Silverthorne: Book 1

Chapter 3

Shortly after Ozpin and the stranger walked out a tall blonde lady wearing a white long-sleeved, pleated top with a wide keyhole neckline. Her lower body covered by a black high-waist pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black stockings. She has this very stern demeanour a sharp contrast to Ozpin's carefree and open one. "Hello, I'm professor Goodwitch, headmistress of this academy. I'll be touring you around the academy. From there we'll return here and you'll be left to your own devices. You may not disturb any late classes but feel free to wander the grounds within reason." She gave a glare at all of us at the final part. After her deeply scary glare she walked off and we got up quietly and followed.

Professor Goodwitch was clearly a very stern, no-nonsense teacher who'd give a student the highest punishment for the slightest offence. Alex would quickly become the teacher's pet for this professor (and probably every other professor knowing Alex). He wasn't the overly obnoxious kind he simply put the teachers at ease, like they could simply just expect him to do his homework and to not break the rules. Vera on the other was the complete opposite in that department, teachers immediately knew not to trust her -honestly you can't blame them when her power was chaos manipulation- Vera simply was that student teachers feared would enter their classrooms.

It amazed me every time I saw the two. They were both extremes in their own right. Alex was orderly and neat; his militaristic style was an odd thing to see but on someone like Alex it simply made sense. Vera was a slob, she was driven by random thoughts and ideas. I recall a story the one-day Alex and Vera were staying at his house and at one in the morning Vera burst into his room and said they must adopt a duck. Alex fortunately managed to pacify her into waiting till a reasonable time by which time Vera had moved onto another insane thought of hers. Stranger still was been trapped in the middle acting as a medium between these two polar opposites who were simply destined for each other.

The first building on our tour of the grounds took us to the very edge of the what you'd consider to be the grounds, the outer most circle of the arches that surrounded the school. Between each arch was a tower made of this strange white concrete like material, the only exception to this pattern was the dark tower that stood near the cliff face the school was built upon.

It turned out that each tower was a set of dorm rooms, two rooms per floor with enough room to comfortably to fit four students per each room. "Each dorm was completely ordinary on the exterior, what made them unique was interior design as they had a specific purpose to each dorm tower. For example, the "fire tower" was designed to house any pyromancers and their like, should one have a "flameout" as it was colloquially known the tower and all other occupants would be fine with the exception of that room been drenched." She explained in a bored scripted sort of way.

We moved onto the next building, a pseudo-modern looking with a black and white contrast theme going on with it. The interior consisted of bolted down wooden benches surrounded along the walls by black granite table tops were a series of different cooks were running back and forth preparing for what I could only assume would be dinner. They had everything you could imagine, there must be some way order your food earlier, the day before maybe? I don't know and The Professor offered no explanation merely showed us its location. She did explain one thing though, "Not every student eats at a normal set time, some have extra classes or are simply free at different times so the cafeteria is open most of the day. As such your welcome here anytime of the day to catch something to eat. You'll also notice that the cafeteria is never full, it was designed to fit more people than we could house in the case of guests. So, don't worry if it seems a bit empty come meal times." She walked out and continued her dull monotone tour of the school.

I was awestruck by all the delicious smells permeating throughout the air. My stomach rumbled loudly, I knew I shouldn't have slept in so late and be at least an hour early to the Academy. Vera noticed me in my trance and took an opportunity to strike an attack. "So, who's the handsome hubby you were drooling over earlier." She said with a sly smile. I immediately tried to defend but to no end, "I was not drooling." I responded calmly while feeling my cheeks run red. Vera gave me a look that said sure, "you might as well have been with how much ogling you did." I took this opportunity to march after the rest of the group before I burst into flames from embarrassment. Vera continued on after me without breaking a step, "All I'm saying is make your move. You weren't the only one to ogle him and it wasn't just the girls who were admiring that sweet ass." She said the last bit with a wink and ran ahead. I stood there shaking my head before running after her.

We had reached the inner most levels of the school's circle design, aka the actual school. Each lecture hall was open and spacious and looked like a theatre with its stage for a teacher and the flat, curved wooden desks that ran from wall to wall with breaks between for walkways. The rows of desks seemed to be made from one long piece of wood but I couldn't be certain. Each of us took a seat and we noticed that there was plenty of space between each student and the next generic moulded plastic that we sat on in the auditorium. Glenda took up the stage with her grand performance of signalling us to sit. "This is how you'll have classes. I'm sure you see there is plenty of room between you and the next person. This is to prevent cheating in case of a test and so those of you who need it have space to work with while you learning or study." She sounded amuse gleeful at the prospect of us studying, it sent a shiver down my spine.

The final location we were taken to was the medical bay. It was your typical white washed, sterile room with medical beds along the walls and curtains to enclose each for privacy. A doctor lay asleep with his feet on his desk, fingers intertwined over his stomach and his head lolled over the back of the chair. How he slept in such a position was beyond me but he slept peacefully. He wore a white lab coat covering a baby blue shirt and black pants and black combat books. What is with males and combat boots? He had a five o'clock shadow and messy ruffled hair that looked like it had never seen a comb before.

Professor Goodwitch then returned us to the auditorium where in our seats was a sleek metal band. It had an unpolished silver look to it when I picked it up to examine it. Vera merely slipped in on straight away while Alex took his careful time to examine it. I saw what looked like runic markings on the inside of the band but I couldn't decipher it's meaning. I slipped the band on and it was a perfect fit like is was custom made just for me which I found odd. Glenda walked up to the podium and motioned for us to sit, "The metallic band you no doubt noticed is known as a Scroll. Consider it a form of personal communicator but so much more. It creates holographic screens which allow for a multitude of features such as allowing for both audio and video calls with multiple people. They can be used as a holographic map system of the school and so much more. It uses a unique form of biometric scanning that uses your aura as a form of identification. It even changes it's size to better fit your arm." She sounded excited like she designed it herself. "Don't lose them. They are very expensive. They are extremely hard to break they were stress tested under several tons of force and they didn't so much as bend. Nobody but you shall have access to your personal Scroll as again its aura linked and each aura is unique to each individual." She walked off the podium and towards the doors that lead out of the auditorium. "You free to do as you please accommodations can be made for those whom require a room for the night merely meet me at the base of the dark tower." She said over her shoulder as she promptly walked out. A voice burst through all the Scrolls, "This is your headmaster Ozpin letting you know that your first test will begin tomorrow at ten a.m. sharp. That is all." And the connection was cut. We all stared at the Scroll, this would be a fun device.