As Jake reached his destination, it became even clearer where his personal table was. Tucked away in a small corner, lay a small one-meter table. Worn out by time, it stood shakily on three legs and a broomstick. Yet, no one would throw it out, for it was said that the last principal and the principal before that had used this exact table to study. Legends said whoever sat on that table would be granted the ultimate comprehension, and this drove everyone into a frenzy.
Though the legend was nothing but one giant ruse.
The mastermind behind all of this was none other than the head librarian of the school, Miss Emily. She laughed silently all the while she was reading her book, snickering at the thought of people worshipping a rotten wooden table she had found at a garbage dump near her home. Although she earned a lot of money from this scam, she did not even use any of it. She did it for the sake of finding joy in their suffering and relishing the thought of the despair once they found out the truth behind the legend.
While this seemed all too cruel as a prank, there were reasons why she had to do this. Though not as obvious, she had to do those things because of her race.
She was a Trikxie.
Though they resemble a Floxie, they are inherently different from them. Their body shape and size are nearly exact, each having the body size of a small, young child, yet they distinctively differ in their facial shape.
With Floxies being gentle beings of nature, their facial expressions tend to lean towards naivety, resulting in them looking innocent despite the emotion they are expressing. This leads them to being known in the community as 'baby-faced', which, while cruel, also leads them to being one of the most, if not the most, lovable creatures you would want as a spouse. But these relationships tend not to last long due to species differences.
However, for Trikxies, they tend to always display sinister expressions on their face, whether they are scheming something, being angry, or even expressing joy. This has led to them being labeled as jerks, thugs, or even as far as terrorists. This does not help the fact that they constantly play pranks on their many victims, ranging from friends to enemies, wives to children, celebrations to memorials.
Though, they have no choice but to do so.
Floxies get their sustenance from the atmosphere of the planet they inhabit, and they mainly subsist on the elements of nature, such as earth and wind.
But Trikxies, on the other hand, need to feed on the emotional suffering caused by the pranks they play. They can only stay alive if they feed on the negative emotions, and any positive emotions will make them sick at the least, or life-threatening at worst. The worst part is that they can only feed on the distress of the beings they themselves have played mischievous pranks on.
This has led to them being ostracized, and even to near extinction at one point. But a supreme being's magnanimous heart saved them. In exchange for committing only a set number of pranks per day, they would get protection from the entity for anything. This has led to the rebound of their race, reviving them to half their total population at their peak.
This Trixie, Emily Jouyan, had her prank discovered very quickly by Jake. This prank was her source of sustenance at school, and with Jake finding out about it, she was worried he would tell everyone, effectively starving her. However, to her surprise, he did not do so; instead, he even helped her. His surprising actions led to her being heavily indebted to him, which led to her helping him whenever possible, especially after she found out that he was an orphan. She became a sister of sorts to him at school, helping him whenever he had difficulties in class. She would also help him get the books he wanted, whether forbidden or not, shielding him from any consequences.
This had been going on for a long time, and today was no different. Jake had asked Emily for help in researching the gifts Mr. Edward had given him: the box and the book he had chosen.
Several hours pass, and his frustration has reached breaking point. He nearly breaks the table after finishing every historical, literary, and treasure book. Realizing he has reached breaking point, he picks up a fragmented page of a fairy tale from the Elfin Era, and stops in shock.