The next morning starts as usual. Aiden was choosing the hoodie he’s going to wear for the day.

Not many know this, but Aiden’s personal hobby is collecting hoodies. As such, his wardrobe was filled with such garments. Though, he ended up choosing a simple drop shoulder zip-up hoodie.

He has been wearing collared hoodies and pullover hoodies these past few days. It might be that his body started to heat up in those clothes in the warm weather. That might also explain his sudden headache yesterday.

Before going out, Aiden fished his cabinet for pills for headache. The pound in his head hasn’t occurred again, but he still took it as a precaution.

By now, Aiden had forgotten about the images that were replaying along with the pounding. He had read on the web that the images might have been a trick in his mind, as he was actually suffering from migraine headaches.

Internet sources are to be taken at face value, but what else could it be to explain it? Or did he actually have a mental problem? Did his weird dreams start to penetrate into his reality?

‘Hah, image if I started seeing people shooting flames or having wings or something.’

That was when Articus came to him, still half-dressed, with a sheepish smile on his face. Aiden gave him a look, and quickly slung his bag.

The ravenette was about to go, when one hand grabbed the sling of his bag.

“Aaiii~” called Articus in a sweet voice, “Are you busy today?”

“Depends.”

“Then, I cut straight to the point. Can you help me show the new students around the campus?” asked Articus, smiling his famous smile used in elections.

“Show them around? The new students?”

“Yeah, I want them to get familiar with this place before they start class.”

Aiden looks apologetically. “Sorry. I can’t. I’m busy.”

The grip on the sling pulled him closer. “Aw c’mon, Ai! You only took 18 credits this semester! What are you busy for?!”

“I’m busy, okay! Don’t assume I took those 18 credits for nothing this semester!”

“Ah, sorry, sorry. But still.. pleaseee?” The olive haired man leaned on him with puppy eyes.

Aiden frowned. “Can’t you just ask anyone else? Your committee members? Aren’t they the ones that are supposed to manage this kind of thing?”

“That’s true. I can just ask them.”

“Then, go ask them-“

“-But I just want you to make friends.”

Aiden’s eyes immediately widened.

Articus had dropped his famous smile. Although he is still smiling, a melancholy one.

“You know I’m going to graduate..” There was a silent trail, but then a burst. “You know that almost all my council members are pricks! And I can’t exactly ask the others to do it! I don’t trust them to do a good job, like I trust you!”

“Heh.” Aiden forced a chuckle as the man rambled on and on. It seems he had no choice but to accept it.

“Okay, okay. Now let go. I need to get to class. I will meet them later.”

“Really? Thanks! Here is their name list and contact info.”

 

♬•°♩°•♪*✦*♪•°♩°•♬

 

So in the end Aiden agreed to be the new student’s tour guide. He had to, not after what his roommate had blurted out.

But I just want you to make friends.

‘So he’s been thinking about that too, huh?’ Aiden thought grimly. After all, why would Articus begged him so much to do it, even knowing for a long time how antisocial he can be.

His thought was cut short by the appearance of the four new students. He had messaged them all to meet him infront of the entrance gates of their resident’s house.

“Hello.. My name is Aiden Vyce. I will be your tour guide, and show you around the campus.” Aiden announces unceremoniously to the uninterested group infront of him.

His eyes scanned the new students, trying to place the name on their face. He remembered seeing one of them before he got the violent headache.

Len Lowell. A pale white skinned guy with black haired and black eyes. He has mirrored pulled strands with a single braid that ties to the back of his hair.

Lias Sunday. A tan skinned guy with blonde hair, and light amber eyes. The side of his bang is swept to the side under a gemstone hair clip.

Azur Viorel. A dark brown skinned guy with platinum blonde or ash blonde hair? Aiden didn’t really know. But he has frizzy hair, and clear gray eyes.

George Snow. A brown skinned guy with darker brown hair, and dark brown eyes almost like a fiery auburn. Aiden found it unique how he wore his jacket over the shoulder.

“Shall we go now?” Aiden asked, didn’t bother to exchange introductions. His foot already turned, but stopped abruptly by a hand raised.

Azur put down his hand as he got the attention. “Can I be excluded? Others had already shown me around yesterday.”

“The fuck? Then I want out too,” George had said after that.

Aiden frowned at them both. “Sorry, no. Can’t do that. I already..” Promise? No.

“I had been tasked by the Student President to show you guys around.”

“Student President? The guy with the brown haired and green eyes?” Len inquired. 

“Yea, that is Articus Nathaniel. He is the Head Student or Student President of this uni.” As an afterthought, Aiden added, “He’s a really nice guy, and very helpful. If you have any problem don’t hesitate to go to him.”

“He told us to follow you. So you are..” Len seems to want to recall something as he gestured with his hand toward the smaller man.

