Despite not accomplishing what he originally planned, Drew felt as though his day went extremely well. First, he was able to figure out why Elias ended up in his slump. Second, he was able to become friends with not only Elias but also with Wan, the daughter of the inn at the edge of Glass Road. Finally, he learned that all three of them were planning to take the Star Entrance Exam in over five months and they even formed a Team to take the Star Team Exam.
Saying their goodbyes, Drew and Elias left the inn. Starting next week, they would begin to prep seriously for the Team Exam. It was two in the afternoon and the heat from the two suns shining over Kraus began to fade. Walking back from the inn, Drew and Elias encountered the thugs from earlier. There were standing in another alleyway like lowlifes with nothing better to do smoking their weed and in taking large amounts of cocaine. It seems like the recovered quickly from all that running earlier. Ignoring the duo, the thugs retreated farther into the alleyway, a couple of them shuddering.
“They really have nothing better to do,” Drew remarked as he watched their backs fade into the darkness.
“After my father gave them a good beating, they just began to walk around Glass Road aimlessly.”
“You mentioned earlier that they flunked out of Star. Do you know why?”
Elias nodded
“Everyone on Glass Road knows.”
“The thug with the red shirt and streaked blond hair is Price, the leader. He’s a year older than us and so are his buddies. The one wearing the sunglasses is Kenneth and the one with the skull patterned bandanna is Riush. They used to be part of Star’s Genius Class. “
Drew’s eyes widened.
“The Genius Class! How? They’re Low F-Class Genetic Warriors they couldn’t have possibly made it in with that kind of low Otrio level.”
“That’s because they weren’t Low F-Class. Price used to be a Mid E-Class Genetic warrior while Kenneth and Riush were Low E-Class, this was when they took the Exam.”
“Even so,” Drew began furrowing his brows, “they still couldn’t have gotten in to the Genius Class with their current Class.”
“Your right!” Elias laughed clapping his hands. Then his expression turned dark. “They were the only team in their year to get a full score on the Team Exam two years ago.”
“The only team?”
“Yeah, there were a hundred teams that took part in the Team Exam two years ago but only twenty passed while one got a full score. That team was Price’s. They may look stupid but they are some of the smartest people I knew.”
“Were they from Glass Road?”
“No.” Elias replied, “Price was from a family of politicians that lived in Highland Hills while Kenneth was from a family of Alchemists who are directors at Ozwarth’s Medical Facility and Riush is from a family of movie stars. You may know one of them, Albert Francisco. He's Riush’s older brother.”
>>>
Highland Hills is the richest neighborhood in Ozwarth with mansions that start at a price of 10 million Kalas to as much as 25 million Kalas. Many prominent figures in Ozwarth live there, including the current Royal Family. Ozwarth’s Medical Facility is the top Medical Facility on Kraus and ranked in the top 50 in the Orion Alliance. And who in the Orion Alliance doesn’t know Albert Francisco? He’s played the male lead in some of the most famous movies and shows in the Orion Alliance. Not only that, but he's also a military superstar ranked number 449 in the Orion Alliance who is currently at Low A-Class with his overpowered SS-Ranked Ability called [Armory] in which he can create any weapon he has seen. The only flaw to that Ability is that he can't create weapons higher than his own Class/Rank.
>>>
“To think they were all from prominent families,” Drew said in awe rubbing his chin.
"Yeah," Elias nodded looking up at the sky. "But all three of them were exiled out of their families after they were crippled in the battle for a spot at the Intergalactic Meet last year."
"Crippled? By who?"
"Nicholas Goujian and his team. They destroyed their Otrio cores causing them to lose their Otrio and regressing their Abilities back to Low F-Class. Due to this, they were placed in Star's Low Class for a couple of months before dropping out because of depression and next thing you know, their families exiled them out to here where they spend their days smoking weed and taking cocaine."
"Everyone here seems to have a rough past." Drew pointed out.
"That's true. We live on Glass Road. Do you know why it's called that?"
"No."
Elias smiled.
"It's because we have all been shattered at one point in our lives. All the residents of Glass Road are haunted by their pasts and we keep looking back at them through some sort of lens. It shatters us over and over again no matter how many times we try to escape from it, it comes back to haunt it. We are broken a hundred, no, a thousand times till our mentality snaps but we keep going. We are resilient. We try to break the 'glass' that prevents us from moving on no matter how long it takes but now I know. To shatter that 'glass' you need people you can rely on, whether it be family or friends. You've 'shattered' mine and now I am free. I can finally move on."
