The Royal Academy

"You again…"

Solan once again found himself in an unfamiliar place.

This time however he was woken up by the same man he had seen before.

"Morning kid, sleep well?" The man's wide grin, glowing at him he so brightly he felt like he had to squint

"You're not going to grab me and take me somewhere again are you"

"Oh no that was just because the higher-ups asked me to, honestly, I was hoping we could have talked for a little longer"

Solan looked at the man sceptically

His black hair and scarred face would have been frightening, had it not had an idiots grin plastered across it.

Looking at him, up and down, Solan realised that he was more muscular than he first thought.

His arms were toned but not massive, muscles built through rigorous martial arts training and sword swinging.

Gauge his surroundings for a second he found himself on a bed, not nearly as clean or pristine as the last one he had found himself on.

This one was far more suitable for him.

He had also only just had a chance to realise what was different from before, his arms were back.

Raising them both to check, his feeling was all there, he could clench and release like normal.

The man watched Solan checking himself was a questioning look.

"You alright kid?"

"M-My arms are back… how did you do this?"

"Arms? We found you like this…"

That made no sense though, he remembered exactly how his arms had been destroyed.

And yet there were right there, in perfect condition.

"I asked you think last time kid, but what's your name?"

"Solan…"

Suddenly the mans expression hardened, his hands twitched as it ready to attack and pull a blade on him within moments.

"Solan…"

'This again… why do they hate my name so much?'

Eventually the mans gaze softened, his hands calming down after a deep breath.

"Solan huh… Some parents you must have had to name you that…"

"Wait my parents, where are they, where am I?"

Again, the thoughts came flooding back to him, his village.

"Calm down kid, you're in Caelrick, west of the city"

'Caelrick?'

As far as Solan remembered he didn't know of any town named Caelrick…

"Last time, you said you were from a place called Celdon right?"

"Yeah, it should be east from here..."

"I checked the records in the library's, there's no place called Celdon."

'These bastards don't even know the name of the town… I knew they didn't care about it but… seriously'

The man continued, Solans memories bubbling up

"You knights never even cared enough to help us. You ignored our pleas when we begged for help. And you bastards don't even know we existed?"

Solans anger, these were the people who had the power to help him, to save his village, they were their only hope, but they never came.

"No, you don't understand, there's no records of a place named Celdon anywhere ever.

I don't know what you're talking about but if you lived east of the main city there's no way that there are no records of it."

"But how? It's not so close so that you can see it from the city wall, but it is only several days travel."

"Alright we'll come back to that, before that, how did you end up in that forest?

'Forest?' he remembered the flood of green that had washed over him the first time he woke up after speaking to the speck.

"I-I don't know, after we were attacked… it felt like I died, everything went black, then everything lit up, then went black again, and afte- "

Suddenly Solan stopped.

'Should I tell him about the speck. This place seems to revere their gods.'

In his mind he replayed the conversation he had with the speck

"To hell with the gods" It had said.

'I was already sentenced to death once…'

Suddenly Solan remembered what had happened before he lost consciousness previously

"Wait what happened to the bastards at the table?"

The man's gleeful expression paused.

"You don't remember?"

"I remember they did a vote on whether or not to kill me, I don't remember the outcome."

The man stayed silent for a moment, as if contemplating how much he should reveal to Solan, before his gleeful smile reappeared on his face.

"Enough of that, I still haven't introduced myself! My name is Master Kealan, I'm a… teacher, at the royal academy, ill have you know I'm quite the renown figure"

Solans eyes widened, 'this guy's a royal?'

Seeing Solans reaction, his smile formed into one of pride

"Yeah, believe it or not I'm one of the top teachers there too"

"So… is that where I am?"

"That's right, the Royal Academy, west of the city, centre of promised youth"

"… why?"

It didn't make sense, one second, he was being put to death, the next he was at one of the most prestigious schools in the country.

"Call it a… deal I made with the council" of course Solan didn't know that he had literally threatened their lives to get them to agree… but there was no need to bring that up.

"Why, what's in it for you?"

Truthfully it was after almost being killed by him, Kealan saw just how strong this kid could be. Of course, he could have split him in two the second he went back to normal.

