First Day at AWCU

The third chapter of the Crusaders of the Constellations Novel, it details Delmare meeting new friends on the first day of AWCU.

## Story

It all began when she found a winged messenger bottle at her doorstep, on the way home from the weekly Fairies' Market...

When she read King Athos's letter about the threat a certain evil possesses to all the dimensions, and that he wrote the letter to invite the chosen ones to enrol in Aether World Cosmic University to learn the ways of the dimension warriors.

When she answered "Yes", only for the letter to fold itself into an origami crane and fly out from her hands to the sky and beyond.

That day, Delmare the water fairy remembered. Even when she got out of bed, with the sun shining on her eyes. Getting out of bed, she prepared her best clothes, and before heading to the bathroom, she glanced at the now-empty messenger bottle sitting on her bedroom desk.

After her morning shower, she went down to the kitchen to cook her own breakfast - bacon and eggs. And after eating it, she packed up her belongings, such as her school supplies and the treasured blade, Ocean's Wrath, brushed her teeth, and ran downstairs. She went out of her mushroom house onto the wooden pathway connecting it to the pier and waited.

"It should be here any minute now." She mumbled to herself. Delmare lifted her head up to the sky, and hoped that something might show up.

And sure, it did. A small speck appeared in the azure sky, and it grew bigger and bigger until it revealed itself to be a spaceship. It looked like a bus, was white and royal blue, with doors decorated with sky Sapphires. She watched in awe as it flew up right next to her. The front door opened, and a voice boomed from where the driver would be sitting. "Welcome to the Dimensional Shuttle! Please take a seat, any seat. Put on your seat-belts, cos it's gonna be a bumpy ride! And while you're at it, chit chat with the people next to you, after all, it's a long-distance from your destination to Aether World."

Delmare took a seat next to the ship's windows, and found herself sitting beside a boy with white hair, two locks of short hair sticking out of his head like rabbit ears, red eyes, and white clothes, looking around at his surroundings, as if he was analyzing them. The Dimensional Shuttle was air-conditioned, with comfy seats made of leather. The driver turned around, giving the passengers a glimpse of his face. He was of a dark complexion, with a smile showing off his pearly whites. He wore a bandanna around his neck and looked warm and friendly. "My name's Samson." He introduced himself. "I hope y'all have a great journey to the Cosmic University out there. It's gonna be wonderful. This baby you're on seats 16 people, and it has laser cannons..." "Laser cannons?" Delmare thought to herself. The white-haired boy jumped to his feet and looked around for laser cannons. "...installed in the Shuttle's front and sides, and reinforced plating. They come out only when threats abound."Samson continued. "So there's nothing to be worried about. Sit back and enjoy the ride."

The white-haired boy sighed in relief and went back to his seat. A snigger can be heard from the seat in front of Delmare's as if in response to what he did. She had no idea who it was, though at least she got to talk to a new friend. Meanwhile, Samson manned the controls, and the Dimensional Shuttle rose and flew to outer space.

Delmare combed her blue hair and then introduced herself to the white-haired boy: "I'm Delmare, from the Aquatic Dimension. What's yours?" "Uh...I...am Bai Tu, which is what they call me in my home dimension." "What dimension?" She asked. "Wudai. It's well known for its scenic mountains and lakes." He answered, smiling. They talked for a while before Bai Tu decided to take a nap while Delmare looked out of the window to gaze at the stars.

The Dimensional Shuttle flew for a while, and when Samson pressed a button, it then teleported to a floating island. On it, there was a sea, and on the sea, there is a huge island. On the island are four school buildings: The Academy Grounds, the Celestial Hall of Residence and Base, the Cosmos Observatory and Aether Health and Medical Hospital, arranged in a diamond formation surrounded by a lapis lazuli wall. Behind the furthest one is a tree of great height. Above the whole of Aether World Cosmic University is a futuristic floating castle connected to a series of bases all of unique design via energy paths, making it look like a constellation. There is a landing pad for the Dimensional Shuttle that is in front of the marble path that leads to the main gate of Aether World Cosmic University. As soon as the space ship landed, Samson, the driver got up from his seat and shouted," Wakey Wakey! Y'all reached your destination!" Delmare's reverie broke, and Bai Tu woke up from the voice, jumped out of his seat and ran out of the vehicle, shouting, "Oh dear! Oh dear! We're too late!" "No, we're not. Just look at the time. Did you bring your watch with you?" A snarky voice said. A pale yellow fox with nine tails and black paws stepped out of the Shuttle and transformed into a lanky 18-year blonde old girl in a yellow frilly dress and black gloves. Delmare followed her and walked up to Bai Tu, saying, "Relax. We're early. Let's enter the gates."

