Rai wasn’t sure why he was frustrated. At first he thought it was to do with the bullies who refused to just leave without fighting, but after further pondering he found that he was more annoyed at himself. Why couldn’t I see that I was just pitying that boy? I didn’t consider how he would’ve felt after getting bailed out... he’ll probably still have to go through bullying like that and I won’t be around to stop it every time, so his reaction makes sense. I’d be the same if I was in his shoes. Rai sighed. He’d come to realise that not every situation could be solved by a single fight.
After walking around aimlessly, his frustration didn’t disappear. Rai thought about finding somewhere nice to sit, rest, and relax before his next lesson. Maybe that way, he wouldn’t be so annoyed. The Academy was set up to allow rest and relaxation for students in between their lessons or during their free periods since the curriculum was so stressful for most. Rai was grateful that they considered the overall student body’s wellbeing.
After a while, Rai found a nice spot to sit outdoors in one of the pagodas on the Academy grounds. The seats were comfortable, with lots of cushions. The weather was great, with not a raindrop in sight. Rai allowed himself to relax. He was still in school, but since there was still a solid hour until lunch. There wasn’t much else he could do right now.
Unsurprisingly, Rai dozed off. He started dreaming...
Evolve
Balance
Transcend
The voices kept squirming among themselves. The only constant was those three words.
Boom!
A human? A galaxy. Rai saw the celestial figure. The one made up of entire galaxies.
Boom!
Red hair. Red eyes. Rai saw Sin. Though, she was older. She had black glowing runes circling her wrists, and lining her face below her eyes. She looked... powerful.
Boom!
A mirror. Himself. Rai saw a grown up version of himself in the mirror. His eyes were inverted in colour. Glowing blue runes lined up around both of his eyes. His aura was entirely visible, and it almost reminded him of... a dragon? Where his seals were supposed to be, was a pair of tattoos that resembled what they looked like.
Boom!
Rai saw nothing. But he heard everything.
The key. Where is the key?
Can you read it?
I can read it.
WE NEED THE KEY!
I’m too weak.
Save them... Rai... Save them please!
Save yourself! Rai, you have to save yourself!
KILL THEM ALL! WIPE THEM OUT!
Elly! Where are you?!
Where’s Jin! Where is he?!
Mum! Sin!
Rai... I... I love...
DON’T YOU DARE DIE ON ME!
They’re fine! You have to go!
Find the truth.
The secret of the world.
Boom!
Rai flew up. He was breathing heavily. Sweat dripped down his forehead. “What just...” He whispered under his breath. A trio of shadows formed on the ground in front of Rai. He looked up.
Three figures stood in front of him. A man with wheat coloured hair. A black bear with white glowing tattoos all over its body. And a man who felt familiar yet distant. He had blue eyes and long black hair, just like Rai.
They were lined up in an order from left to right. The bear was first, then the man with black hair who was familiar yet unfamiliar to Rai, then the wheat-haired man.
“You have”
“To find”
“Me.”
The man who felt familiar to Rai opened his mouth. A thunderous voice boomed in his mind, “Open the gate.”
Boom!
Rai woke up.
He was screaming.
Rodrick held his hand over Rai’s forehead. It was glowing a cool blue. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re awake now.”
Rai panted. Rodrick saw only panic on the boy’s face. Rai's eyes darted all over the place, and his breathing was ragged. “I felt a disturbance in mana fluctuations in this area and I came to see you squirming in your sleep. Take a minute, have some water.” He snapped his fingers, conjuring a cup with water in it.
Rai snatched it, and drank. He drank with large gulps for a few seconds. Even after he’d finished, the cup was still full to the brim.
Rodrick waited for Rai to take some long breaths before continuing. After a few minutes, Rai entered a calmer state. Rodrick tapped the cup, “It’s called a premonition. What you just went through is something that those blessed by mana end up experiencing at least once.” He whispered under his breath, "It's as much a curse as it is a blessing."
