During this day, the entrance hall of the Great Library saw, almost constantly, the comings and goings of the various academy students, and Elwyn and Loyd were no exception.

  The two Nephilim comrades had just left the Deity’s office and were wondering where to go to begin the tour of the academy.

  — What do you want to start with? asked Loyd, still bewildered by his new encounter.

  — I think it would be simpler to start by touring the library, wouldn’t it? Might as well.

  — Well, if you want. Books and me, that’s not really my thing.

  Elwyn was surprised by this revetion.

  — If you don’t like books that much, then why did you come here?

  — Tsk, it’s Deity Ogme who asked me to come. He said he could help me become stronger, in exchange for a service. So I joined the academy and there’s almost no one interesting, except for Ezekiel and the dragon, whom I was forbidden to confront. And unlike you, I wasn’t even allowed in the special css.Elwyn’s face froze at the moment the word “dragon” was mentioned and he then grabbed his comrade by the shoulders, to look him straight in the face.

  — Excuse me, but did you just say “dragon”? asked the young boy seriously.

  Loyd was surprised by this reaction from Elwyn, who seemed to be someone calm and rather reserved.

  — Yes, I did say that. If you want to see it, look on the upper floors of the library.

  Elwyn immediately released his grip and went off to join the first floor of the library with a determined step.

  — Well, he’s already gone…

  Once on the floor, Elwyn looked around and began to tour it.

  “It’s enormous here! How am I going to find it?”

  The floor in question is composed of rge windows, evenly spaced along the wall, letting in natural light and offering a view of the outside. Between these windows, massive wooden shelves extend up to the ceiling, filled with books and parchments with various and diverse covers.

  In the center of the room, a rge wooden pilr also serves as a shelf with works arranged on its four sides. The pilr is richly decorated, with fine detailed carvings.

  Facing each of the room’s windows, elegantly designed wooden tables, with turned legs and a smooth finish, and comfortable chairs surrounded them, allowing at least six people to sit together comfortably.Between the tables and arranged in an arc, gradually drawing closer to the center of the room at regur intervals, there are additional shelves filled with books. These have been pced so as not to block the natural light coming from the windows, allowing the room to be bathed in a soft and pleasant light.Of course, identical in design and pced directly opposite each other, two spiral stone staircases led to the next floor.

  Elwyn then went from floor to floor, remaining as discreet as possible so as not to disturb the other students, and quickly explored the first block of the Great Library.

  Finally, once he reached the top of this block, the young boy understood that the structure of the first floor was repeated on each floor, although the pcement of the windows did change. He then suspected that going higher would give him a simir view, but with space diminishing as the floor blocks shrank.

  However, there was one st thing he had not yet seen, and that was the outdoor terrace at the top of the blocks.

  This floor had an interior structure simir to the others, but with fewer pieces of furniture to accommodate the tables and chairs found on the terrace, which was less than five meters wide, covered by a thin wn. However, where windows should have been, there were stone arches, allowing access to the terrace. And to mark the separation between the interior and the exterior, there was a gap about one foot wide in which stagnant water gathered. This separation was also made on the terrace, dividing it into four equal parts.

  “I see, it is used to collect rainwater, which is then channeled to the edge of the terrace and finally evacuated outside the walls by the gutters pced at the very top of the library and running down here…”

  The young boy then moved closer to the edge of the terrace and its one-meter-high stone railing. The view he had was impressive.

  From his position, he could see the cliffs surrounding the entire isnd, the forests that also encircled it, and the town of Estal and its fields, as well as part of the sea.

  “The isnd looks so small from here… Can one see the continent from higher up?”

  Elwyn remained awestruck by this distant view, which he had absolutely never seen from his vilge.

  “I want to see more… so much more… What is it like from the sky?”

  His lost gaze then attracted the attention of someone he had not noticed. At the same time, the young boy had not toured the entire floor; he had only assumed it after seeing a fifth.

  — It’s a very beautiful view, commented a feminine voice.

  — Indeed, it’s not the kind of thing I would have experienced by staying at home.

  — Oh really? asked she, intrigued.

  — I come from a small vilge located in the west of the Esthia kingdom. It’s not in pces like that that you can observe such things. It’s rather quite ft there.

  — I can’t really understand your point of view, because for me this kind of view is rather usual. However, that doesn’t diminish the magic and the surprise I feel every time I discover a new pce. I always find it fascinating to see how each pce has its own identity and shape, even if some pces may seem simir.

  — Where might you be coming from to have such things to say? asked the young boy, who then turned to his interlocutor standing just behind him.

  At the moment he met the gaze of the young girl, for an instant, Elwyn was struck as if by lightning and his blood ran cold. The same phenomenon occurred in the miss with apple-green eyes, whose pupils were slightly slit.

  “What is happening to me?”, they wondered at the same time.

  The young girl, now facing the young boy, had a dark, matte complexion, short jet-bck slightly wavy hair and two perfectly smooth bck horns proudly perched above her temples. Her ears, of human size, were a bit slimmer and slightly pointed compared to those of a human.

  On her back was a pair of wings which, once spread, were about twice the length of her arms. They were covered in bck scales and their membrane was made of dark leather that ended in sharp spurs.At the base of her back was a long and powerful prehensile tail covered in bck scales, which could serve her like another arm.

  She wore the academy’s uniform, but modified so that she could fit her wings through her shirt and jacket. To fully cover her legs, she wore a dark mauve pid pleated skirt with a golden hem, and a pair of opaque bck tights, as well as simple leather shoes on her feet. Around the colr of her shirt was a blue ribbon and on her left arm, a white armband.

