I entered my next class; I was greeted by a jolly fat man, named Mr. Krapple, who was my history teacher. Halfway through the subject, he started to throw on a helmet and roleplay as a soldier working for Arionne; his acting was actually impressive.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv24Cgz79YG
Through his teaching, I learned more about the queen of Selonika Kingdom. She was loyal and charitable to her people, but unmerciful to invaders of her kingdom. She had a deep hatred for outsiders, and viewed her kingdom as a paradise without entry.
She was afraid of it being tainted with sinners, for those born on the outside were raised in the wild, not taught to grow and nurture, but rather hunt and enslave. Her father, a sacrificed king, wanted her to claim all land, sea, and sky, and make it a part of the kingdom. His name was Alandro Aeli Selonia, forever labelled as, 'The Dreaming King of Selonika Kingdom'.
His idea of keeping peace was different from hers. He wanted to control everyone, everything, like a god. Crime wouldn't go unpunished, animals would be treated the same as humans, and any force that did damage to the holy lands would perish.
She believed it would be impossible to manage an entire world. A small kingdom, closed off from the rest, was something she could watch over at all times. She knew all her people by name, they all had a part to play in the kingdom. The children would grow to follow in their parent's footsteps, and anyone who wished to leave could do so... but they couldn't return.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywmqTFkPDP
Alandro was sacrificed outside his kingdom when his daughter was young. The foreigners who entered their land declared war, and as he prepared to fight, he realized Arionne was watching from a distance.
Her mind was young, and he didn't want her to watch as he murdered others in cold blood, so he laid down his blade, and was killed in exchange for his kingdom. The foreigners didn't keep their promise, and attempted to raid the kingdom anyways. The knights however, were much more skilled than expected, and the invaders were slaughtered in minutes.
His sacrifice wasn't meant to teach Arionne to be a pushover, but rather to teach the cruelty of the world outside the walls. Words were a tool, not a weapon; they were used to fix a problem, not remove it.
The kingdom remained without a ruler, yet the citizens continued their routines, following the rules and never leaving the walls. Arionne was raised by a castle maid, and by the time the maid passed away, Arionne was old enough to become the queen.
The maid would always say something that stuck with her. "Your father was worth more than a flower." While some might've saw this as belittling the king, Arionne knew the true meaning, for atop her father's grave was a sapling. His death brought about new life, and so she realized, a whole kingdom was worth a beautiful meadow.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lOdJihtLf
It seemed like this world, the new Selonika, was created by Arionne herself, or a greater being, who found her idea of a perfect world to be admirable. Either way, I somehow ended up inside of it. I never saw myself as holy; yet, I never committed anything too horrible. Perhaps my sins were paid off through my suffering and self-sacrifice?
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Class ended, and the day was almost over. I looked over the paper Lily handed me, and followed it to a nearby restaurant on the campus. They were still waiting in line to be seated. "The food isn't the greatest, but I love the aesthetic here." Mia chirped.
She was right, it had such a retro, yet modern style. The seating was made of chrome and leather, the floors were polished with a checkered pattern, the lights on the ceiling were bright and simple, and the speakers would cut out from time to time.
We were guided to a booth, and I felt out of place. I didn't know what caused this unwelcome feeling, but I stayed silent as they chatted away. As I almost fell asleep, I heard Violet call my name. "Are you tired already? You still have half the day left. I know this campus is a hard place to navigate at first, but you'll get used to it."
"Sorry, I know that was rude of me."
"N-Not at all!" she stuttered. "You wouldn't be the first to do it. We all fell asleep at school before." She shoved a plate over to me. "Here, I noticed you didn't order anything."
"I wasn't hungry."
"Just take it; self deprecation doesn't fool me."28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV14JdfTso0
"It's not-"
"It is. You seem much more different today. Did something bad happen?"28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcLRKU4wBp
"I don't know what to consider it, just a sort of realization is all. Anyways, I have somewhere to be after school is out."
"Where to?"
"The Scrap Yard."
Jintei's eyes lit up. "Oh, right! Gramps told me you had a ticket!"
"You're going to Monika's concert, Echo? It doesn't seem like your kind of music." Mia chimed in. "I guess all of you will fall for her eventually."
"I just see it as a way to explore more of this world."
"Is that so? What do you hope to find at a concert?"
"A bit of inspiration. I tried playing piano once, but one of things I lacked was the motivation to do it. I needed a reference, something I could build upon. That's why I tried to explore as many genres of music as I could."
Jintei called out to the waiter, asking for another plate. She must've knew the group personally, for she called him out for being a pig. He already had three plates of food, and a forth would have him crawling to class.
