"Alright, it's finally your big day. Are you ready?"
Dante looked with a face of confidence as he tied his hair back into a ponytail as Rita instructed him to and smiled.
"More than ever."
"Then we're off!"
"Yeah!"
The two finally walked out of the room and down the stairs after he locked his door. They continued their conversation down the stairs.
"When we get there, you'll have to go through a small trail to see which class you're placed in for new students. So be prepared for that."
"What type of trail is it?"
"It's just to test your affinity, and see how well you can perform certain spells."
"Oh…spells."
Dante looked at his locket and sighed. He had no experience when it came to casting spells. For one, he'd never been taught spellcasting growing up, but then the fact that he'd been able to use fire pretty naturally since he was young, he never felt the need to learn spells since the process seemed pretty confusing for him. So he preferred to just spit it out naturally, until he used the sword for the first time. Being able to emit his mana through it gave him hope that maybe he could wing it when it came to fire spells at least.
The two continued as they began to head for the exit, Xavien walked ahead of Dante. He reached the door and opened it as Dante began to follow after hearing a voice call from behind. It was the girl from before who'd just gotten out of the shower, she mouthed words to him before waving him off.
"Good luck…!"
He nodded confidently as stepping out behind Xavien and finally headed on their way to the academy. Many other students walked the streets and were heading up to the Academy, which resided on what seemed to be an upper layer of the city. Dante looked around to see the others making their way in their own ways. From flying through the air, to making a dash atop the rooftops.
"Everyone's so different here…you guys go to school with these type of people all the time?"
"Of course, everyone that attends the Auradelle Academy is here for the purpose to improve not only their casting arts, but to make connections and find their place in this busy kingdom. It's really convenient that Auradelle is pretty diverse, you get to see people and creatures from all sorts of places."
"I see, that explains why I've seen a good mix since coming here."
"There weren't other races when you were back home?"
"Nah, I was the only oddity…everyone else was pretty much human…"
"That makes sense, no wonder it's confusing."
The two continued down the road as they passed by more students taking their time to reach the academy's gates. It slowly began to approach from a distance, its size slowly growing more and more with each step taken. The amount of burgundy cloaks seen only grew as they got closer, until finally reaching the gate.
Dante looked around frantically as the sheer amount of students appearing around them grew in size. Trying his best to keep his composure in the moment. He believed himself to have gotten better at handling larger crowds, but seeing so many people so suddenly was still a lot for him. He touched Xavien on the shoulder before he turned to see Dante who was looking to have become sick in the face.
"I don't know if…I can do this…"
"Come on, you can handle this, it's what you practiced for."
"I'm trying…"
Soon, the both of them had been surrounded by other students waiting for the gates to open up so they could reach their destinations. The sudden uptick made Dante even more nervous as a bead of sweat dropped from his head. He began to think to himself.
"You've got to get it together."
"You finally made it, don't mess it up!"
"Just smile and be confident, like Rita does."
"Yeah, yeah!"
He then felt someone stand next to him, it was another guy with blonde hair and a darker complexion. He seemed to be just as nervous judging from his shaken demeanor.
"You're nervous too, man?"
"Y-yeah kinda…"
"Don't worry, I feel the same…"
The two looked at one another before holding out their hands to shake each other's. The intense bond over awkward beginnings and crowds made it feel natural to greet one another in a kind manner.
"My name is Logan, of the Spritegale family, and you?"
"I'm Dante, from the—"
"There you are, I was wondering where you were!"
Dante felt a tug on his cloak before realizing who it was that pulled on him. Terra looked at him with full eyes and a smile, surprising the three in the moment. She had her hair tied back into a small ponytail, donning her uniform and cloak which seemed to be without a single mark on it. Dante smiled seeing her there and began to speak, but was interrupted by the man he spoke to.
"Terra, my beloved queen…how I've missed seeing your beauty grace my day. Alas, today is the day that I prove my worth to you, not only in smarts and skill, but in battle against anyone that stands in our way!"
Dante was shocked at the words he was hearing before looking to Terra who didn't seem amused by the proclamations whatsoever. Her eyes lowered as she seemed annoyed more than anything at the statements.
"Hey Logan…"
"It's wonderful to make your acquaintance today my dear. Though it seems you may already know of my new buddy here."
"Yeah, I brought him here."
"You— wait…you two knew one another?"
"I mean, yeah. I wouldn't have walked up otherwise."
"I thought you were coming to see me…"