Dire Wolf

Chapter 12

"...and thanks to the gracious cardinal wind gods who have sent their precious children to this very island, we are now more robust, larger, and more numerous than ever. Why, just last year, we can't even fill enough seats to cover half of this stadium. Now, we have to request the children of Boreas, Notus, Zephyrus, and Eurus to listen to my boring speech literally on air!"

We heard loud peals of laughter from the demigods hovering high above us as the headmaster jokingly bowed at them, which they returned playfully by sending a blast of wind that almost made the head of the Hellenic Citadel hover for a bit.

"Demigods from all the levels of the hierarchy of immortals are here with us as equals, as our friends, lovers, family members, and rivals. Please always remember that you are all here to hone your skills, to control your deity-given powers so that you can be our ambassadors and ambassadress to the outside world, and most important of all, to safeguard those who are weak, young, and old from the menace of monsters continuously trying to break away from this very island. As our beloved leader, Kady von Hausen has told us, when we have begun to accept children here on the island, the door has been opened, the road has been paved. The only thing left to do is for us who are gifted with advanced knowledge and lineage of the unknown to lead our world to our Third Golden Age. This year promises to be different from all the rest. I can just feel it. The gates of Mount Olympus will open finally for us all! The God of Truth, Lord Apollo himself decreed upon it in my dream last night!"

The whole stadium erupted in a loud buzz of chatters, excited whispers, and hushed words when we heard the final words of Headmaster Clarion.

"The gates of Mount Olympus will finally open?!"

"Wait, they said it can't be open until a mortal with a power of a god makes itself known, right?"

"That's what I know so far."

"Wow! A fascinating year ahead!"

"I think we got ourselves into something even stranger than fantasy, eh, my friends?"

"Indeed, oh gods, at first I thought I was just some random freak who can spew fire out of my mouth, now I am going to witness something monumental!"

"You said it, sister! At first, I am cursing this seemingly hard and painful life that I lead, but really, this is something entirely!"

"Ambassadress, wow, I love the sound of that!"

"The Third Golden Age, wow, I can't believe it's what the Grand Duchess has said on her annual New Year Message."

"She said that now the reconstruction of the United Republic of Maharlika is done, the path to the new, golden tomorrow is at hand!"

"So that is what she meant by that!"

I looked around and saw my seatmates happily chatting among themselves while Surt just looks at me happily, "You are lucky to arrive at this exact time, Keenan. If Headmaster Clarion said that something awesome will happen, then you can be sure that there is something great that will occur!"

"The last time he said something like this was when he announced the good news about almost all the government officials, soldiers, and their families already knew of our existence and are fully committed to our cause several years ago," Rex said expectantly as Sothea nodded in agreement.

"Oh, right, you are there, Rex. The last few years' speeches are all about reminders, guides, and food for thoughts. But this is arguably the best news I received from him ever since I arrived here!"

Sita clapped her hands together with Bliz as Headmaster Clarion finished his speech with a blast of pyrotechnics from his hands, "Ok, my friends, speech is over. Let's head to our classroom and have some peace and quiet for ourselves, shall we?"

"Wait, classroom? You are all going to have classes here?" I asked in confusion as the kids around us began flooding out of the stadium on their way to the main building located at the compound's center.

Rex punched the back of my boyfriend that made him howl in pain, "Really, you furry beast? You didn't tell Keenan that we are all students here during our immersion?"

"Calm down, Rex. What would you expect from someone as absent and narrow-minded as he is?" Bliz said disappointedly as he clapped my back so forcefully it made me cough involuntarily, "Well, allow me to explain instead, my new friend. All demigods here are required to attend the three months vocational classes of the Hellenic Citadel so we can better control the godly powers we inherited from our parents and learn how to manipulate the elements we are aligned with."

