Felix looked at Cloud and then to Kreian. Kreian pursed his lips and continued to stare at Cloud disapprovingly before sighing and meeting Felix's eyes too. The brothers could tell what Cloud was up to, but if he thought that they would allow him to make any moves on their little one, he was sorely mistaken.
He had a snowball's chance in hell as long as they were around. After the unspoken agreement and a discreet nod, the two turned to Ning and Gaiya smiling politely. "Why don't we talk with the others while the students go to their rooms, maybe they're more knowledgeable about this 'lesson' the students will get when they return." Kreian said. Ning nodded. "Yes, I'm curious too. Haochen, Cloud, please excuse us." Ning said.
Haochen and Cloud bowed, but their eyes remained fixed on different things.
The older men left, and the two stood alone, quiet for some time. Haochen's eyes flicked back to Cloud once Calibri left the hall.
"I advise you to give up now." He said very curtly.
Cloud who was still musing Opaque's comment of "Good luck" snapped out of his daze and turned to Haochen with a quirked brow. "What?"
Haochen pursed his lips and crossed his arms behind his back. He raised a brow too.
"You're after Prince Calibri now, aren't you?" Haochen asked.
Cloud smirked. "Whyyyyy?"
Haochen's lips thinned. "Because he's not someone you should mess with, Cloud."
Cloud grinned wider. "Whyyyyyyyyy?"
"His family and sect are very protective of him. He's innocent, pure, and good-natured. You shouldn't taint him." Haochen said.
Cloud made a face.
"Do you know him that well? I've never seen him at any youth meetings." Cloud said.
"I know him well enough to give you a warning. His people will not take kindly to you using him for sexual gratification." Haochen said.
"His family, or you?" Cloud asked, crossing his arms and leaning forward in a taunting way, but Haochen simply looked down his nose at the slightly shorter man.
"Both."
Cloud narrowed his eyes and straightened up. "Never thought the great Zhang Haochen would like men." He said. Haochen's eyes narrowed too.
"I don't. But I'm quite fond of Calibri. His heart is clean, and I won't take kindly to you hurting him. Listen carefully when I say that if you do hurt him, I will deal with you any way I see fit." Haochen said.
Cloud stared at him seriously for a moment, then shrugged. "I never said I would hurt him."
"What else could come of your mannerisms if not pain?"
"Tsk, tsk, Haochen, he doesn't have to be in pain… I can be a bottom too." Cloud stuck out his tongue and winked while Haochen's face simultaneously contorted in disgust.
"You'd better not. Remember what I said Cloud." Haochen said in a warning tone and turned to walk out of the hall. He was the only one of his sect, so he walked out alone.
Cloud watched him go, tilting his head.
"Oh Haochen, you idiot. The more you tell me not to mess with him, the more I want to." He laughed to himself.
Meanwhile, Haochen had walked across the courtyard to the staircase on the other side. He really disliked Cloud and his boorish behavior. It was a miracle that the boy didn't have some sort of disease as yet.
To be honest, it was none of his business, because he had nothing to do with the man. Maybe once upon a time, he would have said something out of concern, but not now. When they were younger, they had been quite close. Cloud was always playful and mischievous; however he was kind and just, but one day he became different.
He didn't know why but Cloud's behavior became toxic, and all the boy wanted to do was fool around. He broke hearts like he broke virginities, which was very often.
They drifted apart because of the new persona he had, and suddenly, years had passed and they only spoke once in a blue moon.
Haochen no longer cared what Cloud did. He could impregnate whoever he wanted for all Haochen cared.
But.
If Cloud dared to try his assholery with Calibri, Haochen would be livid. For some reason, Haochen felt a very innate need to ensure the young Prince's safety. Perhaps it had to do with the constant doe-like look in his eyes. The kind of look that betrayed the fact that he'd never seen the horrors of the world. To Haochen, anyone who had never been tainted needed to stay that way, because there were too few people with such innocence left in the world.
And it pissed the hell out of him that Cloud was already trying to ruin him. Where was his shame?
