Embedded in His Mind

~°°~

.

Look. A dot.

It's small and worthless, just like you.

Will that get you to finally leave?

Stranger, you're stupidly resilient.

~°°~

The solitary confinement. A squared room that would take three strides at length and width. Twelve steps. Twelve steps took up eight or nine seconds. Nine seconds in eight hours. Eight hours is composed of four hundred eighty minutes. That's a lot of time. Solutions. Scenarios. What to do? His mind ushered.

He carefully remembered to not step on the lines of the tiles. That would mess up his pace. It would—and he's focusing on the wrong thing.

So, they were being harvested. By demons. It was one of his foregone conclusions ever since Lethe had told that she saw demons. He had been optimistic but of course, his conclusion had been correct. Of course. He ignored his shaking fingers and the trembles on his skin.

Boreas hurried his pacing as he ran a shaky hand over his raven-black hair.

So. Escape. But to where exactly?

Since this 'school' was actually a farm for demons, the outside would likely be filled with demons. He rubbed his chin.

And the darkness. Boreas bit his lip. The darkness that apparently ruled the world. Was that even real? It was likely just a ploy to make them fear the outside. But what if it wasn't? Hypothetically, if darkness did rule the world currently, there would be no fruits or trees outside. Demons possibly made human food in small areas that were lighted up with magic of some sort similar to the school's Light Tower. If they do escape, they'll just die in starvation and—

Boreas stopped his pace and shook his head, slapping the side of his cheeks. There's no use in hypothetical. The priority is to escape first.

Even so, his mind insisted. It would be very beneficial to know atleast a tidbit of the situation outside.

Boreas continued his restless pacing in the room. Two options. The chocolate or Eris' Peculiar. Both of which were very unknown and unstable to use. But the first problem would be how to get near to the Dome's walls in the first place. The school's stocks were low—Lethe couldn't always steal ingredients from the Potions Room and make invisibility potions.

Which would lead to one possible solution.

Tell the secret to more students. More students, more Peculiars. It would be beneficial. Especially if they managed to get the Golden Three. Even without their Specials—Gullerva, a prodigy. Huine, while intolerable was strong and Kruger was intelligent. Dependable. At atleast from the small glimpses he had gotten from sharing a few classes with them.

But telling them would also bring problems. Gullerva—the biggest teacher's pet—would stare at him blankly and report it to the Principal or something; Krowan Huine would laugh at his face and Thalia Kruger would just point-blank ignore.

Not to mention, the demons watching them every day except for Wednesday. They couldn't just wait for every Wednesday to come around so they could talk and plan—waste of time. Graduation would soon come around.

Boreas slowed his stride, head now getting dizzy with all his pacing. They need to regroup, plan something coherent but they can't because—"Gods, eight hours is so long."

"Yeah, no shit," said another voice. It came from the compartment beside Boreas'. "Can you please stop pacing? So fucking annoying."

Boreas flushed, stopping immediately. "Right. Sorry."

Shit. We need to calm down, his mind supplied. If a random person could notice how frazzled he was so could they. Act normal. Act normal. Act normal. He cleared his throat, poising himself. "Acting normal."

The person in the other confinement snorted. "Weirdo."

"Can you please shut up," Boreas said, tersely as he massaged the sides of his head. "I'm trying to think."

"Well, I'm trying to sleep. Not everyone has the energy to pace around for hours. Nerd."

Boreas frowned, crossing his arms. "Clever insult," he snarked sarcastically. "Plus, you can't even sleep in here. It rattles when you do."

"Let's just say, I have my ways," the person replied, smug. "So, please shut up."

~°°~

The door lock clicked as the timer formed a zero. Boreas stood up grunting, as the door opened. Professor Fasbur Jhlor awaited outside their watch locket in hand. Their gloved hands smoothed out their suit.

Boreas swerved his head as four other doors beside his opened, revealing Lethe, Eris, Krowan Huine and Helen Sevhe.

Professor Jhlor clicked their tongue and pocketed the locket, wavy grey locks sweeping their face. "Follow. We don't have a lot of time."

Boreas groaned internally. Believe it or not, eight hours in confinement was not the worst thing. That would be catching up with all the assignments. The five glumly trodded behind the Professor.

Huine tilted his head in Boreas' direction, unseeing eyes blank, yet knowing. "Now I know why the guy next to me was annoying. It was you."

