By dawn, Echelon Academy had transford.
The academy that students knew for its rigid schedules, endless training sessions and suffocating discipline had vanished overnight.
In its place stood a city of light.
Colourful tents stretched across the academy grounds in neat rows, each marked with glowing banners that swayed gently in the morning breeze.
Strings of lanterns and enchanted rope lights crisscrossed overhead between buildings and trees, forming rivers of colour above the crowds below.
Ava was running giddily through the grounds, dragging Yesu along with her.
They wore similar dresses.
Gaily dressed students filled every pathway.
Laughter echoed from every direction.
Music drifted through the air.
Food stalls lined entire sections of the academy, filling the grounds with scents that competed fiercely for attention.
For the first ti since arriving at Echelon, Yesu saw instructors smiling.
So were even participating.
The academy had been divided into districts for the occasion.
Each Ability Class had been given its own section of the grounds.
The Physical District occupied the training fields.
Obstacle courses towered into the sky while crowds gathered around strength contests, sprint races and reflex competitions.
The Elental District dominated the central plaza.
Columns of water twisted through the air beside floating lanterns held aloft by wind currents.
Earth users shaped living sculptures from stone and soil, while Fire users created dancing animals from harmless flas.
Even in daylight, the district glowed.
The ntal District sat beneath large white pavilions.
Students entered illusion chambers and mory galleries while telekinetic displays floated overhead like works of living art.
The Advanced District attracted the largest crowds.
Floating walkways connected platforms suspended several tres above the ground.
Forcefield structures shimred beneath sunlight while gravity users casually walked along surfaces that should have been impossible.
The Rare District stood furthest away.
Unlike the others, it was heavily monitored.
Long queues waited outside restricted exhibition halls while security personnel carefully controlled entry.
Nobody seed entirely sure what was happening inside.
That uncertainty only made the lines longer.
And above everything else floated thousands of lights.
Lanterns.
Small glowing spheres drifting lazily through the sky.
A festival tradition.
By nightfall there would be tens of thousands of them.
The entire academy would shine.
For one day every year, Echelon stopped pretending to be a fortress.
And rembered it was a school.
Ava stopped in front of a stall that sold cookies, baked into different colorful shapes.
"Let's have a snack." She said to Yesu. "The flavors are hidden in the colours so it'll be a surprise when you eat them."
Then she hollered at the seller who had his back turned to them.
"Two cookies please!"
The seller was checking on the oven.
"Which?" He asked without glancing back.
"Um…" Ava was scanning the displayed wares through the enclosed glass.
She turned to Yesu desperately.
"I can't decide. They're all so cheerful."
Yesu's eyes trailed the line of cookies and settled on a green cookie shaped like a tree at the edge.
There were only two left.
Yesu smiled brightly and pointed at them.
"This one."
Soone had spoken along with her.
Another finger was also pointing at the sa cookies.
Yesu glanced sideways.
A young man stood next to her.
He wore goofy attire and a wide straw hat with big dark glasses that covered most of his face.
He also had on a weird looking moustache.
"I saw it first." Yesu said.
The young man let out a laugh.
"I pointed first."
Yesu narrowed her eyes at him. "We were here first."
He leaned in. "So what?"
Ava stood by Yesu.
"Hey, we ca first. Back off if you don't want to face our fury." She said.
Although she didn't sound the least intimidating. Nor did she look it.
The young man laughed, leaned forward and tugged at her cheek playfully.
Yesu slapped his hand away.
"Ouch." He said, caressing his wrist. "Never thought a stunning beauty such as yourself would be so aggressive."
He gave her a mischievous smile.
"But then again, I like them feisty."
Yesu held Ava's hand.
"Let's go." She said and they turned to leave.
"Wait, wait, wait." The young man blocked their retreat with his attention on Ava.
"I tell fortunes. You seem like a pretty interesting lady, wouldn't you like to know what your future holds?" He asked, gesturing with dramatic flair.
Ava gasped.
"Future Sight!" She jumped up and down in excitent. "Yes. Yes. Yes."
"No." Yesu said.
Ava faced her.
"We get to use a Rare Ability, so we won't have to queue later. Definitely a yes."
She turned back to him, eagerly stretching out a hand.
"Do it."
Yesu rolled her eyes as he held Ava's palm.
"Such delicate features." He remarked.
"What do you see?" Ava asked keenly.
The young man peered into her palm, squinting.
"I don't think this is how Future Sight works." Yesu comnted.
"You don't know that." Ava countered. "It's Rare."
"Hmm." Ca the young man
Ava leaned in. "What is it?" She sucked in a breath. "Please tell you see a tall, good-looking guy in my future."
He nodded. "He is tall."
"Aren't they always?" Yesu muttered.
"Good-looking surely." He continued. "Not to ntion highly Ranked… has an air of mystery… famous too."
Ava squealed and spun around.
"I knew it!"
"He's a fake." Ca Yesu.
Ava stopped imdiately.
"Yesu." She scolded. "Don't say that or it might not co true."
"But he is."
"How can you even tell?"
Yesu stepped forward and in one swift motion, yanked off the glasses and moustache from the young man's face.
"Ow…"
Yesu smiled in satisfaction.
"Hello, Mr Fortune Teller."
Finch winced, holding a hand above his lips where the fake moustache had been.
"You didn't have to be so forceful, you know." He whined.
Yesu ignored him.
"See? Fake." She told Ava.
Ava sighed disappointedly. "So I'm not getting him?"
She shook her head sadly then gestured at Finch. "Who is he then?"
Finch coughed, stretching to his full height.
"Finchkin." Yesu spoke before he could introduce himself.
"Finch."
"What's the difference?"
"And why," ca the seller in the food stall. "... Are you three obstructing business?"
They turned.
Seth stood with folded arms, wearing a cap and apron, staring at them disapprovingly through his nerdy glasses.
Finch grinned. "Seth, the man always on a mission."
"Just take your friends and leave." Seth said with a sigh.
His gaze flickered to Ava, then Yesu. He paused.
"What is that?" He asked, notably more serious.
Finch and Ava faced Yesu curiously.
Yesu looked around.
"Where?"
Seth had not moved an inch. "On your hair."
Yesu touched her hair, then realized.
Before leaving the dorm she had woven three dark blue leaves of the Morning Dew flower, which she had taken from the greenhouse, together and tucked it behind her ear.
"Oh." She said "I thought it looked nice with the dress."
Seth's eyes narrowed, boring into Yesu.
"Hand it over."
User Comments
0 comments from readers