Knock knock knock.
The knocking of the door rings in my ears. I open my tired eyes, my eyelids feel heavy. I open my mouth wide for a deep morning yawn. I sit up lazily, my hair is in a mess.
Knock knock knock.
"Joel? Are you in there?" Zack calls out from outside, his knuckles hitting the door.
"Yeah," I say. Well, not really. I just mouth it out like I'm talking before falling back onto the bed.
"It's almost Breakfast time now," Zack says, knocking the door once more.
Breakfast! I think to myself as a wave of energy rushes through me. My eyes shoot open, and I jump out of bed, my body fills with energy. I do a quick wash of my face and flatten my hair down, looking at the smooth piece of mirror. Feeling satisfied, I open the door. Zack is waiting outside, tapping his watch.
"Breakfast, you were saying?" I ask, my eye glimpse in the sunlight.
"That's a way to wake someone up," Zack mutters to himself. "Breakfast will be in ten minutes, be late and there is no breakfast for you," Zack says, louder this time. He begins jogging across the hallway to the stairs before I can say a word.
Ten minutes! I think to myself, panic filling my mind. I can barely reach the end of the stairs in seven minutes and breakfast starts in ten?
I rush back into the room, and shook Starubius up. The tired dragon tries to slowly stand up on all four, one leg at a time. I can't afford to waste anymore time! I pick up the demon and runs out of the door. The little dragon whelp in surprise and begin to fidget. I smile at the sight of it.
Good morning, I think in my mind, hoping that Starubius can sense the thought.
He rolls his eyes in annoyance. Yeah... It replies in his mind, more like a morning wake by being shaken and forced out of bed.
There's breakfast, I say in my mind and immediately, I can feel the rush of energy in Starubius.
I'm awake now, he says through telepathy, looking around eagerly.
I glide down the stairs once again, this time, it feels so much easier and quicker to descend. I jump off at the last few remaining stairs, landing on the wooden flooring. My knees bends as my legs cushion the force.
Taking advantage of this, I spring off the ground and run through the warm hall of the castle. I run towards the red stairs, remembering that the red tower is closest to the village. As I exit the tower from the other side, I can see the village is packed with other Demoners. "Phew," I sigh with relief, "I'm not late."
I push myself through the crowded village and towards the canteen. People are seated on their respective tables, categorised by their years of study in the academy, ranging from one to a hundred and fifty.
A hundred and fifty, I think to myself, we Demoners can sure age. I remember the other time looking through the book on Demoners in the library before meeting Raymond. The Demoners have a lifespan five times the lifespan of human at an approximate five hundred years of age expectation, I recall, having to remember the exact words. I do my math, dividing one hundred and fifty by five, the quotient being thirty! So, I say in my mind, they are at their thirties compared to a human.
"Joel!" Calls a familiar voice. I scan around and spots my friends waving their hands to catch my attention. The happy looks on their faces make me smile unconsciously. I make a slow jog towards them. Chloe taps on the empty seat beside her, indicating me to seat there.
Lucas sits beside me with a tired smile. Jason is settled beside Lucas, consistently teasing his fed up brother. Lucas gives a helpless look at me.
"Sometimes, you've just got to endure the torture," Lucas tells me.
"Yup," Jason replies, his mischievous smile plastered on his face.
I look at Jason, confused and curious. "What do you mean by that? You do realise he's talking about you, right?" I ask, just before Lucas waves his hands frantically at me.
"Don't ask Ja..," he says, a moment too late.
"Oh? I thought he was talking about his face," Jason says, acting innocent with both eyebrows raised in mock surprise. Lucas shoots an angry glare at Jason, who turns back to me. "See what I mean?" He says with his innocent look. I can't hold in my laughter and laugh it out. Lucas gives me a hurt look.
"I thought you were my friend," Lucas says pitifully, frowning in a pained expression.
"Were," Jason sniggers. Alexander, who has been listening to the conversation, laughs at the reference from yesterday's dinner conversation.
"Traitors," Lucas mutters in his breath.
"Exactly," Jason replies casually.
"Betrayer."
"Same thing."
"Playboy."
"Don't look at me, I'm not a mirror," Jason puts his hands up in surrender.
"Damn it."
"Damn yourself."
"I'm not a mirror."
"Then don't treat me as one."
One after another, they backfire each other, but as the jester of the two, Jordan makes the best comebacks.
I take a look around to see others' reaction to the verbal fight. I spot a fair skin boy shaking his head in amusement and annoyance. "When can they even stop?" He asks.
Alexander turns his head to face him. "Don't even think about it, Yuri. We've just got to deal with it," Alexander says, putting his hand on Yuri's shoulder as a sign of understanding and Yuri simply nods. I smile in return.
