Rhea hadn't anticipated such a dramatic introduction from one of her roommates. Curiosity flickered in her cold gaze as she stood just inside the dorm room, one hand wrapped loosely around the handle of her suitcase. She didn't utter a word and only watched her roommate sob to herself.
She couldn't help but wonder what could possibly be this devastating when the rest of the campus was basking in the sunlit calm or the quad.
As she stepped closer, her roommate on the bed suddenly flinched. Rhea froze mid-step, and the air in the room unexpectedly shifted.
Realizing her presence had been noticed, her roommate jerked upright with a sudden urgency, and their eyes met. Rhea remained rooted where she stood, and she stared blankly at the pretty blonde.
Her roommate was striking in her own delicate way. Platinum blonde hair haloed around her face, cheeks flushed, eyes glassy with tears and alarm. Yet in her state of panic, she seemed oblivious to the suitcase at Rhea's side. Before Rhea could say anything, her roommate had slipped her hands under her pillow and brought out what looked like a knife from underneath.
"Who are you?" she demanded, her voice shaking as she leveled the blade toward Rhea. Her grip on the hilt was unsteady, but the fear in her eyes was sharp. "How… how did you get in here? Did she send you? Is this Nesta's idea of confirming whether I'm finally crippled beyond repair? Speak up! Say something or else I'll—"
"Nesta?" Rhea mused, her brows arching with a glint of wicked amusement. The fact she was unshaken by the knife only made the second party in the room tremble in pure fear. Rhea slid her shades a bit forward, her gaze dropping deliberately to the metal braces clamped around the girl's legs.
"A fellow human did that to you?" she clicked her tongue in mock pity, one hand resting on her hip. "Hate to disappoint you, sweetie, but your little tragedy has nothing to do with me. By the way, my name's Rhea. Your new roommate. Very nice to meet you!" Rhea said with a smile, barely considering her roommate's condition or the state she was currently in. To Rhea, her sorrows held no value to her since she wasn't responsible for it. However, the person behind it did.
Today was surely her lucky day.
Her roommate hesitated at the mention of roommate, and something shifted behind her wary expression. Panic dulled into pure confusion, which, after a silent beat, unraveled into reluctant recognition.
"Rhea… the new student?" she repeated, her fingers loosening around the knife. Her posture sagged with a sudden guilt, and she set the knife away as if it burned her skin. "I–I'm Elira, and I'm so sorry for that. I thought you were… I forgot they mentioned someone was moving in."
Rhea's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Cute defense mechanism though," she said dryly. "But if I were actually here to hurt you, that sad little move wouldn't have gotten you anywhere. You need to improve your tactics if you truly have means to survive in this world."
Elira blinked at the unexpected lecture, taken aback. "Sorry?" she murmured, unsure if she'd been insulted or threatened at the same time. She wasn't particularly sure she trusted her new roommate.
Before fear could creep back in, the door creaked open again. Their third roommate stepped inside, still in full uniform, and her eyes flicked between Elira and the new roommate she had rushed all the way from the campus quad to meet. However, her excitement shifted to worry when she spotted Elira on the bed.
"Eli? When did you get back from class?" She asked, stepping closer with a fluid confidence. Her sleek dark braids swayed slightly as she moved, and she had a smooth, golden-brown complexion. Her sharp cheekbones gave her an air of effortless poise, and she had that hourglass figure anyone would die to have. Aside from that, she looked like the kind of girl who always had her life together.
She stopped beside Rhea, and since she didn't want to ignore their new roommate, she turned to her with a friendly smile. "And you must be Rhea," she said, her tone open and welcoming. "I'm Callista. I had to rush over when I heard you had already arrived at the academy. We had planned to welcome you, but it was getting pretty late and thought you wouldn't show up at all today. Let me help you with your bags. You must be exhausted from all that journey."
