The Rogue World Of Dostira: E.D

The Tour

Audrey was escorted throughout the castle. She stared at the passing classrooms and the mixture of students that sat in them, listening to professors who often paced back and forth while teaching. One of the two giants walked in front of her while the other followed behind. She felt trapped between two black pillars, their shadows surrounding her to create a little pool of darkness. She was led through a hallway to which a large staircase curled up. The symbol of a phoenix was carved into the stones on the left and right. The masked giant in front of her simply pointed to the staircase and with that she knew that she would have to continue alone, She searched its eyes for a hint of colour or the merest outline of a pupil, but all she saw was glossed blackness.

"Well, uh, thank you!" she muttered as they both walked away from her.

Looking up at the staircase, she placed a foot on the first step and reached out for the silver railing. As she reached the top of the stairs, her eyes widened to see a lounge-like room filled with couches, bookshelves, a small kitchen and wooden tables. Large windows to her left and right poured in radiant orange beams of sunlight, making the room glow. The wooden tables were covered in books and papers, with multi-coloured cups left holding cold tea and coffee. Towards the back of the room were two large wooden doors. The one on the right was ajar and revealed a small staircase leading upward to another sun-lit place. As Audrey walked towards the door she saw that a small brown box was keeping the door open. She picked it up and to her surprise the box had a small tag attached to it that read;

Audrey Calora LarsonSolis Dormitory (R)Room 25

Without opening the box she quickly walked up the small staircase to see a wide, long hallway in front of her. The hallway had rooms on the left and right as she counted thirty-two doors. She slowly walked up the passage until she found room twenty-five. The door was wooden and had a silver plaque that was engraved with the numbers two and five. She turned the handle, her heart beginning to rumble inside her chest as she feared what lay behind the door. Another student or another strange test? She opened the door to see an ordinary room with two beds, two small cabinets near each bed, a small window in the middle of the room and a wooden wardrobe in the corner next to the door. To her right there was a door to a small bathroom with a shower that was left wide open. Seeing her bags messily placed on the bed to the left of the room made her close the door behind her quickly, and she rushed in without hesitation.

While sitting on the bed, she stared at the small box in her hand. It was wrapped in light brown paper and looked like nothing special. She tore at the paper in no neat fashion, ripping at it until it all fell into a little mess on her lap. A small navy coloured box lay in her hand and as she opened it, she gazed at the beautiful yet delicate object it held. A thin silver necklace with a pendant attached, a flame symbol with the letter S was engraved onto it.

As she held it in her hands and contemplated trying it on, she heard muffled voices outside the door. The door opened with a creak and standing in the hallway was a tan and very thin young girl who carried a small suitcase in one hand and a thick book in the other. Her long, dark brown curly hair that was very frizzy with strands all over the place, reminded Audrey of those dogs that had not been groomed often enough and whose beady black eyes were hidden by their ever-growing hair.

"You must be my new roommate" the girl said.

Audrey nodded, trying not to stare at the young girl as she closed the door behind her and walked over to the empty bed.

"I'm Bella Pidden" she said, sounding sure of herself.

"I'm Audrey Larson".

Bella lifted her suitcase onto the bed opposite Audrey's and placed the thick book next to it. She began unzipping and pulling out colourful sweaters along with little clear jars of candy that were labeled 'B.Pidden' next to stickers that read what the jars contained. Audrey recognised the fizz bombs, red liquorice twists and sugared almonds but the rest that came after were very strange. She saw a few jars with stickers that read; 'Suntopper Sweets' and 'Fizzy Frog Drops'.