Grey Nirmala
I attended classes all day. In every class most students and teachers looked at me with fear, then I walked out and headed to the next lesson. Between periods I sometimes talked with Bloom about Zero, sometimes I ran into Maya and chatted for a minute before moving on, and sometimes I saw Ulma hanging around with her friends. Strangely enough, the person I ran into most all day was Ulma.
"We got through a whole day and did almost nothing. Boringggg."
Hachiko whined.
"Sorry, since when has it been my job to entertain you?"
I narrowed my eyes at my companion. Hachiko shrugged the question off.
"If you give me a body, I won't be such a hassle, you know."
He said it with such certainty, as if I didn't trust him. And he was right. I didn't. If I gave Hachiko a body here in this academy, who knew how terrifying the consequences would be.
Walking the school corridors was getting tiring and dull. There were still a day until the Dream Realm trip, and until then I needed to learn a thing or two, otherwise I could relive the events that occurred in the Pit.
And so five days passed like that. Mornings I was in class, talking to people I knew; evenings I worked with Bloom for Zero. Training at night with Bloom wore me out. The more I used the ability, the worse and more painful the backlash became. I could release Destruction to dull the pain, but that could make me lose control. I still hadn't improved at controlling Destruction. After the agony in the Pit, I hadn't used it at all. Well, I mean, I did dispose of that monster pretty well. But even then I was lucky. From what I'd learned, there were hundreds of different Aether-eating mutant beasts down in the pits. Yet instead of being frightened by this, the Legia Household had turned it into an opportunity, creating guilds, hunter bases, and more within the pits themselves. The Legia family must have labored hard to keep order. Of course, I was about to break that order soon. I would make Storm City taste hell. I would show Orinn what true might was.
As I kept walking through the corridors, I saw Ulma again up ahead. She was talking to a boy I didn't know. The boy's eyes were orange, and his brown hair rose like a little hill. While I was spying on them, Ulma noticed me and waved. I sighed. I had to go over and talk with them. The boy with Ulma looked like he had a good build, and when he saw me he flexed that good build. I think he was trying to intimidate me, but after squinting at me for a moment, a strange relief crossed his face, followed by a curious, puzzled expression. I stopped in front of Ulma and the boy, and for a few seconds the two of us just stared each other down. We were both trying not to blink. But as the seconds passed, my eyes began to burn. Not to lose this little duel, I forced my gaze to hold on to the determined person before me. He, too, began squinting from the pain, and just when nearly a minute had passed and I couldn't endure any longer, I blinked, luckily at the exact same moment he did. Ulma had been watching us with interest from the side, but when the duel ended in a draw, she giggled.
"Haha. Neither of you won."
The orange-eyed boy frowned and shot Ulma a look.
"Don't be sad, Kai, one day you'll win," Ulma said in a teasing tone.
"Shut up!"
The boy snapped at her, then folded his arms and pouted. Ulma turned to me and tittered. When she saw me staring at her like an idiot, she straightened immediately and slung an arm over the boy's shoulder.
"Hey, Grey. This is my twin bro, Kai."
I looked at Kai first, then back at Ulma. They hardly resembled each other. Kai shrugged off Ulma's arm and looked me up and down.
"The Mighty Dragon King," Kai murmured. "I didn't expect to see you here. Your fight with Astrid was weird."
I frowned and narrowed my eyes at Kai.
"So you've got a problem with me too?"
I asked, my voice serious and clear. Kai shrugged.
"I'd never have a problem with anyone who helps my sister."
"Aww, how sweet," Ulma chimed in from behind.
I stared blankly at the two siblings, then asked the question that had just popped into my head. "Are you two coming to the Dream Realm trip too?"
They looked at each other first, then back at me, and nodded in unison.
"Yes," Ulma said in a bright voice. Her lips curled upward.
"Yey! Who wouldn't want to go on the trip with the Grand Dragon King!"
She shouted with excitement. Kai rolled his eyes and held out his hand to me.
"Kai Shinra. I am at Ascension Awakening. And I also have a Myth. I call it Flame Dash."
"Now Flame Dash is a cool name," Hachiko said, slightly amused. I added my own comment after him.
"I think I can tell what Flame Dash does just from the name."
I said. Kai looked at me, and a small smile tugged at his lips.
"You're better than I expected, Dragon King."
I nodded, then turned away.
"Anyway, I've got to train with a friend. See you tomorrow."
"Bye!" Kai and Ulma called after me, and I headed toward where Bloom was waiting.
Meeting Kai mattered to me. I'd realized while training with Bloom that the more people I knew here, the better I could grow stronger. But that didn't mean I had to trust them.
The corridors were crowded with students again. It felt like no one had anything to do but hang out in the halls. The cafeteria was on my right. Bloom was waiting for me there. I went in and looked around. The cafeteria was enormous. Maybe a thousand people could fit in here at once. The tables were full of Awakened, each with food that looked delicious and well-made. In a way, the meals reminded me of the food at Legacy's Academy, though Storm City had its own style. The cafeteria's gray walls were adorned with blue lightning. From a more distant perspective now, I had to admit: the thunder and lightning motifs actually looked pretty good—cool, even.
