It was early in the morning, Klora was leaning on the wall beside the door. He was putting on an ash colored jacket. He could hear no footsteps. He smelt his armpit and quickly covered his nose with his hand, it was gross. It's been up to five days since when he had taken a bath and that was when he was preparing to come to the Knight school. He needed to take his bath but where? He doesn't even know where the corridor on the dorm lead to.
"The map!" he beamed as he moved closer to his luggage. Of course it was his already. He opened it and brought out a parchment. He unfolded it and looked at it carefully.
" This are just lines leading to nowhere, what I'm I supposed to do with this?" he thought. As he was folding back the parchment, he glimpsed the text below the lines.
THINK AND WALK TOWARDS YOUR THOUGHT
He thought for some moments then put the map back into the luggage.
" maybe all I have to do is think"
He was hungry and also stinks, which one was he supposed to think first?
He moved towards the bed and sat. It was morning already, why wasn't he hearing sounds and footsteps moving here and there? No talking, no squeaky sounds, nothing.
" Ok, let me try thinking about bathroom first" he thought. He closed his eyes and thought of himself in a bathtub taking shower. He then opened his eyes and looked around, he was still in his room.
He hissed as he grimaced, he didn't know what to do.
" what kind of school is this? A weird school that has no sympathy for a lone boy like me. What kind of mess did I get myself into?" he hissed again.
He stood up and went to the door, he opened it.
What!
He exclaimed as he could no longer see the corridor, in front of him was a bathroom with a bathtub in a corner.
What's going on here!
He exclaimed as he hesitated. He closed the back the door. He wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or something. He had been seeing things lately.
He opened the door again and in front of him was still a bathroom. He walked inside it and closed the door. He took off what he was putting on and went inside the bathtub. He saw a round black button, stared at it for a while before giving it a tap. Out of nowhere, water filled the bathtub.
He washed his body with bare hands and tried brushing his teeth with his finger. Some moments later, he was done. He reached for a towel he had seen hanging on the wall right since he was in. He dried himself and then left the bathtub. He had towel on him as he reached for the door.
"No more surprises please, just my room, I need to change" he thought as he opened the door. Fortunately, he was back in his room. He put back on the black robe and thought of food.
"food, food, food" he thought hard as he moved towards the door again. He opened it and to his surprise again, he found in front of him a huge hall. The hall was huge that it was hard to see above. There were four separate long tables and each table was surrounded with numerous chairs. On the top of the tables were disorganized plates. There were half eaten foods in some plates while some were free of the tiniest crumb of bread.
At the top front was a podium. It looked like some people just left the place. Klora bit his lip as he moved closer to a table on the left. On the table was laid a brown table cloth, of course, that should be the symbol of Brown Knights. The other tables also had on them green and Gray table cloths except for the last one on the right, it was having a golden table cloth and there were no plates on it. The table was neat and smooth and it looked like no one had been sitting on it for days.
Klora sat on a chair there and drew near many half eaten food. He ate to his satisfaction and then stood up. He thought of taking some with him back to his room but he had nowhere to put it.
He walked away from the table and turned to leave. As he turned, he noticed a bill on the wall.
He wasn't sure what it was so he went for it.
"Is this a time table or what?" he stared at it and noticed it really was a timetable.
1st Day HISTORY
2ND Day REALISATION CLASS
3rd Day SWORDON CLASS
4TH Day HUNTING CLASS
He gave it a closer look and beamed.
" this is it, this is what I'm missing." he beamed again as he look around.
"I need a parchment and a quill, I need to write this down" he decided. He looked around and noticed some parchments left on the floor with a quill by it side and a jar full of ink as well. He knelt beside it and drew out a parchment and started writing on it.
" Now, I need to think of REALISATION CLASS, that's all, but first I need to get the text book"
He moved towards the door and thought of his room as he opened it.
He beamed as the door led him back to his room.
" I think I'm gonna have fun with this transportation stuff when I have the time" he muttered as he hurried over to the luggage.
What!
To his amazement, the text book had been parked for him in a leather bag and placed on the luggage.
He kept his mouth opened as he stared at the bag.
" What's going on?" He thought as he picked up the bag and opened it. In it were a quill, a jar full of ink, the textbook and a notebook as well. He wasn't sure if taking it was the right thing to do but what can he do?
He hurried back to the door and thought of REALISATION CLASS. He opened the door.
" ....and that is why you're here" said a deep tough voice.
Klora couldn't believe it, he just landed himself in the middle of an ongoing class. He was at the back of a room not as wide as the history class. There were only students in Brown robes this time, not everyone together and there weren't many of them. They were all sitting in twos and there were eleven students on the seat. And in front of them was an old table with a wooden chair behind it. There was a hefty man moving to and fro in front of the table as he spoke. He was putting on a trouser and an armless gray robe.
Klora moved quietly towards a student sitting alone. The student looked familiar from behind as he moved closer to him. He sat beside him but didn't bother to look at his face.
He took out the notebook and the textbook then placed them on the desk in front of him. He also brought out the quill and the jar full of ink. He opened the notebook and placed the quill flat on it.
" Hey! Black boy!" said the man, pointing his hand at Klora.
Klora widened his brows as he blinked continuously.
" I sir?" Klora asked.
" When did you sneak in?" the man asked as he knotted his eyebrows.
" " I, sneak? No sir, have been here all along? Klora lied. The man grinned as he walked towards Klora, rubbing his palm together.
After some moments, he was already beside Klora.
"Show me what you have been writing down then" said the man.
