Chapter 3 THE POWERS WERE WAY COOLER

I settled into a quiet corner of the bustling hallway, the cold stone walls and dim torches illuminating around me. I had no idea when it got so dark, but I was sure I hadn’t looked at the time in a while and was also sure that I hadn’t rested that long.

So, in summary, time was faster at the Signary. Even if it wasn’t true but there’s no fact to prove me otherwise either.

To spend away my time and feel less triggered by my environment. I pulled out the book my sister had handed me two days earlier when I was packing up for the Signary.

She called it a handwritten novel initially and advised that I shouldn’t read it till I got to the Signary. With time she admitted that it was her journal while she made her way through the training. She had advised me to read it like a novel whenever I had the time and also to read it to feel close to her whenever I needed to, since phones were prohibited in the Signary and first years had no access to the landlines.

An information I found out just two days before my recruitment! So I won’t be hearing from anyone I cared about until I was done with a full year?

That’s just sheer torture in the guise of training.

I pulled out the book from the side zip of my bag. The parchment creased and worn from multiple readings.  

Starting from the first page, Amethyst's words seemed exactly like what Amethyst would have said during her early days at the Signary.

‘Dear People…’

That’s one way to address an imaginary audience from your first page. No acknowledgements, no preface.

Just pure pride with a mix of enthusiasm.

Her first page wasn’t clear enough cause it had a lot of scribbles and side notes but since I wasn’t properly settled in yet, I decided to begin deciphering all the words written there and read the other pages later.

They all seemed like a heads up to me.

‘The food here is manageable except Tuesday dinners’

‘Men from the Western Angle are so hotttt’

‘I dislike sparring Sundays’

But one sentence did catch my attention written in bold:

"Avoid any Onakry at all costs. They’re out for revenge"

The Onakry’s.

That name left a bitter taste on my lips as I tried to pronounce it.

Memories flooded my mind as I re-read the words. The picture of Gen. Onakry leading a group of warriors against the Signary. The battle that had claimed my mother's life, and the punishment that had followed.

It almost seemed like yesterday, when my mother had ordered all of us to run upstairs and remain there following a blast that came from our estate entrance.

My father had run out a few minutes prior to get help and protection. We the children weren’t sure what was going on but all we knew was, we were indeed afraid.

We ran up the stairs but managed to peek through a window to view the crowd of soldiers outside.

From all I knew, Gen. Onakry who used to be our father’s best friend had heard that our father would be awarded as the leader of the Signary and was against it. He wanted to be the leader, to be commander in chief and thus was going after everyone who would have a slightest chance to come in his way.

I had no idea how important that position was to him or how my mother would have interrupted his plans. She was a quiet woman who wouldn’t even mind them displacing her from her own home.

Yes, my mom was calm to a fault. If anything, she was timid.

From our little window, we saw our mother get dragged like filth out of her own home. Without even an extra second to allow her plead for her life, her head was sliced off her body and they marched on like all they had done was behead a five-foot lamb and not a human. Not a wife and a mother.

The pain and fear in my mother's eyes was a constant reminder of the ruthlessness of the Signary.

For another time today, my eyes welled up with tears, but I blinked them back. My jaw stifled with a bit of sadness.

Trying to read on, my eyes kept scanning the first page for more instructions. Amethyst had just said a few things about the cliques and alliances that was formed among the students. Sounded more like jealousy statements to me then warnings. But it did tell me to be careful who I trusted and to always keep my guard up.

‘That’s all for today’ I say to myself and shut the book. Making a mental note to uncover the rest of the notes like a series. A part for a day.

‘Something to help kill the boredom I guess’ my inner thoughts respond.

Hold up-

My mind wandered back to the entrance, where I had met the guys with name tags and I just clicked that I saw one with a ‘Ryder Onakry’ written on it.

How did I not blend the names before?

Oh wait… probably I was too busy wondering what the fuck I’m doing in here in the first place.

The image of his striking eyes, beautifully carved features, whitish grey hair and dismissive smile all came flooding back. He definitely looked like someone I would have avoided even without a warning.

Pretty boys were a ‘no-no’. A casual death sentence.

Anyway, I seem to have wasted enough time out here, so with a newfound sense of purpose and sudden burst of energy, I consulted my map and navigated my way to my dormitory.

It was indeed harder than I explained it in the previous sentence but you do not need to know the boring details of how the corridors seemed to stretch on forever, that were lined with stone and torches that cast flickering shadows on the ground. Or how I passed by classrooms and training rooms, hearing the sounds of clashing steel and grunting students filling the air.

I believe those were students from the years above mine probably training cause ain’t no way a first year was already possessing weapons.

Finally, I arrived at my dormitory anyway.

A middle-sized room with about twenty bunk beds and a really large iron guarded window that overlooked the passageways that led to an area that looked like the courtyard.

You know how you would picture a prison hostel?

Yes… exactly like that.

As I entered the room, I was greeted by the sound of laughter and chatter from the other students. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, excited to be starting their journey at the Signary. Somehow, I felt a pang of envy. Wishing I could share their enthusiasm but how can I even feign happiness when I am where I do not want to be and the only person I may know in here is the one person I do not even want to see?

The weight of my family's legacy made me feel like an outsider, a fraud pretending to be something I wasn't.

Oh, how I really wanted to be taken back to the Healers cubicle in a heartbeat.

No time to sulk now, I was already in. I took a deep breath and tried to shake off my doubts. I am here to learn. Even though it’s a bit too late to start learning now… I could always give it a try.

At least to make my father proud.

From the look of things on my brochure, I was designated to the top bunk at the far-right corner of the room. When I got there, I see that my bunkmate had already arrived. Her nose buried in a book.

“Hey” I say with a bright smile to the girl whom I would be sharing a space with for the year.

But she didn’t make a move to respond in return. If anything, it looked like she pushed her nose deeper into her book to avoid seeing me by mistake.

Wow… ignoring the feeling of being slightly hurt by the gesture, I decided it was best to just stick with being silent and getting into my space.

As I unpacked my bags and settled into my new surroundings, I couldn't help but notice the other students. Across the room, two girls were engaged in a heated game of cards, their laughter and banter filling the air. A scene I wasn’t quite used to because my mother had told me that gambling was for men hence, I never bothered to partake nor watch.

I wasn’t even sure I knew exactly what the game was about.

Glancing to another side, there was another girl was sitting on her bed, reading a book and looking completely absorbed. She looked so thrilled by what she was reading, her eyes almost seemed to be glistening with delight from where I stood.

Each person seemed to be enjoying themselves, excited to be starting this new chapter in their lives and it ought not to be strange. Most people pick out their trainings from their early years in life. It was a thrill to watch yourself possess gifts you never knew you could.

Fact is, it was a choice. You could decide to never take part in any trainings and be a mere mortal in Allorna. No one was against that.

But the powers were way cooler.