Chapter 4: The Instructor and the Guardian
DATE: C4:Y23:D101
[Location: Class D-1st, Aetheric Nexus Institute]
The door creaked open, not like a whisper, but like the unsheathing of a blade before battle.
Aezric stood at the threshold of Class D-1st. His breath hitched for a moment, eyes narrowing as a wave of tension washed over him. The room was filled with murmurs, laughter, and the occasional sharp glance. Dozens of unfamiliar faces. Dozens of stories yet untold. And he was the late one.
A loud tap-tap echoed through the room.
At the center, by the instructor's podium, stood a woman, tall, poised, wrapped in a navy-blue coat with silver lining. Her icy-white hair fell straight behind her shoulders like a waterfall of frost, and her eyes , piercing, cold, and calculating locked instantly with his.
"Insolent or brave?" she said, her voice echoing like glass cracking over silence.
The class hushed.
"Name?"
"Aezric Thalorven, ma'am," he replied, trying not to waver.
A slow nod. Then she turned to the rest of the class.
"Remember that name. Either it'll rise to glory or sink in mediocrity."
Aezric walked to his seat, feeling dozens of eyes crawl across his back.
The woman continued,
"For those who came expecting a gentle start to your academic journey, welcome to the wrong classroom. I am Instructor Nita Glacier. I do not teach. I forge."
She paused for a moment, her gaze sweeping across the room like a winter wind.
"Now… listen well to what I am about to say," she declared, her voice steady and thunderous. "I am not here to entertain you, nor am I here as a formality. I am here to make your future shine brighter than anyone else's. You are students of Class D-1st, not royalty, not mere commoners. You stand at a precipice. This class exists because many of you here are worthy, deserving of a place most never reach."
She stepped forward, her boots clicking sharply against the floor.
"You have potential to become important figures, shapers of tomorrow. I am not here to coddle. I am not here to babysit. I am here to forge greater beings, beings that will control the fate and direction of this academy, and perhaps… even the world."
She turned back to the class with steely resolve.
"I will be with you until graduation. Not all of you will make it. But those who do… will know exactly who they are! and where they belong in this fractured society."
The temperature in the room might as well have dropped ten degrees.
As Nita Glacier's voice echoed through the sleek, tech-imbued classroom, a silence deeper than before settled over the room. No one dared to shuffle, breathe too loudly, or even blink too fast. Her words had weight, heavier than textbooks and more piercing than plasma drills.
Aezric, seated near the middle row, blinked. Once. Twice.
"Okay... that was intense," he muttered under his breath, eyes wide with a mix of awe and nerves. He could still feel the reverberations of her voice in his chest, as if her words had attached themselves to his ribcage.
He glanced to his left a girl with silver-tinted glasses was scribbling furiously in her notebook, possibly documenting every syllable Nita just said like sacred scripture. On his right, a broad-shouldered boy looked slightly pale, like someone had just told him the final exam was tomorrow and involved sword fighting against a cyborg bear.
"Class D is... special, huh?" Aezric thought, adjusting his collar slightly. "Great. Special pressure. Special expectations. Just what I needed."
But oddly enough, even amid the mental chaos, a spark of something else flickered inside him, ambition. It had been buried under years of part-time jobs, late-night ramen, and the constant hum of survival... but now it stirred.
He straightened a little. Not too much. Just enough that he didn't look like a scared rabbit. Just enough that he looked... present.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the classroom was a stew of emotion some simmering, some boiling. A quiet boy in the back whispered,
"I thought we'd be watching orientation videos, not... joining a revolution."
Someone else giggled nervously.
One brave soul raised a hand, halfway up.
"Um... Miss Glacier? Does that mean we'll be... like, doing dangerous stuff?"
Nita turned her head slowly, eyes sharp and calculating.
"You'll be doing necessary things. Dangerous? Only if you let your ignorance catch up to you."
A few audible gulps followed. Aezric wasn't sure if that made him feel more or less worried. But somewhere, deep inside, a voice said:
I want to be one of those who make it. Whatever 'it' is.
Nita Glacier's words continued to echo in Aezric's mind even as she concluded the orientation.
"That will be all for today. Classes officially begin tomorrow. Dismissed."
The room took a moment to react, as if everyone needed a second to remember how to breathe again. Then, chairs shifted, bags rustled, and whispers returned, though much quieter and more thoughtful now.
