The dawning sun initiated the start of a brand new week, one that brought considerable changes for Altair and Sky Cross. Waking with a stretch and a yawn, Altair rubbed his bleary eyes and got out of bed, quickly getting dressed and brushing away his bed-hair. In the room over, he could hear Sia stumbling around as she did the same. He begun breakfast without her, joining Jace at the table as he poured himself a bowl of oats and a steaming cup of tea. The older man was reading a newspaper with a frown on his face-granted, he always had some sort of scowl, but this one seemed more prominent. He looked over the peek at the page, reading the headline
[Three villages wiped out overnight! Cultists on the move, or a monster migration? Churches and government try to quell panic, but are unable to provide answers!]
"That sounds pretty bad" Altair commented causally, swallowing a mouthful of tea. Jace glanced at him noncommittedly before going back to reading. Seconds later, Sia came through the door and scowled upon seeing they had started without her. "You guys are so inconsiderate" she complained, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl and sitting beside Altair. She also noticed the newspaper title and frowned heavily. "The amount of deaths and attacks have skyrocketed in the last few months...even big cities like Felise came under attack from Cultists. Is something happening in the shadows?" Sia had a keener insight than most people, being the heir of a Ducal House, so she assumed there was a darker undercurrent to what was being shown.
Jace hesitated for several seconds before letting out a sigh and putting down the paper. "Indeed, things have been steadily going downhill for while now. For whatever reason, the Cultists have been swarming the Gaia Continent recently, like someone threw a rock at a hornet's nest. The Churches and Royal Family have been scrambling to contain them, but even then their attitude is strange. The heavy-hitters haven't come out yet, and most of the responsibility actually falls on the Great Houses and lower clergy. People from the fringe villages are flocking to bigger cities to escape the massacres being carried out in the wilderness, which allows Cultists to also infiltrate the cities in large numbers. Sky Cross won't be affected though, since the entire region is under the strict surveillance of Le'garde and several Legendaries. Still, the situation elsewhere is swiftly deteriorating."
"Are the other Continents also experiencing upheaval?" Altair asked, trying to sound natural.
"I haven't heard much from across the seas, but there does seem to be some trouble on their side too. Of course, Tartarus can't become any bigger of a hellhole it already is, and Astoria always keeps its doors shut, but Ouranos and Borealis have been affected too. We definitely got it the worst though..."
Altair finished his breakfast in silence before getting up and gathering his schoolbooks. Sia followed him shortly after, having only eaten a light breakfast. Jace waved them out the door without looking up from the paper, having resumed reading after talking with Sia. Altair gave him about two weeks before permanent frown marks were etched into his forehead. It was a miracle they hadn't already, or maybe that was a blessing from his Tier.
As he walked down the now-familiar path towards the classroom, he let Sia's chatter flow in one ear and out the other. She told him everything that had happened the day prior, which wasn't much to be fair, but he still couldn't be bothered. Altair felt obligated to fulfill the role of her younger bother, partly out of pity and partly out of gratitude, but he had his own views of just what that entailed, and being her conversation dummy wasn't one of them. Whenever Sia found out he wasn't listening though, she would usually strike him on the back of the-
Whack!
Altair stumbled forward and nearly fell, but managed to find his balance. He turned around to see a peeved off Sia staring down at him (by Infinity why did children have to be so small) and looking unhappy. "Where you even listening?" she asked angrily.
'A rhetorical question' he thought, but his mouth moved differently.
"Yes sister, you were talking about your thoughts on the class competition and how unfair it is" he accurately recited the last thing she said. While Altair never actually listened to what she said, his brain still stored her words away for scenarios just like this. Despite getting her answer though, Sia still looked frustrated. "Then at least respond and try to keep the conversation going! Gods, why do you have to be so weird?!"
Altair would never admit it, but in that moment he felt his heart sting. Sensing her own harshness, Sia softened and gently ruffled Altair's hair. "Hey, I didn't mean that" she sighed, "It's just that I worry about you. You get along well with Elizabeth and Alexander, but they're your only two friends, and neither of them are exactly normal either. Mother is also concerned about you."