Rai was still panting, but his breath was less ragged now, “It was... so real... and terrifying.” He still had the mental room to be suspicious of Rodrick’s uncannily relevant knowledge, “How do you know?”
Rodrick sighed, “I’ve seen it twice before.”
Rai was shocked. There are others like me? Others who have lived like I have? I have to know more. “Can... can you tell me about them?”
Rodrick nodded. He solemnly looked up at the twin suns' silhouette behind the clouds in the sky. “The first was a little girl called Diana... She died not too long after her premonition.”
Rai took another sip of water. He felt genuinely sad, “I’m sorry to hear that.”
The headmaster shook his head, “Her blessing was too much for her to handle. Her premonition was about her own death. I took her under my wing, but in the end I... couldn’t protect her from herself.” Rai noticed a hint of regret in Rodrick’s voice. He must have felt responsible for her death...
Rodrick smiled softly, “The other one though... I bet you’d never expect it. Since it’s someone you know, take a guess, who do you think it is?”
Rai closed his eyes for a moment. He thought about it long and hard. “Is it Joey, the vice-principal?”
Rodrick stared at him, then broke out into laughter, “That guy?! I can’t believe that was your guess!” He broke into a fit of giggles.
Rai was somewhat embarrassed, but he didn’t understand why Rodrick reacted the way he did, “Why can’t it be Joey?”
Rodrick simmered down, “That boy has hardly any mana at all. His strength comes from his physical techniques. Joey may be my subordinate, but he’s every bit as powerful as I am through pursuing the growth of his own body. It's just that he has hardly any defensive techniques by virtue of pursuing explosive power. That's not to say he cannot use spells, it's just that he's limited in what he can cast."
Rai was blown away; he never knew Joey to be as great as the headmaster had just praised him to be. Rai thought for a moment longer, “Okay, tell me who it is.”
Rodrick smiled warmly, “It’s your teacher, Lillia. Her premonition still hasn’t come to fruition.”
Rai stared blankly at him. He was so exasperated that he’d forgotten how to speak.
Rodrick lightly chuckled, “I figured. You couldn’t tell, right?”
Rai shook his head.
Rodrick sighed, “It’s because her mana’s sealed. Her necklace isn’t only beautiful, it also functions as a seal. Like your bands.”
Rai’s eyes widened, “You... knew?” Rai instinctively readied himself for defence.
Rodrick laughed again, “Only because I had to save Lillia’s life with her own seals. Yours are clearly far more advanced, so I can only assume your mana reserves are much deeper.” Rodrick alleviated Rai’s immediate concerns, “The secret is safe with me. The council will never hear of it.” He winked.
Rai rolled his eyes. If the headmaster had already broken the law by sealing Lillia’s mana, then there was no way that he'd tell the council about Rai’s. Rai lowered his defences.
Rodrick shot Rai a solemn look, “Your blessing is also a curse. If you were to ever unseal all of your mana, the world around you would fold in on itself. It’s far too dangerous.”
Rai was finally feeling a bit better. “Yeah... I always felt like something bad would happen if I released all of it. It will only get worse when I get older, right?”
Rodrick nodded. “It doesn’t get easier.”
Rai smiled, “Well, at least I’ve got Sin! She makes things easier whenever she’s around.”
Rodrick smiled back at Rai, “You should let her know that. It’s not often that you’re blessed to have such a reliable friend by your side.”
Rai nodded, completely agreeing with Rodrick’s sentiment, “I will!”
Rodrick sat with Rai for a few more minutes, just to make sure that Rai was actually fine. As he left, he reminded Rai not to be late for lunch, which was starting in a few minutes.
Rai smiled and waved him goodbye. After Rodrick left, Rai thought back on the premonition. He'd forgotten most of it by now, but the things he could remember were disturbing. The image of a man that Rai thought was his father telling Rai to find him. Then saying to 'open the gate'. What could that possibly mean? The phrase 'secret of the world' also lingered. Rai didn't know just how much of this premonition he could trust, but since Diana's premonition came true then at least some of his would probably hold true.
