"Good luck on your first day."

♣

CHAPTER FIFTEEN ♣ FIRST DAY

Corvan made his way inside a building bigger than Valeriana had ever seen. If it was alright to compare, it was about twice the size of Buckingham Palace in England. The actuality of its height and width had gotten her dizzy just by staring at its size.

"Remember," Corvan told her. "The academy is divided into different areas for the different year levels. This one is your building until you move to your second year, is that clear?"

"Yes."

Corvan made no hesitance to slip past the gigantic doors which reached an ominous height about more than twenty-five feet tall, so Valeriana followed curtly. Stepping in made her feel like entering a grand mansion. The first thing she saw was a large, curved staircase that was narrow on top and wide at the bottom. A red carpet was rolled down, perfectly matching its size and shape.

A few students were huddled in groups in random spots across the room, and their unannounced arrival immediately attracted many of their attention. Murmurings began inside the room, their mocking gazes and devious smiles made Valeriana conscious of herself.

"Are you nervous?" Corvan asked, sauntering towards the first step of the staircase.

Valeriana looked up at him with her expressive, blue eyes and shook her head. "I'm fine, just anxious."

"What's the difference?" He asked, bringing her back to reality.

"It's much worse." She replied.

Corvan remained nonchalant. "Will you act the same way you did before if I tell you that for it'll be impossible for you to even survive before this year ends?"

The human girl raised a brow at him. "What? The part where I freak out and ask you to hide me or the part where I pin you down after you make me realize it's all a sick joke?"

As the memories flashed back inside his head, a smile crept on his lips and he let out a low chuckle. Even he must admit that what happened was quite amusing. All the reason why he wanted it to be kept a secret.

"What? You're laughing because it's funny, right?"

The smile lingered on Corvan's lips. "I must say it is downright amusing."

"Which part?"

"What do you expect? Of course. The part where you did not know what to do."

"Alright, so you refuse to laugh at your own humiliation, huh?"

Corvan frowned at her. "What happened to me wasn't funny at all."

Valeriana giggled. "For me, it's actually the funniest part."

The arrogant lord glared at her. "It isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"Do you seriously want to argue with me?" He asked. "You should know that you're disrespecting someone from a higher status. What you did a while ago was unforgivable."

"Oh, yeah. Like you have any place to say that. Even though I'm a human, that doesn't mean I'm a Valemnian or whatever. I follow by my own world's rules. You aren't the king of the world or anything, so why should I respect you?"

"It's because you're standing within the territories of Valemnia. Haven't you ever heard of the rule to follow the customs of the place when you are there?"

"Oh, so this is like 'In Rome, do what the Romans do', is that it?"

"Somehow like that. Lord Aeron did not give you the privilege of having extra-territorial rights when you entered this academy."

"Unless you prove to me that you are worthy of your title, I won't respect you." She stubbornly told him.

"Then neither will I." He retaliated.

They continued to climb the steps in silence. After reaching the top, they turned to their right and traveled through the corridor to their left and stopped in front of the sixth door by the right.

"You should smile more." Valeriana boldly told him. "It looks better on you. If you keep frowning, you'll have wrinkles."

"I did it simply because I just realized that humans are downright amusing." He answered with hostility.

Valeriana's frowned in aggravation from his attitude. Being with this guy certainly was pissing her off. His attitude was so provoking.

"Really," she muttered, rolling her eyes. It wasn't like she was nagging him feeling like they were close.

"This is it. I won't be seeing you for a while. I'll be busy with my own business so ask someone else to guide you to the dinner hall." He then left after that.

"Geez. Way to go ignoring me. He keeps telling me I'm weird, but look who's talking." Valeriana slowly twisted around and stared at the brass knob of the wooden door standing before her. She took a deep breath and grabbed the knob, pushing it open. The creak made her heart pound in her chest and she peeked into the room through the small gap she made. She slipped right in immediately and was confronted by the image of-thank goodness-a typical college classroom. With a few modifications of course.

She was afraid she would spot something more . . . unusual.

As she breezed through the room to find an empty and unoccupied seat, the feeling of eyes following her every move did not cease to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Hey!" Someone waved at her.

Valeriana followed the direction of the voice and saw a girl patting the empty seat next to her. Feeling relieved, Valeriana started to climb the steps. The style of the classroom was like the one in Harry Potter . . . or was that another movie?

Just as she took another step, a boy about her age stuck out his foot and tripped her. Valeriana gasped as she felt her body losing its balance. She painfully landed on her front with a loud bang and high-pitched shriek, causing the whole class to erupt into gleeful laughter.

