A Crumbling Society

Part 2-3

Getting back to my room I sat down on the floor in front of the fireplace, light cackling and a fire started. The weather is fine here but sitting here like this is calming, I can get lost in thought doing so. I still haven't decided what I want to do going into the tournament since it's been years. My Black Magic might overdo it for them, or it might scare them. With me be able to have free range on the defense I can summon demons still even though there's a barrier. If Revela doesn't like it then she'll have to get over it, I'm supposed to go all out. At least that's what I'm thinking since I have to show them potential. I'm also not sure I'm fully up to any of this either but it feels like I have to, otherwise I have to go. I hate that feeling, if I could I'd just lay around and cry out my emotions which made me think about it again. The tears were forming and the want to be antisocial was growing. The floor felt like a nice place to fall asleep, so I did just that in front of the fire. It was strangely relaxing, and I didn't want to put effort into getting up anyway. Drifting off to sleep, this time no dreams either, just calm and quiet.

On the second day before ARC the students from the other schools made their way to Ankastle. Thornrift arrived by the shadows since they're predominantly a black magic school, Ichencrest by a manmade magic machine that walks on four legs. They're majority gray magic but with a mix like us. Some of the students here greeted friends and family amongst the visitors and some groups avoided one another. A lot of students from Thornrift apply to join the guild called Vampire Psycho when they finish term. This means that they willingly want to become vampires and be immortal, it does something to one's magic when becoming a creature. Its sinister magic that I have run into before but would never suggest anyone do to themselves. This school is our greatest rival so this should make the events interesting. I've never heard such a large group roar any louder, it was quite ridiculous and definitely something I kept my distance from. Each school got tours of the grounds for the event and then were shown to a section of the castle. An entire wing was given to each school for them to stay in so they could sleep and hang out. Classes were paused for the event so all the students and staff were doing fun things together. I definitely stayed away from most of that as well because my friends weren't here. To make things worse the Ankastle students kept pointing me out to the other schools. It felt like I was wearing a strobe light to call attention to myself. Everybody went to bed early that night because they were excited for tomorrow. I just sat in my room in front of the fire after a shower thinking about a lot. The tournament is coming and is more of a reality with other schools here. I'm not even sure of where to begin to plan what strategy I might want to use against the older kids. The best thing to do is probably to avoid their fights altogether, that way I can be surprised in the field. Learning as I go is helpful and most times not, but I think it'll give them the advantage in a one-on-one. It was so quiet in the castle like everyone was exhausted from traveling even though the Ankastle students stayed put. I'm in a tower but you can actually hear a good bit if people walk by, I think sound echoes up the stairways and air tunnels. This time nothing, which was nice and helped me trail off to sleep.

Finally, the day of the ARC tradition at Ankastle and the whole place is vibrating with excitement. I slowly pulled myself up in my bed and rubbed my hair down as it stood in different directions. Placing my feet to the ground I stood up and began trudging along to get my clothes from the drawer. Showering last night saved me some time, pulling my navy shirt over my chest I could hear the Highmistress' voice. "You better be here to participate" played in my head even though she didn't actually speak it. Fitting my heels into the back of my shoes I began to wonder what all might happen with ARC since I hadn't been here in years. Maybe they changed things or maybe not, then again, I was asked to be a part of it and that's already a big change. I shrugged it off and told myself it doesn't matter, I got told there were no rules to abide by. Checking if there was anything else I might need I looked around, nothing caught my eye or came to mind. Heading down the stairs and through the opening to my quarters the wall sealed itself behind me. Nobody was around in the halls, so I got to enjoy being alone and the sun coming through the windows. I was already wondering what breakfast was going to be like and if there would be another issue. One with Royal that is, hopefully we aren't' sitting next to each other again.