Stormchildren: The Beginning

Chapter 6: First Day

"Hey Jayce," I said warmly, and my mouth automatically curled into a grin. As I entered, I placed my bundle of clothes in the left wardrobe, as Jayce had filled the right one with his clothes.

"How long have you been here?" I asked him.

"Oh, I've been here for about two hours now. I explored the floor a bit and met a few people."

"Two hours? I only woke up two hours later? That can hardly be possible."

Jayce hesitated before saying, "You know, the rich folks who know more about the academy than others say that the later you wake up, the weaker the recruit... 

You were the last one this year, did you know that?"

"Yes, they told me."

"My deepest condolences. But it will still work out, trust me. I'll always help you, no matter what. My father was a Stormchild too, and so were both of my grandparents, and their parents before them. Only my mother isn't one. That's why I know a bit about how things work here," he replied, grinning broadly again.

"Thank you, I really appreciate that. But, you know, I come from the first level, and this academy is my last hope for success, so hearing that hurts even more. Are you from the third level?"

The grin on Jayce's face disappeared, and he said, "Yes, I'm from the third level. We have a penthouse right next to the academy. But I'm alone most of the time because my parents are always away. My father is on the other side of the galaxy, and my mother is busy with work. But enough with the gloom! Go take a shower, and then we need to get some sleep. Tomorrow morning is the first day, and we need to be strong and well-rested."

"That's true," I replied and made my way to the bathroom. Upon entering, I paused for a moment to look around. There was a huge bathtub, a sink for each of us, a toilet, and a massive rain shower. The entire bathroom was designed with dark stone. The sink looked like polished onyx, and above it hung a large mirror with indirect lighting. In the middle of the room, hanging from the ceiling, was a large lamp that appeared to be made of glass. Next to the shower, there was a shelf with fresh and incredibly soft-looking towels and bathrobes. On the floor were a pair of slippers with our initials on them. On the right, in a fancy script, was "JF," and on the left, in the same script, "JA." Since my last name was Amber, I assumed the ones on the left were mine.

I undressed and opened the glass door to the shower. A screen lit up, asking for the desired water pressure and temperature. Since I had never seen anything like it before, I pressed the middle for both.

Immediately, a pleasantly strong shower of warm water poured over my body. I enjoyed it. It was so incredibly relaxing, it felt like I could stand under it forever.

"JULIAN! Are you still alive? You've been in the shower for 20 minutes."

I snapped out of my thoughts and pressed the off button. The water stopped instantly, and I stepped out of the shower. I grabbed a towel from the shelf, dried off quickly, and wrapped it around my waist. Then I stepped out of the bathroom and headed toward the wardrobe. Jayce looked after me, impressed.

"You got into good shape in the maturation chamber. You'll probably end up as a spear fighter or maybe a swordsman. A battle mage might be an option too. There was a guy waking up next to me who was gigantic and packed with muscles. It was pretty impressive. So, come on, get dressed, and let's go to bed. We need to get up early if we want to have breakfast."

Quickly, I unpacked my bundle of clothes and grabbed the first thing that didn't look like a training suit. It fit perfectly but was looser than the suit. I went to the empty bed and lay down. It was incredible. It felt like sleeping on a cloud, and the silk bedding was extremely fine and soft. Jayce pressed a button next to the bed, and the lights in the room went out. Then he said, "Good night, Julian. See you tomorrow." I turned onto my side, and I immediately fell into a dreamless sleep.