  “That’s not a dragon, but a half-dragoness!”

  The two young people recovered from this unexpected event and stars began to slowly fill Elwyn’s blue gaze.

  As for the half-dragoness, she seemed surprised by the young boy’s reaction and had expected him to run away, or simply ignore her, as had happened far too often.

  — Uh… I’m sorry for bothering you, she apologized, a little embarrassed.

  — You didn’t bother me at all. My name is Elwyn, pleased to meet you, replied the young boy as he gently extended his hand to greet her.

  The half-dragoness hesitated at the proposal the young boy made.

  — You… You aren’t afraid… of me? she asked, hesitant and troubled.

  This question surprised the young boy for a moment, but he eventually recalled that the dragon race is often depicted as beings that bring death and destruction.

  — Let me ask you one thing, do you consider yourself a good or a bad person?

  It was the half-dragoness’s turn to be caught off guard by a question and she pondered it for several seconds. Meanwhile, Elwyn noticed that the young girl’s tail was swaying from left to right as she thought.

  — I think that… I’m rather… a good person, at least… I try to be as much as possible, she replied, still hesitant.

  Even though the young boy still had many difficulties understanding people’s behavior, he could understand that this half-dragoness was not trying to lie to him or deceive him.

  — In that case, what should I fear from a good person? Appearances are sometimes deceiving and so, one should not trust the first impression one gets of the people one meets.

  This reflection from the young boy is typical of the Entities and especially those from the Domain of Life. They do not disparage the different beings that inhabit this world, even if they are not at all attractive or reassuring. Each has the form it has and must deal with it. As for others, they must accept it as it is, just as they must accept themselves as they are.

  At this remark from Elwyn, the half-dragoness felt as if she were seeing someone else from her past, someone who had long since disappeared.

  — Well then. I’m pleased to meet you, repeated the young boy as he once again extended his hand toward the young girl.

  She finally accepted and took Elwyn’s hand rather delicately, for fear of crushing it with her partly draconic strength.

  — My name is Arimélia, pleased to meet you, Elwyn.Once the handshake was completed, Arimélia quickly released her grip.

  — From what I see, we are both in the same section, remarked Elwyn while showing his white armband.

  — Oh yes, I thought I was the only one.

  — I arrived today, so it’s not surprising that you didn’t know. By the way, I met a boy downstairs and I think he took you for a dragon.

  Arimélia shrugged, a little despairingly.

  — That doesn’t surprise me…

  — In that case, I should tell him that you’re just a half, so he can correct his mistake.

  — I know, but… Uh, one minute. How do you know I’m a half-dragon? she asked, surprised not to have to correct someone about her origins.

  — Because you don’t have scales on your face, and I assume you don’t have any on the rest of your body either. You look more human than a dragon would in its humanoid form. I also know that with your bck scale color, you possess a corrosive breath, capable of melting stone.

  The books on dragons, their variants and sub-species were well imprinted in the young boy’s memory, having been opened and closed many times.The half-dragoness was even more surprised by the knowledge the young boy had about her species.

  “Who is he?”, she wondered.

  — By the way, may I ask where you come from, if it’s not too indiscreet?

  — I come from the kingdom of Hercor, but I was born on Valmuldrak, she replied naturally.

  — So, you are indeed originally from the draconic floating isnds.

  — Indeed. And you, you said you come from Esthia, didn’t you?

  — That’s right. I’m not from the Floating Crow Isnds, if that’s what interests you.

  — I see, that’s why you’ve never seen things from heights.

  — Indeed… One moment, I just understood something, if you are a half-dragoness, that means your draconic parent comes from the lineage of Bahamut, the Great Guardian of the sky and earth! Since dragons that can take on a human form are all reted to him, you are partly linked to him as well…

  At that precise moment, a young girl appeared on the floor, coming up from the stairs below.

  She was wearing the academy’s uniform with a blue ribbon around her colr, but unlike Arimélia, she wore high leather boots. Her long smooth hair was lic-colored, with a square fringe drawing above her eyebrows and two braids tied to form a crown on her head. Her eyes were a very beautiful cerulean blue.She then approached Arimélia.

  — Ari, I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I’ve finally found the book I was looking for. Are you coming with me? asked she, before turning to Elwyn.

  — Who are you? Are you here to get him in trouble too? asked she quite hostilely.

  Elwyn was surprised by this verbal violence, of which he had no idea the reason toward him, but strangely, he slowly began to get used to it.

  “First Professor Ezekiel, then Loyd and now a girl I don’t know… How many more will there be after this?”

  Before Elwyn could say anything, Arimélia intervened on his behalf.

  — You’re mistaken, Princess Syria, I was the one who came to speak to him first.

  — I see. In that case, I’m sorry for speaking to you like that, apologized she, as if she had just committed a very serious diplomatic error.

  “A princess, huh… Interesting…”

  — If you apologize, then it’s all right. My name is Elwyn, pleased to meet you, Princess Syria.

  — Pleased to meet you too, replied she, slightly confused.

  Seeing that the conversation was about to be cut short by this intervention, Elwyn decided to withdraw.

  — In that case, I’ll leave you be. I still have things to see within the academy. I hope that things will go well between us in the future.

  And the young boy joined the stairs to go down to the ground floor.

  Arimélia, for her part, cast one st look at Elwyn as he descended, before showing her avaibility to Princess Syria who had come to look for her.