The world as we know it is round and is part of a vast universe, made up of stars, which form galaxies and this world of ours can be considered insignificant comparatively. The world as we don't know it, is a realm considered to be of low origin, at the bottom of the pecking order and one of billions. These form the base of a pyramid where the highest, largest and most powerful realm sits as emperor looking down upon his officials, his armies and his people.
Somewhere in the middle is a realm known as Xulaphrey, which itself is made up of two large continents, one considered to be where the sun rises and one considered to be where the sun sets. These are naturally known as East and West Xulaphrey. In the north of East Xulaphrey stretches a large mountainous range and in the eastern region of this range there is an influential and powerful organisation. It is named the Ascending Mountain Institute and is a place of education and at this moment, it is preparing to wind down operations for Winter Break.
One Xulaphreyan year is made up of 500 days and four seasons. Winter is naturally one of these seasons and although the north of Xulaphrey cannot be said to be worse than temperate of climate, does not mean that in the mountains that they won't feel the cold and suffer bouts of deep snow. Actually approaching was the time when the snows in certain parts would settle so much as to reach the base of a man's spine, thus it was a good time to close the school and send the students to their respective homes.
As it happened, not all students could or had homes that they could return to. For some the distance was just too far. The school would only be closed for six tenday weeks, what was the point? And others, home was the school. Most of these students would therefore stay at school, usually in either the outer alchemist school, due to its sheltered location in between two large mountains and not too high from the mountain ranges foot or in the outer beast taming school, in its forest basin. Plus, herbs and beasts still needed to be taken care of, so it was natural to retain some students to complete these tasks.
One such student, who originally had no intention of leaving the school, rolled out of his warm covers and placed two feet upon wooden plank floors. He reached over onto the stool beside the bed, groped around upon its surface until his hand found what it was he wanted and this he carefully placed upon his face to sit upon his small nose. Two, large black eyes suddenly became focused as the lenses before them cleared away the mistiness of poor vision.
The youth, who was no more than nineteen years of age, yawned broadly, before rubbing his waist slightly as he rose to his feet and moved towards a small table on which was a comb, a copper mirror, a jug of cold water and a large bowl and cloth. Pouring the water in the bowl, he wet the cloth and lifted his glasses to wash his face and away the remnants of sleep. He sighed heavily as his mind now noted an unpleasant sensation of stickiness, but he was feeling too weary to heat up a bath. So, after tossing aside his sleeping robes, he wiped himself over, shivering beneath the coolness of the wet cloth.
"Anyone would think that you wished to seduce this Lord once more," a deep toned voice emanated from the large bed and Leon glanced over his shoulder towards the speaker. Lying in his bed, which happened to be built from sturdy wood and easily could accommodate two, and brushing back the heavy curtains with one slender hand, was a man. With lazy, phoenix eyes his vision swept over Leon's pale form and the cloak of yin yang hair hiding much of the jade white skin from his lustful view.
Leon blushed and shook his head in denial. Any more of that type of exercise and he would break! Just when had they finally fallen into sleep last night anyway? "Would you l-like some t-tea?" Leon asked as he rushed to wrap himself in his inner robes, his small stutter adding to the image of a tiny rabbit trembling before a ravenous wolf.
Said wolf smirked and gave a small sound of agreement. He followed his rabbit out of their bedroom and into the main room of their courtyard home.
Some months ago, Leon had impressed the Headmaster of the school with his ingenuity when it came to making pills and unusual talent of creating magical wooden charms. He naturally wanted to create a connection with the youth, giving him all of the resources he required to continue his research in return for some of his findings. Part of the agreement was Leon's wish to continue to be low-key and so the Headmaster had not moved him from the tiny hut some distance from the main accommodations of the outer alchemist school, but he had improved their living space.
Now the small hut that Leon had called home for so long had become solely his space for his alchemy practice and experiments, with just the roof and narrow beams replaced as they had not been in good condition. The shed outside the hut had been torn down and using this space and much more, a building in the shape of a shallow 'u' had appeared and divided into a few rooms. The main room and the bedroom stretched from corner to corner, the former more than twice the size of the latter and of the two wings, one held a storage room and a bath house, the other a light sun room, filled with currently empty pots and shelves. All the rooms, with the exception of the bedroom were accessible from the courtyard, which had been paved and decorated with pots of common herbs.
Leon padded with now socked feet across the rug covered floorboards and to the iron stove at the other end. This was an improved version of the original, which still resided in the hut beside the house. For the most part, it did not seem to be much different, however, it was far less crude in design and more scroll work had been added. These things were something the young blacksmith had taken upon himself to create, Leon would have been content with a replica of the original. He did like the fact that there was an additional plate upon the top where he could keep things warm. He placed the teapot here while it stewed Jin Li's current favoured Medicinal tea blend and proceeded to cook rice for porridge.
Jin Li's eye's suddenly narrowed and he moved towards the front door, ensuring it was locked. The edges of his lips curved as he glanced out of the small window beside the door then satisfied, he sat and made himself comfortable upon the cushioned stool beside the wooden table. Not long after came the sound of metal jiggling as someone tried to open the door from the outside. Meeting failure, numerous thumping knocks proceeded to hammer upon the door.
"Jin Li! Leon! Are you guys not up yet!? Come on! You promised!"
Leon sighed and glanced over his shoulder at his contented partner, who had no intention of moving from the stool. "We d-did p-p-promise," Leon coaxed him.
"Tch."
