"Too much noise..." Erden muttered, clutching his head in pain.
He had only been at the Academy for a short time, but Erden Kane was already quite sick of it. The last few minutes after the lecture he had tried fruitlessly to find a quite spot to claim as his own. However, try as he might the Academy confused every sense of bearing that he had. It seemed to shift and twist every which way as if on a whim. In a normal place, the earth itself would have spoken to him, and told him where to go. But something about the Academy had confused is natural senses. There were rooms here, rooms there, rooms everywhere. But not one led to where Erden wanted to go.
A large young man with sunburnt skin, Erden had a tendency to tower over most average students at the academy. His people were not known for being small, and although Erden was a runt by their standards, he lorded over the little ones here. It was an uncomfortable feeling, as his height was garnering unwanted stares and gawkers. Those who were about as tall as was stared in him the in the eyes, their glances issuing forth silent challenges. But he did not want to be stared at.
All he wanted to was to be alone. Which was precisely what this school didn't seem to want. Every doorway he entered was occupied by someone or something. The library was filled with students. The gardens were the same, with tiny little sprite children squeaking about their "wittle" flowers. The last doorway Erden had entered led to the Women's Locker Room, where screaming Amazonian women chased him out brandishing towels and lacrosse sticks with unbridled fury. His head still smarted from the blatant whipping they gave him.
Then as if by magic, he found yet another room. Still addled by the fierce Amazonian assault he bumbled inside. Sunlight, or something like it burned his eyes briefly. In the distance, he heard a methodical crashing like soft, drawn out thunder. Beneath his bare feet, he felt a tan foreign matter between ground stone and water. Erden had found the beach room.