Thursday mornings at Minerva Institute had a different intensity in the air. It was as if everyone held their breath waiting for that moment when Professor Aurex Cassimar would enter the amphitheater. I was one of those waiting, sitting at my desk, staring at the empty notebook in front of me. But my mind was in a very different place from the upcoming class. In the labyrinths of the past, searching for an inconsistency.
Yesterday... I was thinking about why I had come to school so early yesterday. Talking to Felissia was a result, not a cause. The real reason was the study group that was supposed to be formed for Professor Flavia's class last week. We were supposed to work together with Luna and her group. Luna had even invited Ella last week.
But then... Felissia's fall, that tense moment in the cafeteria... After that incident, no one mentioned the study group. It was as if it was an idea that had evaporated. I was aware of it too, but to be honest, bringing up the topic didn't suit me. Marcus's attitude, Luna's presence... I didn't want to be part of that equation. Since no one called me either, I remained silent. And that study group never met.
So why am I thinking about this now? Why had my brain gotten stuck on an irrelevant detail from yesterday, seconds before Aurex's mental guillotine?
And at that moment, the realization that had occurred yesterday struck my mind like lightning. I was doing it again. A mental escape. Analyzing the past was a shield I used to escape from the crushing reality of the present moment, namely the anxiety of facing Aurex. My father's voice, Marcella's warning... Yesterday I had sworn to break this cycle. But habits, especially habits that had taken root in a mind like mine, were so stubborn.
This was a refuge. Taking shelter in a past problem I could solve, control, say "I wish I had done it this way," was much easier than feeling defenseless against Aurex's unpredictable and merciless games.
"Enough," I whispered to myself, in a voice so low that no one could hear. I closed my notebook decisively. The sound echoed like a small slap in the silent amphitheater.
The past was over. The lessons had been learned. There was no room for mental noise anymore.
Just then the amphitheater door opened.
Professor Aurex Cassimar entered and the silence gave way to an ice-cold tension. His footsteps echoed in the amphitheater as he walked toward the podium. He wore his usual perfect, dark-colored suit. But what really caught attention was that hunting, pleased expression on his face.
"Good morning, bright minds of the future," he said, his voice filled with artificial politeness that spread to every corner of the amphitheater. "Today, I will announce your groups for a special project you will work on for the next two weeks."
A wave of whispers immediately spread through the amphitheater. Everyone turned to the person next to them and said something worriedly. Aurex's "special project" could be nothing but a mental survival struggle.
Aurex raised his hand and cut the whispers like a knife. "Ah, but it's not that easy. The groups... will be announced at the end of the class. Until then, let's focus on today's topic, shall we? For those of you who can focus, of course."
This was sadistic pleasure. He would make us squirm in that uncertainty for an hour. My eyes briefly shifted to Ella sitting next to me. Her face was pale, I could see her clenching her hand under the desk. Cassius was expressionless as always, like a marble bust carved by a sculptor. Only his eyes sparkled as they recorded Aurex's every movement as a data point.
Aurex didn't start explaining the lesson. Instead, he began pacing slowly in front of the podium. "Today I'm going to ask you a question," he said. "What is perfection?"
No one answered. This was a trap, we all knew it.
"No one?" Aurex asked, pretending to be disappointed. His eyes wandered around the amphitheater and, just as I expected, stopped on me. "Mr. Corvus? A... talented student like you must have an idea about this."
"Perfection is an unattainable ideal, sir," I said, trying to maintain my composure. "It's a goal that is approached through a continuous development process."
Aurex smiled. But his smile didn't reach his eyes. "How... poetic. But wrong." He approached the podium and placed the silver pen in his hand on the edge of the table. "Perfection is the absence of error. Absolute control. Do you understand?"
Just then, as if by accident, he dropped his pen from the edge of the table. The pen rolled right next to my desk, making a metallic sound.
I felt everyone in the amphitheater holding their breath. This wasn't an accident. This was the beginning of the game.
Aurex looked at me. "Ah, how clumsy of me. Mr. Corvus, if you would?"
My decision from last night echoed in my mind. It was time to stop overthinking and start living the wisdom I had already gained. This was a test. I had to stay calm. I slowly bent down, picked up the pen, and got up to place it on the table at the podium.
"Thank you," said Aurex. Just as I turned to sit back down, he "accidentally" hit the pen again with the back of his hand. The pen fell to the same place again.
A muffled murmur rose from the class. Some had turned their heads in other directions, not daring to look. I saw a faint expression of pleasure on Luna's face, sitting in one of the back rows. Marcus wasn't taking his eyes off his notebook.
That old anger inside me was like a monster trying to raise its head. But I didn't allow it. I wouldn't play this game. I bent down again, picked up the pen, and put it on the table.
"Incredible," said Aurex, this time with obvious mockery in his voice. "My hands aren't listening to me today, it seems." And for the third time, he threw the pen to the ground.