Technically speaking, Jin Li did not live in the little courtyard house that was built for Leon and the latter had been most surprised by the addition of the large, curtained bed. Clearly, when all of the accommodation, with the exception of some guest rooms and Teacher facilities, had single beds and as many as four to a room, his new bed looked out of place. And that is only when you consider the size. Most other student rooms were not blessed with draft-excluding curtains!
So, although Jin Li accepted this privilege as if they were entitled, his actual room could be found in the inner school, in the first years block. His bed was one of those unadorned, single beds, (though its general comfort was still on par with Leon's new one) and his was not the only bed in the room. Inner school accommodations for students was two to a room and therefore the other bed naturally had an owner. The owner of the bed was named Sun, self-proclaimed best friend of Jin Li and bubbly, energetic, albeit diminutive Martial Arts student.
Sun was the same age as Jin Li, both were seventeen, though Jin Li claimed to be turning eighteen mid Winter, thus senior by a four ten-days than the other. It was his excuse to boss him about when he felt like it anyway. The youth had a length of brown hair that he usually wore up, bright eyes and a smattering of freckles upon his nose. He had a background of affluence meaning that he occasionally couldn't see others of lesser background as being equal to him, but much of that snobbiness had been broken down and been swept away as had his habit of idol worship. After all, idols were better off worshiped afar, less said idols ruin the glorious image one held of them by normal or annoying habits. Such as insisting on carrying a person princess style when one's legs collapsed from exhaustion... that sort of thing.
The slightly more mellowed youth that was Sun, who had once clung to Jin Li as a golden thigh and the protagonist of a story that no one had read, banged upon the front door of Leon's courtyard home once more. "Jin Li! Jin Li! Open up!" Finally the lock clicked and the boy sighed with relief before his beaming smile returned and he entered the little house as if there had been no obstacles barring his way in the first place. "Yay! You are up! Are you ready to go?"
Leon glanced at him as he placed the porridge on the table and served Jin Li a bowl of it as well as a cup of tea. "N-not yet," Leon admitted and then blushed furiously as he recalled just why they were so tardy this morning.
Perhaps Jin Li knew what his small alchemist was thinking because his face was quite smug as he picked up his spoon and began to devour the simple breakfast. "There's no meat," he complained, but this was in between mouthfuls.
"We're ab-bout to leave f-for a while," Leon reminded him, his habit of being frugal came from his last life, but knowing what he did about his forgotten past in this life, he likely would have retained this habit regardless. It seemed destiny would have him be born to poverty and hardships compared to others. That said, in his last life, things could still be considered comfortable compared to that which his diaries claimed he lived like before he came to the school. A villager, with just a grandfather for company and the man's earnings as a creator of blank books from purchased parchment. When food was scarce, he'd had to forage for wild herbs and vegetables, too weak to hunt or fish. However, it was this learning about herbs and his basic skills in reading, that helped him pursue the alchemist path in the end.
Jin Li clicked his tongue, but still did not hesitate to move his spoon. In the end, the rest of the pot of congee was consumed by him as well. Sun had already eaten, so just drank tea while he waited impatiently, while Leon pottered around, cleaning up their dishes and folding his and Jin Li's things ready to pack. "Oh, I should see to Li Ming and Wu Ye!" Leon suddenly announced and scampered out of the door.
Sun watched him leave then turned to Jin Li who was pouring himself a second cup of tea. "Aren't you done yet?" Sun complained.
"No."
A chill breeze drifted across the courtyard, teasing the boy who stepped out into it from his warm home and he shivered and began thinking of his warm, snow foxbear pelt coat indoors. However, his scent had caught the attention of those in a sheltered stable nearby and loud yowls excitedly sounded from it. Leon's lips curved as he braved the wind and quickly covered the short distance to the stable. Out of the wind, it was a bit warmer and four bright, feline eyes flashed towards him as he entered. Those belonged to Li Ming and Wu Ye.
Wu Ye, meaning midnight, had grown into its pre-adult form simpler and not yet of the mass of a full adult. Still, its line of sight easily met Leon's as it stood on its four strong, scaled legs. All of its baby fur had now been lost and it was coated in pitch black scales that while tough were smooth to the touch. Light did not reflect off of its skin; it would have been the perfect nocturnal predator had it not been wounded as an adolescent and rescued by the beast taming school. It shook his feline head at Leon's appreciating gaze and turned its head aside, arrogantly. It was quite the match for its chosen rider.
Li Ming was younger than Wu Ye and formally was the runt of its litter, thus only currently reached Leon's waist. Its eyes were an azure blue and its rounded ears and much of his neck and long, thick tail still retained the fluff he was born with. It yowled for attention, nuzzling at Leon's body as the youth entered, still very much unaware of its own strength as it knocked the boy to the ground. Leon chuckled, unhurt and stroked the soft striped fur of black and white at the coeurl's neck. Coeurls were magical beasts, large felines, but (with the exception of cubs) had no fur, instead a coat of scales and a thick lizard like tail. They did not have whiskers per say, but two long tendrils that sprouted from their cheeks and stretched down the length of their bodies, wavering in the air.
Li Ming's tendrils were short, only reached to the nape of its neck, but Leon thought them cute. Its fur and scales were patterned in long stripes and it had once reminded Jin Li, its rescuer, of the small alchemist, who later became its chosen master. Li Ming, which meant dawn, was not big enough for Leon to ride, but the youth did not tend to leave it nor Wu Ye behind when they went away on their trip.
Leon fed them a portion of the prey that Wu Ye and Jin Li had hunted last weekend (a four day period in which the students need not attend lectures or school duties), before hurrying back to finish packing. He was really looking forward to this trip!
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