"You can eat at the concert, Jintei." Mia said, as she finished her second plate. The rest of us barely got pass our first. Lily and Riku only listened in, not adding anything to the conversation themselves; for Lily this was normal, but Riku, he seemed a bit lost in a daze.
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We all went our separate ways when we left the restaurant. My next class was a bit easier to find, for it was only a building or two down from the restaurant. It was an art class, and all we seemed to do in there was paint. I only made a mess, but the teacher was forgiving.
The final class wasn't that interesting either, and with the school day complete, it was time for the concert, even though I wasn't very enthusiastic about it. Jintei was waiting for me at the gate, along with a friend of his.
"Ah finally, I thought you already bailed on the concert. This is Samei, he's a fan of Monika as well."
Samei had curly, black tapered hair and vermilion eyes. He wore a black tracksuit and bright orange sneakers. "Don't tell him about that." He muttered. He checked the strap on his arm, checking the time. "I'm hoping you can keep up. We're going to race our way to the concert."
"That's a lot of distance we'll need to cover."
Samei ran off with a headstart. "Crap, stay behind me Echo!" Jintei ran off as well, and I followed. "Is he part of the track team or something?" I asked. "He does parkour after school with a few buddies. We don't have team based athletics on the campus. We don't have any other schools to compete against, so it's just a hobby, if anything."
"I'm taking a shortcut, you two!"
He springs into the air, landing atop a fence, then vaults onto a nearby ladder and ascends to the roof. I follow him, slower, but just as skillfully. Jintei stays on the ground following us as we jump roof to roof. "Echo, when did you learn parkour?"
"I climbed on a lot of trees and playgrounds when I was younger."
Samei leaps against a wall, running up it with a few steps, grabbing on the edge of a roof. I wasn't capable of wall running, so I jumped onto its balcony. "You can really leap, my man!"
I climbed up the wall from there, still following behind Samei. "You want to know why I love climbing rooftops, Echo? They put something special on the roof, for those who love living fast."
"What do you..." Samei grabbed onto it with ease, leaping of the roof, gliding across the sky. A glider was waiting for the both of us, and I grabbed mine and followed after him.
I've never used one before, but it didn't seem to require a lot of effort. No, perhaps they did; flying just felt natural to me, for reasons I couldn't explain. Jintei was still running below us, and as I caught back up with Samei, he seemed quite impressed. "I have no idea who you are, or where Jintei found you, but it's nice to see someone who can keep up with me."28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOxiPDdPc7
"Don't you have a team?"
"I wouldn't call them a team. They are just friends; we do it for fun, we don't compete with each other. I've tried telling Jintei that, but he keeps saying that he would embarrass me."
"Well, it doesn't seem like he can climb a fence."
"He can, it just takes a while. He has good stamina, just uh... really bad, fine motor skills." We landed at the Scrap Yard, Jintei arrived shortly after, gasping for air.
"Who even put those gliders there?" I asked. "The people in the city." Samei answered. "We run on people's houses all the time in Central, so some of them leave gifts for us."
"Is it always a glider?"
"Nah, most of the time they just leave snacks for us."
"Just wait until I tell Violet that you can do parkour! We'll have you put on a show for us!"
We waited in line at the concert. We weren't the first ones there, but we were still going to make it in early. "Is this singer an idol?"28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEppktmUkQk
"In what sense, Echo?" Jintei asked back. "Does she do acting and modeling as well? She is the only singer I've heard of in Selonika, so it's clear she has an image to keep."28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LUHsMLxnq
"Yeah, she does all those things." Samei answered. "I understand what you're trying to ask. She was interviewed by someone in Selonika once, and she was apparently an idol before ending up here. Her manager killed her, assaulted her in more ways than one. He likely got away with it too, since he was rich, and he was important figure in the industry."28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bRMO1GbRr
"She was-"
"Yeah... she used to avoid close contact with her fans, but eventually she learned that only good people live in Selonika."
"She's trying to open up to her fans, but it's difficult for her. She always wanted to be an idol, but companies like that are soulless by nature. They don't care about your passion or your dreams; they only care about your talent, money, and beauty. It's all something they can take advantage of."28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZQAUvc1li
"We're trying to say that she's free now, and she's just starting to realize that. She finally escaped the nightmare she was living in her past life, and now she can achieve what she always hoped to."28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMLFJ0ZYxe
The sky eased into night, and the concert starting glowing brightly. The line quickly became massive and the performance was only moments away. "Look, they're starting to let us in!" Jintei cheered. "I give it about five minutes."
I was stressed in many ways. I didn't like concerts, or any large gathering for that matter. I was hoping to ask this idol a single question, for if what they told checks out, then she likely had to make the same choice as me. I wanted to know which one she picked and why, what kind of things I should expect when going in.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgM4TIo23c
