[i]Get out of this househ-

[right]You are hereby banishe-[/right]

Why don’t you just die far awa-

[right]Even if the whole world hates you, you’ll still have m-[/right]

They said she only has a few hours left to liv-

[right]It was all your fault! Give my daughter ba-[/right]

Please, just disappe-[/i]

[center][b][color=#d40b0b]”Stop it.”[/color][/b][/center]

. . .

Why was he holding his head? A quick glance behind him and Zephyr confirmed that he was currently standing at the entrance of the academy. Lost in thoughts all alone, the boy had ascended the mountain without even breaking a sweat. His body had been put on autopilot whilst his mind let go of the controls and toiled in its own being. The sweet tang of machiatto intermixed with vanilla still latched onto his tongue tightly, amplified over the sudden rush of fragmented memories. He felt like the embodiment of his being was an amalgamation of broken shards of stained glass haphazardly glued together, easily permeable through the empty cracks between, each piece incongruous juxtaposed to the rest. 

There’s no way a future could be built on such a frail foundation. Although it was the aching past alone that molded him into the person he is today, there were minute deposits of clear happiness within the arrangement of discord. He couldn’t bring himself to abandon what lied behind him, simply because of the fact that it was what truly made him. His morals. His values. His disposition. All of it.

With his conscience now back behind the wheel, Zephyr navigated his way to the pools. Hopefully the water dragon hasn’t been busy and [i]made[/i] a few additions after his last visit. One was tiring enough, there was no way he could even fathom an entire family of them. Though it was an entity propagated by Kano’s will, there was surely a spiritual tie to the beast. The student wasn’t exactly required to attend this session. Outside of Kano’s personal water disciples, this gathering was completely voluntary. But since it was a direct lesson with the omnipotent co-headmaster Kano Hargor, there wouldn’t be a lot of first years passing up the offer. Also it was in his best intentions to touch base with the academy’s only darkness teacher just in case the man had any tips. The past week has been quite the eventful one. While most students lied roughly around square one, Zephyr has been wielding his element for nearly a decade, and has been honing his grasp ever since. With that fact solidified, Kano’s spent most of their lessons ascertaining the boy’s limits, which has been a fairly strenuous task considering that the user gives no visual indication until he or his weapon craps out. And since the latter is directly linked to the former, one could quantify how many near heart attacks the headmaster has experienced the past few days.

For somebody who has long since forgotten the definition of a [i]father[/i], it wouldn’t be too far out of reality’s boundaries that Zephyr would see Kano as a paternal figure. Thankfully for both of them that wasn’t the case. Kano was the mentor, and Zephyr was the pupil. Perhaps one of these days the boy would drop the [color=#d40b0b][i]”Papa~!!!”[/i][/color] bomb on him just for comical effect. 

Zephyr was the last person to file into the congregation of students attending Kano’s session. Instantaneously his ears picked up the amiable voice of Luke Thames, the King Arthur of Elemental Academy’s Water Pools. So did that make Zephyr Jeanne D’Arc? Then again, he wielded both the fabled king’s dagger and the Maid of Orleans’ battle standard. Anyways, looking past the details, it was nice to see a familiar face. The two have mostly exchanged sparse words during lessons and the occasional run-in at lunch, but that was the extent of their… friendship? Does besting a water dragon together warrant such terms? The fundamentals of the query left the boy utterly perplexed. He continued to mull over their social standings as his eyes glossed over another familiar face. It was the Valkyrie herself, Brunhilde, sans stead. She was as close to Zephyr as the same extent Luke was. But, still, he found a little peace in the sentiment. Unnoticed by many, the boy waded his way through the ocean of students and appeared at Luke’s side just as he shook hands with Kano. The darkness user emulated the greeting by holding out his vacant  grip, complemented by a brusque [color=#d40b0b]”Sir.”[/color]

Physical combat was his forte, but chances are the headmaster had something nifty up his sleeve to get the adrenaline rush going.