Jax looked at his wristwatch and hummed, "is that the time already? Well, it seems the class is over for today. The next teacher should be here in about…"
"H-hello everyone"
"...Right now," Jax said while turning to the newcomer. She was a stunningly beautiful woman. So beautiful that mere words wouldn't be enough to describe the extent of it.
She had blond hair that went perfectly with her pale skin, hair that was scattered in a way that perfectly crested the line of smooth and rough in equal measure, giving it a very sexually appealing look. She was tall and her purple eyes clashed beautifully with the purple dress she had on.
"H-hope I'm not too early," she said as she moved towards the table.
"Nope," Jax said as he picked up his own folder, took his flash from the board, and began to walk out, "Was just about to leave, Callista"
Callista nodded, and once he was gone she turned towards the class, only to freeze as she saw all of them looking at her. Her heart rate picked up and her hands became clammy. She immediately turned around, surprising all the students.
'You can do this. You can do this. You can do this!' she chanted in her mind. She then turned around with a radiant smile.
"Hello, Callista. My name is everyone. No! I-I mean. H-Hello everyone, my name is Callista!"
'Yes,' she thought, 'Nailed it!'
All three students simply looked on in silence. She cleared her throat, "Uhm... I'm going to be your history teacher for the session, I hope you take good care of me"
Damian watched the beautiful woman bow sightly to them and he began wondering again if this wasn't all some sort of fever dream. It had to be. This wouldn't happen in real life… right?
-----
Jax walked into the staff room and made his way towards his desk. Eh threw his folder on it and plopped down on his seat.
"Rough day?" Helios said.
"Not really," Jax replied while tilting his head backward and closing his eyes, "Just tired"
Helios nodded and stood up from his seat, "Callista already there?"
"Yeah," Jax said before he opened one eye and looked at Helios, "She left early again, didn't she?"
"Thirty minutes," Helios said, "She must've been waiting outside that class for a while"
Jax chuckled and closed his eyes again, "She's something else, that one. Let's hope those kids don't swallow her up"
-----
"S-So. I'm going to be teaching you history," Callista said as she moved behind the desk and rubbed her hands together nervously, "The first thing you need to know about history is that it is never accurate," As she spoke the kids noticed she became more fluent, "History as a whole are usually written by the victors. The other side of the story, the side belonging to those who don't have a voice. This side is never heard"
"It is nothing new to discover sometimes that a fact you've always known about something is wrong, simply because the person telling it was biased in a way. It is important that you all keep open minds about what you will be learning here. Don't let it cloud your judgment or prevent you from accepting the opinion of others," Callista looked around the room and saw all three students looking at her in shock. She immediately became nervous again, "I-Is that clear?"
They nodded and she moved to put her flash drive into the holographic board behind her. It slipped from her hand and fell to the ground and she quickly bent down to pick it up. Adrian blushed and looked away from her behind.
She brought the flash drive up with a muttered 'Aha!' and plugged it into the USB port. The screen turned on.
"Let's begin," she said.
-----
After classes that day, Damian found himself back in his dorm once more. He had changed out of his uniforms and now wore a simple black t-shirt and trousers. He had to admit that the classes today were.. interesting, in a way.
He carried his bed sheet to the window with a grunt.
The teachers had been quite informative and he found himself really curious. What else could he learn about this 'twilight world'?
He tore the bedsheet in two and then tore those two into two more halves. He then began to tie them together.
But there was still something that nagged at him like a constant fly. It buzzed at the back of his head and he knew he wouldn't rest till he got it done. He had to leave this place. No matter how amazing it was, he knew he was not welcome here. The expression his other classmates wore during the sorting of affinities was more than enough of an indication. And besides, he needed to get back home or his grandpa would kill him.
Damian grunted as he tightened the ends of his bedsheet together and threw it out of his window. He looked down and nodded in affirmation as he saw the sheet barely scrape against the ground.
He put one leg out the window and tightened his hold on the cloth. He looked down, took a deep breath, and started to climb -
"You know you're not a prisoner, right?"
"Ah!" Damian yelped and used his hands to cover his face, only for him to realize that he had been using said hands to hold onto the rope. He stretched his hand out as he felt the effects of gravity taking him down. This was it. He was going to die here. He was going to die by falling out a window.
