The students assembled in the gathering grounds of Attwood located in a huge open field in front of a massive stone stage where a 100-foot statue of King Levithan loomed over them all. The incoming students separated into two rows of boys on the left and two rows of girls on the right like they were soldiers marching to war.
An aisle formed between them and at the end of the aisle on the stage was an oval stage where the headmistress stood in front of a podium and the statue of the king. Lucy could barely see it over the heads of her classmates but a burning fire raged at his marble feet. She was next to Freya and in one of the last rows as they were cut in front of by many girls until Pecilia noticed and stared them down with eyes that could have made grown men shudder.
Spectators sat off to the side. Some 500 or so watching less than 50 new students enroll. The space was large enough to house a hundred times those present, but the school hadn't welcomed that many people in centuries, once the elite realized exclusivity could be used as a tool to their power.
The headmistress surveyed the crowd. The audience turnout was bigger than any year Sylvia Parrier had seen since her time as headmistress, and she knew exactly why. She examined the row of boys where everyone's eyes kept drifting to Algernon Black. She smiled before clearing her throat.
"Welcome patrons and alumni." The headmistress addressed the audience with a voice that boomed across the ground. She smiled, but her face showed only the movements of kindness that didn't reach her eyes unlike how her grey silver hair matched perfectly her clothes and steel demeanor. "And especially welcome our new charges." She led an array of clapping from the audience as the new students straightened their backs proudly and she smiled down at them from where she stood above them all.
The headmistress held the only position of the school that didn't require her to alter her last name as the rest of the teachers took their last name mixed with wood as a sign of respect for the school. And the fact she didn't need one was a huge show of her position.
"We gather now in the sight of our last great king to honor and praise him for his creation of Attwood and his service to Emora." She spoke effortlessly and practiced, and somehow Lucy could tell she really enjoyed this. "It was the king's orders that after he died no one would take the throne of Attwood ever again, and instead the castle he built with his own labors would be turned into a school that would teach and mold the next generation of leaders." She looked directly at the students and Lucy felt a shiver when her sharp eyes fixed themselves on her area. "At Attwood, we are raising you to be rulers, visionaries, warriors. It will be you who protect our land, lead our people, and preserve the morals and integrity of Emora for generations to come." She paused as she robotically smiled and swept her gaze over the newest additions to her school. She was evaluating them as much as she pretended she was welcoming them, and she decided most based on appearance alone met her high standards, especially the one bored-looking black-haired boy. "In the words of King Leviathan, lead with genuine hearts, well-read minds, and an ear open to the gods." The headmistress raised her hands and the fire behind her raised 10 feet into the air with angry red flames rising to the height of the king's stone knees. Lucy could feel the heat of it from where she sat in the back row.
Algernon was standing close to the front with a blank expression. He sent off a dark aura about him that made him unapproachable to everyone and just about everyone noticed because just about everyone was looking at him. The stares were a constant in his life that he had grown accustomed to over the years, even if he did hate it. He looked down at the artifact he wore around his finger, which was only a part of the reason why they stared.
"And now to offer your thanks and pledge your allegiance to our great King Levithan." The headmistress lifted her hand to the row of boys.
Lucy watched as one by one eager boys walked up the stage past the human-lined pathway of teachers to the king's statue. Everyone one of them was in their most costly lavish suits that showed off their wealth and status as much as their wildly expensive sacrifices did.
Each object was of exceptional quality, but only some objects seemed to change the fire's intensity momentarily.
The boys finished quickly and the girl's ascended right away. Lucy felt more nervous than she thought she would and tightened the grip of her dagger as she tried to focus on steady breaths.
Freya was to go before Lucy and had just left, walking to the fire in her beautiful golden pink gown. Her curly light brown hair bounced along with her multi-color jeweled accessories with her complete lack of nerves. She knew the gift would be acceptable and she had her large family in the audience there to cheer her on, it gave her confidence that Lucy wished she could emulate.
When Freya walked the path back alone and empty-handed Lucy knew she was next. She gathered her breath as best she could and started her journey down the aisle. What felt like ten thousand eyes watched her every move as she questioned everything about what she was doing. If she was walking normally if she looked strange if her face looked as frantic as her heart rate currently hammered.
Unlike all the others who had walked before her, Lucy had no family in the sea of eyes, no one who recognized her or cheered her on silently. She knew that most of those watching her would be wondering who the poorly dressed girl was and whispering amongst themselves their already-formed opinions.
Lucy took her first shaky steps up the well-worn marble to meet the various eyes of the men and women that would be her teachers going forward. Some smiled but it did little to relieve her tension. Though one tall black-haired professor did seem genuinely nice as he greeted her with a wide grin and ushered her on with dark green eyes. Something about his smile made her think he knew her, though she had no recollection of him.
She walked past the headmistress who didn't look at Lucy but at the object in her hand. Sylvia was surprised at what an acceptable offering the crystal dagger seemed when she herself was so plainly dressed.
When Lucy finally approached the king's fire her grip on the dagger became even stronger. It felt like she hadn't breathed the entire time since she started her small journey, and now that she looked up at the marble face of the last king, with his long beard and tired-looking deep-set eyes, he seemed to see right through her.
Lucy held out the dagger to the raging fire and gaped down into the pit. Whatever had come before was already burned to ashes. She knew that each item had meant truly nothing to those that gave them up. Holding as much value to them as the ashes they had become. They all gave up accessories and bejeweled weapons that cost them nothing but a small portion of their wealth. None of them would think twice about what had already been lost to the fire, but Lucy would. She never even had the opportunity to keep anything long enough to treasure it as traveling required her and her brother to be light and unattached. She looked at the dagger to see her eyes in its reflection and her brothers too. On the polished blade, eyes crinkled up at her, as she unknowingly smiled at the thought of Jared. Even now, when she had never felt more nervous in her entire life, comfort and confidence came back to her as she remembered him.
Lucy looked at the fire once more, and held the dagger firmly in her hands, before lifting it behind the back of her neck and slicing through her hair with ease.
Noticeable gasps raked through the audience as Lucy threw her severed hair into the raging fire. She figured if all the others could make sacrifices that truly meant nothing to them then she could as well.
The fire instantly roared up in a blaze higher than all the other sacrifices combined had made. Lucy fell back when the heat overcame her and looked through half-closed eyes as the flames encased the 100-foot statue of the king and seemed to give life to the 1,000-year-old stone. The flames shaped around each crevasse to outline every detail, even moving across his outstretched hands to make it look like the stone fingers were reaching out. The strangest part to see was how the fire circled his stone eyes and recreated the outline of pupils in fire that stared down at her in what seemed like appreciation.
"Thank you."
YOU ARE READING
Algernon Black
Romance"Gods aren't born. They rise." Algernon Black is the most infamous boy known throughout his world for a prophecy that would make him a god if he sacrificed the one he loved most. Downcast and disheartened, Algernon never paid the rumors much mind, u...
