Chapter six: A World of His Own
Caelum couldn't stop his smile, a wide and exaggerated smile was plustered over his face.
'This like a fantasy come true!'
He was inside his own drawing. If it was him from the past, something like this would've sent him into a full existential crisis, but honestly? it was already too damn late for him to feel anything wrong.
He ran his hand across the desk beside him, it was smooth but not perfect, there were tiny ridges, carvings where bored students once pressed their pencils too hard.
He hadn't drawn those himself, they just came into being.
He laughed, shaking his head. "You've got to be kidding me."
The quill had filled in the gaps, it took the idea of his classroom and made it more accurate.
He felt a shiver up his spine, just how unbelievablely extraordinary was this quill?
Caelum was feeling uncontrolled Excitement, a pure thrill was building up inside him.
He dragged a chair out and sat down, gripping the desk's edges. The wood felt firm and warm from the sunlight streaming through the windows.
The golden light poured in, stretching across the floor, catching in the tiny specks of dust floating in the air.
"Alright, that's insane," he couldn't believe. "I drew light? How does that even work?"
Caelum quickly stood up again, nearly knocking the chair back as he strode toward the window. The sound of his shoe against the floor was clear in the silence.
The closer he got, more the details were sharpened. There were little streaks where the glass wasn't perfectly clean, creating distortions in the reflection.
He reached out and touched it. Then gave it a light knock, even expecting his hand to pass through it. Instead, his knuckles met resistance.
His heart felt warm in the best possible way.
Then, holding his breath, he leaned forward and looked outside through the open window. But as soon as he did so, his eyes widened.
"What the hell?" Caelum nearly recoiled back, when he peered out, there was nothing outside.
It was literally nothing. Nothing but vast, endless white stretching beyond the window, swallowing everything in an infinite void.
He tapped against the window frame. "To be honest, this is mildly terrifying."
He should have seen this coming, as he hadn't drawn anything beyond this room. It made sense that nothing existed past the glass. But seeing it, seeing the absolute void just beyond this space, sent a chill through his whole body.
As if the world outside crumbled into an empty nothingness.
He tapped his fingers against the window frame a few more times, then turned around, walking to the front of the classroom.
Caelum stopped in front of the chalkboard, The scent of dust lingered in the air. It was nostalgic.
A few pieces of chalk rested on the ledge beneath it. He reached for it, rolling it between his fingers. "Would it work?"
"Classroom 1-A" Caelum wrote a line across the board without any resistance. "I can definitely interact with the everything here."
'What would happen if i added something outside? Something like a hallway? Or maybe the entire school?'
"I could, I will....but the problem is the willpower needed" caelum knew very well much of a stretch it was, to even think about making an entire school.
His eyes darted back to the classroom, scanning every inch of it again. "Only making this much knocked me out."
"Considering i grew a lot compared to when i got the quill.." he was far from being able to do something bigger with his current capacity.
'Still....I have done all of this, i created everything here.' Caelum smiled widely.
"If i can build this…Then there is no telling what i couldn't."
---------
Caelum circled around the classroom, "The time here seems frozen in this moment."
Although it felt impossible but. "Who am i kidding? I'm inside a dam painting."
His footsteps echoed softly in the quiet space as he moved along the rows, taking in the details he had drawn.
The old-crazy teacher's desk, was neat and organized, had the same scratches on its edges that he remembered from when he had sat in this room years ago.
Just as he was strolling around, his heart started feeling heavier, pulling at his thoughts, dragging his mind back to a distant past.
----
The classroom was alive with noise.
Loud conversations could be heard even if one didn't want to, the scent of fresh ink, the sound of a pen tapping against a desk, the breeze filtering through the open window.
Caelum sat near the back, with his elbow propped against the wooden surface, resting his chin on one hand.
He was supposed to be listening, but He wasn't the type to.
Instead, his mind was flying across the world beyond the window. The sky outside was a soft shade of blue, moving toward the warmth of late afternoon. Trees swayed gently, their leaves rustled in the wind.
It was peaceful.
"Pat." A small hand landed on his shoulder, pulling him back to reality.
He turned, only to be met with a familiar sight; the sight of Black hairs, teasing eyes, and a gentle smile that managed to be both cute and full of mischief at the same time.
It was Aruey, his only friend.
"Spacing out again? Nice nice " she said.
"You know the teacher's gonna call on your ass eventually, right?"
Caelum leaned further into his hand. "I'll deal with it when it happens you know?"
