Call Of Destiny

The Lone Wolf of Arkadus

"Maciej! Up!" The shrill cry came from Siarka Kielek, the very to-the-point, rather affluent mother of Maciej. She had married a rich investor by the name of Przemysl Kielek ten years prior, and since moving into his almost offensively ostentatious house, with its façades of marble and granite, had taken richness upon herself as a predominant personality trait.

Maciej rubbed his eyes, adjusting himself to the autumnal sunrise burning through the glass of his bedroom window. With a heave, he practically threw himself out of his bed, tossing on a mismatched clothing combo of navy blue t-shirt and maroon sweatpants. He gave his mop of short, jet-black hair a hasty brush and slicked it back with just a touch of his father's favourite imported Patchian hair gel. He picked up the small, frosted glass bottle on his dresser and read it. Venta: Eau de Toilette pour home, it read in white cursive. Why the hell not?, Maciej thought to himself, before spritzing a liberal amount of the aftershave over his neck and cheek.

Skulking downstairs, he saw the mess of deconstructed newspaper his father had left at the breakfast table. This, along with his trusty white mug, replete with streaks of dried coffee down the outside, made it clear to Maciej that his father had since left to work his job across the city of Arkadus. He slipped past his mother, who was chatting on incessantly about something or other to her best friend over the phone, and put on his black suede boots. Quietly, he picked up his large overnight bag, and sheathed his boomerang-like weapon by his side, before walking out the solid wood front door.

As he got to the end of the drive, he felt the cold, biting wind of mid-September try to grasp ahold of him through his t-shirt. However, he decided it was too late to turn back and grab his trusty Grimm-hide jacket, so powered on to his nearest bus stop. He knew that he had to catch the number 5 bus to the centre of Arkadus, and then walk a little way to the large green space owned by the city's residents, known as Populi Park. The main field of Populi Park had been designated as the ship stop for Arkadus, and Maciej had to ensure he was there on time to get himself to Beacon Academy on time. Even without factoring in travel, Maciej was amazed he would be going to Beacon, after scraping the required grade in his entrance exam by a combination of luck and acing the defense section by way of his semblance.

Maciej's semblance, aptly named Sprout, gave him the ability to grow a leafy outer shield around him, presenting a layer of armour and camouflage on the battlefield. However, once an enemy caught wind of Maciej regaining his aura inside and sliced up the leaves, Maciej would have to wait another thirty minutes before he could use his semblance again.

Once on his bus journey, Maciej opened up the messaging app on his scroll to find three unread messages, that read as follows:

Mom- Wish you'd said goodbye, I would have liked to wish you luck.

Joanna- Hey, maybe I'll see you on the ship today! If not, have a good day.

Avl- lmao look at the audacity of czech being like that

Smiling a little to himself at the latter two messages, Maciej began to hammer out responses to his friends, deciding that a conversation with his mother could, at the very least, wait until later. Maybe by then, he hoped, the ground may have swallowed him whole. He checked the messages a final time before pressing send, content with the tone and contents.

To Joanna- Yeah, wouldn't that be fun :D

To Avl- I know right, it's so messy.

As he lay back, ready to rest his eyes for the rest of his bus journey, he was quicklt brought back to the present by a jolt and a voice shouting, made harsh by both the ravages of time and constant shouting at misbehaving schoolkids. "Last stop, Arkadus Town Centre!" The driver called out loudly, sounding a little like he had been gargling gravel. Maciej reluctantly stood up and got off the bus, looking around for the correct street to lead him to Populi Park.

As he scanned the main artery road for its turnings, a brown road sign caught Maciej's equally brown eye. Squinting, he read it. Wojtek Street. He stopped to think for a few moments, before deciding that this was absolutely the correct street to carry on down to reach the park. He quickly crossed the road, very nearly becoming squished sprout at the hands of a particularly quick landship, and began walking down the much quieter Wojtek Street. If his own, admittedly imperfect, sense of direction were to be trusted, Maciej would walk down the street, and then just have to cross another pedestrianised boulevard to reach a back entrance to Populi Park.

Upon reaching the very end of Wojtek Street, it became apparent that the town map had lied when it showed Cipa Way as a wide pedestrian street. Whilst it was technically car-free, it was more of a well-trodden track of mud and dust, that looked roughly nine feet wide, than the paved avenue one may have reasonably expected. No problem to me, Maciej thought to himself, as he strode across the track and through the neatly cropped gap in the thorny hedge. Looking around, one thing became clear. He had actually navigated his way to Populi Park, and had managed to enter only a few hundred feet away from the point where he would be getting picked up by the ship. Just in time too, as he saw a shadow get progressively larger and larger.

As he boarded the ship, and handed his baggage to the onboard butler, Alby, Maciej looked around him. To his left, there was a well-furnished bar, with a barman behind it refusing to serve alcohol to the underage students. To his right, there was a small arrangement of comfortable-looking yellow seats. Upon these, three students were getting acquainted. The first was ginger, with her hair tightly braided, and the sun bouncing off her headband in just the right way that it would, every so often, catch right in Maciej's eye, briefly blinding him. The second was a much more butch looking woman, seemingly averse to every fibre but leather and denim, who had a rapidly wilting rose in her hair. Between them, however, sat a young lady Maciej swore he knew from somewhere. Her hair was dyed as scarlet as a Grimm's blood, and she was dressed in a striking black and white outfit.

Maciej strained his eyes to see if he pick out exactly who she was, only to be pre-empted by a wave and a call of "Oi, Maciej! Come chat!" That voice, Maciej realised, was even more familiar. It took him only a few seconds to twig who it belonged to. "Joanna!" He exclaimed his online friend's name excitedly, running over to give her a strong embrace and sit down next to her. Joanna pointed to the other young huntresses-to-be, and explained, "This is Jana, dressed in the flowy dress, and this in the denim is Ana. Try not to get them confused." The two new acquaintances waved towards Maciej, and made space for him on the seat. "So," asked Jana, looking towards Maciej, "tells us what brings you to Beacon."