SIX

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“But really, you've got to admit yesterday's unforeseen event was scary; terrifying even!”. Fiorella whisper–yelled as she leaned closer to Leigh's ear.

“Fiorella! You're going to make me deaf. And yes we all know about yesterday, we were there, remember?”. Leigh replied annoyedly as she glared at Fiorella who didn't seem to notice the glare as she continued to gush about what had happened the previous day.

“It was so surprising to find out that the seal of the gods was broken, totally destroyed. I was stupefied!”. She shouted again, making the group of friends walking together to begin the first activity of the day, sigh frustratedly.

Leigh, rather than complaining, had resulted to pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers as she shook her head tiredly, Hunter kept his usually stoic, impassive yet rather bored look, Blayze, the second dumb one of the group right after ‘you know who’, kept egging her on, enthusiastically agreeing to everything she had been saying and the last person in the group wasn't even paying attention to what was being discussed.

He was rather completely immersed in his thoughts. Since the day before, the strange yet seemingly powerful intruder had piqued his curiosity. He kept thinking about the figure all through yesterday and even though he had had quite enough of thinking of the stranger, he couldn't seem to think of anything else but the intruder.

Every other thing he had tried to think about or make use of to divert his attention to something else had all pointed to the intruder. None had succeeded in taking his mind off the stranger.

Leigh had opted for a black skinny jeans that day and he couldn't help but think back to the outfit the intruder had worn. Likewise, Hunter had decided to wear black boots. Though they weren't spiked, they still reminded him of the intruder.

“But the most shocking thing of all was that he got accepted into the camp. What was the dean thinking to have allowed an intruder to stay? Do you think the intruder bribed them or something? Though the dean and the staff are really wise people, I don't think they would accept such. Besides even if he had bribed most of them, he wouldn't have been able to persuade professor Ethan, would he? The hatred he had towards the intruder was incontestably evident in his eyes”. Fiorella continued to rant as she tried to guesstimate the reason why the intruder got accepted into the camp, although her words fell on deaf ears.

“I wonder who this intruder really is and what his purpose here is. I hope our camp is safe though”. She mused in worry and this last sentence of hers finally caught the attention of others as their facial expressions became one of utmost soberness.

A deep frown creased Leigh's face as she thought about what Fiorella had said. Blayze, who always had something, mostly irrelevant to say, was awfully quiet as he was also deep in thought and Hunter was also eerily quiet, though he usually never spoke more than a few words a day. The worry was evident on all their faces and even Hunter who always seemed bland and impassive, it was quite visible that he was also worried and the dark cloud that hovered over his head didn't go unnoticed by the passerbys as they all sidestepped him. No one wanted to be on the wrong side of Hunter's.

And as for the last person, who had been constantly thinking of the intruder, he seemed to have fallen deeper in thought.

He didn't believe the intruder had actually entered the camp to destroy it. He believed they were all just paranoid and distrustful. Because they had seen him destroy the seal, because they had no idea what powers he withheld, because they were scared cowards, they chose to hate him instead.

But he was determined to find out what secrets the intruder held within. He was determined to find out why the intruder had joined the camp. To find out what the intruder was here for.

“Even if our camp was in danger, I'm pretty sure the dean and the staff already have a plan just in case. Besides, we're all here. We are one, we're together, he can't possibly take us all. He's just one person against all of us. We would surely triumph over him”. Leigh spoke, making her voice and expression one of determination, a total discrepancy to what she truly felt within and what her subconscious kept telling her.

She was scared and had been unsure of their safety in the camp since the seal was destroyed and the culprit,  who had committed the act, was also in the camp. She didn't know how strong he was or what powers he had, no one did and that fact alone was enough to terrify the living daylights out of them.

Worst of all, they were now open to threats from all corners of the world. Unlike the seal, the dome was rather pervious. The seal had been the true protector of the camp but now that it had been destroyed, they were all in danger. The solution would be that from now on, manpower would full on be their security system. They would need to rely solely on their manual dexterity.

The situation that this intruder had placed them all in was a very difficult and tough one and this would serve as a test of the trainings they had been undergoing for a while in the camp. This would be a test of their true abilities and this particular group of students were determined to succeed at all costs. They would come out victorious and no one would stop them from achieving that.

