THE TRANSITION: The Lost Maximus

7. THE BEGINNING

Clara still hadn't stopped bombarding him with questions. He didn't want to talk about it. He was still disoriented and had no energy. He tried avoiding her questions but she seemed to have hundreds of them. Everyone that passed through the common area whispered in hush tones while looking towards him. He seemed to have arose the curiosity of several people since some of them passed the common area several times with no particular goal. One guy came with a parchment and sat directly opposite them and pretended to read. Daryl could tell that he wasn't even focusing on it due to the fact that he held it sideways, and was trying his hardest to listen to what Clara was asking him and was clearly disappointed when his answers were vague.

 "Come I want to show you something," she suddenly said.

"But I'm tired," he told her. 

"It's worth it, just come with me," she said as she stood up.

Daryl didn't want to move but he gave in if it meant she would leave him alone. The guy who was listening to them stood up as if he had finished what he was reading and left too. At the double doors they met with the strawberry blonde girl coming in. She had her hair slicked back and tied in a pony tail. She wore the signature cosmicam purple jacket and matching black pants, carried a book on one hand and had an orb in her other hand. Almighty, she is beautiful, Daryl noted to himself.

"Morning Sierra," she greeted her. She perked up at her name and dragged her eyes from the orb towards Clara. 

"Morning to you too Clara," she answered back softly. She then looked up at him with those green eyes and he swore he could feel his heart pumping at an abnormal rate.

"Hi, how are you feeling?" she asked. 

"I'm okay," he lied. He could tell that she could see right through the lie but she made no move whatsoever to challenge it. She just scanned his face, momentarily stopping at his eyes before murmuring an okay and a take care before she went back to looking at her orb. Clara said her take care too and motioned to him that they needed to go. They headed Northwards and he wanted to look back at Sierra but he kept himself in check. Wherever they were going seemed to be a little bit far and the amount of people around them greatly reduced.

"We're here," she finally said.

In front of him was a very large water body. A large lake with crystal clear water at the shallow banks and getting more blue as it reflected the sky towards the deeper ends . Right in the middle was a huge fountain with a statue of a crocodile spewing water from it's mouth. The pond's banks were lined with flowers of various kinds. Water lilies calmly floated at the top with frogs jumping between some of them. At the opposite side was a jungle of trees with pink flowers. It looked like something out of a painting. Once in a while, a fish would come up for air and go back in, leaving a small rippling effect which slightly swayed some of the lilies.

The place was relaxing. It was quiet and calm. No one to poke him, or make him relive his memories. No one to question him, well, apart from Clara who was quiet at the moment. He liked it. 

"This place is restricted to other students. There is a spherical energy barrier around the school. Serves as protection. The power comes from a Scylla, a water creature. It lives in this lake. Legend say that as the very first Preceptor was dying he released his faery and in return, the faery returned the favor by protecting this place in his memory. He mostly stays in deep waters. Very few people have seen him at all," Clara updated him.