6 A Mistake

We start heading towards the school and it takes us about twenty minutes to get within the campus. Once there, we come across a school gate like our school's at home and Eliza opens it up with her school ID card. I'm surprised at how well technology is compatible with magic. Eliza walks in, stroking and fixing her long silky silver hair. She's trying to look nice. She starts to get nervous and fidgety. Worried I ask, "Eliza are you okay? You seem kind of nervous." She turns around and looks irritated. "I-I'm not nervous! I-I'm actually very satisfied that I've almost completed my mission…Hmph." Yeah…she's nervous. I say in my head. She avoids eye contact and says, "Now let's go before it gets too late and she scolds me." Together, we walked inside the gate and head towards the only light that shines in the darkness.

Someone wearing an all-black hoodie and black hair came out of the main entrance. They closed the door behind them and jogged down the mini case of steps. It seemed like they were in a rush to do something. I didn't really care, so we continued, and we approached them. They bumped into my left shoulder and their hood fell off. I immediately looked at them and they glared at me. It was a guy, an elf--to be exact. He had black messy spiked hair, pointy ears, and his left earlobe had a stud earring.

"Hmph" He gave me a dirty look.

"What's your problem?" I said.

"Shut up, newbie," he smirks.

"Blake…Be nice." Eliza rolled her eyes and looked at him with disappointment.

"It's good to see that you're back, Eliza. I hope that mission wasn't too hard for you." Blake laughed on his own.

Eliza sighs and Blake finishes laughing to say, "So this is the Pawn-Wielder aye?" He started to inspect me from head to toe. "You sure you got the right guy, Eliza?" He looked at her confused.

I say, "Of course I am! You got a problem with that?"

"He's got quite the attitude…however…Pawn-Wielder or not, I will not let you speak to me that way." Just like in the park with Eliza, a gust of wind bursts from within Blake. Eliza steps in between me and Blake and yells, "THAT'S ENOUGH!" The wind is dissipating and I'm trying to hide my fear.

"Some shitty Pawn-Wielder is gonna save our world, huh? What a joke." He starts to walk away, and I clench my fist trying to hold back my anger. Yet, it was more like holding myself back from getting killed. Eliza mentions to Blake, "That was very uncalled for Blake." He ignores it and walks towards another building across the campus.

Eliza facepalms and says, "We have more important things to worry about, Kima. Ignore him please." She gets all serious and the atmosphere gets tense. I sigh and try to push Blake in the back of my mind. It's time for me to get serious too.

We enter the enormous school finally and it smelled so fresh. The carpet was red, and in front were stairs that led up. To my right, there were offices for different things—such as admissions and the nurse's office. To my left, there was a big open area, and someone stood in the middle of a platform. A sign said, 'Levitation Platform.' Eliza points to it and says, "Let's go on that." We walk towards the platform, and the women smile at us.

"Welcome back, Lady Sternbriar. Are you visiting Headmaster Mair?" The young lady looked like she was in her twenties and she was very pretty. Her blue hair sparkled, and she had a twinkle to her eyes. Eliza replied, "Hello Bria, and yes, to the Headmasters office, please."

