CROSSFIELD TRILOGY : Volume No. 01

Chp 7.5: The Magical Cave 2

"Mark?" The soft voice which Mark was so familiar with along with the shoulder length blonde hair and the bright blue eyes cleared all doubt from his mind.

"Janet? What are you doing here?"
Mark asked, trying to keep the happiness from his voice.
"Well, I was told this is a school for Alchemy and Exorcists but I'm here to learn grammar."
"Jesus! Stop with the sarcasm already." Mark grinned as he pulled Janet in for a hug.

"I was worried you know. When were you gonna tell me?" Mark said softly, his hand laying gently on her hair. After everything that had happened with him, meeting Janet  was the only thing that felt real.
"I'm really sorry Mark. I dont know if you know this but Time actually travels differently at Crossfield. So by the time I completed my semester here only 2 or 3 days would have passed in the real world. I was gonna come back to school and then things would be normal again. We would be normal again." Janet said as she pulled back. Her eyes still fixed on Mark, she ran a hand through his hair. "You haven't washed your hair have you?" Janet spoke softly, her hand now on Mark's chin.

"To be honest, I was pretty busy. With all the-" Mark stopped short. 'Do not tell anyone about the card or about you being its carrier.' Tokyo's words ran through Mark's mind.
"Busy with?" Janet asked, staring at his face.
"Oh the usual, sociology assignments and history reports. Not to mention, the book report I had to submit yesterday." Mark lied, flustered. Janet gave him a curious look for a moment before eventually giving him a smile.
"So, are you two love birds done?" Assem asked, with a wry smile on his face. He had been standing a few feet away for the past 5 minutes, looking at what seemed to him, a rather unusual reunion.
"Mark, meet Assem. Assem, this is Mark my boyfriend." Janet said as she motioned towards the 14 year old.
"Nice to meet you." Mark said as he shook hands. 3 years of living as an introvert made him really awkward at introductions.
"Pleasures mine." Assem smiled. "Janet told me a lot about you. She couldn't shut up even for a moment. Was rambling about true love for the entire bus ride here."
"No I did not!" Janet scowled at Assem, almost red with embarrassment while Mark let out a laugh he couldn't hold.
"However, you didn't say anything about Mark being at Crossfield ."

"To be honest, this was a surprise for me too." Janet asked eyeing Mark skeptically.
"Yeah well, it's a long story really." Mark said looking away from Janet's gaze.

"Everybody gather around please." A voice on the megaphone grabbed the trio's attention. "Who is he?" Mark asked turning towards a middle aged man standing in front of a cave with pullovers on. A crowd of students had formed in front of him. "Thats Alphonse. Come on, we'd better hurry now." Janet said as she motioned towards the cave.
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"Good morning, students. I hope that your ride from the respective leaving points was comfortable." Alphonse said into the loudspeaker after all the student had gathered in front of him, forming a large rectangular crowd. Behind them, the 4 busses in which they had arrived were already leaving through the small exit way.
"As of now," Alphonse continued, his gaze gliding over the students,"all of you are first years at Crossfield High. As written in the section A of your admission forms, you will be further divided into 3 divisions namely, Imperium, Gaudium and Fidem. The school system at Crossfield is very much similar to that of normals schools with the exception of  your vacations. I hope all of you by now understand that once we reach at Crossfield, time works differently. 10 days spent at Crossfield equal to 1 hour spent in the human realm and vice versa. As a result, when you end your year, you will have grown by a year but in the human realm only 2 days would have passed. Hence, vacations would mostly be spent in the school. There is no need to worry however as each term there are various activities and trips planned by the student body council during your holidays. Now, those of you whose weapon was confisticated at the GEA offices for checking will find them placed in your respective dormitories after the director's speech. Tokyo here, will now initiate allotment of the divisions. Kindly raise your hand and come forward when your name is called upon. Once you have received your uniforms and I'd cards kindly wait aside in a line with your fellow classmates." Alphonse handed Tokyo the megaphone as the latter began screening a long list.
"Agatha Bersmouth: Fidem. Anagha Shetty: Fidem. Aie Yotaka:Imperium...." One by one students raised their hands and went towards Tokyo who put a tick on the list after each student walked by.

