I looked down at the turquoise marble floor and nodded with a sigh, "I don't even know what the marks look like or how I'm supposed to get them."

"Listen, I know that you feel scared now. But, it's okay. We humans look out for each other. Trust me, we'll keep you safe."

Although her words were reassuring, I couldn't help but bite my lips in worry. I had meticulously dug my own grave. What did I care about an odih when I had a higher purpose? I should have just kept my mouth shut. But, over the course of years, I had realized that whatever connected my brain to my mouth malfunctioned frequently.

She held my arm and I became aware of how tense my body was. Back home, I knew what I was going to do, who I was going to meet and what I was going to say every second of the day. Even my death was predetermined. 

On the quest, I had always had my teacher with me. I never had to deal with anything alone. And if we were to encounter something nasty, I was sure that my teacher could help me out of it. Which was probably why I was having a hard time adjusting to the unpredictability of my current situation.

"I don't know how this is all going to go. But I promise I'll try my best to make sure you don't get punished. For now, all I can do is this." 

She grabbed a small piece of wood from her leather bag. It had a handle with intricate engravings on one side and a flat circle surface on the other. "According to the guidelines of the Council, the human mark comes above the right ankle," she said. Then, she got down on her knees and when I didn't move, she looked up at me.

"What-"

Her face lit up and she smiled again. She seemed to have only two expressions, the one with the plastered smile and the one with the knitted brows. Neither one was very reassuring. "I am the head of the human echelon. I'm also the daughter of the Southern General. Now, pull down your socks."

"You want me to what? Wait, so you're the... and the marks go on my bod-"

"This will hurt a little," she interrupted my ramble before pressing the flat side of the seal on my leg. Nothing happened for the first few seconds, then the piece of wood got hotter and hotter until it was scalding my skin. 

I hissed and tried to pull my leg away. But she held it in place with her other hand. She removed it after a few seconds. I clenched my teeth and blinked away my tears as I bent down to examine the reddish mark. It was an inverted 'V' inside a circle.

"A warning would have been nice, you know," I gritted out.

"I did say it would hurt a little," she said.

The mark throbbed for a few more seconds before the pain subsided completely.

"Is that it?" I asked her, I frowned as I continued to examine my leg. This seemed way too simple for what was supposed to be a punishment.

"We look out for our own, so this was easy. Don't expect things to go so smoothly with the others," she said getting up.

"Smoothly? That hurt like crap!" I yelled.

"Also, let me give you a tip as a senior," she said ignoring me. She put her hands on her waist and her serious expression was back on, "don't piss off the higher echelons. Trust me, you don't want to face the consequences."

I just stood there staring at her until she broke into a huge smile and dragged me outside. For the sake of my sanity, I decided to name her expressions, the Smiley and the Worry. Was anyone normal around here?

I tried catching up to her without tripping on my feet as she continued to pull me through the corridors. I sighed as I realized that the first day had just begun. I had never been spoken down to by anyone in my life. Even my father feared me. But, today warlocks, an odih and now a human behaved like I was nothing.

"You have a class now, don't you? The bell just rang," J-Vil said as she pulled me along.

"Yeah, History and Origin of the Circle," I told her.

"Oh, that usually happens in the mini auditorium. Come, I'll take you there."

***

The auditorium was too huge to be called 'mini'. All the walls were sound-proofed, huge speakers stood beside a large stage complete with multiple curtains of blue and red. 

The white screen at the back read, "WELCOME FRESHERS, TO THE BEST COURSE YOU WILL EVER TAKE!" However, someone had charmed it so that when the projector blinked every three seconds, the word, "course" was replaced with "sedative".

Most of the students hadn't arrived yet. I walked in the aisle towards a seat at the back. As I passed by a group of odihs, one of them called out to me.

"Meredith, here you go," the boy with spiky red hair and a black ear piercing said.

I looked at him confused before noticing a similar seal in his hand.

"Is that the mark?" I asked.

"Yup!" he said staring at me for a moment too long before awkwardly extending his hand forward, "Oh, I'm Hui, the head of the odih echelon. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Why are you- I mean sure if you want to..." I mentally slapped myself. 'Don't stare the gift sheep in the mouth... or ear?'

Scratching his head, he smiled before saying, "Fifin wanted me to give you the mark."

"Um, who?" I asked.

"The boy you saved this morning."

"Ah, him," I said a sour taste engulfing my mouth.

"Don't hold it against him. It is the nature of us odihs to be cowardly. We can't help it," he said.

"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled as I pulled down the sock on my right leg.

"The other one," he said with a giggle.

I cleared my throat and followed his instructions. When he bent down in front of me, I clenched my jaw, mentally preparing myself for the agony that was to come.

Hui took a deep breath before pressing the piece of wood to my leg. It hurt just as much or maybe even more this time. I bit my tongue to stop the scream that almost erupted from my throat. It seemed to go on forever and I grabbed a nearby desk for support. When he removed the seal from my skin, I collapsed into the nearest chair unable to bear the residual pain on both my legs.

He looked down at me guiltily and said, "On the behalf of all odihs, I thank you for your actions today. Since you are in this situation because of one of our own, I'll give you a tip."

"If I hear the words, 'don't piss off higher echelons' one more time, I will throw someone out of the window. And if I hear it from you, you will be that someone," I said between my teeth. I must have looked serious enough to carry out that threat for he took a step back in fear.

"Wel... well I just meant to say that sirens and vamps only join us in the classes after the first week. They have an orientation to help them adjust to studying beside their meal," he said.

I cringed at the way he put it. For some of them, humans were just that. Fortunately, the Council had banned the usage of humans as fodder. It was the only useful thing they did.

"Um, thank you for that absolutely irrelevant comment. I'll take your leave now," I said as I got up and began limping away from the weird boy. The pain seemed to stay for longer this time.

"The echelon just above the odihs are the sirens. You do know that, right?" he asked and I stopped in my tracks.

In fact, I did know that. I was forced to memorize thousands of books on politics, power distribution and working of the Circle. However, the pain in both my legs made my brain work slower.

I turned back and stared at Hui, nodding for him to continue.

"The sirens all gather at the lake in the evenings. You'll find the head of their echelon there. Just be... you know, safe. Since I helped you out, we odihs don't owe you anything, okay? Please don't come and find us when you're in trouble."