The door opened fully to reveal a tall dark skinned demon with shoulder length dark hair tied behind in a low ponytail, bright yellow eyes an a stoic expression on his face as he placed one gloved hand across his chest in a brief bow. "Good evening Instructor Grem and Master Kade. My name is Thawford and I shall be escorting you till your departure tomorrow morning" he informed taking a step back away from the carriage as he now held one hand forward.
Grem nodded as he stood up while Aryan raised a brow at his mode of address. "Thank you Mister Thawford" he spoke as he took the other demon's hand using it as a support to climb down. "Come on Master Kade, we must let this demon do its job" Grem added with a short glance backward before floating ahead. Aryan was even more confused at this new term of addressing him but came down from the carriage.
"I don't need your help" he muttered absentmindedly as he got down from the carriage himself ignoring the demon's hand. Thawford took away his hand opting to let it rest by his side as he bowed slightly once more.
Aryan stood at the front of the wooden building staring. The evening breeze blew on it so the wall boards creaked and whistled yet, the building remained stable. His curiosity was piqued- this was obviously not your average wooden house. "Master Kade, come in quickly!" Grem's call from inside drew Aryan's attention away from the building and to the mana lit room that the opened door revealed.
"Yes Professor" he replied simply as he went in. Bright eyes watched his back unblinkingly and whispers sounded everywhere as he took his first step into the room. Aryan felt his head was bombarded with this noise and his eyes looked for Grem to see how he was faring.
Unsurprisingly, the demon instructor was just fine. In fact it seemed he wasn't affected in any way by the strange noise so Aryan could only conclude that he wasn't hearing it at all.
His lips curled up in a smile as he snorted internally. "Sure enough, this building isn't normal'
* * * * *
Grem sat opposite Aryan on the other extreme of the long dinner table they sat at. Earlier, Aryan was surprised when he discovered the building had imprinted spaces. Just like the academy's assembly ground, it had more rooms than he was able to count in the short span of time that he went exploring and this was a result of magic circles.
Despite its low appearance, there were three floors in the building. The ground floor which contained the parlor where they were received earlier, along with a bar and a kitchen, appeared normal with no extra room. The first floor, would appear to have just six rooms on each each four of which were locked on both sides but if you went towards the end of the left wing corridor, you would see markings on the floor that activate the imprinted space.
Unfortunately, Aryan had only gone as far as the fourth step on his way to the second floor before he was called by the butler looking demon called Thawford. He had been very reluctant as to whether he should just barge his way up or give in to the obvious act of diversion that was happening. One thought on his situation- being new to the outside world- was enough to have him going back down the stairs.
'I had previously assumed that those space magic circles were privy only to the academy but I guess I was wrong' he thought as he sat upright, his posture making him blend well with the regal aesthetic of the dinner room. Despite his contemplation, he still carried his usual inexpressive face so Grem could only watch in wonder at how the usually talkative student had said nothing all through their meal. His gaze went to the painting that was hung on the wall behind the younger one, in it was a tall dark figure with pale gray skin and long dark purple that spilled across its face leaving only blood red lips to see. It was dressed in all black and was seated on a throne made of skulls. Beneath it was the sentence; All Hail The Demon king.
Of course, Grem was loyal to the demon king- as any Naval should be but something about the painting tickled his senses and no, it wasn't his artistic sense. The demon instructor and student were however only going to spend one night so he didn't want to think too much on it. Whatever went on in the house, stayed in the house.
.....
At least, that was his thought process before he woke up to the heavy sound of thunder and the unmistakable chanting of demons. His hand reached for his pocket watch on the bed side table and flipped it open to reveal the time; it was 10pm in the night. "F***!" Grem cursed uncharacteristically as mind his mind immediately went to Aryan.
On the other end of the building, Aryan sat on his bed reading a book. For some reason, the voices he had been hearing ha become louder and sounded more clear.
Slowly, he began to close his book. His eyes drifted to the clock and he stared at it a while. Although his gaze was trained on the clock as though examining it, his mind was actually trying to decipher the words he was hearing. They had been all jumbled up before so he assumed they were gibberish but now, as the time neared 10PM they had begun to sound clearer, more pronounced.... more familiar.
Gradually, Aryan's lips begun to move too. He was repeating every word as if committing them to memory and as each word was spoken, a wave of fog began pouring into the room, slowly but surely filling it and obscuring any normal demon's eye sight. As the words got fewer, the fog got thicker and darker now resembling smoke and by the end of the chanting, Aryan stared two glowing yellow orbs in the eye as they floated amidst the fog.
The clock struck 10 and Aryan's lips curved into his typical smile. 'It has only been four hours since I left the academy yet see how much fun I'm having' he thought as he stood up from his bed, eyes still dead set on the clock.
"Might as well enjoy the god part huh, Thawford"