Lauri's eye twitched as he matched Gareth's glare with his own.
"Bothering her? We've been having a nice conversation, I even offered her my food as I saw she didn't have any." Huffing, Lauri tilted his head as he made his lips into an overly large smile. "Because I'm such a nice guy."
Gareth scoffed.
"A nice conversation? Then why did I keep hearing this girl raise her voice, her face is bright red for heaven's sake."
Lauri shifted his gaze, glancing at Ashley. The girl was stunned, her mouth was open slightly as she looked up at Gareth.
Almost slamming his hands onto the table, Lauri stood up. Lauri had been the tallest person in the village – second to only Laurence – so he had expected to be able to look down on Gareth, but the two boys stood at an equal height.
Gritting his teeth, Lauri grunted his words.
"I'm not in the mood to butt heads with you, son of an oh dear Great Family. I. Cannot. Be. Asked."
Lauri and Gareth continued to give each other loathing glares as the room fell silent, turning to watch the confrontation. Stuck between the two boys, Ashleyeyes quickly flicked between Lauri and Gareth. A small blush appeared on her cheeks.
Shaking her head, Ashleybroke out of her stupor. Standing up, she put a hand on Gareth's chest, pushing him back.
"Would both of you calm down?" Ashley shook her head. "You guys are acting like a couple of starved Fiends jumping at the first chance to take a bite out of some poor Awakened."
Lauri and Gareth's staring contest broke as Ashley spoke, the two boys turned to look at her, speaking at the same time.
"Who are you calling a Fiend?"
The boys looked back at each other.
Lauri scowled, "What are you copying me for?"
Gareth tutted, "It's rude to talk when someone else is talking."
Lauri's brow twitched again.
"Did you just come over here for some browny points with your buddies, come to protect this fair maiden. I bet you don't even know her name."
Ashley put her hands up, doing her best to try and calm down the situation.
"Lauri please it's fine if Gareth doesn't know my name, he's got a lot more important things to be worrying about."
Sighing, a displeased expression appeared on Gareth's face.
"Of course, I know Ashley's name."
Ashley blinked, turning to Gareth, she awkwardly smiled.
"Y-y-you, you know my name?"
Gareth gave the girl an easy smile.
"Of course, I heard it when you were talking with one of the instructors." Gareth fell silent for a moment, he turned his attention back to Lauri. His voice turned more amicable than it had been moments ago. "Now that I think about it, I've not seen you around here. Did you just get here? I myself only recently arrived at Compound Thirty-Four."
Lauri's mouth opened as he thought about what to say.
'You just arrived, I got dragged here out of my own free will.'
About to speak his mind, Lauri froze.
Stunned, Lauri tried to speak again, but his body froze.
'What, what was that.'
He tried one more time, but Lauri's body still didn't act at his command.
'I can't speak, what's happening.'
He repeated the words out loud.
"What's happening…?"
Lauri blinked in disbelief.
'I can speak. So why can't I say about my arrival here, about my family… No…'
Still, Lauri's face grew grim as a pained expression appeared on his face, a sickening realisation dawned on Lauri.
'Yang said he failed to completely take control of my soul, right..? He never outright said he failed.'
Seeing Lauri suddenly look ill, Gareth's confrontational attitude disappeared, replaced with concern.
"Um, are you okay? You don't look too good."
Lauri's emotions began to bubble as the recent memory of being pinned to the chair as Yang grabbed his neck flashed through his mind. Holding his head, Lauri's breath grew heavy.
'What did he do to me? He- He's got his fingers in my- My mind? My brain? My Soul? Oh god, forget that Divinity, how do I compete with someone who can take full control of my mind, my soul and my body?'
Ashley frowned. Circling the table, she reached out to Lauri.
"Hey Lauri, are you okay?"
As Ashley's hand touched Lauri's shoulder, Lauri flinched.
"Get away!"
Slapping Ashley's hand away, he fell backwards, landing on the floor with a thud. Giggles broke up the silence as Lauri looked around in confusion.
'Wha- what was that, what happened?'
Shocked back to reality after landing on the floor, Lauri looked up at Ashley, her hurt expression made something inside Lauri's chest hurt.
Trying to stand up, Lauri raised his hand. Ashley backed away as Lauri got closer.
"I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
A voice boomed from behind Lauri.
"All Risen, follow me to the auditorium."
Lauri turned around in time to see an intimidating figure standing behind him. A bald man with a large scar where his left eye should have been was standing at the exit to the cafeteria.
Without saying anything the man turned around and left, a few of the young teens who had been close to the exit tentatively followed after the man. Soon the rest of the room began to empty.
Still recovering from freaking out about what Yang had done to him. Lauri opened his mouth about to say something when Gareth stepped in front of Ashley. Taking her hand, he gestured to the exit with his free hand.
"Come on, Ashley, it's best to not keep Instructor Rel waiting. I hear he has a tempter."
Without waiting for his friends, Gareth and Ashleyleft the room. Turning around, Lauri frowned as Gareth and Ashleydisappeared into the crowd. Unable to bring himself to follow, Lauri sat back down, burying his face in his hands.
For the next few minutes, Lauri was still, his mind was full of sorrow and self-doubt.
