The Silverstaff Institute Arc
Episode 4: The Arrival
February 14th, NE 567
The horses slowed as the carriage reached a small port outside Rize City.
The journey had taken longer than expected, but they had finally arrived.
Beyond the port stood a city unlike anything Yin had seen before. White stone buildings climbed along several hills, connected by bridges and silver railway lines. Airships floated above the streets while boats crossed the enormous lake surrounding the city.
At the highest point of Rize stood the Silverstaff Institute.
The academy resembled a kingdom of its own.
Silver towers pierced the clouds. Huge courtyards stretched between buildings, and hundreds of students moved through the gates wearing uniforms from different nations.
Some were human.
Others possessed horns, wings, tails, animal ears, scales, mechanical limbs, or bodies made from stranger things.
The Institute accepted talent from across Eolorial.
Magic users.
Warriors.
Inventors.
Royal heirs.
Monsters wearing polite uniforms.
Inside the carriage, Yin slept with his head resting against the window.
His swordsmanship book remained open across his lap, though he had not written anything for several hours.
Amani reached across the carriage and tapped his shoulder.
"Yin."
He did not move.
She tapped him again.
"Yin, wake up."
His eyes opened sharply.
For an instant, the carriage disappeared.
The blue sky outside became red.
The streets became a battlefield covered in blood.
Twelve shadows surrounded him.
Then the vision vanished.
Yin blinked several times and looked around.
Amani had already stood from her seat.
"We're here," she said. "Come on. I want to register as soon as possible."
Yin closed his book and looked through the window.
The sight of the Institute should have excited him.
Instead, the memory of the nightmare remained lodged behind his eyes.
He had barely slept since the first vision.
Whenever exhaustion finally dragged him under, he returned to that battlefield.
Sometimes he watched the older version of himself fighting.
Other times, he stood among the corpses and heard something calling his name from beneath them.
Yin forced those thoughts aside.
"Be careful when using your name," he warned. "House Roya is known across several kingdoms. We don't need everyone watching us before the exams."
Amani placed a hand against her chest.
"Right. An alias."
"You forgot at the restaurant."
"That happened once."
"You introduced yourself to the waiter and nearly had the entire building bowing."
"I was hungry."
"That doesn't affect your name."
Before Amani could respond, a muffled voice came from behind the carriage.
"Slow down!"
Both of them paused.
The voice grew louder.
"Oi! Dummies! Slow down!"
Amani's cross-shaped pupils widened.
She leaned toward the rear window.
"Yin!"
"What?"
"It's Wander!"
Yin turned.
A familiar black-haired boy was running behind the carriage while carrying several bags and a dark, rabbit-like creature beneath one arm.
Wander Nozu was completely out of breath.
Despite that, several angry citizens from the Land of Dawn were chasing him from much farther down the road.
One carried a hammer.
Another carried a broom.
A third was holding a sign that had apparently been torn from Wander's workshop.
Yin stared.
"I wasn't expecting him to come."
Something about Wander's arrival felt wrong.
Not dangerous.
Simply unfinished.
Wander reached the side of the carriage and grabbed the door.
He pulled it open before throwing himself inside.
"There's a reason I kept saying stop!"
He landed on the floor with a wide smile.
Behind them, the townspeople continued shouting.
"BRING BACK THE FORGE KEYS!"
"YOU STOLE THREE CRATES OF METAL!"
"YOU STILL OWE ME FOR THAT WALL!"
Wander looked toward the coachman.
"We should get moving."
Amani immediately leaned through the front window.
"Go!"
The coachman snapped the reins.
The horses accelerated, leaving the furious citizens behind.
Wander climbed onto a seat and began laughing.
Amani stared at him.
"You are going to explain how this happened."
Wander wiped sweat from his forehead.
"I decided to attend the Institute."
"That does not explain the mob."
"I packed quickly."
"You stole supplies."
"Borrowed."
"They were chasing you with weapons."
"Emotional goodbyes."
Yin continued watching him.
"You said you couldn't leave."
