Volume 2: Masquerade — [Urielvernight Arc]
Chapter 57: Spending Time
"How are you, Uriel? It's been a while since I have seen you." Aeren said after he looked at Uriel, behind him were two people, both male; they looked like bodyguards, and yes, they are bodyguards.
The bodyguards have black hair with black glasses on their eyes, which made no one in the place see through their eyes.
But nobody cares about those bodyguards since the place they are in right now is the Awakeners association, not their home.
Uriel replied to Aeren's words, "Yes, yes, it has been a while. How are you doing?"
"I am doing perfectly fine; you should have come to Caldrith when you had time. I have missed you." Aeren said as his voice softened at the end of the sentence.
Hearing it, Uriel's cheeks became red as she said, "I was busy with learning all the noble etiquette and having studies to do. And I also tried to come, but my father sent me to Velmira, and when I asked him why, he said to visit the places and enjoy. But I was alone all the time, sigh... though I tried to call you, but Father said I should go alone and learn about the world more by hands-on experience."
"It's alright; that is all in the past. Right now I am here, right?? Let's enjoy from here on." Aeren said as he came forward and held Uriel's hand with his right hand.
After that, they immediately started their travel towards the academy.
There are seven academies, each belonging to each of the seven churches, with Awakening Association being in the middle of these seven churches, and all of them are together on eight islands. Those are somewhere in the middle of the world.
Uriel, who was traveling, saw herself going to another island in the car as she asked one of the masked men who had an owl mask, "Why haven't these islands been seen anywhere or by anyone in the world?"
Uriel was not much into any fantasy stuff, so she was not sure about how magic and all that work, unlike Caelus, who used to read a lot due to his grandfather's influence on him from when he was young.
"My lady, it is because the islands are hidden from the world with a formation, and the reason is to keep this as a safe place from any demons coming out."
"Oh, okay." She didn't get what formation was, and she understood one thing, and that is demons. Since all churches keep preaching about stuff like that all the time, she understood demons as villains who are trying to harm normal humans or any other humans.
"Uriel, you are going to be alright; despite it being confusing right now, you will understand once you learn about it in the academy, my." Aeren, who sat beside Uriel, spoke as he gave a smile.
They were both traveling in the same car with their bodyguards, with only two seats available, one in the front and the other in the back, and a driver from the association at the wheel.
"Aeren, how do you know about all this? You are the same age as me." Uriel asked.
"I know it is because my father taught me about all these before sending me here," Aeren said as he looked at Uriel.
"Lucky," Uriel muttered as she sulked.
"Hey, now, don't worry about it; just wait for an hour or two, and you will learn everything in the academy." It is early morning right now; the time is 5 AM.
And the journey is going to take an hour; they could go on a train, which will take less than a minute, but the amount of time spent would be less once they get to the academy due to different classes, so they want to spend time in the car.
In an hour, they arrived at the entrance gate of the academy. They got out, and the bodyguards didn't go into the academy with them, nor did they move a foot towards the entrance of the academy; they only opened the door for Uriel and Aeren.
After the car left, they moved forward as they arrived at the entrance and saw many people in front of them getting chrono-linked.
Aeren saw his sister Lily Ashborn but didn't go there because the line was huge near her counter, so for now he decided to go to this counter.
Uriel, who saw Lily Ashborn, looked at the person to whom she was giving the chrono link, and she saw a boy with black hair from the back. She couldn't see much, and she only saw him because she was curious as to what was going on near the counters.
She was curious about what she was giving, and when she saw the watch being injected into the skin, it made her body shiver.
It was her turn now; the female who was putting the chrono link on Uriel started a conversation to smooth the process without getting any complications.
After that, Uriel walked from the counter to inside the academy and stood at a certain place because she was told to move from the line.
Back near the counter, Aeren didn't even seem to be hesitant or scared of needles, so it was finished in less than ten seconds, and after that, Aeren went to the bedside counter where his sister was.
Meanwhile, Aeren went to talk with his sister Lily.
"Wassup, Sister," Aeren said as he raised his right hand and waved at her sister.
"Been a while, little brother," Lily said as she looked at her brother, who was on the ground, while she was at the counter, which was slightly above in height, making her seem taller than Aeren.
"You have grown a lot in the past year. I have not seen you." Lily said as she put on a chronograph watch on another person again.
"Of course, I would grow. Who do you think I am? One day you will become so short that you will reach my neck only hahaha." Aeren said as he laughed; just then, Lily threw something at him.
It was a book.
Aeren immediately caught the book with his hand as he moved his head a bit to the right side. "Why did you throw the book at me, Sis?"
"What do you mean, 'why,' dumbass? Of course I would; you have insulted your sister." Lily said with an angry expression. (This is how siblings do things.)
"Hmph, I thought we could have a fun little talk. It seems the talk is over. Now then, go away from here; I have things to do."
"Calm down, sis… I came here for your help. You know you are the only person in this world who can help. It is my fortune to have such an honorable, good sister who helps her brother when in need." Aeren said flattering words to his sister, as she felt proud about it.
"Hmph, since you are that desperate, I will help you. Let's see, now I am busy. I don't have any classes today, but since you will have classes, come find me after your lunch block." Lily said.
"Okay, thanks, sis; you are the best." As Aeren said goodbye, he went away.
"This idiot brother of mine, sigh," Lily muttered as she sighed and went back to her work. (No incest, so no worries.)
Back near Uriel, she felt several glances on her; she didn't feel anything new about this one since every noble's kid of the same age or 2 or 3 years older or smaller always tries to lust for her and her father's money.
And she got used to these types of things and doesn't even give a fuck about it.
Many people even came and tried to talk to her, but they were pushed away by her; just then, her name was heard through the crowd as Aeren came out.
"How long are you going to take? It shouldn't take more than ten seconds to finish synchronization."
Aeren scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin, his hand ruffling his neatly set hair. "Sorry, sorry! I just went to the other counter to talk to my big sister. Couldn't help it."
"Oh, you should have said so; I would've talked to her. It's been so long since I met her," she replied.
"Next time. She's busy right now with all the stuff she has to do."
"Okay, okay."
"What, did you miss me in that short amount of time?" he teased.
"No way! Why would I miss you?" She shot back, cheeks tinting slightly red.
"Well, I missed you." He said,
"Idiot. Let's go. We don't have time; we need to get to our dormitories first and then to classes. We only have 40 minutes."
"Okay."
Uriel turned subtly to glance over her back-right shoulder before she could start walking.
In the place where she glanced, she saw nothing except a small butterfly.
It hovered in the air, delicate and still. Its wings were translucent, like finely polished glass, edged with a faint bluish shimmer. The creature's veins were thin and precise, running through the crystal-clear wings like silver filigree.
'A glasswing butterfly.' Uriel thought. 'Hmm, why the hell do I have this much knowledge on butterflies?'
Her eyes lingered on it for a heartbeat longer than necessary, then she turned away without a word.
"What are you looking at?" Aeren asked Uriel, his gaze following hers. He spotted the delicate glasswing butterfly drifting away from that very spot, its wings shimmering faintly in the air.
"Nothing... just felt like someone was watching me," she murmured, her voice low as she turned and began walking again.
Despite feeling many glances from many people, she felt the glance she felt just now was more important than anyone's, but she couldn't see anyone, so how could she have felt it?
"You think a butterfly was watching you? Hahaha!" he laughed, the sound light and teasing.
She didn't respond with words. Instead, she raised her fist and thumped him lightly on the head.
"Ouch! That hurts!"
"You deserved it," she said with a smirk, not looking back.
[End Of Chapter 57]