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                                                                   CHAPTER 11

                              "Any fool can know. The point is to understand."

                                                             ― Albert Einstein 

"THEY ARE OUR gifts that have been bestowed upon us. We have the responsibility to use them accordingly and not in the path of evil. Many things fall into the word 'evil.' In fact, one might not even realize they are using it wrongly until it is too late and their mind has been corrupted with lies they have been telling themselves," Cesare paused.

It was history day at the castle for the Top Ten, a very important subject according to Cesare. As a good fellow Scar, they must know everything about the past of the Scars and how they came to. It came before being a warrior, or at least that's what Cesare, the greatest warrior of all time, the man who fought in the Battle of the Bull, the greatest war of history had said that this useless information came before being a warrior, Helene had gawked for a whole ten minutes before she sat back, surprised.

Their lessons had started with the birth of the Scars, moving onto how they multiplied and survived. Soon they were talking about the technology used at that era and the wars fought. Cesare went into detail.

Today was review day. They would be having their tests one day before heading off to whatever missions they had and Helene was not prepared. As they reviewed, Helene listened closely, jotting all the noted she missed. Her red notebook was full of her rushed writing and messy diagrams, trying to capture everything Cesare said, word to word. Sometimes she missed a point and instantly her hand would be up, asking him to repeat the previous point so she could write it down in her messy writing.

Yesterday, she had managed to ask Brenna to let Raylan have his own room and surprisingly, she agreed. She had given him the room right below hers, and he was more than happy to be out of his crappy hotel. She had said she would consider letting him join them on the trip, maybe if he behaved himself. Currently, he sat listening to their lesson at the back, recording it with his phone, no doubt posting it on his Instagram.

Helene wanted her phone. She had had to use Cas' phone the other day to text Raylan and tell him to come to the castle with his things. He was confused at first about the fact that Cas was texting him, but he soon realized why. Or more like remembered why.

"Everyone got that down?" Cesare asked loudly. "Helene?"

Helene put a thumbs up using her left hand as she finished her current sentence. She looked up at Cesare who was now in deep conversation with Damien. He caught her eye and smiled. She gave him a grin.

Cesare turned to the whole class. "Damien is here to teach the topic of 'powers,' which is also a very important subject in our history class."

One of the guys named James raised his hand. "Sir, can you repeat the part where you said that in the Battle of the Bull, mortals were on our side, but did the Scar's betray them or did they betray us? I missed that part."

Cesare rubbed his brow, his eyes twinkling with excitement. "Ah, that part again. I remember it being very gloomy and dark that day as if the universe knew what was about to happen. First thing first. There was a confusion between both the kinds. The demons tricked us both and made us turn onto each other. At the end, it was all three of the kinds, Scars, Mortals, and Demons fighting one another, and not getting anywhere. As we saw that we were losing, the powerful mind control Scars began to control the mortals in huge crowds and used them to fight with us. We had quite a lot of mind controllers if you think about it."

He rubbed his hand together as if he was delighted. "That was where the immense hatred that the mortals have for us began. Most of them hated us from the start because we had power which they did not. We were jealous of the Mortals for their high technology. And off course, Scars and Mortals were jealous of the Demons for their great numbers and their way of fighting, working together to defeat countries at once. They were quite remarkable. Our scientists tried to calculate the way they fought except they were not able to discover anything. No patterns. No rhythm. Nothing."

It was pin drop silence. Though they had already heard the story many times, the way Cesare told them was a whole different story. He attracted the attention of everyone in seconds with his calm poetic voice and told all the stories as if he had been there for all of them. Well- he had been there for the Battle of the Bull, but it was a different story.

Cesare sighed. "Got that down, James?"

He nodded from his seat, finishing his sentence. Helene leaned back, flexing her tired fingers. Damien stood like a statue in the front, holding a notebook with a tablet on top for notes just in case he forgot something important.

"Now," Cesare cleared his throat. "Please listen closely to prince Damien because he does not have the patience I do. You may ask him to repeat what he has said but try to get down the information faster." He turned to Damien. "You may start."

Damien looked at everyone with a delighted look, a gleam in his eyes. "As Cesare said a while ago, power is a gift that we have been given to use. We must not use it in the wrong way."

He began to pace the floor in front of them. "Powers come from the amount of energy that we have conserved inside of us. Depending on your parents, the power you get makes you who you are. It explains you in a way you or anyone else cannot. There are many reasons why that specific power has been given to you and you must find that reason and use it accordingly."

He paused as if thinking about what to say next. Helene leaned in, more interested than ever.

"They have a core. That's your brain. The way you manipulate your powers is on you and what your powers are. Let's say I have water powers, for example. I want to drown someone using my powers. How do I do that? I would obviously have to be learning about my powers since I was young. But most importantly, I would have to use my mind to control it. I would have to feel the water in my veins and feel it climbing up the person's throat, cutting off any circulations, stopping them from breathing and watching them drop down dead. Since this is not my power, I do not have a lengthy understanding of it. But if you have this power, you must understand what I am talking about."

