Jacob was sitting on the ground. In front of him was the wreckage of a large bus.
It seemed to have fallen off the road, the rails above a small hill were torn.
'It doesn't matter.'
The pool of blood, the dismembered limbs, the cries of those who lost their loved ones, the panic of those in confusion and shock. It all filled Jacob's ears, no quiet to be found.
'It will never matter.'
A hand fell into his right shoulder. When Jacob looked up, he saw was someone who's face he forgot. A medic who found him.
On Jacob's hand was a piece of broken glass. His hands were bleeding from gripping the shard.
Without hesitation, Jacob plunged it deep into his own throat.
THUD
Jacob lay flat, fallen from his bed.
'With how big the frame is, I didn't think I'd fall off in my sleep.'
Standing up, yawning and stretching as the cold feeling of morning came. Jacob was still on his combat uniform.
'Hmmm... Maybe a bath after the morning exercise? Why specifically morning though? I wish I could ask the system like if it's an open source ai or something'
What counts as an exercise? A few push-ups? Sit-ups? A twenty minute jog? Maybe some stretches?
Jacob felt soreness on his arms from yesterday's sword swinging. It wasn't that hard but when you do it for more than a few hours it becomes a tad bit of a physical exercise.
'Maybe some warm-ups? Some stretches, an on the place jog, then jumping jacks? Twenty push-ups, twenty sit-ups, twenty minute jog around campus, then another twenty push-ups and sit-ups?'
Exercise wasn't exactly Jacob's expertise. But the task wanted it so it must be done. Thankfully the academy has a large clock that can be seen on the dormatory. From it Jacob could see that it was six thirty.
'Now hold on a second here. That... Is that even technologically available? Doesn't like gear clocks swing on a pendulum or something which measures seconds? You know what, I don't have a search engine for this to refute this logic.'
After doing a few mental questionings and warm-ups, Jacob finally started his exercise.
On his twenty minute jog, He found another familar face. It was his senior that toured him across the academy two days ago.
"Senior?"
Jacob approached him, wanting to give a 'Thank you' for everything he did.
"Hm?"
His senior, Magnus, simply made a questioning gaze. His emerald eyes that matched his hair was scanning Jacob.
"Ah! You're that new student two days ago! Sorry, I'm not exactly great at remembering names and faces."
He scratched the back of his head as he made a dry laugh.
"What brings you here so early in the morning? Here to catch a glance at the hot female students also taking a morning run?"
Magnus, wrapping his arm around Jacob, asked him in a quiet whisper.
"I uhh... Just wanted to say thank you since you gave me the tour and all."
"Oh don't mention it!"
Grabbing Jacob's chin and turning it to one direction, Magnus pointed at a certain student.
"what do you think?"
"Hot damn..."
They both shared a look, nodding in mutual understanding.
"We'll if you're early, a lot of 'beautiful scenery' usually come by this place. It sucks that the queen of the finest, if you know what I'm saying, had now graduated, but the new ones are already filling the vacancy."
Magnus dropped his shoulders, remembering the times he enjoyed so much.
"Let me tell you, those were the golden days!"
Jacob couldn't really say anything with the current situation. On one hand, Jacob thinks its kind of creepy, on the other hand, Magnus did also save him from getting lost in campus.
"Oh yeah! I still have a few minutes left. I'll see you later, Senior! I'll take my leave first!"
Jacob realizing he's on a timer for his daily exercise, and had to cut their meeting short.
Shaking his head and chuckling dryly, Magnus reminisce of the time when he was just like that.
"Watch your step, kid! It would be really uncool if you tripped and fell!"
Well, he also had placed to be.
"He reminds me a lot like you, old friend."
With that, Magnus was slowly heading towards the Academy gates.
— After a few hours later
Fresh from a bath and with a stomach that's growling, Jacob visited what he assumed was one of the cafeteria.
'Five sets of two types of uniforms. Thankfully there's a staff that cleans the used uniforms every three days.'
On the serving counter, he saw the eye-scarred man again.
"I didn't see you last night, went to bed early I presume?"
"Was a pretty rough day."
The eye-scarred man shook his head.
"Let me tell you, I wouldn't recommend skipping a free meal."
"I'll just make it up in breakfast and lunch."
"That ain't how it works, kid. You need a lot of meat in those arms of yours if you want to compete with those noble blood."
The man was already prepping a tray. He grabbed a wooden bowl and wooden plate.
"Can't I just not compete? They're monsters in their own right."
The eye-scarred man took two pieces of loin chops. Set it on the plate, and from the looks of it they were freshly cooked.
"You say that but I know one day you'll be wishing you could do the same things they do."
"Well I mean, yeah, I kind of wish that I can do what they do but trying to compete with monsters seem impossible, no?"
This time a creamy soup filled the wooden bowl. It had pieces of what seemed like tubers, Jacob wasn't exactly sure if they were potatos but they look like them.
"That won't do, why are you already conceding without even trying?"
"I don't know, it just seemed pointless trying to chase something you can never catch up to."
"But you haven't even taken a single step yet? Or maybe you have but you never ran?"
Another two pieces of what he assumed was sourdough was added to the tray.
"So long as you try your darn hardest, you'll catch up. It doesn't have to be today, tomorrow, or even a few decades from now. So long as you don't give up trying to overtake what's in front of you, you'll soon realize that you've made quite the distance. So, take everything you can get and used everything you have."
Jacob took the tray. Thankfully he had skipped dinner yesterday because he didn't know if the meal he had right now was something he can finish.
But the words of the man did motivate him in a way. An image of himself with their strength made Jacob a bit more hopeful and excited than usual.
"Another thing, you should be careful when going out the academy. There's been rumours going about, things regarding the upper district's unrest."
Jacob didnt plan to leave the academy anyway, he didn't really need the warning.
"Thank you, but I don't think I'll be leaving the campus anyway."
"That's good to hear, a lot of the fresh blood have been buzzing about the shops recently opening in preparation for next months festival."
Jacob was about to leave when he heard 'festival'.
"Festival?"
He didn't like partying but that seemed like a big event for the lore of Arcanium Academy. Something serious? Something dangerous? A mainline story quest perhaps?
"Its no surprise you haven't heard of it. It's just a celebration for the birth of the Emperor's youngest princess. Mostly nobles have spread the information."
"Will the academy be part in celebrating with the festival?"
"Well of course it would be, besides the capital, Arlum City is the second most populated city of the empire, with Arcanium as it's heart, the celebration is bound to reach here. It's now only a matter of time before the Headmaster decideds what the Academy will be doing."
Jacob nodded and left, trying to end the conversation.
"Sounds interesting, looks like nest month well be fun."
"That's what Magnus said, you two sure act like brothers."
With that the eye-scarred man returned back into the kitchen. Restocking a few of the dishes.
Jacob on the other hand was doom thinking about the certain situations.
'Thay is one thousand percent a story event.'
Looks like the certainty of trouble had laid its hands deep into the academy year.