"I'm sick of listening to you babble," replied Nemeth with a confident tone. "I'm sure you can come up with a better approach to escaping than Koralia. Think carefully about what I told you. Now shut the hell up and get out of here. If you don't, I'm going to kick your teeth in and shut you up permanently! Now, did I make myself clear?"
Rorok was clueless as to what to say back, so he stomped off angrily down the hallway towards the staircase leading downward. Nemeth continued to make his way to the shower room. The shower room was empty and for a very good reason. It seemed that everyone on his floor had already gotten ready and had headed outside for the graduation ceremony. It would have been nice if someone would have knocked on his door and awoken him earlier so he wouldn't have to rush in order to prevent being late. As annoying as the Central Square Bell sounded, maybe he was lucky that it kept ringing after all.
Nemeth removed his nighttime clothes and took a hot shower. The hot water supplied by the underground hot springs was quite refreshing. While he was taking his shower, he couldn't stop thinking about how quickly the school year went by. Every year seemed to go by quicker than the last. Although there were many more years ahead for him at the academy, his mind raced with thoughts about how his childhood was slipping away. He was still contemplating whether he should escape from Lord Dragomir's Academy in the upcoming days or stay for at least another year. Nemeth believed that he could think of a lot of different intelligent approaches for escaping the academy. He already knew not to try what Koralia did. However, he also didn't want to suffer a fate similar to Koralia's if he were caught escaping. During his shower, he also thought about how exactly having a Guardian Spirit would change his life. Nemeth was not taught much about Guardian Spirits by his professors. Would having a Guardian Spirit help him with his escape? Would it help him stay at the top of the class for the upcoming fourth year? He would soon know because the graduation ceremony was happening in only a few hours.
Nemeth finished showering, dried off and put on the fresh set of clothes he brought with him. This was no ordinary set of clothes. He was now wearing a crimson colored school uniform with a large gold insignia of the academy's mascot, The Great Phoenix D'hal Natar displayed across the front. This was the uniform that the top ranked student from each grade was to wear to graduation. He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and was pleased at what he saw. His spikey blonde hair, green eyes, fair skin and adorable young face stared back at him. The new uniform looked excellent on him. It was much better than the tattered and torn yellow and blue uniform that he had to wear normally. Yellow and blue were the colors for Justile Dormitory which was one of the six dormitories at the academy. There were three dormitories for boys and three dormitories for girls. Each dormitory housed a mix of students from the first year until their final year.
He proceeded to make his way back to his dorm room. Before opening the door, he examined it and noticed the damages done to his door throughout the year. Mostly, it was hateful graffiti painted on by his other dorm mates who were jealous of his accomplishments. Some hateful remarks were even carved into the door with what appeared to be knives and daggers. The view of the outside of the door alone would make it nearly impossible for anyone to blame Nemeth for wanting to leave the academy.
Nemeth opened the door and dropped off his old garments into a laundry basket. He opened the top drawer to his desk and looked at some photos of his friends from the academy. Most of them were of him and Bastilone, his best friend since the first day he attended the academy. They had met in Kokinos Nursery, which was a special extended preschool environment that was setup by the academy. Any new orphans from their first day of life up until the age of seven were required to live there. It was an almost completely non-abusive environment. This was very unlike the treatment you received when you were declared a real first-year student and had to move out of Kokinos and into a real dormitory.
Every student knew that he or she was an orphan from a very early age. There was no hiding that fact. However, the real mysteries were why they were orphans and why they were brought to Lord Dragomir's Academy instead of somewhere more pleasant. The professors at Lord Dragomir's Academy always tried to convince the students that they were their new family and to forget the past. Nemeth was determined to one day seek out and find out if he had any biological family members still in existence somewhere. He wanted to find this information out as soon as possible.
After a few more minutes of reminiscing about the past, Nemeth closed the drawer to his desk. He then left his dorm room and closed the door. He looked far down the hall to see if anyone was in the common area, but it appeared to be empty. He contemplated using the Magic Transporter in the middle of the hallway but it had been malfunctioning on occasion recently. Students were getting teleported to the wrong floors of the dorm and he had no time for such nonsense. Instead, he made his way down the staircase from the second floor hallway to the main exit. At the exit stood Crimlore, a tall, middle-aged man with a muscular build and short black hair. Most noticeably, he wielded a giant spear. Crimlore was the head gatekeeper for Justile Dormitory. Crimlore looked curiously at Nemeth.
"Why are you still hanging around the dormitory Nemeth?" questioned Crimlore suspiciously. "You've ranked first out of your class yet again. You're only 10 years old but you're so advanced, even more than most of the kids in the higher grades. You really shouldn't mess up an opportunity like the one you've earned by slacking off at the very end. I hate to bring it up, but you have to remember the reason why all of you kids are here at the academy in the first place."
"So why are we here in the first place?" asked Nemeth angrily. "Can you possibly be any more insensitive Crimlore? I'm guessing you won't be attending the graduation ceremony either."
Nemeth looked up at Crimlore and saw a look of despair on his face.
