Enrolled

Chapter 13: Enrolled

It seems like Eliana found herself a companion while waiting on line for her Identity Card. The new girl was making herself comfortable with Eliana. Eliana observed her.

"Do you think we'll survive Fortem? Look at the rest of these bunch around here, I don't think I want to fight them." Larsanel crossed her arms shivering from the thought. She was very childlike as Eliana noticed.

Eliana looked around before replying. "I'm not sure either. I just hope I survive the school year not to mention the next three years after that." She shrugged.

Eliana was about to face in front of the line but Larsanel grabbed her shoulder back preventing her from doing so. "Call me Lars by the way. " She giggled. " You're very pretty, you know that?" She blurted out of nowhere.

Eliana couldn't fathom how much this girl was straight forward and touchy. She was, well, making herself comfortable to Eliana as she guessed it.

"Thank you. You're pretty too." Eliana mustered a smile that came out awkwardly. She wasn't very good with receiving compliments since she never really got that much.

Lars tapped Eliana's elbow. "Thank you!" She replied enthusiastically. "What year are you in?" She asked.

"I'm new, first year." Eliana replied quickly checking at the front line behind her breathing in relief they were still a couple of people away.

"Oh!" She whipped her head to Lars, startled. "I'm in my first year too!"

Eliana shook her head with a faint smile, she was slowly growing comfortable with Lars.

"That's great! Let's admit it together. I'm alone today." Lars said with a much lower voice. She looked disappointed. "Jett was supposed to come here with me. But I guess being the next one in line is such a heavy responsibility." Lars shook her head in dismay.

Eliana didn't understand a thing, but she did get a hint but she was uncertain. Nevertheless she just ignored it.

"I see, whoever he is that's disappointing." She replied nodding in her own words of approval.

It must be someone she was close with, a friend? Boyfriend? It didn't matter, the person was a stranger to Eliana.

Lars stared at her questioningly. "You don't know Jettam?" She asked.

Eliana returned an even more confused look. "Was I supposed to know him?"

Slowly a grin formed on Larsnal's lips. "You don't know Jett." She laughed silly at the thought.

Eliana was, as always, confused. But the guy must've been someone important in Praediti's world or something. Noticing her reaction, he must be known. "I'm sorry, I um. I kinda just went outside the house?" Eliana wanted to smack herself with a stick. How the hell was that a convincing excuse?

Lars calmed down chuckling. "I guess not everyone knows then." She smiled. "Don't worry, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Even I, at one point, can't remember all the Prince's name." She shared.

Eliana felt excited hearing the term 'Prince'. She once again felt like she was in a dream or something. "How many are there? You say they were hard to remember, there should be a lot of them then." She was curious and amused at the same time.

Lars snapped her finger. "Supposedly they were five siblings, the last one a princess. But well, the odds were cruel. There are four Prince's in total." Lars held out five fingers pushing down one making it four fingers up while explaining.

"Wow, I usually hear royal families having one or two children. That's a lot." She thought out loud.

Praediti was indeed very different from earth.

"Royal families?" Lars asked weirded out from the question. "We only have one silly." She softly slapped Eliana's elbow before covering her mouth to laugh.

Eliana realized she almost blew her cover. "Yes of course. Hahaha." She awkwardly laughed with the girl.

Not a moment passed by she heard a door closing behind her. She turned to look. It was now her turn to go inside and issue her Identity Card.

She looked back to Lars. "I'll be out in a couple of minutes." Lars smiled at her, waving her hands indicating to go inside. Eliana nodded briefly before opening the door to get inside.

The room was painted deep green. In the middle was a desk, behind it was a big black box with some openings filled with black tablet cards punched with a whole on the upper middle of it.

"You may sit here." A skinny man sitting behind the desk beamed. His hands pointing at the chair facing the desk.

Eliana quickly walked towards it and sat down quietly. "Issue for Identity Card?"

The skinny man grinned. "That's what you're here for." He said. " Give me your papers. Including your transcripts."

Eliana passed all the papers she received from the previous step including the documents and schedule.

The man nodded in seriousness at her paper before turning to look at Eliana. "You are Jury Wistal's niece?" He asks.

Eliana nodded. "Yes."

"Very well." The man went to the huge black box behind him the size of a grand piano.

There were three shelf-like openings on the same side if box. The top opening held the blank cards. The second one below it held key chain type strings of different colors. And the last one also contained strings but all with the colour of gold.

"This will take a minute." The man informed me.

Eliana watched as he picked a card, the size of an actual school ID back on earth, only thick and made of marble. He grabs an ash coloured string and a gold one from the bottom. After, he proceeded to the front of the box, facing Eliana. He pulled out a cabinet like portion and placed the three things inside before pushing it back inside. On the top of the box placed a quill pen and a glass like surface on the size of a short bond paper. He wrote something. After everything he pressed a switched located beside the glass surface.

The box made soft grumbling noises. The portion where the cards were in glowed in the process. After just ten seconds it calmed down, indicating it was done.

The man pulled the cabinet and took out the card. Now looking new. The marble card ashen in colour, the punched hole on the middle upper were now dangled with the grey and gold strings. Making the card look like a key chain.

"Here you go dear." The man passed her the card. Eliana gladly received it, it was a work of magic.

"Do not lose that, it is your identification as a student in Fortem Academy." He added.

Eliana turned to meet the skinny man's eyes. "Thank you."

The man nodded. "Here are your papers. You are done."

Eliana grabs the documents from his extended hands blurting out another 'thank you' before completely leaving the room.

Lars greeted her enthusiastically. "Eliana! You're done, it's my turn now." She smiled.

Eliana returned her beaming with the same smile.

"Yes, yes. Go on inside."

Lars held on the door knob. She turned to look at Eliana before going in. "Are you going to wait for me here?" She asked, hoping to get an answer of yes from Eliana.

Eliana grabbed the pocket watch Jury Wistal gave her. She slumped weakly before replying to the girl. "The coach is probably outside by now. I'm sorry." She replied disappointed.

Larsnal's face saddened. "Awe, I'll be alone again." She said almost pouting.

Eliana smiled apologetically at her. "Sorry."

Larsanel's face lit up once again beaming positivity. "It's okay!" She exclaimed. "I hope to see you at school Eliana." She smiled widely.

Eliana mirrored her bright smile. "I hope to see you too."

Lars nodded rapidly in a childlike manner. She gave Eliana one last look before going inside the room.

Eliana left after that.

Eliana slumped on her bed. It was night time, the rest of the day went by a blur.

After her visit from Fortem Academy's office. The Lord had instructed the coach to take her to the market, a very different one from the Capital she stumbled from. The coach told her she needed to pick out some clothes. She was interested at first and picked out a lot of beautiful elegant clothes but got tired after a while.

Even after a few days staying Praediti, Eliana still felt like everything was unreal. She remembered the box that made her Identity card, it was something she had never seen from Earth. It was one of the proofs she was in a different world.

She stared at the pale ceiling remembering she made her first friend in Praediti.She grinned, she was glad she at least now knew someone in Fortem Academy.

She'll be leaving the Lord's house tomorrow to officially enter the school.Her eyes were heavy, slowly closing to slumber.

She mumbled before drifting to sleep.

"Fortem Academy..."