Wander's grin weakened slightly.
"I changed my mind."
The little dark creature under his arm released a quiet chirp.
Yin pointed toward it.
"What is that?"
Wander held it up.
It had a rounded dark-purple body, multiple glowing pink eyes, rabbit-like ears, and a pointed tail.
"My weapon."
Yin stared.
"That's a creature."
"It can be both."
The creature looked at Yin.
Yin looked back.
It hissed.
Yin narrowed his eyes.
"I don't like it."
"It already doesn't like you."
"Good."
Amani sat back down.
"We can discuss Wander's criminal escape later. We need to register."
Yin looked toward the Institute.
"The main hall should handle registration."
"You've never been here," Amani reminded him.
"It's the largest building."
"That is not evidence."
"It says 'Main Hall' above the entrance."
Amani looked through the window.
A massive silver sign hung over the front doors.
"…Fine."
The carriage finally stopped near the Institute gates.
Wander pushed the door open and stepped outside.
He looked upward.
The towers appeared to continue forever.
"So this is a school."
His golden eyes moved across the bridges, training fields, and hundreds of students.
For the first time since meeting him, Wander looked genuinely speechless.
Then his grin returned.
"Let's go!"
He began walking toward the gates.
Amani poked him hard in the ribs.
Wander flinched.
"What was that for?"
"You're barely dressed."
Wander looked down.
He still wore the same loose clothes from the forge, and several sections were burned or torn from the journey.
"There's nothing wrong with this."
"You look like you were thrown out of an explosion."
"I walked away from one."
"That is not better."
Amani stepped from the carriage.
"Yin is right. We should go directly to the main hall."
Yin climbed down after her.
His confidence disappeared the moment his boots touched the ground.
Students moved around them in enormous numbers.
Some carried staffs that radiated more mana than entire groups of royal guards.
Others wore swords, armor, enchanted gauntlets, or floating mechanical equipment.
A massive beastman laughed beside a group of students.
A girl with six wings flew above the courtyard.
A boy made entirely of blue fire walked past without burning the stone.
Yin's heart began beating faster.
His hand tightened around the strap of his luggage.
"I don't think I can do this."
Amani turned toward him.
Wander looked over as well.
Yin stared at the Institute entrance.
"What if they don't let me take the exam?"
"Why wouldn't they?" Amani asked.
"I don't have magic."
"You knew that before coming."
"That was different."
"How?"
"It was far away."
Amani opened her mouth.
Wander raised one fist.
Then he punched Yin directly on top of the head.
THUNK!
Yin dropped into a crouch.
"Ouch!"
A large bump immediately formed beneath his red-and-black hair.
Tears gathered in his visible eye.
He looked toward Amani while pointing at Wander.
"Roya, he hit me."
Wander crossed his arms.
"Stop acting scared."
"That hurt!"
"It was supposed to."
"That does not make it acceptable!"
Yin sniffed while rubbing his head.
Despite his appearance and occasional maturity, part of him was still painfully childish.
Amani placed one hand against her forehead.
"Wander, don't hit him."
"He was panicking."
"So you struck him?"
"It worked."
Yin glared upward.
"I'm still panicking. Now I'm also injured."
Wander ignored him and looked toward the nearby food stalls.
"We should explore. Maybe we'll find something to eat."
Drool nearly formed at the corner of his mouth.
Yin stood and brushed off his clothes.
"No thanks. I'm staying with Roya."
Amani glanced at him.
He smiled warmly as though he had not just used her as protection.
She decided to ignore it.
"We are not exploring yet," she said. "First, we make the school aware that we exist."
Wander sighed.
"That sounds less interesting."
"It is still necessary."
Amani began leading them toward the main hall.
Silverstaff Institute Main Hall
The main hall was enormous.
The ceiling rose several stories above them, supported by silver pillars engraved with the symbols of different magical affinities.
Students crowded around registration counters while floating signs directed applicants toward examinations, dormitories, libraries, training areas, and administrative offices.
Yin stared at everything.
