Heng woke up after the school's bell rung. He could smell the dirt on his clothes and the burning metallic stench of his sword. Heng didn't care for school at this point. He wanted nothing more than to find his sword. Where did Ryan kicked it to?
Heng found his sword near a little singed patch of weeds. His eyesights hadn't failed him yet. When Heng leaned in and touched the lump of metal, he jolted his hand back and flailed it. The lump had singed his bare palm. Heng hissed.
Heng dropped to his knees and kicked the lump around. He rummaged and kicked and rummaged until he found a little green crystal that seemed to be unlumpified. Heng snatched it, wrapped it around his fingers, and thanked god.
"You... You are still alive," Heng said. Relieved of a thousand burdens and fears.
Heng pocketed the crystal and decided to head to class. Suddenly, he was impeded by a figure. The figure had feminine features. Mainly, long hair. Even though the figure was a silhouette, Heng realized who she was immediately.
"You're Venessa Vicker. Come to join me and my journey to class?" Heng tried to sound flirty, but his scruffed up figure said otherwise.
Venessa giggled a little and approached him. Heng had heard her silvery laughter. He scratched the top of his head and looked slightly away. Why was she approaching him? Heng left his past with Ryan behind and began working on this new challenge. Why was the most popular girl in school approach him?
"Heng Darany, you're the supposedly powerless first year. I am correct?"
"Uhh... Yes." Heng replied. He was surprised to know that Venessa knew his secrets. He thought he had been hiding it well. Where did she get that from?
"Right. Do you know Kosal? The legendary samurai who fought to create this place? The dome, not the school, I mean." Venessa continued.
"Yes, he's my father, and I'm proud to be his son even though I'm powerless." Heng frowned. He wasn't really Kosal's biological son.
Venessa turned to the side and showed her figure fully. Heng looked and continued, "Why are you asking me this? This all seemed off."
Venessa stared at the skies briefly before shuffling towards Heng. Her face was pallid and she had dark purple eyes. Heng took a little step back, intimidated. Venessa leaned close and playfully whispered "Why indeed?"
The blood in Heng's cheeks surged. Girls could be flirtacious with their use of language, but this was more than language. It was intimacy.
Venessa also emitted a strong and floural scent that reminded Heng of the incense Kosal always used. Heng couldn't turn his head. He was too close. Heng shut his eyes and took a deep breath.
"What's the matter, Heng?" Venessa asked.
Heng opened his eyes and turned slowly towards the young lady. He stared at her purple eyes. They were like two amethyst. Venessa pouted before laughing. She walked backward and wiped her eyes with the back of her palm.
"What's so funny?" Heng looked at his arms and legs. They were in a pretty bad shape. Heng could see soot and dust sticking to them. Their skin was dry. Ryan's bolt might've done more harm to Heng than he thought.
"Instead of going to class, how about you go to the infirmary?" Venessa said. "I can get you there without anyone noticing."
Heng reached into his pocket and held onto the green crystal for a second. "Did you see what happened between me, Ryan, Otter, and Vort?" Heng asked. He wanted to know if Venessa knew where Vort went.
"Vort Braker? I saw him heading to class a few minutes ago. Poor guy had bruises all over him. I wanted to go talk, but there was just too many students around me to do so. As for that asshole Ryan, I haven't seen him all day. Honestly, I don't like that guy."
Heng smiled, almost chuckle even. Ryan had no chance with Venessa in the first place. Venessa reached to grab Heng's arm, and he flinched. "What are you doing?"
"Come on now. To the infirmary with go," Venessa seemed kind of cute. She always looked judical and prudish every time Heng noticed her. Today was different.
The concrete walks below Heng and Venessa turned dark. Their shadows merged with this darkness, which seemed to grow effortlessly. The darkness created a circle before rising above Heng like a black fire. It engulfed both the students in a zone of no light and released them a second later.
Heng felt like puking as he stumbled forward. Venessa caught him by the chest before surveying the area. She sighed her worries away afterward, "Thought we would end up in class. I'm still getting use to this damn teleportation skill."
"What? That was teleporting? We teleported?" Heng stood up and rubbed his eyes. The lights of the infirmary was blinding. Immediately after, Heng smelled alchohol. He was in the infirmary alright.
"What are you two doing here?" a fruity voice said. Heng saw a middled-age and fit woman, sitting crosslegged on her black meshy chair. She had her gown on. Her left hand held a teacup and her right a clipboard. Heng was relieved to know this person was Ms. Bridget. She was like a mother to him.
"Hello, Ms Bridget. I found Heng behind the cafeteria's bathroom and think he should come here. He looked pretty messed up as you can see," Venessa relayed.
"Yes girl, I can see clearly. My boy, what happened to you?" Ms. Bridget tabled her teacup and clipboard for later. She strode towards Heng, her eyes locked on his sooty skin. "You tell me now, young man. Was it an accident?"
"It was Ryan," Heng said. Venessa nodded near him.
Ms. Bridget brought Heng to a nearby gatchbed and laid him down. Venessa trailed behind. The nursed aquired, "do you feel any weakness in your arms and legs, boy?"
"No, ma'am."
"Good, try to move your fingers. Clench your fists five to six times for me."
Heng did so. He was confused on what Ms. Bridget was trying to do, but he didn't want to ask. Ms. Bridget had fought beside Kosal in the Jorani war before, and her profession was never questioned by the authorities. That served enough for Heng's trust. Then an urge to puke came over him.