Drew looked at Elias. He began to understand that both of them shared more in common than he originally thought they would.
"I'm glad I could help. When I saw you, I saw myself. We were both hopeless. Trying to find some light to save us from our pain, our suffering, that we did not know how to cope with. We wallowed in our own sorrow wondering how can we change the past."
Drew then held out his fist.
"We may not be able to change our past but we can change the future. We shouldn't disappoint the ones who have passed on. Instead, we should make them proud. Proud that we remembered them and proud that we have grown stronger from their influence."
Elias grinned and fist-bumped Drew.
"Brothers?" Elias asked.
"Brothers" Drew replied with a slight chuckle.
>>>
The duo arrived back home with large smiles curling on their faces. Uncle Ryhard looked at the duo and cried. Tears began to well up in his eyes but he wiped them away with the back of his greasy sleeve to make sure he wasn't just imagining things. For the first time since he shut himself in, Elias smiled. It wasn't some forced smile but a real, genuine smile. He had tried so hard to help his son out his slump but all his efforts were in vain then Drew came along. His natural charisma and caring personality had pulled his son out of the dark, out of his despair, as fast as one could blink. The change was too astonishing, to abnormal. What happened to make him change this quickly? Then he recalled something. The events playing out in front of him, it was as though history was repeating itself. Taking a glimpse at Drew's back, he saw him, Drew's father. The same charisma and kindness were there, emitting from this teen like the sun, and Uncle Ryhard knew for sure, he was definitely 'his' son. Despite not being there for 'him', Ryhard was grateful that his friend's son, who was orphaned as an infant and had no parental guidance, had grown up to become a fine young man.
Drew turned to Uncle Ryhard who was rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"We're back Uncle Ryhard." He called waving to him.
Then, Elias turned to his father and grinned.
"I'm home, father."
Those three words. Just three words at that moment, made Uncle Ryhard feel as if he were the happiest man alive. His son had rebounded from whatever event that had traumatized him and he was back better than ever. He couldn't hold it back anymore. He was going to cry. Not tears of sorrow but tears of happiness. Auntie was going to be ecstatic to know that her son, no, their son had returned.
"Welcome home," he sniffed, "Son."
>>>
Hours passed and Auntie had just arrived back from work but instead of being greeted by just her husband and Drew, her son was with them. For the first time in months, Elias had come out of his room and greeted her in person. He even helped to make dinner just like the good old days! She could not be any happier. She tossed off her heels and jumped on top of her son. She could finally embrace him after so long and he embraced her.
"I'm sorry," she sniffled as the makeup on her face began to smudge, the mascara painting her face with a nasty blue. "I'm so sorry Elias. I couldn't help you. I couldn't."
Elias who was a head taller, pat his mother on the back.
"You did nothing wrong, it's my fault. I'm sorry I never told you or father what happened. I should have said something earlier."
"How touching," Drew said silently as he leaned against the wall watching the scene play out.
She broke away from his embrace and patted his flabby shoulders. She stammered, "Why? How?"
"It's all thanks to Drew and Wan." He said pointing to Drew.
Drew nodded in acknowledgment. Auntie smiled.
"Thank you," she said hugging Drew in gratitude. "You also mentioned Wan. Wan Louis. You met the inn keeper's daughter?"
"Yeah." Drew nodded. "she actually deserves most of the credit."
Uncle Ryhard chuckled, "The Louis's are truly known for their kindness."
"Yeah," Elias beamed, "especially Wan."
Suddenly, a mischievous smirk crawled onto Auntie and Uncle's faces.
"I'm getting the feeling that our son may have fallen for that Wan girl. Don't cha think, honey?" Auntie said stroking her chin.
"What?" Elias screamed his face flushing red, "no that's not it! I'm just thankful for what she had done for me."
"I do agree with you," Uncle Ryhard nodded. "You should bring her over some time."
Elias backed away.
"This is too fast! I've only just met her today! Drew help me!"
"Sorry," Drew snickered. "you're on your own for this one."
"Oh sonny," Auntie said as an evil smile formed on her face. "You're going to answer all our questions over dinner."
Elias screamed. His glass fogging up to the point where one could no longer see his eyes.
"Hold up! You guys are on Chapter 10 while I'm still stuck on Chapter 1! Oh god, HELP ME!"
I was rolling lol
Thanks for the chapter!