“Come along now, uh… sorry, what was your name again?” Akkre asks.

How in the world did he already forget my name? He was the one who called out to me in the first place. I suppose past or present, Akkre will still be Akkre. Just a pain to deal with.

“It’s Mi—” barely getting out one syllable, I manage to stop myself. Just in time, I remember what I was told just a few moments ago.

“You alright there?”

“Yeah sorry, I uhh… bit my tongue. As I was saying before, my name is Eillim Concordia.”

“Well then miss Sillim, I will be taking you to your residence for your time studying here.”

“Alright, but you got my name wrong. It’s Eillim.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Millim.”

“Like I said, my name is Eillim.”

“Right, right, I knew that… Rillim.” Akkre says with a slight smirk.

Somehow he is managing to be even more annoying than he is in the present.

“You're doing this on purpose aren’t you?” I ask, giving him a cold stare. “I’m willing to bet you knew my name from the very start and have been messing with me this entire time.”

“Quite the smart one ain’t ya. Correct you are, I have been messin’ with you from the get go. Anyways let's get movin’, since your transfer was so sudden we don’t have a dorm room ready for you so you will be staying in the Headmistress’s manor.” Akkre says as he walks us into the massive city.

Much like when we went to Sesna there are a great many assortments of people walking around. Once again, I am the only human around. Since I have been able to talk with animals since I was young, I wasn’t terribly surprised when I learned of other races. The saying ‘where there's smoke there's fire’ makes a lot of sense in regards to people like Raziel and Akkre.

Back on earth the civilisation’s of the past must have come across beings like Akkre much more often than in the modern day. Seems like the acceptance of things other than humans faded over time and knowledge of their existence turned into myth and legend. Seeing all these people makes me wonder how did humanity forget about all these interesting people.

“Hey Eillim, you even listening to me?” Akkre asks.

“Oh sorry, what were you saying? I was a bit lost in thought.” I say.

Akkre shakes his head and sighs as he says, “Kids these days, they just never listen… well, I was the same way now that I think about it.”

“From my perspective, you still don’t listen.” I point out.

“Ignoring that and back to what I was saying. You will be transferring into my homeroom class, 11th year, class 0. Normally people are split into different classes by year. Each year has classes ranging from class 1-100, with each class further divided by the student's speciality. Those being academics, athletic talent, and natural aptitudes for various other specialisations.

But class 0 is a bit different. There are people who are a single failing grade away from dropping out, and then we have honour students like the Secondary Education Division’s Student Leader. Once you're in class 0 you don’t leave until you finish your education. While most classes have the same number for different years, there is only one class 0. It starts at year 1 movin’ up until university and then resets back to year 1.

Essentially some people could get stuck with me as their homeroom teacher for nearly their entire school life. So congratulations on being stuck with me for the next several years.” Akkre says with a hearty laugh.

“I think I regret saying I wouldn’t mind going to school. *Brr* H-how are you not cold Akkre?” I ask while shivering. “Your wearing such light clothing yet I’m here in a coat and a long dress and I’m fr-freezing.”

“This is pretty warm temperatures around here, it’s even summer right now. Seems like you’re probably from a warmer area. Artikkuus is the coldest place in Spiriumtria after all, I shouldn’t expect a foreigner to be used to cold temperatures. Hold on one sec.” Akkre says as he reaches out his hand.

I feel something gathering around it. It doesn’t feel like its the same type of energy as materialising his weapon nor does it feel like magic energy. I’m not even sure if it is energy at all. Within moments something begins to take form in Akkre’s hand. As it gets larger the thing Akkre is holding reveals itself to be a long fur coat.

“Here take this. It ain’t the best thing around but it should at the very least keep you from getting too cold.” He says while handing me the newly formed coat.

“Just what did you do? How? I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore, I’m so confused.” I say in amazement while stumbling over my words.

“It’s just a part of my power of Eternity. The eternal cycle of destruction and creation. I took some of my fur and some of the cloth from my clothes and bound them together to form that coat. Of course, I’m oversimplifying it so you can understand at a basic level.” Akkre says.

“But I don’t see any fur on you. So where did that come from?” I ask.

“That’s what you think. I’ll explain as we walk so let's get moving, I’m supposed to take you to see the headmistress and I’d rather not make her wait.”

As we make our way, Akkre tells me that he is what is called an Infinity Wolf. He says that his species are able to shapeshift between two forms. His current one seems to resemble that of a human, but with his wolf ears atop his head and his many ethereal tails. The other form is that of a giant wolf.