"What!" Klora exclaimed.
" What's it? Any problem?" asked the man. Klora was speechless, he knew not of what to say and to worsen the situation, the whole student were staring at him, ready to burst into laughter as soon as they get the opportunity to.
"Open your book now!" the man yelled at him. Shakenly, Klora opened his notebook but widened his eyes shockingly. He was sure that was neither his handwriting nor the notebook he brought. He hid his amazement, he tried not to let it show.
" well, you won't always be lucky like this "said the man as he went back to the front of the class. Klora could see resentment on him as he went.
" You should be careful next time, Master Clutse hates Negroes." said the boy sitting beside Klora as he took the notebook from his table and returned another there.
" You changed the books? Thanks for saving me" Klora replied.
"your work to be done is to wear yourself down until you bring out the power in you" said Master Clutse. He glared at Klora and then continued.
" and for the useless ones that have no use for the society, you'll be helping the good ones cleaning their shoes in the next class." he grinned again.
" Class dismissed!" He then picked up a book on the table and left through the door. The students also stood up and headed out of the class while some waited. Klora also waited, he had something he had planned to do.
Some other four boys also waited, they had disorganized the chairs, two sat on the table while the other two picked up a chair each and dragged it towards where Klora was sitting.
Klora noticed them and also sensed danger, he packed his books and returned them back into the bag. As he stood up, aiming for the door , he felt a hand pull him back.
" in a hurry!" exclaimed one of the boys with a chair. The other boy also held his robe.
" Is this Papa's? It looks old" said the other boy. The two boys sitting on the table all of a sudden jumped down and also walked towards his side.
" this is a no place for a negro, you are going back to the dirt you came from" said the other boy.
" And to make it sink in you, we'll give you the beatings of your life" the second boy added.
Klora was overwhelmed with fear he never expected something like this to happen, not this quick.
" but I did you no wrong, I am on my way to …." But before Klora could finish his words, a blow landed in his cheek. He held his cheek as he groaned.
All of the sudden, he felt a strong kick at the back of his feet.
Ah!
He yelled as he got knocked off his feet. The boys donated different kinds of kick on him as they punched, kicked and jumped over him.
After moments of beatings, he was left alone.
" I hope you'll take that as a farewell gift from your fellow knights" said one of the boys as they all went out of the room.
On the floor, Klora was soaked in blood, sobbing and shaking. He was on the floor, hugging his knees. He felt weak and couldn't stand up. He felt alone and deserted. He was so fumed that he felt like committing suicide.
He managed to stand and sat on a chair next to him.
" Is there no security or something in the school?" he thought. Even if he wanted to report, who was he going to report to?
He stood up and hobbled towards the door. He thought of his room and hoped the door better worked. He wasn't sure if the door was going to work just like the one in his room. He opened the door and to his surprise, he found in front of him his room.
He beamed as he hobbled towards the bed and threw himself on it.
" It wasn't bad after all, magical door everywhere is fun enough" he thought.
He had forgotten about the beatings he was given already. He stared around and noticed something beside the luggage. He was getting used to it already.
He stood up and groaned, he could feel his body aching. He hobbled towards the luggage and checked what was beside him.
He looked at it for some moments, he wasn't sure if he was seeing things again. Beside the luggage was what looked like a potion in a phial.
He kept on staring at it as he picked it up. He looked at it again and again and then opened the phial.
" someone wants me to drink this! It could not have been a poison, could it? " he thought.
All of a sudden, he gorged its content and dropped the phial on the floor. He went straight to the floor as beads of sweat came down his body.
He started scratching his body and his groaning continued. After some moments, the bruises on his body started fading off, as well as the blood on his body, except for the ones on his cloth.
He stopped scratching his body and went back to his feet, the sweat was gone and he felt new surge of life in him.
"Is this some sort of healing potion?" he thought as he went back to the bed.
" I need to look for a way to get pass this jackass and also get someone to explain things about the Brown Dept. to me" he concluded as he picked up the leather bag he had dropped on the floor and took out THE POWER IN YOU. He opened it and flipped through the pages.
After moments of reading, he closed the book and returned it back inside the bag. He inhaled and exhaled loudly and then took off the black robe he was putting on. It was stained with blood. He moved closer to the luggage and opened it as he placed the black robe in a corner. He took out the other textbooks and browsed through the clothes. There were different kinds of clothes there but to his surprise, there was no brown robe in it. He checked again and again, he couldn't see it.
" I guess I'm not yet a Brown Knight! " he exclaimed.
Not long, he heard some footsteps moving into the dorm. It looked like the other students are just returning. The quiet atmosphere was disturbed with their murmurings and whisperings as they went into their rooms.
" I need to talk to someone, I need to share all these mysteries with someone" he thought as he laid on the bed. He closed his eyes and started thinking, he didn't have a watch he could check to know the time, he didn't even know what day it was. All had to do was just to glance at the sky through the window. It was noon already.
" Swordon tomorrow, I hope the Master is not as cruel as the others so far." he thought.
He stood up again and made for the luggage. He opened it and brought out back TAME A SWORDON. He opened the first page and read out the texts.
A SWORDON IS THE HEART OF A BROWN KNIGHT, TAMING IT TAKES A LOT OF BOLDNESS AND COURAGE
He opened to the next page.
MAKE A BOND WITH A SWORDON, A TIGHT BOND THAT WILL LAST TILL ETERNITY.
Klora couldn't make any meaning out of what is written in the textbook, he closed it and put it on the bed above the one he was sitting on. He closed his eyes and then fell asleep.