Gray Heroics: Book 2

Back To School: Chapter 3 / Olympian Bloodline: Chapter 1

"Hey, just so you know, you can stay and sleep in the room whenever you want. I won't really be able to do it on days besides Friday and Saturday because of school, but don't let that stop you if you ever feel like staying overnight." Galivinth informs Naeth as the two of them arrive at the bridge leading to the temple.

"I'll keep it in mind. I have a responsibility or two of my own, though. By sheer coincidence, I'll be available to come here only just as much as you." The cryonean responds.

"Oh, then I feel a little bad about taking up a room.  Seems like there'll be little use for it, even between the two of us." Galivinth muses out loud as he pushes open the double doors leading inside the temple. Once the two adolescents are inside, they come to discover that the building is far livelier than it was the previous day.  On the steps ahead, three young men sit and chat amongst themselves. On the floor above, half a dozen more were leaning against the railing - two the right conversing, and four to the left seemingly laughing and cracking jokes. In addition, there's now monks in sapphire blue robes busily walking around. The clatter of plates, the sound of ongoing hissing steam, the rush of water pouring from a faucet, the myriad of footsteps thumping all around high & low, and even the fairly incoherent collective of many voices exchanging words all makes up the atmosphere inside.

"Man, there's a lot of people here today..." Galivinth comments as he proceeds to untie his sneakers and slip them off his feet. Naeth does the same.

"Seems so.  I wonder if any of them are seasoned disciples. It would be interesting to see the peak of human capability." Responds while setting his shoes aside.  Then the sound of heavy and slow banging on a drum from two floors up begins resonating through the entire building. As if going by cue, a monk steps out and takes the center position on the first floor. All chatter decreases until not one remains to challenge the booming volume of the drum. Then the latter too eventually comes to a stop, allowing the monk to speak clearly.

"What you all just heard was the assembly drum, which means afternoon lessons are about to begin. Remember it! It will always sound every day at 5PM, much like morning training at 10am. So please, if you all would, come down to the first floor and follow me to the gathering room. No pushing and shoving, please." And with that conclusion, the monk begins heading toward the back of the temple via the pathway beside the stairs. Obliging, every student present follows behind him in a messy line. The monk leads them all up to an enormous set of sliding doors, of which he easily parts as far as his arms could extend horizontally, before heading inside. What awaits inside looks like a massive dojo. The size gives the impression it could hold at least 300 people inside. The walls are covered in wide rectangle tile of oakwood, what is visible of the floor under the six large red matts that neatly lay over it looks to bed waxed redwood. 25 feet above, three sets of a pair of rectangle windows can be seen to the left, straight ahead in the middle, and to the right side of the room. 

"Good afternoon to you all! As you all can see around you, there's quite a number of students here today. In fact? There's exactly 63 in total. That definitely does seem like a high number, but as time passes, we'll begin to see that number dwindle bit by bit. By the end, I suspect there won't even be twenty of you left. Perhaps even less than sixteen. We don't kick out our students, but life surely does have its ways of parting people. I just want each of you to know that no matter if you stay here until the end or quit a week from now, showing up and trying to better yourself wasn't the wrong step. Hopefully, for those that do part ways with us, life will guide you to the true path you need to take." The head monk shares his prediction and wisdom with the students before him. Beside the monk stands three men who, surprisingly, aren't wearing robes like their peers. Of whom he spends the next use of his time introducing to the students.