“What is interesting to note in the discussion on Arneathian influences on the modern world today is just how much greater it is in Western and Central Cyndralia than compared to the counterparts in Eastern Cyndralia. In the East, the Myndiri occupation is important, but often relegated to supplementary details during their historical records. In the West however, mentions of the Myndiri, particularly in Traxia, remain exceedingly common to this day. One potential hypothesis is that the scale of their atrocities, experiments, subjugation, and subsequent benefits left behind for the survivors has far greater contrast, not positively mind you, than their occupation of the East (a predominately more peaceful control). Leaving behind a lingering collective trauma that still hasn’t healed given the ongoing Traxian-Adornari war having consistently flared up over the centuries in between a few scant decades of peace.”

- Sir Benjamin Karlyle, Senior Pathfinder/ Abenstadt Court Historian, “Cultural Woes and the Arneathian Question”

White marbled steps with green and blue patterns across the sides greeted her. Behind them, the towering curved building snaking its way to stonebrick Academy path, almost naturalistic in its appearance. Yet even here, similar to the Eryanian architecture in the city, the elven buildings carried themselves with a sense of elegance and mystique. As if proud of the fact that it was created with angles and shapes best suited to be built by elven hands alone. There was also an air of ancient splendour present, just dusted over by the distinctly human refurbishments made to expand the building slightly. Two spires jutted out above the main building, as if announcing to the world of its elven heritage, but they were connected to the aggressively thick and blocky wall raised by Arterians. A veneer of beauty against the backdrop of a fortress ready for war.

Dozens of students passed by her as they traveled to and fro Aura hall, their rhythms of daily routine barely interrupted by the strange half elf taking in her new surroundings. Unfortunately however, her presence wasn’t ignored by everyone and for the first time in a long time she felt really uncomfortable. It wasn’t the hateful but ultimately unsurprising gazes of the Traxians or other people that she met on the journey so far. It was the same guttural instinctual derision that she felt from Eva’s older brother but on a whole different level. It was as if head maid Hilda had been personified into an entire group of people. She shuddered as she felt the dismissive gaze of noble born elven students as they passed her into Aura hall. Gazes filled not with hatred, but the same disdain that one might have when filth is stuck to the bottom of a boot, of something less than alive.

Dismayed but undeterred, Sophie straightened herself and walked towards the building. Her boots made a soft clack every time they connected with the marble steps. Immediately when she reached the ‘courtyard’ of the building, she could feel the change in atmosphere as the sea breeze once blocked by the walls when down below could now dance across her cheeks. She soaked in the slightly salty yet free air before turning towards the main building and stepping towards the first tower of Aura hall.

Within its corridors thankfully, there was a greater sense of normalcy than the outer facade of the building displayed. Sure, the walls were mostly of some magically enchanted hardwood to appear spotless and untouched. The floors too were borderline gaudy with the intricate designs carved into them. But the vibe that it all invoked was more a desire for one to sense the majesty of nature rather than just all things elven, and perhaps that most of all was why Sophie felt slightly more at ease.

As she made her way towards her classroom at the end of one of the halls. Sophie could feel the atmosphere of the building transform from the jovial carefree feeling of the outside to one far more restrained and subdued. Almost like the building itself was telling everyone to behave merely by being within its halls. When she finally arrived at the classroom, the mood only solidified itself and seeing how all her compatriots seemed to be equally reserved as the building itself, sparing her naught but a quick glance before returning to their hushed conversations. A small group of huddled elves on one side of the room stared at her for a while before dismissively looking away when she made eye contact, a disappointing yet not unexpected reaction.

Sophie sighed dispassionately and settled down at an empty desk, her eyes running along the classroom walls. Bookcases, maps, displays and old looking murals decorated the classroom, the whole place beginning to look more like someone’s private office rather than a classroom the more she saw.

She jumped back to attention when the door opened once more, this time an older looking man with graying hair and beard stepped into the classroom. His uniform was one of a deep earthy brown with light blue and dark green stripes across his arms and shoulders. He walked with a small cane in one hand and an armful of teaching materials in his other. He cast an amused glance at all the students, waved once, then dropped his materials off on the front desk before stepping in front of the class. His movements, slow yet deliberate and very practiced. I wonder how long he’s been here? Definitely seems like he knows every inch of this place.

“Welcome, welcome everyone!” He exclaimed jubilantly, tapping his cane on the floor to get everyone’s attention, “To the course on Learning Cyndralian History or as I like to call it; Intro to History. Here,” He handed out some papers to the students in the front row, “take one and pass it back. This will be your syllabus and covers most of what we’ll be talking about in this class.”

Sophie nodded appreciatively at the student who passed her a sheet and passed the remaining pile to the others behind her.

“Now, I call this intro to history because we are doing precisely that. Introducing you to the most basic historical facts, as well as the methodologies and ways in which we view history. As well as the different interpretations and lessons that we can draw from such occurrences.” The old man continued. “For now however, I’ll start you all off with an easy question before I introduce myself, who founded the Academy?”

“Saints Hiromi and Saint William.” Someone answered.

“Excellent. Now do you remember what era it was founded in?”

