Kaos's day off had been good. He had gone back to his room and immediately fallen asleep and didn't wake up until later in the afternoon. By the next day, he felt a little better, but still couldn't quite get rid of the hopeless feeling that had been growing in him, now too prominent to ignore.
Although he woke up that morning around the same time he normally would, he didn't actually get out of bed until an hour before he was supposed to leave. Much like the other students of Wondant, he had made plans to hang out with friends in the rainforest during the "extended weekend break" as the academy called it. Fancy names aside, it was really just a normal weekend with an extra day off, or for Kaos, two extra days off.
His hair was still a little messy, and the only effort he made to come up with a presentable outfit was sliding on the most comfortable things he owned.
He fiddled with his doorknob which had been sticking as of late and grumbled as he stepped out into the hallway, "I wish I could just stay in bed."
Although he hadn't put much effort into his appearance, he had at least remembered to bring his Spiderway rings to get to the restaurant in time. The rushing wind cleared his mind a little bit, as he sped across the metal wires and floated to a stop, landing on a wooden platform he knew quite well.
He realized that he hadn't been to this restaurant in a while, despite it having been the place where he and Sepra would hang out at least weekly. The sign above the door read "Smoke and Barrow".
Almost all the food was cooked on grills at the restaurant, giving off a sweet smoky smell to anyone that passed by the building. He remembered his last interaction with Sepra, and how awkward it had been, but pushed open the door anyway, hoping that she would have forgotten just how weak he was.
It only took a few seconds of scanning the smoky room for him to spot his friends, who had evidently all shown up a little earlier. He counted them to see who all had shown up. It was the usual group of Vasai, Nolly, Sepra, Mallyjax, and Kyris, plus the addition of Gilt who usually didn't join in on the hang-outs.
Lucky for Kaos, Sepra was telling some story, which caused no one to notice his entrance until he had slid into a seat next to the empty seat between Mallyjax and Vasai.
"So the guy-" Sepra paused her story momentarily as she noticed Kaos's appearance. "Hey, hey! You look like you slept well!"
He knew there was no aggression behind her comment, but still felt slightly annoyed for some reason, "Yeah, evidently I needed it. What was the story you were telling?"
"Well it wasn't much of a story, I was just talking about how some guys in the Dek class are basically throwing away their points and definitely won't be staying in the class next semester."
Gilt leaned forward over the table with a confused look on his face, "I still don't get how they lose points though, like once you have them, there's not really a way to lose them that I've found."
Sepra flicked her metal cup of water with her skeletal arm, making a quiet 'ting' as she grinned back at Gilt. "I forgot that the Sen class doesn't do free duels!"
Something seemed to make a little more sense in Gilt's brain as he nodded back, "I've heard that Dek students can duel in the Arena whenever it's free, but you can lose points from it?"
"Or gain them!" Sepra butted in with a smile, "You can bet some of your points against your opponent. If you win you get some of their points, and if you lose, they get some of yours. It helps even out some of the luck that comes from the big arena games."
Kaos realized that more in-depth combat instruction was not just all that the Dek class had an advantage in. If the Sen students could bet points like that too, he might already have all the points he needed… but then again, he might have also lost them all by now.
This did bring an interesting thought to Kaos's mind. "So, Sepra, have you tried dueling for points yet?"
She nodded with a smile, "Made five hundred easy points off that before most of the first years stopped accepting the duels! I got two thousand points now, so I'm set for a bit!"
Kyris gave a smirking sigh, "I thought I was doing pretty good with fifteen hundred, but for there to be a gap of five hundred points between us even though I'm a semester up on you! I get that I don't usually do free duels, but still… it's like you were made for this! By the way, how many points do the rest of you need to get into the Dek class?"
Vasai was the first to answer, "Lets see… If we need six hundred points to get in this semester, I still need…" He paused and pretended to do math in his head, "six hundred points!"
This got a bit of a chuckle from the group. Normally this would have been cause for some worry, but they all knew that Vasai would probably be able to get six hundred points in two arena games.
"I only got two hundred, so I still need four hundred." Nolly said, slightly embarrassed after hearing the huge numbers from Kyris and Sepra.
"Same." Gilt quickly added in.
Kaos nodded, realizing that he wasn't in quite as bad of a spot as he thought he was. "I just need three hundred between the next two games, but I'd feel a bit safer if I could get some more."
Kyris pointed at Mallyjax, "And you're not going for Dek, right?"
Mallyjax shook his head, "Yeah, I'm in the Kin class."
Sepra tilted her head a little and squinted her eyes at the Imp, "So imps don't get wishes, right?"
Mallyjax nodded again, "Yeah, I guess I didn't realize how big of a deal they were until I came up here."
Vasai leaned forwards and looked around Kaos towards Mallyjax, "Oh yeah! Something's been bugging me. So I've seen some Imps in the Badlands, and they seemed pretty strong. If they don't have wishes, then how come they're able to survive out there?"
"They probably just had awakened Spirit Hearts." Mallyjax replied instinctively. His eyes widened, as if he realized he had let a massive secret slip out. He glanced around the table slightly frantically before seeming to calm back down a little. "Listen, there's not really rules to not tell people about the hearts, but it's still a bit taboo, so just don't tell anybody I told you guys."
The idea of awakening latent power, along with the mention of heroes from the Badlands, had gotten everyone at the table's attention. Sepra leaned over across the table, nearly knocking over her drink.
"Spill it!" she whispered with a face full of excitement.
Mallyjax gave a slightly nervous smile, and looked around the room one more time. "There are three types of magic: First is Divine Magic which is a weird category that is pretty much just Wishes. Next is Arcane Magic, which is pretty much just general magic and runes. The last one is Spirit Magic, which is the hardest to use, but extremely powerful. That's why Imps can awaken their Spirit Hearts and survive trips to the Badlands."
Although the information was simple and concise, it had dumbfounded most of the group, leaving Sepra as the only one who immediately followed up with another question.
"So…" She began with an obvious goal in mind, "Can humans also awaken these 'Spirit Hearts', or is that just an Imp thing?"
Mallyjax took a moment to decide whether to continue giving information about the subject, but seemingly decided that this couldn't be of any more harm than the information he had already let slip.
"Kinda." He answered, finally making eye contact with Sepra, "Humans call them Nephilic Hearts, and while they work a little differently for humans, for the most part they're the same as Spirit Hearts. Once you awaken a Heart, you can see other people's spirit energy if they awakened theirs too. Actually, all the teachers I've seen here have awakened Hearts."
Sepra squinted and gave a coy smile, indicating that she clearly wasn't done prying. "So if you can tell that the teachers all have Spirit Hearts, then you also awakened yours… right?"
Mallyjax didn't respond immediately, and was avoiding eye contact with Sepra by staring very intently at his half empty cup.
"You don't have to snitch about anything to any of us, or say stuff you don't wanna say." Vasai interjected. "We won't tell anybody you told us anything, but if any of us have questions on the subject," He paused and raised an eyebrow at Sepra who realized she had pushed a bit too hard, "we'll ask the teachers about it."
Kaos was thankful that Vasai had saved Mallyjax from Sepra's inability to pick up on social cues, but at the same time he also wished Mallyjax had given him more information.
The rest of the conversations and activities that day had nothing to do with "Awakening latent power", or "Nephilic Hearts", but it was still the only thing that Kaos could think about. Sepra also seemed strangely absent minded, and he knew that her thoughts were definitely in the same place as his.
He knew that if he wanted to get stronger, awakening his Nephilic Heart might be his last chance.