Apparently being in the wolf form consumes massive amounts of energy to maintain and the consumption only increases with age. When an Infinity Wolf is around 1000 years old they lose the ability to transform because they can’t keep up with the energy consumption rate.

“I hope you got all that because I won’t be explaining it again.” Akkre says as he points off to the side. “Now if you look over here, you will see where you will be stayin’, that’s the Headmistress’s manor. Although you will have your tour of the place later. First, we need to head to the faculty office so you can meet the other teachers and Headmistress Rizze. The office isn’t far from here if we hurry we can make it and I won’t get chewed out for being late.” He says.

As we make our way through the faculty office Akkre has me give the teachers around us a brief self-introduction. We then make our way to the headmistress’s office.

*Knock* With a couple of knocks on the door, Akkre doesn’t even wait for a reply before entering.

“Hey Rizze, I’m here and I brought the transfer student. I’m not even late this time. Oh, I see little Amea is here too.” Akkre says, addressing the two other people in the room.

As I enter the room after him, warm air flies over me dispelling all signs of the cold temperature. Straight ahead I see a woman sitting in a large chair in the far end of the room with large stacks of paper on her desk. She has deep crimson hair and her eyes look as if they are on fire. Similarly, the young woman standing off to the side looks just like her, albeit younger looking.

“You just barely made it by the appointed time. And will you stop calling me little, I’m not a kid anymore.” Says the young lady off to the side.

“No need to get upset with him, Amea. He made it on time and that's what matters. Besides you are a great deal younger than him.” Says the woman in the chair.

“Ma, you can’t be so lenient with him. That’s the reason why he is so lazy, your just too soft on him.” The young lady responds.

“How about y’all save the parent-child dispute for later when we don’t have a guest just standing here.” Akkre says, calming the situation down.

“While I don’t think there is even much of an argument, Akkre is right. We shouldn’t keep our guest here waiting any longer. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Concordia. I am the current headmistress of Royal Academy and the State’s representative for international matters, Rizze Rastuil. You’ve already met Akkre. He is to be your homeroom teacher in class 0. And over here is my daughter Amea, go on and introduce yourself.”

“Well as you’ve just heard, my name is Amea. Amea Rastuil. I’m also in class 0 and I’m also the Student Leader for the Secondary Division. Nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too. I heard I will be staying at your place, I hope it’s not too much trouble.” I say.

“It’s no trouble at all. We have quite the large house after all and besides, Akkre and his daughter Alice are also staying at our house as well so one more isn’t a problem.” The Headmistress says.

It seems like I just can’t get away from him.

“For now why don’t you give her a tour of the house, Amea. I have some matters that I need to discuss with Akkre. You and Akkre can show her around the campus later. Oh, and explain to her how things work in this academy.” The Headmistress says.

“Alright. Follow me Eillim, I’ll show you around our house and tell you everything you need to know about the Academy. And Akkre, meet us at the cafe on Zuishi street when you're done so we can show her around the campus.” Amea says as she guides us back the way we came towards the Headmistress’s manor.

As we walk around her house, Amea begins to explain a bit about the academy, “guess I’ll start with the classes. They are divided into four sections. The general studies, magic studies, martial studies, and specialised studies. Other than the specialised section the other three are fairly straightforward. The specialised studies encompass a broad variety of different things from housework to leadership. If there is something you're interested in then you can probably find something related over at the specialised studies section. Questions?”

“Yeah, but not about the classes. You mentioned being a student leader or something, what's that about?” I ask.

“Oh that. I think I should start with the way the school is set up. Royal Academy is split between three divisions. The Primary Education Division, the Secondary Education Division, and the University Division. The Academy uses an escalator system up until the end of the Secondary Division. To get into the university, students are required to pass a difficult test, regardless of whether or not they came from the Academy or from a foreign school.

Now each of these Divisions has a Student Leader, and collectively these leaders manage the student-run activities such as clubs, as well as administer disciplinary action when students break the rules. Leaders are chosen by popular vote by their respective divisions and stay leader until they move up from the Primary to the Secondary Division, or graduate in the case of the Secondary and University Divisions.

That’s the basic rundown for the Student Leaders. I tried to keep the explanation as short as possible but it still came out a bit long, I hope you got all that.” Amea explains.

“Your right, it was a lot of information at once. But I got used to hearing these long-winded explanations a while ago.”

“Is that right? Oh, here is something pretty unique to Royal Academy that you might find interesting, the duel system.” Amea says.

“Duel system?” I ask.