"Ms. Bridget, I feel dizzy," Heng said horsely. Ms. Bridget got what Heng meant immediately.
"Girl," she snapped her finger and put on her stern face, "could you leave us be for a moment? I want to write his medical reports in peace while he rest. Also, you'd better be in class right now."
Venessa was reluctant. Heng gave her a thumbs up as he fought his barfing urge. The girl smiled forlornly and left the infirmary. Immediately after she left, Ms. Bridget gave Heng a bucket, and Heng puked a combination of mashed potatoes and blood into it.
"You're getting worse day by day," Ms. Bridget said softly, "my boy, have you been taking your medicine?"
"Yes, ma'am. Every damn day."
"Watch your language, boy. You are still a child."
Heng was not a child anymore. After he lost Kosal, Heng was forced to mature. Had he not? He would end up below the slums. The ceiling fan spun zealously above Heng and made the sound of tidal waves. Heng thought of how the Threshold had taken everything from his.
Heng kept staring at the fan before Ms. Bridget walked to him with a syringe in hand. The injector, as Heng called it, was different from what he had used this morning. The needle was much cleaner, the red chemical inside the vial was more vibrant, and the plunger had a floural design with which two of Ms. Bridget's fingers had inserted nicely into.
"Turn to the door boy," Ms. Bridget demanded and Heng did so reluctantly. He always felt weird when someone or something approaches his neck. Heng calmed himself by thinking of the pain on his back.
The needle went in, and a shiver strided from Heng's buttocks to his neck. He didn't let out a single breath. When his injection was done, Ms. Bridget told Heng to turn around, so she could apply a medicinal balm. She gasped from the sigth of Heng's back.
"Poor boy, I don't even know what to say. That Ryan kid is getting out hand day by day," Ms. Bridget applied something cold onto Heng's skin. "You mustn't lie on it tonight. Otherwise, the injury will be infected, understand?"
"Yes, ma'am. Can I go back to class now?" Heng asked and sighed from the relief of the balm.
"Most certainly, boy. You can go. I will write your report and report that Ryan to the principal!" Ms. Bridget said and had already put a piece of report paper on her desk.
"Ma'am. You don't have to trouble yourself. I was the one who instigated that fight," Heng moved his palm over his vaccinated neck.
"Boy, I know you for years. You don't 'instigate' fights unless something provoked you to do so. Let me guess, Vort Braker was in trouble again, and you had to intervene?"
Heng replied with dumb silence. Ms. Bridget, the acute nurse, was spot on.
"Please don't report this fight. I want to keep a low profile," Heng pleaded.
"Low profile? That girl, Venessa, knew, didn't she? That Kosal's boy wasn't as legendary as his father," Ms. Bridget said in a non-provocative tone. "Kosal told me to keep your secrets from flying out, but it seemed that someone had told her. Therefore, keep your eyes opened for potential dangers."
Heng asked what kind of danger he was in, but Ms. Bridget couldn't give him an articulate answer. She continued by telling him "that's all I know", but Heng didn't believe her. What was she hiding from him?
Heng left the infirmary as soon as he got better and met Venessa in the halls. She was leaning against one of the hall's wall while crossing her arms. The girl pouted as she saw Heng.
"I believe you owe me a solid for bringing you to the infirmary," Venessa said. Heng walked up to her and stared her in the eyes.
The girl glanced to the side and back before she asked, "What are you doing?"
Heng checked his watch and determined the prospective conversation would only take at most 5 minutes. He would be twenty five minutes later by then. Heng gave Venessa some space and replied, "What are YOU doing here? Didn't Ms. Bridget tell you to go to class?"
"I was- I mean- I didn't want to go. I don't like studying with Mr Smith. He makes the materials soooo boring," Venessa said. Her arms pointed to the ground like a kid throwing a tantrum. Her gesture guided Heng to a red circlet she was wearing.
"Where did you get that?" Heng pointed at the circlet. The woven thing that Kosal had taught him to craft when he was young.
"Oh, this?" Venessa raised her circleted hand and pointed at the thing, "I got it for a gift a few years ago. The present was from... I don't remember."
Heng had one that was the same as hers. He remembered having it but not where he had put it. Heng shook the thought away. He needed to know something more important. "Venessa, who told you about me? Not even Vort knew that I had no magic."
"You call it magic? I call it science," Venessa corrected her junior, "And to answer your question, your father did. Kosal had talked alot about you when he was still- you know?"
Heng thought about how Ms. Bridget and Kosal wanted to keep Heng's powerlessness a secret. Venessa had lied. Heng checked his watch again. He had no more minutes to spare. "I have to go now. Thanks, Venessa."
Venessa waved.
Heng entered class while his physics teacher, Mr. Garter, was writing on the board. The teacher wore khaki pants, blue flannel, and basked behind an impressive red mustache that twirled upwards.
Mr. Garter pushed his optics in and beckoned Heng by flicking his hand back and forth. Heng bowed and walked to Mr. Garter.
"Young man, how do you solve this? Since you are late, I assume you've already done your homework," Mr. Garter challenged Heng with his thick british accent. His tone was cultered and powerful.
Heng glanced around the class for a moment and spotted Vort, who was staring at him. Heng wanted to smile, but not right now. He grabbed the chalk, offered by Mr. Garter, and inspected the white cursives on the board.
"You have five minutes, young man," Mr. Garter seemed excited.