ADAD Chapter 8: First lesson

 The week passed by as if in a blur, and now Darius wore black robes with a blue trim. The same as Harvey, who had managed to combine two runes on the first try, although he had used the instructor's blood to get the rune to work. The two shared a room, and were the only ones in the rune house, from their batch of first years. 

"Come on, sleepy head. We will be late for class. We have Common as the first lesson," Harvey said, as he tried to tug Darius out of the bed. 

"Just five more minutes, Harv," Darius murmured into the pillow. 

"I won't be late to the first joined lecture because of you. What would Anastasios say, if his soulmate doesn't respect punctuality?" Harvey knew that this was a low blow, but he had to get the demon boy to move.  

"I am awake, and I am up," Darius got out of the covers, and then stretched. "You are dressed already?" 

"Sure. I woke up half an hour early," Harvey said, and then pointed at the bathroom that was next to their room. "Go, and be quick about it. We have just an hour." 

"An hour? You woke me up an hour early?" Darius protested, but Harvey was already collecting his clothes. 

"Yes, an hour. If you take half an hour to wash and dress, we will still have fifteen minutes to eat something, and then another fifteen to get a pixie to take us to the lecture hall," Harvey said, as he deposited the clothes in Darius's hands. "Go, now." 

"Yes, mom," Darius said, and dragged his feet to the bathroom. He was out of the bathroom in twenty minutes, fully dressed. The two runesmiths went out of their room, and headed towards the main hall, when a pixie stopped them. 

"Right this way, runesmiths. The Rune House's dining hall is to the left," she said, and the two nodded. 

"I will miss having meals with Nastia," Darius murmured, and then looked at his timetable. "We have swimming today, which is something, at least." 

"Yes, well, we can still meat up with the rest in the library," Harvey suggested, and the two made it to the dining hall. Their hall, as belonging to one of the hardest disciplines, there were, was sparsely populated.

There were adults and children already eating their meals in there. Darius thought it was nice that the children got to mingle with the older students. The two found two empty seats, and sat down to eat. 

"What would you like?" A pixie asked them, ready to magic food in their plates. 

"Toast with butter and raspberry jam for me, Dari, what would you like?" Harvey asked, and the demon boy's stomach rumbled. 

"Uhm, eggs and bacon  , with cheese to the side," Darius said, and then the food appeared in their plates. 

"What do you think the class will be about? It says in the timetable that it will take two whole periods," Harvey asked, as he took a small bite from his toast. "Ah, this is so nice." 

"Well, common is the language that is most used in the human world, and that spread around the realms. So, I guess, language practice?" Darius suggested, and then sighed. "I wish Noah were here. Then he could have said the name of the language." 

"Yes, wait, didn't he say he is from some place called States? And that he spoke English? He is just six, so, when did he get the time to learn common, then?" Harvey asked, as he took a sip from his cocoa milk. 

"Yes, it must be English. Although, there are other classes apart from common. In our rune book, it is said that we have to take Nordic, whatever that meant," Darius said, after he swallowed his mouthful. 

"I saw some of the runes that are made with Nordic. They looked wicked," Harvey said, and then patted his messenger back. "When do you think we will learn how to make the bottomless rune?"

"That one is tricky," Darius said, and then paused in his eating to think about it. "I have only ever made it by engraving it on the bags I needed. Beast blood doesn't seem to be working on it like it does on the other runes." 

"Well, you can't have a bottomless human," a woman next to them said, and she offered her hand to Harvey, who was sitting next to her. "Elinor Bradly, I am in my fiftieth year in here." 

Harvey shook her hand, and then looked to Darius. 

"My name is Harvey Samuel, and this is Darius Loreth," Harvey introduced them both, as Darius was the next to shake Elinor's hand. 

"The Darius Loreth? Who made the hot new runes?" Elinor asked, and Darius blushed. 

"Uhm, I just had luck that my blood reacts this way with beast blood," Darius murmured, and Elinor chuckled. 

"I have to admit, I tried to copy you just last year. But the only thing I got for my trouble was a bloodstain on my desk that I still can't remove," Elinor said with a chuckle, and Darius bit his lower lip. 

"I...have a patent," Darius informed her, and she looked uncomfortable at that. 

"Yes, well, we often forget about those in Orestria. People share their knowledge for free here, so... anyway, what is your first class, munchkins?" Elinor changed the subject, but Darius was having none of that. 

"I came up with the runes myself, and don't want you to copy me, until the fifty years in Fairstar are over," Darius insisted, and then a boy who looked to be about ten snorted from across the table.

"Look at the little know-it-all. Already hoarding knowledge, and trying to lord over us," the boy send Darius a glare, and then continued to eat. 

"Don't mind him," Elinor said, when Darius shrank in on himself. "It is your invention. You have the right to keep it for your personal profit. That said, since you found a way, people have been trying to find their own way. You have nothing against that, do you?" 

"I suppose not," Darius murmured, although it didn't sit right with him that people were copying him, despite his patent being in place.