"Void," she muttered, her voice almost in a hush.
The dark moon watched over her as it did over the academy grounds, gracing the place with its light. Hubert slowly woke up from his nap, his vision blurry and his clothes drenched in sweat.
The room was dim.
He stood up and looked around. While scratching his messy hair, he was greeted by a sight. A sight of chaos and mess, where he found himself standing in the middle of the mishmash of things.
The mirror fell, breaking into a million pieces. The bed cover was thrown haphazardly. Decorations splattered everywhere. Splinter of wood embedded in unlikely places. The bed on which he lay was wet and damp from his sweat, almost unrecognizable.
"No way…" he murmured, unbelieving the chaos as his eyes looked around, widened.
Then the door, the portal to freedom, untouched and undefiled by the mess sounded. The knob turned, the mechanism of gear so loud, bashing against the quietness of the room.
Creak
Its rusty hinges cried, the door opened.
"Hubert, follow me," Marcus greeted commandingly, his voice weirdly still and calm, giving no mind to the mess in the bedroom. Behind the second hall master was a group, a dozen, of robed magicians and armed men.
"Ye-yes," Hubert said, slightly disoriented from his sleep, especially his dream.
Exiting the dormitory building, he was greeted with the fresh and lively night breeze, incomparable to the stuffy air in his confines. Yet, they continued onward, letting him not a second to enjoy the respite he got.
It was a few hundred steps, turning left and right. The path in itself was confusing, first, it went through the four learning halls he was previously introduced to by the tour on the first day of lecture.
Then slowly, it deviated from the usual academy grounds into a small hill that sat behind the developed academy grounds. The path led to the woods, ascending, where only a few torches provided faint visibility.
"We've arrived," Marcus said, stopping the group at the end of the pathway.
Hubert looked forward, still in a slight confusion, more so nauseated by the amount of turns he tried to remember along the way.
In front of him was a wooden door, attached to the earth of the hill itself.
Marcus opened the door, its hinges barely sounded.
"Hubert," Marcus called, looking at Hubert, signaling him.
"Yes!" he responded, lightly shocked by the deep and hoarse, yet pressuring voice.
Marcus entered the hallway behind the door, Hubert followed.
The dozen of magicians and armed men left behind as the door closed on its own. The two continued on their steps toward the end of the hallway.
The hallway sharply contrasted to the path prior of woods and nature. It was lit by devices that produced light, attached to the ceiling, and its wall covered by patterned paper, befitting one in a castle.
Hubert's eyes darted around, amazed by and admired the decor and vibe of the long hallway. Though after a hundred steps, he felt the once vibrant hallway becoming monotone.
Then Marcus stopped, signaling the end of their journey of a series of long, winding paths.
Knock knock
His calloused knuckle made an impact with the door. Its sound dull and low echoed through the hallway.
Hubert looked back, the door from which he came was nowhere to be seen in the seemingly infinite hallway. He was about to question it, but before his voice could leave his throat, a woman's voice reached his ear.
"Come," the voice allowed.
Marcus opened the door, and stood to the side, signaling Hubert to enter without him.
"Than-thank you," Hubert muttered, entering the room, the office of the headmaster.
Thud
The door behind him closed upon the last inch of his sole entering the place.
"What?" he whispered to himself, taken aback by the sudden roaring and loud thud.
"Mannerless, aren't you?" she said.
Hubert, before even getting the chance to observe the new place he was brought into, was pressed by an invisible energy to the ground. Where he felt his organs were being crushed, his eyes popping out and his lungs airless.
"Hubert," she called.
"Wh-who?" he asked, trembling and struggling for even a single word.
Every strain of his muscles bulged in resistance to the pressure. Akin to a push up position he routinely did every evening, he pushed up.
"Stop struggling," she said, feeling her spell resisted by Hubert.
"Uggh," he groaned, still pushing up. Yet he knew, every second that passed drained strength from his muscles.
"If you stop now, I will let you have a good sleep," she said, convincing Hubert.
In his mind, the battle between surrendering and the defiance raged on. He was tired, his muscles cried and his thoughts numbed from all the tragedy he experienced today.
But he knew of one thing, the person in front of him couldn't be trusted.
"N-no! As soon a-as I ca-came, yo-you!" he called, eyes blazed with determination fixed at the woman, inquiring of her appearance, it was in vain, the tall back post hid her well.
He knew, it was do or be crushed under the invisible thing that pressed him.Giving every last of his will and strength that was left in him to survive.
Woosh!
Then, as if a wind had been blown away by his push up, the pressure seemingly turned into emptiness, nowhere to be seen or felt.
Thud
He dropped down, his muscle ached and numbed from the tense work out he got. Gradually, the crushing feelings he felt on his lungs dissipated as he repeatedly and in short succession gasped for air.
"Impressive, I commend you for your strength despite your lack of manners," the feminine voice sounded again.
"Wh-who…" he asked, his voice barely coming out, each word interrupted by his gasps.
"Ah! Pardon me, you can call me… hmm… Tianna seems to work, just call me Tianna," the woman answered.
Hubert guessed, based on the young and excited voice of the woman, that she was his age.
"Anyway…" the chair remained facing the window, yet the woman knew of Hubert's miserable condition.
"You may be curious as to why you are called here. Well, there are a lot of things I would love~ to discuss with you, but as you can see on my table of the piling paperworks I need done by tomorrow. Unless you would be willing to help me with it... Well, you're not even qualified," the voice echoed through the papered wall, underestimating.
Hubert looked forward, the floor drenched by the wetness of his sweat, the smell of it striking. He stayed in his position, a brief respite, despite being like a tired dog in front of its master.
"I will get to the point, Hubert. Be my disciple, only then will I not deem you a threat and eliminate you in this instance," the woman said, her tone high and threatening.
"Ha… Ha… Ha…" Hubert's gasp for air responded. He was tired, yet he frowned upon the offer.
"What is your answer, Hubert?" the woman asked once again, her voice growing impatient of the lack of a clear answer.
"Wh-y?" Hubert asked, slowly supporting himself up.
"Why, you ask? Hav-," her voice interrupted mid sentence.
"Why is it in your eyes, the lives of a fellow human like me, that worthless? Di-did you think I chose to be born like this, huh? Did you seriously think I chose this useless and vain affinity that even tried to ha-harm me?!" he responded, shouting shakily, frustrated and angry.
Tears poured out of his eyes, dripping down and trickling on his cheeks. He was confused, the human he met, fellow people that he thought he could depend on were always the one that threatened him.
"I met a few good people, and countless of the kind of you that would kill me over and over again just for entertainment!" he shouted, remembering all the histories he went through.
"If this, this fate of mine, will always bring me to meeting people like you, I would rather die than be a subordinate of yours," his trembling voice continued, his eyes dyed red, in anger.
"Wow…" she responded to his long and cryful speech. Truly, she was surprised.
"This is the first time I met someone as interesting as you… Yet, you dared to think of my mercy of ill intent," her voice calm and collected.
"Ha, the world you lived in must be such a peaceful place that you thought of me as no less than a second-grade killer," then it slowly turned, taking a resemblance to Hubert's tone, shaking.
Furious.
"You will meet your end here," she said, the office, its walls twitching, expanding and shrinking by her will.
Hubert looked around, the tears on his cheek dried off, leaving a mark.
"Then so be it!" he shouted back, resolved. He was done, enough misery and tragedy had been experienced by him.
Death will be his respite.
"Hubert! I, as the 16th Headmaster of the academy, deem you a threat to the existence of the academy and the kingdom of Creopia, and hereby declare your punishment, death!"