"What am I doing… He's a monster, how could I ever defeat Yang? The darkness inside him, it- it rivals the light that was inside Laurence… What would that make me? If Laurence was a blinding sun, what am I? The light from a candle surrounded by the darkness, moments from being snuffed out by whatever is living in the dark?"
Lauri quietly chuckled to himself.
"I could run." Moving his hands away from his face, Lauri looked down the empty hallway. "I could try and escape, run far away, away from Yang… That's what I'm good at, right. Running…"
Gritting his teeth, Lauri stood up from the stool and started running. Only one idea formed inside his mind.
'Escape, this place seems to have no guards, so it shouldn't be too hard… Right? Just these-'
Turning a corner, Lauri collided with an immovable object. Colliding with it with enough force to send himself bouncing backward, colliding with the floor.
"Agh, what the hell was that."
Shaking his head, Lauri looked up at what he had collided with. A woman looked down at him, a confused expression on her beautiful face.
Lauri's expression soured.
'Just the instructors.'
Lauri only had to worry about one thing in his attempt to escape Compound Thirty-Four, evading the instructors, and as luck would have it. He had just run face-first into one of them.
"You okay Sickly?" The lady's voice was casual as she offered Lauri her hand. As she pulled Lauri to his feet, she looked around. "Aren't you a bit lost? I was just on my way to grab a bite to eat from the canteen now that Rel took all the Sickly to the auditorium and here I find one going for a run. Did you get lost or something?"
Lauri grit his teeth.
'I can't trust any of these instructors, right? If Yang is the Director of Compound Thirty-Four, that would make these people his boss, and my enemies.'
Looking away, Lauri squinted as he looked at the floor.
"I'm not going with them, I'm leaving."
The lady pursed her lips then laughed.
"You wish kid," Leaning closer, she spoke in a hushed tone. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but the Compound is on a quiet lockdown. Our sensors have detected a burgeoning Breach. Shouldn't be anything to worry about, it should take another week. Nothing to worry about."
Lauri tilted his head to the side.
"Uh, a Breach?"
"Yeah, nothing for you Sicklies to worry about, with Yang here nothing could go wrong."
Hearing this, Lauri's confused expression was replaced with disdain. Seeing this expression, the lady gestured down the hallway.
"You're new around here, aren't you? Come on, I'll walk you to the auditorium."
Lauri balled his fists, shaking his head.
"Didn't you hear me, I said I'm not going!"
Rolling her eyes, she put her hands on her hips and huffed.
"So you're just going to try and make a run for it, huh? No doubt you saw the lack of guards and thought, 'oh there's no guards, I'll do a runner.' So you know, the reason why there are no guards inside the compound is because they are all outside on the walls. Now come on, don't sound like such a child."
Biting his lip, Lauri sighed. Without saying a word, he quietly followed.
After a few moments of walking, the woman glanced at Lauri almost as if she was waiting for Lauri to say something. When it was obvious that he wasn't about to speak, she scratched the side of her neck and spoke, trying to put a happy tone into her words.
"So, Lauri. Got any plans on what you'll be doing before the Autumnal Equinox?"
Blinking, Lauri slowly turned his head to stare at the woman opposite him.
"Autumnal Equinox? What is that?"
Looking away, the lady sighed. "Right." Her voice had lost the happy tone she had put into it, sounding despondent and sorrowful. Turning back to Lauri, she wore a small smile. "Rel will inform you about the Equinox, but it couldn't hurt now. It's when you Sicklies go to the other world, to the Aether Stream. You know, so you don't die."
Lauri slowly nodded along with her words.
'I have no clue what you mean by that… Wait a second.'
Lauri cleared his throat as he stared at the woman.
"How did you know my name? I hadn't introduced myself."
The woman froze for a moment, her mouth hanging open slightly. Recovering she shrugged.
"I saw your name appear in the index this morning."
"I guess that makes sense. Hmm, well now that's not fair. You know my name, but I don't get to know yours?"
Smiling, the lady laughed.
"That doesn't seem very fair, does it." Coming to a stop, she looked to a pair of double doors, looking back to Lauri she leant against the wall. "My name is Nama, stick around here after Rel's finished blathering, and I'll come and pick you up. We can discuss what classes you should take and what not. Sounds good?"
Unsure of what to do. Lauri took a step towards the door, glancing at Nama. He looked away before sighing and looking back.
"Okay, I'm sure anything you can give me will be of great help…" Putting a hand on the door, Lauri froze. He looked at Nama feeling as if he was standing on a sinking ship. "Wait, so, it's been a few minutes, won't the guy be in the middle of talking? Am I going to get into trouble?"
Nama touched her chin, shaking her head a few moments later.
"Well, no he won't be in the middle of talking, he likes to ramble on about how you Sickly are the next generation of humanities defenders, so I doubt he's even started. But to answer will you be in trouble, pray he doesn't notice you. Good luck Lauri, now I'll be going back to the cafeteria, I'm famished."
Giving Lauri one more bright smile, Nama turned around, returning to the cafeteria.
Lauri's heart pounded in his chest as he looked through the small glass window in the door. A sea of kids his age all of their attention was set ahead of them, at Instructor Rel stood on a small stage at the far side of the room.
'I hate groups of people.'
As gentle as he could manage, Lauri opened the door.