Chapter Text
It was an ordinary day at the Oslo institute when everything Isak thought about his life changed forever.
He was sat on a stool in the weapons room, sharpening his set of daggers - his messy blonde hair dangling just into his eyesight. Sighing, he placed the newly sharpened dagger next to the other three in the set - admiring how they sparkled in the sunshine. In a beautiful moment of nostalgia, he was brought back to his tenth birthday when he received these daggers from his parents. He saw their smiles, as he ripped open the wrapping paper, and shrieked loud enough that the whole institute heard him. Isak sighed at the happy memories, and realised he needed something else to distract his wandering mind, before he was vividly brought back to a less happy memory. He looked upwards from the daggers on his lap and stared out of the large windows in front of him. Isak could insult this institute as much as he wanted - and he frequently did - but he could never deny that the views were incredible. It honestly didn't matter which window you looked out of, there was always something beautiful facing you. It had always struck Isak as slightly odd that the builders of the Oslo institute had chosen to build slightly outside of the town centre, but he never complained, because it was visually more pleasing for him to be situated where they were. From the weapons room, the busy streets below glittered in the early morning sunshine. The people moved in and out of the large buildings, as they navigated their way around. For a brief flickering moment, Isak wondered what it would be like to be as innocent and ignorant to the horrors of the world as the mundanes were. He began to wish that he had lived a normal childhood and gone to school to meet friends and the person he was going to marry. No, he thought, stop. That is a different life to the one I live – there’s no point in dwelling on that. Without warning, the heavy wooden door burst open with a bang. Startled, he jumped up and spun around to face the door, wielding one of the daggers and allowing the other 3 to drop to the floor with a crash. Eskild - the head of the institute - waltzed in, a large cape flowing behind him (Isak had told him once he was appointed as the head that the cape was unnecessary, but Eskild had scoffed at him and walked off). It was interesting, Isak thought, that Eskild hadn’t entered the room with his normal level of flare and sass.
“Good reflexes – you’re improving,” he spoke with a smirk on his face that frustrated Isak slightly. Eskild had disturbed his relaxation time, after all.
“What do you want, Eskild?” Isak sighed as he turned his back to Eskild and crouched on the ground to begin tidying the daggers on the floor. In that second, he wondered if Eskild had seen through his thoughts and was here to reassure him that the shadow world was where he belongs – not that he needed reassuring.
"I wanted to check that you were doing okay, because you..." Eskild trailed off hesitantly once he saw Isak turn his head slightly - just enough for Eskild to see the lack of patience that Isak was visibly showing.
"Eskild. Spit it out - I'm not in the mood for your games." Isak spoke in a monotonous voice in an attempt to prove to Eskild that he couldn't be bothered to converse. It worked, and made Eskild shift on his feet slightly before clearing his throat to speak. This had better be worth it, Isak thought to himself.
“I just want to tell you something. Please don’t get too mad, but…amundanewillbelivingwithus” Eskild muttered, as he looked around the room nervously.
“What?” Isak asked, as he spun around and fully faced Eskild - placing all 4 daggers on the stool he was previously sat on. Eskild visibly gulped, obviously nervous about Isak’s reaction to this news. There was a hesitant moment of silence as Isak stared Eskild down.
“A mundane is coming to live at the institute.” There was a long silence, as Isak tried to meet Eskild’s gaze.
“What the hell Eskild? WHY?” Isak tried his best to stay calm, but his anger was breaking through. “Do they have the sight? Or are they just anyone you could pick up on the street? You know that it is forbidden to bring Mundanes into institutes!” Isak tried to reason his anger with the rules set by the Clave, but neither one of them believed that this was the reason Isak was angry.
“Look, I can promise you Isak, there are extenuating circumstances. Besides, he seems like a really nice guy. Who knows, you might even get on.” Eskild sighed as he tried to reason with the hot-headed teen in front of him. "I have already cleared this with the Clave, and they agreed that he needs our protection!"
“Eskild, just make sure he stays out of my way. I have a job to do, and it doesn’t involve anything about mund - ” Isak was cut off mid-sentence, when he peered behind Eskild, and saw a tall handsome man staring back at him from the doorway of the door to the weapons room. He smirked at Isak, and strode confidently into the room. Eskild heard the footsteps from behind him, and moved so that he was standing next to Isak - facing the mysterious intruder. It was rare that Isak was lost for words, but here he was - unable to finish his sentence. Hell, he couldn't even remember what he was talking about. He could hear the footsteps echoing his racing heartbeat, as this mysterious boy with blonde hair stopped just centimetres from Isak’s face.
“Hi,” He spoke with an ease and tone that Isak envied and adored in equal measures. “I’m Even.”