The last moments of freedom were strange to the young man. Just know he had been sleeping, blissfully unaware of the hell he did find himself in now.
Mr Morrison did look at him with expectations in his eyes. Moros was once again contemplating just jumping out of the window and running away again.
He had not prepared one bit and the dear elderly gentleman in front of him, would ruin his life, the moment he messed everything up…he knew Moros' father personally.
And knowing his Dad, he would have wished that Malissa had turned little Jimmy and little Timmy into a pretzel─that would seem way more humane than whatever his father could do after hearing the news from his war buddy.
With a heavy heart, Moros stood up. Barely able to contain tears from streaming down his face, he walked forwards to the execution grounds in front of the class.
He did not know what to say, he did not know what to talk about, he did not know everything.
He just knew, this was the end.
In utter silence, he marched forwards and stopped in front of the class. All eyes were entirely fixated on him.
A deep breath was taken, and Moros opened his eyes to stare death directly in the face.
With the noose hanging around his neck he began to speak up.
"Today I stand before you. I am not Moros, the one sleeping, the laziest student of Class 5." His eyes wandered over the crowd that looked at him in utter confusion.
"I stand before you drenched in monster blood, and guts. I stand before you without any tools, magical objects or anything similar. I stand before you as Moros Terra."
His voice grew louder, so that everyone could hear.
"I stand before you displaying what is most important to me. I am standing here wearing the outfit, representing the Terra family. I stand here representing the years of sacrifice of the Terra clan."
Moros himself did not know what he was talking about, he just spoke the first thing that entered his mind and hoped for the best.
"I stand here for my brother, the unparalleled genius that changed the world of magic, by creating a new magic system that utilises the inborn mana with the mana surrounding us."
"I stand for my father, for my mother, for my uncle, for my grandpa. I stand here, carrying the legacy of countless lives on my shoulder."
A pause was taken Moros let the words speak for themselves.
Turning around he turned to face his teacher, looking at him with curiosity.
"Mr. Morrison, you asked me what is the most important thing to me," his mind raced trying to find the argument that logically made sense to use here.
"Pride."
"It is with pride that I stand here. My pride as a descendant of a Terra clan, pride as a human being supporting the future generations, pride to help my younger brother to change the foundation of the world as we know it."
Mr Morrison looked surprised at the words of the young man in front of him. His knowing grin had long been replaced by a gaze of newfound respect.
"It matters not that others see me as talentless, lacking class, morals and are of no redeeming qualities. It is with my pride that I give back to those that have talent, have class and morals."
"With the greatest of pride, I am the guardian of the unconquerable dungeon. I am bound by my duty as the son of the patriarch. I might never shine, and never have I wanted to."
"But it is through my effort and sacrifice that others may shine."
The class could not help, but clap at the passionate speech of their classmate.
Moros looked all around to see everyone stare at him with newfound respect. Within their eyes, there was a tinge of shame about their prior thoughts and opinions about the man who stood before them.
Had they been mistaken about him all along? Was beneath the sleeping lazy teenager, a prideful, hard-working idealist wanting just the best for his family?
They were not mistaken, Moros was just an excellent liar.
However, Moros was not done, he had to drive the point home, while people did not think too deeply about all the things he just said. Moving his hands he indicated for the crowd to settle down.
"I do not desire to be applauded for things that should be natural. We as inhabitants from the beautiful world of Elysium, must think about how we can give back, instead of simply praising the ones that do."
Silence once more ruled the room. Everyone aside from Malissa looked down in shame.
They realised that they used their label as talentless as a mere excuse to not try. A selfish approach to all the things that were given to them. His best friend merely gave him a side-eye.
"You, of all people are talking about morals here," she thought to herself. "Maybe if you are soo good at finding answers, could you find time to actually wash your clothes, for once. Especially if you make me wear them."
The idea of the current arrangement did not sit well for her, since if it was her turn to present, it would be Mr Morrison's turn to see and smell the beatiful Malissa like a 16 year-old male, bathing in monster guts.
He knew her mother too…
Moros, however, wanted to strike the iron while it was hot.
"I do apologise for taking this risk Mr Morrison, but my pride is not something I can write down or explain to you. As Moros Terra, I can only show it."
"If, by that, I have not done the assignment as per your standards and vision, then I have committed a discourtesy. However, my pride is not a thing I could ever trivialise to such an extent…
Mr Morrison threw him a cheeky grin. It had been years since he last heard such a compassionate speech from a youth everyone had given up on. Moros Terra, he was a youth hard to predict.
He had seen a lot of unwanted people in his times and knew what would become of most. There never had been any happy ending to such a story.
But the youth before him did strike him as different, mainly because he was the first youth in all his teaching career who lied about everything aside from his name or his origin.
A bold-faced liar, a glib tongue, and a deep desire burning within.
He stared at the youth in front of him with deep interest as Moros continued to spew inspiring statements without pause.
"Mr Terra, in the interest of fairness, allow me to end your speech. Be assured we all have witnessed your compassionate speech. Please, do take a seat."
Moros could not believe his eyes, ears…was the serious, unforgiving teacher currently smiling at him? Was he not doomed to be torn a third butthole by his dear father?
Not waiting for his teacher to change his mind, he nearly sprinted to his desk and seated himself faster than the speed of light.
Moros thanked the Lords that his teacher must have had a severe case of idiocracy for not spotting him in his lies. Not that he was complaining; he was alive to see after day.
"You know lying is bad, right?" Malissa looked at him with a teasing grin. Her voice was clearly loud enough for everyone in the class to hear.
A deep sense of betrayal was felt by Moros. At this very moment, he wanted nothing more than to rip his shirt and her clothing off of her and throw the naked traitor right out of the window.
Instead, the gentleman simply patted her on her shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up for the very funny joke.
"Will you please shut up…do not ruin my life," Moros whispered as silently as he possibly could.
"Only if you give me your t-shirt, the one that does not reek of virginty," Malissa replied, driving a hard bargain.
For a few seconds, the descendant of the Terra family evaluated how much his 'pride' was worth and sneakily handed her the t-shirt. Leaving him with a t-shirt covered in blood and diaper shorts.
Happy that she had won the battle, his childhood friend, for the first time in a long, long, long while dressed like a normal human being.
Now it was Moros' turn to wish that he would walk around like a stripper for the rest of the day.
But, he did not care for long. There were more important things in life He simply slammed his head onto the table and fell asleep on the spot.
He had survived yet another close encounter with death.
Though, at that time, he did not know the tragedy that awaited him at home.