Lucas did say that yesterday, I think to myself, grinning at the coincidence. Or intention.
Looking back to Alexander, I've got the feeling that Alexander seems to know everyone and so do they know him. "You do seem to know everyone, don't you?" I ask Alexander, who's keeping back his arms from Yuri's shoulders.
"Oh," he says, turning his gaze to me, "I have yet to introduce you." He gets up to move besides me and begin to introduce all the students to me as well as me to them.
"Starting from the right," Alexander begins, "Is Chloe, who seems to be with you pretty well." He trails off with mischief, giving a swift wink to me while I give him a annoyed look.
"What do you mean by that?" Asks Chloe with a mock smile though her eyes seems to be glaring into Alexander's. A hint of warning could be heard in her tone.
"Nothing, totally nothing at all." Wisely, Alexander says, backing away carefully. He acts like an innocent guy but Jason does act much better.
"Are you sure?" Chloe clarifies with suspicion. I switch my glances between the innocent Alexander and Chloe, feeling the tense atmosphere building up.
"Beside her is Terrance," he gestures towards a tall boy with smooth and dark hair, ignoring Chloe this time. At the sound of his name, Terrance looks around to the direction of the call and waves towards us with a look of suspicion.
"Oh, don't you change the subject," Chloe calls out. Alexander rolls his eyes in annoyance, but the smile forming on his face tells me otherwise.
I gives out a short laugh upon hearing their commotion. I look back at Terrance, who's still looking at me as if I'm strange or something. Probably something, I suspect in my mind as I back off with caution.
At the sight of my reaction, Alexander laughs and says, "Don't worry, when Terrance meets new people, he tends to be suspicious of them. He says there was a bad experience." He pause for a moment before continuing, "No other information received as I don't want to push it. He is in a terrible state when I wanted to ask about it." He shrugs in apology as he notice my mouth opens to ask the obvious question and closes as it was answered.
"Who's next then?" I ask, changing the subject. The short girl besides Terrance wears a green uniform. Her eyes are green too, just like Zack.
The eyes and Colour levels seems to be identical, I think to myself, taking a quick scan across the table and realise my hypothesis is right. Everyone's eyes matches their colour level.
This could probably be one way Zack knows that I'm violet, I think to myself, remembering the time Zack was able to tell me what colour level I was when we first met.
"Um, she's... uh," Alexander stammers, his eyes fixed on her, frowning in concentration. I was about to say the obvious "you forgot?" when my stomach begins to growl.
"When's breakfast?" I ask, changing the subject to the reason why I'm here in the first place.
Chloe turns to look at us. "Yeah, what's the time now?" She asks, rubbing her stomach as a pain of hunger hits her.
"I'm not sure," Alexander says, frowning and scratching his head in confusion.
"Wait..." Terrance says, looking at a specific direction. "Wait for it, it will be about... in three, two, and... one," he counts, using his fingers as a countdown clock.
At that moment, the speaker cracks to life. A man stands on a rounded stage at the center of the canteen. "All Demoners please gather at the canteen. I repeat, all Demoners please gather at the canteen. Thank you." With that he puts down the microphone he had in his hands, waiting for everyone to assemble at the canteen.
I look at Terrance and ask, "how did you know when? You've got a watch or something?"
Terrance shrugs in response. "I just use my observation," he explains, "A man going up to the stage with a microphone does simply let you know he's about to say something." I nod understandingly, realising even the slightest thing and observation can tell you about what's going to happen. Thanks to Terrance life of suspicion, he does make a good spy, I conclude in my mind..
I remember about Mrs Krane talking about needing spies to scout the org's territory and strategy. No doubt Terrance makes a good addition, I think to myself.
Soon, everyone settled down in their seats and the speaker raises the microphone to his mouth. "I have an important news to announce," he says in a dead serious tone, capturing every Demoner's attention.
"May we invite Mrs Krane for the opening speech," the man says, gesturing Mrs Krane to step up the stage, a round of applause comes in response. The man passes the microphone to Mrs Krane with a bow.
"Hello, Teachers and fellow students," Mrs Krane speaks to the mike, "this will be an important announcement so do listen carefully." She takes a pause for everyone to sit straight on their seats before proceeding. "We suspect that the orcs," she says, "Will be attacking us again." She decides to get straight to the point, ignoring the surprised looks and gasps from her audiences. "So we need to get trained for war which will be around in a century," she continues, bringing everyone to a shock and panicking state.
