Knocks echoed through Jaden's dorm while he slept.

His eyes trembled slightly as the sound reached his ears, but before he could open them, something wet brushed across both his cheeks.

He finally opened his eyes, staring at the two culprits guilty of licking his handsome face. He let out a silent chuckle as he sat up and began to rub both of their heads.

"Jaden!" A heavy and annoyed voice called out from the hallway.

Jaden stopped rubbing the pups' heads and answered as he stood up from the bed, "Coming."

He quickly walked into the bathroom and washed his face before opening the main door. Just as he did so, his eyes fell on Zaria, who had an annoyed expression with her hands on her waist.

"What took you so long?" She questioned before stepping close to him.

"I had fallen asleep," Jaden answered while scratching the back of his head.

Zaria looked at him with a stupefied expression as she spoke, "You fell asleep? Did you forget about the assembly?"

All colour was drained out of Jaden's face as he replied in a stutter, "O-of course not."

However, his thoughts were opposite to his words.

'Blasted hell! I forgot about it because of those books.'

Zaria looked at him with a deadpan expression and spoke.

"Has anyone ever told you how easy it is to read your thoughts?"

Hearing those words, he clenched his fists, tightly bit his lower lip, and shut his eyes as he thought, 'Not again!'

She stared at him, acting strangely, and shook her head before she spoke, "Get ready, we only have fifteen minutes."

He gave her a quick nod and stepped inside. He glanced at himself in the full-body mirror and mumbled, "Heh. Too good. I don't even need to fix myself up."

A smug look appeared on his face as he left the bathroom and stepped into the bedroom. He looked at the pups and spoke with a strict look, "I'm heading to the assembly. Don't cause trouble while I'm gone."

The pups glanced at him before slouching into the bed and looking away.

"Tch," he clicked his tongue and stepped out of the dorm. He closed the main door and gave a wide smile to Zaria before he spoke, "Let's go."

Zaria gave him a nod, and both of them began to descend the tower.

Soon they stepped out of the tower, just in time to see other students of the House of Shadow.

He looked at the students and mumbled, "So, we do have other students, huh?"

She chuckled at his words and added, "Of course we do. But most are still not coming out because they do not think of the first assembly as anything extraordinary."

He raised his eyebrow in surprise and replied with a smile, "Talk about being an introvert."

She also smiled at his words, and both of them quickened their steps.

They stepped inside the designed white walls of the dome. Just as they did so, they felt their world shift and found themselves standing at the corner of a wide room.

The hall was filled with rows of white wooden chairs, each occupied by students—thousands upon thousands of them, and at the far end was an elevated platform with ornate chairs on which sat the teachers, the Instructor and other faculty.

As he looked around, his eyes fell on the others. Navin sat within the chairs belonging to the House of Nature. Selina sat at the forefront of the House of Moon. Arden sat at the centre of the House of Sun. Jamie sat in the third row of the House of War, and Shelly sat in the second row of the House of Storm.

As he stood there, a heavy voice echoed in his head: Take your seat.

Surprised, Jaden looked around only to find that there was no one around him. He turned towards the chairs belonging to the House of Shadow and saw Zaria staring at him with a smile.

"..." he looked at her with a deadpan look and took the seat beside her, "You could've just told me to sit down, you know."

A flustered look appeared on her face as she fidgeted in her chair and answered, "I-It slipped out of my mind."

Jaden heaved a sigh and looked at the teachers with furrowed brows.

'That must've been a teacher...' he shifted his gaze towards Maria, who sat in one of the ornate chairs, 'Or an Instructor.'

At that moment, the sound of heavy steps echoed within the wide room as a gaunt man with a white and gold suit walked onto the elevated platform.

The chatter that had filled the room also fell into silence as all of the students looked at the gaunt man.

The gaunt man scanned the wide room and spoke with a wide smile, "I, the headmaster, welcome all of you to the Arcane Knight Academy."

His words were soft, yet everyone heard them.

"It's my pleasure to forge the youth into swords against the harrowing nightmares," he paused for a moment, letting his words sink in before continuing, "But what pleases me the most is when those swords forge daggers of their own for the betterment of humanity."

Everyone clapped at his words while Jaden only stared at him.

The headmaster continued.

"I know how dreadful and hateful those nightmares can be. I have seen things worse than most of the people present in this room yet... I stand tall just to kill another nightmare, another star beast, so others would not have to face the dreadful things that I have faced... We are not heroes, we are not priests. We are Arcane knights and we are burdened with the heavy responsibility of not only our future but the future of whole humanity."

The room fell into tangible silence. Finally, Jaden lifted his hands and clapped. His claps rang like beats of a war drum within the wide room, and the cheers and claps of others followed.

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