Win groaned as he got up. The bell in the Page's Wing and knocks on his door broke his sleep. He barely slept yesterday to be exact. He kept looking for any movement among the shadows now that he knew some monstrous villain, like Megatrix might pounce on him any moment and kill him before he finishes his prophecy.

He opened the door to find Potsdam. The Messenger wasn't wearing his usual attire today. He wore the same tunic and trousers which Win received from the tailor.

"Good Morning, Win! Sir Tine wanted me to accompany you to the Breakfast Hall", Potsdam bowed.

"Good Morning, Potsdam", Win yawned. He wasn't really awake yet, but he was quite sure he could carry out this day just fine thanks to his habits of stay up late at night back when he was in high school.

"Did you sleep well?" Potsdam said as he entered the room when Win welcomed him in.

"I slept just fine", he yawned again, making his way to the bathroom.

"Today is going to be a long day for you, Win. It's only 5 am now. I hope you are rested enough to carry on your lesson?" The Messenger asked.

"I am, Potsdam", Win's muffled voices flowed in from the bathroom.

Win was irritated about why should they get up at 5 am. He splashed cold water from the tub on his, moaning at the coldness.

He quickly dressed up before leaving the room with Potsdam.

"Win! Right timing", Joss joined him, wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

"Hello, Joss. Good morning", Win greeted him.

"Good morning to you too. Oh! Hello Potsdam", Joss nodded and Potsdam bowed in response.

"Where are Carmel, Love, and Bright?" Win asked climbing down the stairs.

"Carmel and Love are already there in the Breakfast Hall. And Bright has extra lessons from the Sir Heliff, he's a Prince after all", Joss explained, "I am a bit late, you know morning business", he shrugged with a grin, "what about you? How do you feel?"

"A bit sleepy and excited. What are the lessons they are going to teach anyways?" Win asked, changing the topic.

"Various", Joss said, tilting his head, thinking, "morning lessons start with Literature and writing, then Runes Study, then Meditation, then goes the free time to complete your leftover work and relax. Then goes lunch break and then we have fighting skills, and then History, then Seeing and finally speed flying".

"That's too much", Win replied.

"But Bright said he heard this time they're going to give us the double amount of works to complete. This year is going to be very tough", Joss said while his face grimaced, "Plus, we all are going to start from the first now that you are here."

"What it has to do with me? Is it because I am the Preserver?" Win asked.

"Probably yes, Win", Potsdam, who was listening to their conversation, spoke up, "I heard few Lords arguing about this".

"All your Lords care about is their children", Joss scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"We are already here, Joss", Win whispered before entering the Hall. All the Pages, Flashers, and Finishers sat in a line facing the Royals and the Magnifer.

Win, Joss and Potsdam soon spotted Carmel, Love, and Bright and squeezed between them. Win sat between Bright and Joss, greeting Bright.

"Are we all here?" The Magnifer asked after few more Pages scurried in.

"Yes, Your Majesty", Bright answered, bowing to his father.

"Alright then. A very hearty Morning to you all. It is a very special morning especially because we are going to have the chosen Preserver among us from today", he held up the goblet and toasted Win, "I want all of our students and teachers to treated the Preserver with equality, " he bowed at them and they bowed in response.

Few students grinned at him, waved at him, and shook hands with him despite the joined efforts of the Genius Four in blocking them. Bright, especially, made sure nobody was disturbing Win while he ate.

The breakfast was quite a short one and soon they made their way to the Literature and writing classes.

"Can you write, Win?" Carmel asked.

"Yes I can", Win answered, wondering whether he'd feel dumb or proud about it.

"That's so great! Many Pages couldn't even read a sentence in English", Carmel praised him.

"Feels like we will soon be Genius Five", Love replied, joining them. Joss grinned, wrapping an arm around Love, "Our Raven-head must be a Genius too!"

Win chuckled before entering the classroom.

It was headed by Sir Fong who, after being convinced how much Win knew about reading and writing, gave him a long ballad poem to read and make a report.
He was only halfway through it when the bell rang and they had to run towards the Runes classroom.

"When am I supposed to finish this?" He asked Love who was busy turning the tattered pages of her Runes book.

"Oh, finish this in the free time, Win", Love replied too fast and jogged over to a blue-haired girl to discuss something.

"She's always like that", Carmel and Joss shook their heads, sighing.

"I wouldn't know", Win shrugged, "Where's Bright?"

"He must call the teacher and bring him to the class", Carmel said, entering the classroom.

