The next day.
On a new bed in a new room, surrounded by unfamiliar furniture, Noctis sighed, frustration and fatigue settling over him.
"Well, that went well," he muttered, the sarcasm barely hiding his unease.
Reflecting on what had happened, Noctis wondered why he hadn't mentioned the man in dark robes to Darron.
Every attempt to bring up the incident left him blank, as if something blocked him from remembering or speaking about it in Darron's presence. Only after Darron left would the memory resurface, leaving Noctis unsettled as he prepared for the day.
Sighing once more, he looked at the clock, seeing that he would soon have to go to his first lecture.
The spacious room, with a bathroom on the left, greeted him as he looked around, assessing the surroundings. He was satisfied with what he had gotten.
Having lost all his possessions and not owning much to begin with, he found it easy to feel content.
For now, a roof and something to eat were enough. He wouldn't have complained at all. In fact, a feeling of over-saturation crept in. This was more than he had before, when he shared a small apartment and a community toilet.
He closed his eyes for a second, taking it all in once more, and he began dressing himself in the new, simple, grey clothes given to him shortly after his arrival, sloppily throwing the garments he had worn before into a corner, not sparing them another thought.
These clothes were quite plain, except for a triangle symbol, split by a line, plastered on the shoulders and the right side of the chest.
With nervous anticipation and expectation, Noctis stood up to make his way towards classes in his usual slow trotting manner.
***
As Noctis walked down the hallway, the question he'd asked earlier returned. Why hadn't he mentioned it? Was it the effect of some ability the man in robes used? The man had made some strange changes to reality.
Maybe he had mind-control powers, planting a que in his head to keep him silent about the experience. Pondering these uncertainties, he arrived at the spot where he was to meet his teacher and others like him.
There, waiting as well, was a girl around Noctis's age. Unlike the common dark blue or black hair color, she had bright blond, slightly wavy hair and light blue eyes. She was about as tall as Noctis, with a not particularly chubby or skinny appearance.
She was overall quite pretty. Her posture gave off very polite vibes. Yet her facial expression, drained of all emotion, radiated utter misery—her dull eyes and tightly pressed lips betrayed a recent, raw loss that seemed to weigh heavily on her.
She was most likely someone like Noctis, since she wore the same grey clothes with the same symbol. This seemed the most logical conclusion. He didn't fixate on her attitude, as he hadn't had a good start here either.
After all, all his belongings had gone up in smoke.
Noctis contemplated whether he should start a conversation. He nervously fidgeted and berated himself for not knowing how to speak casually with the opposite sex.
Still, he forced himself to try, worried he might end up a loner during his time at the school. The thought made him anxious.
On the other hand, he never truly cared about building relationships and often preferred solitude. Of course, he wasn't too averse to being alone; to be totally honest, he liked the solitude at times, the predictability of those around him boring him to death, yet deciding to stay alone and being forced to be alone because of incompetence were two very different situations.
Approaching sluggishly with small steps, Noctis tried to start a conversation. As he opened his mouth, the girl noticed him and cut in with a slightly annoyed tone before he could utter a word.
"What, don't you have anything better to do than to hit on random girls?"
What? Noctis stared at her, dumbfounded as embarrassment and irritation battled within him. He replayed the situation in his mind and realized her suspicion could be born, although he couldn't help but feel a flash of resentment for being confronted so abruptly. Deciding on self-preservation, he let her have a taste of the awkwardness she so generously gifted him.
Asking in a confused, and kind of dumbed-down manner.
"Is this the place where the classes are held?"
She stared at Noctis in confusion for a second, then took a closer look and seemed to process the misunderstanding. Her face began to turn red as embarrassment gradually replaced her previous numb expression, but before she could smooth things over, a male voice interrupted from behind.
"You two must be the new recruits, right?"
Looking back, Noctis saw two people: an adult with a scholarly air, a pair of gold-rimmed glasses that slightly drooped, unable to fully hide his amethyst green eyes, and a younger man in his early twenties who wore clothes similar to theirs.
Nodding, Noctis introduces himself in a polite tone.
