The bell rang. Zak was sitting in the corner of the room where you could see the road. As time passed, his first class was already done. He looked at his phone; it was already break time, and he remembered that the next lesson would be the Ascension Trial for the students.
As he was getting ready to leave the room, a voice called him before he could pass the door. Finn and Gus called him.
"Zak!" Gus said with a deep, booming voice. His muscular body seemed to vibrate with the sound. "The lesson next would be the Ascension Trial!"
"So what's your plan, cause me, I'm passing that trial and making it to university!" He said it with a loud booming voice, disturbing everyone in the room.
Finn looked at Gus and said that it was better if they talked about it in the cafeteria. Before they left, Finn apologized to everyone in the room.
Finn was a guy with glasses, the opposite of Gus—a guy who was quiet and thought everything through before speaking, every decision he made was carefully considered before acting.
As they walked down the hallway, Gus couldn't contain himself. Every time he spoke, it was always with a loud voice, and everyone they walked past was intimidated by Gus.
The cafeteria was a cacophony of youthful energy, swirling a mix of excited chatter, nervous whispers, and the clatter of trays and utensils. Sunlight streamed in through large windows, Zak, Finn, and Gus managed to snag a table in a quieter corner, but even there, Gus's booming voice carried.
"Seriously, Zak, what's your game plan?" Gus leaned forward, elbows on the table.
"Everyone's hyped for the trial.You gonna finally show us what class you're hiding? Don't tell me you haven't been training in secret." He grinned, clearly expecting a dramatic reveal.
Finn, ever the pragmatist, pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Gus, it's not a game. This trial dictates our future."
"Zak? What class do you hope to awaken?"
Zak took a slow sip of his water, his gaze distant, as if observing the chaos of the cafeteria from a great height. He set the cup down.
"Expectations?" he murmured, a faint, almost imperceptible shrug.
"I don't really have any"
"No expectations? Are you serious? This is the Ascension Trial!" Gus blustered.
"if you passed the trial, then you could also have a chance know about your parents....."
He stopped, recognizing that Zak wasn't keen on talking about his past, especially his parents.
A beat of silence fell over their small table. Gus's boisterous energy visibly deflated, his mouth slightly agape.
"But to be honest, I wasn't really planning for it to change my life. I'm content with how things are in my life." and zak continued to eat.
Finn blinked behind his glasses, his analytical mind seemingly short-circuiting at Zak's casual declaration. The comfortable hum of the cafeteria suddenly felt louder, the awkwardness between them almost tangible.
"Right," Gus finally managed, clearing his throat, his voice considerably softer than before. "So, uh, Finn, did you hear about that new… tactical simulation game? It's supposed to be incredible." He clearly grasped for a new topic, avoiding Zak's gaze.
"Oh, that one? Yes, I read a preliminary review. The mechanics seem intriguing, but the resource management aspect appears overly simplified, in my opinion."
Finn, recovering quickly, picked up the cue.
The conversation pivoted awkwardly to the game, leaving Zak to finish his food, a familiar sense of detachment settling back over him. He was okay with this. He always had been.
The bell for the next period blared, a jarring sound that cut through the lingering lunchtime buzz. The cafeteria is getting emptied in a wave, students are now going back to their room. Zak, Finn, and Gus were at the hallway when suddenly a voice called zak.
Zak stopped, the easy rhythm of his steps faltering. Finn and Gus exchanged a quick, uneasy glance. Lucian stepped into their view, having apparently followed them from the cafeteria. He was sleek, with hair meticulously styled and eyes that seemed to dissect everything they landed on. A smirk played on his lips, a look of effortless superiority.
"This one's mine, Zak. It always was"
Lucian stated, an unbreakable certainty in his voice.
"You never stood a chance." Lucian purred, his eyes glinting with predatory confidence as he fixed his gaze on Zak.
"Not for it." His words hung in the air, cold and precise. Zak felt the familiar pull of detachment, trying to ignore the prickle of unease at Lucian's overt hostility.
"What are you talking about, Lucian?" Gus boomed, his voice echoing in the now quieter hallway. He took a full step forward, his broad shoulders tensing. "You think you can just come up here and talk trash?"
Finn's hand shot out, grabbing Gus's arm before he could take another step.
"Gus, don't," he murmured, his voice low but firm, a clear warning in his eyes. He knew Gus's temper, and Lucian clearly thrived on confrontation.
Lucian merely shifted his gaze to Gus, and then to Finn, and lastly to Zak. He then simply walked past them, his footsteps echoing too loudly in the suddenly quiet stretch of hallway, leaving behind a lingering chill.
Gus glowered at Lucian's retreating back. "What a creep! What was that even about?"
Finn looked at Zak, a thoughtful frown etched on his face, then back to Gus.
"It might be because of the last sports fest," he mused, his voice carefully neutral.
"Lucian's team lost to ours in the final, and Zak was at the top of the leaderboard for our class in individual points." He paused, adjusting his glasses.
"Or maybe,"
Finn added, his voice dropping slightly,
"he just couldn't stomach the idea that a mere nobody, someone from... well, from our class, could be above him. Someone like Zak."
He trailed off, his gaze lingering on the now empty stretch of hallway where Lucian had disappeared.
Zak remained silent, his usual mask of indifference firmly in place. Gus, however, wasn't done.
"Nobody, my foot!" Gus scoffed, still staring after Lucian.
"That guy's got some serious issues if he's still stewing over a game. What a sore loser!"
Finn, already pulling his gaze away from the hallway, tapped his wrist.
"We should really get going," he said, his tone urgent now.
"The lessons are about to start, and we don't want to be late for that." He gave Zak a pointed look, a silent nudge to get moving.
The brief, sharp encounter with Lucian had punctured the usual school-day routine, leaving an odd tension in its wake. But the blare of the bell and Finn's reminder snapped them back to the present. The Ascension Trial was the undeniable focal point of their day, of their lives.