Aezric rose slowly, slinging his simple bag over his shoulder. So that's her... Instructor Glacier. No wonder they say Class D isn't ordinary.
He passed the others on the way out, some still stunned, others excitedly chatting in hushed voices about how "cool" or "terrifying" she was. Aezric simply gave a small nod as he stepped outside into the warm afternoon light.
The sky above Neuraxis Prime shimmered with floating screens, glider bikes zipping across in programmed lanes, and tall spires that blinked with data pulses. But here, just for a moment, everything felt strangely... still.
He exhaled deeply, the weight of the day starting to settle in. First the ceremony. Then the part-time job. Now this?
"So this is life at the Aetheric Nexus," he mused aloud as he stepped off academy grounds. "Guess tomorrow's when the real chaos begins."
A small smirk tugged at his lips.
And just like that, our bright-eyed Aezric finishes his first taste of academy life...
But while he's on his way back, thinking of dinner, we now drift our gaze elsewhere to someone who never left the shadows... someone who walks the line between guardian and ghost. Welcome back to Aron's side of the story.
Standing at the front of his assigned classroom, Aron crossed his arms, eyes scanning the vast space before him. Behind him stretched a giant, transparent digital screen, pulsing faintly with lines of interactive data, like breathing glass. The walls shimmered with adaptive smart panels, displaying rotating holograms of equations, historical scenes, and celestial maps. Desks were curved, sleek, and responsive, each capable of customizing to a student's preferences in posture and display. The air itself held a scent of ozone, fresh like after a lightning storm charged with innovation.
This wasn't just a classroom. It was a capsule of the future.
"Clack... clack... clack..." Aron's boots echoed as he stepped deeper in, gaze sweeping over the ultra-modern environment. He let out a subtle exhale, standing alone under the soft blue glow of the digital ceiling.
Now what else will she make me do? he thought, sarcasm tinged in the corner of his inner voice. First secret guardian, now instructor... next? Cafeteria duty? Maybe I'll be the academy janitor by next cycle.
He sighed inwardly.
Alright, Aron, let's focus on the front. Present moment, present role. You've done harder things. You've survived worse... You can survive a classroom.
He rolled his shoulders back and lifted his chin slightly, forcing a calm stance. This was a performance too, after all.
Aron took one more deep breath and turned to face the class. The smart glass door behind him slid open with a soft hum as the students filtered in, some wide-eyed, others clearly unimpressed, children of privilege and power.
He didn't smile.
"Good morning," he began, his voice calm but firm, echoing slightly in the high-tech chamber. "I'm Aron Lucavian. Your instructor for this cycle, like it or not."
He scanned the room. A few nobles stiffened at his casual tone. One girl in the front row even raised an eyebrow as if silently saying That's it? That's how you introduce yourself?
Aron continued anyway, "I won't waste your time with the usual pleasantries. You already know who you are or at least who you think you are. My job isn't to coddle you. It's to push you past your limits, burn through your ego, and maybe, just maybe, prepare you for what's actually coming."
There was a short silence. Then someone in the back muttered, "Tch, dramatic much?"
Without missing a beat, Aron snapped his fingers. The desk of the boy who spoke immediately retracted into the floor with a hiss, leaving him standing awkwardly. A few chuckles echoed through the room.
"Keep talking and I'll have you taking this course standing. Builds spine."
More of Aron's tale is about to unfold, and this time, the veil over the academy's deeper truths may begin to thin...
[But elsewhere, the truth finally cracks through the illusion…]
Now, sky, enter.
Until now, you've only seen the peaceful side of this AI-driven world... But it's time to peel away the curtain and show the truth hidden beneath the surface.
Somewhere in the sector of Dravon, chaos.
"Retreat! Retreat! Fall back, everyone fall back! Their forces are too strong, and we're outnumbered!"
"We... we didn't consider this possibility," shouted the captain of the Black Wolf Squad, his voice cutting through the digital static of battlefield comms.
You're probably wondering what this is, right?
A world this advanced... this perfect... couldn't possibly bleed.
But now, the shadows stir.
The secret war lurking under the shimmer of harmony is about to be revealed.
A mystery long buried, ready to rise.
Let's meet again in the next part, where the curtain lifts... and the real world begins.
[Coming Next: Chapter 5 – Beneath the Halo]
Where friendships spark, rivalries stir, and one wrong step could uncover a truth too dangerous to ignore.