A New Day
Within the continent of Hypertheia, off the coast of the mainland, on an island called Agroneso, living within a quaint little village named Protohoro, a young man at the ripe age of 19 prepares for his regular day, this man's name was Protarchis, an ironic name given how normal he considers himself, he's simply a normal young man going towards his college, a college one hour away from his house. This college is considered to be the best in five islands, one of the greatest universities in the Triantanisa, a collection of thirty islands off the coast of the mainland. As he starts his treck towards it, Protarchis notices another student, easily noticeable by the King Chess Piece on their outfit, a part of the school's dress code, although not a strict one, the King Chess Piece was requirement in order to even enter the university, if you were caught having removed it mid way through the day you would be taken immediately to President's office and questioned as to why you did it, Protarchis removed it only for five minutes once and he was sent home straight away, with that being one of the most leanient punishments for removing it, Protarchis didn't know why they were so serious about a pin, he guessed it was something to do with status or pride in your college.
As he moved closer to his fellow student, he noticed that it was a girl, the same age as him, though you would hardly have guessed it, he already looked older than most, but she looked shattered, as if she had stayed up for twelve weeks straight studying, he wouldn't be surprised if she had, his college only accepted the best of the best, so pulling all nighters studying was normal for most of the students, he never had to and he was thankful that he hadn't, he paid attention in class and studied in the afternoons, the nights were reserved for him drinking wine, reading a book he actually enjoyed or sleeping. Thinking back to the student close to him, he realized two things, one was that he seemed to zone out a lot and think about other things other than what was in front of him, the other thing was that he really didn't seem to communicate or talk with most other students, the only times he can remember having talked to other ones was during projects the year before, so he was shocked when suddenly she looked at him and said " Oh ... hello Protarchis, it's been a while since I've seen you, a year maybe, how have you been ? " she spoke in a quiet tone, as if she was afraid to speak up, Protarchis couldn't tell if it was because she was tired, intimidated or simply didn't care enough to raise her voice, he looked at her and replied " Do I know you ? forgive me but I am not good at remembering faces ", a half lie, he had an amazing memory, though he couldn't speak on whether he was good at memorizing faces as he had never really gotten to know anyone enough to choose to remember their face. She looked down, Protarchis noticed that it seemed like she was a bit dissapointed, she looked back up with a slight frown " My name is Panoyrga, we worked on a project last year, the one where we had to figure out who the team leader was in a group from another class, I believe you and me figured out who it was together " she said in a tone that was more confident and seemingly annoyed than previously, as if being forgotten had hurt what little pride she may have had, Protarchis started remembering her, she was intelligent, capable of pointing out and catching people in lies very easily, though she looked different than she had last year, she looked more clean last year, like she actually had a good night's sleep " Oh yes, I remember you now, you have changed in appearence, I believe last year you looked more human " he said in a slightly mocking tone, he thought about how it was the first time in a long while he used that tone with a person " I thought you said you weren't good at remembering faces, but it seems you remember my appearence from last year well enough to notice the difference " she said, having caught his half lie, Protarchis opened his eyes slightly, remembering more of her capabilities, " Perhaps I was half lying, I do not believe it matters now however, let us continue on our way, we aren't late, but we aren't early either, I will stick by you for now as an apology for having forgotten you " she looked at him again and raised a slight smile, as if being with someone was an experience she had missed, Protarchis thought that it might have been the case given her appearence, they continued their treck, and as they walked, he nearly forgot she was there.
As they got closer to the school, Protarchis had a striking realization, was he really completely normal ? He had been going to one of the most reveared universities in the entire continent, had barely needed to study to pass, and suceeded in every project they had been assigned with very little assistance. This college not being normal either, it had general lessons and more focused ones as well, but it included a lot of training when it came to strategy, reasoning, deduction, prediction, behaviours that weren't considered part of the normal curriculum for a college, just as Panoyrga said, last year they had an entire project where they had to go up against another team to find out who their team leader was, a project they passed within only a few days primarily due to his and her efforts, while other teams required entire months, so why did he consider himself so normal, why did he consider himself someone who did not stand out ? Was it because no one ever talked with him ? Or because he hadn't made any friends in an entire year of being there ? He pondered on it while looking at the great, marble columns which held the name of the college high and proud, Odysseus' College of Advanced Learning and Strategy, now that he though about it even more, every image he had seen of other universities had very little granduer to them, this one however looked at if it had more money than it knew what to do with, as if it were funded by nearly every organization within the continent. He reached into his pocket, but he realized that there was nothing there aside from his house's keys, the King Chess Piece pin he was ready to put on, and a few Drachma, the currency of this continent, he proceeded to move forward, before he tripped over Panoyrga, again, he forgot about her being there, he backed up " Forgive me, I got lost in thought " he said with a flat tone of voice, she looked back up at him with a fire in her eyes he hadn't seen since the previous year, until it faded and her normal, tired eyes came back " It's okay, let's continue, we made it in time, but it's good to be a bit early " as she said this in her, at this point, normal, exhausted tone, they started climbing up the stairs, and a new day was about to truly begin for both of them, with Protarchis wondering to himself, what project, lesson or news will he have to go through today in his questionably, yet hopefully, entirely normal life ?