"Oh my goodness. Is she really a member of the Celestial Circle? How can one be so ungraceful and clumsy?" Someone guffawed.

"Unworthy!"

"How pathetic."

Valeriana felt embarrassed that she couldn't even show her face. She wanted to scream in frustration but bit her lip to prevent herself from humiliating herself any further. She instead, decided to stand back up on her feet without saying anything.

Maybe the thing about being a member of the circle was a bad idea after all.

Valeriana cleared her throat and dusted off her clothes. She looked down at the foot of the dude who tripped her. It was still sticking out, so as revenge, Valeriana lifted her foot and brought it down harshly. Her feet landed with a 'thwack' on his foot.

The boy screamed in agony. Valeriana felt a little rush of pleasure from it, so she put more pressure on it intently, chewing on her lip until she heard something crack. Valeriana then took a step back, pretending to not realize what she had done until then.

"Oh," Valeriana gasped, feigning innocence. "I'm sorry. How stupid of me. I already tripped over it but I still didn't see. I suggest you keep your foot to yourself, so none of us would get hurt."

The laughter immediately died down and everyone fell quiet.

Valeriana then yawned and stretched out her hands. She swung them side to side until she 'accidentally' hit the boy who tripped her on the face . . . hard. It caused the poor, unfortunate guy to groan at the impact.

"Oh my god!" Valeriana breathed, pulling her hand back. "My hand slipped! I'm so sorry!"

Some of the students snickered.

She sighed. "It's better for me to get a seat. I'm really sorry." She then breezed through the room and settled in the seat the girl who was waving at her recommended. "Whew! That felt good." She whispered.

The girl had big, brown eyes with brown hair stylishly wound into French braid. She leaned on her table and stared at Valeriana's face. "That was so funny!" She giggled.

"Erm . . . yeah, I guess."

She pouted. "Julian had always been a jerk. That gave him a taste of his own medicine."

Valeriana laughed.

"It's my first time ever talking to one of the Celestial Twelve. Not even Brindon Jintaci, Zevlin Sabian or Genevieve Sabian would speak to the rest of the class in exception for themselves." She jerked her chin towards the girl sitting on the other side of the room, looking well-mannered and reserved, and a boy who was running his forefinger on his table while wearing a bored expression.

"Huh?" For a moment, their eyes connected. Valeriana hurriedly dragged her gaze away and turned her attention back to the girl. "I thought it was Celestial Circle." She was quick to try and not pay a thought to the awkwardness of the incident that just happened.

"Circle or Twelve, they're still referring to the same group." She said. "So . . . you're a human." The way she said it was teasing as though she was saying that Valeriana had a boyfriend and she saw the two of them in an 'awkward' situation.

"Y-yeah," Valeriana was scared of what she was going to do next. "My name's Valeriana."

"I know," Chavi laughed and held her hand out for her to shake. Valeriana reluctantly held out hers and shook it. "You were the talk of all the students in the academy." Both of them pulled their hands back. Chavi crossed her legs and leaned back on her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I see."

"I saw you fight this morning." She started. "You were impressive with how you defeated Courtney." She whispered, looking sorrowful. "No one has been able to defeat her. Her record was smooth and she climbed her way up the chart faster than most of the other rankers-other than Lord Corvan, of course. But you managed to defeat her without even having to stay for a whole day. Are you really human?"

Valeriana laughed at her statement and scratched her head, feeling ridiculously flustered by her speech. "I think what happened was just pure luck. Courtney was a really good fighter. " She said, trying to be humble.

"Really?"

"I-" she was cut off when the door shot open with a loud bang.

Hollering voices just outside the door echoed, primarily including the voice of Lady Seraphina and the Headmaster. "Zip your mouth shut, Kylon! I won't tolerate you playing tricks on me like that!"

"Pardon me, Lady Seraphina." Headmaster Kylon laughed. "I really-"

"Don't talk to me! Fool! Idiot! Stupid!" Three loud booming noises came in a row and the tables shook with the tremor that vibrated throughout the building. Valeriana cringed, hearing sharp punches that cracked the wall.

"Lady Seraphina's element is Earth." Chavi softly informed.

"I-I see," she stammered, clearly clueless of how she was going to react.

Lady Seraphina stomped into the room with the headmaster hot on her tail. "Get out of my sight, you barbarian! I don't ever want to see your face again!" Doing the unexpected, she kicked the door close which hit his face.

"O-ow."

