Ambere Chronicles Volume One: Kaurine Dawn [UNABRIDGED EDITION]

Chapter One: Secrets of the Past

[Wolfreach University, Frostcap Mountain Range, Halsion Reach Region, Haldios IV, 12th of Snowraech, 5000 TE (Terran Era)]


[Aerrin]

I knocked on the door to the dorm of my friends, Cewa and Jakob, also known as Boltz, and the latter answered the door, his hair a wild tangle of dirty blonde hair. His eyes looked bleary as he squinted at me, his pale face looking a bit thin. I frowned, and asked,
"Did you get any sleep last Lunwatch?" He held up a hand and tilted it from side to side wildly, and replied in a slurred voice,
"Broken at best... Whazza time?" I lifted an arm and checked my wristpad, and announced,
"About 7 hours since Lunar Peak." He grunted and stepped back, pulling the door open to let me in.
"Cewa ain't awake... 'S per usual..." He slurred, and I couldn't help but smile a bit. That lazybones, always sleeping in late. Hence why I'd come to wake him up. I walked to his room, and sure enough, there he was: A long, thick lump in the bed, just the top of some dark brown hair poking out from the blanket. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, and then pulled on it. As expected, his head remained tilted sideways, and once he was on his back, his head simply lolled back to its previous position. I shook my head, and leaned down over his head, and the end of my hair draped itself around his face like a curtain.


[Cewa]

I slowly rose to the surface of consciousness as I felt something soft, almost like it was dangling, tickling my neck and ear. I slowly opened my eyes, and turned my head sleepily upwards to see what I was feeling... And my body responded in multiple ways at once: My heart skipped a couple of beats, stuttering as it did so, while my stomach seemed to do somersaults around my gut, and below it, a certain other part of my anatomy also gave a start as it stirred to life at the sight greeting me. It was a face, with pale skin, dusted with freckles.

The chin was slightly pointed, with soft, rose pink lips, and eyes the color of tree sap in the shade, all framed by hair that fell around my head, creating a curtain of dark copperish hair. I made a small show of stretching where I lay, and sleepily murmured,
"I could turn into a morning person if this was how I was woken up each morning..." I had the satisfaction of seeing pink rise into the cheeks above me, and those captivating eyes averted their gaze at the same time.

I chuckled, a small smile starting to play on my lips, and Aerrin, to whom the face belonged, straightened up, making sure to drag her hair across my face as if to tease me before she took a couple of steps back, and said,
"Come on, Lazybones... If you don't get up, I'll steal your blanket!" My smile widened into a grin and I replied,
"That's not all you'd be stealing though..." After a moment of waiting, she stepped back over to the bed, and took hold of my blanket. I gave a mock sigh, and said,
"Alright... But for the record, the only reason I'm not complaining is because it's you asking." Aerrin dipped her head so that her hair formed a curtain in front of her face, hiding the growing blush, and turned around to leave the room. As she stepped out, she called back,
"You'll want the Frostreign uniform!" I let out a low chuckle, oddly touched that she seemed to have such care for my wellbeing.

As I walked out a couple of minutes later, I took note of how she was dressed; She wore the Frostreign uniform for female students; A pair of thick leg-guards for protecting her legs, over which she wore a dress that reached her knees, and above her waist sat a thick shirt for keeping body heat in, topped with a jacket similar to my own, bearing the university insignia: A gleaming blade, intended to resemble the crystalline Blades of the Knights of Kaur'Ainda from the tales of old, laying over an open book. The symbolism: Protecting the memory of the past, that we may learn from history.

I stepped up to the communal mirror, and regarded myself as Boltz stood up, heading for the door to go to his first class. He waved goodbye as he said,
"Well I'm off... See you dinner, guys!" I turned and gave him a nod, then turned back to the mirror. I was wearing the self-adjusting shoes we used in both the depths of Frostreign, when the snow fell all around, as well as the height of Embertide when the sun beat down on us like a forge in the sky. Above that were a pair of pants that had insulation to ensure we stayed warm, held up by a black leather belt. Hanging around my chest was a white shirt, covered by a jacket akin to Aerrin's. I looked up at my hair and groaned; It looked like a mess.