Boreas disregarded him; he did not have the time for such nonsense.

Professor Jhlor led them to a secluded classroom, impatiently prompting them in. "Students, you are well aware of the rules. Huine, Sevhe, Walth and Heindell. Twenty times in two months. Poitraz, I expected more from you." Their muddy eyes turned sharp. "The school prioritizes you. The rules prioritize you. The rules are important and each one of them is for your well-being. But, even so, you five decided to break them and cause havoc in the school. The school that protected you and cared for you for years."

Lethe snorted but cleverly disguised it into a cough instead.

The Professor paid no heed. "You think you can handle the world? You think you can rebel without consequences?" Their words rang like a threat. Boreas hoped his face gave no emotion. "You'll die outside. So, just follow and follow the rules. You are to do the duty for the better good."

They looked at the five meaningfully.

Boreas stared at their scar before looking down at his feet.

Eris glared holes in their eyes, unflinching. Their knuckles bled.

Professor Jhlor clasped their hands together. A plethora of training simulator helmets dropped in front of the five. "These are today's performances and training you have missed. Fail the tests and you will have to redo them. What we want is excellence, not mediocrity. Mediocrity is wrong. What you five have done is wrong. Understand?"

A hollow 'Yes, Professor,' chorused.

"Two more students were also unable to attend today's classes. Please wait while I get them." The door closed, hiding the tall silhouette of Professor Jhlor. Their rhythmic steps pattered farther and farther slowly disappearing.

"Gods, Professors are so dramatic." Helen Sevhe rolled her eyes. "It was just a bit of fun. No one was really hurt on that toe eating potion."

Lethe stared at the green haired girl with interest. "Toe Eating Potions, you say..."

"They're all sad sacks of crap, to be honest. They repeat that speech every time. I could memorize it by heart," agreed Huine as he kicked the helmet like a ball. "I'm bored as hell—I'm top two in the training simulators. I don't need this shit."

"Thals was still very bitter about that, by the way." Sevhe twirled her green locks, bored. "Earlier, she drew a very cute sketch of you and then proceeded to stab it with a fork, burned it and stomped the ashes. I suggest not even breathing the same air as her unless you want your eyes gouged out."

"How lovely." Huine grinned maliciously, warring the scarred lines in his skin. "Surely you could help in my inevitable predicament. It's not my fault that I'm just better than her."

Sevhe mused. "Alas, no. I'm a jack of all trades but if you cross that line, I'm not gonna be able to help you. Also, don't let her hear you say that."

"Right. Forgot you only side with your dearest Thals."

Sevhe blushed bright red.

The door swung open once again. A disgruntled Thalia Kruger and a weary Rycella Gullerva entered in, similar training simulator helmets in their hands as Professor Jhlor standing behind them. Boreas blinked as he wore the helmet. Did all the top scorers miss the training?

"You all will be grouped," Jhlor said. "Three monster waves set in survival. Good luck."

Sighing, Lethe took out a pie and ate it.

~°°~

Snow filled his vision. It grappled out of the dark skies, harshly plummeting on towering pine trees. Boreas fondled his frigid hands together and breathed on them. Cold. He glanced behind him; Gullerva and Huine looked unbothered, the rest chattering in the cold.

"Lethe." Mist oozed from his mouth. "Fire please.."

"Erm. Wait." Lethe looked at her hands desperately. Nothing happened. She looked ashen and dazed—Boreas was about to ask if she was okay—

Kruger sneered, taking out a fire glyph. Warmth and fire flickered out of the small paper. "Not gonna last long but it'll work for now." She glanced at Lethe. "Get yourself together unless you want to redo this alone. Also, do you bath? You stink."

"Fuck off." Eris bit back on Lethe's defense. "Sorry, we can't control our Peculiars yet. Not everyone has Specials like you."

Huine leaned his head to his cane, amused.

Kruger whipped her head to Eris, strands of golden hair framing her face. "Oh. You. With your screaming glasses." Her small nose wrinkled as she muttered, "This is the reason why I don't like teaming up with lower students." She grabbed Sevhe's hand. "Helen and I can go on our own. I ended up in here waiting for her anyways."

Boreas frowned, parting his mouth only to be cut off.