"As you wish." Bria lifted both her hands up swiftly and the platform under us slowly started to rise.

~~~~~~~~

We come across a huge door that was about 10 ft. tall saying, Headmaster in platinum letters, at the top center. "Are you sure we're in the right place?" I sarcastically said. Eliza giggled a bit, and says sarcastically, "You're an idiot." I look around and the hallway is filled with art. They were pictures of people who had weapons beside them. Each had a name plaque underneath with a brief description of who they were. Eliza says, "Those are The Six Artists that saved Nuvia long ago from the Apocalypse." I wanted to ask about them, but it felt like the wrong time to do so.

Eliza takes a deep breath and opens the door slowly. I put my hand onto her shoulder for reassurance, "Eliza, it's okay, don't worry." She nods.

The light within the room engulfed us as we entered. This was the top floor of the school, it's as if a princess lived up here since it was the only room up here. We walk in and a woman with a red and black robe, with a huge phoenix, stitched on the back. The same one as the Phoenix on Eliza's uniform. She turns around as her robe drags on the carpet floor then looks at me and sighs. She wore a bun with a phoenix pin to hold it up and wore a black dress with flats within the robe. She wore a necklace of pearls and earrings of ruby.

Eliza and I walk up to the Headmaster, the vibe of the room was weird. It's as if I did something wrong but I'm not the one to blame, just in the crossfire of a problem...I hope. She speaks, "Care to explain to me, Lady Sternbriar? I see you have brought along a guest with you. Now, where is the Pawn-Wielder?" She looks at me, analyzing my looks. I look at Eliza and I look back at her awkwardly, "Uh, I'm the Pawn-Wielder. Kima Sayori." I bow and then rise. She retorts, "No you're not." I tensed up, she then says, "To get the introductions out of the way; I am Mair Sage, the Headmaster of Siren Academy, nice to meet you. Please take a seat young man. We have a lot of explaining to do." She points to a brown leather chair in front of her desk. I look around me and see tons of Phoenix's and banners. I look at her desk and it had a crystal shard floating in the middle, it had a blue and green glow in the center. Her desk was very well organized. It was in front of a very huge window, that reached the ceiling.

I look at Eliza and she's stiff as stone. "You too, Lady Sternbriar."

We both sit down and Mair says, "Eliza Sternbriar. I'm sorry, but you have failed me." My heart jumped and started to beat fast and I looked immediately at Eliza. Did she fail? How could this be? After what Eliza has told me about being the Pawn-Wielder has been a lie? My brain was just flooding with these thoughts of insecurities and doubts. "What do you mean I failed Headmaster?! I-I did what you asked me. You told m-me to b-bring Kima right?" She starts to get red in embarrassment and stutters. She must be taking this very hard since this was her first mission from the Headmaster herself.

I understand how she feels, not living up to the expectations of others around you. Mair looks at me and smiles then faces Eliza.

"I…I just don't know how I messed up. You told me to meet him in the park. I did exactly what you asked me to do. I-I…even followed him there to make sure." Eliza starts to freak out a bit but Mair holds her hand up to silence her.

"Now listen to me Lady Sternbriar, just calm down. It's not your fault. This is an odd case if I am being completely honest. I can't sense the overwhelming power from within him and neither could you even if you tried. So, he can't possibly be it." Mair states.

"Wait, I can't sense a Pawn-Wielder's magic power?" Eliza questions.

"No, your body naturally disregards very high-level magic power. Only the Six Artists of Nuvia can detect that sort of magic. That is why I only sent you to a location where you could meet the Pawn-Wielder. If you were able to detect such power, you could feel the entire planet resonating and it would drive you insane—always detecting such magic every single day. The Six Artists are used to detecting this kind of magic, therefore, we just adapted to living this way." Mair explained.

The Six Artists…how strong are they? I say to myself.

"Is that so…" Eliza comments, before Mair, continues.

"As you know, this crystal shard in front of me is the Crystal of Foresight. This allows us to see into the near future. We sought out to bring the Pawn-Wielder from our prediction, but the timeline changed; I believe that someone has altered the events of your meeting with the correct Pawn-Wielder. It wasn't some kind coincidence either. Someone knew about our plan. Hence, why you failed your mission and you didn't even realize it. But, we can turn this problem into a solution." Mair smirked.

"If I may Headmaster—who ruined my mission!? I will not tolerate this!" Eliza got up from her seat, furious.

"Sit down, Eliza. You won't get any answers from me with that kind of attitude." Mair put Eliza in her place. I guess there are higher powers than her.

"Forgive me, Headmaster." Eliza did what she was told.

Mair says, "Even if I did have the answer—you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Be realistic, someone who knew about our plan and went on to alter it. They must be very intelligent and with a massive amount of magic power to travel through realms. As you know, realm traveling is not an easy task. Even if I were at my prime, the amount of magic that it drains would still leave me exhausted." Eliza looked unsatisfied, realizing she could not do anything—really made her feel helpless.

"Now then, as I said, 'we can turn this problem into a solution,' I want Mr. Kima to understand something important." She speaks with a serious tone. I perk up to show that she has my attention. She cups her hands on the desk and asks "Kima, do you understand the situation you're in? Lady Sternbriar, by mistake or not, has brought you here to Nuvia in hopes you would be our savior. You're not Pawn-Wielder that we've been looking for, so I need you to understand how difficult this is for me."

