Chapter 32: Project
4th December 2023
6:50 am.
Gray calmly woke up from his forgotten lullaby, stretching every fiber of his body, groaning with pleasure.
Even though he was fully awake, he kept his eyes closed for two minutes, wanting to bask as much as he could in the pleasurable sensation.
Once he felt satisfied enough, he removed his heavy blanket from his body, immediately feeling the chilling air of the morning.
He took his phone from the drawer, removed it from the charger, and headed towards the bathroom.
As he knocked the door, he heard his sister's voice from its insides
"It's occupied!" Kathy lazily yelled.
Sighing, Gray pleaded for her to be quick, for his body—or rather—bladder, couldn't resist for much longer. Displeased, he made his way towards his room again, deciding to prepare his school-bag.
Remembering that it was a Monday, he couldn't help but feel down already.
He grabbed his notebook, noting the timetable in his mind.
1st hour: Greek.
2nd hour: Italian.
3rd hour: Italian.
4th hour: Latin.
5th hour: Latin.
6th hour: Physics.
"I wonder if the greek teacher is going to be missing again. He must've been pretty sick, seeing of how he missed many lessons," he silently muttered.
"Well, I should pray for him to not be there. I really don't feel like doing his subject today. While it's true that I did the homework he assigned while sick, I pretty much cheated in every step…"
Gray started to take the books from his library and lazily put them inside his school-bag. He grabbed one of its shoulder straps with his right hand and curled it a couple of times, noticing that the weight wasn't too bad to deal with.
Dropping it, he exclaimed, "My exercise has been paying off!"
Gray proudly flexed his biceps, but after seeing the minimum amount of muscles, he scratched his nose with embarrassment.
"Alright, not that much…"
He went towards his bed and bent down, the presence of his many weights reflecting in his mind.
There also was dust, a lot of dust.
"I need to fix that," he took two of the 7 kilograms ones per bicep, and when he stood up, he started to curl them, wanting to pass the time by doing something actually useful.
…
Once the burn on his muscles was too high, he stopped his quick workout and ran inside the bathroom, his bladder almost giving out.
Luckily, he could relieve himself before he made an 'accident.'
He washed his hands ane started to brush his teeth.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he noticed his eye bags becoming lighter and lighter.
He had always been genetically predisposed towards them—but his previous issues with Genesis, the Nephilim world and The Monolith did nothing but worsen his situation.
At least now, he was finding more hope.
While it was true that his workout routine wasn't doing magical wonders on his body, it still provided him for a way out. A way out that in due time, would help him survive in the world he was thrown into.
Thanks to Casanova, he also had Intra.
The mysterious ability helped him sort his thoughts out with great help, especially in the days where he was unsure of what do to.
When he was feeling down, he immersed himself into his past memories, staring observantly at the sparse days where he used to be with his mother and Kathy, even though the happier memories weren't many.
He kept on trying to pry open the amalgamation of darkness within his memories, trying different approaches, but was always unable to observe what was hidden behind them.
He thought that, had he been able to observe his dream of the Boundless Void with a lucid mind the first time he had seen it, he would've been able to see the fragments of memories hidden inside it.
Regardless, there was nothing he could do, for now.
His main worries were on building a strong physical foundation, becoming lucid inside his dreams, and gain the ability to bring Genesis into the real world.
Working his body out was the easiest part of the three, since it was something more concrete, consistent with the world he was more familiar with.
Becoming lucid inside his dreams was the secondly easier part. Since he had to be inside a dream to fulfill it, it was more abstract and more absurd. Therefore, it made it more difficult.
Bringing Genesis into the real world was the hardest part—it was something completely alien to him, leading him to not have any clue on how to bring inside reality. The only times he was able to do it was because of The Monolith, where he had an horrid experience, and with Nekare.
The experience with the girl wasn't bad at all, considering all the things he had to put up with, but was difficult for him take in his mind.
Before he had the revelation, he thought of as something inhuman, almost monstrous in nature. Thus, seeing her so human, so vulnerable, shook his heart deeply.
He thought of Casanova to be one of the only good Nephilim, but after knowing more about Nekare and Franz, Gray wasn't sure of what to think anymore.
He headed inside the living room, feening for a quick breakfast.
While he passed by the hallway, he saw that the door of his mother's library was slightly open.
'Did Kathy want to read something? That's quite unlike her.' Gray observed silently.
"I should read more book from mother's library. It's the only thing she left behind, after all," he muttered.
In the past month, he hadn't been able to even graze past one of her books, making him yearn to read more.
For the first time in his life, he thought of the amalgamations of shadows to be slightly useful.
Thanks to them, he was now able to re-read some of the books he had already spent time on, since his memory of them had completely been wiped out.
Once he reached the living room, he saw Kathy, her mouth full of cereal.
"Morning," he said as he went inside the kitchen.
"Mhorgnig," she replied, her mouth too full of food to make her words understandable.
Gray picked the utensils and food for a quick breakfast.
Once he was done, he went into the living room to eat with his sister, like they always did.
"Were you reading something in mother's library?" he lazily asked.
"Yeah." she simply said.
"Hm…" Gray looked at her suspiciously. "What were you reading?"
"That's a lady's secret!" she grinned.
"Eh?" he stared at her, dumbfounded.
'I won't press on the subject, i guess…'
The two ate their breakfast at a moderate pace, engaging in a small, idle chatter.
And then, once they were both done, they headed out to their respective places.
