The sun rose upon Aster City, the citizens were starting to get ready for their respective days.
In one small house in the center of the residential district, a lone figure was seen sleeping.
The darkness that enveloped her seemed to stick to her as it shunned the external light coming from the sun.
It tried to cling onto her and to keep her asleep sheltered away from the weak sunlight.
But as if a timer went off, Luna woke up with a start. Staring at the ceiling, Luna breathed out heavily.
Rubbing her hands on her face, Luna sat up, her obsidian eyes completely blank. Mechanically going through the motions, Luna got herself ready for the academy.
Reaching the kitchen, Luna found the house devoid of all life.
But that didn't bother her as if this was the norm for her.
On the empty dining table was a single plate covered in a wrapper. Luna involuntarily tensed up at the sight. Pausing for a while she gathered her courage and sat at the otherwise empty table.
Unwrapping the wrapper, a pungent smell of cold unrefrigerated food hit Luna's nose.
Wrinkling her nose, Luna sat down and shoveled the food in.
'Cold. Tasteless.' Luna thought as she forced the food down so that she would have energy till lunch.
Finishing the food, Luna left the plate as is and got up to grab her bag when a wave of nausea hit Luna suddenly.
Clamping her hand over her mouth, Luna tried her best to keep the stale food in.
'Poison!' Luna identified the cause as it started acting up in her body.
Resting her head against the wall, Luna held still for a few minutes as her stomach convulsed with each passing moment sending out waves of nausea.
*Inhale*
*Exhale*
*Inhale*
Luna regulated her breathing and tried her best to stop the hammering in her head.
Another convulsion led to bile rising up in her throat.
Finally unable to take it, Luna activated her gift. Gray chains extended out of the ground and jabbed their way into her stomach.
Wrapping around her abdominal area, intense pain struck Luna.
Drawing in a sharp breath Luna waited for the nausea to settle down.
A few painful minutes later, the nausea and pain both subsided as her gift neutralized the poison.
'Why me....' Luna thought feeling miserable. She wanted nothing more than to lie down at that instance, but she wouldn't give 'him' the satisfaction of watching her suffer.
Slinging the bag onto her shoulder, Luna headed out under the gaze of a hidden observer.
Under his watchful eye, Luna made her way to the academy, face paler than ever.
Suddenly the watcher disappeared, not to follow Luna, but to another place where he would make his report for the day.
-------------
Sitting in class, Luna listened attentively. She had recovered from the effects of the poison and was feeling fine for the most part.
"Now the Bladed Jackal is found almost everywhere in the wild. They are commonly seen scavenging for scraps of prey hunted by stronger predators."
"Now can anyone tell me how strong is the Bladed Jackal in reality?"
A few students raised their hands, including Sefir.
Luna shifted her gaze between them alternatively, Sefir whom she knew, a pink-haired boy, and two other girls raised their hands.
'Emmia would've raised her hand as well....' Luna thought with a start thinking back to her absent friend. Glancing at Emmia's empty desk, Luna cleared her mind of such thoughts and focussed on the class.
"Yes, Vollax." The teacher picked the pink-haired boy.
"Unrelated but I want to use the bathroom," Vollax declared in a bored voice.
Taking a deep breath, the teacher, Ms. Jasmine, responded, "Fine, just go then."
Vollax nodded and left the class leisurely under the glare of Ms. Jasmine.
"Yes Hanna," Ms. Jasmine decided to pick on another student to answer her question.
"The Bladed Jackal is not that strong, although it has blades embedded in its body, they don't even reach grade 4 material," Hanna answered.
"Correct, hence why they are more likely to be seen in pairs to increase their likelihood of finding food or even hunting some weaker prey with their numbers."
"Now moving onto the next commonly seen species in the wild, the two-headed wolf..."
Ms. Jasmine continued her lecture on Wildlife Biology while only half the class listened.
For some, it was boring, for others they thought they would just study everything in one day if they ever had an exam on it.
But for Luna, it was an escape from her daily life of hell. In fact, going to this Academy was a godsend for her.
She listened with concentration to the lecture when it finally ended.
"Alright, that's all for today, our next class is Tuesday of next week. The material we will be covering is the biology of the animals that we discussed today, so read ahead if you like."
Grabbing her books, Ms Jasmine left the class as a couple of students followed her out as is customary after each class.
At that moment, Vollax re-entered the class and went back to sit down at his seat.
Luna watched with an amused expression, or so she thought. In reality, her face was as expressionless as always.
Lunchtime arrived in the blink of an eye, and Luna was met with a dilemma once more.
'Who should I sit with?' Luna thought she watched Sefir drag Icarth away towards the cafeteria.
She only knew the two of them through Emmia, and it was awkward to sit next to them if Emmia wasn't there.
Luna looked at a few more groups heading towards the cafeteria and internally sighed.
'Alone it is.' Luna thought as she too followed the crowd.
She had been sitting alone for the past two weeks since when Emmia had stopped coming to class.
'Emmia is in the hospital.' Is what Sefir had informed her when she had finally plucked up the courage to ask.
'Hospital huh? I hope she's ok....' Luna thought holding her tray lightly.
Sitting down in one corner, Luna started to eat.
In strong contrast to her breakfast, the lunch food was piping hot. A wonderful aroma wafted towards Luna mixing with the general smell of the cafeteria.
Blinking, Luna's eyes started to sparkle with excitement as she started to eat her warm meal.
'Tasty.' Luna thought as she enjoyed the flavor of the food.
"You know, I can't tell if you enjoyed the food or you hate it," A voice sounded up as someone sat down opposite Luna.
Flinching almost imperceptibly, Luna lifted her head to see the pink-haired boy, Vollax seated opposite to her.
A stare-off ensued between the two as Luna was at a loss for words.
"So?" Vollax raised an eyebrow. "Are you just going to stare at me?"
"Ah..sorry," Luna apologized, her soft voice almost lost in the ambient noise.
Even while straining his ears, Vollax almost didn't hear the apology.
"So did you like the food?" Vollax repeated his initial question.
"Ah....yes," Luna answered her face as impassive as ever.
Although her thoughts were more like, 'Why did he sit next to me? Is he an extrovert like Emmia? Wait is he trying to hit on me?' A slew of thoughts passed through Luna's head, each becoming more ridiculous than the last.
"Are you shy or can you just not talk?" Vollax suddenly asked, a sharp glint forming in his pink eyes.
"...." Luna didn't respond.
"Fine then. Don't answer that," Vollax stabbed into his food, not waiting for an answer from Luna.
Luna paused, she was just about to answer when Vollax cut her off.
'He's aggressive....' Luna thought warily.
Vollax glared at Luna as if searching her face for something.
"Arrgh, fuck it," Vollax rubbed his face after cursing suddenly.
"?" Luna didn't say anything in confusion.
"You have a good poker face," Vollax complimented in a snide voice.
"But just cause I can't read it, doesn't mean I have my ways," Vollax continued.
"..what?" Luna uttered, this time truly confused. Vollax was just spewing nonsense in front of her at this point and she was truly confused.
Slipping his bandana off, Vollax's pink eyes started to glow.
"Now let's see what you are thinking."