This time when I stood up, the entire amphitheater's eyes were on me. I saw Felissia's fearful looks, the knuckles of Ella's clenched hand turning white. I slowly bent down, picked up the pen. But this time, instead of putting it on the table, I stood in front of Aurex.
"If you're going to drop it again, perhaps it would be better if you kept it in your hand, sir," I said, with neither anger nor fear in my voice. Just ice-cold calm. I placed the pen in his palm.
There was a silence that lasted seconds between us. His eyes seemed to try to pierce through my mind. He was expecting a reaction; an outburst of anger, a rebellion. But I didn't give him what he wanted.
Finally, his lips slowly curled upward. This was a killer's smile.
"Let's return to our lesson," he said, as if nothing had happened. But we all knew that the real lesson had just begun.
The remaining hours were mental torture. Aurex paced back and forth in the amphitheater, asking the most irrelevant students the most unexpected questions at the most unexpected moments. He called up a boy sleeping in the back row, whose name I didn't even know, and asked him to quote word for word the seventeenth article of the founding treaty of the Valerian Republic. When the boy stuttered, he didn't scold him. He just muttered "My expectations were disappointed" and continued. This was much more merciless than scolding. Everyone was on edge with the fear that they might be the next victim.
Finally, that divine bell announcing the end of the class rang. But no one moved from their place. The tension in the amphitheater had become tangible. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the names that would come out of Aurex's mouth.
Aurex walked to the podium and opened the tablet in his hand. On his face was the expression of someone who enjoyed presenting a disaster scenario he had carefully prepared.
"Now... projects and groups," he said. His voice echoed in the silence of the amphitheater.
"Group one: Gaius Maximus, Cassius Vorenus..." After reading the names, he paused, as if listening to the whispers of relief in the amphitheater. "Your topic will be the convergence analysis of Taylor Series." It was a difficult but doable topic. My two most trusted allies were without me but safe.
"Group two: Ella Novell, Felissia Maris..." With these names, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Aurex paused once more, as if measuring my reaction. "You will also examine the exceptional cases of L'Hôpital's Rule." Ella was also safe. But I was outside those safe harbors.
Aurex announced a few more groups, giving each appropriate, logical topics from the curriculum. The brief silence he left between each announcement was torture for me, escalating the tension. I was being left alone. Aurex had deliberately left me for last.
Finally, only a handful of students remained in the amphitheater. And Aurex, at the peak of his pleasure, turned to me to deliver that final blow.
"And our last group..." he said in a mocking tone. "Octavian Corvus."
Hearing my name wasn't a shock. But the next names were like bullets from a firing squad.
"Lunaria Vesta. Marcus Junius. Vispina Starus, Lyra Panema. Portia-Clara Ferdium."
My blood froze. My mind immediately began analyzing the threat matrix these names created. Luna was an internal enemy who would try to sabotage every step of the project. Marcus was a mine stuck between shame and guilt, unpredictable in what he would do. Vispina, Lyra, and Portia-Clara were Luna's loyal pawns; they would follow her orders without thinking.
I looked at the back rows. There wasn't just a victorious smile on Luna's face; this was the cold, expectant satisfaction that came from knowing the trap she had set would work perfectly. Marcus couldn't even look at me. In his averted gaze was not just guilt, but also a painful mixture of fear and anger at himself.
But Aurex wasn't finished. "And joining this distinguished team... Titus, Brutus, Haence, and Simon."
This was the final nail in the coffin. These four names were the laziest students in the school, those with no interest in classes whatsoever. They weren't just burdens, they were black holes that would suck away the project's momentum.
Aurex looked at us with cold pleasure. "And your special project will be," he said, "Fractal Analysis in Chaotic Systems. Topics we haven't even touched on yet, right?"
There was shocked silence in the amphitheater. What we had been given was an academic suicide mission.
Aurex closed the tablet. The expression on his face said everything. "Oh, and a small note," he added, looking directly at me. "This special group also has a special rule. I'm appointing Mr. Corvus as project leader. If the group fails, the other members won't be affected. But as the leader, Mr. Corvus will lose exactly forty points from his average. Good luck."
As the amphitheater began to empty, I sat frozen at my desk. A group of ten people. But in reality, the entire burden of this project was on the shoulders of one person - mine.
I felt movement beside me. It was Ella. Her face was white as a sheet, her eyes filled with shock and worry. "Octavian," she whispered, her voice trembling. "This... this isn't fair. It can't be." She reached out her hand, as if she was going to touch my shoulder, but then it remained suspended in the air.
At that moment, I understood that Aurex's game wasn't just about breaking me. By leaving me completely alone, forcing me to control everyone around me, to shoulder everyone's burden, he was trying to make me return to that old self I hated most. And the worst part was feeling that this trap might work.