“Aiden Vyce,” Aiden introduces himself again. “Okay, can you guys cooperate? It will just be a quick look around.” He then turned toward the front again.

Some of them begrudgingly followed him, as they began walking outside the gate. Their tour began from the entrance of the resident houses, and looped around the campus.

But obviously none of the transfer students care. Only Lias was nodding to all the facilities and places that were shown.

Actually, Aiden lost George not even half-way through. Or actually the man just didn’t follow him at all from the start. That bastard.

Through it all everyone had been staring at them. Some girls even offered to help give them a tour. Len actually went with them. That bitch.

After that, Azur also went missing. Not sure when he started to lose interest, but what a douche.

By then, Aiden’s patience had also gone missing. So much for trying to make friends with them. Aiden was fed up. ‘To hell with this tour..’

This tour was a disaster. He even forgot some of the area and building at the university he studied for almost three years.

“This place is so big..”

“Eh, you’re still here?” The ravenette exclaimed in genuine surprise, looking at Lias at his side. He had thought the blonde haired man would be gone too by now.

“Eh? Should I.. uh.. be going on my way too?” Lias asked unsure.

Aiden was speechless for a second. “Well.. We’re about to finish anyway. Let’s just go back to the dorm.. Or do you want to go somewhere else?”

Lias looks in thought for a second, before replying, “I just follow you back to the dorm.. I think I forgot the way back.”

“Oh, okay.”

They walked back to the Student’s Residents in silence by the sideline of the campus’s road. Aiden decided to just loop to the back entrance as to give the tour some sort of closure.

It was almost the weekend, so there are not many students at the campus right now. Most prefer to spend their free time outing to the town or beach, as they can catch the bus to get there.

Their college, Sparrowking, was located deep in a rural area, which is surrounded by forest. However, there are several bus stops placed near the faculties, and one near the front gate.

To get to the nearest town by bus took about 30 to 40 minutes. The bus usually cycles through every 30 minutes to 1 hour, starting from 7:30 am and end at 10 pm. The bus schedule had to be taken with a grain of salt though, as Aiden rarely went out from their campus.

By then, the walk had become awkward, so Aiden decided to ask the new student some general questions. “Have you not received your student ID yet? You need it to swipe entries in some rooms and labs, and also the library.”

Lias looked thoughtful as he answered, “The Student President said.. that he will distribute our student ID after we complete this tour.”

In other words, Articus held their student ID in hostage, and forced them to follow Aiden around the campus. The ravenette wanted to laugh, but it came out flat.

The other new students probably figure out that they did not need to wear the ID at all times, and that Articus will eventually give it to them, whether they follow the tour or not.

‘Goddammit, Articus. You really have been thinking about that, huh?’ Aiden thought wearily. ‘Well, it failed.’

Articus had given him an opportunity to make friends, but Aiden was too incompetent to make one. The older man’s effort was just thrown out to the street, and rolled into a drain, nearly hitting a bus.

Lias suddenly stopped and stared at the public bus passing through the street beside them. Aiden also stopped to stare at the blonde haired man.

“That is..” The blonde man trailed as the bus became small for view. “A.. public transport.”

“Huh?” Aiden raised a brow. “Oh, the bus? I forgot to mention earlier that the bus came in everyday. There are bus stops located at..”

Aiden’s explanation fell on the left ears, as Lias did not pay any attention to it. His eyes were still on the bus that had gone on its way.

Lias, or his real name, Helios, couldn’t help but reminisce about his past. The bus that passed through earlier invoked some past memory. Memory during their ‘journey’.

Maybe the setting was getting to him.

In his now modern world, they have something similar to the bus as one of the public transport, but during ‘that’ time, the only thing akin to public transport was a carrier pulled by four-legged monster equine.

He remembered how the others were always bitching, and mutually agreed on throwing him out everytime they rode in a carrier; just because he could fly.

So Helios would just fly by the side of the carrier, or he could easily hitch a ride on top of the carrier free of charge.

He didn’t mind though, as they needed to save money at that time. And also because.. he loved flying.

The old Helios was an overconfident lad that was quick to show off his wings and everything. He was the proud prince of the winged people after all. Hailed from an old and still existing royalty.

His wings were his pride.

As such, he used to hate walking, because he can just fly. I mean, why walk when you can just fly? It is faster that way.

But his mobility also had a downside to it. The others always reprimanded him for it. He even caused them quite a few troubles by getting spotted by the enemies.

The Witch used to scold him about it too.

“Get down, Helios!”

“I know you have wings, but you also have feet.”

“Helios, could you please just be quiet for a moment?”

He used to be an annoying little shit too.

“Helios, put me down!”

Helios’s heart tightened at the thought of that woman. The Witch, his beloved sun. He wanted to see ‘her’ again. There were so many things he wanted to say. For starters, he began to enjoy walking.