Runes classroom was on the first floor. Unlike all the stone ceiling and book-filled walls of the Literature classroom, this one was very dark and cold.

Bright soon joined them, squeezing his way between Love and Joss. The teacher started talking about the origin of the Runic scriptures and introduced the Runic alphabet to them. Again loads of homework were given and again Win groaned as the bell rang even before he had started writing down the notes.

The Meditation classroom wasn't a great experience either. The teacher made them sit on the floor and close their eyes, to peer into their souls to search for their powers.

Win tried so hard to find that power in him that he was almost sweating in exhaustion. He never knew meditation could be this tough!

His legs were paining from running from one classroom to the other by now and meditation absolutely didn't help him with that. He was now more irritated.

"It finally the free time now", Joss said, joining Carmel and Win outside the class. Love and Bright followed them outside.

"It's too much work", Win groaned.

"It is nothing compared to mine", Bright sighed holding up five pieces of parchments.

"Our respected teachers seemed to know nothing but dump loads of works on us", Carmel shrugged.

"Oh, come on! They are doing it for our benefit!" Love snapped at the complaining boys.

"How long is free time anyway?" Win demanded, ignoring Love's remark.

"About 10 to 15 minutes", Joss replied.

The 10 to 15 minutes felt like seconds when Win only finished his Literature report. He banged his head on the table when the bell rang.

"This bloody bell!" He cursed under his breath before standing up. He misses his University life now, where he would be given loads of free time, even though the workload was huge.

"There is no free time, Win. You see the teachers only want us to work and work and if you cannot fulfill then accept the punishment. You'll see, Win, free time is just an illusion", Carmel grumbled, shoving his scrolls in his bag.

"The only free time is when our teachers get impressed with your works and give you a leave to roam around the City. It's like heaven! Then again, it happens once in a lifetime. In reality, we must work. On the day we work, at night we work and sleep we work. We work until our soul separates from our bodies and we get our eternal peace", Joss said dreamily, ignoring the huffs from Love.

"It's only the first hour, we haven't even started with the afternoon lessons and all you can be is a dramatic Scarpe-dung!" Bright shook his head, smiling at his dorky friends.

"What a Scarpe?" Win asked.

"It's an... ugly bird, found in the Star Lake. Star Lake is in the Star Town", Bright explained.

"I see", he said as another bell rang, "Argh! I hate it", Win got up.

Joss and Bright chuckled, shaking their heads, agreeing, "That was the warning bell
Now, let's go for lunch. You'll need the energy for the afternoon classes", Joss wrapped his hand around Win's shoulder, leading him to the Hall.

"And when will I finish the work?" Win asked dryly.

"At night, when you finish your duty", Bright said shrugging, "of course, if you manage to stay awake up to then."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"The afternoon lessons are quite... Tiresome", Joss said.

They ate lunch, listening to Bright saying how Numans without wings use Ray Fishes that float on the sky to travel and how he first had his wings.

"Is it painful?" Win asked.

"Very", Bright answered. He immediately regretted saying the word as he saw Win's shocked look. So, he quickly added, "for some, it might not be painful, don't worry Raven-head."

"Hey, I call him that", Joss snapped out.

"You don't own the term, Joss-y", Bright said nonchalantly.

•••

Soon walked out to the compound. This is where the fighting lessons will be given. The lessons included learning to ride Usicos, fencing, dagger fightings, archery. Win must learn them all! He must learn to fall, fight, get bruised and get dirty. If he stood it all and managed to learn it all, he might not be killed by Megatrix on the battlefield before fulfilling his prophecy.

He had to work harder. The training was not going to be easy as Sir Sarawat, a Saver said them; warned them rather. According to him, even an experienced Saver, who fights a battle and saves the Numans must go through tedious pieces of training every day only to make sure he wasn't going to die like a weak little creature.

The training began with fencing. Win had to carry a shield to block the blows from the stick.

"This needs concentration, boy", Sarawat spoke, "Are you ready?"

Getting an affirmative nod, he threw his first blow to the boy. Win tried to be more and more cautious, but his clumsiness made it next to impossible. By the end of the lesson, his whole body ached from the blows received.

When the role was switched, Win found it extremely hard to hold up the heavy stick. As a result, his blows were weak and slow and Sarawat blocked them all with ease.

The Usico riding was even more horrendous. He failed to control it and fell on the ground numerous times when he was supposed to make it gallop and stop it in front of Sarawat. And by the time he limped back to stand with all other Pages, he knew he did the worst.

