"Watch your back, weirdo, " Dickie said as soon as he got to where Levi was standing. He wouldn't miss a chance to taunt Levi, even though they were on a new planet.
Things were different this time as Levi had a defender. Eliot stepped in front of Levi and gave Dickie a menacing look. The two boys were almost the same size and height. The difference was that Eliot was slightly taller.
"Do we have a problem? " Eliot asked while maintaining eye contact with Dickie. Dickie gulped and contemplated his answer.
"Not with you–"
"You have a problem with him so you have a problem with me. '' Eliot stepped closer to Dickie to the point that they were almost chest to chest to emphasize that he was not scared of the bully. "I suggest you leave him alone."
Dickie gritted his teeth and glared at Eliot. He wanted to do something to the dark-haired guy but he didn't want to risk starting a fight he might not win.
"What are you his protector? "
"Something like that. Now, go. "
Dickie looked behind Eliot at Levi and smiled.
"Your protector will not be there always, blondie. " Without looking at Eliot, Dickie turned around and walked away.
Levi was left feeling like shit. It was embarrassing that he had to be defended. He wished more than anything that circumstances were different.
"Hey, man. Are you okay? " Eliot asked as he placed a hand on Levi's shoulder. He had noticed that Levi was fisting his hands tightly like he wanted to punch something.
Levi nodded his head and shrugged off Eliot's arm. He walked past Eliot and headed to the common room. A lot of students were gathered there waiting for an announcement.
Levi and Eliot stood in the back because they were late but they could see the front because it was an elevated stage. Two people appeared and everyone started murmuring.
"Good evening, students. I thought a familiar face would help ease you into your new life. Let's welcome your former prime minister, Adam Montgomery. "
The murmurs got even louder. There, on the stage, was the former prime minister of Earth and Dickie's father. He was in good shape and was dressed in a white suit with a gold line on each sleeve.
The smile on his face was one a leader who had almost lost his entire race should not have had. Levi could feel his anger toward the man heightened.
"Good evening. I am the new principal of the academy. I promise to represent your needs and wants and look out for you. You are in safe hands. "
The words after those flew over Levi's head. Adam should have been angry at these people for killing all the loved ones of all the students who had survived. Everything about the events that had taken place after the apocalypse was fucked up.
"This is stupid. I hated him before but I hate him even more now. " Eliot said with a harder glare than the one Levi had on his face.
Levi looked around to make sure no one was listening before replying.
"Shut up before someone hears us and tells the douche. Although I do agree with everything you have just said. "
"They killed, tortured, and tormented our people for a year, and in that year that pussy Adam was nowhere to be seen. That is unforgivable. "
"Did you say a year? "
"Yes. That is how long the apocalypse lasted, isn't it? "
Levi looked into a distance deep in thought. A year? Where had he been for a whole year? All he could remember were the events of half a day. All these unanswered questions were starting to drive him crazy.
Looking back, it was stupid of him to think a whole planet had been attacked in one day.
Eliot noticed this and wondered what Levi was thinking. Everyone had lived through the year so it shouldn't have come as a surprise for Levi. This kid was getting weirder and weirder. Then his eyes went to the tattoo on Levi's wrist.
Levi didn't strike him as a person who would get a tattoo. One associated with the Jewish religion at that.
By the time Levi was coming back to reality, the speech was already over and the students were dismissed.
As Levi was walking out, he received a notification from the system.
[Daily quest: Drink three liters of water and gain +1 energy]
Levi groaned. How would drinking water give him more energy?
"Why are you just standing there? We have to go for dinner. " Eliot said and pulled Levi to the cafeteria by his shoulders.
Levi allowed himself to be pulled to the cafeteria. He could hear his stomach rumbling in hunger.
"Nice tattoo. When did you get it? "
The two guys were putting food on their plates in the line the students had formed where the food was. Luckily for them, the food on that planet wasn't that different from Earth.
"Huh?"
"Your tattoo. "
Levi looked at the wrist that Eliot was pointing at. He had even forgotten that weird mark was there.
"I-uh…I got it when I was drunk before the apocalypse. "
Levi mentioned he was drunk so that Eliot wouldn't start asking what the mark meant. Eliot accepted the answer and walked on. A man was waiting for everyone to finish serving their food so that he could give them a red pill.
Everyone received one. The man giving out the pill forced everyone to swallow and also inspected to see if they had. He wouldn't let anyone leave without swallowing the pill.
Eliot and Levi complied because they had no choice. The man was big and he could practice magic. It would be foolish to refuse.
The duo went to sit at a table by the corner. It was a discrete table where they were unlikely to catch anyone's attention.
"What do you think that pill was?" Eliot asked and Levi shrugged his shoulders. Levi wasn't even thinking of the red pill. He was still stuck on the fact that he had missed a year of his life.
[A foreign and harmful substance has been detected in your blood. Activating resistance]
After that system notification, Levi went blue. He felt his throat constricting like something was choking him. That was followed by a series of coughs. They got so bad that Eliot stood and hit Levi on the back.
A few seconds later, Levi spit out the red pill he had swallowed. He straightened himself and downed his bottle of water and Eliot's.
[Resistance: -1]
"Is that the pill we were given earlier? " Eliot asked as he pointed at the red pebble on the floor. Levi's body had not even dissolved it. It was in the same state it had been before he swallowed it.
"I guess so, " Levi said as he picked up the pill and put it in his pocket. He wanted to know what that pill was.
"Here, have some more water. " Eliot gave Levi two more bottles of water and he drank them greedily.
As soon as he was done, another system notification appeared.
[Quest completed: Five liters of water consumed. Reward: +1 Energy]
"What was that back there? Why did you spit out that pill? It was like your body rejected it. "
Before Levi could come up with a lie, two guards came and stood in front of the table they were sitting at.
"Levi Jackson, you have been summoned by Principal Adam to his office. "
Levi wordlessly stood and followed the two men, leaving Eliot wondering who he had made friends with.