Heaven's Shadow

Chapter 1 | Chosen

PART 1: The Academy

Remigius wanted to bash his skull against the wall if he threw another thing at his window. 

He never knew when to stop, did he? 

Around sixteen paper balls had hit the glass before Remigius lifted his window and stuck his head out to glare at the next door neighbour's attic. He hoped it would be an annoying bird pecking the glass or an irregular rainfall in the middle of the summer, but no. His fingers curled around the ledge and then tightened as a paper ball hit him square in the forehead. 

"Hey, Remigius." He could hear the joy in his smirk. "Enjoying the sky tonight?" 

"Yun," he grumbled.

Yun Yukamara. With that damn annoying smile.

Yun perched on the ledge of the attic window with one of his legs swinging and his chin resting on his palm. A lollipop sat in between his slender fingers, glistening in the soft navy light of the four moons in the sky. An assortment of scrap paper—no doubt from the countless unfinished art projects exploding in his room—piled on top of the ledge. The other papers, now littered around his yard like ants.

Remigius's parents didn't know about the ladder connecting his window up to Yun's room. A few summers back, Yun tested his innovative idea to angle a ladder and create a rocky pathway between the two rooms. The theory worked, and he balanced his way across the two sides before slipping and breaking his arm. He claimed he "fell out of his window 'cause there was a wasp,' and Remigius wasn't sure if Mr. Clarity believed him or not, but he received a healing remedy from Remigius's father, and after Yun's arm healed, he resumed tightrope walking. 

It had been less than two hours since they parted ways to go to bed, and Yun couldn't leave him be. If he started to grab that damn ladder, Remigius would be the one to push him off.

"I'm not going," Remigius hissed through his clenched teeth, though with words louder than he intended. A glance at his door, and then he glared back at Yun.

"Come on, just one night," he said back, tone far more playful than understanding. "They'll never know."

They would. They could. If they woke up and checked Remigius's room, they would see his discarded bedsheets and wide-open window, link the dots, and Remigius's whole summer would be spent in the confines of his room with Yun waving down at him with an apologetic smile. 

"I can't," he repeated, and he should have closed the window right there, but his hands faltered at the sight of Yun under the moonlight with eyes peering at him like a feline. A wistful yet alluring energy.

A whine hummed from his throat. "It's Cosmopic. We talked about going to the ceremony."

"No, Yun." Remigius's fidgety hands and constant glances behind him should explain enough. A lock latched the door from the outside, with the key holder dozing asleep two rooms from his. 

"Please?" This time, his lips pouted. He popped the lollipop onto his lower pink lip before sucking on it. "We'll be there and back before you know it. I need to get something there!" 

"We can't go to the City District without Maven." The last time they tried, their carriage trudged along a gravelly pathway into the Plains District. Manure clogged their noses, and Yun's allergies filled the livid silence with sneezes. 

"Who said we're going without her?" 

Below, a burst of ice shot to his window. Not a single ice fractal out of place. The cool breeze whiffed specks of frost onto Remigius's hair, decorating it like sapphires. With a hasty stagger, he brushed the frost off and shook his head once he stuck his head out to look below.