Haochen was so irritated that he didn't realize he'd already been walking for an hour. Then he stopped. Where had he been walking to?
He looked around.
Vaguely, he remembered walking down the staircase and seeing a single winding pathway through a rocky area, but he couldn't remember at which point he'd entered a forest. Haochen sighed and shook his head. He was getting too worked up and he needed to concentrate.
"Ow!"
Haochen froze and looked around.
"Who's there?"
"Haochen?"
"Kol?"
"Yeah. Come here, and watch your step. This damn rock almost broke my toe."
"You're alone?" Haochen asked.
"Wasn't before, but I shook him off." Kol said, shivering.
"Shook who off?"
"Cloud. We somehow ended up on the same path around fifteen minutes ago, but you know he creeps me out. The second he wasn't looking, I ran for my life. I feel like he would have ripped my clothes off if I was with him a second longer." Kol said.
"Sounds like him." Haochen said.
"Sounds like who?" Cloud asked.
"Sounds like-AAAAHHHHH!!!" Kol started, his eyes glancing lazily to the sound of the voice and widening when he suddenly saw Cloud smiling brightly at them. Kol jerked and moved behind Haochen.
"So jumpy these days, Kol." Cloud grinned, "If you're frightened, you can't jump into my arms… Or bed, whatever you like."
Kol made a disgusted face. "Stay away from me, you freak of nature!"
"Oh come now, Kol. No need to be so formal, call me 'freak' for short."
Haochen sighed. Just when he thought he'd have some peace, this pervert had to appear.
"Stop talking. Breathing the same air as you makes my stomach hurt." Kol spat from behind Haochen.
"Sweetheart, that's called butterflies." Cloud said with a sly grin. His tone of voice sounded as if he was really talking to a girl.
Kol grabbed Haochen's arm. "We're leaving. Don't follow us."
Cloud smiled and raised a brow at Kol. "Coy."
"NOT COY. REVOLTED. GO AWAY!" Kol snapped at him. Haochen exhaled and turned around to continue his walk through to the forest. Kol looked at him. "Hey! Wait, don't leave me alone with him!" He said, darting towards his friend.
Haochen suddenly stopped walking. "What's that smell?" He asked, sniffing the air.
"That's…" Kol started, sniffing the air. He frowned and looked at Haochen. "Blood?"
Haochen blinked, then sniffed the air.
Cloud sighed and walked towards them. "It's iron, not blood. Look over there, red sand. It means there's either some sort of volcanic activity, or loads of iron nearby."
Kol moved closer to Haochen.
"In a forest?"
"Yup." Cloud said. Haochen squinted at it and followed the very small trail of red sand. Kol followed him closely, not wanting to be left alone with Cloud.
Cloud also followed , very quietly, and very curious. After a few minutes, the trio found themselves standing in front of a large red chunk of iron that vaguely looked like a golem.
It smelled strongly of rust, and bits of rust covered the ground too.
"What the hell is that?" Kol asked, scrunching his nose.
Cloud hummed, "An oxidized iron statue?"
"Why here?"
"It's most probably going to activate something. This is a test after all." Cloud shrugged. Haochen who had spent his time being irritated at Cloud and not figuring out the headmaster's intentions looked at Cloud, confused.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
Cloud looked at him as if he'd grown a second head.
"You don't know already? Geez Haochen, stop thinking about the princess for a minute and focus. You should have figured it out already." He said, a teasing glint in his eye.
Haochen pursed his lips and turned away from him.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you. This is all some sort of illusion. The headmaster is trying to test our abilities. That's why he said 'good luck', and why we can't see the sky, and why we've been walking for ages before this and not getting anywhere."
Haochen blinked.
"Then did you nullify it?" He asked.
Cloud snorted.
"That spell is too advanced for me. I've only learned it in theory."
Kol looked at Haochen. "Didn't you master this?"
Haochen nodded. Cloud grinned. "Ah, this is why you're second Haochen, you genius you."
