Draeyer Academy
Drae Skyland
Northeastern Space

"Isha!" she heard a familiar voice. Areisha winced and paused walking in the corridors of the floor where most classes for the first years were held. She resisted the urge to curse when the students present turned their unwanted attention to her. With a sigh, she looked over her shoulder to find her best friend running toward her with her usual bright smile.

"What is it?" she said. "And could you not yell all the time." Solana stopped in front of her, catching her breath first while her grey eyes shone in a lighter shade under the sunrays coming from the curved window next to them. Areisha frowned, unable to help it. Her classes ended a lot early than she expected and she was hoping to head for the library for some peace before she deals with the noisiness of her dorm mates.

"I just realized why I get along with Alec," Solana said. She tilted her head to the right, pursing her lips while still fixing her gaze on her. Areisha's brows rose to her hairline in question.

"And that is because...?" she trailed off.

"I like him," Solana said. Just when Areisha was about to yell out in surprise, she stopped herself when the blonde continued. "I like him because you two have the same personality. And I enjoy being in your company."

She let out a sigh of relief, not knowing what it was for in the first place.

"Oh?" she said. She turned back to the direction of the staircase and resumed walking. Solana caught up to her and evened her pace with hers. From the corner of her eye, she saw her watching her with an amused smile on her face.

"Why are you looking at me with that smug look of yours?" Areisha said. She hid her annoyance with success by using a monotonous voice and stone face.

Solana grinned at her in response, before turning to her front and chuckling. She shook her head as her response, and halted her strides. "You're going to the library right?" she said. "I'll go with you." Without another word she grabbed Areisha's arm, and dragged her all the way down the set of stairs. The brunette knew better than to exert effort against her strong hold, so she allowed herself to be dragged around.

"You're thinking of something and you're keeping me in the dark about it," Areisha stated. Solana kept her silence until they reached the bottom of the stairs. She whirled her head to her, with her blonde hair swishing along. If she didn't know any better, she would've sworn Solana's perfect white teeth were shining. She shook her head at herself, before jerking it up when her best friend spoke.

"That's not true," she said. "At least I'm going to show you one of the things I've discovered today!"

"One of the things?" Areisha raised a brow. "Just how many are you hiding from me?"

"Only two, but like I said, I'm going to show one to you later. It's in the library."

"What's the other one?"

Solana paused and let go of her arm. Seeming to realize that they were standing in the middle of the wide marble-floor corridor, she pushed Areisha to one side. Right after, she pressed both her hands on either side of her shoulders and leaned in.

"I figured I won't tell you since this involve you and a certain pale-crystal-eyed person you undoubtedly dislike as of this moment," she said. The mere thought of that "certain person" caused her to frown, and she shrugged Solana's hands off before stomping past her. She heard her footsteps and chuckles coming from behind her, and assumed she was following.

"If it's not something terrible, you get to keep that to yourself," she said. She stopped in front of large doors, looking up at the engraved image of an open tome on the wood. Her hand hovered over the gilded knob as she froze from what Solana said next.

"I hope you made a show of taking your shirt off when you showed him your scars." Her giggling turned to a laugh, before she silenced herself, remembering the place they were about to enter. "Knox pulled me out of the dorm before I could hear anymore."

She was the one to grasp the knob and hold the door open for the brunette. Areisha stood there for a full minute with an open mouth, and with a crimson hue crawling over her cheeks, face, all the way to her ears. By the time she shook her head to snap herself out of her trance she looked up to find Solana smirking at her. With an angry huff, she passed the door, and bumped her right shoulder against Solana's. When Granny Ressa looked up from the counter, she only mumbled a hello.

"What was this other thing you discovered in the library?" she said in a harsh whisper, once they stood near the reading area.

"Always the one to change the topic," Solana whispered back. "I found a really old map! Wait till you see what it's for."

Once again, Areisha found her arm in her tight grip, as she dragged her further into the section where they keep the books which were almost the same age as the academy. She wrinkled her nose at the smell coming from the area, and shook her head.

They stopped in one particular shelf, situated at the very back. The smell seemed to be worse in the area.

"We're not supposed to touch the books here since they might break apart!" Areisha whispered loudly. She didn't worry for they were too far away for the librarian to hear them. Solana turned her head and arched one perfect eyebrow at her, before she bit her lip in attempt to suppress a smile.

"Who said about touching the books?" she said. Areisha's eyes widened when she sank to the dusty floor on her knees. She bent forward, and reached for something under the bookcase. With curiosity gnawing at her, Areisha followed her first action, and bent her head to see what she was reaching for. Not a few moments later, Solana dragged something out from under the shelf which caused a cloud of dust to rise off the floor. Areisha coughed, but her brows knit when Solana seemed impossibly unaffected in the least by it. When the dust cleared, she found an old and narrow wooden box with quite a few spots of dust still covering it.

"We should find a table for this, since I know you don't like being here," Solana said. She chuckled as she stood, carrying the box with her. Areisha rolled her eyes.