The students went into the university through the main gate. Now the main gate has sculptures of men and women representing the arts and sciences, and after it was the main school garden in front of the main school building, flanked by pillars supporting beams. Each pillar is topped with a conical blue crystal. Delmare, now carrying her belongings, along with Bai Tu, followed the fox-girl into the academy grounds. "It's so big, we all could get lost in here." The water fairy whispered in awe, looking around. "Well..." Bai Tu said, walking up to a map of the building. "All chosen students are to assemble at the main hall. It's right in the school building I presume. Let's go!"

She and Bai Tu went to find the main hall while the fox girl walked up to two boys. One is a young man in his 20s with hair like sheep's wool, wearing the garments of a shepherd of old. He was carrying his bag, with a hammer tied to his belt, and carrying a shepherd‘s crook. A big fat ram with golden wool and wings was following him. The other is slightly older than the young shepherd, with long golden blond hair like the sun, golden-brown skin, wearing yellow and red clothes, and a golden locket hanging from his neck. He was wearing a backpack with a stuffed baby griffin toy attached to it. The fox-girl turned back into her nine-tailed vixen form and walked up to them. While the golden blonde haired man watched the creature with an eagle eye, the golden winged ram lowered his head and pawed the ground when he saw her, preparing to give her a headbutt. “We ain’t causing trouble on the first day of school, Chrysomallos.” The shepherd boy said. Chrysomallos heard his master and sat down, observing the vixen’s moves.

"Trying to beg for food from us, aren't ya?" The shepherd boy asked her curtly. "Well...no, she's not...she seems to be scrutinizing us, Phrixus," The other one said. "Ah, okay, Ranald. Everyone around us is new here after all." Phrixus stated. The fox spirit sniffed Ranald. "I sense that you are no ordinary human...you have the body of a human, and the soul of something else...a...uhm..." She looked at his backpack. "Yes, a griffin. You need to have balance between your human and beast selves...only then, you will achieve certain victory." The fox said, before turning into her human form and running off. Her last statement about his human and beast selves made Ranald wince. "Never mind her." Phrixus said, "I guess that foxes like being weird, that's all." He and Ranald then followed the students to the main hall, while his pet winged ram wandered off to the gardens.

As soon as they entered the school's main hall, they saw a plethora of students of different species. Aside from humans from other dimension, creatures such as fairies, centaurs, and such are among the students chosen by King Athos to study at Aether World Cosmic University. A huge black dragon with purple stripes flew into the hall, then transformed into a man in black armour. Delmare and Bai Tu were looking for their respective groups. But alas, they had to separate, and Delmare went to that one with the man bearing an aqua blue flag with the symbol for the planet Neptune while Bai Tu, her first friend, went to the one with the willowy lady bearing the flag with a crescent moon symbol. The fox spirit went to where the white-haired boy was, which slightly unnerved him, prompting him to 'freeze' like a rabbit when it sights a predator. Both Ranald and Phrixus went to the group with the golden flag symbol of the sun lying on the floor. The shepherd boy whispered to his new friend with excitement, "I think the flag's meant for you."

Ranald hesitated at first. *If they knew how much I, a normal Earth human, resent the world of super-beings, they might be mad at me*, he thought. He stared at the flag and then pondered some more. *And if they knew that I have another self, a form who is so powerful that it can win battles without effort, they might...only remember me as a monster who's way out of their league rather than the human who earned his skills. Or maybe they would pressure me into being like them, depending too much on my alternate self's powers so that they would win too easily, to the point that they would rely on it and not me to do all the work.*

 The golden-haired youth then observed the group of students sitting behind him and Phrixus, watching and waiting in anticipation. "The assembly's about to start," one of the members, a dark green-haired man said impatiently. Upon hearing that, Ranald turned around to look at the clock in the main hall. "Fine, I'll try the group leader position," he told his acquaintance. He picked up the golden flag, and they, along with the new students, waited for the king to make an appearance on stage to give his welcome speech.