Amity

Chapter 36: Let Time Tell

Skipping down the stone, tan hallways of the Tower of Waves, Keiko hummed a tune to herself with the joy that she met a new friend. She skidded to a halt in front of door number 305. This is the place, alright, she thought to herself as she went inside. The majority of the chairs were filled with Apprentices. All except for one, which was up front beside a blond-haired woman. She was writing in a black book, wearing a tan training outfit. Keiko grinned as she walked to the seat. She could sense the good vibes from her.

"Hi. What are you doing?" she asked the woman.

The woman looked up, puzzled. "Oh. Hello there," she said with a thick French accent. "I am drawing."

Keiko's eyes sparkled as she looked at the open sketchbook on her desk. "What are you drawing?"

"A Pegasus. Would you like to see?" The woman held up the sketchbook to show her.

Keiko's eyes lit up the way a child's eyes would after waking up and seeing a blanket of snow. The Pegasus was drawn taking a drink by a stream, wings outstretched. Seeing the picture, Keiko gave a star-struck gasp. "This is amazing! Did you draw this by yourself?"

"Yes. My aunt said that she would probably be able to paint it and sell it to a curator once it's finished." Keiko wasn't paying attention. She was too focused on the drawing.

Tearing her gaze from the drawing, Keiko gave a toothy grin as she said, "We should be friends. What's your name?"

The woman looked taken aback by Keiko's bluntness. "Er... It's Rose Jones. What's yours?"

"I'm Keiko Choi." Her grin wavered as she looked around. The classroom was full of Apprentices, however, their teacher was nowhere to be found. Odd, considering how close he was to coming to being late. "Has Mr. Itchy Nose come yet?"

"Mr. Itchy Nose?" Rose pulled her schedule from behind her sketchbook. "I believe that it is pronounced Ichi-no-say."

"It is?" Confused, Keiko rummaged through her bag. She pulled out her own schedule, scanning it for her teacher's name. "It looks like Itchy Nose to me."

Rose struggled to smother her laugh. "I suppose it does, doesn't it?"

Moments later, a short man with hazel, tilted eyes limped into the classroom, though he didn't look to be in any pain. In fact, he was grinning. Standing slightly taller than Megumi, he wore tan dress pants with a white button-up shirt and a pair of oval-shaped glasses. He placed his black, leather briefcase on the teacher's desk as he began writing his name on the chalkboard. The Apprentices all murmured to themselves as they read the name on the board: Master Ichinose Kimachi. Keiko was stunned; he looked no older than she did.

"Well, well," he began as he pushed up his glasses. His voice was much deeper than Keiko had imagined it would be. "It sounds like you all are just as ecstatic as I am about being here. Welcome to your first day of class. I will be your Amian history teacher, Dr. Ichinose Kimachi. Feel free to call me Ichinose, or Ichi for short. It doesn't matter."

"Looks like you were right, Rose," Keiko whispered, catching Ichi's attention.

"Oh? I'm not boring you already, am I, Miss Choi?" he asked.

"N-no, sir, Mr. Itchy-nose." Rose flinched at the name.

Ichi's sneer disappeared. "Did I just tell you that my name was Ichinose, Miss Choi?"

"Yes, sir. Sorry, Mr. Itchy-nose."

"This girl, I swear by the goddess," he sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose. "Today will be a short class day. I'll basically tell you some quick info you'll need to know about the planet as well as the class. If you live on Earth, then you would have most likely noticed that you are no different from other humans. We look the same, eat and sleep the same, and biologically, we are quite similar. When it comes to life on Amity, one of the biggest differences between humans and Amians is our higher power. What the humans call gods and goddesses, we call Titans. There are five Titans in total; Cassia, the Titans of Flames, Sophocleus, the Titan of Water, Chrysanthos, the Titan of Nature, Euphrasia, the Titan of Air, and Tryphosa, the Titan of Spirit. Of the five, Tryphosa is considered the leader, making many of the Amian population consider her a goddess, so be prepared to hear people say 'by the goddess' a lot. Their strength flows through us, and our elemancy is evidence of this.

"Another major difference is our leaders. Whereas most civilizations have a leader elected by the populous, our civilization is run by those that are elected by the Titans themselves, which are called Oracles. Akin to the Titans, they, too, are the representative of the elemancy spectrum. In each region of Northern Amity, there are five Oracles to pass the judgment of the Titans. Despite being elected by the Titans, they still do have the choice to either take the opportunity to be an Oracle or not.

"The third, and judging by recent events, possibly the most important difference is that our planet has a single chosen Amian that counts as the champion of us all; the King of Elements. Infused with the strength of the past Kings, as well as the Titans themselves, the King is our only hope to repel the evil advances of Aggaron the Dark." The class all murmured quietly about the name Aggaron the Dark, and all that it may entail. Keiko could feel the fear emanating from all of them. Not that she could blame them. Considering that there was only one person that could do anything against him, she couldn't help but be afraid herself.

"How can we tell who's the new King?" an Apprentice's voice called from the back of the room.

Ichi's foxlike grin reappeared on his face as he said, "The easiest way to tell anything. Let time tell."