Minutes later, they occupied one of the tables in the reading area. Areisha sat on one of the wooden chairs, with Solana and the now open box across from her. Her best friend couldn't sit still for the moment as she wiggled on her chair excitedly as she took out an old ragged cloth. She set it down on the table, and unfolded it. Areisha's eyes scanned over the cloth which almost covering the entirety of the small table. She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. She saw squares, circles, and other symbols with a few names unfamiliar names.

"This is a map for what?" she said.

"A map of underground passages over the entire skyland!" she almost yelled. She sank back down in her seat when the very few heads in the lib looked up at her. Meanwhile, Areisha's eyes went wide at the information, and leaned forward to look closer at the map. From the proximity she could perfectly make out the maze-like passages branching over the shape of the skyland.

"Does your grandfather know?" she said. All she got was a shake of her head in response. "You're a prefect and, you should know that having something like this in the possession of a student is―"

"Shhh..." Solana brought her finger to her lips. "I'll surrender this once I'm bored using it."

"You don't even know how to read a map," Areisha said. Silence followed her statement―which wasn't surprising since they were in the library. But soon, a grin plastered itself on the blonde's face while a mischievous look crawled into her eyes. Areisha knew then and there why the girl had dragged her and never let her go for the past 15 minutes.

"I am not getting involved in this," she said. Her grin only grew wider at her words, before she pressed her clasped hands on the table and leaned forward.

"I'll tell everyone about that incident with Alec―"

"I'll do it!" Areisha said. Solana paused with her mouth ajar before she covered her mouth in attempt to lock up the laughter that would've shattered the silence in the library. While doing so, Areisha sent her a deathly glare enough to wither any plant.

"Since when did you start being sneaky and manipulative?" she said.

"I've always been," Solana said with a smile. "Unlike Knox, I take grandfather's teachings to heart!"

"And I am shocked to know that I don't find that hard to believe," she said as she palmed her forehead.

―――

"Where does it say we should start?" Solana said as they walked down the halls of the ground floor. Areisha sent her another glare, annoyed at being asked the same question for the 15th time. She wanted to make her shut up, but refrained when they reached one of the destinations mentioned in the map.

"It's somewhere inside the mess hall," she said. Not waiting for her, Solana pushed through the large brown doors and disappeared into the room. Areisha rolled her eyes and followed after her.

When she stepped inside, only the empty chairs and long tables greeted them. She looked over the room, before she glanced down at the big crisp cloth in her hand. Walking over to the right, she searched for a symbol on the white walls matching the one on the map.

"Do you see a circle on the wall to the right?" she asked Solana. The prefect stepped forward and scanned her gaze over the wall as they got closer. Her brows knit before they straightened and ran over to a spot where a faint circle could barely be seen on the wall close to a pillar. It was about the size of her palm.

"What next?" Solana said.

"You press it?"

"Classic." Solana rolled her eyes along with her own comment before doing so. Nothing happened after a couple moments of poking and pounding. "What now?"

Areisha folded the map, and took a step forth. As she gazed at the symbol, she reached out and traced the outline with her finger. She heard Solana gasp, while her own eyes grew big when the outline glowed. The circle rose out the wall, and continued glowing. She pounded it back, and they heard a tick from behind them. They turned just in time to find a rusty metal lever jut out from a hidden compartment on the wall. They locked eyes before they jumped for it, pulling it down together.

In the next moment, Areisha felt regret in doing so. Screams ripped through their throats as the floor gave way beneath them, plunging them into darkness as the hole closed with a whoosh above them. Their yells echoed through the dark, as they slid down together on the unexpectedly smooth surface.

After what felt like minutes, she landed on something which felt like dirt. Areisha winced at the impact, but later yelled out once again when something heavy landed on her. The warmth and the groans coming from above her, gave her an idea of what that "something heavy" was. Ignoring the utter darkness which usually unnerved her, she yelled.

"Get off me!"

The weight left her own body, and she felt soft hands grab her arms and tug her upright. When a bit of light filled her vision, she looked up to see it coming from Solana. In her hands, she held glowing crystals, casting both light and shadows around them. When Solana saw her raised brows, she understood the silent question in them.

"Underground," she said, "so of course it would be dark. That's why I brought these along."

Without another word, she tossed one to Areisha, and the latter caught it with ease. She turned on her heel and flashed their surrounding with the light-crima. When she did, she found dusty brown walls extending into two passages before them. She flashed it above them, and saw the hole they slid out from. Looks like we have no choice but to find another way out, she thought.

She took the map again and placed it on the dirt covered ground. Her brows knit as she concentrated on which path to take while analyzing the cloth. Solana, who was probably feeling helpful, flashed some light on it from above her head. After moments of tracing her finger on the map, she got her answer.

"Since we entered in dining hall, if we take the path on the right, we'll be out somewhere near the Teacher's Village," she said.

"Wait a minute," Solana said. She turned around to find her glaring at her. She raised another brow in question. "You chose the entrance with the shortest distance from a possible exit didn't you?"

A smirk plastered itself on Areisha's face at her best friend's words. She picked up the map, folded it and tucked in her jacket, which now was probably caked in dirt.

"Took you long enough," she said. But then after, she winked. "You're not the only one who knows how to be sneaky."