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"Of course, it's all yours."

That reply made my day, and a hundred days after it. I wish I could describe the wild ideas that popped into my head. Suddenly, sacrificing my sleep to come here didn't seem so bad.

"Let's call it a night, huh, what do you say sleepy guy?" Ken slapped my back in a friendly way as we proceeded back to the ship.

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I woke up in the morning much more excited than a sleep-deprived guy would be expected of. Even the dull, cloudy weather and soggy banana in breakfast could not dampen my mood. Though I could feel a little tiredness. Nothing to worry about, after all, I had pulled an all-nighter before during the exams. Unfortunately, I am a bit too overconfident in my last-minute mugging skills which had let me down right before the social sciences exam. Or rather, the syllabus was too large for any human to have mugged up on the last day which forced me to study all night. It was totally worth it as I got a whopping 94% score in it.

I had the interpreter in my pocket. My fingers itching to wear and test its capabilities. The weekend had passed without me having a chance to wear it, as I was at home. My parents would definitely not have fallen for the story I planned on telling anyone who asked where I got the glasses from. They looked good on me. I gave off an aura of a wiser and more sophisticated man in those glasses. They had a white rectangular frame and fit me perfectly which was a huge relief. I had seen my math teacher struggle with loose glasses. She would have to push them back up from the bridge of her nose in every 5 seconds. Sometimes when she was scolding us, she would forget to push them up and would then look at us from over the rim which rested at the edge of her nose. At this moment, she would look so comical that all our focus would be on the falling glasses instead of what she was saying. Who wants to listen to a scolding anyway? Unfortunately, she got those glasses replaced in a month.

A cheerful me entered the bus occupied by sullen kids on a gloomy Monday morning. It is Monday's fault that all schoolchildren despise it and dread its approach. Why couldn't he be like Friday or Saturday? It just has to be Monday when every kid is wishing that the 5 torturous days pass in a blur. Occupying my usual seat, I slipped my hand into my pocket to take out the interpreter as the bus reversed out of the society driveway aka the bus stop. "You got glasses too, Daniel!" exclaimed Pari. Leave it to her to notice every single minute change you might have gone through and get overexcited about it. From a fallen tooth to a single strand of white hair, nothing gets overlooked. She should take my advice and become a detective. The rogues and thieves in disguise would quake in their boots when detective Pari arrives on the scene. Alas! She is adamant on becoming a neurologist on growing up. Geez, what a waste of talent.

The whole day passed with me watching YouTube videos and listening to songs in class. I even googled up a few answers. All the while no one had a clue how I achieved such godly intelligence over the weekend. Not very moral of me, I know. But the world should not expect one to listen attentively in all the classes when he has an awesome gadget at one's disposal, begging to be used. The night passed without a thud, Ken didn't come. The day turned into days and days into weeks. I became bored listening to songs and You tube's resources got exhausted. I had a fleeting worry about my eyesight, but it was dismissed without a thought. As time passed, I became more and more frustrated. There was no word from Ken. Even after hours of searching the interpreter, I failed at finding a way to contact Ken. Meanwhile, my brain was conjuring up increasingly weirder theories of this prolonged absence. An inter-planetary war was not beyond consideration.

Life became boring, uneventful even. I regretted not asking when I would begin at the academy or when would I witness a council meeting. The academy was another topic cloaked in mystery. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered. How did it look? What were the students or apprentices like? What was I? And where did I place in this new order?

I had my guesses though. Being fairly certain that we wouldn't be taught economics there but maybe martial arts and swordfight and what not, I doubted the place would look anything like my school. Well, maybe it would, who knows! It was sure to have a hostel as I remember Herold mentioning it when we talked. I admit I was intimidated by him. He had straight yet relaxed, radiating energy, power. It did make me feel inferior to him but not afraid of him. Just from that single meeting, he had earned my respect and admiration. Became my role model. I knew, that if I have to become a lord, I would like to be like him, strong and tough, and with my feet very much on the ground. Unlike Ken, who preferred to float in the clouds. Though I respected Ken nevertheless, I did not admire him. He was an example of the qualities I did not want to inherit. Though he was not a villain, I did not wish to be aloof and indifferent to the people around me 

Sighing, I closed my eyes in a vain attempt to sleep. There was not much of it in the future if I had to sneak out every night, better to cherish it while I could. But sleep simply refused to take me into the world of dreams. Instead I tossed and turned restlessly, getting all hot and bothered in the suffocating heat until I couldn't take it anymore. Giving up on sleeping, I got out of bed and proceeded out in the lobby. Some cool, fresh air would do me good. The bulb had been replaced I noticed with satisfaction. Dad must have called housekeeping to make the repairs after I'd pointed it out to him. My parents have been suspicious of me since they discovered I was not in bed that night. Yes, they grilled me for an hour on where I was when mom had come to check on me. I wasn't even aware that they checked whether I was sleeping or not. All because of the recent news that a teenager was caught red-handed playing PubG at night in his room. Thankfully, I got off by making up an excuse including spiders in washrooms and sleeping parents I didn't want to disturb. Even if they suspect that I went out of the house, the thought that I might go out through the guest room door didn't occur to them which was the precise reason I managed to sneak out tonight.

Thank god I'd requested for my own room last year only or my little nosy sister would definitely have noted my absence and would have been able to confirm my parent's suspicions. Not that I don't love her. She is absolutely wonderful and loves me back with more enthusiasm than I am comfortable with. Just that she is simply horribly terrible at keeping the cat in the bag. So terrible that she couldn't even keep Mom's secret present a secret for her birthday even when she'd designed it herself. So, it could turn into a big problem if she even got a whiff of my midnight escapades.

Halfway up the stairs, everything suddenly went black. I barely held back a shriek.

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Thank you so much for following my story as it progresses! 

Do comment and vote if you like it.

As it was a short one, I posted early and I may do that in the future too because I'm sitting free with nothing else to do. (if i can take my face out of other books that is)

 -Dhriti-

A/N - I am sorry for changing the ending to a cliffhanger but as I was reading some other book, I noticed a way to make this story more interesting and thus the subplot. I am not making any sense but... whatever. This would hopefully be a lot more interesting.

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