The building alone was larger than some royal castles.
Amani approached a woman seated behind the front desk.
The woman looked exhausted despite it being early afternoon.
Amani remembered Yin's warning.
"Hello. We would like to register for the upcoming entrance examinations."
The woman did not look up.
"Names?"
Amani hesitated.
"Amy Rain."
Yin slowly looked toward her.
That was the best alias she had created?
The receptionist slid a registration sheet across the counter.
"Write your names here. The examinations begin tomorrow morning."
Amani took the pen.
"Will housing be provided?"
"Not until applicants pass."
"So where are we supposed to stay tonight?"
"Somewhere else."
The woman's tone never changed.
Amani looked at the long line of applicants behind them.
She decided not to argue.
Yin stepped forward.
The registration sheet waited in front of him.
His hand began trembling.
He reached for the pen.
His fingers stopped before touching it.
Amani noticed.
"Yin?"
He continued staring at the blank line.
His muscles had become completely tense.
"Roya…"
"What?"
"My body won't move."
Wander leaned toward him.
"You're standing."
"That isn't what I mean."
Yin tried reaching again.
Nothing happened.
Writing the name would make everything real.
The exams.
The possibility of failure.
The chance that the Institute would reject him in front of hundreds of students.
Amani moved closer.
"Calm down."
"I am calm."
"You look like you're about to fight the paper."
"It started first."
"Yin."
He looked at her.
"You wanted this," she said. "We have until tomorrow to prepare. You're going to be fine."
His breathing slowed slightly.
"What if I fail?"
"Then we determine why and try again."
"What if they laugh?"
"They probably will."
Yin stared at her.
"That was not comforting."
"I'm being realistic."
Amani placed her hand over his trembling one.
"But their laughter doesn't decide whether you belong here."
Yin looked down at their hands.
Then he nodded.
"Okay."
Together, they brought the pen to the paper.
Yin wrote:
Lyra Mistral.
Amani wrote beneath it:
Amy Rain.
Both looked toward Wander.
He was gone.
Yin slowly closed his eyes.
"Where is he?"
Amani looked around.
"I don't know."
Yin's visible eye changed.
The color around his pupil sharpened as his enhanced senses spread through the building.
The world around him dimmed.
People became moving silhouettes surrounded by different auras.
Fire.
Water.
Light.
Darkness.
Wind.
Dozens of magical signatures overlapped throughout the hall.
Yin searched through them until he noticed a familiar heat farther inside the Institute.
"He wandered away."
Amani stared.
"His name warned us."
Wander had already registered.
Unlike Yin, he had no hesitation.
He wrote his name, dropped the pen, and immediately left the counter before anyone could ask for additional information.
Now he moved through the halls with Build-A-Weapon sitting on his shoulder.
"So this is Silverstaff."
The creature chirped.
Wander passed display cases containing ancient weapons, magical inventions, and armor created by former students.
His eyes lit up.
"We might actually learn something here."
He suddenly stopped.
A strange sensation crawled across the back of his neck.
Someone was watching him.
Wander turned.
Across the crowded hall, Yin stood near the registration desk with one eye closed.
Wander could feel the dragon's attention locked onto him.
He shrugged.
"Creepy."
Then he returned to the others.
A Rumor with Teeth
After completing registration, the three applicants began searching for somewhere to stay.
They had barely left the main hall when they passed a group of well-dressed students.
One boy stood at the center.
He appeared around Wander's age and wore an expensive uniform decorated with the crest of a powerful noble family.
His voice carried loudly through the corridor.
"Did you hear about the Pendragon decision?"
His friend looked interested.
"What decision?"
"The royal family opposed the Prokaryota expanding their influence into Buranda."
The noble boy laughed.
"Idiots. There was a fortune waiting there. King Leon clearly has something against our people."
"That agreement would have given them military control over several trade routes."
"So?"
"So Buranda would practically belong to them."
The noble scoffed.
"Still better than letting that lousy dragon remain king. I can't wait for Leon Pendragon's reign to end."
