-haired guy, he doesn't let such emotion cloud his judgment and stays alert to the suspicious behavior of the mysterious man. "What do you want from me?"
"Straight to the point, huh? I like that." The white-haired man smiles at Theo and bows formally. "Lorien is the name, and I was kind of lost in the middle of so many people when I saw you and this young lady come out of the alley; you both seem like the type who know the area and-"
Before the white-haired man can continue, Sarah steps in front of him again with that piercing look, focused especially on an emblem of two daggers around a snowflake on his discreet clothing. "You're a Caelis, aren't you?"
"Indeed," Lorien nods slightly to Sarah. "You know my family?" As soon as he asks, she frowns: "Only by reputation," leaving him with a curious expression. "A good one, I hope."
Sarah shakes her head, glancing at Theo before turning her focus back to Lorien. "Actually, no. Close ties with outlaw groups, large-scale transactions with invaders from outside the Kingdoms, various corruption scandals of all kinds, illegal tax collections, even occasional tyranny…" Sarah says it all in a tone of accusation and even narrows her eyes at Lorien. "Shall I continue?"
"Oh no, please." Lorien makes a sorry expression. "If you go on, I may end up hating my family even more than I already do." As soon as he says it, Sarah rolls her eyes and responds sarcastically, "Of course."
"Really," Lorien glances at Theo with an embarrassed expression. "We don't choose the families we're born into, right? But in the end, they're still the family we have, no matter what. Either way, I'm here for a fresh start, away from them and the problems they may cause."
Despite Lorien's words, Sarah continues to stare at him with a hostile expression, but Theo gently pulls her to his side, and she just pouts. Then he smiles kindly at the mysterious white-haired man. "Forgive Sarah, she seems a bit overprotective. But what were you saying earlier? Something about being lost?"
"Yeah," Lorien smiles brightly at Theo. "I'm looking for the registration booth for the Academy." As soon as he says that, Sarah rolls her eyes toward a few signs across the street, pointing toward the enrollment area and testing arenas. "Reading the signs didn't cross your mind, I suppose?"
While Lorien glances at Theo with a sorry expression, he laughs at Sarah. "He doesn't need signs, after all, you're the best guide anyone could want around here, aren't you?"
Sarah tries to look annoyed but ends up sighing as she grabs Theo's hand and pulls him along the sidewalk. "This way." He follows her and signals for Lorien to do the same. As they walk through the crowd, Theo can't help but cast a curious glance at the white-haired young man.
"New start, you said?" Theo asks, and Lorien smiles with an excited expression. "Yeah, I want to earn things with my own hands and far from my problematic family's influence. Actually, I was inspired by one of the legends of the Academy, the Grandmaster Eruina. She's amazing… Want to know a fun fact about her? People say she smells like-"
"Roses and mint." Theo finishes Lorien's sentence and starts laughing, finding that a bizarre coincidence. But Sarah doesn't find that funny at all; on the contrary, she throws a fierce look at Lorien like a lioness about to pounce on a potential threat.
Lorien gets confused and a little scared by Sarah's bloodthirsty glare, but Theo holds her back and leans in to whisper softly in her ear. "Easy, easy! I doubt he has habits as strange as yours."
Sarah calms down once she sees Lorien isn't making any suspicious moves toward Theo, and the trio continues along the sidewalk.
"So you know Professor Eruina?" Lorien asks Theo, but he puts on a vague expression. "I can't say I know much about her, but I've heard some rumors."
"I see…" Lorien throws a curious look at Theo, who quickly thinks of something to change the subject. "Where are you from again?" Theo asks, and Lorien quickly responds. "My family governs a small city far in the north, Velrith, the name."
"It's near Mount Daemmor, isn't it?" Sarah asks, and as soon as Lorien nods, she turns her attention to Theo. "That's the home of the Northern Dwarves; they are one of the few non-humans allies of the Empire and helped the Lyskarra family build the Academy's main castle, which had its name chosen by a Dwarf."
"Whoa, I didn't know that!" Lorien exclaims, and Sarah rolls her eyes mockingly. She clearly doesn't like him, so he turns his curious smile back to Theo. "What about you, Big brother? Where were you born?"