"No, I'm stuck guarding the dorm," replied Crimlore. "While there may be no students inside to protect, that doesn't mean that there won't be thieves trying to sneak in and steal things from your rooms. Now go on and hurry to the graduation ceremony!"
"Right, that's exactly what I'm going to do!" exclaimed Nemeth. "Just remember why you're here at the academy too! You need to be a hero and stand guard at the one place that needs absolutely no protection at all! Have fun!"
A look of surprise came across Crimlore's face. Before Crimlore could respond, Nemeth made his way past him and walked outside of the dormitory gates. Suddenly, it dawned on Nemeth that since he was ranked number one, he had to give a speech in front of hundreds of other graduates. He was supposed to speak about how he achieved what he did and how the rest of the students can accomplish the same. Nemeth was known to procrastinate often, but he had prepared nothing at all for his speech. But with Nemeth's level of intelligence, he was certain that he would have no problem doing an improvisation of the entire speech. Regardless, Nemeth was feeling nervous due to the recent confrontation with Rorok and the upcoming speech. He needed to calm down before heading over to the graduation ceremony.
Nemeth started to walk east to Dynia's Pond, which was a short distance from his dormitory. He looked back in the distance at his residence and thought more about the past experiences he had there. A lot of the students disliked Nemeth. He often felt tormented by them. However, he always felt great pleasure in getting revenge on them. He had lived in Justile Dormitory ever since he left the safety of Kokinos Nursery but had changed rooms each year. It seemed that even though he had seen Justile Dormitory in the distance so many times before, he got more impressed with each look at the dorm's spiraling tower shape that seemed high enough to pierce into the clouds above. Nemeth only lived on the second floor, but frequently made his way to the top floor so he could gaze out at all of the surrounding lands in the distance. He desperately wanted to travel to these other lands. He felt that his parents were still alive somewhere out there. He believed that he would be able to find them one day and gain the love and affection that he was currently missing in his
life.
At the very top of the dormitory there stood a giant turquoise crystal. This was one of the Spiro Crystals. The Spiro Crystals possessed magical energy that protected Justile Dormitory from dangerous attacks. In fact, all of the dormitories at the academy had one of these crystals. It was quite a spectacle to see one of the Spiro Crystals attack any threats that it deemed to be dangerous. The end result was almost certain decimation for the threat.
After a short trip through a small wooded area, Nemeth finally arrived at Dynia's Pond. Being at Dynia's Pond always gave Nemeth a calming feeling inside whenever he visited it. This was appropriate considering Dynia was the Goddess of Tranquility. Usually there were lots of people at the pond, but since it was graduation day it was empty. Nemeth kneeled down by the pond, closed his eyes, folded his hands together and began to pray to Dynia. A vision of a beautiful, calm night slowly entered Nemeth's mind. He began to hear a soothing voice. It was the voice of Dynia.
"Welcome back child," said Dynia. "I was beginning to think I wasn't going to get any visitors today. How can I help you?"
"Hello Dynia," replied Nemeth. "I'm still trying to deal with the pressure of being a student here. I also have to give a graduation speech soon and because of these things my anxiety is unbearable. Oh great goddess, please use your powers of tranquility to allow me to get through these difficult times. I apologize if these things sound insignificant to you."
"I shall grant you what you desire," replied Dynia. "I know that you have been continuing to train to become a warrior. Let me remind you that I detest violence. I am only granting you this favor because of your continued kindness towards me. I hope that you will soon shift focus on becoming a healer instead before you are forever corrupted by the ways of the warrior. If that happens, I am not sure if I can help you anymore. For now, continue to close your eyes and relax. I will do the rest."
The vision of the beautiful, calm night became more intense. A soft blue light appeared in the vision. Nemeth began to feel weightless and his anxiety left his body and mind.
"Open your eyes child," said Dynia. "I have relieved you of your worries for now. Please come back and visit me soon."
Nemeth unfolded his hands, opened his eyes and stood up. He was definitely relieved of his stress and was ready to take on the rest of the day.
"Thank you for your help great goddess Dynia," said Nemeth. "I hope that one day I get to see what you look like."
"You amuse me child," replied Dynia. "You know that the gods and goddesses cannot reveal themselves to mortals. Just remember that when you are here, I am all around you. Farewell for now child…"
Nemeth was pleased that Dynia had responded to his prayer. Not surprisingly, this made Dynia his favorite goddess. Most of the other gods and goddesses never responded to his prayers. Nemeth expected that since he was so talented that each and every god and goddess should grant him their time anytime he wished. For a 10 year old child, he certainly had an inflated sense of entitlement.
After pacing around the pond for a bit, Nemeth headed south to The Great Hall of Athos where the ceremony was to take place. The Great Hall of Athos was a large oval building where most of the school's social events took place. Nemeth approached the main entrance which was manned by two guards. The two guards appeared to be in their late teens and both of them were carrying swords.
"Whoa, stop right there kid!" commanded one of the guards. "The graduation ceremony is about to begin. Nobody is allowed in right now. You're going to have to turn around and leave."
"Yeah, that's right!" exclaimed the other guard. "There's no way you can go inside now. You should have gotten here on time like everyone else did."
Nemeth began to clear his throat loudly. He then started to point repeatedly to the insignia of D'hal Natar on his uniform.