"Zoey Stirlington: Gadium. All present then!"  Tokyo said after the last name was ticked off.
Alphonse gave him a nod, "Everybody follow me in an orderly fashion please." The angel said as he walked into the entrance of the cave, his image being slowly consumed by the darkness.

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Mark could not believe what he was seeing. Seconds earlier, he was walking along with Janet and Assem through a damp and dark cave which smelled slightly salty. Now, he was standing on the side of a road, on the other side of which was a gate with the words 'CROSSFIELD HIGH' written in bold. What's more funny was the fact that his hiking gear was now replaced by track pants and a sweater with the school's logo on its chest.
"What the heck!?" Mark heard Assem mumble as the latter too was confused about the sudden change in the environment. Assem wasnt the only one though as moments later, whispers and chats started growing among the group of students that had just arrived from the mouth of the cave.

"Well, I guess all three of you have met each other." Mark felt a firm hand being placed on his shoulder. He turned behind and saw Tokyo, the attendance list neatly folded in his other hand.
"Hey Tokyo." Janet waved at the angel. "You look a bit tired."
"Yeah, the past few days have been a bit hectic actually." Tokyo said as he gave a sigh.
"You both know each other?" Mark asked surprised. "Yeah." Janet nodded. "I met him at a safe house while I was recovering."
"Recovering from what?" Mark asked tensed.
"Well, it's a long story really."
Mark was about to speak something but Alphonse cut him off. "All the students please enter the school grounds in an orderly fashion." The angel spoke into the megaphone. He walked towards the gigantic metal gates and waved his hands in an unusual way. Suddenly, the metal gates opened up and a pair of lamps on each side, illuminated a brick laid path that went straight to a gigantic
Red bricked building with two towers on each of its sides. From this first look, the building seemed to of Victorian Gothic style architecture, sort of a cross between a castle and am institutional building.

Mark suddenly felt a low rumbling in his stomach. Hunger. He hadn't eaten anything for the past 5 hours now. That's when he realized one more thing. It wasn't only the lamps that were lighting the path. In the dark sky, thousands of tiny specks of light and and a glorious ball of white shonewith brilliance. Even though it was early morning when they were on the other side of the cave, somehow it was night time here.
"Hey Mark?" Janet spoke, tugging the sleeves of her boyfriend's sweater.
"Dont you feel like the air here is different. It has a refreshing and rather pleasant smell to it. Kinda feels like you are breathing in conditioned and purified air."
"Yup. You are correct." Tokyo nodded. "You see, we are in another realm now. This realm hasn't yet been touched by the humans. In layman's terms, pollution is kept really low here except for the events that occur naturally like storms and cloud bursts. As a result, you would find the air here to be much more pleasant than back at home."

"Jeez. That really makes you feel guilty as a human." Assem said as he took in a breath of deep air and let all out.
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"There are some seats over there." Janet pointed towards a bunch of seats in the middle row. They were in the school theater now, where the director would be giving his opening speech. More than half of the theater had already filled with the second and 3 year students who had arrived early and were in casual clothing. The stage was well lit up with the help of 5 arc lights, 2 of which focused on a rather small booth with a mike at the side of the stage.
Mark weaved his way through the crowd and gave a sigh of relief when he finally sat down on the red coloured chair besides Janet. The air conditioning, dry smell of the seats and the whispers and talks around him made Mark nostalgic .There was a cinema hall just like this back at Christford where Janet and Mark used to hangout every single Friday after school. 'The only thing missing is butter popcorn.' Mark thought to himself as a smile spread on his lips.

Slowly and steadily, the seats began to fill on front of them, with curious students buzzing around, whispering and making new friends at what would be their new home for the next 1 year.
After the last few students had been seated, the lights and footlamps were dimmed along with the whispers and giggling as everybody shifted their attention to the main stage.

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