***

{Kaion Hall}, announced the driver through the hastram's intercoms right before the hastram came to a halt beside a massive square building. The building had metallic walls that seemed to distort the air around it, its color was the same aged brown that most of the other buildings here seemed to have. The only way of distinguishing it from the others was perhaps the sign inscribed [Kaion Hall] right on top of its double doors. Once the hastram doors opened Cehedia jumped out, glad to be out of that thing. 

There was no front desk in Kaion Hall, just a lounge with what seemed like a fireplace on one side and several paintings of military men all along the walls.

"Is this real?" wondered Cehedia as he walked towards the fireplace. Though his jacket was regulating the temperature, he thought it odd that he couldn't feel any extra heat emanating from the fireplace.

"No, it's not. The buildings don't require heating, the temperature is regulated artificially to make sure you guppies don't freeze to death." The voice came like a sudden boom from behind him, startling him so much that he had his blackened blade in his hands before he knew it.

"Hmm, at least your reflexes are better than the others. But the use of weapons outside of the training grounds is prohibited, especially when it was pulled out with the intent to harm an officer. Since it's your first day and have yet to receive your orientation I will go easy on you. You will serve your solitary after your orientation," said the man.

He was a massive hulk of a man, probably in his late 50s, though Cehedia inferred this from his greying hair and not his physique. He could've been mistaken for a man in his prime otherwise. He wore a black greatcoat with a star enclosed by five white circles on his badge. He had dark circles around his eyes -like he hadn't slept for a few days- and a noticeable scar that ran from his right eye all the way to his right cheek. As he stared down at Cehedia the cigarette in his mouth let out a trail of smoke, its smell suffocating.

"Understood, Cadet?" asked the man, his hands cuffed behind his back as he towered over Cehedia.

"Understood," replied Cehedia without even thinking. The man just had that air of authority about him, he felt compelled to reply submissively.

"Now, you must be the Cadet who was admitted to the infirmary. Your room is C102, I've taken the liberty of having one of your roommates place everything you need on your bed. Orientation will take place tomorrow, take this time to settle in and get to know your residence mates."

"Enjoy your warm bed while you can, I'll be waiting in solitary right after orientation," said the man before walking out of the lounge area.

Cehedia drooped his head and walked up the stairs in search of the C-block, it seemed like his luck hadn't much changed since he left home.

"This is the fifth cadet who can already summon weapons. I can tell I'll be in for a violent group this time around," sighed the man as he let out a puff of smoke before wandering through the snow.

***

[C102, C102, C102, C102,] repeated Cehedia as he walked through the hallways of what he presumed was the C block. One couldn't have guessed that the building was this big while looking at it from the front. After searching for nearly a minute, he found it- a few rooms away from the end of the hallway. After taking a deep breath he slowly opened the door.

"Ready for orientation, sir!" 

"Quiet down for fucks sake. There's no way he's coming to our room, you idiot. How did I get paired up with such an insuffera... great, looks like I'll be paired with yet another one," retorted a blonde-haired boy sitting in a corner of the room. By the looks of it, he seemed to have been reading a book before his roommate shot up to attention and embarrassed himself.

"Oh, it's not the hall master. What can I do you for?" asked the boy as he took a more relaxed posture.

"He's our new roommate. Why else would another cadet come to our room? I doubt anyone here would be friendly enough to try making friends on the first day," commented the blonde, before refocusing his attention on the book in front of him.

"Ahh, so you're Cehedia. Welcome, welcome. We're your roommates, my name's Oliver and the sardonic blonde over there is Dara."

[How did someone so... 'happy' pass the entrance exam?] wondered Cehedia as he reluctantly shook the over-enthusiastic boy's hand.

"You know, when I heard that our roommate was still in the infirmary, I was expecting some wuss. But you have really scary eyes Cehedia, you know that right?" asked the boy, before retreating to his bed.

The room wasn't very large, in fact, there was barely enough space for three people to stand side by side in between all the furnishings. There were three beds -bunk beds- all stacked up atop of one another, on the other side of the room was a study desk - where Dara was reading his book- and behind it a single small wardrobe. Apart from that the only other noticeable feature about the room was the window, which at the moment was covered with droplets of moisture. However, as mundane as the room seemed, it was clean and had actual furnishing, more than Cehedia could've asked for.

"You don't speak much do you?" asked Oliver from the uppermost bunk bed.

"I-I guess so," replied Cehedia. The whole interaction thing was new to him, but he accepted that he had to get used to it if he ever wanted to have any semblance of normal life in the military.

"Shanty districts," commented Dara.