An Interesting Welcome

Waking up in a field was not that much of a surprise. Waking up in a well-manicured field in the middle of what looked like a fancy academy was a surprise.

Pressing his fingers into the soft grass, he pushed himself slowly upwards, getting to his feet as he looked around the area. He could see three major buildings before him. One was a large castle, something out of one of those fantasy movies—spirals, stone walls, banners of all sorts of colors hanging from them. Each banner had some type of symbol on it that he somewhat recognized by appearance.

However, any connection to the images was beyond him. He thought one looked like a lightning bolt and another like a fireball.

The second building was simple, with arched windows and built like a fanciful dorm, from what he could remember. It had a much simpler vibe than the castle-like building as well.The third building was ornate and as large as the castle, with great columns running down the length of the front. Marble covered everything—from the steps to the walls—and the doors looked to be made of some fancy wood too.

Everything here was fancy. Everything was different. And he wasn’t sure at all how he had gotten there in the slightest.

Standing there, he brushed himself off as he realized he was wearing something very different than before. Gone were his blue jeans and brown shirt. He had on what looked to be a fancy pair of white pants with gold lining. Then there was a white undershirt and an ornate button-up shirt that looked more stylish—and maybe tacky—than anything he would have ever worn normally.

Looking at his collar, he noticed a red mark on it as well. He figured it meant something, but what, he had no clue.

Standing there, thinking about what he should do, Caesar took a deep breath of the crisp, clean air. He could tell right away that this place wasn’t like any other. He looked between the buildings as he saw a few students walking across the way from the dorm-looking one to the fancy non-castle building.

Looking over, he saw a bag on the ground with his name on it. It was a sizable duffel bag filled with things, not unlike the ones he used for boxing back in the day. He reached down and easily picked it up—luckily, he still had the strength he’d had in the other world.

He walked forward, looking for someone to interact with, to talk to, his eyes scanning the people walking by—students, he could tell. The boys wore the same uniform as him, and the girls wore dresses in the same color set as his. Their collars had different colors on them, though—something he still didn’t understand.

Perhaps it was a way to divide up groups of students. Perhaps it was a way to signal something unique about each of them. Another question he honestly didn’t know the answer to.

He picked out one student who was moving a bit slower than the others—a boy with wiry, curly black hair and a very slender figure. He had the same red mark on his collar. He looked very pale and held his book close to his chest as he walked.

“Hey, may I have a moment of your time?” Caesar called out loudly, his voice firm and strong. As soon as he did, the boy fled, running ahead with an almost scared urgency, as if he were afraid of interaction entirely.

“Well, that one isn’t good with people,” a voice called out from his left side. “You must be the new transfer we heard about!”

Looking over, he saw a girl with short, fiery red hair cut into a bob. Her sharp green eyes were focused on him as she gave him a confident smile. “You’re Caesar Alexander, the young son of the Count of Edisia, correct?”

Hearing this, Caesar blinked, his mind running over the words: Count? Son of one? He was a guy from the city, and he was no son of a count. His father—well, he was just a normal guy. Coming here must have changed his past, perhaps when...

Yeah, perhaps when the woman—angel or whatever she was—wrote in the book that changed things for him.

“Yeah, that is me,” he said with a smile. “I’m a bit lost, and I’m figuring things out. I literally just arrived here like five minutes ago,” he said sheepishly, as he really had no clue where he was or what he needed to do.

“Aria is the name,” she said with a smile, pointing to herself with her thumb, her tone proud. “Second, I’m from Eunasia,” she said with a nod. “How about I help you unpack and talk to you about everything as we walk? We have ten minutes before class—I’m sure we have time.”“Sure,” Caesar said with a nod, willing to take any help she could give him. Plus, walking with a beautiful girl like her—slender, with a lovely figure that could easily grab one's attention, and a dress that highlighted each of her features—was nice.

“So, you’re from the far country, so it makes sense you don’t know what this place is like,” she started, walking with him, an extra bounce in her step as they made their way to the dorm-looking place—which turned out to be just that.

Walking into the hall, there were stairs in front of them and a long hallway—simple white walls, elegant wooden floors, and a simple wooden ceiling.

“This is the dorm, as I’m sure you figured out,” she continued as he listened, taking in information—not one to waste a chance to learn.

“This first floor is for girls—my room is down here. Boys are on the second floor. That way, they can keep an eye on us to make sure we don’t, you know, cause problems. Granted, as first-years, everyone here is an adult, so I find that annoying, personally,” she admitted as she led him up the stairs. The stairs were simple, like the rest of the building, leading to the second story a moment later.

The two of them walked toward the bedroom.

“Now, the symbol on the sleeves represents what talent you were measured to have—or rather, what elemental nature you have,” she said, stopping and turning to look at a door. “You’re a natural fire user, class one, so you’re in the same class as me,” she added, pointing to her own collar, which was golden.

“I’m class one, lightning,” she explained. “There are other classes, such as ice, water, earth, wind, holy, darkness, and other rarer ones that aren’t seen here much,” she continued.Caesar nodded as he walked with her to his room. She paused there.

“Now, I can’t open your door—but you can,” she said with a playful smile.

“Understood,” Caesar replied as he looked at the door. “How do I open it, exactly?” he asked after noticing it looked different—no handles.

“Press your hand against the door. It’ll recognize you as the user of the room. And toss your bag in—we’re going to be late for class,” she explained with more urgency.

“Sure,” he said as the door glowed for a moment after he pressed his hand against it, opening as if on command. Caesar took his bag and, as instructed, tossed it in. He figured he didn’t have time to explore his room yet—that would have to wait until later.

“Come on, we don’t want to be late, right?” she added as soon as the door was closed.“Question,” he said, pausing as he followed her, her pace brisk. “Why did you help me so much if it could make you late?”

“Simple—because you look interesting, and I like interesting, strong-looking people,” she declared loudly. “We all have to find a partner too, and I wanted to make sure I worked with you, so I could have a fun and interesting partner this year in class.”

“Oh, okay. Glad to know,” Caesar replied, curious about this—realizing that the mountain of things he didn’t know was far greater than he could possibly understand. All he could do was move forward and figure things out one step at a time.