Cail yawned vigorously like a cat stretching, looking adorable. He had been having sleepless nights for the past few days because he was studying for his exams. Skylord Academy was very strict in evaluating their students, so much knowledge was crammed in and expected to be understood.
It was very hard for Cail to digest all of this complicated knowledge. In addition, there was a final exam that was a field test. He had to go through a certain dungeon and survive.
In addition to these things, Cail often felt a sense of déjà vu and an emptiness in his heart that somehow made him claustrophobic. It was as if he missed someone, but didn't know who it was.
He rolled around on his bed for a while before deciding to get ready for school today. He cleaned himself and put on his own uniform. Somehow he felt lost, as if he expected someone to help him with this trivial matter.
On his bedside table was a brilliant blue sapphire brooch that he always wore, it was very beautiful and full of mystery. Cail always felt calm when he wore this gem. He pinned it to his uniform collar and stared at his reflection in the full-length mirror in the corner of the room.
He actually wondered why the face reflected in the mirror seemed illusory. As if it wasn't him. The glowing blood-red eyes and unique black hair represented the appearance of a monster, just like in the book he read.
However, it was strange that no one commented on his appearance, as if they were not seeing the real him.
Cail closed his eyes for a moment, picturing the bluish balls of light in his mind as a form of mental exercise. He often did this when he felt anxious and restless. There was no point in questioning what had happened. He just had to keep moving forward.
Knock knock knock
A rhythmic knocking sounded that Cail recognized. He ruhed to the door and greeted his friend, Eire, who was closest to him.
As usual, Eire, with his unique appearance, silvery white hair and deep grey eyes, looked at him seriously. For some reason, Cail always felt that Eire worried about him every day.
They were close friends, but not the life and death type. At least that was how Cail remembered it. Putting his wild thoughts aside, Cail saw Eire hand him a pack of sandwiches and a carton of milk.
His expression immediately became confused. This was the first time he had seen human food. Cail could not eat this food, so why did Eire bring it to him?
"You're ...."
"What's wrong? Didn't you like eating this before?" Eire turned to him in confusion.
"Really?" Cail replied half-heartedly, wondering if his memory was wrong?
But when Eire said he liked to eat them, he suddenly had a flash of memory. He liked sandwiches and cartons of milk very much, and he often bought them from the school cafeteria. Although there were many other kinds of delicious food, those two things were his favorites.
"Huh?" Cail was dazed for a moment before suddenly accepting Eire's treat and eating it happily as if it was a natural thing.
This doesn't feel right,' the corner of his heart fumed, as if something was controlling it.
The sandwich tasted pretty good, but that wasn't Cail's concern. For whatever reason, he felt a sense of sadness and relief, drops of water running from his eyes as if he were eating it for the first time.
Eire was surprised to see him in such a strange state. Unfortunately, he could not say anything to disturb him. He would just pretend not to know.
Waiting for him to calm down, Eire took a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Cail.
"It would be bad to get your uniform dirty," he said, hiding his caring side.
Cail took it and wiped his face of food spices and tears. He felt like Eire was treating him like a baby, but he was clearly the same age as him!
Enduring his embarrassment, Cail quickly finihed his meal without soiling his clothes. In the middle of his act, he locked his room and went with Eire to the classroom building to take the final stage of the written exam.
***
Staring at the exam paper, Cail's mind was in turmoil. He didn't understand the content and suspected that his questions were different from the other students in the same room.
There was only one question that made him frown.
{"The blue moon is above the sky, the lake of reality is its reflection. What do you see when you stand at the edge of the lake?"}
'What kind of problem is that?!' Cail panicked slightly, thinking that he was being manipulated by the examiner.
He had studied hard about ancient language knowledge, spells and curses, only to be given a completely unrelated question. Frustration swelled in his heart.
Cail didn't know what a lake of reality was, but he knew blue moon, it was a special moon that appeared once a week. He had seen it once when sneaking out with Eire, the moon was very beautiful and seemed to shade the entire sky and watch over all the creatures below.
Regarding the sighting of the blue moon and the lake of reality, Cail filled in his answer with an essay, without any confidence in the possibility of his answer being correct.
He might fail this final written test, so he should prepare for the field test, where he will risk his life.
***
Eire noticed the crumpled expression on Cail's face as he left the exam room and asked worriedly, "Was the exam too hard?"
Cail shook his head softly, "The questions are completely unrelated to everything I've learned."
Eire was shocked. This was beyond his expectations and wondered if this was part of 'that person's' arrangement?
"What's in your question?" They had finihed the exam anyway, so sharing questions and answers afterward was not against the rules.
Cail twisted his mouth and revealed the contents of his exam question, "The blue moon is above the sky, the lake of reality is its reflection. What do you see when you stand at the edge of the lake?"
He stopped walking and turned to Eire, waiting for his reaction. As expected, Eire was as dumbfounded as he was when he was in the exam room.
However, it seemed that Eire's focus was different than he thought.
"Lake of reality?" Eire looked flustered as he asked it.
Cail narrowed his eyes, doubt rising in his heart as he confirmed Eire's question.
"Do you know where it is?" asked Cail while occasionally glancing at the other students passing by in the corridor.
"No! I don't know," Eire responded in a rather loud voice so that several students around turned their heads towards him.
Although Cail was suspicious and curious, he didn't want to embarrass Eire so he stopped the conversation.
"Alright, let's go back," he invited them so that they wouldn't become a spectacle.
In a corner that no one noticed, a beautiful blue butterfly flew silently following Cail.
___
"The lake of reality... Tower of Desire is trying so hard," muttered Rui who heard Cail and Eire's conversation through his esentia butterfly.
"This should be interesting, don't you like challenges?" On the other side of Rui, someone equal to him to play chess with replied.
"I don't like challenges that put him in danger. It'll be boring, Jaehwan," said Rui whose demeanor suddenly changed when he said the second sentence.
The corner of Jaehwan's mouth twitched. "With your severe personality dissociation, I doubt you can protect him, you're the one who's a danger to him," he warned irritably.
"But, in the field exam, the Tower of Desire will definitely devour him." Rui felt this was a big problem.
The two of them looked at each other in silence for a while until Jaehwan exclaimed, "Let me protect him, you stay here!"
Rui chuckled, but his eyes looked blank as if the ripples of his emotions were held back by something.
"Alright, I'll leave it to you."
***