Sita nodded as we walked outside the auditorium, "Bliz and I are Scanians. We are proficient with ice elements. Rex, here as a Maharlikan, is quite capable of the use of water elements. Sothea is one fiery mistress, so it is really a big wonder how she and her boyfriend get together, but hey, opposites attract. Finally, we have Surt, a Kalalitan, so he is rather good at earth element. I am sure you already know about that, right Keenan?"

"Yes. He is great at knowing the lay of the land, moving boulders, and scaling mountains easily. Though I guess the wind element of his howls are because of his wind-inclined, mother, right?" I asked that made Sita clap her hands in agreement.

"Wow, nothing less than expected from Ms. Peregrine's certified student. You are quick to pick up and probably know more about history than us. But to answer your question, yes. Lady Lytta, the Goddess of Rabies and Rage, is a wind-inclined deity, so her son, born in an earth-affiliated country, have access to both elements freely."

But Surt just shook his head and scratched the back of his head, "I can barely use earth element offensively when I am on my dire wolf form. Oh, Ms. Peregrine!"

I quickly looked at the skies where he is looking, and indeed, I saw my history professor descending from the blue skies above.

"Wow, you can fly, Ms. Peregrine?!" I shouted in amazement as she let Rex and Bliz assist her on landing by holding both her hands for her.

"Yes, Mr. Loussier. I can. Not that I can do anything more than producing a ball of wind outside the island with the Olympic elemental particles so scarce in the outside world. Anyways, change of plans. It looks like Apollo himself doesn't want you anywhere near our precious dig sites and archeological vaults," she said quickly that made me gasp in shock.

"What?! But I am supposed to join a research team by tomorrow!"

All except Surt in our group gave me a scandalized look, "Wait, you're saying that you are here to meet up with the egg heads, Keenan?"

"Yes, Bliz. I am told by Ms. Peregrine that I can have a look around in the town and attend the opening ceremony before she picks me up so we can both go to the dig sites and use my knack for researching and studying origins to good use," I answered quickly as I looked back at my history teacher motioning us to follow her instead towards the administrative building, "Did I did something to be rejected by the excavation team?"

She heaved a sigh and nodded, "Well, technically yes. The moment you passed the Gates of Apollo, it changed everything."

"What, am I too ugly for the digging things or something?" I asked exasperatedly that made her shook her head, and pursed her lips as we heard the loud whispers from the students we have walked past by.

"Wow, is he a mortal?"

"I don't know why but he is so gorgeous!"

"Even the heirs to the thrones cannot compare to him."

"I wonder if he is in a relationship."

"With that look, you bet he is."

"Another addition to Auxiliary Class?"

"Well, I guess they need more numbers."

"He is just so heavenly!"

"Look at that beautiful skin and eyes!"

"Man, the hair! It's real! I saw him walk through the Gates of Apollo, and he dyed it black before!"

"Well, I don't think I ever see anyone with hair like that naturally!"

"There is something odd about his aura. I can't point it out."

"Oh, you noticed it too?"

"Too ugly, Mr. Loussier? More like too handsome for others to focus on their work," Ms. Peregrine said as we finally reached the room at the end of the hallway flanked by two Pax soldiers who saluted when they saw Ms. Peregrine, "Is he in? I brought the goods."

"Goods?" Sothea asked in a whisper, but my teacher just smiled at her quietly before the soldiers opened the doors for us to enter.

It is a rather imposing office filled from floor to ceiling with books about archeology, history, and technology. 

The venerable gray-haired headmaster is sitting behind a mahogany desk and reading some papers before looking up at us, "Oh, Madam Peregrin. A little bit early, don't you think?"

"Change of plans, Clarion. Workers from the dig site saw the tsarevich on his way back to work and realized that he is the new scholar because the son of Lytta is accompanying him."

The headmaster looked at me and was left speechless, "Gods, that aura, Madam Peregrin. It really is as you describe."

"I know, right? All I noticed back at Ogawara was his oddly thick foundation and unnatural black hair. But that subtle aura was really what caught my attention, that's why even if he is a rather problematic student at first, I didn't let him go away from my grasp," he then looked at my new friends and raised an eyebrow, "I know you are just being nice but be honest, you are suffocating right now because of Keenan, hmm?"

