"Every organism that roams the land has their way of survival. The longevity and agility of elves, the fast reproduction of goblins, and the durability and strength of dwarfs. Though we humans seem so fragile and weak, we have something so unique that no species could ever replicate. We could adapt to any situation by assimilating foreign bloodlines into our own. By wielding the powers of different beings, we have proven to the world that we could adapt to anything," the teacher said, her voice swollen with pride.
"If that was true, why are there so many without powers?" an abrupt voice interrupted the class. "Sean, how many times have I warned you about raising your hands before asking a question?" scolded the teacher.
Lightly coughing before resuming the lecture, the teacher began to answer Sean's question. "All strengths come with weaknesses, we are no exception. The more generations a bloodline is passed down without enhancing it, the more diluted it gets. This is why family clans are so powerful. By making sure that people with similar bloodlines reproduce, it ensures the purity of their bloodlines," the teacher concluded, the ringing bell marking the end of the lecture.
Funneling through the door, the classroom quickly emptied, all except for a figure that was still in deep slumber in the corner of the classroom.
"Wake up, I'm going to lock the doors," the teacher's frustrated shout echoed through the classroom. "Why am I so drowsy today?" Nathan muttered under his breath, rubbing his temples to chase away the sleepiness.
Almost stumbling as his numb foot hit the ground, Nathan limped towards the door with limping steps. "Hurry up, I don't have all day," the teacher's discontented order was filled with disdain and anger. Used to all the vitriol, Nathan slowly made his way towards the cafeteria.
Lunchtime, the perfect time when teenagers get to gossip and socialize to their heart's content. Not for Nathan though, his aloof and apathetic approach was the best repellent for any sort of socializing. He was like a ghost to the other students, the one everyone could never recall.
As he patiently waited in line for his food, the surrounding chatter suddenly faded as a wave of sudden drowsiness washed over him. A loud thud echoed through the cafeteria, temporarily silencing the chatter as he tumbled to the ground unconscious.
The scorching rays of sunlight were a tad bit too dazzling. Nathan's eyes fluttered open. Spitting out a mouthful of sand while trying to rub his eyes to get rid of the sand, he found himself stranded in a pile of white sand.
"Where am I?" he wondered, as he struggled to get on his two feet. Surveying his surroundings, he was in the middle of nowhere. The bleak desert seemed to be endless, the pure white sand glistened under the sun.
Holding up a handful of the white sand, he realized that they were not white. They were tiny translucent crystals shimmering as they refracted the desert sun.
Though Nathan tried his best to convince himself that he was just dreaming, the stinging pain coming from his cracked lips reminded him otherwise. Everything was too realistic for it to be a dream, from the arid and hot breeze of the desert to the itching thirst stemming from his dry throat.
Though dimensional rifts that randomly open were not unheard of, that was not the case since he was the only one brought here.
Nathan began to wander the desolate lands in search of anything that could give the flickering sense of hope inside him a much-needed boost.
The more he walked around, the more he realized that there was something wrong. If what he learned from the textbooks were real, deserts should be covered in the most vicious of monsters. But so far, there were no signs of any sort of life.
Walking for at least an hour without spotting anything, Nathan muttered under his breath, "Monsters inhabit every inch of the land, what a blatant lie."
The longer his thirst went unquenched, the more he wished for a random monster to pop out and end his misery. "Dying to the grinding maws of a sandworm seems like quite a gruesome but swift death," thought Nathan, picturing himself being ground up by the merciless rows of teeth of a sandworm.
Squinting his eyes, he stared at the bright sun. Somehow he felt like the sun had not moved a single inch since he arrived here. Tracing his shadow into the sand, he wanted to use the sun as a compass. But no matter how long he stood there patiently, his shadow remained the same length.
"A sun that doesn't set. A land without life," Nathan thought, letting out a soft sigh before he lay down on the warm sand. Discouraged, there was no point in doing anything. He was either trapped in an elaborate mirage, or he was no longer in his world. Either way, there was no use in trying to escape.
As more time passed, blood began to seep out of his cracked lips, the moisture from his blood somehow managed to quench some of his thirst. As time went on, his vision began to blur. "What a dumb way to die," muttered Nathan, wondering if anyone would notice his sudden disappearance.
Severely dehydrated, he began to experience both auditory and visionary hallucinations. The muffled sounds seemed to become louder and louder the more his consciousness faded. They all seemed to be repeating the same phrase over and over again, Nathan was so close to making out the intelligible sounds. "Wake up," he heard, as the world shattered around him like a broken mirror.
His eyes shot open, and Nathan was now in a white room. "Another illusion?" he groaned, looking around. Somehow, the room felt awfully familiar, almost as if... His train of thought was abruptly derailed by a sudden intruder. Pulling open the white curtains, the school nurse came to check on her patient. She was pretty shocked to see the stable patient become severely dehydrated between her constant checkups.
The wrinkled skin made Nathan look like a shriveled-up corpse. His face was deathly pale, the red sunburnt skin somehow enhanced his paleness. The skin peeling off his cracked lips wasn't helping either, Nathan was so close to looking like a mummy.
"Water," Nathan groaned, all he could think of was the unquenchable thirst that was eating away his remaining consciousness.
"You'll be fine," the nurse calmly assured, as vibrant wings of a butterfly extended from her back. Feeling a warm and soothing sensation envelop him, Nathan groaned as he felt new skin forming under the sunburnt layer. Itching like a thousand ants crawling across his skin, Nathan shed off a layer of his skin like a lizard.
He was also quite surprised to see the nurse's transformation. Flower nymphs, a rare breed of fairy that had extraordinary healing capabilities were highly sought after by any faction, to see one with such a valuable bloodline working for the school was definitely unusual.
Ignoring Nathan's gaze, the nurse asked, "How are you feeling?" "Thirsty," Nathan replied coldly. Fetching Nathan a bottle of water, the nurse watched Nathan down the whole bottle with a single gulp.
"If you drink any faster you will drown yourself," the nurse said, checking on Nathan's vitals which were slowly stabilizing. "As expected from someone from the Nyx family, your bloodline is strong enough to break through the seal," the nurse said.
Nathan's expressions darkened for a split second before the usual aloofness returned. It's been quite a while since he last heard someone mention his family name. He quickly got up to leave.
The slight change in Nathan's demeanor hadn't gone unnoticed by the nurse's keen sense. "I'm really sorry, I forgot about..." she tried to apologize. "It's fine," Nathan replied coldly, leaving the room to regain peace of mind.
As he walked towards the door, white sand poured out from his clothes. He stopped to try and clean the sand, but the nurse assured him that she would take care of the mess.
With Nathan gone from the clinic, the nurse carefully collected the white sand. Holding up a grain of the white sand, her eyes turned into the compound eyes of a butterfly. Failing to analyze the grains of crystal, she collected the small pile of sand into a bag.
Running his fingers through his disheveled hair, Nathan checked on the time. Five o'clock, time for him to head back home. Though he wasn't one who would skip classes, he definitely wasn't one to complain about missing an afternoon of boring classes.
He was still pretty shakened up by the events that occurred today, and he still did not have the slightest idea about what really happened. Though he supposedly had slept for five hours, he was still completely fatigued. Perhaps a good night's sleep would allow him to regain some of his lost sanity.