"Noctis Raveth"
The girl quickly composed herself and answered in a slightly absent-minded tone, reverting to her previous state.
"Siana Vale"
The older man, whom Noctis assumed was a teacher, smiled.
"Call me Professor Anderson or simply Professor, and my companion here is Riven Holt."
As he introduces them both, he gestures towards Riven, who was quite handsome and had the common black hair and pale skin that most people here had, since there was no sun in this realm to give the body melanin.
Riven Holt stepped forward and said in a firm but friendly tone.
"You can call me Riven. I hope for a good collaboration."
Giving off a very strict, proper vibe, he stretched out his hand. Siana and Noctis shook it one at a time and ended their exchange of greetings.
Seeing this, the scholarly Professor opened the door and gestured them inside.Sitting there conversing with each other were around 12 other people wearing the same attire as Siana, Riven, and he did.
Most of them were around 16-20 years old, but two outliers had a clearly aged appearance. All of them clearly knew each other quite well, as evidenced by their interactions. As they walked in, with Anderson going last, the attention quickly shifted towards the three of them. Uncomfortable with this unwanted attention, Noctis stayed silent, trying his best not to attract more attention than he already had.
Standing beside us, the Professor wore a smile that didn't reach his eyes and began introducing us:
"These are your new classmates, Riven Holt, Siana Valore, and Noctis Raveth. They will from now on be joining you."
Looking through the crowd of mostly youths, trying to forget his discomfort, he wondered inwardly, 'Why are there mostly youths?' Isn't getting hit by a Concept Fragment completely coincidental, or is it split up by age groups?
No, that doesn't make sense given the presence of the old-timers.
Going through the crowd trying to see commonalities, yet he couldn't spot any other than the age. Some were Big and muscular; others were a little leaner, but not skinny. From the looks of it, the food here has to be good, considering that food is a serious problem in the poorer parts of this city, where many visibly starving individuals ran around.
Gesturing towards three seats that hadn't been taken, one at the very side of the class, the second was twords the middle in between a very big guy, at least 2 meters in height, obviously hiding a muscular build under his clothes, with bronz skin which was thery uncommon in this city usualy only seen with the richer folk that could spend mony on artificialy gaining the melanin that this realm so despretly denied, used more as a status symbole then for health, and on the other side a smaller guy whose eyes constantly shifted around, and the third was placed in the back row of the two rows, between a girl with purpul lips as if she was suffering from hipothermia and a guy with stricking red hair giving him a auspsious look.
Immediately having a slight craving for the seat at the side, Noctis took a step towards it.
Yet he gave up on the seat a second later, as Siana was going towards it, and the seat wouldn't really help with his attempt at not becoming a total loner.
Looking towards Riven, who was going towards the nearest seat, Noctis went for the one in the back row.
Nodding at his two neighbors to greet them, the girl nodded back relaxedly, while the guy with the flamboyant hair straight up ignored him arrogantly. Well, fuck you, too, then. Regret flashed through Noctis's eyes as he looked toward the seat that Siana took. He knew it would probably pay off in the long run to get out of his comfort zone, yet he couldn't help but sigh at his loss.
Seeing them take their seats, Anderson nodded and started talking."With the development of our glorious...Mr. Anderson began with the city's history and the importance of the government. As Noctis listened to the lengthy monologue about how humans settled in this realm and chaos broke out in human settlements, he started zoning out, only listening halfheartedly.
The content reminded him of the government-funded broadcasts from his earlier school days, filled with propaganda and patriotic catchphrases. Though the phrasing varied, the message was always similar: how honorable it is to work for the government, especially in dangerous jobs.
Yet, seeing the bodies of such workers abandoned or hearing of their disappearances was not uncommon. Long accustomed to such scenarios, Noctis felt more annoyed than disturbed, which soured his initial good impression of Anderson a bit.
As his eyes drifted, he watched the other students' reactions. Some were similarly disinterested in the topic; a few were intrigued or even filled with pride while listening; the others were whispering among themselves. I guess getting this hammered into you every day will slowly change your opinions. Well, wasn't that how all organizations operated, slowly brainwashing, ingraining the morals and ethics the organization desired? Pride over standing above others, a reputation to make you sacrifice yourself, in the end, all the same.
