Chapter 15 : Aldercrest Academy and the boy

COCKADOODLE-DOO!!!

Kieran awoke from a chicken. Why is there a chicken? He looked around, but it wasn’t his room. He was in a room a bit bigger than his, toys on the floor, and a window that had greenery on the outside. It wasn’t normal. Was it really not a dream? He thought that everything that happened was all just a long, terrifying dream. It wasn’t. Edward sat there in bed, contemplating everything. If everything was really real, if his best friend had really abandoned him in the fire, if his “mother” was really killed, and if he really was in a different world. It didn’t make sense from a logical standpoint. He wanted to return home, to his real home. The beds weren’t as comfortable, and he would definitely miss the convenience and machinery of his old world. Airconditioning, television, wifi, everything.

“Am I really just trapped here forever..?”

He got up from bed and proceeded to walk to the door. As he walked, he saw many toys around him. A lot more from what he remembered in the room that he woke up in. It was much more vibrant as well. As he opened the door, Mason and Sarah were there. Mason sat on the dining table, reading the newspaper, drinking what seemed to be coffee. Sarah was in the kitchen making breakfast, though Kieran couldn’t see what it was.. Sarah was the first to notice Kieran, since Mason had his back turned from the room.

“Kieran,” she said softly, “Good morning. You woke up quite early, huh?”

The clock had read 6 in the morning. It seemed that at least in this world, clocks were a thing, and the time system was the same.

Mason quickly turned around to greet Kieran as well.

“Good morning, boy. Come here, sit for breakfast. Ren will probably wake up later.”

He pulled out a seat and prompted Kieran to sit there, next to him. Kieran thought nothing of this and walked over, still a bit groggy and tired, and sat on the table. A few moments after he sat down, Sarah had walked over with breakfast. It was toast with an egg, a very simple breakfast. Mason put down his newspaper next to Kieran and grabbed the toast as he stood up.

“Dear, I’ll be going now. My shift starts soon, I need to be at the East gate soon,” he said, hastily putting on his boots with the toast in his mouth.

“Alright, have a good day,” Sarah replied as he ran out the door. It seemed like he didn’t even hear her.

“What a doofus,” she said as she rolled her eyes, wiping the table and the mess he caused.

Kieran continued to eat his breakfast when he saw that Mason had forgotten the newspaper. In curiosity, he grabbed the newspaper and began to read it. Though it was in a different language, he could read and understand everything. It was trippy, and definitely something he wasn’t used to.

“BRINDLE VILLAGE NEWS”

It seemed that the village had their own newspaper service, though not much happened. Most of the news was about people arguing about things, fights happening in the village and such. It was pretty boring. Of course, the incident was also on the paper. Kieran paused for a moment when he got to this part. His mother’s report was there, but he did not dare to read it. He couldn’t. He didn’t want to. He knew that deep down, if he started reading it, he would start crying again. He skipped over it and was about to put it down when he noticed the words “Aldercrest Academy”. It was something he remembered in one of the memories. His mother had wanted to save up enough for this school and send him there, though her plans were cut short by the tragedy. It read:

“Aldercrest Academy is now scouting!

Officials will go over each county and nearby villages to scout for talent!

Children from the ages 10-12 may be scouted! All expenses paid for!”

It caught his eye. The school his mother was saving up for had a program to sponsor children with talent. Although he wasn’t sure what kind of talent they were talking about, he was confident in his grades and studying ability.

“Aldercrest, huh?” Sarah said. It seemed she saw Kieran reading that section of the paper as she walked by to clean something.

“They started doing that sponsorship program like what, a year or two ago? Every year, they try to get kids who are talented in God knows what. Honestly, it makes no sense. Why would they get a bunch of country bumpkins to go to their school? I heard it's all nobles there,” Sarah added on, still cleaning around the house.

“What kind of school is it?” Kieran asked. He was curious about what this school exactly was for his mother to want to send him there.

Sarah paused for a while to think. As she was about to answer, another voice answered the question.

“Its the best academy in the world! It’s where you can learn to be a Knight!”

It was a little boy’s voice. It was raspy, but full of energy. As Kieran turned around, he saw a boy. It was the boy who slept next to him, Rem. The boy had brown hair, just like his mother. He was tall, which he inherited from his mother. They said that he was around Kieran’s age, but he could be mistaken for a 12 year old. He had a missing tooth from his smile, and seemed to be overflowing with joy.

“So I heard you’re going to be staying with us for a while, sweet! What’s your name?” he asked

“...Kieran,” Kieran replied. He knew instinctively, the boy was very talkative and was going to be very annoying.

“Ren, I need to talk to you for a second, come here-” Sarah had said before she was interrupted by Ren

“No need, mom! I heard everything last night! You guys were so loud that I woke up!” Ren said grinning.

“Ren! What did I say about staying up late?” Sarah asked in a stern voice

“You guys were the ones who woke me up! It’s not fair if you get mad at me!” he said back. He was quick with his words, and knew how to use them.

He quickly turned to Kieran and got much closer.

“Anyways! My name’s Ren! You can call me Ren! That’s what everybody calls me! I guess that’s because of my name though? Anyways, I’m 8 years old, so I’m 2 years older than you, which makes me your senior! So you need to listen to me! I want to be a Knight when I grow up. My dad also wants to be a Knight one day, but I’ll get there before him!”

The boy could not stop blabbering. He just kept going on and on, talking about the things he liked, things he disliked, everything.

“Does this kid just never stop yapping?” Kieran thought to himself.

Sarah had let them be so that they could bond together, but Kieran was unimpressed. He was quite frankly, extremely annoyed by the chatterbox. He stood up, and started walking towards the front door.

“Hey! Where are you going?” asked Ren

“Outside, I’m going to take a walk around the village,” replied Kieran.

“I’ll come with you! Hold on! Let me change my clothes!” yelled Ren as he ran back into his room to change his clothes.

Kieran did not wait for him, and instead walked out the door and continued on his own way.