Whoosh —
Amidst the blinding blizzard, a figure in black armor stood motionless on the crag. His gaze penetrating the snowy peak. A long object wrapped in heavy black fabric stood by his feet. As he unveiled the cloth, a long, flattened grayish torso with holes was revealed; its hardened edge forming the blade. It was clearly visible that the sword was made out of a corpse!
At the tip of the sword, there was a head that was crushed and compressed to fit the shape of a sword, its jaw forming the point and its eyes staring upwards. The knight then pressed the point against the ground as churning sounds were made. Countless maggots emerged from the orifices and empty sockets of the sword, quickly rushing towards the hand of the black knight and seeping through his armor.
Klaen felt a slight sense of unease as he perceived this. He felt his arm itch as if maggots were dwelling under his skin. He quickly pulled the sleeve of his robe and looked at his arm: two blades crossing each other, with a resplendent sun representing dusk. Upon seeing that, all of a sudden, the dream shattered.
...What did I just see? What was that mysterious figure and the mark at the end? Under the dim light that passed through the window, Klaen got up, put on his shoes, and walked towards the bathroom with a tightened jaw.
He splashed water on his face and scrutinized his arm.
...It was a dream after all; there are no signs of any mark. Perhaps I should look for more clues about its exact meaning. I read in some historical texts that marks in dreams are often revelations of one's future. I cannot simply dismiss it; many tragedies happened because of this...
Klaen then quickly brushed his teeth, put on his uniform, left his apartment, and went to the main dining hall of the academy.
...
The dining hall of the academy was huge, with golden gemstones refracting from above, and in its northern part stood a stone platform with a height of one meter.
He lined up in the row and asked for boiled eggs of a frosthunter. The frosthunter was a type of lizard that was very common in the northern part of Caladan. Their metabolism could allow them to gain nutritional value from eating ice, and thus they were able to lay down 100 eggs in a day, making their eggs very popular in Trost.
...Well, I can look for clues regarding the mark in the library...
Klaen took a seat, grabbed a knife and a fork, and started to chop the blue fried eggs. Then he heard some students beside him whispering.
"Did you hear about the incident in the neighboring continent? A mysterious figure attacked the capital of the elf kingdom yesterday in the morning," a girl with brown blunt bangs said.
"I heard that the elf kingdom suffered many casualties," a student with curly blond hair replied.
...Why didn't I hear about it? Could it be related to the mysterious figure that I saw in my dream? No, I shouldn't assume things too early without enough evidence. Besides, the dream happened at night, not in the morning. From what I read in the books, the elf kingdom resides in the lush mountain range of Trianika; it certainly isn't a snowy kingdom...
"Well, I think it is up to them to solve that case," a student with a slightly chubby face replied.
"How can you be so insensitive? The people there are suffering," the girl said.
"Well, it is not our problem, Erika. You should understand that we face our own problems," he momentarily looked at the cup of water on the long table before quickly returning his gaze to Erika. "It was predicted that the winter this year will be harsher." With that being said, the student with the chubby face moved to another table.
...Wasn't he from class 4 section B? I don't quite remember his name...
Each class was divided into different sections: section A, B, and C.
"Ugh, Rihard is always so insensitive and egocentric, only caring about himself," the girl sighed.
"I understand. Then, what do you think will happen to those poor elves?" the student asked.
"Well, probably there will be a huge displacement of those people into our kingdom. If that's the case, Tieer will be overpopulated; it's the city that receives more refugees after all," the girl replied.
"I see."
...Well then, I guess it is time to go to the library... Klaen had finished his breakfast and headed to the library.
...
As he passed through the corridor, he saw that some stone platforms had rearranged themselves, blocking the path and opening another path.
...I always find it troublesome that corridors aren't static. It wastes time in pointless waiting...
The student with a slightly chubby face, with a letter in hand, appeared. He was clearly sweating from his temples. He was Rihard.
"I need to—how bad, where am I going to get one?" the student was muttering to himself.
...What is he doing here? Anyway, I have a mission in mind...
After the corridor finished rearranging itself and Klaen opened the door, he found Lara on the other side of the library. Subsequently, Klaen opened some of the books on the shelves in the section of symbols, but he couldn't find anything of value.
So he decided to take a seat. He took a piece of paper and drew the symbol with the pen that he always carried. Following that, he planned to approach Lara to see if she knew something about the symbol.
As Klaen approached, she unexpectedly crossed her arms and said in a half-joking manner:
"I've heard that you descended a class below."
"Well, I guess I will repeat the same class again," Klaen replied while scratching his head.
"What a pity—" At that moment, Lara seemed to fall into deep thought.
"By the way, do you know what this symbol means?" Klaen showed the piece of paper to her. She saw two swords crossing each other; above those swords, there was the symbol representing dusk: the sun.
Lara's eyes constricted and she hesitantly replied, "That symbol—perhaps it was the symbol of an ancient family. But honestly, I don't know anything about it. Why are you asking me about this?"
"I'm fulfilling a friend of mine's request. He told me to look for information about the symbol."
Lara furtively glanced at the symbol once more.
...I can't reveal that the symbol comes from a dream... Lara was hesitant when she replied to my question.
"Well, I was about to tell you something, but you interrupted me. If you want, you can come to train tomorrow with us. We are a group of students that like to help each other; perhaps this will help you avoid failing the next special exam," Lara said while winking one eye.
...What a bold girl. I wish I had that level of confidence... Klaen's mouth twitched.
"Sure."
...This will be an opportunity to get more information about the symbol; perhaps the other students could provide clues...
At that moment, a bell rang, marking the start of the classes.
After that, they left the library and bade farewell to each other.
...From what I saw, there is only a few things I can confirm: the library has no information about the symbol, thus I can discard the idea that it is tied to a specific spell. Lara also doesn't seem to recognize it. The symbol only appeared on my arm after the macabre sword touched the ground inside the dream.
So the most likely explanation is this: the symbol is related to an ancient family that is not recorded in the current manuscripts. If the library has nothing about them, then either their records were erased or they were never included in the system in the first place. Lara mentioning "ancient family" supports this idea, even if she doesn't know details, although there is still the possibility that the families may be from another nation—.
But why does the symbol appear only when the sword touched the ground? Perhaps it may be related to that ancient family, and the knight may have stolen the sword, but I cannot conclude it yet. In any case, one thing is sure: I should focus on the class ahead...
Klaen thought while walking in the corridor with a tightened pace.