Rai sighed. There's too much to worry about. I'm just going to go to lunch and try to forget about it.
Rai made his way to the cafeteria. His premonition was weighing on his mind. Somehow, Rai felt physically heavier as well. In fact, it was the weight of a tall boy with slicked back brown hair.
His excitable voice boomed in the hallway, “Good to see you bro!”
Bro?
Tullian grinned, “How was your recovery? Sin said that we weren’t allowed to come and see you until you were all good.”
A shiver ran down Rai’s back. Sin’s militant nature when she took of Rai had clearly left an imprint on him. Rai nervously smiled back at him, “It was mostly fine. Sin helped me through all of it.” His smile curled into a frown, “I still can’t use lightning right now though.” The last words came at a surprise to Tullian.
Tullian frowned as well, “It’s my fault. If you didn’t fight me and Amy, maybe the headmaster wouldn’t have taken you to that other society.”
Rai stared at him, deadpan. “Are you stupid?”
Tullian nodded, “A little.”
“...”
“...”
Rai sighed. “It wasn’t your fault. I was stuck in my own head and the headmaster helped me out of it. You guys did nothing wrong!”
Tullian rubbed the back of his head, “Really? Alright then.”
Rai stared at him again. Is he dumber than I am?
Rai felt a slap on his back and nearly fell forward.
“Hey! You're that first year, Rai, was it?” A group of students wearing black uniforms came up behind him.
Rai and Tullian were in the cafeteria by this point, and were attracting attention from people near the entrance. Noisy conversations surrounded them.
Rai turned around to see them all. “Hey, the adventurer’s society! How are you all doing?”
The guy at the front nodded, “We’re all well. We’re also glad to see you’re well! Do you want to spar with us after school today?”
The noise around them stopped. Students sat at the lunch tables wondered if they heard that right. A group of second years asked a first year if they wanted to spar?
Rai brightened up, “Oh! That sounds like...” He deflated, “fun. I can’t today, but maybe at the session next week?”
The second year smiled at him, “Yeah, that'd be great! See you around!” He waved bye to Rai. The other second years did the same as they walked past Rai and Tullian, into the cafeteria.
Rai waved them all goodbye.
The students who watched the exchange practically lost their jaws. The first year actually declined the invitation, and the second years were fine with it?! What the fuck is going on!
Tullian was confused, but he almost always felt confused, so he didn’t think much of it. The two of them looked around the cafeteria to try and find their friends. Rai thought the only bad thing about the cafeteria was that it was so big. It was like one huge hall with tons of tables and chairs. There were always so many students spread all around it. Finding their friends here was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
If Rai had access to Stormflow then he could have found them instantly.
He shook his head. I can’t think like that! Stormflow isn’t the only thing in my arsenal. Everything else is just as important.
Tullian looked around for a bit before returning to Rai, “Do you think we should get our food first, then try and find them after? Even if it’s a hot meal, we can just heat it up with magic if it gets cold.”
Rai blinked at him. “... So you’re not stupid.”
Tullian laughed, “Not always!”
Rai smiled, “Okay, let’s get our food first then.”
They went to the front of the cafeteria and lined up in the queue to get their food. Fortunately the queue moved relatively quickly. In a few minutes, they arrived at the serving area.
The food itself looked delicious. Today’s serving was rice alongside lizard tail soup.
Lizard tail soup.
Rai completely lost himself to the memory of Dorothy’s lizard tail soup. There was no way that the school’s chefs could make it as good as she could.
He was right.
Rai tried a spoon of it as they walked, and it just wasn’t the same. Still, he was glad that he could enjoy a familiar dish while at the Academy. Dorothy would be glad to hear that her lizard tail soup really is the best he's ever had.
After a few minutes, Rai and Tullian found their friends. True to his request, Sin saved a seat next to her for Rai. Sin looked up and somehow found Rai’s eyes instantly.
She wasn’t blushing.
I thought I teased her... Did she already get over it?
