The sound of the bell blared throughout Grey's ears, jolting him awake. He turned his head groggily, it was second period already. Standing up from his desk, he turns to see a blonde model-like guy standing beside him. The man flashes him a smile.
"Stayed up all night studying?"
Grey looked up tiredly. Indeed, the handsome and popular man standing beside him was none other than his very own best friend. As his friend had mentioned, he did in fact spend all night studying for their upcoming tests of which they had three of this week. Yes, Grey was not amused at all.
"Obviously, why else would I be sleeping through first period?"
Grey quickly retorts. Leon shrugs, not paying much mind to his dimwitted friend.
"Want to drop by my place today?"
asks Leon.
"You just want help studying right? Whenever we hang out we always go to my place."
Grey replies. Leon smiles brightly, amused that his simple-minded buddy could remember his mannerisms.
"Perchance…"
"You can't just say perchance."
Grey responded quickly. Clearly frustrated by his friends' antics.
"Nah I'm seriously asking, Isabelle hasn't seen you in a while, she misses you."
Leon adds. Grey looked lost in thought as if he were contemplating it. Leon didn't want to linger too long on the question, figuring his friend could answer later, and instead brought up another topic.
"Anyways, what do you want for your birthday?"
Leon hurriedly asks his friend. He wasn't expecting a crazy answer but he at least wanted to know what to look for when he was getting him a present, after all, Grey's birthday was only two days away.
Grey shrugs.
"I don't really know what I want."
Leon sighs. Grey had always been indecisive but he had at least expected an answer for his birthday. Leon and Grey step into the hallway, making their way to the first floor.
"What class do we have next?"
asks Grey.
"Science."
"Oh, we're starting the unit on vis today, no?"
Leon nods. He had studied as much as he could upon vis when he was younger. He thought it would be cool to become an ascendant when he was older, but at a younger age, he could not find out anything substantial such as how to obtain powers, just a gist of what they did or how they worked. That's why he was so excited for this unit, even if he wasn't actively expressing it.
"This should be interesting."
Leon mutters under his breath with a smirk.
***
Grey looked around the classroom. It had six rows of desks, lab tables on the left and right sides of the room. The tables were coated in a whitish metallic substance. Through the fiberglass green tinted windows, sunlight poured through. Grey turned his head to the top of the class, a man stood in front of a blackboard.
The professor was a large and burly man with a beard relative to the colored hue of gold. Though in truth his appearance was odd and off-putting, as the man did not have any hair on his head. Grey's eyes narrowed at the sight of him, his thoughts racing.
'If I were to get into any sort of conflict with him, I wouldn't be able to harm him, let alone kill him. This man… is most likely as talen-.'
Grey's thought process was interrupted by the professor's thunderous voice.
"Hello, students of Avaritia. I am Howard D. Russell, it is a pleasure to meet you."
The professor introduces himself loudly in a way even someone who might've been sleeping would wake up.
"From this day forward I am your science teacher… you may address me as professor or Mr.Russell."
Francis R. Welch. The true name of the man masquerading as a simple science teacher. Grey's eyes narrowed. The man had a talent for teaching vis, holding lots of useful information about things even ascendants may not know about. Grey had planned to wring him dry of these secrets, if he were to catch any leads on theman with a thousand faces he would need to become stronger and learn how to manipulate vis… not to mention that Welch could possibly have connections to him. What was important is that he needed this information, and he would get it using any means necessary, but for now he would play the role of a regular student.
"Alright without anything further to do, let us start on the first lesson."
The professor spoke. Russell's eyes darted around the room, as if he were trying to find something unusual. After a while the man sighed, seemingly not being able to find what he was looking for.
"I was hoping to find at least one outlier, but it seems none of you have even made a slight attempt on unlocking vis."
Grey looked to his side. Leon frowned slightly tilting his head downward, lost in thought. Grey felt bad for Leon, looks like his previous efforts weren't even enough to muster up anything someone as talented as Russell could pick up on. Turning his head back to their teacher, Grey waited for the explanation. After pausing for a short while, Russell began to speak once more.