“Err, the Third Era?”

“Correct!” The professor tapped his cane proudly, “Now as a thought exercise, I want all of you to think of a factoid or little bit of knowledge that you might have about the third era. Or just any earlier era if you don’t know. Then share it when you introduce yourself.” He giggled mischievously. “As for me. I am Professor Oengus Muisear, or Professor Angus if you find that easier to pronounce.” He chuckled, “Faculty belonging to the Arterian Academy’s history department. A pleasure to meet you all.”

At once Sophie’s mind began to race. The name sounded so foreign yet similar at the same time. Meltonian, perhaps. He could even be a Frostwinder or wildling given the strangeness of his name, definitely not fully common.

“Well then, let’s start with you.” He pointed at the student directly next to Sophie; a now very scared looking brown haired boy.

“Oh… umm… hello everyone.” He quickly stammered out, “I’m Dominic Montgest, from Gratia. My fact for the third age… is that… Gratia still has a harbor mouth formed by the capital from Myndiri magic in the third age.” He finished more regally.

“Ho-oh! Interesting factoid. Much appreciated Mr. Montgest.” Professor Angus smiled, “And now you, dear lady.”

Dammit, me. Sophie bit her lip but could think of nothing. Well here goes. “Uh… hello everyone, I’m Sophie. I came from Carrador and a third age fact is… umm…” C’mon, why blank now… argh! Ah! Arteria and its legion! “Arteria’s current legion is not the original. But rather a different troop honouring the one that fell in the city’s defence during the Third Era.”

“Splendid!” He smiled, “An intriguing little insight into the legion for sure. And now you please, madam.” He pointed at a student on the opposite side of the classroom from Sophie.

"Greetings all, my name in common would be Miraeive Starcatcher, I come from-"

Sophie’s shoulders sagged in relief, her ears tuning out the words of the girl. Can't believe I survived that. Social interactions feel so weird without Aryana to look at for support. But at least I don’t look like a complete idiot, yet.

“...and so when we look at history as a concept. It is important for us to make the distinction that oftentimes, the records that we have, especially if it's from one historian’s perspective. Might be skewed one way or another. Now, that doesn’t mean you should discount the work, but rather that we should always look for multiple other accounts to ensure that whatever lessons we aim to take from that historical moment, we take the right lesson away.” Professor Angus spoke, “So thinking of the topic in that vein, might we have some solutions for how we could properly establish a tentative timeline of the First Age, the Era of Myths?”

“Perhaps we can use information from the church?” An elven student answered. That's Miraeive, if I remember correctly.

“Ahh, the church! Now why’s that?”

“They produce many religious texts and record stories of the divines. Perhaps in their records there might be tales or accounts that touch upon that era through the eyes of the divine.”

“Ho ho! Now that’s very astute thinking, Lady Miraeive.” He smiled, “Indeed, if we do in fact, read a truly divine recounting of those events, then that is tantamount to reading a witness's accounts of the time, first hand knowledge. Provided we acknowledge that the divine figure in question might have a few biases.” He tapped his cane proudly on the ground, “Very good! Any other suggestions?”

Heh, knew it, Miraevie.

“Find other accounts?” Someone else answered.

Professor Angus chuckled and pointed at the student, “Now, now. That’s repeating what I said. How about we expand that slightly? What other potential accounts?”

“Err… stories from other races?”

“Okay. Good start. Can we push that a bit further?”

“Like their creation myths and as Mrs. Miraeive said, religious stories too.”

“Ah-hah! Now that’s something we can work off of. Think about it. The longest living races might be the elves and by extension the Myndiri. But, at the time of their rise, there were also written accounts of growing dwarvish, beastfolk, human, and gnomish societies at the time; though of course the gnomes have mostly been assimilated or wiped out now. The point being, yes! We can try to cross reference their creation myths and stories to get a better picture of what happened. Anything else?” The professor asked.

“Rituals.” Dominic raised his hand and answered.

“Rituals? Ho, ho. How so?”

“Ummm… well like the religious stories, we can see if there are rituals that have roots in older times?”

“Ahh, a good line of thought. And how exactly does that help us?” Professor Angus gestured for him to continue.

“Well err, we can determine… the historical context of the rituals? Like umm what Goddess people might be praying to or trying to appease? Sorry I don’t really know what I’m trying to say.” Dominic sheepishly looked away.

“Hoh, no worries there Sir Dominic. I get what you’re trying to say so let me know if I’m taking the wrong thing away from it, alright?”

A nod.

“I believe the core idea being that some rituals might have their basis in traditions established way back at the founding of certain religions or interactions with, well, the myths of the First Era. Now fair being fair, I will have to say that while it's a good idea; it might not be the most helpful considering how it's almost certain everyone will have evolved or shifted their practices since then.”

“Right.”

“However, what analysing ritualistic practices can tell is still quite a lot. In particular, rather than the super ancient times of the First Era or even the Second. Many rituals today can still be traced to their roots in the Third Era. So technically, yes, in fact rituals can help tell us things about the past and what people believed in. Correct?” He twirled his cane around as he looked around the room, “From there we can make certain extrapolations based on what we know of the time too. Say that we find many rituals pertaining to sacrifices to gain the favor of the Goddess or Gods. What can we take from that?”