"I'll help too," Elira offered quickly, reaching for her crutches. But before either of them could do anything, Rhea took a step back, her smile frozen in place like a mask she'd been wearing too long.
"That won't be necessary," she said evenly, pulling her luggage closer. The warmth she returned never reached her eyes, and they sensed her distance.
They were treating her far more kindly than she expected, but Rhea hadn't come here to make friends, and she had no plans to let anyone get close– not while she had unfinished business to take care of.
She simply turned without a word, the conversation no longer holding her interest. She crossed the room to make it to her own bed, and her eyes fell on the freshly pressed uniform laying on the surface. A stack of pristine textbooks were there as well, including her student ID card. What caught her attention more was the golden crest that shimmered under the dorm lights, and it didn't look like the symbols she saw on the wall.
After checking on Elira, Callista approached Rhea again, her voice practically vibrating with awe when she realized her roommate had also noticed the golden crest. "Do you like what you see? You must feel incredibly lucky, Rhea. Only elites get to receive the golden crest, and it's the highest honor in Novarion. People would kill for it."
"Elites?" Rhea murmured as she turned to Callista, her tone flat, almost as if the topic bored her already.
Callista blinked in disbelief at her cluelessness, as though Rhea had just asked what air was. "You really don't know? This academy ranks students in three interconnected webs. At the base are the Recognized– those who've made a name for themselves. Above them is the Golden Circle, students with connections, money, or raw talent. But at the top– the true top– are the Elites. The golden crest marks you as one of them, and you are still yet to share how you even got one!! Cause girl! These items are super rare!"
She then leaned closer to whisper, making Rhea lean back as well. "The elites run this place. Every rule, every event, every opportunity filters through them, if you know what I mean. Staffs cater to them, their opinions sway leadership decisions, and they're treated like royalty. Special privileges, advanced resources, even control over who gets seen or ignored. That crest grants access to everything worth having here. And you got it– on day one. I'm in my second year and I'm still yet to have one. Their leader, Kael Miller, never hands it out so easily."
"In that case, I don't want it," Rhea handed it to Callista. "If it means that much to you, take it."
Rhea couldn't exactly tell what the problem was, because the air snapped taut. Both her roommates gasped in shock, and Callista retreated half a step as if she had just drawn a weapon.
"I– I couldn't," Callista shook her head, resisting the temptation. "You don't just give away a golden crest. The Elites are… aware of each other. If you hand it off, it's like spitting on their authority. It would be a direct insult. You'd be making enemies out of the most powerful students in the academy. And trust me, Rhea, you don't want them as enemies."
"They sound pathetic," Rhea muttered, flinging the crest aside as though it was nothing but a silly item. "Who thought I was right for this? You know I actually did fancy how it looked, but I don't want to be involved in all that cult activities. They can keep their wonderful crest, they chose the wrong student to hand it over to."
Callista couldn't believe her eyes. Even when she felt slightly offended by how Rhea disregarded the crest, she couldn't hide the fact that she was fascinated with her behavior. It was starting to make her suspect that this might not actually be a mistake. They certainly gave it to her for a reason. She seemed like someone who would burn it all down just to see what would crawl out of the ashes, and Callista was eager to see how it would play out as well.
Rhea's eyebrows furrowed as she unpacked her bags, and she wondered what was at play here. She looked at Callista and asked. "Is there someone by the name, Nesta Hinderman, part of the elites?"
"Nesta?" Callista's expression dropped, and Rhea noticed how tense Elira became once more. Their discomfort was clearly palpable. "Why do you want to know about someone like her? We don't talk about her around here."
"But is she?" Rhea pressed.
"She's not officially one of the elites," Callista replied. "But she's almost there. She's actually within the Golden circle, my circle." She gestured at the silver-embossed crest on the breast pocket of her blazer. "I don't know how you came across her name, but listen to me– stay away from her. She's deadly dangerous. Nothing good ever comes from being near her. And Elira's condition is a clear proof of what she's capable of."