"Vis is the ability to manipulate energy. It is commonly split into two categories. Esovis being the manipulation of internal energy, typically with a very limited range of around three to seven feet maximum. The second category is exovis, the manipulation of external energy."
Russell eyed at all of the students, making sure they paid close attention. When he realized that he already had their full attention he kept explaining.
"Exovis' maximum range depends completely on the user, and typically exovis gets more powerful as more range from the main body is gained. Although this means that complex shapes or forms become increasingly harder to maintain and if not careful, the energy will begin to dissipate completely."
While the students were mostly focused on the professor's teachings, he spotted that a couple of them had seemed relatively uninterested or rather bored. Specifically the gray and blond-haired kids sitting in the lower middle rows. A small smile crept up Russell's mouth.
"Now I will demonstrate what vis looks like."
The man shut his eyes in concentration. At first the students were confused, the professor had just told them something extremely vague and then proceeded to close their eyes, but quickly their confusion turned into awe. With a faint whirring sound, a blue light began to emit from professor Russell's spine. A few students gasped, a couple whispered skeptically. The whirring sound started to get louder as cloudy white appendages started to sprout from his back. As the appendages were emerging from his spine, a few flew backwards and came out abruptly, as if a rubber band had just snapped. Finally, the students could make out what the strange appendages appeared to be. They were arms, or at most something oddly resembling an arm. They seemed to float aimlessly behind the professor. Chatter erupted in the classroom. Russell opened his eyes.
"This is the power of vis, exovis to be exact."
The students quieted down once their teacher began to speak. They looked at the man, their eyes full of inspiration, awe, and Russell was sure he could even feel envy from them. He chuckled to himself quietly. His eyes glided to the lower middle row of the classroom and sure enough, this spectacle seemed to catch the attention of both boys.
"Now as you can see, I am not the greatest at human anatomy. Otherwise, these arms would look a lot better, however, these get the job done and work efficiently enough"
One of the floating arms began to stretch towards the back of the classroom. Whizzing by with great speed the arm practically flew towards the back. When the hand got in between Grey and Leon, they could both hear the whirring noise loud and clear. Curious Leon observed the white pale arm, it looked like it had stretched to its limit. Grey noted that it has an elastic look to it.
'Wait, if it's rubber then doesn't that mean it's going to snap back?'
Grey had accurately predicted what was about to happen right before his eyes. The white arm snapped back and at a speed greater than it launched forward it crashed into the wall behind the professor. Only it did not break anything, when the arm hit the wall it simply vanished with a sound akin to poof.
"There are a few other forms of vis, such as technomancy or aura. However, those steps would be way too advanced to introduce to you at this stage. For now, we will work on understanding the basics of vis, and how to unlock it."
***
Grey threw himself onto his bed.
'Yeah, there's absolutely no way I could take him out as of right now.'
Francis R. Welch had shown him something interesting that lesson. One of his capabilities. Assuming that Welch wasn't an aberrant, he could formulate a plan to get to him. As long as he could get Welch to demonstrate more of his abilities, then he could strategize on the quickest and most efficient way to take him down. Grey sighed and rolled over to his bed stand.
'Besides that, I wonder why Mono has been out so frequently these days.'
Mono left early in the morning for his job as a construction worker. Lately, though, he would leave notes for Grey on the fridge's door. They were usually to tell him that he would be home late or something of the sort, but these have been getting more frequent, and Mono would end up coming home just before midnight in some cases.
'Maybe he's got himself a girlfriend.'
Grey silently chuckled at the thought. There were only two days left until his sixteenth birthday, and yet he still had no clue what he wanted as a present. It didn't matter too much anyway, he would accept anything given to him. His eyelids felt heavy.
'Guess I'll just call it a day for now.'
Grey yawned. He let his eyes shut. The darkness that comes with the lack of perception washed over him, gently taking his mind to rest.
