Layla

Character Details

The Rtawahist Darshan of the six Darshans under the Sumeru Akademiya is dedicated to the study of Illuminationism.

Each of the Six Darshans focuses on a different field of study. Illuminationism, then, is centered around astrology and astronomy, learning of the cosmos that has clutched the world in its embrace since time immemorial.

It is among the researchers of Illuminationism that we find Layla.

Though she has only recently enrolled, she has already earned a great many nicknames for herself.

She has been called the Sleepwalking Eccentric, the Human Calculator, and even the Heaven-Sent Thesis by those who know her.

As the days go by, her titles only seem to grow in number.

Character Story 1

There are two kinds of people in the halls of Akademiya:

The first holds themselves with an air of calmness and mastery. Be it experimentation or dissertation, this type of person always makes whatever they’re doing look easy.

The other kind of person wears their woes on their faces. Sighs spill from their lips as mournful notes while they clutch their tools, looking lost. Intermittently, they will jot something down before slashing it out, battling themselves all the way.

Layla belongs to the latter category.

Being poor of health and bereft of sleep is not uncommon among researchers, but Layla takes it to a whole other level. The bags of exhaustion hanging beneath her eyes and weariness burned across her features make it impossible for her to hide the stress gnawing at her.

Should someone approach her, they will often hear her whispering things like “I don’t understand,” or “why,” and even whimpering “I’m doomed.” These lamentations often earn her looks of sympathy.

The halls of Akademiya exist not just as the altar of knowledge to dedicated students but also as the source of their nightmares. Countless among their number have suffered failed experiments and watched their dissertations get torn apart. Rumor has it that, unable to bear the rigors and pressures of school, many students each year choose to depart before they graduate, quitting before their journey is complete.

At first glance, Layla might seem like she hangs on the edge of departing herself, but in actuality, she has already outlasted several classmates who enrolled in the same year as her.

When seeking knowledge, talent is useful, but perseverance is essential.

Character Story 2

The reasons behind Layla’s poor physical health and insomnia can be traced back to a single factor: academic pressure.

All students of the Darshans are required to commit to their studies, complete their essays, and pass their examinations or dissertations. Though this task sounds simple, simple does not mean easy, and the investment demanded of students comes in the form of time and effort.

Unfortunately for Layla, she is always slower at finishing her papers than her peers.

She often spends a great deal of time contemplating, and worrying about the validity of her theses. Is the content overly simplistic compared to that written by her classmates? Are her calculations truly accurate? And if so, are they as concise as they can be?

She feels that, as a student of a most prestigious Darshan, she cannot slack in her studies. But at the same time, she dares not commit to her writings in haste.

Seized by hesitation, time often slips from between her fingers, and leaves her staring at the blank pages of her work without having written a word.

Because of this, she often finds herself working through the night, and leaving sleep for the day. Yet, with the breaking of dawn, she often finds herself assailed by new assignments, causing her to descend into a vicious spiral.

As such, her habits have afflicted her body with abnormal side effects.

Now, she often rises at night, wandering. Upon waking, she often finds herself unable to remember what she had done or where she had gone — the rumored symptoms of the phenomenon known as “sleepwalking,” described by her peers.

From how her classmates have described her sleepwalking, it is as if she suddenly manifests with neither hint nor reason in a certain place. Mysteriously, none of them have been able to fully explain where she goes after or what she does either.

Besides sleepwalking, she has also discovered another strange recurrence in her life.

Each time she awakes from sleepwalking, she finds her unwritten papers from the day before fully completed, meticulous and accurate calculations included! Even the handwriting appears to be hers.

Stranger still, the author of her papers also has a habit of viciously critiquing the arguments and experimental methods of others.

Layla simply could not fathom herself committing these acts, and found herself suspecting that someone was messing with her.

However, upon recalling her experiences leading from her home to the halls of the Darshan, she could think of no one with proper motive.

The term “Heaven-Sent Thesis” is often used in Sumeru to describe an impossible miracle… and if what Layla had been experiencing did not count as a “Heaven-Sent Thesis,” she didn’t know what did.

Did a miracle truly grace her? Did the stars themselves, moved by her dedication to the study, repay her with a blessing?

Regardless, “The Stars’ Blessing” has solved several of her woes. Now, the papers she needs to write for several classes can be handed in without additional worry on her end.

