Chapter 8: Initiation
Charon raced through the steel hallways, the book tucked under his arm.
Skidding to a stop at an intersection, he glanced down at the holo-pad. Noting the red trail pointing to his right, he veered in that direction.
Just moments earlier, he had received a notification that the entire student body was to gather in the great hall for initiation. Unsure where that was, he had fiddled with the machine until it projected a map, highlighting the path he needed to take, as well as how long he had until the event began.
Seven minutes.
Seven minutes for him to make it almost halfway across the academy, hauling the heavy tome the entire way.
’It’s like this thing is made of bricks!’
Approaching a closed door, he stuck his holo-pad as far out from his body as he could. The moment it got within range, the door opened with a chime, Charon narrowly making it through the growing gap without slowing down.
A few more similar junctions, and he found himself surrounded by dozens of other students rushing to the great hall. Each of them wore a dark robe with a white notch on their hood; everyone except Charon. He stood out like a sore thumb, something he noticed after the fifth dirty look.
The throng of bodies quickly grew too dense to run through, forcing him to control his pace or risk crashing into someone.
With less than a minute left, he finally broke through into the colossal great hall.
It was shaped like a box, with rings of bright lights hanging from the walls, illuminating the stage set into the far wall. Students were packed together tightly, their heads craned up to stare at the empty platform where Charon assumed the speaker would appear from.
Staying near the back, he noticed that the robes of students seemed to grow fancier the closer they were to the stage. Gold trims and slight embellishments appeared the further he looked, while some of those near the back looked to be wearing second-hand rags.