…
"Gray, look a that…" Rowan whispered, catching his attention.
As Gray turned around, he saw his friend pointing at a random guy in the back of the classroom.
He had dark eye bags underneath his eyes, a brownish colored french-crop, and had a roman nose. He wore a black hoodie and trousers of the same color—they both weren't ironed.
"That's Veronica's ex boyfriend. He finally came back to school!" he said in hushed voice.
"He looks mad as hell," Gray noticed.
"Yep!" Rowan laughed, happy to see one of his rivals in love having it worse than him.
'Have some empathy…' Gray pinched his nose with disbelief.
"Can you believe it? A serial killer is roaming inside Corveno!" a girl behind Rowan and Gray suddenly exclaimed to her friend.
'Hm?'
Rowan immediately turned around, and Gray followed.
"What do you mean?" Rowan asked curiously,
"Haven't you heard the news?" she asked.
"Uhhh, no."
She sighed softly and began to explain. "In Corveno, three dead girls have been found yesterday night, their bodies dumped in the middle of the road. They say that one had their uterus eaten off, one had their vocal cords removed, while the other had many parts of her brain missing!"
"Do you know what's the weirdest thing though?"
"Every single one of them had no blood, their bodies were completely drained of it!"
'Vampire?' Gray asked himself, wondering if they truly existed. 'Could it be the work of a Nephilim instead?'
'Well, it may be just a madman, who knows. But even then, would a madman go towards those lengths?'
"What a freak," Rowan clenched his fist.
"Yeah," Gray echoed.
Just then, when they were wondering if the greek professor would come, the door opened.
Costantino Perbellin, the greek professor, silently entered the class, his blue eyes seeming brighter than usual.
"Good morning, class," he sighed. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
Some of the guys and girls groaned in annoyance at his presence.
It was clear; they were eager to spend the whole hour fooling around.
Veronica was also one of them.
"Come on now," Costanino said after seeing their reactions. "You've had your fun, now it's time to work. We are behind with our project."
"Did my colleague teach you guys about Socrates?" he asked.
"Yeah." the class replied.
"Perfect." he said. "Since we are behind the program, I'll assign each one of you to a group made of four people. After I'm done with that, I'll give you a greek philosopher like I've explained the last times."
"Come on, let's go to the i.t. class," he hastily left the classroom, the students following quick after.
…
Once they reached the class full of laptops, Costantino Perbellin thought for a few seconds before starting to write the groups on the board, occasionally turning around to look at the students.
"Rowan, Moreno, Selena and Sara, you'll do Xhenophanes."
"Filippo, Antonio, Leonardo and Aurora, you'll do Heraclitus…"
"—you'll do Phytagoras…"
Every student that got called began to move their desks and chairs around the classroom, so they could sit closer to the members of their groups.
They also were allowed to use their phones and their assigned laptops to research more information about the philosophers.
While he was writing the many names on the board, his sleeve slowly slid down his arm, exposing a bandaged wound.
A student, after seeing it, casually asked what had happened.
The professor coughed dryly and said self-deprecatingly, "I burned myself with tea while I was sick. I really was a mess those days."
He then kept on sorting the names out, adding a greek philosopher to every group.
After a couple of minutes, Gray heard his name being called out.
"Gray, Veronica, Franco and…"
'Don't tell me…' he silently prayed.
The professor thought for a few seconds before finally saying the last name.
"…Nekare."
'Are you serious?'
"That'll do. This group of troublemakers really needs someone to order them around. You'll do Anaxagoras."
Gray, of course, felt a small sense of worry.
But trusting the words of Casanova and the help of Dusk Catcher, he buried those feelings deep inside his mind.
Looking at the bright side, he hoped that the group project would help him to appear as a better person in her eyes.
Sighing, he wandered the room with his gaze, trying to find his group members.
Just then, he saw Rowan's reaction to Veronica being inside his group.
To say that he was seething with anger was an understatement.
His cheeks were beet-red, and was biting down his lips with great force, resembling a weird kind of animal, possibly a macaque.
'Sorry…' Gray shrugged.
(I won't try anything with her, I promise.) he silently said.
(You better not.) his friend replied.
Following his telepathic speech with his friend, he finally found Nekare.
Trying to act as normal as possible, he grabbed his chair and sat next to her, feeling a slight tinge of embarrassment.
He wanted to greet her, but felt that it would've made their situation more awkward.
Then, thinking that not greeting her properly would make him sound even more like an asshole, he mustered every ounce of his power.
"H-Hi," he said, his voice cracking.
'WHY DID MY VOICE HAVE TO CRACK JUST RIGHT NOW?!?!?'
"Oh, hello," Nekare simply said, looking unbothered.
She silently turned the computer on, with Gray looking at the screen from up her shoulder.
A few seconds later, Franco and Veronica finally came to their desk, the tension between the two palpable.
Franco mumbled something inaudible, his expression marked with anger. He then took a desk, situating it next to Gray and Nekare.
"Uh so, what should we do?" Gray asked.
Veronica, who was now sitting next to her ex-boyfriend, clearly unhappy from that fact, suddenly spoke.
"You better figure that out on your own. I'm not doing anything," she looked at her pinkish nails.
'Are you serious?' Gray coughed dryly.
"Me neither, I got people to talk to," Franco added, wanting to seem as if he had already moved on from his relationship.
"Well," Gray turned to Nekare. "Seems like we have to do all the work…"
"Yeah." she slowly nodded.