'That would make me just as bad as those bastards in the council…'

"Let's say it was an investment in the future of the academy."

Solans suspicion never cooled however, never in his life had someone done something like that in return for nothing.

He knew more than he was letting on… however this was the man that had struck a deal that saved his life, so he'd go along for now.

"So, what… you want me to join the school? Become a knight like you?"

"I want you… to learn from me"

That had shocked Solan, he had assumed that he simply wanted another tool for their knighthood…

But he didn't think about becoming an apprentice.

"Those reflectionless eyes of yours…"

Solan had almost jumped at the change in his emotion.

"Those eyes will be your biggest curse "

…

After speaking with Kealan for a little while longer he explained that from here on out, if anyone was to say anything regarding his eyes, to mention his name and state that he was his student.

The idea of using someone else's name to get out of problems was annoying, but if it meant that he could avoid attracting attention to himself he'd comply.

He also told him to refer to him as Master Kealan, at least in public, the school apparently had a high importance on hierarchy and having someone like Solan refer to both a teacher and royal without honorifics was… not a good idea.

Eventually he was told to go to his dorm room, he didn't tell him how to get there however… it seemed he liked doing that type of thing.

The hallways were similar to the council room, just that already annoyed him.

'It feels like I'm right back in that cage…'

After wondering the corridors for a while, he found the doom rooms.

He came to the end of the hallway, reaching a statue of a god that Solan didn't know. The hallway stretched to the left and right of him, to the left was the girls' dorms, to the right was the boys.

Currently the hub in the middle where he found himself was empty, but he assumed that this was usually heavily crowded with gossip and chatter.

Looking down each hallway however, he was bombarded with divine statues, paintings, and decoration.

'These guys, are fanatics…'

Walking through the corridor, Solan kept his eyes glued to the ground, hoping to avoid having any issues with the students.

'134…'

When Solan get to his dorm, he was worried that it would be covered in more religious imagery.

"You're welcome!" A familiar voice spoke beside him

Solan's heart felt like it was going to explode from fright. He spun around, this time not tripping over himself, meeting Master Kealan's smiling face once more.

"You've got to stop doing that!"

The gleeful master laughed so hard it looked like he was going to pass out

"Oh man, sorry sorry, but seeing your serious face looking like that, I couldn't resist!"

After a while he finally gathered himself, wiping the tears from his eyes

"Alright I'll try not do it again…"

'Somehow I don't believe that one bit.'

"What do I have to thank you for?"

His face formed into feigned a hurt expression

"Well for saving your life for one, but for now, look at your door, notice anything different?"

Solan looked at the door, realising that compared to every other, it was clear, not religious scratches or paintings to be seen.

"Oh… wait why is this the only one that's clear?"

"134 is seen as a… unlucky number"

"Why? Don't tell me your giving me a dead students room or something…"

"No no, nothing of the sort, it just isn't linked to any god. Maybe you don't know this but the seven head gods of the pantheon each have a number connected to their scriptures, but the three numbers that don't have a god attached are one, three, and four" He explained carefully, gauging Solans reaction.

"I didn't know which god you follo- "

Before Kealan could finish Solan cut him off

"None of them." He said bluntly

Quickly Master Kealan's eyes darted up and down the hall, checking for anyone nearby

"Look Solan, you keep shouting stuff like that down the halls and you'll get every incantation known to man thrown at you, if not by the students, then by the teachers."

"Incantation?"

Kealan paused abruptly.

"You don't know what incantations are?"

Solan stared at him blankly

"Scriptures?"

Solan still just stared at him.

Master Kealan sighed exasperatedly.

"Alright if you're going to survive here, you're going to need some basis of an education"

Solan laughed quietly

"So, my teachers going to actually have to teach? Oh, the humanity" he joked

Kealan returned his blank stare before coughing nervously.

"Well, I might have said a little lie… I'm not actually a teacher, at least not yet"

'that's surprising… but actually no, no its not'

"So, your just… some random guy? How did you manage to talk me out of a literal death sentence"

"Hey! Just because I'm not a teacher doesn't mean I have no power; your mentor is more renown than you think"

Solan just rolled his eyes 'there was no way this gleeful idiot is anything more than a smooth talker'