"Mind control is all about using your mind to control anyone you please. It consists of getting inside of the person's head. It sounds very cool and very interesting, but in real life, it is an art you must exceed in. It consists of headaches and migraines. If you do anything wrong and lose yourself into their mind, you are under their control. And if you forget and get stuck, you go crazy. So you see? There are pros and cons to everything. One mistake with your very own power can kill you."

The silence suddenly became unbearable. Helene wanted to scream into the silence and end it in that very moment. But she didn't move and her body did not obey.

"One mistake and your power will turn on you," Damien said again, shutting his tablet as if he didn't need it any longer.

"Your exams are this week, the day before you leave on your missions. If this wasn't for the Fight it To Win it competition, then we would have not waited to send you on your missions for a week and you would have been busy traveling at the moment. But since we have taken this responsibility, we will fulfill it. Now, as I was saying." He ran a hand through is hair, making it messier than usual.

"Cesare must have been teaching you all more fighting moves and deeper knowledge on how to use your powers, but you must also understand the history of the powers that you have. Each power comes from one place. No one knows exactly where, but there are many theories that have been created in hopes to find the right place. Even though that is not what we are here to talk about, it is something worth mentioning."

"Let's now talk about the top rare and the strongest powers a Scar can have in their control." He looked around the whole class with a raised eyebrow as if he was waiting for someone to reply. Maybe he was.

Donna raised her hand. "Well first off, there is the mind control, Illusion, Shape-shifting and Force. Oh, and there is the absorber who can absorb other people's powers. It always depends on how much of it you have inside of you. Sometimes people have a little bit of mind control or any of those powers- but they are useless because a little tiny drop of it won't be able to do something big. But let's take Prince Legion's power for example." She shot him a lovesick look. "His powers are the strongest. He can probably control a whole country and make them do whatever he wants. I'm a hundred percent sure he can even-"

"Yes, we get the point, Donna," Damien interrupted her with a bored expression that said just-shut-the-hell-up. "Anyway, you are correct. Mind control, Illusion, Shape-shifting, Force and Absorbation. The most important powers of all. As time goes by, scientists have started to invent devices and medicines or drugs to make your powers stronger for a temporary time. They work towards making them stronger permanently with a few to no side effects."

Riley raised her hand. "What if some Scar has a power other then the ones you have mentioned and yet their power is stronger than the top rare powers? I mean, that can be possible, right?"

"That is a different story," Damien muttered as if he didn't like the question. "The Scar then, therefore, becomes known for their strong power. Having a strong power and being able to use it to its full extent are two different things. Even if you have a rare power and do not know how to use it, then there is no point of having it, especially if it's going to pop out of nowhere when you are desperately in need of help or not pop out at all."

Everyone nodded as if that cleared up the question perfectly. Helene leaned back, biting her lip.

"Homework for today. Go find the true extent of your powers without anyone's help. I want a whole five-page report on how you use your powers and how you feel during the usage time and how you feel afterward. Come to the front to collect your individual rubrics. No teamwork, no help. As I said, this is individual." With that, Damien walked out of the room, his footsteps echoing through the whole room. Helene immediately bolted out of her seat and ran after him, her feet gracefully landing one after another. He had already turned the corner, his back disappearing behind the wall. Helene turned the corner after, him, bumping into his back.

"Sorry," she muttered, rubbing her forehead.

Damien shot her a cute, dimpled smile. Back at the conference room, he looked nothing like the handsome boy he looked like now. "That's okay."

"So, you hate teaching?" she asked, changing the subject from her clumsiness. "Aren't you like 16?"

"18, actually," he looked at her shyly, through his eyelashes. "I just look younger."

"Oh."

"My mom made me teach today. She knows I am into science and she wanted me to teach you about powers."

"We never learned anything sciencey today," she frowned.

Damien bit his lip, almost worried. "I want to be a scientist, except I am a prince. Prince's don't become scientists. When my mom found out, she made me do all sorts of things to keep me busy. Everyone knows that loyalty comes before work."

Helene looked at him with wide eyes. "I'm sorry. It must be hard."

"You have no idea," he sighed. "Duty or work? I'm torn between the two."

Helene bit the inside of her cheek. "I guess so. Try to keep science as a hobby, maybe?"

"Yeah, I try." He smiled at her, his eyebrows rising. "I gotta go fill in my parents with today's work. Talk to you later?"

Helene grinned and gave him a thumbs up. As he left, Helene turned to watch him go, his silhouette vanishing down the hallway.

She turned back to where he was standing only moments ago. There, on the wall, was the big painting. And once again, their second awkward conversation was in front of the big painting, a witness to it all.

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