As for the other details, well, that is probably best left for when she had the energy to care. Presently, she has classes to prepare for.

Character Story 3

After pushing through her heavy backlog of assignments, even Layla will find time to decompress.

In her spare time, she enjoys heading to Port Ormos by boat to wander its streets. There, traveling merchants and vagabonds place their stalls and practice their trades, offering all manner of interesting trinkets and showcasing amazing skills, infusing the perpetually exhausted Layla with a sense of refreshment.

She has witnessed the folk of the desert testing themselves in thrilling challenges of agility as they score bull’s-eyes through distantly placed apples with thrown daggers.

She met a strange individual who claimed to be capable of flight; using a mere carpet, they managed to levitate off the ground.

Yet, the one who left the deepest impression on her was a stall owner that invited passersby to participate in a game of luck. Upon his stall, he separated colorful pages worth varying rewards into wooden boxes. In a display of astonishing speed and agility, the owner would shift these boxes about and shuttle them from position to position. Afterward, he would ask those participating in his lottery to pick a box.

Despite not managing to claim the grand prize during her first few attempts, after a few more tries, Layla began to notice a pattern.

Though the stall owner possessed blinding hand speed, she realized that his left thumb barely moved during the shuffling process.

Hence, she realized the box nearest to his left them would experience the least amount of deviations to its position.

After achieving such comprehension, Layla managed to repeatedly win the grand prize. When the curious stall owner discovered how Layla used her insight to peer beyond the mirage of his speed, he found himself overcome with admiration for the girl and offered her a generous bonus reward.

For Layla, the reward was a thing of secondary importance. The true pleasure she got was getting to behold the awesome skills that other people possessed.

Unlike the conservatives in the Akademiya, she did not look down upon the arts and trades of those who worked in the streets. Instead, she was thankful to all the vendors of Port Ormos for the happy memories they granted her.

Character Story 4

As her first year in the Akademiya came to an end, Layla listed down her strengths and weaknesses, planning to write a personal assessment for herself.

She possessed good observation and estimation skills, and was consistently capable of tracking the shifting position of the cosmos via the star charts at twice the speed of her peers.

Additionally, she considered her skill in mathematics to be acceptable. When faced with simple questions, she could calculate the answers in a blink of an eye without even needing to do the equations in written form.

Before ever entering the halls of Akademiya, Layla had a chance encounter with her future mentor. Her mentor had complimented her then, stating that she was a child blessed by the stars with the thirst and capacity to seek true knowledge.

It was these virtues that gave her the courage and hope to seek education and wisdom in the Akademiya.

However, upon stepping foot into the Darshan, she found that her strengths were paltry when compared to her peers of a similar age.

Only the best of the best could make it into the Darshans, and as such, Layal couldn’t help but feel a bit overshadowed.

As for shortcomings, Layla found them to be too many to count. For example, her habit of fixating on problems afflicted her with a great deal of indecisiveness.

Moreover, her ability to socialize was also lacking. When involved in discussions, she often struck others as aloof and arrogant due to her reluctance in expressing her views, which led to her having few friends in the Darshan.

What diminished her confidence even further was the fact that among the many papers she has submitted, few were actually written by her. Instead, they were byproducts of having “The Stars’ Blessing.”

From Layla’s perspective, she is an insignificant individual.

What she does not know is that her teachers and peers have an entirely different perspective of her.

“Hey, being mysterious and eccentric comes with being a genius.”

“How does she draw her star charts so fast while we’re doing in-field surveys? Are her eyes kameras? Wait, she’s done with the stellar orbits as well?”

“I have reviewed her papers and calculations and found the work to be rigorous and thorough. Her logic is ironclad. And some of her ideas are so intricate that I, even as an educator, am surprised. We have a fantastic student on our hands.”

Some people will always tread forward through life weighed down by their caution. Viewing themselves as lacking, they will nevertheless strive on despite the misgivings they have toward themselves.

Perhaps it is also this perpetual dissatisfaction that spurs them onward, allowing them to surpass their fellows without even noticing.

Character Story 5

There was a girl who was determined, smart, and modest. Maybe even a little too modest.

She always felt that her meager gifts placed her leagues away from achieving true mastery.

Still, she yearned for excellence, wanting to stand side by side with the greatest of minds, to make her teachers and family proud.