"Eh, I'd say it's passable," Hachiko grumbled. I ignored my companion and searched the tables for Bloom. As I looked, something slipped around my arm. Startled, I glanced down, and there was the one and only blue-haired, blue-eyed Maya. She smiled at me sweetly and clutched my arm with her little hands.
"Would you like to eat with me?"
Though Maya's voice sounded cute, sweet, and happy, I sensed a hint of sadness behind it. I didn't know why, and I didn't dwell on it. I smiled at Maya.
"Sure, but first we need to find a friend."
Maya nodded eagerly. "Okay."
Hand in hand with Maya, I kept searching for Bloom. After a little while Hachiko's voice echoed in my ears. The Incarnation of the Eye of the Void sounded calm, yet impatient.
"Blind Monkey, he's sitting at the table directly in front of you."
I opened my mouth to thank Hachiko—
"Blind Monkey? Really?"
I snapped at him in my head. Hachiko deflected with a roll.
"What? I like giving you nicknames. I mean, I could've come up with a better name than this 'Legacy' you picked."
I pouted at Hachiko.
"Legacy isn't a bad name at all."
"Yeah, but there's no meaning behind it."
His judgment irked me.
"What do you mean 'no meaning'? Legacy comes from Lineage. From Lineage City."
Hachiko paused to think, then answered:
"Eh, fine. Acceptable, I guess."
"That's what I thought too, you good boy."
"Y—You…"
Before Hachiko could reply, I tuned him out again, and realized I was already standing in front of Bloom. Maya was staring at Bloom with a dopey expression. Bloom stared back with the same face.
"Why are you here?"
They both asked at once. A crooked grin crept over my face.
"Hehe. Bloom, this is Maya, a close friend of mine. And Maya, this is Bloom, kind of like my mentor, I guess."
Sparks almost crackled between Maya's sky-blue eyes and Bloom's ocean-blue eyes. I sighed and put a hand on Maya's head.
"Relax. You don't need to be this aggressive toward Bloom."
Maya squirmed under my palm.
"You gotta be kidding me. Why the hell are you friends with this bolem?"
"Huh?"
I looked at Maya with a dumb expression.
"What the hell? You know her?"
I said in a dazed voice. Maya looked up at me with a confident, smug grin.
"Who doesn't know the so-popular 'Florist of Aether'?"
I turned a dumb look on Bloom now.
"What kind of name is that?"
Bloom shrugged it off and looked at Maya with a despairing kind of intent.
"Just a name," she said sullenly. I sighed and slapped the back of Maya's head. She yelped and turned to me with a pout. I smiled at the little girl. She pouted harder. Giggling, I looked back at Bloom, who was watching us with a straight face.
"Don't waste our time. We still have to train in Zero."
I rolled my eyes and nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But first, we eat."
Bloom exhaled and gave a small nod. I glanced around. The Awakened were eating something like steak. Nice, I liked steak.
"We get the food from over there."
Maya pointed out a short line. At the end, workers were dishing plates for Awakened students on the other side of the counter.
"Alright then, next stop: there."
Maya giggled in place, tugged me along, and we headed for the line.
The wait wasn't long. We got our food, returned to Bloom's table, and sat. I took the seat across from Bloom; Maya sat beside me. She grabbed her fork and happily dug into her steak. I went to do the same, but as I was about to stab my fork into the meat, I noticed something odd: the fork didn't have three or even two tines, it had five. At Magna Tempestas the forks were three-tined like in the Green Realm, but at this damned school why use five-tined forks?
"You're hung up on an ordinary fork."
Bloom said in a flat, silly tone. I shot the Florist of Aether a frown. She rolled her eyes, and I finally stuck the fork in my steak.
After I finished the steak, a sense of peace washed over me. It was my first time in the academy cafeteria, so I hadn't had food this good in a long while. After everything that had happened recently, a proper meal felt nice, it relaxed me. From the corner of my eye I looked at Maya and saw she felt the same. Seeing her like that made me happy. I pulled my gaze from Maya and turned to Bloom.
"I guess you're not hungry," I said with a hint of mockery. Bloom breathed in and out.
"I don't like eating before training."
I shrugged.
"Suit yourself."
Bloom tipped her head back and stared aimlessly at the ceiling. I took a long breath and stood. Stretching my arms and legs, I grinned at Bloom. When she noticed, she lowered her head and looked at me.
"What?"
"First one to the garden wins."
I said, my voice dripping with swagger. Bloom nodded with her chin. My grin widened as I prepared to use Zero. With one more breath, the whole world warped. I closed my eyes and focused only on Orca's paths. The only thing I saw was golden aetheric roads. And at zero steps, I reached for those roads. The Aether advanced, and as it advanced it pulled me into the path I needed. When I opened my eyes, time had stopped. At first I felt like I was in a void, but when I finally came to, I was already in the garden. I'd used Zero properly, but just as I started to celebrate, I collapsed and writhed. The backlash hit me.