"Kriegfall," Theo says in a cold tone, and both Sarah and Lorien make sorry expressions. "I heard that place turned into a den of perversion and corruption ever since the family of the last Duke mysteriously disappeared fourteen years ago," Sarah comments, but Theo shrugs. "I don't know much about that place."
"Did your family own land there?" Lorien asks, and Theo shakes his head. "I had no family and no land. I didn't grow up in the city, but in the streets of a slum outside the walls, the kind of place you'd throw up just smelling the rotten air."
"Damn!" Lorien seems both sorry and surprised, but Sarah cast an admiring look at Theo. "The fact that you're here today shows how strong you are, and that's something to be proud of."
Lorien nods in agreement with Sarah, but Theo shakes his head with a sad face. "There's nothing to be proud of in where I came from or the things I had to go through to get here…" He pauses and tries to appear less melancholic. "But that's the past. Now I'm here for a new beginning, like you two."
"Yeah," Lorien nods to Theo with a friendly smile, and Sarah points toward a mass of people gathered ahead. "And that's the first step to enter the Academy."
The trio stops at the back of the line, but there are so many people around and ahead that it's impossible to see where it even starts. Theo tries to use his superior height to look over the crowd, but even he can't see anything, so Lorien opens his pale hand facing upward, and water begins to flow from his palm, turning into a line of ice that rises over two meters high before forming a mirror angled perfectly to give a clear view of the line ahead.
"Good job," Theo compliments Lorien's mastery of magic, but he frowns when he notices the line seems to have more than a thousand people stretched over half a mile, and that doesn't even seem like the end of it. "Fuck! We're going to spend the whole day in this line!"
"No way!" Sarah exclaims and then leaves the line, going in the direction of a guard on the other side of the street. Theo and Lorien watch while she whispers something to the guard and then pulls something from inside her pocket and quickly hands it to him. No one can see what that object is, except Lorien, who has very sharp eyes, and the guy quickly tells it to Theo. "It's a Black Coin, a real Black Coin!"
Theo has no idea what a Black Coin is, but he understands what is happening when the Guard nods to Sarah and she signals for him and Lorien to follow her and the guard in the direction of the enrollment area, completely ignoring the massive line.
While walking behind the guard, Lorien can't help but question Sarah. "I thought we were going to do it without the influence of our families?" He is clearly taunting her, but she glances at Theo with a confident smile. "The Black Coin was mine, and I earned it with my own effort, not my family."
Theo winks at Sarah, making her blush a little, but Lorien shakes his head. "And how the hell do you have access to a Black Coin even before entering the Academy?" He asks, and Sarah puffs her chest proudly. "I've already sold some books of my own authorship to the Academy, and since gold wouldn't be of any use to me, I chose payment in Academy Credits."
"Damn!" Lorien throws a mocking look at Sarah. "You are such a… NERD!" That makes the girl furious, "YOU!!!" And she almost jumps on Lorien, but Theo gently holds her hand as they continue following the guard.
"He has a point," Theo comments, leaving Sarah with a disappointed face, but then he leans close to her to whisper. "But you make even that look so charming." A compliment that makes the girl blush and wear a proud smile.
"Big brother," Theo feels Lorien tug his shirt, and when he notices it, the white-haired man is staring at him with a look of admiration again. "You really know how to deal with women," He whispers softly so Sarah won't hear.
"Haha!" Theo laughs. "I don't think so, but if you want some advice-" As he suggests, Lorien shakes his head vigorously, "Oh, no, please. No need at all."
Theo can tell by Lorien's peculiar manner that he's really not interested in girls. But that doesn't make the mysterious white-haired youth seem bad, just different, and to Theo, that's not negative; actually, it seems like the kind of thing that would avoid problems in their friendship since they would never be rivals in love.
The trio follows the guard for a few more hundred meters until they get close to the front of the line, where people split into two other lines and head toward a large booth in front of a circular arena with several meters. The guard signals for some people in the line to step aside and makes space for the trio, drawing the attention of dozens of curious eyes.
As soon as the guard leaves, Sarah smiles at Theo. "Done, we managed to get near the front of the line!" Before he can say anything, Lorien sarcastically comments. "And we also managed to get everyone's attention."
Theo looks around and sees various kinds of stares, but most are the same, making him sigh. "You mean we managed to make everyone hate us for cutting the line?"
"Something like that," Lorien comments, and Sarah nods, "Yeah, they hate us."