High School Revolution

Chapter 61: Phoenix Fall

Strider opened his eyes three times.

The first time he opened his eyes, he noticed he was in the black tornado. He squinted when his ears caught wind of action outside of it and further pressed his eyes, only to tremble at both his spirit spirits getting burnt alive by Eliza's Phoenix diving down and crushing them into the tornado meant to protect him. They crashed on the floor right by him, but rose to protect his heart despite his pleas for them to stop. The Phoenix powered through the wind and its eyes burned a sensation of terror. His spirits fused into one and fired a large breath of wind to blast the fire headed beast away.

But like Eliza, it withstood being shredded from the raging wings, and revived, engulfing the tornado into a fire whirl that quickly suffocated him as he coughed up several times. Draco-Raven shielded him from the pain, only for the Phoenix to kick and slash them away. He was at the mercy of the firebird, who flapped their wings, and a feather storm of flames rained down to incinerate him despite his pleas.

The second time he opened his eyes, he was back in elementary school. Bridget, a girl with lighter complexion than him and Kelly arrived at the table the two of them were sitting, demanding that the two move so that her group could sit. He refused and she pulled Kelly off her seat.

Kelly got up and asked her to leave them alone, but Bridget shoved her aside. Strider didn't want any conflict and asked his classmates for help, but none of them came to his aid. Thus when Bridget approached his best and only friend again, he shoved her aside. She responded by scratching him, but did little to affect him thanks to the lotion he had on. He retaliated and scratched her back. The girl screamed in pain while he made sure Kelly was fine, only for her to ask her group of male and female friends to get back at him for hurting her, while she ran off to tell her mother about what happened, promising as the PTA's daughter, she'd help them get whatever they wanted.

Kelly asked everyone to stop, but they all grabbed Strider and dropped him to the floor, kicking, punching, and forcing him to crawl into a fetal position to take some of the hits. The few times he opened his eyes while asking for help, his eyes caught none of them coming to his aid. Even when Kelly asked Jamal for help, he didn't come. It also broke his heart, but when the cycle of misery stopped, Kellisha pushing one of them away seemed like she finally got through to them.

They slapped her in the face. And when he got up, some of his classmates were recording it and laughing on their smartphones.

The fear in heart turned to rage and anger as he let out a side of him that punched one of his classmates in the face, who tripped on a chair and fell down on his rear just as Bridget returned with her mother and the teachers who were out for a break. The other students who joined in the bullying ran back to their seats as if they did nothing wrong.

He tried explaining what happened, but the damage was done, and was sent to the principal's office. The last thing he saw was Kellisha coming after him, only to be blocked by the teachers. He tried running back to reach her, but only the tip of their fingers met as he was carried away. Bridget waved to him with a fake smile while his best friend called out for him to come back.

"Strider. Strider. Strider!"

The third time he opened his eyes, the nightmare and memory ceased to be as he reached out for help against Eliza, only to have no idea where he was as he got up out of the bed he was on. The room looked like the infirmary and two familiar bodies were right in front of him.

"Strider, you're okay," the first body cheerfully said in front of him, pulling him up with a hug. The numb feeling in his arms, back, and torso almost made it not worth it, but his vision came back as the person let go so they could see him.