"The reason why we can't go into the other crawlers is because those are monstrous existences that a single one would shake the whole system if they appeared.
Most of them were only spotted during the early times when humanity fell into the darkness. If recent, their appearances have dwindled, and that had its own advantages and disadvantages.
Now I know that you are all brimming with questions as to this issue, but you'll have to stay without asking. Class dismissed," William said and left the class.
As soon as he left, some of the students looked at Alex, but Alex had his head facing the table, completely lost in thought.
This act alone pissed some of the boys off, so they got up and headed his way, surrounding his table.
Alex noticed them and then looked up at them, his eyes asking the question, what the hell is this? To answer his unasked question, one of the boys grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up.
And Alex's defense kicked in, a darkness tendril shot out of his arm and slammed the boy in the chest, throwing him into another desk and shocking the students.
"Don't ever place your hands on me," Alex warned. He looked at the others, but rather than being afraid, they all stood there looking at him, still not backing down.
Alex would expect that this little show of his brutality would push them back, but it didn't.
"You think you will scare us with that?" one of the boys asked. He was blonde-haired, with the same-colored eyes. He raised his hand, and a small ball of darkness formed.
"We are all here because we have the ability to do this, so don't think you are somehow special. I don't know why you get so much special treatment, but I don't care.
I'll now have you, a kid who is two years younger than me, look down on me, so we are going to make sure it doesn't repeat itself," the boy said.
Alex looked at him for a bit, then spoke, "You spit when you talk, you made my face wet."
The boy froze. When he heard that, his face got red, and his neck vein bulged. "You filthy brat," he roared and attempted to drive his palm into Alex's chest with the darkness on it.
But before he could even move, Alex threw a fast punch to the boy's guts, his hands coated in a far thicker layer of darkness. His fist connected, and the boy arched backward, saliva spewing out of his mouth as he fell to the ground.
"Get away from me," Alex said, and this time the other boy gave him space. He took his book and left, walking out of the class under the eyes of the other students.
Their next class was supposed to be combat, but their combat teacher, like William said, went missing, and if they got someone to fill in, it wouldn't be today that they started.
Alex wanted to get back to his room so he could try to make his darkness flow through him with anger as the catalyst, but he noticed that someone was following him.
He was puzzled when he made it to the corridor before the exit of the academic building. He turned around to face whoever that was.
And standing there was a young girl, seemingly 12, like the rest of the first years. She had beautiful silver hair, eyes, and very pale skin. She was very pretty to look at, so much so that Alex found himself staring for a moment.
He never paid attention to the people in his class, so he didn't notice this person. She couldn't possibly be from any of the other first-year classes because she had started following him right from his class.
She stared at Alex, as he stared at her. Alex shook his head to clear his mind and then spoke. "Why are you following me?"
"Hmm, I find you intriguing," she replied instantly, like she had already prepared the answer.
"And that's why you followed me?" Alex asked.
"Yes, I have a habit of learning about whatever I find intriguing, so I want to learn more about you," she said.
"No," Alex said immediately, not giving it a moment of thought.
"You see? Intriguing," she said.
"What about me could possibly be intriguing?" Alex asked.
"Hmm, that's really simple. Firstly, I've asked around, and you are the only first year that stays in a personal room.
For every class that you have attended, some sort of attention has been put on you. And even on your first day, you beat up a second year.
Second years have all learned to control their darkness more than the first years; they can shape it, use it, and amplify it to deal reasonable damage, something that we aren't capable of yet.
Are all these not enough reasons to be intrigued by someone?" she asked.
"You should hate me like the others, rather than be intrigued," Alex said and turned to leave.
"Why would I hate you? You haven't done anything. Rather than focus my energy to hate you, I should take time to learn what makes you different, and why you are treated differently. Doesn't that seem better?" she asked.
Alex paused. This girl was speaking facts, but he didn't want any of it. All he wanted was to be left alone.
"Stop trying to learn anything about me, you'll get hurt," Alex said and continued walking. He left the building, but she still followed him out on his way to the dorm.
"Tomorrow we have the deciding test, right? You want to be the best in the class and get the opportunity to kill that crawler, for vengeance, I presume.
But you can't do it alone, no matter how you look at it, and very few people will be willing to team up with you, even if you are strong.
And I'm sure that you will also not ask anyone, because for some reason, you hate people being near you, like how you are angry that I'm following you now," she said, still following him.