Watching their eyes, there was something in them, some emotion in each of them. Was it expectation? Were they expecting something?
Some were joyously expecting something, others were more empathetic than joyous.
Before reading more into it, Noctis heard Anderson switching topics, which turned his attention back towards his words.
"... that is where Authority Wielders come into play. In the early stages, they are not much stronger than the average person, but their unique abilities can help them excel in specialized fields and detect danger before it becomes a problem. As an authority wielder's rank rises, they become much stronger and better able to handle problems related to concepts and their consequences.
The stage most of you are now in is called the Authority holder and, strictly speaking, is considered not even ranked one, but rather a prepubescent stage before you truly start climbing the ladder of ascension.
The name comes from your relationship with your Authority. Unlike at higher stages, you haven't fully fused with your concept, so it feels like a foreign object partially ingrained in your body. Meaning, when you use your Authority, given abilities, it's more like wielding a gun than using your arms and legs. The main difference is that it will feel unnatural and, more importantly, place a heavier burden on your body."
Hearing this, Noctis remembered some of the novels he had read in the past. Some of these were about Concept Holders, with one of those being the protagonist of sorts, who would fight evil monsters and so on.
If he remembered right, in these books, Concept Holder was the first stage on the path, followed by Concept Assymulator, and then Conceptual being. Further, the books did not go. Well, according to what the Professor just said, the books weren't very reliable. It became clearer that such books could not be blindly trusted, as authors often took creative liberties when blending reality and fiction.
Yet at least it was a start.
Seeing Siana raise her delicate hand, the Professor looked toward her and asked in a friendly tone.
"What would you like to ask?"
Standing up, she answered quickly in a polite tone.
"Professor Anderson, if we are truly only connected to these fragments, at this stage,... is it possible to remove them?"
Anderson contemplated shortly and answered in a slightly bitter tone, "At the moment, the only way to remove a fragment would lead to your death."
Noding and seating herself again, she spoke in a disappointed tone,
"I understand. I- I have no more questions."
Looking around for a moment and seeing no more questions, he continued.
"So, in the Authority wielder stage, you typically have access to three different types of ways to extract strength from your authority.
Firstly, one ability that depends on the type of Authority you received, which might change with the rank you are in.
Secondly, a "Symbolism". This is unique to each individual and will reflect your original Authority in some shape, way, or form.
And thirdly, rituals. Your symbolism and ability are usually the simplest ways to use your Authority.
These you theoretically already can use. You only need to find out what they are and how to use them.
The symbolism is easy to find, as we have ways to detect it, but the ability is a bit more difficult; some dont use it until they reach higher stages, because one needs to either know what it is or instinctively use it to figure it out, which has its dangers."
Pausing for a moment, he said, trying to hide a slightly sadistic smile, making Noctis scowl internally.
"Let's start with your symbolism."
Looking around, the students' expectations were at a peak, with more and more of their thoughts evident in their facial expressions.
Looking into his bag, Anderson took out a black box around the size of a head. Placing it on his desk, he started taking off the thin black walls of the box one by one.
First, one couldn't see inside the box, but as he took each part, it became clearer that this was, in truth, a cage, and when the third wall fell, something in the cage awoke.
Slamming against the bars with a loud thud, a small dark green arm squeezed between the bars of the cage, trying to grab Anderson's hand, which promptly failed as it was clearly out of range.
One could hear a low whimper or a scream coming from within the cage. Not slowing down in the slightest, Anderson took off the final wall that was pointed towards us, revealing to us the full figure of the being.
Surrounded by bars, there was a small animal that resembled a gremlin of sorts, with dark green, rough skin, a hunched back, and razor-sharp, long claws.
Screaming and scratching at the bars in a desperate attempt to escape from its confines, Anderson walked past it, not sparing it even a glance. Speaking in a relaxed tone.
"This here is a Hollowfang, but it is better known under the nickname Symbolism syphener."