“Oh! We can learn what they valued or thought important during that time period.” Another student chimed in.

“Excellent answer Mr. Hardt. We can see what they valued at the time. Let’s say it’s the example about sacrifices. We find out that many rituals were sacrifices for power from a… Goddess or war or something along those lines. From that, we can assume that the time period the rituals were birthed in or firmly established was a time of conflict or at least one in which gaining the strength for waging war is considered desirable.”

Huh, rituals. That might just be the breakthrough I’m looking for. If there were rituals about the Myndiri towers… they might have been recorded and we can figure out what exactly they are for. Though the Entity still wants me to just touch one of the crystals so I guess there’s that. Damn, that won’t endanger the people here like Melisgrad… right? Fuck. Sophie grimaced at the thought.

“Alright everyone!” Professor Angus tapped his cane on the floor to get everyone’s attention, “You can all rest easy, there’ll be no homework this first week. For now, I just want you to read through the syllabus and also consider the things that were discussed in class. Our first unit will be, as I said earlier, on the First Era. So remember how we don’t just use one source of information, and try to take on a broad range of information before parsing through all that to get what we want, accurately. Any questions?”

When silence greeted him, he broke into a big smile.

“Excellent! Then I expect to see you all tomorrow! For now, class is dismissed!” He slammed his cane down authoritatively.

A small half hearted cheer greeted him and he bowed theatrically before moving to collect his belongings.

Sophie too began packing up her things when the elderly professor stopped in front of her desk and tapped her desk with his cane.

“Ugh?!” She made a startled noise. Embarrassing.

“Excuse me Lady Sophie, if you can humor this old man for a moment?” He asked, a calculating smile on his face.

“Uhh? Of course, professor.” Uh-oh.

“Back in class I noticed a dangerous glimmer in your eyes.” He stated off handedly. What is he talking about? “It seems you might have an idea of where I’m from without me even stating it.” He chuckled.

What the? How? Is he a mind reader?

“Now, now, there’s no need to worry. I’m asking out of curiosity sake and do enjoy little games here and there. It’s quite stressful to make it to this age while still teaching you youngsters, you know?” He smiled, a bit more sincerely this time. Well shit, focus Sophie, focus. “Besides, only a few people each year ever learn where I’m from in the first two classes so it’s always intriguing when someone can figure it out. So? What’s your guess?” He grinned mischievously.

No backing down now. “Uhh… then… uhh…” Crap, I’m still too panicked, focus. “ Are you from Melton, sir?” Sophie squirmed under the attention, noticing some of the other students paying attention to the exchange from the corner of her eyes. By the divine, why me?!

“Ohh, interesting. From name alone?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Anything else you can glean from it?”

“Err… are you from the wild tribes?”

“Ohh.” His eyes sparkled with delight, “And you know about them, do you?”

“Only vaguely sir.”

“Then why not guess the Frostwinders, I’m sure they’re more well known in the region.” His cane tapped against her desk, almost as if issuing a challenge.

“Umm…” Why not Frostwinder… ah, clan names. “Mu-seer? Mui-ear? Sorry sir, I can’t pronounce your family name properly. But, it doesn’t sound like a clan name from the tribes.”

“Ho-oh!” He seemed exceptionally amused now, “A very astute deduction! Pray tell, have you traveled the region before then? That is quite the… shall we say, niche bit of knowledge from a young’un like yourself.”

“Uhh… you could say that sir.” Sophie shuffled in her seat.

Professor Angus looked ready to say something else before he shook his head gently, “Ack. Look at me go, making students uncomfortable already and taking up your time. Please excuse me then, I’ve kept you long enough.” He smiled, tapping his cane cheerily on the floor, “But it’s rare to meet someone who's traveled the north down here, you know? Anyway, good luck with your classes!” He hollered as he left.

Sophie waited until the footsteps echoed away before outwardly sighing in relief, earning her a giggle from the few students remaining. She caught Dominic giving her a strange look and rolled her eyes, her nerves a little too shot to care.

He looked at her a bit strangely and laughed. Goddess help me, why me.

“Sorry about that, Dominic Montgest, pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand.

Wary, Sophie reluctantly sat up straight and accepted the handshake, receiving a firm solid hold in return.

“Sophie. Just Sophie.”

“Hah, sorry about all that. Our professor’s a bit of an oddball in the department you see. But he means well.”

Hearing those words she immediately tried analysing the guy once again. He doesn’t look that much older than me… but the way he spoke about the professor…

“Second year, I missed out on my intro courses last year.” He smiled warmly, his soft brown eyes examining hers.

“Ah.” Sophie uttered. It’s like he read my mind, scary.

“Anyways, sorry for the frosty reception and welcome to the department. Hope you end up staying with us.” He nodded his farewells. “See you around?”

“Yeah… likewise.” Sophie whispered. She bobbed her head in response though doubted he saw it. With him gone as well and the last students leaving, she just sank in her seat to rest for a moment. At least he seems nice enough but ugh! I take it back, dealing with all this without Ary feels a little strange. When is this day going to end?!