"The guest of honor can never be considered late," replied Nemeth. "Let me in there right now."
The two guards looked at Nemeth's uniform. A look of concern came over both of them. Nemeth gave a look of contempt at them.
"I apologize to you," replied the first guard. "I really am sorry!"
"I'm sorry too," replied the second guard. "I'm much sorrier than him! You must be Kenneth, the head of the third year class!"
Nemeth rolled his eyes and folded his arms. He shook his head in disappointment at both of the guards.
"That's sort of close," replied Nemeth. "You got the part right about me being head of the third year class. But my name isn't Kenneth. My name is Nemeth. What are your names? I'd like to inform Professor Phantas that you're both doing an excellent job guarding the main entrance. We're very close and he values my opinions greatly. You might even get promoted when I tell him about the fine job you're doing."
"I'm Stelios," replied the first guard. "Once again I'm very sorry."
"My name is Jaumet," replied the second guard. "We would appreciate it if you put in a good word for us."
"These guards are complete idiots," whispered Nemeth to himself. "I'll inform Professor Phantas for sure. I'll inform him of how awful of a job they are doing. They'll be lucky to get a job cleaning the shower rooms in the dorms after this."
"So I may proceed inside then?" asked Nemeth.
The guards nodded their heads in agreement and opened the main entrance to the Great Hall of Athos for Nemeth. Nemeth winked at them and then scurried in through the main entrance.
Chapter Three
Nemeth began to look around the room. The interior was beautifully decorated with an assortment of valuable paintings and statues. He noticed that there were large tables in the corner that appeared to have a variety of delicious food on them. The pleasant smell of the feast filled the air.
Nemeth made his way over to one of the tables. He grabbed the first piece of food that he saw. It was a large roasted turkey leg. He began to devour the turkey leg when all of a sudden he felt someone tap him on his back. Nemeth turned around and saw Professor Nomiki. She was the Defensive Magic professor for third year students. Nemeth stared at her gaunt face and continued to chomp on the turkey leg.
"The feast ended about ten minutes ago," said Professor Nomiki. "The tables are going to be cleaned off momentarily, so no more food for you. That should teach you a lesson about being tardy. You're going to have to take your seat now."
Nemeth walked over to the rows of seats where the other students were already sitting. Most of them were chatting amongst one another. Nemeth decided that he should find his friend Bastilone and have a quick chat with him before taking his seat. Nemeth spotted Bastilone almost instantly. Bastilone was the tallest and strongest student out of the third year class which made him stand out in the crowd easily. Nemeth noticed that Bastilone was looking in his direction. Nemeth signaled with his hands for Bastilone to come over. Bastilone stood up from his seat and maneuvered his way towards Nemeth. He accidentally bumped into most of the students sitting down in his row.
"Hey Nemeth!" exclaimed Bastilone. "A bit late aren't you? I thought you weren't going to make it here."
"Ah, whatever," replied Nemeth. "All that matters is I'm here though. How have you been?"
"I've got some great news!" exclaimed Bastilone. "I'm ranked number 49 in the class this year! It feels good to be in the top 50. But even with that good news in mind, I can't wait until this thing is over with so we can go celebrate at the parties tonight! Then tomorrow we finally get to go outside the gates go on our class trip! We get to go to Gunnhild Beach this year for an entire week! Ah, it's just our luck that us third year students were chosen to have their graduation ceremony on the last day! The students from every other grade are already outside the gates on their vacations."
"Hey listen up," whispered Nemeth. "We need to lower our voices. I've got some things that are pretty urgent that I need to tell you. I don't need anyone else hearing what I'm about to tell you. First of all, congratulations on ranking number 49. Second of all, I really don't feel like giving this speech. I guess the sooner I get done with it, th
e sooner we get to relax. It's been such a rough year. I really just want to go back to my dorm room and sleep. When I'm refreshed enough, I want to finalize my plan to escape from this place. I want you to leave this place with me and never look back."
"You know that escaping from here is impossible," whispered Bastilone. "You'd have an easier chance getting away with murder here than being able to pull off a successful escape. You know that it's punishable by death. Is that a risk you're willing to take?"
"Oh come on," whispered Nemeth. "You know that's not true. There have been students that tried to escape from here and succeeded. It is a risk I'm willing to take. I'm tired of all of the rules here. I want to find out if I have a real family out there. Don't you want to find out if your real family is alive as well?"
"How many times do I have to tell you?" whispered Bastilone. "My family is dead. No student in this entire school has a family. We're all orphans. We were all brought here to get a second chance at life."
"How can you still believe the lies they have told us?" whispered Nemeth. "All of our families cannot possibly be dead. I don't believe that they abandoned us here as babies either. There are thousands of students here. Surely at least one of us has a living family member outside of Lord Dragomir's Academy."
"You're probably right," whispered Bastilone. "We probably both have family members alive. It could be an aunt, a brother, who knows really. I'm up for trying to escape but we probably need to wait a few years to gain enough power to succeed. The youngest student I recall who succeeded in escaping was Mahon. He was 12 years old and a fifth year student."
The Orphan Wars (Book One) Page 2