INSIGNIAS: THE LUX SIGNIFER ACADEMY

It was past 10 in the evening when they arrived in the dormitory. They had to rest for tomorrow’s tournament. The boys showered then gathered in the living room. Before leaving the underground arena, Skhy instructed everyone to regain their energy tonight and meet in front of the dorm at six in the morning. The seven days were excruciating. Blondie was near to fainting while Nate was injured. But the brother and sister weren’t serious enough to affect their fighting. Tessa, at one time, wasn’t able to control her power that the arena was flooded for a while. Skhy and Storm, despite Storm’s protest, had a good duel. Aria, as always, looked great holding her katana. Faz was always alone. Even Clyne was scared to break his concentration.

After showering, Clyne found two men in a glaring contest while another man was flipping through a magazine. He sat beside Faz as Nate opened his door.

“What happened? It’s not Storm you’re glaring today?” Clyne asked. Nate quickly sat adjacent to Storm.

“What about it,” Faz replied smugly. Skhy sighed then removed his gaze.

“This won’t lead us anywhere,” he said.

“Maybe a fistfight,” Faz muttered, which earned him a glare from Skhy and Nate. But Skhy didn’t reply. Clyne knew that Faz had reasons for his behaviour.

“You’re just tired,” he said to him then patted his shoulder.

“What is it?” Nate asked Skhy.

“I know we have different reasons for being here,” he started, “but I hope that we can agree to protect this group.” He looked at each of them. This was not a command or instruction. It was a favour. Storm stopped reading and put down the magazine. Nate nodded. Even Faz was silent and listening.

“Of course!” Clyne exclaimed with a wide smile. “I will always protect Aria, my love.” This earned chuckles. Skhy, Storm, and Nate had smiles. Even though Faz was not reacting, he felt him relaxed.

“If that’s all…I need sleep,” Storm said then left. Faz went to his room without saying anything.

“Thank you for everything, Skhy,” Nate said. “We’re going to win tomorrow.” He left Skhy and Clyne in the living room.

“Don’t take what Faz said to heart.” Skhy smiled.

“He really has that attitude but…” His smile faltered. “He wasn’t always like this before.”

Clyne clenched his fists. He tried to hide them. He didn’t forget that Faz had a life before him but it was something he said he already left behind. Clyne didn’t know everything but he knew that Faz wasn’t a bad person.

“You know him before,” Clyne stated. The Faz he knows is a guy who seemed to have given up on many things.

“We trained before but it was short,” Skhy replied with a nod. I wonder what kind of person he was before.

“You should rest.” Skhy stood up. “Good night.”

“I believe that Faz is a good person,” Clyne said before Skhy closed his door.

“I believe that too.” He closed the door, not waiting for Clyne’s reaction. Clyne went to his room, happy with Skhy’s response.

That night, he dreamt of the ground splitting into two, engulfing everything. However, he didn’t remember that dream when he wakes up.

Morning came. Clyne was the first one to wake up because he was excited. Tis the day! He started making breakfast with Nate. Nate asked him if he wasn’t nervous about today when he saw him grinning and humming.

“I’m excited to experience school. I had been living in the mountain and traveling through forests that I wasn’t able to interact with anyone my age except for Faz,” he replied.

When they left the apartment, three students were hanging in the hallway, waiting for the elevator. They looked younger than them. They were wearing dark but not too dark coats, light, pink and white striped neckties, and grey pants. When the students spotted them, they looked terrified. Clyne couldn’t take his eyes off them.

“Those uniforms are cool,” Clyne said, astonished.

“Why are scared of us?” Nate asked.

“Outsiders,” Faz bluntly replied then rushed to the elevator. The students didn’t seem to want to ride with them but hesitantly entered.

“Hey!” Clyne heard Tessa’s voice. He saw the girls already waiting outside. Several students were gathering near them. The others were walking towards the venue.

“This feels like we’re celebrities,” Blondie muttered when the boys reached them. Skhy led the group to the Main Colosseum. It was just in front of the dormitory, standing majestically in grey with three levels and arches on the third level. He and Faz saw a destroyed and abandoned on in the middle of the dessert. He kept wondering who used it before and why there were other buildings there. But Faz didn’t answer any of his questions. Several times Clyne hangs out in the corridor of the dormitory late at night to stare at it. If only his mother can see it.