Yin stopped walking.
Amani noticed immediately.
His body became rigid.
His hands curled into fists so tightly that his claws cut into his palms.
Blood dripped onto the floor.
The air around him began growing hotter.
"Yin," Amani whispered.
He did not hear her.
The noble's words repeated inside his head.
Lousy king.
Leon was the man who refused to banish him.
The father who taught him that worth existed beyond magic.
The king who had protected the kingdom for decades.
Yin's aura changed.
Something violent crawled beneath his skin.
"R-Roya…"
Amani moved in front of him.
"What?"
"I want to kill them."
His voice was frighteningly quiet.
One hand reached toward the sword at his waist.
Amani grabbed his wrist.
"Don't."
The noble boy noticed.
He looked toward Yin and smirked.
"Oh?"
His friends turned.
"It seems I angered a child."
Yin's eye lifted.
The noble laughed.
"Go back to your mother. I'm too old to play swordfight with little girls."
Yin disappeared.
Amani's eyes widened.
The noble barely had time to blink before Yin appeared directly in front of him.
Yin's fist struck his left cheek with full force.
BOOM!
The noble flew through the main hall doors.
He crossed the courtyard and crashed into a stone statue outside.
Cracks spread through the statue.
The entire hall fell silent.
Yin stood with his fist extended.
Crimson light burned in his eye.
"I'm getting sick of these rumors!"
His voice echoed through the building.
"You know nothing about my family!"
Students stared.
Some looked afraid.
Others laughed at the noble who had been launched across the courtyard.
A few teachers began moving toward the scene.
Wander placed one hand on Yin's shoulder.
"Enough."
Yin turned sharply.
His lips pulled back, revealing dragon fangs.
Heat rolled from his body.
Inside him, something began vibrating.
Not his bones.
Not his heart.
Something deeper.
A weapon he had never touched.
A power that recognized judgment and demanded punishment.
Wander did not remove his hand.
He did not look afraid.
"Let's leave."
Yin snarled.
"What do you want?"
Wander's childish expression had vanished.
His eyes were focused and calm.
"I want to ask you something."
Yin's claws remained curled.
"What?"
"Can you ignore them and walk away?"
The question only made Yin angrier.
"They insulted my father."
"I heard."
"They called him a terrible king."
"I heard that too."
"And you want me to walk away?"
Wander looked directly into his eye.
"We all have goals."
His voice remained steady.
"But if one stupid comment controls you this easily, then you're proving their point."
Yin went silent.
Wander nodded toward the students watching.
"Do you want to be the monster they think you are?"
Yin looked around.
Fear covered several faces.
Others whispered.
A teacher knelt beside the unconscious noble outside.
Amani stood nearby, watching Yin more carefully than everyone else.
His rage did not disappear.
But it loosened its grip.
Yin slowly lowered his hand.
The strange vibration inside his body faded.
He cracked his bloody knuckles.
"Let's go."
Wander released his shoulder.
Yin glanced toward the noble outside.
"I paralyzed him anyway."
Wander stared.
"You what?"
"Temporarily."
"That does not improve the situation."
"It improves my mood."
Amani quietly motioned toward the exit.
"Before someone decides to arrest us."
They began walking.
As Amani passed one of the corners of the hall, she noticed a figure watching them from the shadows.
The figure wore a dark cloak.
Its face was hidden.
For a moment, Amani felt something wrong.
Not danger exactly.
An absence.
She could not sense thoughts from it.
Then a crowd moved between them.
When the path cleared, the figure was gone.
Amani stared at the empty corner.
She said nothing.
Not yet.
The Midnight Cat Inn
Outside the Institute, evening had begun covering Rize City.
Amani adjusted her bag.
"I heard there's an inn nearby."
Yin walked beside her as though he had not punched a noble through a building minutes earlier.
"We should book rooms before everything fills."
Amani reached into her pocket and removed several coins.
"You two handle that. I'll find dinner."
She handed the money to Yin.
"This should pay for three rooms."