Grey awoke to the sound of talking and laughter. The first voice he recognized very well. It was the sound of a young man talking, his voice full of a jovial tone. The owner of the voice was none other than Mono. The second voice however Grey had not heard so far. It was the voice of a woman, she was soft-spoken yet bubbly.
'Wow… maybe Mono did get a girlfriend.'
Grey glanced at his clock. To his surprise, it read 2:00 AM. He got up from his bed and walked towards his door. He quietly gripped the doorknob and turned it, pulling the door back. He walked out into the kitchen, and surely enough sitting at the table were Mono and a random woman. As he walked out of his room Mono caught a glimpse of him and smiled.
"Sleepwalking again?"
Grey frowned at the comment and sighed. He used to have a habit of sleepwalking and just roaming around the kitchen or the living room when they first arrived.
"Please don't mention that."
He said with visible embarrassment. Taking his mind off the old habit, he turned his head to look at the woman. She had fair skin, soft pink lips, and hazel eyes that reminded Grey of bark. Yet the one feature stood out from the rest, her hair was lavender. Grey stared at her intently, lost in the world of his musings. The woman sat there awkwardly as if she didn't know if it was the right time to say something, her eyes just drifted away from the child as if she was nervous to make eye contact. Why she was averting her eyes, he didn't quite know, but it didn't feel like a nervous response. Rather it was like she didn't want to look, as if she knew something he didn't.
The woman had a sort of weird vibe, not the awkwardness… it just wasn't something he could really grasp. She looked around the kitchen as if her eyes were searching for something, or rather evading that something. Intrigued by this, Grey observed the woman, waiting for her to speak. Finally after coming to the conclusion she wouldn't speak unless spoken to, Grey took the first step.
"Hi, I'm Grey, who are you?"
A repetitive yet useful line, perfect for scenarios such as this. He looked at the woman eagerly, if she really was Mono's girlfriend he wanted to know more. Such as how he could even get one, just the thought of it could make him laugh.
"My name's Kael, it's nice to meet you."
The woman had taken a moment to respond as if she was out of breath.
"Mono has told me lots about you!"
Kael quickly added. Strange, how very strange… Mono had not told Grey a single thing about this woman. Looks like today was supposed to be the big reveal or something of the sort.
"That's nice, on the other hand, I haven't heard about you yet. What's your relationship."
"Oh, we-"
"-re co-workers!"
Mono interjected quickly as if he didn't want the woman to answer that question herself. Kael shot him a confused glance, but Mono paid no attention to her. Rather he stared at the boy, giving him what looked to be a genuine smile. If Grey hadn't known the man better he would have been easily persuaded, however, this was not the case for someone as cautious as he was.
'Well, that wasn't suspicious at all.'
Grey laughed to himself. At this point, he could probably guess the extent of their relationship, although he had no clue why Mono would hide it. Turning to the door of his room he gave them a simple closing remark.
"If you don't mind please be quieter. Good night… no wait good morning? It's whatever, see you later."
With that remark Grey walked back into his room, closing the door behind him. Once again he threw himself onto his bed, however, he did not waste a single moment of sleep this time. Shutting his eyelids quickly, Grey allowed the darkness to take him into his dreams once more.
***
Grey looked at his reflection in the mirror. In these past two years, he had shaped himself up into a more manly-looking boy, rather than the frail child he used to be back in that tundra. Additionally, he regained a few of his old memories, but he couldn't quite make sense of them.
Leaving that thought behind he lifted his shirt and focused his sight on his core. Despite his seriousness, Grey couldn't help but smile at his progress. In the place of a frail and bony torso, was now a toned and somewhat muscular body. Though admittedly it wasn't nearly as good as Mono's physique, it was something Grey could be proud of. Looking up at the mirror he studied his face. His jawline was getting sharper, and his face exuded a more grown and mature vibe. Nonetheless to contrast the change in his looks were his monotonous blue eyes, and messy gray hair. His hair and eyes never seemed to go through any sort of change, his hair never grew longer and his bright blue eyes never seemed to get dimmer even as he aged.
