There was a sense of foreboding that followed Silva as he climbed the stairs towards his classroom. The USB drive burned a whole in his pocket. The nausea and the dizziness was wearing off because of the painkillers, but now he felt nervous. New class, new people, a new environment, he felt jittery, but as always, he had to swallow it and move forward.
The climb was slow, and the hallways were quiet. It seemed that everyone here was disciplined and went to school on time... Very different from the school where Silva was going to prior to all of this. In there, delinquents rule the school, and only the worst of the worst can survive.
He was one of those people.
He wished he didn't need to be one of those people anymore.
He reached the classroom the nurse indicated. The door was locked, and the window was a mirror. He realized it must be a one-sided mirror, where he can't see inside, but they can see him. He wondered if why.
Silva knocked.
The door slid open to reveal a tall man in almost the same uniform as him, but with sleeves reaching the wrist, and highlighted stripes that accentuated how the uniform flowed below the waist. The man had short, messy blonde hair, thin-rimmed glasses, and squinty eyes. Silva couldn't read his expression, which unnerved the young heir. Reading expressions, even the slightest change from a neutral face, came as a second nature to him, because it can mean a successful interrogation, or may save his life from a hastily readied trap.
"And you are?" The man's voice was low, and devoid of any interest in talking.
"I'm..." He hesitated, which seemed to irritate the man even more.
"I don't have all day."
"I'm Silva Ain-Soph-Ur, I'm-"
The man checked his clipboard, which was hidden behind his back, hidden from view beforehand. "The transfer student. I didn't expect you today."
'Neither did I,' Silva groaned internally.
"Let's see, yes, Silva Ain-Soph-Ur. Come in."
The man stepped inside, and let Silva take a look at his classroom for the next year.
He almost choked.
Right in this classroom, there was the thickest shroud of animosity he had ever felt in his life.
Not only that, but those in the front row, all 8 of them, had other students on all fours beside them, holding leashes as if they were holding dogs.
"Everyone, contain your excitement." The deadpan voice came from the man behind him, standing in front of a clear touch-screen monitor. The man he was talking to was the professor. "This is..." He checked his clipboard again, "Silva Ain-Soph-Ur, the transfer student. How about you introduce yourself."
Silva took a deep breath. "I'm Silva Ain-Soph-Ur, from Italy. Nice to meet you all."
There was a blonde girl in the first row, third seat from the left, holding a red leash connected to a fairly handsome young man with the same uniform as they had. She looked him over head to toe and licked her lips.
"Very well, you can sit in the back, there's plenty of spare seats, to be honest." The professor turned back to the digital board and began teaching again, what seemed to be Organic Chemistry.
There was a big gap between the fourth and fifth column, to allow students and professors to pass through, and the middle of the classroom, the school insignia was placed.
Two snakes intwined in 6 ribbons, the heads of the snakes had wings, the left had a feathery wing, the right had a bat's wing.
There were dotted seats, and he picked on the last row, fourth column, right at the aisle.
The school day was uneventful, but anyone who's been to school knows that it's uneventful until the exams roll in. What makes school fun is what happens after school.
The last bell rung, and nobody was leaving their seats.
The professor left, by then Silva learned his name was Mr. Salvadore Attilla, and he felt thw animosity spike.
"Well, well, well," the young man in front of him swung around to face him. "New blood, nice to meet you, Silva, I'm Francesco Al-Iskandar." He offered his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, Silva shook it.
"Silva Ain-Soph-Ur. Nice to meet you."
Francesco pulled him in and whispered in his ear. "You need to get out of here right now."
"What?!"
Francesco pulled away and fixed his shoulder length, platinum-blond hair. He gave Silva a quick wink, then shook a small black flash drive. "I'll see you around." As subtle as possible, he walked out the classroom as quickly as possible.
Silva could feel his heart pounding. The blonde girl walked over to him, and he felt fear.
"Hey cutie," she almost whispered to him. "I'm Alice. You look like you're fun."
"Uh..."
She sat on the desk directly across him, subtly raising her skirt and crossing her legs. "Do you know what this Academy is known for, other than top class students?"
Silence.
She rolled her eyes. "Not very bright, huh?" She smiled. "No worries, I love cute, dumb boys too."
He heard moaning, and as he looked over her shoulder, he was appalled. The boy at the front of the class, the one who sat right next to the window was having sex with a girl wearing a red leash. No one was reacting at all, as if this was a daily occurrence. The longer he stayed, the deeper the pit in his stomach grew. The girl blocked his view.
"Hey, hey, I'm talking to you, Silver!"
"Um, it's Silv-"
"I know what it is, Silver, you think I'm stupid or something?!" She took a deep breath, then turned to the male student she had on a leash, and punched him in the stomach with enough force to make sound. Silva's face was stiff, but he could almost feel the pain the student felt.
"Don't mind him. Losers like him aren't worthy of being human." She laughed. "Anyway, speaking of losers, this school is famous for our open secret." She clapped twice, and all the students left in the class moved the chairs in a circular pattern around the insight in the middle of the classroom.
The insignia started to rise. The windows and the doors locked themselves and shades covered them, so that the classroom was isolated. Disruption signals were placed, eliminating contact to the outside through cellphones.
"Our afterhour past-time." Alice started to laugh. It sounded like madness.
The other students began chanting, he couldn't understand what they were saying. He wished he will never understand what they were saying. Staring down the barrel of a gun was less frightening than being in this classroom now.
Falling down the rabbit hole, guided by the madness of Alice herself.
"The Domain Games!" She smiled at him, the smile of a predator as it stared down its helpless, limping prey. "Let's begin."