˗ˏˋHalfway to the End ༄ Chapter 4ˎˊ-

Instructions

┍━ ⋆⋅⚝⋅⋆ ━━━━━━━━━┑ Halfway to the End ┕━━━━━━━━━ ⋆⋅⚝⋅⋆ ━┙ Chapter Four ┍━ ⋆⋅⚝⋅⋆ ━━━━━━━━━┑ The Pitch Black Academy was huge, and it was black. It was like several giant skyscrapers pressed together and made from black metal, with bronze accents. People with and without black cloaks were bustling about the entrance and on the roofs and terraces. A big river of some black liquid ran around the entire Academy. Two huge, black metal doors were set in the center of the buildings, accessible only by a long, thin, black metal bridge, inlaid with silver patterns: pictures depicting fight scenes and weapons. I didn't know what the black liquid in the moat was, but I spied some bleached white sticks that looked suspiciously like bones. I decided that I didn't want to find out. "We have to cross that?" I asked Vienna as she started towards the bridge, which was only about as wide as my foot. The chances of falling into that black moat was pretty high. "Yup. It's not that bad. You just have to keep your balance. You'll see. Just follow me, and DON'T fall in!'' Vienna hopped up onto the bridge and began gracefully edging her way across the thin strip of black metal. She made it look so easy. I took a deep breath and steadied my nerves. 'This is nothing.' I told myself. I remembered walking along thin sandstone arches between buildings back in the part of Smoke-skull where I lived. Those arches were only a little wider than this bridge, but they had still been big enough to stand with both feet next to each other. I stepped up and spread my arms out, trying to keep my balance. I began to move, shuffling slowly, keeping my eyes trained on Vienna's back. As she reached the other end, I began to get impatient. I greatly disliked the bridge, and I was itching to get off it. I began moving faster. Just as I was approaching the end, my foot slipped from underneath me. I teetered on the edge for half a second. The end of the bridge was so close, but in the end, gravity won, and I felt myself fall as the world blurred around me. Just as I thought, 'Welp, this is it.' A force grabbed me, and suddenly, I wasn't falling anymore. I looked up to see a young girl, probably the same age as me, holding a fistful of my canvas tunic in her fist and grinning down at me. At first I thought it was Vienna, before I registered that this girl had short, spiky black hair, moon pale skin and a myriad of starry freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. Her eyes were a very startling shade of Coquelicot red, like over-colored poppies. They were decorated with a mischievous gleam. Her arms appeared long and thin, but she yanked me back up onto the bridge with deceiving strength. I stood nose-to-nose with her, so close I could feel her breath on my cheek. It smelled like the grapes Mother had once brought me as a treat. "Careful. You won't be able to have a leisurely swim that." Her voice was leveled, with a slight drawl to it, as she inclined her head ever so slightly towards the moat. "But I wasn't... wasn't... I- uh... uh..." I couldn't form a proper sentence. My breath was sucked away. I noticed emerald tints, mixed in with all that pinkish-red. It felt like there were a thousand birds, all flapping about in my chest. I glanced down. She was still grasping my tunic in her fist. She released me, and I stared at her for another moment, before breaking away and fleeing to where Vienna was standing, gaping at me. She quickly turned away from the bridge and began walking towards the large, black doors, keeping me in the swirl of her cloak. "That was Maze Redbloom. She's been here for AGES, but she participates with the Trainees every year. She's a troublemaker. Quite popular with the students, not so much with the teachers. Steer clear of her; she's a bad influence." As Vienna tugged open the doors, I stole one last glance at the girl, Maze. She was still staring at me. I turned away quickly. I didn't have time to deal with fluttery chests and girls with grape-like breath and weird, amazing eyes.  To be Continued... ┕━━━━━━━━━ ⋆⋅⚝⋅⋆ ━┙