TBATE: A HIGHER BEING

Chapter 36

"Wake up!" The shout pierced my sleep.
The air whooshed out of my lungs as Elijah pounded my sternum with a force capable of resuscitating a corpse.

I threw the sleeping Sylvie at my aggressive roommate, in hopes that she'd protect me from him.

"Sylvie! It hurts!" Elijah howled. As I had expected, my startled bond had instinctively started clawing at Elijah's face.

"There's got to be a better way than physical pain to get me out of bed," I grumbled, rubbing my stomach.

"You're telling me. Do you know how hard it is to wake you up? And you reward me by throwing Sylvie at me-even if she isn't in her full dragon form, her claws are sharp." He winced, gingerly touching the shallow scratches Sylvie had inflicted.

"Anyway, we're going to be late if you don't hurry up and get ready, so get your butt out of bed." Elijah stood on top of my bed, pushing me off with his foot.

"Let's go wash up, Sylv!" I pretended to be excited as I grabbed my companion and headed over to the shower.

No! Papa, I don't want to shower! I'm cleaaan!' "Kyuuuu!" Sylvie's desperate wails merely went out my other ear as I hauled her inside. Sylvie now had fur-or, at least, very thin, long, soft scales which were quite similar to fur. This meant she attracted dirt like a magnet, so washing her more often had become a necessity.

"Brother, are you awake?" Ellie opened the door as I was changing. Elijah was fully dressed, at least, but I only had my bottom half clothed.

"How do you like your big brother's awesome muscles?" I flexed my body in different poses.

"Ew! All I see are skin and bones." She just shook her head, giving me a hard stare that seemed to question whether I was the same brother she had so admired back on her birthday.

"Mom said to hurry up and get dressed so we can eat." Ellie closed the door behind her without waiting for a reply.

I let out a sigh as I started buttoning my shirt. She was so cute at her birthday party, I thought. Kids grow up too fast.

The uniforms Xyrus had sent us weren't anything out of the ordinary. Mine consisted of a white dress shirt, a gray vest, a maroon string to tie around my neck underneath the shirt collar, and a pair of tailored navy dress pants. There was also a gold pocket watch attached to a chain on my vest's breast pocket, giving me a very scholarly look overall.

Elijah's uniform, on the other hand, had a much sharper design. His black blazer had white trimmings that matched the ones on his black pants. Instead of a string tie, he wore a black square-end tie with one white stripe, indicating that he was a level one student. A badge with a crossed sword and staff was etched intricately over the jacket's breast pocket, and with his white dress shirt underneath, he looked dashing.

Instead of the usual tools a conjurer carried, Elijah had fashioned a black two-part band which he wore on his index and ring fingers. These two bands were connected by a thin black chain, which gave him a very gothic look, and he'd recently purchased new glasses that were a bit more fashionable. He'd made it clear that this would be his debut in finding a girlfriend, so he took great pride in how he looked, although he grumbled that no matter how hard he tried, he would always be in my shadow.

I gave him a helpless shrug, but I made a mental note to thank my mother and father for their genes later.

"Are you sure you made the right choice, Art-going in as a scholar mage? I thought you would for sure go in as a battle mage like me," Elijah remarked as he styled his hair. He still kept his straight black hair trimmed, but it was now shorter and combed to the side.