'Enough of that, I should probably practice with my sword. I have nothing better to do if I'm looking at my body in the mirror.'
Grey let his shirt fall to its original position and walked to his bed stand. On its right lay a wooden sword, supported on the bed stand's side. He reached out and grabbed the handle of the wooden blade. In this day and age where energy weapons and powerful kinetic hand cannons were easily accessible and far more of use, a weapon such as a sword did not have much use. Even for ascendants, who typically value melee weapons more than ranged due to the unpredictable environments of the infinite spire, and the need for ammo that many ranged weapons had. Rather than using a sword, many ascendants used polearms and maces, that is if they weren't using energy weapons, as the status of an individual goes up once they become an ascendant here in the empire, wealth typically entails.
Grey raised the wooden sword above his head, stepped forward, and let gravity bring the blade down along with his arm. His routine was to repeat this a thousand times, as such during this he would simply let his mind wander. If he tried could he become an ascendant? Is being an ascendant even an ethical job? He would ponder things like these while training his sword skills. After a while, he had reached his quota of a thousand overhead swings. This was just the beginning of his training; he still had horizontal slashes, diagonal slashes, thrusts, and pommel strikes to practice… a thousand more of each. He scoffed at the idea of his training routine, unfortunately for him, he wasn't exactly known for being a slacker. Well, at least he had something to look forward to later. He was going to Leon's house after a long time of not visiting, and of course, he would get the chance to reacquaint with his older sister, Isabelle. The thought of it made him smile. Remembering that he was still in his room swinging a sword made him sigh.
'I mean, why am I even doing this?'
That was a rhetorical question. Grey knew the answer, he knew it very well. Ever since the first time he grasped a blade, he felt like he had used it forever. Letting his mind wander once more, Grey's flame rekindled with newfound determination. He had to get even stronger… this time around, he would become an ascendant for sure.
***
In retrospect, Grey never thought that he would find himself sitting across from Isabelle, drinking coffee. Not after what happened a few months back. Yet here he was, talking to her carelessly. Just as he had been back when they had first met. He stared at the ever visible structure of the tower that daunted all. A black tower that pierced even the heavens, the clouds stand no chance at competing its height.
'The spire huh…'
Directing his attention back to the woman, Grey contemplated what he should be talking about. Although something struck him as odd, Leon was nowhere to be found, despite inviting him to eat.
"Where's Leon?"
Grey asked. He wasn't sure why his friend would call him out here if he wasn't going to show up.
"Hm~, he said that he had something to take care of."
Isabelle replied. "He'll probably be back soon." She added after a couple of seconds.
The atmosphere was awkward, as Grey hadn't left off their relationship on a good note. However, Isabelle seemed to be enjoying the strawberry shortcake she was gluttonously feasting upon.
"Seems like you haven't changed a bit."
Grey said with a wry smile. Isabelle gave a faint laugh. In truth, Grey only said that out of formality, he would be lying if he said he didn't see any change. Her skin was paler than usual, her eyes held black bags underneath, and more importantly, she had lost some weight. Grey winced at the thought of it.
"Shifting the topic, how's Jonah doing these days?"
Grey's question may have seemed normal, however Jonah, Isabelle's fiancee, had a heart condition.
'Cardiomyopathy, a disease that makes the muscles in the heart have difficulty pumping blood. Though he hadn't always…'
Grey's thoughts trailed off as he saw Isabelle's somewhat happy face shift into a grimace. She averted her eyes as if she were hiding something from him. Grey's stomach sank. After a long break of silence, she decided to answer him.
"I think it's better… if you see him yourself."
Isabelle stood up from her seat and started walking away. Grey watched in confusion as she left the table. Without turning around she waved her hand behind her, urging Grey to follow her. Grey scrambled to get from his seat and ran after her.
***
Tightly gripping the body of his once beloved friend, he laughed hysterically. The green eyes of the corpse stared up at him, cold and unresponsive. With his heart leaping, tears ran down his cheeks. At last Grey had found his justification for murder.