The boy who just entered the room is a medium tall boy, dark complexion, his eyes are dark brown, copper hair all messy that gives a fresh look to his introverted attitude. His shirt between open and out of the pants with his jacket over the shoulder adds to his appearance of a poorly groomed gangster.
—It's me— I say without getting up from my seat waiting to see what his reaction is.
— Your?!— Throw his jacket on a student, maybe one of his classmates. —You are more beautiful than rumors dictate.
—Sorry?
—Since the rumors spread I wanted to meet you but a week ago I had problems with my territory and I couldn't get there if not until now.
—Hey, who are you?— Esteban comes between them.
—What bad manners of mine. I'm Kevin, 8th year at the institution and… — He looks Esteban up and down like a scanner looking for hidden metal objects. Then he stares into his eyes for a long time, passes him and focuses on me with a face of total disappointment. —Is this your boyfriend?
—Of course not!
They both scream in commotion that can be bought from a fire alarm. His faces turn reddish like overripe tomatoes. Kevin, seeing his reactions, cannot contain his laughter, this is so scandalous that Marinep, Esteban and all those present look at him wrongly. Marinep and Esteban want him to listen to them, they want Kevin to listen to them, for him to know once and for all about his misjudgment of them. Without success, they have no choice but to wait in shame for the moment that they stop laughing.
After a while Kevin gasps for air, while he places his left hand on his abdomen and with his right wipes the tears that come out of his eyes. Kevin takes a seat, relaxes a bit by putting his head back and taking a deep breath.
—Have you stopped teasing?— Esteban was visibly angry with his ears still red.
—We're not boyfriends, we're just good friends, that's all— I add.
—I see, they look good together, I can't deny it, but I think she would look even better with me. The girls in the room begin to scream and whisper things about their appearance, although for Marinep these gossip did not reach her ears.
—Keep dreaming.
Kevin outlines a very mischievous smile, he looks at all the students who are watching the event that unfolds with astonishment, doubts and attention. It is not normal for an advanced degree student to talk quietly with students who have little time in the institution, so the young dark-haired man is like the needle in the largest haystack in a barn. I see Esteban in a nervous tint seeing that Kevin gets too close, he takes my hand and plants a little kiss like a knight that he has found the princess of him.
—Marinep, from this moment on, I, Kevin, the leader of Afriz, will be on your side to fight the war that will soon manifest as a result of our identity revelations.
—If you knew that revealing would bring problems, why then ...?
—Ah… that was an order from my ruler.
—Did your ruler tell you to make peace with me?
—Well more or less, the truth is that he told me to make passes with everyone in order to avoid going to war.
Before continuing with our talk, Kevin raises his hand to silence me, with one of his fingers he makes me look around, as he does so I see that apart from Esteban being very immersed in the conversation, he can see all my classmates studying us with all their full attention, as if they were watching a soap opera, so he whispers in my ear.
—It's not good to keep having this kind of conversation in this place. Come find me at nine o'clock at night (9:00 pm) in the greenhouse, do you think?
—The greenhouse is already closed at that time. How will we get in?— I speak in a low voice.
—I'll take care of that, you must come alone. As much as your friend is very close to you, he should not meddle in matters in which civilians can get hurt.
When he finished speaking, he got up, stretched out, showing that he has a trained body, he looks at me and winks at me and then reminds me not to forget our appointment.
Esteban asked me many times what we were whispering about and when I didn't say anything to him he gets very furious, on the way to the cafeteria I met Norilex who reluctantly crashed into me, Joselin who saw the scene from afar asked if there was any Problem, seeing the refusal in my head relaxes a bit and gives me a smile followed by a big hug, then says goodbye to me, vanishing on the path that leads to the bridges.
The bridges that surround this institution are blinded by huge trees that when entering prevent others from seeing which way you will go, it is by this way that it is not known from which territory each student comes, of course that knowledge is only known by those who they work as managers in said institute.
The more advanced students are the only ones who can leave the institution without any notification as long as there is a report on their return regarding their sudden absence. In the fifth year they allow students to choose their professional vocation and then be directed in the sixth year to their respective subjects and in the seventh internships.