“Yeah, it’s a system we have in place where any student or faculty can challenge anyone else to a duel of any kind. It could be a traditional one on one fight or even a simple cooking match. Of course, you do need the approval of one of the Student Leaders and a faculty member or if you can get it, the approval of my mother the Headmistress.”

“All I’m hearing is that I can challenge that pain in the arse to a fight on my own terms.” I say with a firm picture of Akkre in my mind.

“I assume you mean Akkre. As long as he isn’t being challenged to anything that requires magic prowess he agrees to almost any duel. Anyways lets move on.” Amea says as we move towards the next room.

As Amea finished explaining the basics of the Academy to me we also finished up the tour of her house and made our way towards the cafe where we are supposed to be meeting Akkre. As we head towards the front gate of the manor we pass by something strange.

“Hey Amea, what’s that over there?”

“A grave. Specifically my fathers grave. The former Headmaster.”

“I’m sorry for bringing this up. I didn’t know.”

“Don’t worry about it, he died when I was really young so I don’t really remember him. From what I heard, my father and Akkre were classmates alongside my mother. It was due to their friendship that on his deathbed my father asked Akkre to look after me. To be honest, despite all his faults, Akkre takes his commitments pretty seriously and is a pretty good father figure... even if he occasionally makes me want to knock that head off his shoulder.” Amea says with a small smile that quickly turned into a sour expression.

“Anyways let’s move on. I won’t hear the end of it if we make Akkre wait for long. Oh, but don’t tell him I said any of that stuff from before, it’s rather embarrassing.” Amea says as we continue past the front gate.

I didn’t mean to bring up a depressing topic like this with my curiosity but at least she didn’t mind. It takes some time but we finally reach the cafe where we are supposed to be meeting Akkre at, however, he is nowhere to be found.

“…That damn fool. Hold on Eillim, I’m going to go ask the manager if he was here.”

“Hey Makion, was Akkre here?” Amea asks addressing the shopkeeper.

“Oh, Miss Amea. Yes, he was here a while ago, he actually asked me to tell you that he was going over to the bar across the street.” The shopkeeper says.

“Drinking in the middle of the day again I see. Guess we should go get him before he’s too drunk to think straight.” Amea says in an annoyed tone as she begins to turn around.

“No need, for the man of the hour is already here!”

“Ah! Please don’t shout right next to my ear and how did you even get behind us without us noticing?” Amea asks.

From seemingly out of nowhere, Akkre appears and startling both me and Amea.

“If you couldn’t sense me approachin’, you clearly need more trainin’. I can excuse Aillim for not sensing me since she is a new student, but you’ve been here all your life. You have an excuse. I would like to continue this conversation but we shouldn’t keep Xillim waitin' and give her a tour of the campus.” Akkre says.

“If you're trying to be considerate of me you could at least get my name right.” I say with an annoyed look.

“Doesn’t matter what I call you as long as you know I’m addressin’ you. Anyways now that we’re all here let us be on our merry way.” Akkre joyously says as he turns to leave.

“Not so fast, I’ve had enough of this fooling around. I challenge you to a duel, Akkre. A one on one fight, and if I win you need to take things more seriously.” Amea says, stopping Akkre in his tracks.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Amea? You haven’t won against me before, what makes you think you can now.” Akkre says, with his tone of voice getting sharper.

“I won’t know unless I try. Of course, we already have the approval from a Student Leader, so all we need is for you to agree.”

“Very well, I’ll agree. I won’t even impose any terms of my own, but just for you, I’ll take the fight seriously for once. Now let’s head to the field for some space.” Akkre says, with his entire demeanour completely changing.

He no longer has that happy go lucky feeling to him and his speech feels cold. I certainly wasn’t expecting this. I had a feeling that there was definitely more to him than my less than impressive first impression.

We make our way towards a large open field. Amea explains to us that the field is used exclusively for duels. Along the way, she continues to explain to me the various building and facilities we pass by, but Akkre stays silent the whole time.

As we get closer to the field a large man approaches. Standing over twice my height with massive tusks stemming from his mouth and long hair coving his entire body. The ground shakes as he moves towards us.

“Welcome Sir Akkre, I heard about the duel between you and Amea. Will you be using this field for your fight?” The large man says.

“So you're in charge of the field today Johef. Yeah, make the announcement. Oh and sorry ahead of time, but I’m going all out this time. I need to teach a certain little girl what it means to challenge the top. It’ll even serve to show the new transfer what’s to come.”Akkre says.