"That's not necessary," Gullerva said, tiredly. "Let us not be needlessly petty. I want to be just done with this. Sticking together is much more effective and faster—"

"And who decided for you to be the leader?" challenged Thalia, nose flaring. Boreas raised a brow. So, Eris wasn't the only one here with anger issues.

"I decided for myself," Rycella replied, unfazed raising her head above the smaller girl. "Since clearly, I am the only one who doesn't have a temper of a teaspoon. Huine is eating popcorns, Poitraz isn't even speaking and Walth can't even use her Peculiar."

Boreas glared at Rycella.

"Sod off, Rice Guava," snapped Lethe.

Rycella blinked and looked thoroughly confused.

And. And, Huine was actually eating popcorn. How the hell?

Eris piped in, raising their hand. "I agree with Kruger here. Lethe, Boreas and I can handle ourselves. Since clearly, the Golden Three doesn't want to be dragged down by 'lower students'."

Boreas would love to say he's actually the top four but had the sense to not to.

"I say that because you are all acting like this," glowered Kruger, eyes now burning holes. "People keep acting Specials are some kind of gods. Whenever I get teamed with some lower students, they'd either just make me do all the work or be some bitter nitwit with issues." She took heavy steps nearer to Eris, whispering. "And I'm not gonna let myself be insulted just because some people have an inferiority complex."

Eris laughed, not backing down. "High talk from you. Weren't you the one who got pissy whenever Rycella speaks? And sure," they shrugged. "Maybe I have some inferiority complex but looking at me like gum on your shoe isn't fucking helping."

Boreas chided them sharply, resting a hand on their shoulder. "Eris."

"Look." Rycella sighed. "Let's stop fighting inwardly, shall we? The monsters are coming soon and we haven't even made a proper camp."

Sevhe dropped a hand on Kruger's shoulder, gently murmuring. "Let it go, Thals. C'mon. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can leave."

"Fine," the blonde-haired girl spat out. "But, please, do not talk to me. Got it?"

"Got it." Huine gulped his popcorn. "Honestly, I think you guys would be warmer if y'all would just take out then burn the stick up your asses." When Kruger glared and Sevhe shot him a 'not the time' look, he shrugged, rolling his eyes. "What? It's true. Y'all be petty as fuck—it's hilarious." He glanced at Boreas petulantly. "And Poitraz, stop staring at me like some rat in your lab experiment?"

Boreas looked away sheepishly, as the group began to walk. He wasn't staring, he was simply interested. Warm air surrounded Huine and not a snowflake had landed on him either. Wait, how on earth did he know Boreas was staring at him? "What's your Peculiar?"

"Eh. 'S something I can't exactly explain. Helps me though. It's not really seeing but I can navigate my way through it." Huine led a hand all over his buzzed, tawny brown hair. "Pretty cool, eh?"

Boreas nodded. "Then, why'd you need a cane, Huine?"

Krowan smirked. "For pity points, duh. I get extra slices of cake if I just asked the chair nicely. Also, Huine suck. Whoever named me is an idiot. Just call me Krowan, gods."

"Right." Boreas held out his hand, politely. "I'm Boreas Poitraz."

Unbeknownst, shadows lurked in the unseen, eyes flared red. It pounced behind Krowan, pulling with it the stench of cold and sulfur. And before Boreas could react, its deformed face of scales and teeth exploded. Its enormous body fell, seemingly crushed by an enormous, invisible hand.

Krowan tilted his head, lips quirked in a small smile as green blood spilt, wilting the snow it touched into a mist. "I know..? We've been classmates for ages..."

Boreas clamped shut his open mouth, dropping his hand limply. Blinking, he looked around and noticed dozens of demon corpses lying in the pale snow. "Right. Wow. Okay."

"First wave finished in ten seconds." A monotonous voice spoke from above. "System has decided to upped the difficulty. Second wave will begin, accordingly. Good luck."

At that, the dark skies began to roar, a harsh rain erupted and fell snow they stood upon turned into sharp, rocky ledges of a mountain. The group staggered as the earth shook and raised up, shattered by zigzagging lines. The land Boreas stood on broke apart like glass. He clutched to the edge desperately, blood dripping down his wrist as his hands clung to the sharp rocks.

Lethe lunged to help, ignoring the sudden sharp stung of pain in her thigh.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw Eris stumble and fall off to the edge. A flash of dark red hair drizzled by rain and hands wrapped in glyphs and bandage—someone jumped after them.

~°°~