"We're on it."
"Do not fight anyone."
Yin looked offended.
"I don't fight everyone."
Amani stared.
Yin sighed.
"I'll try."
She left before that promise could deteriorate.
The Midnight Cat Inn stood near the Institute district.
A wooden sign above the entrance showed a black cat sleeping on a silver crescent moon.
Yin and Wander entered.
The innkeeper sat behind the counter, yawning.
Yin placed the coins down.
"Hello. We need three rooms for one night."
The innkeeper looked at both boys.
"That'll be eleven silver coins."
Before Yin could count the money, Wander placed the full amount on the counter.
"I've got it."
Yin looked at him.
"You don't have to."
"Save your money."
"That sounds suspiciously generous."
"I stole several bags of coins before leaving."
Yin stared.
Wander smiled.
"Kidding."
The innkeeper slid three keys toward them.
Wander picked one up.
"Is there a library nearby?"
The innkeeper pointed through the window.
"Next building."
Wander immediately turned toward the exit.
"I'm going to read."
Yin collected the remaining keys.
"Hurry back. We don't want Roya getting angry."
Wander waved without looking back.
"That sounds like your problem."
"It becomes everyone's problem!"
The Library
Wander entered the neighboring library with Build-A-Weapon trailing behind him.
Unlike the Institute library, this building was quiet and dim.
He walked between the shelves until he discovered a section about wars and regional history.
One title caught his attention.
The Great Wars of the Land of Dawn.
Wander removed the book.
He sat at a table and opened it.
The first chapters covered famous battles, inventions, and the formation of the city's defensive walls.
Wander skipped through them.
Then he reached a section about an old civil war.
His expression changed.
The page showed drawings of warriors covered in glowing orange markings.
The same markings that covered his body.
Wander's hand tightened around the page.
"War…"
His voice became quiet.
"It ruins everything."
He continued reading.
Silverstaff Institute Gardens
Amani did not go directly to find food.
Instead, she pulled a hood over her head and returned toward the Institute.
The gates had already closed for the evening.
That did not stop her.
She circled the outer wall until she found a quieter section.
Then she reduced the friction beneath her feet and launched herself upward.
Amani cleared the gate and landed inside the gardens.
She moved silently between the hedges, searching for the corner where she had seen the cloaked figure.
The gardens were nearly empty.
Moonlight reflected across fountains and silver flowers.
Amani's enhanced senses caught something near the path.
A footprint.
Ordinary footprints covered the garden.
This one was different.
She crouched and examined it.
The pressure pattern was wrong.
The person had not walked onto the ground.
They had landed.
Amani traced the edges with one finger.
"Approximately size ten and a half."
She examined the depth.
"Five feet six to five feet seven. Possibly around one hundred and sixty pounds."
Male or female remained unclear.
Amani followed the trail.
The footprints led toward the wall beside the main hall.
They stopped beneath the same corner where the cloaked figure had been standing.
Amani looked upward.
"No entrance."
The windows were too high.
The wall showed no climbing marks.
"The only normal path into that section is through the front doors."
Yet the footprints proved someone had entered from outside.
Amani touched the wall.
"Teleportation?"
No magical residue.
"Flight?"
No landing disturbance besides the footprints.
Something about the figure refused to fit into ordinary reasoning.
A voice suddenly came from behind her.
"Hey!"
Amani turned.
A security guard stood beneath one of the lamps.
"What are you doing here?"
Amani immediately ran.
"Stop!"
She reduced the friction beneath her boots and slid across the path at high speed.
The guard cast a restraint spell.
A glowing chain struck the edge of Amani's hoodie.
The fabric tore.
She reached the wall, increased friction beneath one foot, and launched herself over the gate.
By the time the guard reached it, she had disappeared into the city.
Amani stopped several streets away.
Her breathing remained calm.
"That answered nothing."
She looked toward the closed Institute.
"Next time."
Then she remembered she had promised to bring dinner.
Amani's calm vanished.
"Crap."
