A cloaked figure moved through the night like a ghost. He floated through the streets without making a single noise or leaving any trace.
Keeping to the shadows, he passed unobserved right in front of a group of boisterous workers.
"Kekekek," One of the workers was laughing at another disheveled worker.
"Ron, just admit that you were high that day." The man continued to mock the unkept man in front of him.
The poor man said nothing to Ubo. He just gashed his teeth in silence and wallowed in misery. No one believed him when he explained what happened that night with that horrifying old man. To add to his misfortune, his wife and kids left him soon after. Now he only had this minimum wage job to try to scrape by daily.
The sounds of laughter of the other men receded in the distance as the cloaked figure passed right by them.
Walking into a specific alleyway, he knocked on a door. Utilizing each of his fingers individually, he tapped out a pattern on the door.
Waiting for a minute, he entered the door into a wide room, that couldn't possibly fit into the building that he had entered.
"No 2," No 1 greeted him.
Nodding, No 2, sat down and asked, "Where are the others?"
"They won't be coming," No 1 responded. No 2 silently nodded.
"So what about the wildcard?" No 1 went straight to the point of calling him.
"....they will not be arriving anytime soon." No 2 answered straightforwardly.
"..." No 1 gritted his teeth. "Did they say when they would arrive?"
"....no"
Universal coagulated around No 1. His rising anger drew the universal into him.
Scarilly the universal energy was just coagulating over and over again, soon forming a slight glow over No 1.
"...No 1 calm down." No 2 asked politely with a slight tremor in his voice.
Heaving a deep breath, the universal energy dispersed just like nothing had happened.
No 2 felt the cold sweat that had formed on his back and was reminded of why No 1 was the leader of the operation and not him. The ease at which universal energy bent to No 1's will was downright terrifying as it signified a higher level of power that he had achieved.
"...find a way to fill the gap of the delay of their arrival." No 1 commanded.
Bowing his head No 2, got up and left.
Watching his subordinate leave, No 1 continued to sit in his seat.
Thinking for a moment, No 1 took out a slip of paper.
"Master, the wildcard has yet to arrive. We are ready to proceed with everything once she arrives." Speaking into the papers, No 1 tore it and watched it burn up.
Satisfied that the message had been sent, he got up to leave, he had things to do as well.
---
Icarth gave another yawn during the morning class that he was attending.
His training session had bled late into the night, and currently, Icarth was only on around 4 hours of sleep. The only reason that Icarth was here in class was due to the insistence of Sefir saying that it would be useful.
"I've stated it at the start of my class and I'll say it again. Universal energy is one of the most important aspects of life today."
"As its name suggests, it's quite literally an energy source that could be used for anything."
"Although it's only been discussed theoretically currently, all the scholars agree that its a quite a strong and solid theory even though it hasn't been implemented yet in practice."
"Now the most common usage, or the current usage of universal energy is for the utilization of our gifts."
"Any question?" The teacher paused his class for any questions.
"Sir, why can't we see this universal energy?"
"Good question. You need to reach a stage high enough to perceive the universal energy or see it as you term it."
The questions continued as Emmia too yawned next to Icarth.
Raising an eyebrow, Icarth turned to his twin and whispered, "What did you do?"
"I was working on a sketch.." Emmia answered back. Pinching her cheek to stay awake, she tried to focus on the class. But in all reality, her mind kept wandering to the sketch. A whole night had passed and she had made almost no progress. The specifications that her supervisor had mentioned were really hard to add to the forest crawler with all the limitations that she had. Emmia planned to go to the library today after class to research a few designs to see if she could find any inspiration.
After the questions were done, the teacher continued his class.
"Now for everyone, here it would be quite hard to feel or perceive universal energy right from the start. That's why this class exists. To get some understanding on Universal energy and how to use it."
Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was almost the end of his class.
Some of the students also checked the time and rejoiced.
'Finally.'
'So mind-numbing.'
'Why does he have to bore us like this.'
Most of the students felt bored out of their minds at his theory. Even Icarth and Emmia were paying little attention to the class as it had almost no impact on their lives except for fancy knowledge.
"Now class time is almost over...."
'Yesss.'
'End it.' The students rejoiced.
"....and I will be taking the next lecture too...."
Two students in the middle of a fist bump paused in shock.
Everyone felt a punch to their gut. Their suffering wasn't over yet. This shock alone was enough to shatter their spirits.
"....for a practice session on feeling out universal energy."
Finally finishing his oddly paced sentence, the teacher had a small smile on his face as he gazed at his student's reactions. Most of them were confused as to how there would be a practical aspect to this class. Well, they were soon about to find out.
Gathering the class the teacher, Melvin Homes, led them to the room where he would conduct his practical session.
A good 5-minute walk later, Class 7 arrived in front of what seemed a large hall. It had ample space, enough to accommodate three maybe four full classes.
"Spread out now. You'll be spending the entire lecture here, so do get comfortable." Melvin told his students.
Confused the students did as told, spreading out to occupy the entire room.
"Now it's time to meditate," Melvin stated with a smile to his confused class.