"What's wrong with Elizabeth?" he asked, tilting his head in confusion. Alexander's issues were clear to see, but his erudite friend was perfectly normal in his eyes. Sia just shook her head however and patted his head, Altair narrowing his eyes in brief pleasure. "There's nothing particularly wrong with her, but Elizabeth reminds me of the Elders of the family. You haven't met them yet but...I don't know, I just feel uncomfortable around her. Like her gaze don't fit her age, I guess. Her eyes seem too deep for such a young child."
"She's an Ascender" Altair shrugged, "She's probably had her own experiences, having Bloomed at such a young age. Besides, I don't sense any hostility from her. I think you're just on edge." His words were slightly sharp, but Sia didn't refute them. "Well, you're right about me being stressed" she sighed again, one of fatigue this time. "It's even affecting my appetite..."
"That won't do" Altair frowned, grasping her hand in concern. "You're at the age where you need to eat lots, a critical juncture for development." Sia blushed slightly at his sincere words and earnest expression, flicking his forehead and laughing. "Who taught you those words you silly fool?"
"Alexander" he lied, through his friend under the bus without a moments hesitation. "He says he's very knowledgeable about these types of things. Sister, what does exactly these "things" that Alexander was talking about?"
Altair observed in amusement as Sia turned red at the ears, but had to duck her swatting hand. "That's enough of that Altair, let's get going to class...and pay no attention to what that boy says, do you understand? It's just boring nonsense."
He nodded innocently and continued walking, his inner prankster satisfied for the morning. Getting a reaction from Sia was always fun, as his sister was the most innocent person he had met on Orvonia yet. His good mood didn't last long though, as when he reached the corridor that all First Year classes were on, another student bumped into them roughly. He was shoved back into Sia, who nearly fell back herself, but both managed to stay upright. Altair glared up angrily at the boy who knocked into them, but the culprit merely frowned at them.
He was a tall boy with mousy brown hair, dull green eyes and a moderate physique that suited the Sky Cross uniform well. Altair didn't recognize him, which meant he was from Class C or D. He ha memorized all the students in Class B because Sia was there, but hadn't bothered to do the same for the other two. As the two stared each other down, an angry Sia interjected.
"Hey, asshole! Mind where you're going next time!" she cursed, rubbing her arm where Altair had knocked into her. The boy's gaze flickered over to her but no apology came. Instead, he sneered and raised his arm to push Altair back. "Out of my way, kid" he ordered, forcefully moving past them. Altair watched with cold eyes, but Sia was fuming. Before she could go after him though, the first bell rang, signifying five minutes to class. At the same time, Altair saw Alexander rushing up the stairs behind them, obviously trying to reach class before being late.
He stopped upon seeing the Atrazark siblings though, greeting the two with a smile. "What are you doing out here in the hallway? Not afraid to miss rollcall?" he asked casually, but was taken aback by the anger in Sia's posture and the coldness in Altair's eyes. He turned to follow their line of sight, just in time to see the brown-haired boy enter his own classroom: Class C.
Alexander sighed in realization and put his hand on Altair's shoulder, only to be shrugged off a second later. Without skipping a beat, he did the same to Sia only to just as swiftly remove it following a look from Altair.
"Listen buddy, just let it go. With the first round of the competition coming up, the lower classes are starting to get rowdy. I've already been harassed by some of Melvix's cronies, but it's just the desperate scrambling of a bunch of second-rate losers, nothing to get worked up about. And if they really do go to far, just tell the teachers. No one will be dumb enough to start a fight in the corridors, in plain view of the camer-"
BANG!
Before Alexander could finish, the door of their classroom was blown clean off its' hinges and smashed into the wall opposite it. A second later, a body was thrown after it, hitting the crumpled metal and slumping to the ground. As the smoke cleared, Altair saw Nezra walk out through the gap and stand before the body, clothes smoking and both hands in his pockets. Sensing their presence, he turned towards them and removed a hand from his pocket.
"Hey"