Our glorious steps forward were halted pretty quickly as the same gatekeeper from before blocked our way with half-lidded eyes.

“Didn’t I tell you both to come back after two years?” the gatekeeper asked, yawning.

Stepping forth, Sia handed over a letter that the gatekeeper glanced through before he nodded at her. “You may pass.”

Then, looking at me expectantly, he held out his hand.

Reaching out, I placed a darkish gold colored stone in his hand. A stone that even now was turning silver.

Gulping, I realized that the baling gatekeeper was a silver rank.

The gatekeeper scrutinized the force stone before he handed it back. Then he took out another force stone that shone fully silver and handed it over to me.

Understanding, I went through the forcestone check again as the stone slowly turned darkish bronze in color.

Whistling, the gatekeeper said, “Not bad, boy. Not bad at all. I do hope you make the correct choice when you go inside.”

“Correct choice?” I asked, puzzled.

“The correct choice for people like yours and this little missus’s caliber. You’ll see what I mean inside,” he said as he waved us in.

Walking inside, we paused as he chuckled and said with what sounded suspiciously like schadenfreude, “Good luck.”

Looking at Sia, who looked back at me and shrugged, we continued our way inside.

Only to pause as the entire place seemed too peaceful.

Children wandered around, books in hand. Others lounged on the turf as they idly stared at the sky. Still others looked around in disinterest.

Some, though, dared to stare at Sia with obvious interest.

Glaring fiercely at those people, I grabbed Sia’s hand before marching forward toward the largest building that we could see.

Coming near, we saw it was the right choice as the words, “Academy office” were written on the signpost in front of it, as well as above the door of the building.

Knocking on the door, I opened it and walked inside, only to stop where I stood.

Behind me, Sia yelped out as her nose made contact with my back, and as I came back to my senses, I apologized to her instantly.

As for the reason behind why I stopped… well.

The entire floor was one big open space, dotted with desks covered with important looking papers, and littered with chairs and seating areas.

All occupied by a densely populated mass of… one person.

One extremely bored person who even now was yawning as she looked at us with bleary eyes.

Stepping forward, I asked hesitantly, “Admission?”

The lady let out another yawn before she spoke out in a disinterested voice, “here.”

Looking at Sia, I raised my eyebrows, only for her to look back and shake her head.

Helplessly, we walked and sat on the seats in front of the lady as she asked, “Name, age, warforce.”

“Faustus Drayke - 7 years and 10 months old - Iron rank 1 star.” I spoke.

“Alessia Fireshield - 12 years and 2 months old - Iron rank… 2 star.” Sia said, as she shot an apologetic look at me.

Stunned, me and the lady both stared at Sia, who looked down shyly.

Then the lady, animated now, urgently asked, “Normal classes or advanced classes?”

Confused, I looked at Sia who said hesitantly, “Advanced classes.”

“Excellent, excellent!” the lady exclaimed!

Then, looking at me with interest, she asked, “What about you?”

“Uh, advanced classes, I guess?” I ventured.

Ecstatic now, the lady jumped up as she clapped, “Welcome to Yamal Academy. I’ll need you to sign a few papers before we can enroll you in your classes.”

Saying so, she busied herself collecting a few papers from here and there until she pushed two mountains of papers toward Sia and me.

Blinking, I mouthed, “A few?”

Hand covering her mouth, Sia laughed, and we got to work signing the papers.

As I read through the first few pages, my eyes glazed over until I was signing the papers like a puppet.

Sia, however, was staring at the papers with her brow furrowed.

Then, looking up, she asked, “Why does your academy need me to sign that I’m okay with death, disembowelment, and general injuries to body, mind, and spirit?”

Jolting awake from my daze, I looked at where she was pointing, and lo-and-behold; it was written as clear as day, hidden beneath a dozen different lines of text.

Looking at the lady along with Sia, we raised our eyebrows as high as they could go as we waited for her response.

Which was, “Academy policy. Sign it if you want, or don’t.”

Speechless, we both looked at each other before we looked down at the papers, which suddenly seemed like a ferocious beast waiting to devour us.

Gritting our teeth, we thought back to the peaceful children in the front of the academy and thought, “How bad could it be?”

So we signed all the papers and pushed them back to the lady who beamed at us genially as she put them away neatly in folders.

Then she held out her hand and said, “1 gold each for your first year tuition fees.”

Pulling out two gold Protons, I passed them over, and she ticked two boxes on another paper.

Clearing her throat, she spoke. “For your first two years at Page Academy, you have only three compulsory subjects.”

Nodding, we thought that was pretty fair, and we listened as the lady continued to say, “The subjects are Hospitality, Life Sciences, and Bravery.”

Digging my ear furiously, I looked at Sia, who was also staring at me blankly as she mouthed, “Hospitality? Bravery?”

Turning to the lady, I asked her to repeat herself and she obliged cheerfully, saying, “The subjects are Hospitality, Life Sciences, and Bravery.”

Utterly confused now, I asked, “What topics do Hospitality and Bravery cover?”

“Oh, just things that make you a better person,” she answered with a bright smile on her face.

Having seen that smile many times on the devil teacher’s face, me and Sia looked at each other, wishing we could tiptoe away from the lady instantly.

She must have sensed it, because she clapped her hands and said, “The papers have been signed, and the two of you have been enrolled! Your classmates have already started the year around two months back… so you will have to catch up to them!”

Sighing in defeat, the two of us nodded in unison.

Smiling even more widely, the lady asked, “Now that’s settled. Do you want tea?”

Shrugging, we assented and soon the lady busied herself with making tea and pushing over two teacups to us; She said, “I’m sure you will enjoy your time at the Academy. I do have to warn you, though. The advanced classes are not for the faint-hearted, and the dropout rate is quite high. Do try to stick around as long as you can, won’t you?”

Puzzled, we looked at each other as we again thought back to the children in the front who were relaxing carefreely.

The lady then smiled as she took a sip of her tea and, smacking her lips, said, “It’s really good tea. Won’t you have some?”

Raising the tea to my mouth, I sniffed in the heady aroma of spice and expensive tea, and then took a deep sip.

Beside me, Sia did the same, and then as both of us looked at each other; we spat out, “Bal”

Next second, we slumped over where we were and everything went dark.