The Crest of Darkness [ON HIATUS]

Chapter Four | Paze

 Bwahahahahaha! Third period was the best. Right after lunch, same class as Zorn, and full of computers. That's right, Paze was in computer tech. He was always ahead of his peers, so his teacher let him do random things on his computer. Comp tech was overrated anyway. Paze had already learned all this stuff in third grade... on his own time.

Paze pushed his glasses up his nose and clicked another bubble on the quiz he was taking. How much of a geek are you? He was sure he would rank high. The option he just chose was, “I own a techie black outfit.” He was currently wearing it for Halloween. A black reaper mask was stuffed in his backpack for after school.

He clicked over to a role play site, where he was currently playing as a dragon prince in human form. The site was clogged with ads, but he had several friends on the boards. At this time of day, most of them were outside the U.S.

Farron dropped his shield and cursed. He swung his sword up in defense just as Layla appeared out of nowhere and tackled Cornfrell to the ground. Farron smirked and pinned Cornfrell to the ground with his sword. “See that you never bother us again!” ooc: g2g! bells gunna ring in 5

Paze glanced through his black hair at Zorn. Poor guy was struggling to make his web page just perfect. He could be OCD sometimes. The pixels had to line up just perfectly, the colors had to blend at the right intervals. If he didn't finish up, he won't be able to turn it in on time.

Paze closed the tab and returned to the quiz. Hmm... only halfway done. He glanced at the clock and smiled. The race was on.

One click after another. The black nails tap tap tapped the mouse over and over again. Three minutes left. Two. One. Log out.

“Yes!” Paze shouted. He didn't let himself feel embarrassed by the outbreak and plowed on. “64% geek! Beat that!”

Brrring!

Paze rushed out the door and didn't stop until he was outside the building. Now the blush swept over his whole face. What an idiot! He got carried away again. Just another thing to add to the list of why everyone at this school hated him.

“Yo, Paze!”

Okay, not everyone. Zorn's familiar blue hair showed up.

“Nice score!” he said, ignoring Paze's blush.

“Ikr! I surprised myself with my untouchable geekiness!” He smiled proudly.

Zorn laughed. “I could tell. See you after school!”

“Yeah,” Paze said. “One period left, and then it's time for candy!”

The friends parted ways for their last class of the day. The elation kept Paze buzzing through English. He read Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Allies through the whole thing. After class, he received a text from Zorn, saying he had to get something with Tami, did he want to come with. Paze declined. He could hang out at the school library for a while. He was almost done with the book anyway.

Twenty-five minutes later, the library was about closed. Paze was alone; the librarian was in the back room. With his book finished, he looked out the window. Earlier, the sky had been clear. Not one cloud. Now, however... the room was full of shadows.

The book dropped with hardly a sound. Fear clutched at Paze's heart, constricting, until he could hardly breathe. The room grew cold...

“What... what are you?” Back away now. The Darkness closing in. Get away... get away...

Paze tripped over his backpack. He sat dazed for a while. His breath came out in small clouds. The room was freezing!

“Payson, what's going on?” The librarian. Paze looked at him and his mind kicked back into gear. He stood up, grabbing his backpack. The door was right there. He would be out of the room in seconds...

The cold released its grip on his heart, but the fear didn't leave. He was surrounded by a foggy forest where there should have been hallway.

Paze gulped. “Scotty?”

Did you know? Back in 2007, I found The Pendragon Adventure forums, my favorite website until it was hacked.