Aruey made a funny face. "Wow. Such dedication to laziness, should i clap?"
He closed his eyes. "I fail to see how knowing what year some dead guy wrote a book is going to help me in life."
She tilted her head. "That's true. But still, you could at least try to look like you're paying attention."
"I was paying attention," he said, "just… to something else."
"Oh i know i know, The clouds right? Hehe." Aruey's smile widened.
"They're more interesting and free than whatever's on the board."
She shook her head mischievously, "maybe your name should be cloudlum, not caelum."
Before he could respond, the teacher's voice rang through the room. "Caelum."
Caelum felt a problem coming his way, he turned his head forward, only to find the entire classroom staring at him.
The teacher looked unimpressed. "Since you seem so deep in thought, why don't you answer the question?"
Caelum opened his mouth, then closed it. Aruey laugh behind her hand.
Yeah, he was screwed.
---
The memory snapped like a thread, and Caelum found himself standing in the present once more, his hand pressed against his forehead.
"I wonder where she is now." Even within this empty classroom, his voice wasn't loud.
He hadn't thought about Aruey in a long time. She had always been too smart for school, coasting through everything effortlessly. She never needed to try harder.
"She's probably settled by now," he said to himself, "i wouldn't surprise me if she's ridiculously successful."
Not that he had ever doubted it. 'With her natural talent, she would've made it in life even if she hadn't tried.'
He shook his head, pushing the thoughts away. "No use thinking about the past."
Because right now, he had something else to focus on.
----
The entrance to the hallway, at least, it should have been. But didn't drawn what was suppose to beyond it.
Which meant there was nothing outside, a smile crept onto his lips. "It's time to change that."
----
Caelum stood before the door, this is going to be different from drawing objects or even the classroom itself from outside.
With a firm push, he swung the door open, and was met with a white, endless nothingness.
A blank void stretched infinitely in all directions, swallowing the space where the hallway should have been.
Caelum clicked his tongue. "It's Kinda eerie."
It wasn't surprising. He hadn't drawn anything beyond the classroom, so of course nothing existed. Which meant that if he wanted a hallway… "I have to create it."
Normally, he will use the quill to paint out his imagination. But right now, they quill wasn't with him, he didn't bring the quill with him.
"I don't even know, if it's possible to bring it here."
Just then, a new idea formed in his min. "I'm already inside the painting, and this is my world. Would I be able to manipulate it directly?"
He felt thrilled, if he could shape this world without needing the quill physically in his hands, it would mean his connection to his creations was even deeper than he thought.
He stepped closer to the void, raising a hand in the direction of the endless void.
"Alright, let's see if this works."
Closing his eyes, he dug into his memories.
The corridor outside his old classroom, he had walked through it countless times. He could picture the tile floors, the long stretch of lockers lining the walls, the classroom doors spaced at even intervals. The soft hum of the overhead lights.
He knew this place well enough from years. Now, he just had to bring it into existence.
He tried to poured willpower into the thought, and Immediately, he felt a pull!
A sharp pull latched onto the idea and was taking, pulling it out from his memories. It was familiar at first but, slowly the pull became stronger and different.
'When i used the quill in the real world, the drain was gradual. Here, without the quill, it is ripping through me.'
His jaw clenched but He pushed forward anyway, his limbs tensed as something unseen was pressing down on him. The more details he forced into existence, the stronger the pull became.
The walls, lockers, He felt them forming in his mind, feeling them materializing into reality.
"Ah Shit." A sharp pain flared behind his eyes, his knees nearly buckled.
"Does using willpower inside the painting drain faster? or is it because I'm not using the quill here? Shit, it's probably both." he said through gritted teeth.
His pulse pounded in his ears, the sensation was overwhelming. He could barely think, barely holding on as his body screamed.
"At this rate, I'll...I'll be knocked out inside the painting."
That scared him silly, because he had no idea what would happen if he passed out here. Would he wake up in his real body? Or would he be trapped?
But soon,the pull stopped. His breath came in ragged gasps
The white void was slowly being erased, in its place, a hallway was taking shape.
The tiles stretched before him, reflecting the dim overhead lights. The lockers stood in neat rows.
Exactly as he had envisioned it.
He felt drained. His fingers trembled, the cold sweat clinging to his back made his shirt stick uncomfortably to his skin.
"I did it."He had expanded the world, from inside, without using the quill!
"Now this is quite, huff.. Quite an achievement." Caelum fell on the floor with his back, taking in breath like an asthma patient.