Welcome Home

"So, where are we staying?" asked Isaac.

The first-years, or Fradihta as they were at Aeternitas, had just navigated through the vast and intricate lattices of crisscrossing lawns, halls, corridors, and skybridges that adjoined the dining hall. Along the corridors of five floors graced by majestic columns of umber-brown, they'd passed what appeared to be a library that spanned the height of several storeys and took as much length as the dining hall itself; a symphonic hall for theatrical performances, though the guidebook stated that this was just one out of many on the campus grounds; a series of colossal lecture halls each themed with a particular Elemental Art; and recessed out of sight of the main arterial hallway, a maze of workshops and experimental laboratories clamoring for their right to reside in the south campus Quartier. Over the open-air skybridges of light-grey marble, they'd spied the rooftop lawns of the hospital wing, and the ornate domes of the Professorial Council and the guesthouses; all around the mesmerized Fradihta rose spires of lustrous silver, reaching into the sky as if to touch the stars like a vision from a dream.

The Apprentice of Ceremonies led the Fradihta over yet another skybridge, this time roofed and flanked by columns. It seemed to extend to what seemed like the northernmost building of the southern campus quartier, but even at this northern tip of the quartier proper, they were still far off from the Astinel Circle that marked the center of the Academy grounds.

"Where you'll be staying? Right here," he answered, motioning apart heavy oaken gates at the end. 

"Behold! The House of Aeternitas!" he announced, gesturing to the marvel lain before their eyes. What greeted the Fradihta was a sight indeed.

Above and below them stretched terraces upon terraces of lofted wooden storeys, their perimeters flowing free in curves like those of terraced farms, bound only by balustrades draped with ivy and climbing roses. Buttresses of what looked like rosewood held up the terraced balconies on each storey, occupying as much height as three grown men; hundreds of cylindrical glass-bulbs hung above the center of the interior like rain suspended in a moment of time, illuminating the soft wood and garden paths with a light most warm and gentle. Each of the 160-doors to their rooms lay recessed behind the balconies upon those five terraced floors.

"Is... is this what people call a mansion?" squeaked a voice from the crowd.

"Obviously not. It's a palace. How else would you explain all this?"

"Are you... are you sure we don't have to cough up extra denaros to stay here? I haven't got any on me..." murmured a girl. Elwin recognized her as the girl whose father lost his workshop because of Alexander Heriz.

The Apprentice of Ceremonies gave a light chuckle, reassuring her with a hand.

"Hahaha, I made the exact same face as you did when I first arrived. But rest assured! All of us here begin from the same starting line, no matter where you're from. Aeternitas is not an institution where those with denaros dwell in palaces and those without are packed like sardines into some nameless hall."

The eyes of many lit up in aspiration. For quite a number in the crowd, the fact that the destitution of their younger years no longer burdened them at Aeternitas was a prospect most welcome.

"Now, gather round! This skybridge entrance isn't the only one there is. Below the first floor, there is ground level proper with a fireplace and a common room. There's an entrance there as well that opens into the quadrangle. It's nice if you live on the lower floors and don't want to climb the staircases. Right above us, on the other hand, is a ramp that will take you to the rooftop lawns."

"Orientation will begin tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock in the skyward amphitheatron, so make sure to be there by then! Preferably with breakfast in your belly! If any one of you is late, well, then you will have to face Professor Helen, and trust me, you don't want to face the wrath of Professor Helen."

"Wow, 10 o'clock? That's very generous," remarked Katherine under her breath, spying her miniature clasp-watch that read half past nine in the evening.

"With that over, find yourself on this bulletin! We've written the room numbers next to your names," the Apprentice of Ceremonies declared.

"Um, what about our luggage?" said Elwin, a pang of worry running through him. He'd placed the contents of his father's time capsule in his bag, after all.

"Not to worry! You'll find them in your room already."

Whew, Elwin thought, as he thanked the upperclassman and joined the throng of his friends near the bulletin board.

"And with that, welcome home. May you be blessed to choose your own journeys."

The line echoed past Elwin's memories. Headmaster Astinel had said the same thing eleven hundred years ago when he was founding the Academy.

Lucian was the first to pry his room number amidst the crowd. "77. Just my style. Let me get yours for you, Rayo," he remarked. "You're 83. Cassius, Claudia, want me to find yours too?"

"Oh, that'd be nice!"

"115, and 137."

"Thanks Lucian, you're the best."

"Alright, see you tomorrow morning first thing. Don't worry about oversleeping, I'll come wake you guys up," assured Lucian to his friends, being the first one to take a step upon the marvelous terraced balcony. 

