The Institute of Ingenio

Chapter 6 - Anton

He stood at the front of the crowd, staring at the two beings that hovered before him. Anchored to the ground by fear, all he could do was stare at them, taking in their ethereal beauty.

The two giants, one male and one female, scoured the swarm of students with an unplaceable look in their light eyes.

Anton averted his gaze to the male. A silver wire stood amidst his short, navy blue coils. Stern features adorned his skin, so dark it took on a blueish tint only found in the depths of the night. The only thing disturbing this endless sea of darkness was a strip of white paint going from the center of his forehead to the tip of his strong jaw (and of course his piercing eyes). He wore a flowing blouse of a pearlescent white that might as well be fashioned from pure light. 

Next to him stood the female. Her ivory hair cascaded down her back, forming dainty ringlets at the tips. Atop her head stood a golden halo embellished with perfectly cut amber stones, reflecting the sunlight that filtered through the circular skylight. White freckles sprinkled her high cheekbones like the first snow cresting a mountain range. Much like her male counterpart, a slash of white separated the two hemispheres of her impossibly symmetrical face. To top it all of she wore an elegant white gown that flowed gracefully as if underwater.

A feeling of unease settled itself at the bottom of Anton's stomach. These people- no- creatures were too perfect to be human, their features too sharp, their arms too strong. This feeling only worsened when the woman-like thing began to speak.

"Hello students of the Institute of Ingenio" she began. The voice that came out of her wasn't in fact a voice but rather many voices.

She went on: "We are Aelia and Usiku, the creators of your ever so precious school..."

Weird... He thought, Weren't their names Dion and Trinity?

This time, the man, Usiku, was the one who spoke: "It has been brought to our attention that the grounding rule upon which the IoI was created has been violated."

A wave of shock washed unto the crowd of students. However, no sound escaped their gaping mouths: it seemed as though either Aelia or Usiku had stolen their voices from the depths of their throats. The giants standing before them stared impassively. You could barely see the cyclic rising and falling of their chests... they had to breath... they had to...

A few moments passed before students got their voices back, relieved breaths could be heard echoing through the domed roof of the entrance.

"It is to our great displeasure that we announce that the Institute must be destroyed at once to avoid any more harm to be done to the wonderful students housed between these walls." They finished, their voices morphing into one.

Theses last words reverberated through the entirety of the circular space.

At the highest point of the room, where the many frescos decorating the ceiling came together at the tips, was a circular skylight from which a beam of sunlight erupted, directing its right above the two giants, adding to their celestial aura. The rest of the walls were covered in a white and gold wallpaper depicting the branches of a great oak, the tree said to symbolize wisdom and longevity. Its roots were represented by the spiralling veins on the marble flooring. Finally, the heart of the tree was placed at the stained-glass wall the stood around the main doors, through which a psychedelic array of light filtered.

Anton didn't know how long he had stared at the beauty encompassed within the walls of the room, taking in all the details he had missed in the years prior. It was as if the painful truth had finally rammed into him. This was his last year at the IoI, and now, without warning, it was going to be cut short because of some alleged corruption of some sort. Why did everything have to go wrong? Anton had laughed at the predictability of books before, how everything seemed to come down in shambles at the last year. Now that he was living it, the comedic aspect seemed to drain out, leaving only fear and a smudge of irony. Atthe highest point, where the many frescos decorating the ceiling came togetherat the tips was a circular skylight from which a beam of sunlight erupted, directingits right above the two giants, adding to their celestial aura. The rest of thewalls were covered in a white and gold wallpaper depicting the branches of agreat oak, the tree said to symbolise wisdom and longevity. Its roots were representedby the spiraling veins on the marble flooring. Finally, the heart of the tree wasplaced at the stained-glass wall the stood around the main doors, through whicha psychedelic array of light filtered.

His contemplation was fractured, however, when he saw a student, about a year or so younger than him, lunge towards the giants.

A/N : I'm rlly sorry for the short chapter, I'll try to post a longer one next week.
Anyway, Happy thanksgiving to all my Canadians and happy reading :)))

[edit] I just realized that I was missing about a hundred words of this chapter... oops? There was a miss-sync between my iPad and laptop resulting in the temporary disappearance of a bit over a paragraph... however everything's good now (as far as I'm concerned).  I'm working on the next chapter (there's gonna be a new character ;)!!!)