The Whisper of the Nightingale

Chapter 58: Spirit Hall Tower

The great doors made of pitch black wood swung open as Headmaster Swan approached the Spirit Hall Tower, revealing a long corridor that disappeared into the darkness within the tower.

With a calm pace, the headmaster passed through the open doors, his white robes and hair standing out in stark contrast against the black marble walls of the building. For every step he took, a small globe of light lit up above him, slowly lighting up a path to the staircase which was now visible in the far end of the corridor.

By the time Raven reached the tower's entrance, the headmaster had already started ascending the first set of stairs, closely followed by the other elders - however, some stayed behind, most likely to guide the students who were supposed to stay at the first floor.

The moment Raven passed through the black doors and entered the tower, she felt an abrupt change in the air around her. Just like before, Raven could not rely on her spirit connections to sense anything of the world around her, but the reason was the absolute opposite of what it had been before. Instead of a total lack of spirit essence in the air, there was simply too much of it here. For Raven, the narrow corridor that had seemed black and lifeless from the outside, turned into a sea of color as abundant spirit essence spiraled uncontrollably in every possible direction.

Raven couldn't help but stop and gasp in astonishment; the transformation was just too big; like finding an oasis after days of dehydration in a desert, only to slip and fall into the water - drowning.

"Night?" asked Javelin, confused.

"Nothing," said Raven with a shrug and started moving again. "Just surprised by the density of the spirit essence in here."

Hesitating a bit, Javelin nodded. He too could feel that there was a lot of spirit essence present in the tower, but without the contrast provided by Raven's superior senses he didn't find it that breathtaking. Yet, he could think of no reason justifying his doubts.

Together with the other advanced students, they followed after the elders, climbing up the staircases. More students joined in behind them, but their numbers dwindled with every floor as the others reached their designated floor. Eventually even the elders started dropping off to enter rooms of their own.

But the advanced students continued climbing. The further they ascended, the denser the spirit essence around them grew and by the time they had reached the 21st floor - which marked the beginning of the five octagonal floors dedicated for them - even the others were being overwhelmed by the copious amounts of spirit essence present.

"Okay then," said an elder who had been waiting for them at 21st floor. "All of you know your allocated Spirit Halls. Go to them and meditate until midnight." The students bowed and walked off towards their rooms, most of which were on next couple of floors. Javelin however glanced at Raven and was about to say something when the elder cut him off with a stern voice. "Junior Student Hake, head to your room. Junior Student Night, follow me."

The two of them looked at each other and Javelin mouthed the words "good luck" before he walked over to a door nearby and disappeared inside.

Raven instead followed the elder up the stairs to the next level. There, her eyes happened to meet with Dunlin's, who was just about to enter his own Spirit Hall room. When the latter noticed that Raven was being led up even the next flight of stairs, his eyes first widened in shock and then narrowed in anger. Dunlin looked like he wanted nothing more than to attack Raven, right then and there. However, he restrained himself and Raven continued up the stairs and moved out of his line of sight.