The Summoner's Mark (First Draft) (Book One)

A Path to a Fateful Encounter

From all the activities from the night before, Sin had been exhausted when he had finally chosen a room and the mere sight of the bed within it had caused his eyes to begin to close. Due to this, Sin had fallen asleep much earlier than he had intended since he was wishing to explore the Academy and maybe even the city of Athesa itself since he had never been in this part of the Zesian Dynasty.

When Sin had opened his eyes once more, he could hear the chirping from the wild birds that made their nests upon the Academy walls. Upon hearing this sound, Sin knew that he must have slept the rest of the previous day and night. Fearing that he wouldn't have enough time to fully explore both the city and the Academy before he is lost in his studies; Sin immediately rushed out of his bed. From the movement of his body, an odor was released that almost knocked Sin off his feet and with this foul smell; Sin realized that he hadn't had the proper time to thoroughly clean himself in the last week and a half of travelling and then fighting.

The smell that had just assaulted Sin changed the course that was going to be the start of his day and though currently Sin was unaware of the chance occurrence between himself and another from within the Academy walls.

"It looks like I will be putting off my explorations until later in the day!" Sin huffed out in a slightly aggravated tone as his feet padded across the cobbled floors of the room that he had claimed for himself.

*

Though at first the thought of derailing his plans to explore his new environment has caused Sin to become irritated; his opinion has changed since dropping into the boiling water that was dumped into the bathing chambers within the Academy bathhouse. As time passed, the muscles that were contained within his body that were once tense from the stress and activity that Sin had been putting them through were finally relaxed and though he had yet to do any active cleaning on himself; he felt the worries that had been plaguing him dissipate as well as much of the odor that had driven him to the bathhouse in the first place.

Knowing that if he spent much longer drifting through the water of the bathing chamber that he would have allowed another day to pass him by without really accomplishing anything; Sin decided that it would be best if he got to the real reason that he had come here.

Scrubbing at his body with a bar of scented soap that he had found within the bathhouse, Sin was quickly on his way to cleansing himself from the foul odor that accompanied his waking into this beautiful new day. Within a few short moments, Sin was finishing with his washing and as he stood up; he heard a noise echo throughout the bathhouse.

Even though Sin wasn't one for spending time with many other people due to his insecurities and the way that he was treated by those around him; he thought that since they would be just as exposed and vulnerable as he was, then it would be fine to be within the bathhouse with others. Putting the sound of another early morning individual who was wishing to clean himself to the back of his mind, Sin started to climb out of the bathing chamber just as the newcomer made his way inside.

"Where did I leave that darned soap..." the voice of a familiar individual echoed throughout the bathhouse.

Instantly, the sound of this voice caused horror to spread throughout Sin's entire body and although the owner of this voice wasn't one that Sin was frightened of or felt threatened by; it did belong to someone that Sin felt didn't belong inside bathhouse he thought was designated for the males of the Academy.

By the time that the sound of the footfalls of the approaching intruder arrived at the exact bathing chamber that Sin was using; he was standing full view in front of them which had exposed every ounce of his manhood to them which to say the least was not something Sin had ever wanted to experience with someone who oversaw his education. Standing not too far from where Sin himself stood, was none other than Sierra Ranam and though both parties involved were embarrassed by the situation; it was clear to both that Sin was the more visibly embarrassed from the crimson that had spread across his caramel-colored skin.