CHPT 24: Familiar Faces

Around 20 minutes later a black carriage with a Phoenix insignia came to a stop in front of Claude. The door swung open and a young woman a little older than Claude hopped out gracefully. She was an archer based on her uniform. Her medium length red curly hair and fair skin probably got the attention of a lot of men. She looked incredibly familiar to Claude.

"Wait a minute...I saw her at Bergrins Blades!" Claude thought as he remembered the female archer who chatted up Bergrin while he was there.

"Are you Claude Grey?" She asked after a few seconds as she looked from a card she was holding back to him a few times as if he was the wrong person.

"Yea, that's me." He replied plainly.

"Ok, my names Brenda and I'm your guide on your way to the University of the Phoenix." She said as she stepped aside and gestured for him to step into the carriage.

Claude picked up his luggage and stepped into the fairly large carriage and sat opposite of Brenda. He shifted the armor on his body nervously once she stepped in and closed the door.

After a few minutes she began explaining the ins and outs of the University to him.

"So, since you were reborn at a fairly standard time you're not behind on anything. Also things like clubs and other events don't start until later....oh yea and here's your schedule." Brenda said as she handed him a paper with her hands holding as little of it as possible.

"Great, she's grossed out by me." He thought as he grabbed the paper with a scowl. Eventually he began to read the schedule from first to last period...

***

1.) Aura/Element affinities and intro.

2.) Tangents (Levels, Loot, Etc.)

3.) Monster Species Studies

4.) Training (Weight, Weapons, Tangents)

***

After Claude finished reading his schedule he was confused about the last period.

"So, when it says "Tangent" do they mean actually going into one or more studying??" He asked.

"In a few weeks— when you've gotten stronger and a little more comfortable with your system you'll be going into a low ranked Tangent with your professor." Brenda replied flatly.

"That's soon??! That's amazing!" Claude thought to himself happily— almost forgetting the way Brenda seemed to be trying to get as far away from him as possible in the increasingly more cramped feeling carriage.

The uncomfortable ride felt incredibly long. Claudes anger seemed to reach new heights whenever Brenda would cast disgusted looks at him when she thought he wasn't looking. "I'm sorry I don't look like Bergrin, you damn tramp." He thought angrily.

Right when he was about to blow up and ask what the hell her problem was the carriage came to a bumpy stop.

He rushed out of the carriage without considering to wait for Brenda. He was in SkyHaven, in the guild area to be exact. In fact they were right in front of the SkyLight guild hall.

He looked around the tall impressively built brick building with its name on the front of it in loud colored gold and white letters, noticing the high amount of activity and familiar faces. Other carriages that looked just like the one he arrived in stopped and other students his age stepped out slowly filling up the stone road.

After a few more carriages came by someone he knew finally stepped out. Her light brown hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail that hung down her back and she wore a new set of leather armor similar to Claudes, but she also had thick shoulder armor on while the rest of her arms were bare showing off her well muscled arms.

Ursula stepped out of the carriage wondering a lot of things, she still wanted to know what class Claudes system gave him— although she had a pretty good idea based one what the students told her. She also wondered if Claude already stepped through the portal or if he was out here with her, as she looked around her question was soon answered. He stood further up the line of carriages looking at her with an angry expression. At this point she knew him well enough to know there was a good chance he wasn't actually angry at her, he just tended to look that way.

She smiled and waved despite feeling a volatile mixture of negative emotions flood her whenever she looked at him and his new scars.

Claude nervously returned a wave before he followed Brenda inside the guild hall.

He entered the wide and spacious entry room noticing the smell of wood from the floors and other scents like leather, metal and sweat..the scent of warriors. Heroes congregated in groups casually as they laughed and joked with eachother— probably waiting to enter a Tangent or kill some monsters in an infested area.

"Uhm..excuse me, why are we here?" Claude asked.

Brenda looked at him with a confused expression before responding, "...we're here to go to the University."

She led him through the wide open hall where all the heroes were and down into a slimmer hall that had a glowing orange hole at the end of it that cast a eerie orange glow down towards Claude and Brenda.

As soon as Claude entered the hallway, the atmosphere changed completely. He could feel the intense magic in the air making the hairs on his arms raise. A steady breeze came from the glowing orange hole in the wall. The cool breeze carried faint smells of meat, spices and wood even though the rest of the Skylight Guild hall didn't smell anything like that.

"I-it's a portal." Claude said in surprise.

"Correct, once you enter my job is done... but don't worry. It's breakfast time for everyone so all you have to do is find your friends and eat." Brenda said.

"Oh for Christ's sake." Claude groaned silently as he thought about the social event he was about to endure.