"But to keep the training interesting," she emphasised the "training". "We will be hosting annual competitions, everyone will have their ranking according to their contribution and their results of the competition," she announces. A chorus of agreement filled the canteen, the urge for competition boils in everyone's blood.
"The competition will consist of many components such as agility and an actual battle between teams," she says, everyone's eyes and ears open wide for more information. "But the components will not be told till the day of the competition and will be in a random order," she announces, to everyone's dismay.
"I shall declare the start of this new age of the Demoner Academy," Mrs Krane declares, earning a louder and energetic applause from every Demoner. With that, she passes the microphone to the man who enters the stage again.
"That's all for today's announcement," he says, "Now's the time for breakfast." In unison, all the bamboo shutters open up at once, releasing the aroma of food to the air. My mouth begins to drool and my stomach rumbles once more.
"I guess that's our cue then," Chloe says, immediately getting off her chair to a stall. I quickly go to look for another stall. This time, the menu were slightly different. It consist more carbohydrates and proteins.
I browse around before deciding on a meal of garlic breads and mushroom soup. I top the meal with some chicken drumsticks and a glass of white drink called barley. It has some beans at the bottom of the glass.
The cook gives me a smile as she passes the tray of food to me. "Hi, what grade are you?" She asks.
"I'm a first year here actually," I reply, returning her a smile.
She widen her eyes in surprise and says, "Oh my, a violet Demoner being a first year?"
Just then, a guy from behind taps on my shoulder. "Come on man, people are waiting behind," he says, pointing his thumb backwards to indicate the people in the queue.
"Oops, sorry," I apologise with a short bow before moving off to the table. Jason and Lucas have ordered their breakfast and busy eating.
"Hi guys," I speak, "What do you think about the upcoming competition?" I settle down beside them, placing my tray on the table.
"Well, that's quite a surprise I guess, we happened to be the first batch of the new competition," Lucas answers, putting his fork down.
"Yeah, a good competition will keep everyone eager for it and train for... a war," Jason adds in, trailing off as he remembers to reason of the competition.
"What are you guys talking about?" Chloe asks sitting beside me with her breakfast.
"We are talking about the competition, what do you think of it?" I ask, including her to our conversation.
"Well, I do think it's a good idea," Chloe answers, taking a bite on her bread, "What with team fights and skill tests to keep everyone eager for training and practise."
"Wait, team fight," Lucas stretches the "team" to emphasise on it. "Are we allowed to choose our own or does our teachers or coaches or mentors or... whatever you call them, choose our team?"
"I'm sure you prefer the first," Jason replies with a grin, "Do include me in your team then." Lucas rolls his eyes in annoyance.
"Add me too," says Alexander from the other side of the table.
"You've been listening?" Jason asks.
"Well duh, unless if it is so coincident that we're talking about the teams for the competition at the exact same time. But yes, I've been listening," Alexander answers, a smile plastered on his face in victory. A few "ooh"s could be heard from other students.
"Great. You win then," Jason says in defeat, putting his arms up in surrender. The smile on Alexander's face widens at that.
Unknowingly, I've been eating my meal as I watch the exchange. By now it was finished. "I'm finished, I'll go clear my plate," I say, gathering my utensils and heading for the plate collection point.
As I place my cutleries into their respective pails, I notice Jack had just placed his plates too. "Jack!" I call out, hoping to get his attention.
And I did. He turns around in response to the call, looking around to find the source.
I rush towards him, smiling to see him once more. "Hi Jack," I greet, looking up to meet his eyes.
"Oh, hi kiddo. Was it you who called me?" Jack says, looking down from his tall height.
"Yah, it was me," I answer, "We haven't properly meet yet. I'm Joel." I stick out my hand for a handshake.
"Well, nice to know you," Jack shakes my hand in response, "I take it you are at the meeting yesterday? I thought it was only for the officers and Demoners."
"I'm not sure, Zack just took me there," I shrug in reply. "You know Zack?" I ask, noticing that Jack's eyes widen the name.
"Yeah, he's a good Demoner. Quick wits, intelligent, speed manarting, he's all of it," Jack says with a deep voice, a sense of pride is obvious in it.
"Manart?" I ask with curiosity. I remember that Mrs Krane mentioned it while browsing through the book.
"Manart is using concentrated mana to draw out a symbol in the air," Jack explains the term.
"I don't remember the org drawing anything in the air, but his palm lit up instead," I say, rubbing my chin as I try to recall the details.
"The org was trying to rapidly shoot fireball. Manart done in the air is stronger but Manart can be done on the palm for speed," Jack explains, lighting up the air and palm as he states the respective ways of manarting.
"How did you know there was an orc attacking me?" I ask, catching Jack off guard.
