GLASS || The Catalysts, #1 [REWRITE]

IX

"The least the Catalysts can do is to give us a lift after that unfortunate incident," groans Roen as they finally reach Arcane Academy, located in quite the stark centre of the Static—the City of Leatia's bustling hub.

"Come on now, Roen, it wasn't that far," Neesha says.

"We had to get on the Aerotrain all over again! Talk about traumatizing," he complains instead. "And is no one going to address the state we're in right now? How are we going to walk into classes like that?"

He gestures frantically to his attire. While they're still perfectly dressed and ready for the academy, no one can deny that they've obviously seen battle. Soot still char their faces if not on the white collars of their inner wear, and while their uniform is not torn, the attire is greatly rumpled from the tousle on the Aerotrain. Their hair? Dishevelled to say the least.

And Lena has it worse than either Neesha or Roen: her sleeve is cut up by the glass pieces when she'd fallen earlier. Her part of the train had obviously seen more damage.

"No one will notice," Neesha brushes off. "They'll think we've just been in some duel. Happens all the time."

"Duels?" Lena asks a little too nervously.

"Yes," Neesha answers, and Lena can't tell if she's excited by the mere prospect of it. "Students here tend to challenge one another in a duel to prove their worth, to constantly climb the ladder in power."

Definitely excited. "And it's... encouraged?"

"What better way to put your abilities to test than to challenge someone potentially stronger than you are, right?"

"Neesha here receives a new challenge every week," Roen points out.

"Uh, is that a lot?" Lena asks, feeling stupid.

"Just average for a second year," Neesha supplies. "But really, it depends on the opponent—I mean, students involved in the duel."

"Right..." Lena manages, hoping against hope that what they mean by a new duel challenge every week, it doesn't apply to her.

The legendary institute looms before her. The made sight of its superiority sends chills down her spine, enough to make her think this is all a bad idea. From the moment she accepted the proposal from Arcana, the headmaster of Arcane Academy—entirely on a whim, too desperate to find something in this world of unknown without her memories—she'd thought it'll be a breeze to take on the identity of a student and relearn everything she needs to, even perhaps recovering things that she'd forgotten.

She just never thought about how she'd be a student of the top flying academy in all of City of Leatia, to be the very centre of attention, training to be the city's next generation of Catalysts—would be protectors of the citizens against demons.

Already she has been involved in a demon attack she'll have to one day be responsible eradicating; already she's hearing about how competitive Arcane Academy is, and how duels are common among students.

But to be offered such an opportunity—the issue with memories aside—who doesn't want to be a Catalyst? Every door opens once you're one of the professional ability users.

So Lena takes a deep breath and follows her two new friends as they step through the grand gates of Arcane Academy.

Lena isn't exactly sure what she's been expecting, but a ripple and some sort of shift in the atmosphere around the gates immediately after she enters the academy as if she's stepped foot into a whole new dimension is definitely not in her list.

As she phases through, she feels as if the molecules of her body leave her then reassemble. This odd sensation—you don't feel this everyday, really, and it's even stranger than when she'd used the porter to get up to the Aerotrain platform—sends a chill down her spine.