The Solarian Academy

Ever since I told Maya and her family that I come from another world, things have been different. But not in a bad way.
It’s been a couple days since I first arrived here in this world and I’ve come to really enjoy Emmerberk and it’s people. While they still look at me like an anomaly in the village, most of the stares of distrust I had gotten, have turned into stares of curiosity.

‘Did you hear about that new kid “Micheal”?’
‘Of course I have. Apparently he knows some new dishes. I’ve given the apple pie he made a chance and it’s really quite good.’
‘Really!? If YOU liked it, then it must be really good then.’

After Casper’s birthday, Iris loved the apple pie so much, that she asked me for the recipe. She had some with her friends who came to visit one day and Casper had some with his friends as well.
Together with Lucas already knowing the recipe and having the tools to make it, it became quite the hot topic in the village. However, it didn’t quench all of the distrust towards me. Some were still quite hestitant with anything that had to do with me.

‘Well, I still don’t trust him. Before you know it, he is going to make something dangerous. Mark my words.’

Maya has told me, that I don’t need to think about it too much. The village is small, so not everyone will inmediately come to accept something new. Not even new dishes.
It’s something I’m already painfully aware of. Just because you try your best to be trusted and liked by everyone, purely to fit in. That doesn’t mean you WILL be trusted and liked by everyone.
I guess that, no matter where you are, the fear of the unknown will always be a constant.
Whatever the case, I can now at least walk trough the village and greet someone without most of them looking at me weirdly.
And it’s not like I wanted to have everyone like me because of me sharing a simple recipe. I just wanted to give someone to the family who helps me and in that regard, I think it went quite well.
But maybe I can give more recipes if I can remember them properly. I don’t think that would be that bad to share more. Pizza would probably work well, but I haven’t seen anyone growing any tomatoes. So it's probably better if I withhold that idea for now.

Anyway, right now I’m outside of the Solarian Academy. Class is currently in session and I’m waiting for Casper to come out. I was told to go here at the advice of Maya.

---

*In the morning*

‘I just thought about this. I’m not sure if it’ll help a lot, but why don’t you visit our Solarian Academy. There is information on basically anything in there. If you want to know something, the professor there can tell you.’ Maya told me.

I remembered that name from the time we went around the village. She mentioned it as a building, but not much else. And Iris mentioned that Casper had to be admissioned to an academy. Those are probably one and the same then.

‘I don’t know if they have information on travelling between worlds.’ I said matter-of-factly.
‘Well… yeah, that’s true, I don't think so either. But when you told us about that mirror, or whatever you called it, you did say that you saw the waterfall of Emmerberk Woods in it right? Maybe there’s a connection there.’
‘That could be true. Well anyway, learning about your world isn’t actually such a bad idea, so I guess I’ll take a look.’
‘That’s good, but you’ll probably have to wait until Casper is done with his class. You’ll have to wait until the afternoon.’
‘Well that’s quite long.’ I said, while having a short laugh.
‘Let’s go hunting until then. Maybe we’ll find something. Maybe we won’t. Just to pass the time.’
‘Sounds good.’

---

Maya and I would spend most of morning and early afternoon in the forest. Maya’s trap actually managed to catch a little rabbit. We were quite happy to see that it had worked and we set it up again for next time.
We spend some time gathering some of those apple-sized raspberries I saw on the first day and then made it back to Emmerberk. Right before Casper’s class ended.

‘Okay Micheal, I’ll head home for now. I’ll tell my parents that you might be home a little bit later.’
‘Thanks for that. Alright I’ll see you later.’
‘Yeah, see you later.’

We waved goodbye to each other and I remained waiting outside looking at the building in front of me.
The Solarian Academy looks akin to how a church looks in my world. A long tower in front with a wooden door leading inside, with the bulk of the building being shorter in height, but bigger in size. From all the time I spent in the village, I can easily tell that this is the biggest structure here by a pretty wide margin. The next biggest building was probably Johan’s place, but even then the difference in size is very apparent.
What could they possibly keep in such a place? The village is decently big, but I don’t think there are a ton of kids that live here. A school for this village wouldn’t have to be that big.

After maybe twenty minutes of waiting, the door to the academy opened and around fifteen kids walked out. They were both bestiana and human. One of which was Casper who very quickly took notice of me.

‘Hey Micheal, what are you doing here?’ Casper walked towards me and asked.
‘I wanted to talk to the professor here about Resilia. I want to know more about this world.’ I said to him.
‘Really? That was actually our class today. ’

The other kids saw that I was talking to Casper and started to question who I was. They looked at me like I was an alien.

‘Hey Casper, is this that Micheal guy you’ve talked about?’ One the bestiana kids asked Casper. He looked like a teddy bear to me, with his round bear-like ears and frizzy hair.
‘That’s right. That’s me.’ I answered.

They looked at me, like they expected me to say more, but I didn’t know what I could possibly say to keep the conversation going.

‘Uhm Casper, Maya already told me she’d be doing this, but can you tell your parents that I’m here at the academy. Just in case.’
‘Yeah sure, then I guess I’ll see you later.’
‘Yeah, I’ll see you later and thanks.’ I said to him and waved goodbye, while walking towards the academy.
‘No problem. Later.’ Casper waved at me.

I walked towards the door of the Solarian Academy, but I overheard what the kids behind me were saying about me.

‘You’re right Casper, he does look weird.’ I heard one of the kids say.

Just what have you been telling about me, Casper?
Ignoring whatever that was, I knocked on the door to check if anyone was present in the building.

‘Uhm, excuse me.’ I said while looking inside.
‘Hmmm.’ A voice resounded from behind one of the six pillars that looked like they were holding up the building.

An older looking person with gray-white hair and horns like that of a goat looked around the pillar and walked up to me.

‘And who might you be?’ He said to me, while giving me an inquisitive look. ‘You’re that Michael kid that everyone’s talking about right?’
‘How fascinating.’ He said, while putting his face even closer. ‘I’ve never seen hair as dark as yours before. And on closer inspection, your face is also so unlike the rest. Truly fascinating.’
‘I’m sorry, but who are you?’ Uncomfortable by how closely he came into my personal space, I asked him while putting some distance between us.
‘Ah, excuse me for my behaviour. Whenever I see something out of the ordinary, I can’t help but take a closer look. My name is Julian. Nice to meet you.’ He extended his hand and I shook back.
‘Can I help you with anything?’ Julian asked me.
‘Oh uhm, yeah. You are the professor of this academy right?’
‘The one and only.’ Julian said proudly.
‘Can you tell me about Resilia?’ I asked him.
‘About our kingdom? That’s quite a lot you’re asking of me. But please come on in. I think it’s best if we sit down for this.’

I folllowed him inside and despite how it looked like a church from outside, everything within looked like a regular classroom, but that still didn’t explain it’s enormous size. If what I saw from the outside, there is a lot more to this building that I can’t see

‘Please, go ahead and sit at one of the desks. I’ll go and get us some tea.’

Julian walked to a set of stairs near the front foor and went upstairs.
In a few minutes, he came back with two steaming cups. He handed me one of them and the sweet aroma of the freshly served tea entered my nostrils. I took a quick sip when Julian started talking.

‘If you’d like to know about Resilia then it’s best if we start where everything began. The meeting between mankind and the Bestia and their struggle for survival against the senus.’