She walked into the room and smacked her palms on the top of the wooden desk positioned in front of the class. Everyone vigilantly stood from their seat all together. Valeriana almost fell off trying to catch up.

"Take your seat." Lady Seraphina strictly instructed and everyone complied. "Okay, class. I'll be your teacher from now on." She said.

"Huh?"

Seraphina lazily dragged her gaze to her direction. "Is there anything wrong with that, Valeriana?"

"I'm sorry." Valeriana smiled apologetically. "Please go on."

She's going to be my teacher! A sense of excitement bubbled inside Valeriana.

"I apologize for barging into the room like that. I'm in bad terms with the headmaster currently." She put the book she was carrying on top of the table and flipped it open to a page.

I wouldn't want to get on her bad side. Valeriana thought.

Seraphina carried on with the discussion casually. "I want you to properly introduce yourself, Valeriana. Though most of the students here have watched your victorious fight with Lady Courtney, I am guessing some people aren't that acquainted with you yet." She said. "And you arrived a week later after classes started, so it's better if you say a few things about yourself."

Valeriana rose from her chair. "My name is Valeriana Kerrigan," she spoke. "I'm seventeen and . . . I come in peace."

That was a pun for aliens, considering she came from another world. They didn't look like they got it though. She sat back down, feeling the rate of her heartbeat speeding up.

"Seventeen? Isn't she so terribly young?"

"Humans look so old in that age already?"

What? Valeriana was alarmed. Is that person saying I look too old? How dare she!

"Seventeen?" Seraphina's brows creased. "Ah!" the lady knight exclaimed, realization dawning. "I forgot to tell you that our ages are numbered differently."

"What?" She deadpanned.

"In order to not get confused, your equivalent age to Valemnian years is thirty-four. Valemnia's timeframe is different from Earth's. You can spend two years in Valemnia and only a year will pass in your world."

Valeriana's mouth fell open.

"Alright then, since Valeriana is done with introducing herself, I want to make things clear." Seraphina placed a hand on her waist and smacked the surface of the table once more.

Doesn't that hurt?

"I'll be serving as your instructor in History starting from today. I expect nothing more than good performance from you all, whether a commoner or a noble. If there's anything that you need to ask, just raise your hand and I'll answer your question."

Almost everyone raised their hands.

"On second thought," Seraphina flipped the page of the book to the next page.

Answering these many questions was a bother. Besides, Seraphina wasn't the type to entertain personal questions. These students were probably going to ask her about her career and so on and so forth.

"Let's proceed to our lesson. Today, I'll start with the basics. We will recall about the things you have learned from the middle grade. If someone doesn't remember, you'll be having twenty laps around the whole campus as punishment. I'll give Valeriana an exception, but you have a month to learn the basics, otherwise, you won't be able to follow what I'm talking about. Do you hear me, Valeriana?"

"Goodness. I can't believe she's one of the elite students. She doesn't even know the basics."

Her eye twitched in annoyance. I can hear you, you know. "Yes, ma'am."

"She's such a tyrant!" Chavi said admiringly.

"That's not something to be happy about!" Valeriana barked.

"We will recall. Raise your hands, those who can answer." Seraphina said. "Now this is very basic. About how many demons are out there, so far? The latest official count this year? You should be able to know this. It's crucial information."

A hand shot up almost instantly. Seraphina nodded towards the girl. "Yes?"

Her classmates curiously directed their stares at her as she rose from her seat and answered the question asked. "Nine hundred and sixty-seven thousand, eight hundred and thirteen. Was I correct?"

"You answered accurately. Now please be sure to take down notes later. Now, taking into account these numbers, there used to be more than three million a few thousand years ago, but the rate of the demon population has dwindled as we go on with our lives."

Valeriana sighed and massaged her forehead. She watched everyone in the classroom take out some paper and their ink bottles with a feather as a pen. No matter how she looked at it, it's definitely weird.

"So this is the human attending the academy? Interesting." Valeriana felt a hot breath on her neck and she jumped up, startled. She turned around sharply and came face to face with an unfamiliar person. She screamed and shoved her fist forward, almost hitting him on the face. Luckily, he was able to predict her move and instinctively held out his hand, catching her fist with his palm.

"There! There!" He exclaimed.

"Whoa," Chavi gushed along with the whole class, mouth dropping at the man's display of physical strength.

"I think you should learn not to just pop out of nowhere, Claude." Seraphina frowned in displeasure. "Otherwise, one of my students might beat you up before I even see. You knew what happened to Celeste Emmett, am I correct?"

Valeriana gasped after realizing what she had done. Claude just chuckled and released her hand. "What a strong punch." He commented, his face creasing in amusement. "It's as if my hands would break from the impact!"

