The Destination

Do you remember the day it started, Lunia? We ran to the water's edge as we usually would. Do you remember? You told us it took you an extra step to reach the water from the tree line. You were so small then. It started slowly—one step, then two. The water receded. We all knew what that meant. The village prepared for a tsunami.

How I wish it twas only a tsunami.

-Excerpt from the recovered journal of Absalon Ramorski.

♕♛♕♛♕♛♕

“I haven’t ridden on a train before today…” Helia says, her face in a pout. “It hurts my rear… so I thought two days must be hell.”

“Please don’t scare us like that,” Eris says, placing her fork on her empty plate.

The rest of us smile wryly. Her pouting face is cute…

“Ahem. Well, Well anyway, this train is super important. It only comes once a week, today, and only has two departures.” Helia reports, her face turning serious. “We need to get on that train. The opening ceremony is in exactly 3 days.”

“Um..?” Yoshida raises his hand.

“Uh… Is there an issue?” Helia says, perplexed as she notices his arm.

“Ah… sorry, raising a hand means you have a question where I come from,” Yoshida explains.

“Oh, what’s your question?”

“Um, is that really the only way to get there? The church just had us stand in a circle, and we were here… Is there anything like that?” Yoshida asked, ignoring Eris’ cold stare from beside him.

“Well… I’m not sure about the specifics, but…that’s not an option for us. After you all applied, the school told you all to meet here, yes?”

The University of Saionia, the world's foremost in Magical and Technological advancements. It’s located in the Great city of knowledge, Delphoscere. In terms of scale, only the Draconian and Irisian schools could be compared. Most get accepted as long as they apply. For the Magus course, however, the school scouts you from the list of applicants.

“Correct, in fact, I have been pondering it for some time… Why has the school decided for us to meet here?” Nerissa voiced from the back of the booth, similarly ignoring a cold (Though different) stare from Eris.

“Huh? Oh, well…”

“My father found it strange as well. As far as he knows, nothing of the sort has been done before.”

“...” Helia looks down at the sheet she holds in her hand.

It is strange, why have students meet in a completely different city..? And so close to the opening ceremony too…

“Listen…” Helia begins. “I know it seems strange, but I can’t explain why we don’t use a teleportation rune, or why we met here. I hope the fact that Ms. Anael is the one who set this up helps you understand.”

“!!!” Eris and Nerissa stare in shock at the realization, whereas Yoshida simply looks confused. Manako’s expression can’t be described as surprised, but rather is similar to relief.

I can’t say I blame them; the name Anael is famous for a reason.

“Ms. Astolat Anael, the Amethyst Hero?!” Eris calls out.

“Oho? I had heard she had returned to Delphoscere and became a teacher, but to think we’d be in her care~” Nerissa says.

“I’m sorry… Who’s that?” Yoshida asks, raising his hand again.

“Ohoho, leave it to a Demon to not know~”

“You really haven’t heard of her?” Helia asks.

“No…”

“Hiiro, you of all people should have heard of her,” Eris says.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure it's your job to tell me things like this…”

“Teehee.” Eris places her finger tips on her head and sticks out her tongue.

“The Anael family is the closest thing to royalty in Delphoscere.” Helia begins explaining. “Though they don’t rule over the city, which became a democracy hundreds of years ago, they are said to be the oldest family in the great city of Knowledge.”

“Huh… So she’s like a princess?”

“Not exactly… About 17 years ago, she left Delphoscere and journeyed around the Greater Central continent. She focused on cleaning up after the Century War, which had just ended. Over time, everyone started to call her a hero.” Helia explained.

“Got it, so she’s a big deal. A hero…”

“Well, regardless.” Helia looks at all of us. “We need to get on that train; it leaves at 8 o'clock tonight.”

“None of you have been here before, right?”

Everyone shakes their heads no.

“You all can go explore the city before we leave, but first… May I see your tickets?”

The five of us reach into our pockets and bring out a ticket. It's a simple piece of paper, raised bumps on one edge. It simply reads Ticket to Delphoscere, Lyscynal Station. 8 pm departure, Platform 3.

We each hand our tickets to Helia, who carefully looks them over. She then pulls out two more from her own pocket and adds them to the pile.

“Great, we’ll all meet at the train station at 7 pm, until then, you all go have some fun!” Helia raises the 7 tickets into the air.

“Yoink!”

Suddenly, a man stands behind Helia and grabs the tickets, pulling them from her hand.

“Huh?!”

“Sorry, but I'll be confiscating these.” A man with bluish-silver hair says, tickets in hand. He’s wearing a dark blue coat over a brown vest. His pants are the same dark blue as the cloak. It’s the same as the uniform Helia’s wearing, but rather than a white undershirt, he’s wearing a black one. He looks kinda familiar…

“Who are you?! Return them this instant!” Helia tells the man.

“Whoa whoa, calm down.” The man steps back.

On the other side of the room, the smoker pushes his chair back slightly.

“First! I'm Mr. Uzziel, one of the staff at Saionia!” He screams as Helia gets closer.

“Hah!?” Helia stops in her tracks. “Do you have proof?”

“Here.” The man, Uzziel, takes his cloak and pulls it in front of him; the same insignia as on Helia’s jacket is embossed on the cloak. “See, it's the school's sigil."

“Anyone could wear a cloak,” Eris calls out from her seat.

“Fine, fine.” Uzziel reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a thin card. The card looks like crystal. As the card is handed to Helia, it reflects several different colors. It reminds me of the veins…

“Oho, Uzziel?”

“Huh?” Eris looks at Nerissa with a disgusted face.

“That name is often brought up alongside Anaels.”

“Never heard of him.”

“I wouldn't expect an uncultured commoner such as yourself to know.”

“You-”

“It's real.” The two are cut off by Helia. “What are you doing here sir? Please give back our tickets.”

“Well… I can’t.”

“What?”

“Well, you see… It's a test.”

“Huh? Ms. Anael didn’t mention a test.”

“Well… plans have changed, your entrance exam starts now.”

Everyone looks at Uzziel. His smile is mischievous, giving his words a hint of untrustworthiness.

“What’s the content of the test?” Helia asks.

“Well, it's simple.” Uzziel looks at all of us, holding the tickets up next to his head. “Find yourselves the tickets you need to get on the last train to your destination.”

And so the test begins.