Although it may be a short time of study, it is not, the years of study include, apart from performing their personalized competitions, they must attend regular subjects of the institution such as participating in sporting events, in addition to accepting only one day of rest monthly and you have the right not to take it and accumulate them. Therefore, students live stressed daily between classes, tutorials and a paid job in the eighth year.
Joselin works for the financial administration, my brother is a politician because he says he wants to be a ruler to protect me at some point, Kevin is a veterinarian because the Afriz territory is a place with different types of animals and I heard rumors in the corridors that the sinister Erick is a lawyer.
After the hours in which I ate, showered and rested, I got ready to leave before the agreed time. I make sure that when I leave I am not being chased by anyone. I go to the greenhouse, a giant dome almost at the entrance of the forest that is behind the main enclosure, with large windows and glass doors. As I get closer I take the door handle, checking it is already open.
Once inside, the first thing I can appreciate is the atmosphere of the place being very different from the outside, fresher and more relaxing. Small vines delineate each edge of the roof, surrounding bushes with various flowers, with different sizes and colors brought from each of the territories. Inside there is also a small pond full of colorful fish, on the left there is a door that says caution because that is where they extract the honey from large combs so a few bees appear from the door and in the air you can see small ones firefly lights fluttering around. When I go a little closer to some windows, it gives a view of the end of the forest and a lake can be seen slightly, taking my eyes off that scene I appreciate Kevin sitting in the frame of a window.
—You look relaxed. Is it to see me?
—Don't talk nonsense. What's so important that you should tell me and that others shouldn't listen?
—Well, at least I thought that in this place you would feel comfortable for our date.
- ...
—Well to the point, at this point you should know what happens with the rulers.
—Yes, my ruler made a horrible drama out of it and left me on a mission.
—Kill the leader of Antirda I suppose.
—That's right, from what I see that person will have" wanted dead or alive "signs all over the place.
—Something like that.
—What I don't understand is why he does it. What's in it for him?
—All this fuss is about the stamps.
—The seals of power and vulnerability?— I look at him puzzled and unconsciously frown. —Those things cannot be modified.
—It seems like you're out of league, I'll tell you something, things have changed in a way that you don't realize but that if you pay attention it starts to affect. I still do not know in what way these changes have been made, but what I can say is that if we die, the territory will become defenseless against the enemy attack because the ruler will not be able to protect it.
—For that reason I can't explain myself. Isn't it better to attack us instead of them?— His feat would become much easier.
— That I can answer you immediately and the answer is that our powers increase so significantly that we can lose our sanity, hurting ourselves and everything around us.
—So your ruler ...
—Yes, he was assassinated the day after he left me on assignments.
—What were those missions? How did you survive the madness?— I ask if there is any pause.
—Slow down princess, let's see, I survived because they locked me underground for a whole week, that almost caused me to get fired from work— He smiles as I look at him in amazement. —The missions were: make peace, capture the leader of Antirda and find the owner of the power of the feeding channels.
When I heard the last thing I was left blank, it is something new, something unknown so I ask what is that? When he sees Kevin's face, he responds with bewilderment, as if he too was lost.
—I would also like to know, I'll ask an aunt about that, but I'm sure of one thing the tension is strong with the facts that I was able to discover.
—What was that you discovered?
—The leader of Antirda seeks to be above any leader or so it seems, although I still don't know for what purpose. Never in history has a representative been seen to possess more than one power, if he now kills a leader who does not have his ruler, it will be difficult to stop him. I'll tell you a secret and you won't believe it, a more overwhelming secret than anything I've ever told you before.
—Do you want to stop doing that? You're making me nervous.
—Not at all, it's nothing important, just that all the leaders are in this institute. Oh and the leader of Ocania is Erick, there is nothing to worry about being on our side or so I think. Well, if I don't know, she hasn't told me otherwise.
Such words make my skin crawl, thinking at this moment has become a luxury that I cannot have, creating an action plan goes beyond what can be executed in reality.
—There's no need to be alarmed, for now we must defend ourselves and keep looking for friends, don't you think?