"I…don't understand." I actually do but I am just being in denial and am I going to be dismissed back to Earth? I knew it all along that I could never be a hero or someone strong. I shouldn't have let Eliza drag me here, I know myself better than anyone.

I look at Eliza for answers, "Eliza…" I said quietly. She doesn't respond—she looked at the floor, her hair covered any facial expression from getting out.

Eliza finally speaks, "Kima I-" I cut her off.

"Just tell me if this is a joke or not! I don't want an apology. Please tell me that I'm the Pawn-Wielder or not...please. I need to hear it from you, not the Headmaster." My voice started to crack as if I was going to cry. I was angry, frustrated and disappointed at myself, I wasn't trying to be mean, but I yelled at her. I tried to keep calm, but my emotions betrayed me. I couldn't believe this, I felt like I could become someone new in this world despite my flaws and who I am as a person. I thought I could become a hero. Eliza was shocked to hear me yell, she just sat there and took it. I felt bad for yelling at her.

Was this the last time I'd be able to see her and this world? As I start getting into deeper thoughts. I get hit on the head. "Ow! What the?" I look up and Mair was standing up with a book in her hand that she just hit me with. "Don't speak to a lady like that, especially to Lady Sternbriar. You haven't let me finish on what I was going to say. Now please calm down and stop being so negative." I apologize to Eliza and she nods reluctantly.

"Now Mr. Kima, the only way I can fix this problem here, is if you have the determination to get stronger, smarter and more capable of using magic. Lady Sternbriar will be assisting you and is also going to be taking care of you here. So, she is going to have full responsibility for you." She smiled slightly.

"I'm actually staying here!?" I said and the Headmaster nods yes. I crack a smile and I can feel my spirits get high again.

"Headmaster, I don't know what you're trying to get at here, but I can't babysit him. I'm very busy with family matters and school. Is this some sort of punishment for something that I couldn't even prevent from happening?" she bluntly said. She had a point though. Mair replies with, "Don't think of this as a punishment, think of this as another assignment. Let's treat this as an experiment. We'll let Mr. Kima enroll here at Siren Academy and see if he can become the Pawn-Wielder." My jaw dropped, and Eliza gets up quickly from the chair and knocks it over. "Headmaster, Are you serious?! No offense to Kima and all but I don't think he has the magic capabilities to enroll. You told me that it chooses an individual who is most fit to become the Pawn-Wielder. Kima, you must understand." Eliza pleads. Mair turns around and laughs. "Hahaha. Oh, you jest, Lady Sternbriar. It is correct that the Pawn Sword chooses those who are most fit to wield it. However, that is only to wield the sword, not unlock its full potential. If we allow Mr. Kima to enroll here at Siren Academy and he becomes stronger in order to wield it, then, unlock its true power; he will become our savior. You must help him get strong enough to fight on his own at least."

I glanced at Eliza to see how she would take it, with what the Headmaster said to her. She was upset but she couldn't refuse. She let out a sigh and looked at me.

"Kima, I will be your guide here at Siren and I will show you around. Everything else about fighting and what class to choose is your decision. I have no intentions of doing everything for you, I'm very busy with my own personal affairs." She sounded irritated.

"Okay, but are you really that annoyed? Yeah, I'm not the Pawn-Wielder, but can't you just give me a chance to prove myself? And if I'm unable to, then you can send me back; so you can find the proper Pawn-Wielder."

"It's not that simple." Said Mair jumping into the conversation

"What do you mean not that simple? Just go back into my realm."

"Kima, weren't you listening? The only reason I was able to go to your world was because of the Headmasters magic. She cannot perform realm traveling magic so easily, she's still very exhausted from bringing me and you back. Unfortunately, she can only do it once every few months."

"Oh right…haha." I tried laughing it off. Mair doesn't say a word when Eliza explains. I sigh and sink back into the chair and wait for Mair to give me further instructions.

"Mr. Kima, tomorrow you will be coming to my office around 0800. There, I will give you your uniform and other things." 0800? So, they have the same time system as we do, back on earth. I wonder if there are any other similarities here?

"Yes, ma'am, and Eliza sorry," I say while standing up to leave.

"Wait, just a moment Mr. Kima. I don't know where you're going this late at night, but do you have a place to stay or is Lady Sternbriar taking you in?" Eliza was kind of angry when she heard the sarcasm but at the same time embarrassed, so her face turned red. Eliza says,

"Absolutely not!"

Mair laughs. I wonder where I'm going to be staying at. I was kind of hoping for Eliza to let me stay at her house but…looks like that's not happening. I let out a sigh and answer Mair.

"I don't have a place to stay, unfortunately," I say in a lower tone at the end of my sentence.

"Well then, here, this is your key to your dorm. Don't lose them please." She hands me a silver round handled key, etched with the room number '203', it also had a Phoenix emblem on it but this time, it was black. "Thank you, and I won't lose it, don't worry."

Eliza says, "She means it, Kima, each key has magic stored in it to only unlock certain doors. That's why each key is unique because anyone can go to the blacksmith and get a copy. The doors have a magic response system, so not any key will open the door. Those are really hard to make so don't lose it."

"Oh wow, alright. I will be extra careful." I respond with confidence. I should take everything into consideration.

"You may be dismissed you two. I will see you tomorrow morning, Mr. Kima."

I nod, and I leave the office with Eliza--waving goodbye at the Headmaster.