As soon as the gates of the Academy creaked open, Melvin didn't wait to test the patience of the giant, thick sheet of reinforced metal. He simply walked with calculated steps, wearing a subtle expression on his face.
'I'm prepared for this,' he assured himself, trying as much as he could to dissuade the doubts that struggled to set in.
Soon, he was standing face-to-face with the young man assigned to guide him further.
"Aurex," the young man introduced, stretching out his hand to Melvin.
"I am Melvin," the poor lad replied, reciprocating Aurex's gesture.
Judging from the young man's manner of approach, Melvin could already tell that he wasn't in the academy as an instructor or teacher of some sort. In fact, he was a boy. It was even obvious since the boy appeared about his age, maybe a year or two older at most.
If anything, he could be one of those outskirt-outgrown kids who had come to take solace by attending to menial jobs in this small city, mostly as a means of survival.
The boy had deep obsidian black hair, orderly worn long at the top and neatly restrained at the sides. His eyes were piercing steel-gray and unyielding too.
For some reason, Melvin suddenly felt uncomfortable around the boy without knowing why. Perhaps because those who fetched him trouble in his previous world had his kind of unyielding eyes.
'Not to mention that doctor who cared less for his patients.'
"Are you forgetting something?" the obsidian black-haired boy waved his hand in front of Melvin's face to attract his attention.
Melvin recollected himself.
"Uhm… not really. Let's get going."
With that, Aurex turned and began walking down the wide, tarred road that stretched into the heart of the Academy. After a brief glance back at the descending gate behind him, Melvin followed.
Up close, Axiom Academy felt even larger.
On either side of the road, different structures rose—sleek buildings layered with steel and glass and others looking older and heavier, as if they had been built a very, very long time ago.
Walking closely behind Aurex, he pointed to his right at the eastern part of the Academy.
Melvin's eyes followed the hands of the boy before him, and soon, he learned that the sleek structure layered with steel and glass was the research wing. It towered high, like a skyscraper of some sort, overshadowing some other buildings behind.
Aurex even had to let him know that the descending buildings behind, especially the ones looking older and built from stone, were where resources were stored and kept. Farther in, there were the combat halls.
'That's just it… what should I expect?'
He imagined his life here as a scholar, the endless time it would take him to travel to various destinations in the name of attending to current activities. Well, he guessed that the dormitories should be somewhere closer.
It mustn't be far away.
But the next gesture of the hands from Aurex shattered that thought. It came immediately, as if to clear any ounce of doubt planning to settle into Melvin.
"And that…" Aurex turned to his left, pointing in the western direction. "Those are the residential blocks."
Melvin wanted to curse. How can the designer of the academy's architecture be so foolish not to take the most important things into consideration?
Alas, he dismissed the thoughts, remembering there was no difference from how academic structures were laid out in his former world. It was as if the administrators, or whoever had pioneered these buildings, purposely wished for the suffering of their scholars… damning them with unmeasurable distance.
But he didn't dwell much on this thought… simply because ahead of them, an organized commotion came into view.
A group of young men and women were coming from a junction leading to the residential blocks, crossing from left to right—some laughing nervously, others quiet and stiff with anticipation. All of them looked to be within the same age range.
Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen.
Just like him, and perhaps…
He hastened his steps to meet the young boy guiding him forward and asked. "Who are they?"
With a smile, Aurex waved a hand at a delicate, stunning girl who looked the same age as him and glanced at his side.
"Inductees," Aurex replied. "They are flux carriers like us but have all awakened their magical affinities. Today is the induction day; soon, I will have to join them."
'Have to join… them?'
The last words echoed in Melvin's mind, bringing him to conclude that his initial impression about the boy was wrong. He had rightly guessed the age of the boy but didn't realize he was walking with a fellow carrier.
A soon-to-be fellow Climber, according to Principal Edrin.
They waited for a short time to allow the crowd of Climbers to pass through. Within that period, Aurex didn't fail to explain the situation to Melvin.