Oh god, how cliche.
A hand grabbed his outstretched hand and heterochromatic eyes filled his vision, "Are you okay?"
Damian blinked in shock, "You!"
"Yes, me," Principal Arie said with a nod, "Were you expecting someone else?" the grip on his arm loosened slightly, "I can come back if you're busy"
"No! No! I'm not expecting anyone"
Principal Arie nodded in understanding, "Oh, that's good. Then I suppose you were just, hanging around?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"That was good"
"Not really," Damian said with a grimace,
"Well, everyone's a critic," Principal Arie pulled Damian up and back into the room. He allowed him to set his feet back on the ground before he turned and began to walk out, "Walk with me, Damian," he said, "I want to show you something"
Damian looked from the retreating back of the principal to the blanket/rope hanging out from his window, he weighed his options in his mind and then sighed as he began moving after the principal.
They walked out of the dorms and onto the bridge connecting the dorms to class building 1. But rather than going straight for the class building, Principal Arie turned right and began walking along the road leading further down. Damian followed after him silently. The night air wasn't chilly and neither was it warm. It was the perfect balance of both, just enough to make Damian uncomfortable. He put his hands into his pocket - even though he had no reason to, and simply followed.
"This school has been around for hundreds of years," Principal Arie began, "The very best of the hunters all graduated from this school. and the best of all our achievements rose from this school. The amount of pride and joy I have when I think of the things we accomplished is immeasurable"
Damian simply stayed silent and listened.
"And so it is no surprise at all," Principal Arie said as they finally reached the end of the road. It was a rail girdle that stretched out on both sides. Damian looked to his left and saw that the bridge continued on a road that cut into and through the large mountain in the center of the school. He was sure it continued on the other side as well. Principal Arie came to a stop in front of the girdle and Damian wondered why. The man then nodded his head down, and Damian finally leaned against the metal railing. That was when the sounds reached him.
Raging water.
Right below the girdle they stood on was raging water. Hundred of thousands of gallons of it falling out like a waterfall.
"No surprise at all that the security system of this school is one of the best in the entire world. So if you think you can defeat it using a simple bed sheet torn into shred, then, by all means, go ahead"
Damian paled bone white and leaned back from the girdle. He closed his eyes and sighed, "Why?" he asked. Principal Arie looked at him, "Why are you keeping me here? There is no reason for me to even be here"
Principal Arie was silent for a moment and Damian opened his eyes to see the man looking out into the horizon, "You are a threat to the world," Principal Arie said, "There is no other reason necessary. The only reason for our very existence as twilight walkers is to protect the light. If you seek to harm that light, then you will be eliminated. Is it not better than you are recruited instead?"
"And what about my life!?" Damian finally shouted, anger replacing all sense of decorum, "I had a life before you came and carried me to god knows where! What about me, huh!?"
"It is not important," Principal Arie said and Damian stumbled backward, "I will admit that taking a child away from his home is not something I would condone any day, but when weighed with the risk of you harming the rest of the world, then there is really no choice to be made at all" Principal Arie looked Damian in the eye with a dead-serious expression, "Or would you rather be dead?"
Damian squeezed his hands together and looked down. His shoulders were shaking and he felt like he was going to cry.
"Don't think us the antagonists to your story, Damian. Blame the blood that flows through your veins and curse it to your dying breath"
"Damn you," Damian chocked out.
Principal Arie turned away and began walking towards the mountain, leaving Damian alone to cry.
-----
"You were quite hard on him," Ophelia said once Principal Arie opened the door to his office and walked in. She was standing in front of the glass dome, looking down at Damian. Principal Arie went to stand beside her.
"It was necessary," he said.
"Was it?" she asked while turning to look at him, "You left him in tears, Arie. This is all new for him. You should try to be a little more sympathetic"
Principal Arie's expression didn't change, "Sympathy will only cause him to become softer," he placed his hand on the glass, covering Damian's image from his sight, "The things he will face in the future. They will prey on that weakness and consume him. He needs to grow past it"
Ophelia sighed and turned back to watch Damian. He was now on the floor, sitting against the railing with his head between his knees. He was just a little boy, just someone who wanted to go home. She felt disgusted with herself.
"I hope you're right, Arie," she said, "I hope you're right"