Chapter 2
Got to Start Somewhere
It had been a few days since my sudden appearance here, and I was starting to get used to it. My plan to stay with Laurel worked, and I was (ironically) living in the attic. I had learned a bit more about the culture of Vale, and it apparently was quite American. The people were very nice, much like Canadians. Hey, I'm not complaining. The technology was advanced in some ways, but behind in others. For example, there was no internet and no space exploration. Two of my favorite things don't exist here. Somehow, Aegis managed to get an internet connection from Earth. I am eternally in his debut.
I had also learned about Laurel and her life. She was apparently an only child who was a bit nerdy with only a few friends. She had always wanted to be a huntress, so I wouldn't be going on my journey alone. Speaking of which, today was my first day at Signal. Not Beacon, like I hoped, but you have to start somewhere. Laurel was on her second year and I was on my first, so we would most likely be separated. I probably could get Aegis to use his silver tongue to sneak my way up.
I had also learned more about Aegis. He was apparently one of a few beings tasked with the protection of all things that were in dimensions connected to this place called 'The Void'. I asked him if it had anything with Warframe, but he just pulled the Triple A game developer and said "Mysteries!" (It's funny because it's true). He can actually morph into various shapes, one of them being a human.
"C'mon Kyle, we're going to be late!" Laurel shouted at me, starting to approach the door. I crammed the last of my eggs into my mouth and picked up my bag, running after her.
"Signal's about a twenty minutes' walk from here" She added as we began running down the street. We were in the more modern part of Vale, so there was holographic lamps and traffic lights rather than real ones.
As we approached the large building, panting. It was a decent sized building, about the size of a high school with two to three floors and smaller versions of the spires on Beacon. The walls were made of weathered brick, a huge contrast from the modernized surroundings. We burst through the huge double doors into a large chamber with wooden flooring and fairly modern interior design. A set of doors sat in the center of each wall. Two lead to halls full of lockers and one lead to what appeared to be an office.
"Miss Winterberry" A calm voice broke the sound of our panting. I looked up to see a fairly tall man with combed grey hair and brown eyes wearing a tan business suit looking down at us. He seemed more focused on Laurel, but gave me a look as well.
"Oh, hi Mr. Davis" Laurel greeted nervously.
"You do know that the first day of school is delayed for two hours?" The man, now identified as Mr. Davis, asked. He didn't seem angry, rather he looked quite amused.
"Yeah, I was just trying to… Uh, do… something" She looked down, thinking of an excuse. I stifled a chuckle.
"Would it perhaps involve these two boys you are with?" He offered, gesturing to me and behind me.
'Two?' I thought, looking behind me. Leaning against the wall was a boy about my age with spiky black hair and fiery orange eyes that seemed to flicker like a raging fire. He wore a sleeveless black leather jacket and an orange shirt stained with ashes. He had black jeans and boots, but the latter appeared to have burn marks on it. Black fingerless gloves topped off the outfit. The most noteworthy feature was the compacted shield on his left arm that appeared to have a red hilt poking out of the back (Search 'Silva and Ageis' on Google Images). The clear giveaway was the flame symbol on the breast pocket of the leather jacket that matched the one on Aegis' book.
"Oh hi Aegis" I waved to him.
'Shut up and let me do the talking' He said in my head, but keeping a smirk on his face.
"Yeah, we just moved here from Vacuo a month ago. We already crafted our weapons, as you can see, and we just needed a school" He said in a cool voice. I gave him a look and he gestured to my hands with his head. I looked down to see what he was telling me.
Between now and the last time I looked at my hands, a set of red and black fingerless gloves appeared on my hands. That wasn't the thing I was looking at though, a set of gauntlets had also appeared, holding the same coloration. They were very angular and had lots of little details covering them. The same dragon from my necklace was worked into both gauntlets with the same red gem in the center. I smiled at the sight of the small lotus emblem and strange calligraphy on the shoulders of every Warframe worked into the dragons. I didn't see any kind of blade or anything like that on them though. I did see four small barrels on the bottom of the gauntlet. The most interesting feature was the glowing red veins that ran along the top of my gloves.
'Put your head up and play it cool, I'll explain when I get the chance' Aegis whispered in my head. I looked up and tried to keep myself occupied with something besides trying to find out the functions of my weapons. I want everyone to see the cool shit I just got.
'Keep it together! That's your job, I'll do the rest' Aegis commanded in my head.
"So, if you two boys are ready, I will see to your application" Mr. Davis broke our mental argument and began walking off. I apparently missed that whole part of the conversation. Aegis got off the wall and walked up to me as we walked into the office area. There was a long hallway down to the application area, so we had time to talk.
"I already know what you're going to say, so I'll just explain it. Your gauntlets have blades, just will it to activate and it will" Aegis started, out loud this time. I willed the blade mechanism to activate and two blades came out of either side of each gauntlet. They were angular and came out kind of like mandibles, but with sharp steel blades on each side. I did it a few times to get used to it.
"How does it work?" I asked.
"It utilizes an aura trick that links weapons directly to your soul. When you will for a mechanism to activate, it does it automatically, no matter how low you are" He continued "You can also cause them to open and close". I tried this and they moved in till they were touching, like the gauntlet was biting down on something.
"Hello, my name is George" I joked, holding the gauntlet up and moving it like it was talking while making a silly voice. Aegis was not amused.
"Okay. So, what about the barrels?" I quickly got away from that situation.
"Those are dart launchers. They use the same system as the blades. Careful, those darts are loaded with a highly corrosive solution that will melt anything it touches. I'll show you how to use those later" He explained and made a point for me not to shoot them. I smiled wickedly at the thought of a whole pack of Beowolves just becoming a liquid.
"Oh, and if you didn't notice, those veins on your gloves are filled with dust" He resumed.
