Late

It took him a while to calm down after the games. Sure, from modern standards it was inhuman, but Vincent had no way to criticise them.

Maybe five or six people died for real, all of them condemned for one crime ore another. Most to be killed were monsters and animals. A single military operation would produce more victims.

And it was a lot of fun. It was his first time with so many people, his first time feeling like being part of the crowd.

In his previous live he had avoided social gatherings like the plague.

The next days Arminius also dragged him into a public bath house and several good restaurants. They visited famous schools and monuments, he even got to meet a respected Greek scholar. It was fun.

His brother did not treat him like the small child he was.

"What is going on, you are acting strange." Vincent asked on the last day before he went to school.

Arminius only shrugged his shoulders.

"Mental health is important, and I doubt you will have many friends in the academy." His feather scratched over the parchment, the sun behind him lightening up the office.

"And even if we try, there is not much I can teach you in the short amount of time."

'Damn I already have one friend.'

But before he could destroy his brothers accusation with facts and logic, Vincent managed to catch a genuine smile on his face.

"We will not see each other for the next years, take care." His brother ruffled his hair.

Vincent woke up in the middle of the night, as soon as the new day began.

Arriving at the academy sooner than anyone else. With him he only carried a few clothes and his experiments. Pack in a leather backpack almost as heavy as he himself.

He headed straight towards the third dome, exited to see the new laboratory. Be it coincidence or fate, he was assigned the same room he had during the test. A rare occurrence, most were forced to move.

When he arrived, black birds perched atop the structure looking at him with weary eyes. They were creepy.

Vincent paused and took a step to the right. Every single head turned, following his movement. They did not blink.

He frowned, and hastened his steps into the building, next to him a small squirrel hushed over the ground, looking in his direction.

'Damn can someone kill those little critters.' Sadly no one heard his silent plea.

He shut the door after him and entered the central dome. Not a soul was there jet.

Red lights danced on the mosaic inlaid floor as the sun rose.

Names were echoed on wooden doors, about twenty of them. He only saw three familiar ones.

His, twice, and Typh's. Right were their old rooms were.

Suspicious.

He pulled out a heavy iron key, inlaid with strange symbols. It had been send yesterday.

Just as he was about to unlock his room, heavy steps drummed with fury. Someone or something stared at him with hate, he could feel it.

He turned around, to see a single figure stand in the empty dome.

Long white hair danced in the wind, and a pair of emotionless eyes rested on Vincent for a single long moment.

Just as the tension was about to escalate the boy turned around and walked towards one of the doors on the opposite side.

A boy, and a student. Only now, could Vincent view him as such. His aura, demeanour and bearing did not fit his age at all.

"Sturdy, heavy doors. Sadly they will not extend their protection once one decides to step out of them..."

His voice was melodic, almost lice he was singing. Not wanting to hear from the strange brat with anger management issues any longer, Vincent entered his laboratory for the first time.

'Maybe I should concoct a poison to get rid of him, he looks suspiciously like a protagonist.' A single glance outside, and into the prying eyes of an owl let the thoughts vanish.

'That damn Headmaster is everywhere.'

Small glass vials were held by wooden shelf's, build so they could fit the tubes.

Iron tools hung on the wall, from small hammers to pincers.

A large table took up half the room, on it was a glass distillery, a small silver rune and a microscope.

"Marvellous." He looked at the lens of the aperture, it was crafted with so much skill it baffled him.

Immediately he put his eyes on it, testing the details he could see.

'How is this possible, I barley provided them with instructions and ideas.' The smallest adjustment should be able to observe bacteria.

'It should only be invented somewhere in the 17th century or even later…'

He brought out the glass-like sphere again and checked it with the methods at hand. And the results baffled him.

Crystallised organic structures fractured the light, and more importantly the mana. He could not get a precise answer, he would need x-rays to understand the atomic order.

He used his mana vision to scan the object and reached another interesting conclusion, magic kept flowing through it in complicated pattern, as it were some kind of computer…

"I got it." He screamed with a loud voice, standing up in escasy.

'Runes. Am I stupid, why have I not thought sooner of it. They appear to be almost the same as our circles and mana hearts. Only that the system is decentralised, and the pattern are more complicated and disordered.'

He placed the white ball back where he took it from and started scratching the runes on a parchment undisturbed about the consequences of leaving the creature free. It had become inactive, ever since the test ended.

Sadly Vincent had not the time to finish his work, as the door was violently pulled open. He had forgotten to lock it.

"There you are."

Typh stood at the entrance, out of breath.

"We will have the first class in a couple of minuets, hurry up."

They sprinted through the complex, much to the amusement of the older students.