15 Another Mask?

"Next time, I'm leaving you to eat alone and going ahead on my own." Theo said as they finally exited the dining hall.

"Why are you looking at me while saying that? I even threw some of the food in the trash." Scarlett said, slightly offended and pointed towards the satisfied looking Era. "It was Era who insisted on eating everything."

Era released a burp in response and smiled at them. "It was delicious."

'If we're late because of you, I'll mix some Krunt into your next meal.' Theo thought to himself. 'I'd like to see if you can still eat while shitting yourself.'

Lucy just looked nervous at the fact that they were probably going to be late.

Theo didn't respond and turned his gaze forwards. There were a few people like them, briskly walking if not outright sprinting towards whatever classes they might be late to.

The academy was divided into two main buildings. The left wing where the dormitories and dining hall were, and the right wing where most of the classrooms were. A large courtyard separated the two.

The academy was huge, and Theo had no idea where the hell it was located at. It was surrounded by woods, the only large clearings he had seen were in the plaza at the front of the academy and the courtyard that separated the left and right wing.

The sun had been in pretty much the same position before and after being thrown through the tower, but all that did was inform him that they might still be in Hubrias. But he wasn't completely sure about that, who knew what kind of spells a master Arcanist could cast?

They made their way out of the dining hall and followed along the corridor until they met a large wooden door that led outside to the courtyard. They could have gone through the corridor building that connected the two separate wings to each other, but it wasn't an interesting route, not to mention it was slower.

Even though they were in a rush to get to their class in time, they slowed their pace to admire the scenery. Everyone except Scarlett who was pushing ahead without the slightest care for the magical environment they were in.

It was a vibrant green. That was about the only simple way you could describe the courtyard. It was like standing inside a large, enclosed paradise where everything looked far more alive than they had any right to be.

And as he said before, it was also large. Why the two wings had been separated by it, instead of being built together, he didn't know. It seemed unnecessary and inefficient to separate the two.

There were certain paths of paved cobblestone running all throughout the courtyard, leading to different types of buildings inside the courtyard itself. They weren't large, but neither were they small.

To be honest, he wasn't sure why it was even called a courtyard. It looked more like a garden where one would grow herbs. Especially because of the abundant aether residing within everything here.

It was because of the aether that everything looked so vibrant and alive. The few trees that dotted the courtyard were tall, impossibly so.

Looking up from their base, it looked as if though they were reaching for the clouds. They rose higher than any of the buildings, even the two main buildings height was overshadowed by them.

The tumultuous winds high above managed to only barely rustle the leaves.

They were exactly as his mother had described them.

You'd think that a tree with such an incredibly large and dense foliage would stop all the sunlight from coming in, shrouding the courtyard in darkness.

Instead, it was bright and warm. Beams of sunlight fell from above, illuminating the courtyard. It looked as if though someone had gone and poked holes in the leaves to let out sunlight at just the right angles and positions to create an incredible sight.

The only things he had seen in his life that were about as tall as these trees were the towers in the plaza.

The woods surrounding the academy were slightly less vibrant than the courtyard. The trees were smaller and the shrubbery wilder. But it was far more lively.

Theo hadn't seen any wildlife in the courtyard, while he had seen dozens upon dozens of small critters and birds just on the outskirts of the woods while walking towards the academy.

Scarlett finally noticed that they were lagging behind and stopped to look at them.

"Hurry up!" She yelled at them.

Theo ignored her and turned to look left, towards the direction where most of the paths led and where the courtyard seemed to go on endlessly.

He could easily see the high crowns of the deciduous trees in the distance, they looked to be of the same variety as the trees between the buildings.

'I wonder what's there.' Theo wondered to himself. It didn't look like the woods outside the academy, but it also didn't look like the courtyard. It looked more wild, more dangerous.

Compared to that, the white stone corridor that connected the two wings together looked incredibly bland and out of place.

A simple image Theo had constructed in his mind to better remember how the place would look like from above was to think of it as a square. But not quite.

The right and left wing created two lines of the square respectively. The corridor connecting the two added one to the bottom while the courtyard was represented as the huge open space in the middle of the square.

But it wasn't a square, because there was no top line to close it off. It was more like an open box with something expanding out of it. But it was a mystery to him, as he hadn't yet been past the buildings or the courtyard.

The woods themselves seemed to surround the academy from all sides, except the top where the courtyard expanded into.

He had asked about it and tried to get his tour guide to tell him about it, but all he had told him about it was that whoever went there without permission would receive severe punishment or might even face expulsion.

'Dad would have loved it here.' Theo thought. Both he and his father had heard stories of the place from his mother. And his father had always looked incredibly jealous that she had been able to stay at a place like this.

He shook his head, clearing it and focusing his thoughts back onto his current situation.

They had already reached the left wing and entered through one of the large wooden doors.

The corridor that greeted them was desolate and pure white. Even the doors seemed to made out of the white stone. The stairs that were immediately opposite to the doors also looked like they had been chiseled out from the same material.

The only hints of warmth inside the entire corridor came from the few spiraling lines of dark wood in seemingly random places.

Theo was quickly becoming curious about the reason as to why they kept using the same type of stone so much. He had seen it in Zeah and a few other cities, but it had always looked like it had been mixed in with something else. The stone here looked much more vibrant and brighter.

Maybe it was because of the environment?

They couldn't see a single student, and all the doors were closed. But it wasn't the first floor where their class would be held. It was on the third.

Theo decided to forego all pretense of a calm walk and practically jumped up the stairs.

Being late on his first day would make a bad impression on the other students, not to mention the professors. If he was going to be studying here for the foreseeable future, he would need to leave a favorable impression on as many people as possible.

Not only would it make his life easier while in the academy, but it would also be a worthwhile investment for the future. If people saw him as a warm, serious and studious young man, then it would be for the best. It would also match the image he had had when his life had still been normal.

The Mannings would have less suspicions on that persona than if he had continued with his cold, cynical and calculating mask.

'A mask, huh.' He thought to himself as he continued leaping and skipping a few steps at a time. 'I've really been ignorant, huh.'

The mask he was currently wearing no longer suited him. It had, long ago. Not anymore. He wasn't that young, naïve idiot anymore. It was grating and inefficient, forcing himself to act and think like this again.

But it also revealed a truth he had been avoiding. The persona of a cold, calculating and cynical person had been more than just another mask.

It had begun as such, and it still was. But it wasn't limited to just that anymore.

There had been a time where he hadn't worn a single mask. They hadn't come into play until a year after his parents death.

And that had cost him.

If the him back then had been like a blank slate, a blank canvas. Wearing that mask had tainted it. His thoughts were influenced by it. His actions were directed by it. His very soul had been changed by it.

He hadn't realized it before, because it had been so long since he had swapped the mask. But now it was clear.

The cold, calculating and cynical mask? The behavior it started?

It wasn't just another act anymore.