"Fire dust?" I asked, noting the red color. Fire really wasn't my thing.
"No, this is the red dust from the White trailer" He corrected me. Now I see.
"So this is force dust?" I asked. He nodded.
"Just channel some aura into it, pick a target or set of targets, think what you want them to do and wave your hand in the motion that you want them to preform" He said it like it was simple.
"I don't even have my aura unlocked yet. How am I supposed know how to channel it?" I noted.
"I already did it"
"Did what?"
"Unlocked your aura"
"How?"
"I used your semblance, I can access your aura. And for channeling, just feel the flow of it. It's like blood flowing through your body. Focus on the energy in your soul, which is in your heart, and let it flow to your hand" He assured me. I sighed an "alright" and tried to focus any source of energy in me. I found a feeling in my chest and tried to just feel it flow. After a bit, I was able to send it to my hand, causing a red glow to cover it. The dust veins glowed even brighter and pulsed quickly.
"See?" Aegis congratulated.
"Well, it took forever. I wouldn't be able to do that in combat easily" I pointed out.
"You'll get used to it" He reassured me. I just now noticed that we were now sitting in a couple chairs next to a closed door. Laurel sat next to me with a bored look on her face.
"How did we get here?" I scratched my head, confused.
"Remember what I said. I can control your aura, I can control you" He said smugly.
"I already know what's going to happen, and it's not going to end well for you" I replied coldly.
"Read my mind" He snickered. The door next to our seats opened to reveal Mr. Davis.
"Welcome to my academy, boys. You have been entered as first years and will begin classes today" He smiled genuinely.
"Actually sir, I was hoping if we could perhaps skip a year in progress. We started our first year at another combat school already. I know that the curriculum is different, but I fear the classes will be redundant of our previous education. I would prefer us be challenged properly than have our intelligence insulted" Aegis negotiated.
"That seems fair. I will change your status to second years. I will send schedules to your scrolls as soon as possible. Feel free to explore the school and prepare for classes" The teacher smiled and slipped back into the room.
"Aegis, you are so smooth, it's not even funny" Laurel let a smile crawl onto her face. I fake laughed, earning a 'seriously' look from both of them.
"Let's just go" Aegis turned around and walked off. Laurel kept giving me the look, but eventually stopped. We followed the fire guardian back into the entry room, which was now populated by a few students that had come early.
"Well, I already have my schedule, so I'm going off to my first class. You two can follow if you want" Laurel said, producing a half sheet of paper and walking off. Aegis and I looked at each other, shrugged, and decided to follow. The rest of the building was fairly consistent with the design, but a few rooms and sections of halls were clearly older and more historical sections. Laurel then stopped in front of a door, checked the card, and walked in. The room was just your generic lecture hall. Rows of seats, diagrams of stuff I could care less about on the walls. It was empty except for one boy in the front of the room.
The boy was rather oddly dressed. He wore an orange suit that covered his entire body, excluding the head. The suit looked a lot like a space suit and had logos and pictures on random parts. A round white helmet with orange stripes sat on the table. It also looked like part of a space suit. The boy himself was pretty short and skinny, not having much of an imposing look. He had buzz-cut black hair and fairly pale skin. I didn't see his face because he was turned around. He wore an interesting backpack that was covered in little devices and objects. The pack appeared to have little jets and folded wings on the back.
"Oh, hi Jeb!" Laurel called out to the boy. He turned around, showing his dark eyes and cheerful grin. Then I realized it. Jeb. As in Jebediah, Jebediah Kerman. Wow, Aegis. I'm starting to think I'm in the matrix with all of these references to, coincidentally, my favorite video games. I mean, the guy named Hadvar that looked a lot like the Skyrim character, possible. This is pushing it.
'Hey, I didn't make the universe. If you have a problem, go yell at gravity' Aegis responded in my head. (If you aren't an atheist like me, that's fine. Just insert your own answer in the place of gravity. I won't judge)
"Oh, hi Laurel. Are these guys your friends?" Jeb said in a rather high voice.
"Yeah, this is Kyle and that's Aegis" She said, pointing to each of us respectively. I gave a quick two finger salute and Aegis gave a casual wave.
"Are you new? I haven't seen you around before" The kerbal noted.
"Yep, just registered. We went to another school before, so we're gonna be in your class" Aegis answered.
Just then, a dinging went off in my back pocket. I reached inside and pulled out a scroll, trying to act like I totally knew what I was doing. I pressed the orange button and pulled it open. An envelope icon in the top corner had a little one next to it, so I pressed it. It pulled up a message that contained a schedule for my classes. There weren't any identifications or teacher names, just classroom numbers. I recognized the number as the same one on the plaque on the door.
"Good news, this is my first class" I announced, closing my scroll.
"Same" Aegis added.
"Why do our schedules match? Don't teachers really not like that?" I questioned, looking at Aegis' scroll.
"Well, you just signed up. They probably didn't have enough time to give you different classes, so they just did it quick as possible" Jeb pointed out.
"Fair point" Laurel added. We continued the conversation as a few more students started piling into the room. I found that Jeb was in fact, the ballsiest person on the planet, just like in the game. We continued until the teacher entered the classroom.
"Alright everyone, let's get this show on the road" The man walked in, clapping his hands and rubbing them together.
"I like him already"
Alright everyone, second chapter out. Sorry if this was a bit of a wait, but I'm trying to juggle working with both of my stories at once. I'm attempting to do an alteration, but the flow of ideas for each one gets kind of blocked when I need to do another storyline. The way I write doesn't agree much with what I'm trying to do. But, I do my best. Please do be aware that all constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, I do take your ideas into consideration. If you could follow or drop a favorite, it really helps. It lets me know I'm doing it right. Thank you for reading. Necrorizah out.
