It was the first month of winter, but it did not matter that much. After all, it snowed almost all year round in these parts. A young man walks through the streets, passing by the residential district of Eldoria. The streets were empty, because of the incoming storm, people preferred to be locked up.
As he walked past the street lights it was as if he could feel the heat emitting from their flickering flames. Matching past the last houses, he began to walk up the road on the side of the hill that led to the university.
He was heavily dressed, in what seemed like second hand clothing, you could tell by the tears and worn fabric that his clothes had seen a fair share of adventure. Even so, he wasn't bothered by the cold as he marched on. He carried a backpack, it was stuffed as if he was going on a long journey into the wastelands or was about to venture into the woods.
It was heavy, he seemed tired yet he walked up hill to the academy gates in great stride. Snow rested on the fir on his coat and hat, as steam filled the air with every breath he took. But his brownish skin seemed to flourish in the cold, as his march lead him to the summit. Then there he was, his yellowish eyes lit up as he stood at the gate of the Empire's university of Eldoria.
This university had a dark past. Established in the year 94 of the Drakhoran calendar, it was made with the intention of training the empire's children in mystic arts and other forms of combat, tactics and warfare. During that time the empire was newly formed and they needed a way to deal with threats, the war wasn't the only problem they were faced with.
The first era of darkness, the world was plunged into chaos by forces unknown. Empires fell, cities destroyed and civilization left on the blink of collapse. Then came the Tarnished, entities of unknown origin. Merciless, inhuman and with unmatched strength they ravaged what was left of humanity and the land.
But as a last-ditch effort the Azure federation, one of the world's largest nations created a means to seal ourselves from the rest of the dead world.
At the time, all lands on the continent were under the rule of the Azure federation. But as sometime passed, after two centuries the world entered the second coming of the darkness era. The Tarnished seeped through into our world once more, this time the came in hordes from the abyss. They threatened mankind once more, but this time the Azure federation sealed of the high walls on their capital and let the rest of the world to die.
During that time this city of Eldoria was just a town, a young swordsman rised up to combat the hordes. He earned the trust of the people and ultimately formed an army of mercenaries, he would come to be known as Emperor Isaac Drakhoras ruler of the Drakhoran Empire.
Then on the 94th year of his rule he built this school in his home town. But back then it was more of a military camp for young children born with magic.
It has been about 700 years since then. A couple of years back they had done some renovations on the institution when it was reopened. Now it's a school for everyone. Even the ordinary people come to study here, they offer courses in many fields but it's still a school of sorcery.
The young man looked at the tall building in the middle of the campus, it was the largest, so large it seemed to touch the clouds above. But don't be fooled, it wasn't that big of a deal since this place was in high altitudes the clouds seemed to be lower than they actually were.
He walked passed the gate and into campus, as he walked you could tell by his stride that he walked around this path daily. He took a right before reaching the first building and walked the paved pathway round the building.
The tall, large building was fully surrounded by numerous modern design buildings. The large one was the administrative center and the library. The other buildings were either classrooms and clubs and such.
He walked for what seemed like a while till he reached a big oak tree stand alone in front of a big lone building. A bit rough and rundown than the others. It had an old fashion design about it, stone exterior, cracked windows and broken balconies.
He opened the huge wooden door and as he entered, it was no different than the outside. It was rundown, piles of boxes and crates filled the hallway. Untidy and neglected the carpet hardened and the paint on the walls fell off revealing the poorly plastered walls. This was a dump by any standards.
He continues till he reaches the end of the hallway takes the circular stairs down to the basement. As he approached the door he can already feel the heat emanating from the room.
He busts through the door. Before even looking around he drops the bag on the floor and he takes of his gloves as he rushes to the fireplace opposite to the door.
"Welcome. " says someone in a low toned voice. "How was your outing?"
The young man sat cross-legged in front of the fire place, basking in the warmth of the flames.
" It wasn't bad. Got great deals today."
Then on his left a young woman about his age, got up, as she walked over the bag picking it up from the floor.
She was a bit muscular. Had braided long hair and brown skin. But what seemed strange were her blue eyes, they lit with an intense fury. She was a blend of toughness and beauty. Even so he clothing was better than the guy. She only had on a light tank top and trousers folded to the knees.
Now taking the time to look around the room was a little better than the other parts of the building we had seen so far. It was tidy even though the furniture was old. It looked pretty decent, on his left where the girl was sitting was a small study. There was a large book shelf on top of it covering the entire wall. Next to the fireplace there was some sort of work bench. You could tell by the amount of screws, gears and metal components on the table, there even was a large purple crystal sphere that kept showing mysterious gravings on it, they flowed in a continuous sequence.
On his far right was a small kitchen area neatly kept and then his right opposite to the study was a bed. Above the headboard clothes hung neatly. At the center of the room was a table and two chairs. And that's it, all old fashioned wooden furniture in a minimalist decore.
The girl took the bag to the table at the center and began unstuffing it, taking out groceries of meat, caned products, fruits and some vegetables and a few herbs.
Then she took out something that seemed to be wrapped in cloth.
She slowly walked to the work bench as she uncovered it. Her eyes seem to fill with wonder as she uncovered the object wrapped in cloth, she then to it out. It was a small glass bottle filled with what seemed to be blue glowing ink. She held it towards the ceiling light as if she was checking the authenticity of a gem.
Her eyes sparkles looking at he the guy who was focused on the warmth of the fire.
"Where did you find it?" She asked with excitement.
"From an acquaintance of my, we met last year shortly after I enrolled here, he had mentioned his parents running an unlicensed store but back then I wasn't intrigued."
He got up as he approached the crystal ball and took a look at it, the girl took a seat. She placed the ink on the table, putting on gloves and goggles. With haste and swiftness she opened the glass of ink and from the table picked up a sort pen penlike instrument. It was bigger and had a sort of split at the tip. It was known as an engraver.
He stepped back as he observed her in action. She dipped it in the ink, the ink seemed to flow upwards into the split on the tip. The engraver seemed to change its glow giving the ink a sort of purple hue.
With that the girl began to weave it on the crystal sphere, she wove mysterious, mystical characters on to thin air that seemed to flow one by one into the crystal. The guy walked to the study. There were pieces of paper on the table, he picked them up they had the exact same characters the girl was weaving on to the crystal. They seemed like lines of code they went on and on, page to page without end.
He seats down and took of his hat. It was strange to see his hair which surprised most people. It wasn't anything much but it caught attention everywhere he went. He had long black hair that was well kept you could tell by its shiny glow. He had it well tied up but the most eye-catching feature about it was the strand of gray hair on his left bang.
He leans against the chair, looking up. Their was not much to look at other than the support beams, he stared at them for sometime, then without a sound he passed out on the chair. The only sound he could hear was the sound on engraving, well that and the crackling of the flame as they eat away at the fire wood.