Since that ‘incident’, he began to enjoy walking. Walking on his two feet. More like he punishes himself to never fly again.. unless necessary.

Because flying just makes him think about ‘her’, and all their shared moments.

“I used to hate walking.”

Aiden glanced at Lias, wondering why he randomly spouted that. They had begun walking after the ravenette explained about the bus and everything. Though, the blonde man didn’t seem to be listening.

 “.. Oh.”

“Now, I love walking.”

Aiden didn’t know how to respond to that. What does it mean?

Lias did not know why he blurted that to Aiden. It just felt right. Something about the man’s presence brought familiarity to him.. which almost confuses him.. but Lias decides to dwell on it another time.

Maybe the setting was really getting to him.

From the distance, the sun started to set, creating an orange tinted sky.

 

♬•°♩°•♪*✦*♪•°♩°•♬

 

As they walked back to the Student’s Residents using the back entrance, which was near a certain forest, Aiden felt the need to point a certain something.

“That forest over there.. Over the fence.” Aiden gestured to a fence area with massive forest behind it. “That forest is off-limits to everyone. Just stay clear from that place. There is nothing interesting in that forest.”

‘Why would I be interested in going inside a forest?’ Thought Lias, but nodded nonetheless. “Oh, okay. Thanks for telling me.”

“I think we can end the tour right here. Thanks for sticking with me through it all. Sorry if it bored you.”

“Oh, it’s alright. You explained everything quite well. Though, it might take me some time to remember it.”

“To be honest, I’ll just show you a little of this place. This university is massive, so I don’t think we can cover it all. Just the basic ones.”

“That’s okay. I can go explore it later..” Lias flashed a charming smile. “.. with you?”

Aiden didn’t expect it, and his cheeks flushed a bit. It’s not everyday someone expresses gratitude or invites him to do something at this university, apart from his roommate of course. But Articus is different.

The blonde man then extended a hand to the ravenette. “Thanks for the tour.. Aiden, right? Also, I apologize for the other guys.”

Aiden was still a little taken aback, but reached it. “It’s not a problem. I hope you guys enjoy your studies here. Don’t mind the seniors that like to make fuss about the difficult subjects.”

They shook hands.

But suddenly Lias tightened his hold, and pulled the ravenette’s hand toward him.

Barely miss a black shadow being hurled at them.

The black shadow hit the fence and recoiled. It reveals itself to be a bipedal hound made of shadow.

‘It’s that..!’ Aiden would have outwardly screamed, if not for the fact the lower half of his face got mushed on the other man’s chest.

Lias saw the black blur heading straight toward them when they shook hands, and immediately pulled Aiden towards him to avoid collision with the monster. The blonde man didn’t even realize he was crushing Aiden in a half-hug, as he stared down at the shadow monster with wide eyes.

‘What is that..?’ Lias thought, perplexed by the sudden appearance of what to be a shadow shaped like a bipedal hound that had a pair of crimson ruby for eyes. The more he stared at it, the more eerily familiar it looked like the one in his past memories.

‘But it can’t be right..!” His wings itching to go into attack mode.

But then Lias remembered. He peered towards Aiden on his chest.

The ravenette struggled to shout something at him. But Lias didn’t hear anything. Because right now, his mind was filled with the thought of protecting this being he just met.

‘But my cover will break..’ He thought in horror, especially when the Witch’s Council had told them to pull out immediately if their cover was blown. ‘I can’t but-!’

The shadow hound had regained its senses, and currently ogled at them.

Lias gritted his teeth. ‘If I don’t do something, then-!’

The shadow hound is about to move.

A wing of orange fire sprouted from Lias’s back.

But then, a barrage of black fires shot toward the shadow hound.

Lias swung his head to the left to see Azur or Decimus fired his black matters again at the direction of the monster.

It hit the monster square in the face, forcing it to run into the forest, by rampaging through the gate.

George or Gelaro came after, with Len or Lelang following suit.

“Shoot! It hit the fence! Someone needs to fix it after this!” George shouted in a hurry at the damaged fence, before he chased after the monster into the forest. It seems that the other man had been the one to hurl the monster there.

In the midst of it all, Aiden gawked at them. His mind couldn’t comprehend what just happened.

They got attacked by a shadow demon werewolf-like thing, and then suddenly black fires started to shoot out at the monster. Then, one of the new guys came and started blasting a black, like really black, fire from the palm of his hand! Then, Lias was holding him and shielding him with an orange wing-like fire!

‘What the hell are these guys?!’

Aided gazed up to Lias, having felt the loose hold. The blonde man was talking to his other peers with a disturbed expression.

The ravenette’s mind was too jumbled up that he didn’t hear what the new students were talking about. They seem to be discussing something seriously.

The guy with the black hair and side braid then suddenly appeared near his view.

“This is just a dream.”

Then, everything black out.