She pulled her hand back. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to! I was sort of thinking about the duel, so . . ." Her speech impediment forced a chuckle out of Claude.

"It's fine. It's my fault. Anyway, I shouldn't have scared you."

"Please accept my apology,"

"I'm fine, don't worry." He laughed. "You're starting to sound like some person I know." His laugh softened into a smile as he suddenly looked nostalgic from what he said. He stared at Valeriana's face for a moment, looking somehow saddened by his sudden statement. "Now that I think about it, you . . ."

Seraphina cleared her throat, fist on her lips. "What did you come here for, Claude?"

Hearing Seraphina's call, the man named Claude redirected his gaze to Seraphina. He immediately returned the smile on his face, though it seemed a bit forced. "That isn't a way to greet a fellow aristocrat, is it, Lady Seraphina?" He made a slight mockery obvious by the tone of his voice. Valeriana shut her eyes close and carefully sank back in her seat. She almost punched someone for god's sake!

Someone poked her shoulder so she pivoted her head towards Chavi, who leaned close to her ear and whispered, "He's capable of teleportation."

Valeriana relaxed on her chair. "Oh . . . I'll never get used to this." She lifted her hands up and went back to massaging her forehead.

"You seem troubled," Claude smiled kindly at Valeriana. He was bent over, his face nearly close. He possesses nearly identical features as hers. He had golden hair layered into locks and deep, blue eyes that mischievously twinkled like a pair of sapphires. His features depicted a slightly childish and immature look unlike Corvan, who displayed nothing but pure manliness. He was pretty short too.

By the way he looked and acted, he appeared to be carefree and the happy-go-lucky type of person. He was glowing with the wine of life, beaming with cheerfulness.

"Uh . . . I'm really sorry about the bad greeting, sir." She grinned at him sheepishly.

"Hmm," he rubbed his chin and straightened his back. "It's not a big deal." He radiated with optimism and pointed a finger at the ceiling while keeping his other hand strictly on his back. "You weren't afraid to admit your errors, and that's good enough for me. It's half my fault anyway, so don't worry."

A loud and impatient sigh escaped Seraphina's lips. "Cut to the chase, Your Excellency. You're interrupting my class."

"That's more like it, Lady Seraphina. But you needn't add the fact that I'm interrupting you. That is already clear to me." Claude happily turned to Seraphina with his over-optimistic smile. "In any case, I came here to deliver the news!" He exclaimed. "I'm sorry for my rude appearance a while ago, but you are being called to the palace."

"For what reason?"

"A summoning."

"Sorry, I'm currently off-duty."

Claude shook his head. "It's a special request from the king."

"What?"

"Enough questions, let's just go. It's urgent and important. I was tasked to bring you back no matter what." Claude rushed towards Seraphina and grabbed her by the wrist.

"But can't you see I'm the middle of a-"

"Bye, Valeriana." Claude winked at her and they suddenly disappeared with a small curl of mist taking their place.

Valeriana stared at the spot they were previously standing on with disbelief. The class started muttering things as well, curious what the king would want with the Celeste.

"Amazing, isn't he? He can go to any place he wants with a single 'poof!'." Chavi wiggled her eyes and closed and opened her palms to interpret her speech. "Too bad he took away our teacher, though." She said, looking more pleased than disappointed. "Well, I suppose that ends the class!" She yawned.

Valeriana's eyes dropped wearily and her face hit her desk. "What have I gotten myself into?" She grumbled.

Students began rising from their seats, taking all of their things with them. Chavi stood up with the grace of a dancer and showed off a single pirouette before frolicking towards Valeriana. "I guess it's time to go. Why don't you come with me? I have soooo many questions to ask you."

Valeriana remained the way she was. "What's so interesting that only I can answer?"

"Yourself."

"I've heard so many times that I'm interesting." Valeriana muttered dramatically. She mentally counted how many people said the very same thing. Lord Aeron, Corvan, Claude, and now Chavi. Being caught by surprise with unbelievable abilities was starting to get old.

"Come on! Up on your feet!" Chavi grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged the lifeless teenager to stand.

Valeriana lazily followed Chavi's guide and flashed her an exhausted look through her eyes. "What?"

"Let us proceed to the library and look up the history of Valemnia. Since it's a summoning, Lady Seraphina probably won't be back for a day or two." She smiled. "You need to learn the basics, right? I'll help you. Now cheer up and let us go!" Chavi made no reluctance to usher Valeriana out of the door.