Stars Beneath Hellfire

Vespera stopped at the foot of the stone staircase, staring up at the dark building that loomed against the dark sky. Aethelgard Academy rose above her like a monument built for giants rather than students. Towers of dark stone pierced the sky, their spires disappearing into low-hanging clouds. Countless windows glimmered with warm golden light, turning the ancient structure into a constellation of its own. The building looked impossibly old. Not ruined. Not worn. Ancient. As though it had stood long before kingdoms had been founded and would remain long after they had fallen. Massive arches framed the entrance, each carved with symbols she didn't recognise. Stone figures watched from ledges high above, their weathered faces softened by centuries of wind and rain. For a moment, Vespera wondered if the academy had been built by people at all. The air around it felt different. Heavy. Alive. Like the stones themselves remembered things they were never meant to forget. Students moved past her carrying books and luggage, yet none of them seemed particularly impressed by the sight before them. To them, this was normal. To Vespera, it felt as though she stood before a sleeping giant. She drew a slow breath and looked toward the towering entrance. "Well," she muttered. "No turning back now." Lively chatter died down slowly as Vespera strode past the students that filled the halls of Aethelgard. Loud conversations turned to hushed whispers, laughter turned to murmuring as she walked further in. The torches on the walls burned dimmer, and shadows seemed to elongate towards her as she passed. All eyes were on her, but that never bothered Vespera. Such always happened whenever she was present. In every room she walked into, she was met with fear, and a hushed kind of hostility. In other, but rare cases, she was met with confusion, but that never passed as a problem to her. In fact, she thrived in the uncertain and fearful attention she often attracted. And she knew exactly why it was like that. Being an infernal being spawned from Hell was nothing unusual, but a being Hell itself couldn't identify? A whole different matter. She thrived on everything demons could thrive on. Hatred. Anger. Grief. Pain. Fear. Oh, she liked the smell of that one. The only difference was that she could handle far greater exposure to such, and could potentially - though she never thought to test the theory - rival the likes of mid to high rank angels in strength and mental fortitude. Besides, the fear she could smell on the students gave her a rush that no other scent had in a long time, and that was one good thing to note since she'd stepped foot into the academy. A student brushed past her, their shoulders barely touching. Vespera felt the girl tense, and a wave of fear and uneasiness rolled off her. 'Funny,' she thought. 'Seems humans and witches smell different.' Vespera strode on, ignoring the stares that followed her as she made her way to the headmaster's office. Her back was straight, her steps steady and unhurried, her cool face devoid of any expression. She stopped in front of a black mahogany door that bore a golden plaque bearing the name Headmaster Ortheon. She raised her hand, tapped lightly, and entered without waiting for a response. Headmaster Ortheon sat behind a big wooden desk, probably mahogany too, Vespera thought, that was polished to a shine that was visible even in the dim lighting of the office. He sat with his hands clasped before him on the table, like he'd been expecting her. "Welcome to Aethelgard, Miss-" he began, but Vespera cut him off. "Just Vespera," she says curtly. "Ah, yes, Vespera," he said. "I take your first impression of our Academy is fitting?" "If by fitting you mean being stared at by students the entire hall, then yes, it is quite... fitting," Vespera said, a cold edge in her voice. The flames burning at the fireplace seem to dim as she said the last word. "My apologies. I'll ensure my students invest additional time in the practice of their etiquette," he offered a smile. Vespera didn't smile back, her grey eyes scanning the headmaster's face with a cold silence. For a moment, Ortheon was uneasy. He has dealt with intimidation, especially from first time students and their parents if they decided to come along, but never had he been successfully intimidated. But now, sitting before a silent Vespera, he was very much intimidated, and he hated that. Vespera's cold composure had him at a loss for words, and for the first time in all the decades he'd been headmaster of Aethelgard, he was uncomfortable. She didn't say much. She didn't move. She just observed quietly, and yet Ortheon felt like she'd seen right through him. His stiff back suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. 'We shouldn't have agreed to this,' he thought. "Well," Ortheon said, turning away to look through a drawer on his desk, "this is what you'll need to get settled and ready to learn." In his hand was a small booklet with the crest of Aethelgard Academy on the cover. Vespera took it, still silent, and opened it. Ortheon watched as she quickly skimmed through it and then shut it, then turned to leave. "Now, hold on now," he stopped her. She glanced at him over her shoulder. Her grey eyes had darkened and the shadows in the room seemed to shift. Ortheon suppressed a shiver. This...girl... "I have asked someone to be your guide to your residence and the rest of the academy," he explained. "You found me a sitter?" Vespera asks, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Ortheon is offended for a second, then shakes his head. "A guide, Vespera," he tells her, emphasizing on it as authoritatively as he can. Vespera folds her arms over her chest, casting another cool glance his way. Headmaster Ortheon stood, wanting to get away from a position where Vespera would look down at him. While it didn't ever bother him, Vespera's gaze seemed to strip him bare, and he was left feeling like she looked down on him. "He should be arriving right about now," he said, looking to the door as it opened. From the moment Cassiel touched the handle of the door, a feeling of uneasiness crept through him. 'What is this?' Cassiel thought as he stepped into Headmaster Ortheon's office. The feeling of an unknown presence hit him as he stepped inside. A girl in uniform stood before the desk, her back turned from him. She didn't turn to look at him when he greeted the headmaster. A sense of confusion hit him, and the unfamiliarity of it made his gut churn. As a Seraph, certainty is like air to them, so was identifying other magical and supernatural beings. The girl standing in the headmaster's office was dismantling both his certainty and knowledge, and he didn't like that. "Seraph Cassiel Caelion, this is our new student, Vespera Ithraya." She turned as Headmaster Ortheon finished his introduction. Cold, grey eyes met warm, golden eyes. The grey darkened, and for the first time in his divine existence, Cassiel Caelion did not know what he's looking at.