"I don't know much yet, but it is believed that Flux, or whatever that has affected us, comes into manifestation in the body of its carriers after three months. Hence, every three months, the Academy sent out representatives to gather teenagers who had been detected to have flux flowing through their veins."
Aurex paused for a moment, not wanting to give out more information.
He said, "The induction ceremonies are held every three months for every new carrier. I don't know how possible it was for the Academy to stand within that fleeting period of time, but all I can tell is that this is the fourth set to be gathered."
Melvin thought that there were things not meant to be known. Even as a regressor, he knew there was never a time when one could erect a structure such as the Academy within months… not to talk of days.
He knew of one, though, that had happened in written history, of a somewhat supernatural being who claimed to be able to single-handedly build a magnificent temple after some days… how many days again?
And to make things more complicated to piece together, the principal even made it clear to him everyone had only begun to wake up almost a year ago. Almost!
Shaking off the consuming thought, he reminded himself that some truths were better to remain hidden. While most take much longer to find out.
With that in mind, he turned sideways and raised his head slightly and asked the gray-eyed young boy.
"But how did you know this is the fourth set?"
The boy grimaced and simply replied.
"Because I am a member of the first set." Then, to prevent further questions, he added, "The rest is history."
Melvin didn't understand all these notions about sets. Indeed, if the boy was among the first set to be gathered at the Academy, it made sense how he was able to tell their set and knew a bit about Flux. But why was he still here?
If his speculations were right, he should be among the various hundreds of climbers who must be finding their way upward to the testament… upward whatever they were climbing.
Yet again, no answer surfaced for Melvin to clear himself. Instead, he pushed everything aside and trailed behind his guide.
By now, the young men and women had all finished crossing, leaving the straight path ahead for the duo.
Without wasting more time, Aurex began walking… seconds later, joined by Melvin too.
Soon, the road narrowed and sloped downward, ending at a wide stone platform. At its center was a stairway descending into darkness—steps carved deep and steep, vanishing into a cold, lightless void below.
"This is called a forbidden area…" Aurex said, and without waiting for the poor lad to ask any question, added, "…because from within the lightless void, our adventure begins."
So, this is where Melvin was going to awaken his affinity, huh?
That could have been the answer, but the complexity behind what he was seeing didn't make it so.
He expected to see a very tall tower, perhaps overshadowing every giant building of this small city he was in, but all he saw was a circular domed structure, probably situated at the center of the small city.
'It doesn't make any sense. How could there be a first floor… a second floor… third and fourth and more in this…'
Of course, the domed structure was gigantic in its own way, but several other buildings towered around it like watching sentinels.
"It was said that this dome was here even before the structuring of this academy," Aurex said, adding more salts to his wounded thoughts.
It still didn't make sense how such a building carried challenges and had several floors in it. Unless… climbing down into the depth of the lightless dark void was going to lead him to an everlasting abyss.
A slow chill settled into Melvin's chest.
Down below was his chance of awakening his magical affinity.
He glanced at Aurex for a bit and returned his gaze into the abyss again.
A strange mix of emotions churned inside him, mixed with fear, anticipation, doubt… and something else.
'This is it. My chance of fully belonging to the group. Damn it all. Damn my luck.'
Then, he took a step forward and… clang.
Melvin halted abruptly, blinking as his forehead nearly met an invisible surface.
He raised a hand and felt it press against something solid.
"There's a barrier?" he asked the seemingly confused guide of his.
"How would I know? We were never made to approach this area unless it was our turn to go on the adventure," Aurex replied.
Just then, Melvin's stomach churned… and made a rumbling sound that was loud enough for Aurex to hear.
Turning to Aurex, he smiled sheepishly, not disappointed with the sound from his stomach, and muttered.
"I'm hungry."
At that same time, as if it was all planned, a young woman was approaching the two boys with a covered plate of, probably, food clamped in between her hands.