Ray's hostile snarl tore Wolfe apart as he sat beside him. All the students in Wolfe's general vicinity seemed to agree with Ray's disgust, and reciprocated it to an extent.
Ray scoffed at Wolfe pridefully and ignored his presence while keeping his head high. Wolfe couldn't just ignore the dark animosity surrounding his name, but he also couldn't clear it since he was unsure about the reason behind it.
Endurance was the only option.
The atmosphere shifted instantly as a tall, bulky man walked into the room with a book gripped tightly in his left hand. The veins in his arms and forehead looked like they could pop at any moment and spew bright red blood everywhere.
His arms were as thick as his legs; almost comically thick. His chest was developed to the point that it seemed to have been chiselled in by an expert artist.
The tight shirt he wore only accentuated his god-like physique.
Since he stood at a whopping 6 feet 8 inches, the only feature separating him from a monstrous giant was his competent nature and ridiculously receded hairline. His curly orange hair was thinning and falling out, leaving a trail of orange behind. The man looked like he was a bad interaction away from going completely bald.
"Good morning, students." The man said out loud as he stood behind a desk at the front of the room. The desk, only 30 inches high, reached only midway up his thigh due to how astonishingly tall he was.
Some astray 'good morning's flew around the room in response.
"I guess everyone's low on energy today." He said jokingly, getting barely any laughs out of the students.
"I'm Raegar Fysma, and I'll be your history teacher for the next year." He said, trying to cheer up the stone-faced students. "So let's have some fun, yeah?"
His enthusiasm was wasted on this unfaltering audience who just looked around awkwardly at each other.
Sighing at his wasted energy, Raegar pulled the chair out and sat behind the desk. He crossed his arms over his chest in frustration, his biceps on the verge of imploding due to the immense pressure.
"It's alright," He thought to himself. "They're just kids. No big deal. You've fought worse." His sentences were as short as his attention span, and he instantly moved onto teaching the class.
"Zodia has a long documented history that spans several centuries. The oldest records we've discovered go back at least 1000 years. The fact that we are still digging up more stone tablets and parchments just goes to show how much older Zodia may be. For all we know, Zodia
"As far as we know, Zodia is the only land in the vast ocean that surrounds it. For all we know some other pieces of land must have drifted off in those past and not documented. The possibility of other land masses like Zodia existing somewhere in the vast, deadly oceans, should never leave the back of your mind.
"Many documents point to a higher being, or cosmic entity, who, in some way, aided us in manifesting our powers. But many philosophers choose to ignore this fact when formulating theories about our origin since there is no way for us to explain what lies beyond the biological realm.
"As you all know, we are currently in the 635th year of the Galilian era - the era in which our ancestors' powers first manifested. Does anyone here know which era precedes the Galilian?"
A deafening silence overtook the class as every student waited for another to respond. Many did not know the answer, but those who did were unsure of their own.
Raegar slapped his hand against his forehead in frustration. "It's alright. They're just kids." he repeated to himself over and over again until someone in the back raised their hand.
With a sweaty palm and a sweatier forehead, Raegar gestured to the student to stand up and answer. A girl with curly dark green hair flowing till her waist stood in her seat. Her voice was squeaky but firm and unwavering.
"The period preceding the Galilian era, the Unity, is named after the god that many people believe to have created Zodia. The name was given and approved by many religious groups that held immense power over Zodia in the first 200 years of the Galilian era. Many believe that the groups have since been disassembled, but that seems highly unlikely for many reasons. The leaders of that time believed that the god cut us all out of the same cloth, hence naming the era of our origin - The Unity."
"Talk about an over-explanation." One of the students besides her commented, garnering a few laughs from the students. The girl scorned and ignored the matter as she sat back down.
Not wanting to go down a religion-centred discussion, Raegar directed the topic back to Zodia. In this case he somewhat agreed with the student's comment from earlier, but it was best to tread carefully when it came to matters concerning the religious groups of Zodia since many radical followers of the forgotten religion stood at high places in society and would be a pain to deal with.
"That's the answer I was hoping for," Raegar said.
"Every year before the 0th Galilian year is referred to as 'Part Of The Unity'. While she is absolutely correct about the religious aspects concerning the naming, we will not be discussing them until much later in the course."
Having successfully diverted everyone's attention from the topic, Raegar proceeded with the class, ending it after a while since too much history on the very first day could bore the students.
"In tomorrow's class we will speak about the wars that were waged throughout the history of Zodia. This topic, according to me, is the most interesting aspect of Zodia's history. So make sure you sleep well tonight because tomorrow's discussion is going to last much longer."
With that Raegar left the class 30 minutes ahead of schedule, giving the students an hour-long break before the next one began.
A large group of students led by a long haired boy with a chin as sharp as a knife walked out of the classroom as soon as the teacher left. The boy's body was lean, yet seemed overwhelmingly strong. The volume of the bustling group that mindlessly followed him clearly indicated that he was the most popular student in the class.
His complexion was fairly pale, but it complemented his thin figure in an absurd way that Wolfe could not comprehend. His demeanour was that of a royal, but Wolfe could tell he wasn't the normal kind of royal like Ray or Nova.
"That's Desmond Harcos. He's the King's grandson" Someone from behind whispered as they saw Wolfe admiring the boy's immaculate features.
Wolfe pleasantly smiled, despite the shocking revelation, at the sight of an idle Nova who was all charged up for a long conversation.