But today, the Main Colosseum was surrounded by a magical barrier. The outline looked like a rainbow.

“The arena is also surrounded by a barrier to protect the audience,” Skhy revealed when they entered the main entrance. The arch was more than 15-feet high and 20-feet wide. But Clyne couldn’t measure how large the whole Colosseum is. It’s probably as large as two football fields. Students had started gathering in the corridor entrance. The corridor didn’t have any carvings or designs on the walls. It was plain white. But Clyne was still fascinated.

He was so fascinated that he didn’t realised that the person walking in front of him stopped walking. He bumped on his back, earning him a glare from the red hair princess.

“Where is your head at?”

“I’m just excited,” he replied then giggled.

“Look around you. It’s not time to get excited,” she said with a deep frown. He looked around and found students and teachers alike eyeing them with either disgust or anger. Some teachers were shaking their heads. Other students were laughing at them. They were eyeing them from head to toe. Are we aliens?

“Now what gossips did they spread?” Faz mumbled beside him.

“What do you mean?” Clyne asked. But he didn’t answer. Ah! Cliff hanger!

Clyne noticed how bothered Tessa and Lei are with the people’s stares.

“Skhy, maybe we can stay where there aren’t a lot of people looking at us like we’re aliens,” he suggested. Before he can reply, someone replied for him.

“Of course. Follow me.” Skhy took a sideways step, revealing a girl in uniform, dark blue coat, dark blue and white striped necktie, and grey skirt. She had dark green eyes and long straight dark brown hair. She looked strict and upright.

“Because I am,” she said. What? Clyne realized that she was talking to him. Oopps. I said that out loud.

“Yes, you did.” She turned to Skhy. “It’s good to see you. We’ll catch up later. Come.” She must be a classmate or a friend. Or an ex-girlfriend. She led them through several flights of stairs. Hanne was already huffing behind them. When they stepped out the corridor of the second level, the wide arena and bleachers. Only the west and east sides of the colosseums have roofs. Their booth had 10 chairs.

“This is not a Roman colosseum,” Tessa said.

“Maybe it was built with that as inspiration,” the upright girl responded. “Ah where are my manners. I forgot to introduce myself.”

“You were busy running around today, we understand,” Skhy stated. The girl smiled for the first time since they met.

“I’m Daphne Aurora Everlast. Aurora is fine.” One by one, everyone said their names. Clyne introduced himself with a big smile but Aurora looked uninterested with her. She doesn’t like me because of earlier.

“Well, maybe she’ll warm up next time,” he said to himself.

“The tournament will start soon. I will be your guide. You are to fight one to one with a student here. You have to pick your opponents,” she said without missing a beat.

“How are we going to pick?” Nate asked. Aurora raised her hand then a white cardboard box materialized on her hand.

“Wow.” Aria raised her eyebrow at Clyne. What? It’s cool.

“Why are we the ones picking?” Storm asked with his arm crossed.

“So there is no manipulation.” Faz chuckled without humour. Clyne noticed her fist clenched.

“Do you have a question, Fa-“ She quickly looked away. “Hunter.” Why does Faz insist on using the name Hunter? Clyne is the only one who can call him ‘Faz.’ When Faz didn’t reply, Aurora asked everyone to pick a paper inside the box.

“Who is this?” Clyne read the name again. Of course, he didn’t know who that person is. There was also a number on the bottom. 3.

“This feels like making a school project,” Blondie muttered. Clyne giggled.

“Alright. When you hear your name, go down. We have 15 minutes,” Aurora said as she looks at her wristwatch.

“Wait. What are the rules?” Skhy asked. She looked at him carefully before answering.

“There are no rules,” she replied then walked out.

“She’s too intense for me.” Clyne sighed. He couldn’t relax when she was with them.

“No one’s asking you,” Aria said then sat down. Clyne took the chair beside her.

“Who’s going first?” Skhy asked.

“Me.” She raises a small piece of paper. She was looking at the ground. The hand that was holding the paper was shaking. Clyne noticed Faz staring at her with an unreadable expression. Pity?