Sita, Sothea, Bliz, and Rex looked at each other before looking at me apologetically.

"He is emitting this kind of suffocating aura, true, but it's not just that. It is intoxicating as well," Sita said carefully as if not wanting to offend me in any way, "I am still looking at the proper word use to describe it."

The son of the goddess of snow nodded and looked in my direction rather curiously, "Yeah, it is indescribable. Like complete opposites. It's pushing me away from him, but at the same time, luring me in."

"What you said, my Bliz. I feel exactly the same. It's like I have to run away as fast as I can from him, but at the same time, I don't see the reason why not to get closer and know him better as a friend. Really inconsistent and puzzling, to say the least," Soteria's daughter chipped in as the son of the goddess of force grinned next to me excitedly.

"Hah! I know the word to describe it! It's the "thrill" that we are feeling!"

My history teacher raised an eyebrow as the headmaster offered his hand to me, which I accepted respectfully.

"Thrill, you say? Well, that is a rather accurate way to put it," she agreed as she looks at me from head to foot whimsically as if I am making her remember someone from her past, "I know you are hiding something physically, but I never imagined that someone like you can possibly exist in this time period."

The headmaster looked at my teacher curiously, "Are they common back then, Madam Peregrin?"

"Not "that" common, probably once every or so centuries someone like Mr. Loussier will appear. But most comes under the radar since they are rather not that "flashy" when it comes to their capabilities."

I just looked at the two adults talking riddles that I cannot understand, "What the heck are you two talking about? What someone like me appears every or so centuries? What do I have to do now that they don't want me at the dig site? Am I going home now?"

"Oh, please hush, Mr. Loussier. No one will send you home at your state, it's like we are firing the Gugnir cannon of the dukedom at the Ogawara Province, and I don't want Chief Ren to mope about it in my faculty office," Ms. Peregrin dismissed my words quickly as she glanced at Surt who seemed not to be worrying about anything at all as long as I am within his reach, "Change of plans, Mr. Loussier. I know I have already taught you everything a student of the Hellenic Citadel should know in several years about our real-world enough for you to join the top eggheads at the dig sites and reproduction labs but think of this as a "field experience" sort of thing."

I looked at her as the headmaster nodded quickly in agreement, "The only thing left to do is to keep him here at the citadel together with people around his age. I guess Auxiliary Class will indeed get a new member at least this year, eh?"

"Yes, Clarion. We still can't just put anyone with them, especially when they are doing fieldworks together. Too involatile," she then looked at me and smiled motherly, which made my heart soften, "Sorry, Mr. Loussier. I know I promised you all the wonders of the technology labs and archeological archives, but with your impossibly good looks and aura, you will just be a distraction at best and a source of an accident at worse for our innocent scientists and soldiers. Humor me just this year and join the students of the Hellenic Citadel in their field studies, won't you?"

I looked at the new friends I thought I have made sadly, "Would someone accept me in this school? You made me sound like someone wouldn't want to have anywhere near them."

"What are we, chopped liver?"

I looked at Sita, raising an eyebrow at me while Sothea looks disappointed while her boyfriend and Rex look downright offended.

"If we don't like being around you for a bit, we would've kicked you out of our group the moment we saw you, even if you are this furry beast's boyfriend," the son of Bia retorted as he vented his frustration to me by slamming his hand at the back of Surt that buckled from the sheer force of it.

"Yeah, what Rex said. I wouldn't anyone near my girl if I don't like the way he or she or it breathes," Bliz said indignantly as I feel my hair ends freezing over a little, "Besides, we are outcasts ourselves in this little section called Auxiliary Class, eh, Sothea?"

"Indeed, Rex. It's not like we can just push you away because you are different when we experienced the same thing. You are not the only one being treated as a renegade here, Keenan."