"Oh, um... Zack mentioned it before," Jack replies, sounding half confident even though it was an obviously unexpected question.
"Oh," I acknowledge, nodding my head as I register the fact to my mind. "Who did you choose to join you for negotiating with the orgs and elves?" I ask, curiosity flooding through me.
"Well, Zack have definitely have to come. He's my best friend after all," Jack says, receiving a surprised look on my face but ignores it, "I'm not sure about the other two though."
Seizing the opportunity, I begin to beg him. "May I go?" I repeat a dozen times in a rapid fire before he could stop me. I try to give a puppy look to make him give in though deep in my heart I knew I look stupid.
"Woah, slow down, I've got to consider," Jack hastily pat on my shoulder to calm me down.
"Hi, what are you talking about?" Asks a voice from behind, making me jump and all calmness seems lost.
"Who's this?" Chloe questions me, noticing Jack who's trying to act casual.
"He's Jack, the guy whom we met yesterday," I introduce, trying to sound peaceful despite the scare she gave me.
"Oh, hi Jack," Chloe greets, giving Jack a friendly wave. "So, what are you guys talking about?" She asks, a note of curiosity in her voice.
"Oh we were talking about meeting with the..." I put in, before covered on the mouth by Jack's hand.
"Yeah, we're planning to meet the officers, or teachers whom you call them," Jack interrupts apace, his hands muffling my sentence.
"Oh, alright," Chloe says awkwardly, noticing my pitiful state as I'm being silenced by Jack's sweaty palm. Sensing that it was the end of the topic, Jack puts his hands to his sides. "So who are you meeting?" Chloe pries, trying to switch the subject.
I put up a finger and take a deep breath to answer. "Well, probably Captain Lynch and Madam Silvia," Jack suggests briskly, covering my mouth again before I could say another word. Once again, I can taste the salty moisture from his palm.
"Who's Madam Silvia?" Chloe asks. She gives me a wan smile of apology for getting me to this state. I roll my eyes in exasperation.
"She teaches Demonology," Jack answers simply, not making the same mistake of letting go of my mouth in spite of the change in issue.
"Alright, sure. I've got to go now," Chloe says, waving to us as she begin to fade in the distance.
As Chloe leaves, Jack finally lets go of me. "Salty," I say as I spit out some contaminated saliva from my mouth.
"What were you thinking? You nearly let her know about the mission," Jack whispers with exasperation, his eyes narrowing down into mine.
"Sorry Jack," I apologise quietly, tearing the eye contact between us as I look down in apology.
"Next time, don't," Jack stresses on the word, "Tell anyone about meeting with the orgs and elves."
I suddenly feel as if someone was watching us. A six sense telling me there was somebody close by and listening. Jack cranes up to look around, scanning the surroundings as if he had sensed the presence too.
"I've got to go now," Jack finally says, looking back to me, "Just remember, never mention it." With that, Jack walk away without turning back to me.
Oh well, I think to myself. For a moment I do not know what to do. Then I come with a decision. "Let's go find the others," I say before heading back to the table.
At this time, most people had left the place, leaving Alexander and some other students. I jog forward towards them. Alexander is the first to take notice of me.
"Hey Joel!" He exclaims, waving towards me. I considerately increase my speed as I know that Alexander is waiting for me.
I take a look at the faces around the table. "Hi guys," I address to them, acquiring simple "Hi"s and "Hello"s from them. I take a look at them, most of them are red Demoners with occasional yellows in the group. As I study them, I take note of them studying back at me.
"Hey Joel, where have you been?" Alexander asks, breaking the silence at the table.
"Well..." I answers before getting interrupted for the third time of the day.
"Are you a violet Demoner?" A girl asks, raising her hand.
I turn around to look at her, registering in my mind that she was the girl whose name was assumably forgotten by Alexander.
"Yes, I am," I answer.
"And you're a first year here?" She interrogates, her eyes looking deep into my eyes.
"Yes," I answer.
"I need to talk to you for a moment," she declare before turning to the others, "please excuse me." A ring of confused students turns to look at her, whom ignores them.
I follow her as asked. She make a few turns at different corner, turning back to see if I'm still following. Finally, we reach a remote part of the village. She stops at her track and says, "There's something I need to clarify about."
Hi guys, how are you now?
Sorry about taking a long time to make this chapter. I was busy helping my relatives with setting up their new home's furniture for the past few days.
I hope that you guys have been enjoying this book and Guess what?! My book has reached 1 thousand views! My first target is reached and now, my next will be hitting a hundred vote for this book. :D
To celebrate my first achievement, I had made this chapter longer than usual :D
Have a good life ahead! Cheers!
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