Elwin gleaned Lucian's niceties with wordless distaste. Had he not known what Lucian was really like, he would've been likewise fooled by the air of consular dignity with which Lucian now clothed himself. Those who followed Lucian would understand his true color, sooner or later.

Shaking his head, he took to the bulletin board with his kismets.

"Elwin Eramir... Elwin Eramir... Ah-ha! One-zero-eight. 108. What about you? 

"Oh! I'm pretty much next door! I'm 110."

"Why in the world am I two floors down?"

"What is it? Is it that bad?" asked Isaac, leaning in.

"No, not terrible by any means. It's 40," replied Katherine.

"Oh! My room's 42. We're next to each other!" cheered Mirai.

"Hey, those two are holy numbers! Speaking of which, we've all got even numbers for our rooms! That's supposed to be lucky, isn't it?" reflected Elwin, thinking of how Lucian and his band all received odd numbers for their rooms.

"How are even numbers supposed to be luckier than odd ones?"

"Because they mean 'togetherness,' don't they?"

"Eh, if you'd like to think of it that way," mused Katherine. "I'm not particular about numbers carrying any meaning beyond the balance sheet. We invented the concept of numbers anyway, no need to be beholden to our own creations. Anyhow!" she continued, "you two are going to be on the fourth floor?"

"Yep!" replied Isaac. "Rooms 97 through 128 are on the fourth."

"You'll have quite the view, hmpf," Katherine remarked. "I guess this is what I get for living in a mansion all my life."

"Aw, don't be too down. It's not like the first floor is really the first floor. There's an entire floor below the first terrace."

Katherine held up her hand, her eyes closed. "No need to console me. I've got this. Where shall we meet tomorrow morning?"

"In the common room on the ground floor?"

"When?"

"Uh, maybe around –"

"Actually, don't worry about that. I'll wake you guys up in time," assured Katherine. "Make sure to sleep right away!" she said, marching down the stairs with Mirai in tow.

Elwin didn't really know how early Katherine meant by 'in time', but didn't press further. He gave Isaac a shrug and a knowing laugh, and both made their way to their rooms.

"Whew, what a night, am I right?"

"Oh, I think the only thing I remember is the food," said Isaac. "I gotta stay awake a little while longer to digest all of this. Blessed dreams!"

"You too!" replied Elwin, as he opened the oaken doors to his room, and his jaw promptly dropped to the floor, necessitating a doctor to reattach it. No, it was not because of his luggage – which was all fine and undamaged there in the center of the room – but rather the room itself.

For six years, Elwin lived in a little slanted bedroom that was repurposed from a section of the attic. It was not terribly cramped, but it always seemed to lack space when time came for him to do something important. He dearly missed his childhood bedroom one floor down in which the guests slept.

But now, the room that was to be his, and completely his for the next whole year at Aeternitas, was like three of his childhood bedrooms put together. He could run and jump and stroll and leap anywhere and he would not hit his head on the wall, let alone the ceiling, which was casually more than three times his height, adorned with a chandelier instead of a single lightbulb to which he was so accustomed. Marching into the room, Elwin was surprised to find that the floors were not made of wood as the terraces of the interior but polished grey marble instead; they were laid with a carpet of deep, dark green trimmed with gold, calm and elegant in the glimmers of light from above. Massive curtains draped over the palatial windows that hung from the ceiling to the floor, which when opened revealed the full glory of AIEN, the Sacred Mountain, its snow-capped peaks glimmering under the light of the stars and the bridge to the heavens. To his right, recessed and out of conspicuous sight, was an entire private bathroom just for himself, with a full bath, shower, throne, and vanity, with hot water that spouted out hot and cold water that spouted out cold, and not dribbled in some indecisive lukewarm manner like his bathroom tap at The Marlin.

"YEEEEEEEEEESES!" arrived Isaac's muffled shout from two rooms down. "WATER THAT'S HOT WHEN HOT AND COLD WHEN COLD!" 

Elwin laughed. Isaac must've been even more delighted than he was, since his Maht was Air, and probably could not warm or cool the water as naturally as Elwin could.

But as if all of this and the bathroom were mere introductions, Elwin's eye fell upon the Consul-sized bed to the left of the room, which by itself appeared to outsize the entire floor space of his attic abode; it was larger than any he'd seen in his life, upon them more pillows than he'd ever need.

He threw himself onto the bed, and sunk slowly into the mattress like a feather in honey, all the while hearing not a sliver of creak from the bedframes; looking up at the intricately designed patterns upon the ceiling, shaped like octagons, the reality finally dawned on him.

He was at Aeternitas, and he was now one of its Artens.

And filled with giddy mirth at experiencing such luxury for the first time in his life, Elwin forgot to notice that a corner of his luggage zipper had become chipped, and on it, a streaked smudge of a finger.