The Chatterbox Minotaur

"Who would have thought we would end up being roommates?" Zeke said as he pushed open the door that led to his shared room with Leon. Leon just followed him behind with a little smile on his face. At least, he already knew Zeke. Getting to know new people was always stressful to him.

"It all happened for a reason, I guess." Leon shrugged. He tapped his comm a couple of times, before turning around and taking in the room. It was a decent room. It had a lot of space, enough for him to have his own private time without bothering Zeke.

There were two beds on opposite ends of the room, with a decently sized table beside it, and a desk chair. Surprisingly enough, the desks came with their own privacy screens, so he could do his stuff without having any random person peering over his shoulders and looking at his business.

There were two little closets beside the each bed, and there was a single, large window in the middle of the wall, splitting the room into two halves. On the left wall was a door that led to the bathroom.

Leon set his stuff on his side of the room. He would take his time to unpack them all up later. For now, he just wanted to rest and think.

"Hey, why don't we share some stories? Get to know each other better?" Zeke suddenly spoke up from across the room. Leon sighed deeply and sat up from his bed.

"Sure, why not?" He shrugged and tossed the idea of sleeping until the next day to the back of his mind.

"Hmm, where do we start? Oh, let's start with our hometowns! I would like to know where you grew up. I was born in a small town called Magair. It's nothing much, just a small town that sits at the foot of a mountain..." Zeke continued to chatter and chatter.

When Leon initially met Zeke, he had thought that the young Minotaur's attitude was just a mask he put up to entertain them on the tour, but it really did seem that he was a chatterbox.

"Ah, I did it again." Zeke looked embarrassed as he suddenly stopped talking.

"Oh? You did what again?" Leon asked while picking his ear. He looked at the lump of earwax he pulled out and scrunched up his face in disgust, before flicking it away. 'I thought I cleaned my ears a couple days ago?'

"Err, I have an issue with talking too much around new people. My father says it breaks the manly demeanor I am supposed to have. He always says I took more of my mother's genes than his own. My mother likes to talk a lot as well..." Zeke explained, and was about to go into another rant before regaining control of himself. "I did it again." He bowed his head in disappointment.

"Ahaha, it's fine, don't worry." Leon felt a little bad now that he knew that Zeke was well aware of his chatterbox problem. It was a different matter if it was a problem that he could not control.

"So, about you." Zeke tilted his head. He listened as Leon gave him a quick run down about his hometown and his family. The Minotaur did not have many chances to interact so closely with a human, so he was quite curious.

.

.

Leon's first day on the main campus of the Imperial Academy quickly came to an end. The next day, he spent his time properly exploring the campus with Zeke in tow. Zeke was already very familiar with the campus grounds, so it was not a problem for him to lead Leon around.

"Classes start next week. Our tests are tomorrow, and after the tests, we will get split up." Zeke said as he and Leon walked through the campus together.

"Mm, I'll probably end up in the Caster classes. I have never been able to combine with an element before." Leon mumbled as he munched on a chocolate bar.

"My looks already sell me out. I'm a Combiner. Nothing I can do about it." Zeke shrugged. In his hand, he held a simple nutrient bar. He munched on the dry, crispy 'meal' with the mind that he was preparing himself to live in the wilderness if he was ever stranded in the Sanctum and could not find a way out.

The two walked around for a while more before deciding to sit on a bench to rest. The sun was not hot, and the weather was rather cool.

Leon tapped at the holographic image that his wrist comm was showing him multiple times as he browsed information concerning God's Sanctum that was available on the Imperial Academy's internal database. It could only be accessed by students and staff that were directly related to the academy.

"What are you looking at?" Zeke peered over Leon's shoulder, his large form creating a shadow that completely covered Leon. It made Leon feel small and he did not like it.

"I'm just checking for some more info on the Sanctum. Some insider stuff. You know that not all the information about the Sanctum is available to the public, and those in the know are always tight lipped about it." Leon explained as he shoved Zeke away and out of his personal space.

"Oh? Well, I can tell you a bit. First hand information is all I have." Zeke gave Leon a toothy grin.

"You have been in the Sanctum?" Leon asked, a perplexed look settling over his face.

"Yeah! I told you you yesterday!"

"No, you did not. You told me your hometown is Magair, but you never said where it is." Leon corrected his roommate.

"Err, ah, I guess I skipped that part... Hehe." Zeke rubbed the back of his neck and continued, "But I can tell you a bit about Magair and my experiences in the Sanctum." He said.

"Oh, sure. I'm all ears. But do you think we should stay here and talk about it?" Leon agreed, and quickly asked.

"Nope! Let's head back to the room."