After this, all the Pages were asked to do squattings, joggings, sit-ups.

During archery, he along with the other Pages were asked to stand in a straight posture with the bow and the arrow to maintain their postures.

When he was finally walking towards the history class, his body was too sore. He guessed there were already bruises forming on his body. In comparison to the rest of the Pages, he looked like being amidst a war.

Joss patted his shoulder, encouraging him. But that was a fruitless attempt as Win has never wanted to crawl back to his bed as he was wanting now.

The History class was canceled as Sir Tine went to the City for an emergency. When the news brought relief to Win, it was immediately taken away by the news of extra Seeing classes.

The Seeing classroom was quite darker and was filled with much more perfume than usual.

"Welcome to the Seeing Class, Pages", A voice flowed in as Win sat between his friends.

An odd woman entered from behind the shadows, almost making Win jump in fear. He must get used to the random appearances, he noted mentally.

"Seeing is an art and the only power every Numan possesses. Few Lucky ones have this as a Gift. And I am one of the lucky ones, "She said. Her voice was very soothing to hear, but the strong smell getting intolerable to Win. "I am Miss Arista, the only lady teacher who'll be teaching you the Art of Seeing", She bowed down.

"She has a thing for strong perfumes", Love whispered to Win, sensing his discomfort.

"I wouldn't know, thank you Love", Win muttered, pinching his nose.

"You may open the curtains, boy", The woman said suddenly turning towards Win, "And oh my! It's the Preserver himself!" She bowed almost at once.

Win looked around, suddenly feeling self-conscious and the fact that his dress was creased to infinity and he was sweating like hell.

Love opened the curtains, letting the steam of perfume flow out.

"For today's lesson, we will try finding our inner eye", she clapped the air, "on with it. Just close your eyes and listen to my voice".

Win closed his eyes watching everybody else do so.

"Take deep breaths and try succumbing into darkness..."

Win could feel the curtains are closed once again.

"No peeking. Try calming yourself..."

Win could feel his aches at the areas he's got the blows and his thighs ached from all the squattings. He feels so tired.

"Now forget where you are and what are you supposed to do... Try imagining yourself floating in the Universe... Amidst the stars ..."

Win felt himself getting lost in the darkness. Pain invading his senses, even more, matching with the pain he felt the day when he closed his eyes on the Earth. The pains clashed and broke, letting him float freely above. He was free, flying... Floating around the stars.

"Now try looking for the fire... The fire that gives you strength..."

Win looked around the stars he was floating around. There! There was the fire!

"Find the fire, reach for it... Try seeing what you can see in it..."

He did. The fire was golden- the kind of color when his chemistry teacher has shown burning a strip of sodium metal in analytical chemistry classes. His favorite color.

"Try searching it... Try looking inside the fire... Use it as your body part..."

He peered in close, trying to see whatever it was showing. His eyebrows furrowed, resisting the heat that the fire gave off.

Then it was there- he saw a black silhouette of him and Bright standing amidst the destruction.

He felt breathless.

Too weak.

He snapped open his eyes, squinting them again at the bright light. He gasped involuntarily.

"What is it? What is it? Did you see?" Miss Arista ran towards him with an excited expression.

Win gulped and looked at Bright, who was also looking at him with an horrified expression, before nodding a no, "I saw the fire, but I couldn't see anything in it."

The teacher's face faltered, "Anyways, then that's a start. A great achievement for the first day", she smiled.

"What happened, Win? Are you alright?" Joss asked, looking at the other three.

"It's nothing", Win forced a smile, shuffling his fingers. He was too busy to even notice Bright looking at him with an odd expression as if he already knew what did he see.

Throughout the flying lesson, he sat down thinking about the image he had seen. Did he See that? Or was he dreaming? Yes, he was probably dreaming! He couldn't actually see that! His powers couldn't come to the surface within only one day. No! This is ridiculous.

He couldn't attend the flying lesson because he didn't grow wings yet and he's given the first day as a leave. He therefore took permission from Sir Green and ended up doing his Runes homework, though he spends half of his time wondering what exactly did he see.

During the Dinner, He and Joss were given the duty to serve Sir Tine the foods along with the Messenger. Win groaned and cursed mentally at the long and tiresome day by the time he started his Runes and Seeing homework which was writing reports about his recent dreams.

When he was halfway through it, he dozed off on the library table, too exhausted to even move a finger.

_______

That was one hell of a long chapter!

Anyways, thoughts? :))