“It’s fine my old friend. It’s a rare treat to see you fight at 100%. I wonder what sacred treasure you'll pull out this time. Anyways, I’ll go and make the announcement, so you two should go get into position. And you, that new transfer student I believe, come with me. It’s not going to be safe out here in the open.” The large man says.

“You should go with arbiter Johef, Eillim. You’ll get front row seats while I show that Amea that it’s 1000 years to early for her to even think she stands a chance.” Akkre says as he and Amea walk to opposite ends of the field.

Not wanting to argue with him right now, I stay quiet and follow his instructions. I follow the arbiter over to an observatory of some sorts nearby. Inside we have a view of the entire field with all sorts of equipment laying around.

“So Johef right? What is all this stuff?” I ask.

“If you mean the devices I’ve got all over the place, they are for broadcasting the duel to the entire city via the arcane communications system. Using the same system I will announce the fight to the entire city and anyone can watch from the many arcane vision screens throughout the city. It’s my role as the arbiter to serve as both the judge and to provide commentary for any events taking place in these fields. Anyways those two should be in position by now so I should get started. *Ahem*” Clearing his throat, Johef opens his mouth up wide and shouts.

“Attention Royal Academy! At Secondary Field Hastul, a duel will begin shortly! Our participants are the Secondary Division’s Student Leader, Amea Rastuil! And the one she challenged is none other than the Crown Prince of the Empire and our famed history and military theory teacher, Akkre Kojuuin. The duel will be an old-fashioned one versus one fight and will begin in 3…2…1… FIGHT!”

As soon as the signal was given Amea throws a large fireball at Akkre, exploding right in front of his face. With his vision clouded by the smoke, Amea shoots out several bolts of lightning from her fingers. With the smoke from the fireball still clouding everyone's vision, it’s hard to tell what state Akkre is in. Suddenly from the smoke, a fireball and several bolts of lighting come flying out towards Amea. In almost an instant she manages to put up a protective barrier around herself. As the smoke around Akkre clears, we see a strange object circling around him.

“Oh, there it is, folks! Akkre said beforehand he would take this seriously but even then I didn’t expect this. For those of you watching who don’t know, Akkre is in possession of many powerful tools. The one you all see floating around him is a special mirror from Celestia that reflects all magic back at the source. They seem to be talking over there, so lets dive in a little deeper and listen in on their discussion.”

“I heard about that mirror from Ma, but that thing really is something. However, it can only protect you in one direction so how will you fare against this!” Amea shouts.

Looking up, we all see dark clouds gathering in the sky. Meanwhile, the ground beneath Akkre begins to glow, soon erupting into a column of fire swirling around him as lighting strikes down on Akkre from the darkened sky. I feel an enormous burst of energy coming from the epicentre of Amea’s attacks when suddenly we hear the howl of a wolf. At the sound of the howl all of Amea’s attacks dissipate into nothing and in the aftermath all we can see is a large black-haired Wolf towering over all the buildings in the city, even eclipsing the walls that surround it in size. Is this the wolf form that Akkre had mentioned earlier? He said it was a large form but this is outrageous.

“Aaand here is what we’ve been all waiting to see, Akkre’s wolf form! It’s sad to say but this fight is just about over considering the sheer force from Akkre’s howl has pushed Amea into a wall knocking her unconscious. It’s a real shame we couldn’t see anymore. Although it was a bit anticlimactic, that concludes the duel between Akkre and Amea, the victor is, of course, Akkre. All things considered, Amea did very well to even push Akkre into transforming. Glad I'm not a janitor as cleaning up this mess is something I don't want to do. That’s all for our broadcast folks, this is the arbiter Johef signing off.”

We walk out of the observatory to meet up with Akkre and Amea but as we open the door Akkre is already here carrying Amea on his back. His face looks much more relaxed and he is back to his usual attitude.

“She fought hard today. Amea’s casting speed has risen tremendously. She has truly improved.” Akkre says with a gentle and caring smile. “You two, make sure you never tell her I said that. If either of you do, a worse fate than death awaits.” Akkre says, still smiling but with a completely different meaning behind it.

“Don’t worry sir my lips are sealed.” Johef says with a cold sweat running down his face.

I respond in a similar manner.

“With the way things turned today, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be finishin’ that tour today Eillim. Not that it really matters, since the best way to get the lay of the land is to explore for yourself. If that letter I got was any indication, you’ll be here for a while so you better get used to things around here soon. I was also told to train you. So be ready cause it won’t be easy.” Akkre says with a smile.

I may have made a mistake when I agreed to this but it’s too late for regrets now…