Yin's Room
Amani returned to the Midnight Cat Inn carrying several bags of food.
She asked the innkeeper for Yin's room number and climbed the stairs.
She stopped outside his door and knocked.
"Hello," she called playfully. "Room service."
Inside, Yin had just finished bathing.
He wrapped a towel around his waist and walked toward the door.
"I'm coming."
He opened it.
Amani began speaking.
"Sorry, I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I brought some rago—"
She stopped.
Yin's long red-and-black hair was still wet.
Without his usual tunic, the results of his years of physical training were visible. His small frame was lean but heavily toned, with defined muscles across his arms, chest, and stomach.
Amani's face turned bright red.
She immediately looked toward the wall.
"I brought takeout."
Yin tilted his head.
"Why are you looking away?"
"No reason."
"You're blushing."
"No, I'm not."
"You are."
Amani held out the bag without facing him.
"Take the food."
Yin accepted it.
Then he looked down at himself.
His eyes widened slightly.
"Oh."
"Yes."
"Sorry."
"Goodnight."
Amani turned sharply.
"Wait."
She stopped.
Yin leaned against the doorway.
"Where's Wander?"
"He wasn't in his room."
"He went to the library."
Amani nodded without looking back.
"Thank you."
She hurried away and closed his door behind her.
Yin watched her leave.
A small rip ran along the side of her hoodie.
His expression changed.
That tear had not been there earlier.
Amani rarely damaged her clothing without noticing.
She had gone somewhere dangerous.
Or someone had gotten close enough to tear it.
Yin closed the door.
Someone is watching her.
He placed the food on the table and began dressing.
Maybe the stalker needs a visit.
Wander's Discovery
Amani entered the library several minutes later.
She found Wander sitting at a table with the history book open in front of him.
He looked unusually serious.
Amani placed the bag of food beside him.
"I brought dinner."
Wander did not immediately respond.
His eyes remained fixed on the page.
Amani glanced at the book.
Before she could read the text, Wander closed it.
"Thanks."
Amani studied his face.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah."
"That sounded false."
"I'm tired."
Amani knew he was hiding something.
After what happened at the Institute, she had no energy left to force another conversation.
"Don't stay too late."
She left the library and returned to the inn.
Wander waited until she was gone.
He opened the book again.
The orange markings on the illustrated warriors seemed to glow beneath the candlelight.
A paragraph beneath the image described a forgotten people who fought during the Land of Dawn's civil war.
Their species had supposedly vanished.
Wander's jaw tightened.
"War is a horrible thing."
Flames spread from his fingertips.
The book began burning.
Build-A-Weapon watched silently from the table.
Wander stood.
He picked up the bag of food.
"I'll eat this in my room."
The book collapsed into ash behind him.
Only one page remained.
It showed the full pattern of markings covering the ancient warriors.
The exact pattern Wander carried.
A moment later, that final page burned too.
A Long Night
Amani entered her room and began removing her hoodie.
Only then did she notice the torn section.
"When did that happen?"
She remembered the guard's spell brushing past her while she escaped.
"Probably the fence."
She placed the hoodie on a chair.
"I hope nobody noticed."
Amani changed, climbed into bed, and stared at the ceiling.
The cloaked figure remained in her thoughts.
No mind.
No detectable magic.
No normal way of entering the hall.
Tomorrow, the entrance exams would begin.
"If today was this bad…"
She pulled the blanket over herself.
"I'm not ready for tomorrow."
Within minutes, she fell asleep.
Outside the inn, a shadow moved across the neighboring rooftop.
Yin crouched beside a chimney, fully dressed with his sword at his waist.
His visible red eye searched the dark streets.
He did not know what had damaged Amani's hoodie.
He did not know whether it was connected to the figure she had noticed.
But Yin knew one thing.
Anyone watching his best friend would eventually make a mistake.
And when they did, he would be waiting.
From another rooftop, hidden beneath a dark cloak, a figure watched Yin watching the city.
Beneath the hood, something smiled.
To Be Continued ➡️