Contradictory desires chained her: She was unwilling to let go and unveil her true self, but also did not want to suffer the drudgery of a mundane life.

With the passage of time, she felt overwhelmed by a barrage of emotions. Shame. Listlessness. Yearning. All these things weighed upon her psyche and exacted their toll. Eventually, her soul found itself in need of a small outlet. Something to give her some breathing room.

While her body and mind are awake and aware, she is too chained by woes to be free. So, it is when she slumbers that her deeper desires come alive to inhabit her vessel instead, indulging in bursts of short-lived freedom, gorging herself on all the expressions and indulgences that she denied herself while awake.

While sleepwalking, she is beyond the claws of self-doubt and depression, allowing her to easily overcome things like writing papers, drawing star charts, and making Starlogs. Matters that usually mire her in indecision and worry become simple, allowing her to pour out her innermost insights and challenge highly complex questions.

This is the release of her long-held desires. But all dreams must come to an end. As her body wakes, she again returns to being the insecure, introverted girl that she was before. Indeed, after awakening, she can’t even fathom that the wittily written papers and intricately calculated equations were created by her own hands.

As she is determined and modest while conscious, so too is she sharp and smart while sleepwalking. Both sides belong to the same girl.

Like a sapling in growth, she is torn between self-doubt and the desire to break free. This imbalance was how her sleepwalking manifested in the first place. Yet, no matter which side of her is in control at the moment, the part that is Layla always remains.

Layla’s Photo Book

Besides the hills of notes, star charts, and journals, Layla’s desk also has a thick book filled to the brim with photos.

No matter what else occupies the space on her desk, her photo book will always take the most visible spot.

The photos that fill the pages of this book were personally taken by Layla. It contains pictures of her home and parents, her friends, and even the mentor who inspired her to get into the Akademiya in the first place.

Each photo is a snapshot of significance to Layla. She uses these photos in place of a journal, detailing her experiences and trials that led her from her home to the Akademiya.

Each time she goes through her collage of photos, she finds herself still able to remember the burning determination from her past and uses it to pierce through encroaching bouts of doubt.

Recently, Layla added a new picture she had taken with a certain gold-haired Traveler. As the pictures accumulate one after another, who knows how thick the book might get by the time she finally graduates?

Vision

Layla, being a person of easy temperament, rarely gets into arguments with others. One time, however, she broke the norm and found herself engaged in a heated debate.

During a discussion for a class on Theoretical Astrology, an esteemed Herbad skimmed over Layla and her classmates’ papers, and then began to harshly criticize some of Layla’s arguments.

In the opinion of the Herbad, Theoretical Astrology is a sacred field of study with laws and theories that have been long crystallized by the expertise of countless researchers across the ages and cemented irrefutably by generations of testing and calculations. For Layla to question and even dare to correct some of these pre-accepted notions was tantamount to blasphemy.

Layla did not respond to the criticism in the heat of the moment, however. Instead, she listed her detailed arguments in a report after the seminar and submitted it to the Herbad.

Not long after, the Herbad attached his refutation to Layla’s report and returned it to her.

By this point, most students would choose to accept the status quo. In one respect, failing to get a passing score for their seminar report will result in major negative effects on their finals.

Furthermore, it was most presumptuous for a student to argue matters of academic validity with a Herbad, for any Herbad was far more refined than a mere student, whether it be in terms of knowledge and seniority, after all.

Perhaps the arguments Layla made questioning long-accepted doctrine were simply results of a miscalculation on her part, and she might have been humiliated in the end on account of being mistaken.

Even so, she did not give up. She continued her discourse with the Herbad using her reports. Then, with the passing of half a year, the Herbad went to find Layla once more. He admitted then that after consulting more researchers, he had discovered a point of non-acceptability in the long-accepted doctrines that had been left unexamined by the broader community.

As he concluded his explanations, he told Layla with pride and emotion that the students who dared challenge him for the sake of knowledge have grown fewer by the year.

The inception of education, for student or Herbad alike, is to seek knowledge in its purest form. Layla, in her persistence, had reminded him, at length, of this pursuit of enlightenment.

After the conclusion of the seminars, as Layla was going through the bag that held the documents she had accrued during her exchanges with the Herbad, she spontaneously discovered a gleaming Vision in the bag’s depths.

It lay there upon a thick stack of notes, like a fallen star pressed into the pages.