Character : Nathan Fiore, Friend of the Past
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Eight years ago, one year before the tragedy.
"Naathaaannn~. Have you done your math homework yet?" My mother's playful voice was heard as she entered my bedroom, and I immediately panicked seeing her smile.
"I haven't…"
"Why haven't you finished it?"
"Because my stomach hurts!"
Back then, I was young and bold, and my mom was the reincarnation of the devil. Skipping my homework will result in me sleeping in the dark because she turned the lights off, and I'm terrified of the dark.
"I'll do it!! Just don't turn off the lights…" I finally gave up, and Mom simply smiled widely at me.
"Attaboy! I'll come help you once I'm done with my own homework!" Mom said before closing the door, and I was left in my room to do my homework.
Fast forward to about thirty minutes later, Mom came back with two cups of tea in her hands. I was just done with the homework, and it looks like she came to check me out.
"I got tea~, want some?" She offered, and I happily took the cup and drank them.
As I drank the warm tea, Mom pulled the book I was writing on and saw the scribbles of mathematics that was my homework. She looked at each question and answer thoroughly, and she smiled at me after reading them.
"Well done! You got everything correct. Wow, my little boy is taking after me. I'm so glad!" Mom said while messing my hair a bit, and I felt a little annoyed because she did that.
"Well, it wasn't too hard." I said honestly, and Mom laughed hearing that.
"For you, maybe. But for your friends at school? It might be really hard for them. Don't be surprised if they can't do what you just did, okay?" Mom said while closing the book, and she cleaned my desk for me.
"But, it wasn't hard. Why can't they do it?" I asked so straightforwardly, and Mom laughed hearing that.
"Oh, Nathan... Come, let's go to bed." Mom took the tea from my hands and placed the cup on the table, and she pulled me into bed.
I laid down on the bed and hugged the pillow, and Mom sat down on the bed next to me. As she toyed around with my hair, she told me a story that she wanted me to know.
"Out there in the world, there are children just like you, Nathan. They can do things that other children normally can't, and they could solve things that others normally couldn't. Just like you… they are gifted children." Mom explained to me, and I turned my eyes slightly higher to see her face.
"Gifted?"
"That's right. The children who are gifted… all of them will be bound to reach great places in the world. But, for the children of Avenor, all of them will converge into one single place." Mom explained, and I turned curious.
"Where is that?"
"It is called the Elemental University of Ellennoire. It's a place for gifted children to learn from each other, and grow to become a great person. Just like you, I was once a gifted child. And after I went to the university, I became a great person!"
"So… I can become a great person too if I go to university?"
"Well, not necessarily. But, it is a sure way of becoming one! And I promise, Nathan… Once you arrive at that place, I can promise you." Mom stroked my hair once more before finally kissing me on the forehead.
"You will obtain great things, and you will become a great person."
"You're… leaving the academy?" Jonah asked me very early in the morning after I woke him up, and I nodded heavily while sitting down on my bed.
Jonah then lifted his upper body and wiped the dirt off his eyes, and he noticed that I'm already wearing my uniform. My hair looked clean, and it's like I'm very ready to start my day. It's still six in the morning, and Jonah knows there is a reason for this.
"I can't believe it. It's way too early for you to leave." Jonah said after gathering his thoughts, and it must be quite difficult for him considering he just woke up.
"It's something I've decided. I came here to obtain new things that will help me towards my goals… not to be mocked for hiding my abilities." I told Jonah about how I feel about it, and he let out a sigh.
"I think I speak for everyone that we were all really shocked by what happened yesterday. But, it's not like we understand what you're going through. Is there a reason why you're hiding your abilities? Why do you need to keep yourself hidden?" Jonah asked what he was concerned about, and I just shook my head.
"I can't tell you… because it might put you in danger." I said honestly, and Jonah looked quite surprised by that answer.
"Then. If I become stronger… if I become the next holy knight of the earth nation, will you tell me?" Jonah said to me with a face filled with confidence, and this is the second time he has shown such an expression to me.
The first one was when he asked me for help. When he asked me to help him change to be a better man, back when we just met each other at the dorm room. I remember that guy was truly hurt by something, so much that he wanted to change himself as fast as possible.
And now, I'm looking at the same person, but with a different goal ahead of him. Now, he is doing it for no one else but me.
Seeing that he is so committed to helping me, I just laughed a little.
"If you can show me a six pack in a month, I'll tell you everything." I said to him fully meant what I said, and Jonah stared at me with really shocked eyes.
But, one month isn't exactly impossible. Jonah just has to work really hard for it. Realizing this, he nodded at me firmly.
"I'll show you results in a month! But, don't leave the academy!"
"No. I already made my decision on that one." I said while standing up, and I headed to the door without turning around. "An institution led by an asshole like that can never be a good place for me."
I said right before I left, and Jonah could only watch as I closed the door behind me. After that, I headed straight for the teachers building, specifically the building at the very front part of the university. It is the building in front of the big yard where the capacity test was held, and the place I'm going to is at the very top of that building.
After asking the receptionist desk, I was given a greenlight to head to the room I was told. I headed upstairs and walked past a few other students and teachers who were going around the building, and I finally arrived at the room I'm going to.
I knocked on the door three times, and the person inside heard it.
"Come in!" The voice came from behind the door, and I opened it right away.
"You really came. I thought you're never going to see me again." The vice headmaster said while sitting on her seat in the middle of the room, and I walked all the way until I arrived in front of her.
"You can say that again." I took out a piece of letter from my storage bracelet, and I threw the letter on the table right in front of her.
"Is that a letter of resignation? I'm pretty sure you're not an employee at this place." The vice headmaster jokingly said while opening the letter, but I'm never going to be in a mood to joke around with her.
"Hurry up and get this over with." I said coldly, but the vice headmaster seemed to have other ideas.
"Easy. I have things that I wanted to say to you as well." She opened the letter and started reading them, and she was amazed by something. "Wow, your handwriting looks really nice."
"I will skip all the goodbyes, so tell my classmates that I'll be--"
"I said easy. You're really childish, geez." She said right before she ripped the letter into pieces, and I watched with cold eyes as the pieces of the letter I worked really hard writing just fell to the floor.
"Childish… is a bold word for you to use."
"And yet, I'm using it. If you're angry about what I said, then that means you still haven't realized why I'm saying those things." She finally started on that topic, and it looks like it will take a while until I can leave.
"What is there to realize? The fact that you're mocking me and my deceased people?" I asked coldly, but it seems like she is far from realizing her mistake.
"I don't understand why you're laying low. It's utterly embarrassing for me to see such a person like you act as if you're ranked fifth in the whole university."
"You're the only one who is feeling that way. I wonder why."
"Because I know who you are, what you are capable of, and where you came from. Your mother's damn womb is already one of the best places anyone can be born from, and here you are. Hiding that talent that you're so lucky to be born with." She once again used my mother in her conversation, and I can't help but be horribly angered by her choice of topic.
"You're really not afraid of the consequences of mocking me, aren't you?"
"Oh, my! I'm so scared! What's a sixteen year old prodigy like you can do to me!? Obliterate me to death!?" She joked around once more while waving her hands in the air, and it truly felt like I'm about to go blank and turn apeshit.
But, I do have something else that I can use.
"You're forgetting that this sixteen year old prodigy is the second prince of Fiordall. I think Rejulus can agree with me that sending our full firepower to flatten this academy is still within our capabilities." I said cold heartedly, but the vice headmaster only giggled hearing that.