Flint sighed and squinted against the bright sun. The PL7 was heavy in his pocket and in his bag there was a case full of games from Shiro. He pulled his baseball cap from his bag and put it on to help with the glare. Shiro opened an umbrella behind him.
"Come on Flint." she patted his back, "We can play more later when we get things settled down."
Flint nodded, "Yeah, thanks for the system by the way." He said grateful.
Shiro shook her hand and shrugged. "Like I said, I have a ton of them." she said. "Don't worry If you need anything else just let me know." She turned to walk away.
"Gota go little wolf." she called back.
"See ya around Shi" he said thinking that she was making fun of his gamer tag. 'Lone Wolf Fighter'
Flint gave a short wave and sighed. He waited for everyone to leave the boat before he got off. The only thing taking him to this ceremony was his empty stomach. He pulled on his headphones and blasted music. He fell in line behind the crowd.
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The ceremony was held at the visitor's castle. It was the building that held a welcome center, visitor information, a museum and some high end rooms for important visitors. It could also double as an event center. The entrance was huge, it made everyone look like toys. Above the door there was a stained glass window that depicted a rose with thorns and the school's motto, Ludus vitae est stultis et regibus. This part of the school really leaned into the castle theme. The entranceway had knight armour stands and different weapons hung up on the walls.
Flint looked around and was fascinated. He always had an interest in different fighting styles and weapons, which fueled his love of history and mythology. He tried to read as many plaques as he could. When suddenly he felt hot burning metal on the back of his neck.
Flint winced in pain "aaagh" he covered his mouth to keep from calling attention to himself.
"Hey dorkasaurus" Jack said from behind Flint. He was pressing a ring into the back of Flint's neck. The face of the ring was made with a special material. It suppressed his powers and it burnt Flint's skin. He didn't understand how or why, only that it has always been like this. Their father must have given this to Jack before they departed.
Jack pulled the ring back. Flint felt the skin welt up where the ring was pressed up against him.
"What the hell is going on here?!?!" he said, signaling to his face. His face was pale and round, his chubby cheeks were now splattered with freckles. His eyes were a light brown and his nose was now plump. His hair was thick and a chestnut brown. His clothes were also about a size or two too small for him now. It took everything in Flint not to laugh. He looked like a pig stuffed into a uniform. .
"What do you mean?" Flint looked away.
Jack grabbed his arm and jerked him away into a side corridor and slammed him against the wall. "Why do we look like this now?" he growled.
Flint winced "You mean our true forms?" Flint muttered out. "It's what we look like without camouflage," he said.
Jack glared "Well why don't we look alike anymore?" he said letting go of Flint. "What are we going to do now? I thought we were twins!"
Flint crumpled to the floor and took a deep breath. "I don't know, maybe we're fraternal twins?" he said "I'll figure something out though to get you through your classes." Flint groaned.
Jack glared down at him "you better," he said "Dad wants me to have top marks." he kicked Flint. Flint groaned and sat there for a minute. He eventually sat up and leaned against the wall. His neck still burning and his ribs throbbing.
Flint took a deep breath and took a minute to assess his pain. He put his hand on the back of his neck and felt where the ring hat touched him. It was raised and felt like a burn. Flint made some ice come out from his hand and gently placed it on the back of his neck. Flint winced. After a little bit when he got used to the pain he got up and snuck into the event.
The President of the school had started his speech. It was the usual BS of working hard, making it a good year, blah blah blah. Flint sighed and put his head on the table waiting for the food to show up.
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Feilon fixed his tie as he walked up to the mike after the president introduced him.
"Hello student body of Rose Thorne Island" he started. Allow me to introduce this years royal court." He waved towards the 8 thrones on stage. There were pairs for each suit of a deck of cards. There were two Heart thrones, two spades, two diamonds and two clover thrones. Like every year he started with the year fours, the King and Queen of hearts.
"Please welcome Malbourn Roseblood and Chloe Anderthorne as your year four king and queen of hearts." he waited for them to walk on stage and take a small wave before he announced the next pair.
"Year three King and Queen of spades are George Websterly and Shiro Duskmire." Feilon couldn't help but to feel a little pride when he said Shiro's name. When she started she was purposely putting herself in the Joker position even though she could out test and out fight the then first year king and queen. She was such an under achiever when he started working with her as their mission coach.
"Year two King and queen of Diamonds are Vivica Roseblood and Keat Guise." Feilon smiled a little, this was one of his new students. He had seen her around campus and was honestly surprised her father let her be part of his experiment. Instead of pairs being made up of students in the same category, his new team was made up of a high rank and a low rank. Second year queen and first year joker to be specific. This would be a fun year teaching them two.
"First year King and Queen of Clover Jack Tetsuo and Catherine Amakiir." Feilon thought that the name of the king was familiar. Tetsuo, wasn't that one of his student's last names? Or maybe he was just getting it confused with Takhi's students. She was the coach of the first year king and queen.
Jack came up on stage yelling and waving his arms.
"Yeah!!! First year King!!!" he said showboating all the way up to his throne. Feilon sighed. Takhi was in for one heck of a year. He thought to himself.
Jack took his seat on the throne. One leg over one arm rest and leaning on the other. The crown sitting on his head and a smug grin painted on his face. There was something familiar about that face but he couldn't quite place it. Feilon stepped away from the podium and let the president take the spotlight again, fine by him. He would rather be somewhere reading or playing music than at this ceremony anyway.