"Ugh! Damn… it. I hate backlash."
It almost made me throw up the delicious steak I'd just eaten. Above my head, Bloom and Maya were making funny faces at me.
"This is why I don't eat before training."
Clutching my stomach, I kept writhing.
"Yeah. I get it now…" Zero… is truly a technique beyond humanity. A power that leaves the speed of light in the dust.
For the rest of the day, just like the last five, I kept training with Bloom. The Florist of Aether was more aggressive today. Her punches and her Zero felt different, more aggressive. After face-planting a few times, I finally raised a hand to stop. I was out of breath, and my stomach didn't feel good.
"Hey… could you calm down a bit?"
Bloom raised one brow and cocked her head.
"Why? We've been doing just fine so far."
My eyes flicked to Maya for a moment, she was sitting on the grass behind us, watching with impatient eyes.
"I know, but just… pause a little."
Bloom sighed and nodded. I looked back at her face.
"When I first met you, you seemed like a kinder person."
An innocent smile bloomed on her lips.
"I am a kind person."
I flopped onto my back and stared at the darkening sky.
"What a stupid thing this is, what people call the 'sky,'" I thought. The more I looked up, the more stupid questions bubbled up from my mind.
"Why is Raya so obsessed with freedom anyway? Even the Organizer called her 'Girl of Freedom.'" While I wrestled with my thoughts, Bloom leaned over and peered into my eyes. When she realized I was ignoring her, she gathered the aetheric particles flitting in the air and called her aether weapon. A shuriken formed, and she rolled it between her fingers. I wasn't fully focused on her, but I still watched from the corner of my eye. Bloom exhaled, and hurled the shuriken at me. If I didn't move, it would strike me head-on and cut me. In a split-second decision, I imagined using Zero within my consciousness, and at the same time my body shifted, stepping outside space and time and then back in. The ground warped and I found myself standing. Behind me, Bloom and Maya beamed at me. Bloom started clapping her hands.
"You did it!"
Bloom shouted with joy.
"You motherfucking bastard, you actually managed to use Zero in your inner thoughts. You crossed the first road to becoming a true Awakened who can reach divinity."
I arched one brow at her.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Bloom's smile grew larger.
"I expected you to use Zero to get out of the shrunken`s path, but the way you used it was magnificent."
Hachiko suddenly popped in my mind.
"You used Aether in a way not even the best can. I mean, it was 'normal' for you, but for them it was truly a motherloving freaking experience."
I frowned at my companion.
"And what did I do again?"
I asked. Hachiko jittered around in my head, like he was wagging a tail with glee.
"You combasted Aether into layers of paths, overlapping itself in a single thought within a moment that felt like eternity."
I listened with quiet satisfaction. I was happy I'd managed to do it differently, better than anyone I'd met. I felt strong again. I still didn't fully understand what I'd done, but it sounded badass. Maya appeared in front of me in an instant. I looked down at her softly. She met my gaze for a second, then hugged me tight.
"You did it!"
I hugged the little blue back.
"It's all thanks to you."
I said. Maya let go, took a step back, planted her hands on her hips, and grinned wide.
"Of course! I'm awesome."
Bloom giggled behind her as she walked toward me.
"I hope you're ready for tomorrow. Don't forget, the outer regions are the most dangerous parts of the Dream Realm."
She said it in a cool tone. I nodded.
"There will be no problem, trust me."
I said bravely. But I didn't tell her the whole truth. Things were going to happen there, things not very pleasant. I'd planned a lot for the next few days. I am a boy with the heart of a god, after all. I don't care who these People of Death are. I care about one or two of them, but for me to keep living, a few of them have to die.
Night had fallen completely. I stood before my closed door; my clothes were covered in snow. For a moment I looked back. Ulma's door was shut. I turned to my own, placed my hand on it, and channeled Aether into the lock. After feeding Aether into the door, I opened it and stepped inside. Crimson moonlight streamed in through my window. Over it, snow fell in sheets from the sky, aiming to paint everything white.
"At least this time it isn't rain."
Hachiko said in a joking tone. On my window, the warning "Trust No One!" still remained. I raised my left hand and looked at the Rune of Destruction.
"I've got a lot of work to do with you."
I said, then threw myself onto the bed. Today had worn me out, but it had also made me happy. I was finally making progress in Zero. With every passing day, I was getting closer to wiping Orinn off the face of these dream lands.
"Are you sure that man can send you back to the Green Realm? Couldn't he have tried to trick you with cooperation?"
Hachiko asked, his tone serious and curious. I thought about Hachiko's question for a bit, then shrugged.
"If Orinn doesn't know the way to send me home, I'll make him suffer until he finds it."
Hachiko approved my answer. My eyelids grew heavy, and I slowly closed my eyes. I didn't take long to fall asleep. But once I did, I heard a voice. It was close to Hachiko's, yet far. I opened my eyes blankly and froze at the sight. The air was a strange violet hue; there was nothing around me except the mirroring water platform beneath my feet. I heard the voice again, clearer this time.
"Awakened Grey, you did it! You have reached your Third Awakening."