Kol rolled his eyes. "Well, go ahead then, it's too advanced for me too."
Haochen was silent for a moment, then he nodded. He lifted his right hand then swirled his index, middle, and ring fingers in the air. A small glowing, blue orb began to form, and once it had gotten to the size of his palm, he swung his hand in front of him in the direction of the ground, ejecting the orb from his fingertips.
The second it hit the ground, the entire illusion of the forest disappeared, and the three were standing on a miniature stage in the middle of a stone room. There were no doors or windows, just stone walls, and the huge iron statue from before sat a few meters from the stage.
Kol looked around with wide eyes. "Urm, Haochen? Did you confuse Nullify with Teleport?"
"He didn't. That was the correct technique." Cloud said slowly.
"Then what's going on?" Kol asked them.
Haochen thought for a moment. "The illusion is gone, but that remained. Why?" He was looking at the rusty Golem.
"Let's check it." Cloud said, moving to jump off the stage, but as he tried, an invisible force pushed him back, and prevented him from stepping off the stage.
"Hey… What in the world?" He muttered.
Haochen moved forward and stretched his hand out. Sure enough, there was an invisible barricade in place.
Kol groaned. "How do we get out of this?"
Haochen looked around. "I'm not sure."
The three searched the stage thoroughly, looking for a hidden button, or door, or some sort of way out. After attempting to nullify again, trying to blast the floor, roof, and barricade, and failing every time, the boys stood at the center of the stage, at a loss.
"Now what?" Cloud asked.
Haochen looked at the roof. "Maybe we have to fight."
"Fight?" Kol asked, raising a brow.
"It won't let us beyond the stage. Perhaps to get off the stage, we need a winner, and a loser." Haochen said.
Cloud pouted. "You just need an excuse to beat me up."
As Kol was about to bite back at the prince with a snarky response on behalf of his friend, the roof dissolved, and someone was being hauled from the sky by a vine near the open square hole where the ceiling was seconds prior. The vine disappeared from around the person's waist, but the person was still hurtling directly towards the stage.
The three stared at the person for a second, and Haochen's eyes widened upon realizing who it was.
"Oh, oh! It's my pretty!" Cloud exclaimed, his eyes twinkling.
"I told you to leave him alone." Haochen snapped, thinking quickly, he shot an air spell at the ground, and it ricocheted upward, making contact with Calibri's back and breaking his fall at the last moment.
"Careful." Haochen said gently.
"Haochen?" Calibri looked at him with wide eyes. Haochen nodded.
"Thank you." Calibri said.
"Ah! Roomie!" Cloud said.
Calibri was looking around the room with a calculating expression.
"We've been trapped in here for a while." Haochen said, sensing his confusion.
"And we aren't sure why, or how to-" Cloud started when a voice abruptly cut him off.
"Welcome students to the first duel of your schooling career. Stand at the four corners of the stage."
"Duel?" Kol asked. He shot Calibri a dirty look.
Calibri looked worried at the instruction.
"Stand at the four corners of the stage." The voice repeated. Haochen looked at Calibri, sensing his unease, then they both moved to the corners.
"Each of you has a minute to unshrink and draw your weapons and equipment, then stand by till the timer begins. Once the timer begins, you are to use whatever you have learned thus far to defeat your opponents in the time limit of an hour."
Haochen blinked rapidly at that. Calibri was staring wide-eyed at Kol who was staring directly at him.
A large hourglass appeared above their heads.
The last man standing will be the victor and will be allowed to leave this room. Additionally, he will be awarded an advantage that may be used in subsequent battles. Gentlemen. Get ready to draw your weapons and equipment. Your one minute starts now. "
Haochen looked at Kol, and then at Calibri. It was clear who Kol wanted to get rid of first.
Calibri sighed, almost resignedly. "Oh heavens…" he said, looking at Kol.
But the way he said it, and that reluctant look in his eyes made Haochen confused. It almost sounded as if Calibri pitied his opponent… As if he already knew he was going to win.