They all piled into the almost empty room designed for the early morning exercise. The atmosphere was quite gloomy as the students weren't exactly in a cheerful mood due to the most recent happenings in the camp, in other words, due to the intruder.

They had been on edge since the day before and had been vigilant, looking out for themselves and for each other. They hadn't slept well the night before for fear of being attacked in their sleep by the intruder or people that already heard the news about the lack of proper security systems around the camp anymore.

They were trying really hard to make sure the news didn't get to the public until they had a solid plan to get by the situation. They couldn't risk putting the lives of the camp members in jeopardy, more than they already had by allowing the culprit to remain in the camp in the first place. The problems that would arise if the news of the seal's ruin reached the public—would be greater than they could handle and that was the last thing they wanted to happen at the moment.

They all sat in their respective positions which was on the hard wooden floor as they murmured among themselves like they had been doing since the day before.

The room was plain but wide enough to occupy the students. The floor was made from birch wood. It had a mild tan shade that was almost looking like the colour white. While building this particular room, the flooring had been taken into proper consideration, infact the entire part of the camp, every nook and cranny had been taken into consideration.

Particularly, the wooden floor in this exercising/sparring room was smooth to stain, it efficiently prevented swelling, shrinking and even warping. The designers had previsioned how plain the room would be, so they had chosen a wood that wasn't ideal for intricate designing. They had gone for a plain look and they had nailed it perfectly.

The camp was comprised of mostly wooden materials. I don't blame them though, the camp was located deep in the woods, it was surrounded by trees, their immediate natural resource had to be efficiently utilised of course.

Steady, confident, rhythmically approaching footsteps were heard over the incessant murmurings of the students and the atmosphere in the room seemed to have changed as the temperature dropped instantly.

The students seemed to have noticed the change as they shivered unconsciously before the entire room went as silent as a graveyard—something that only happened whenever professor Ethan was in a bad mood and he held a spar.

They all shifted slightly as they turned slowly as though they were scared the slightest sound would make the Earth break in half.

She walked in, her footsteps slowing down only for a millisecond as she yet again, took in the rapt attention bestowed upon her by the students on her arrival. She hadn't asked for it, yet she got it again.

Her eyes searched smoothly for a secluded spot to sit and coincidentally, she found one right by the front corner of the room, away from everyone, away from prying eyes, curious tongues and judging hearts.

The spot was perfect like it was made for her, as though the gods had smiled upon her, something she knew wouldn't happen. The amount of blood she had shed wouldn't even gain her the spot of the supreme judge of Hades. That was how damned she was.

She walked confidently to the spot and crouched to the floor. The spot was beside the window and it gave free entrance to the fresh, cold air that whistled through the still slightly dark blue sky, the smell of wet soil that seemed to have been dusted by the slight shower of snowflakes that fell from the sky through the night and the singing and humming of the birds as they danced and glided through the sky.

All these things were what kept her calm and sane through the years. These little things that a lot of people didn't pay attention to and just lived their lives through, were the vital reasons why she was still sane and probably still caused the Earth to continue to be in existence today. These little things were the fireflies that comforted her in the darkness that encapsulated her every being.

If you wished to unleash the true demon in her, one of the things you needed to do was keep her in a dark and silent room with no space to view the outside world or perceive the gifts nature had to offer. Now by doing that, you wouldn't live to hear the end of the story, I assure you.

She sat absolutely still as she listened to the cold wind that howled outside as she tried to calm herself and maybe even forget about the episode of her life she had had a recap of earlier in her room.

She sat with her legs bent in front of her, arms tucked into the pockets of her hoodie as she stared ahead at the wall, completely still, with no sign or evidence that she was still living or breathing.

Out of the group of friends, the one person that had been genuinely interested in uncovering secrets about this intruder, kept his eyes trained on the figure that sat quite far from the others.

His eyes drank in every detail of the figure from how big the hoodie looked on him to the tightly fitted skinny jeans that appeared like a second skin and to the worn out spiked boots on his right leg that faced towards his side.

He couldn't help but think if that was the only possession he had. He hadn't seen him with a bag the previous day, so definitely he wouldn't have something else to wear and the clothes had already faded.

He couldn't help but think if he had had anything to eat since he got to the camp yesterday. The figure looked really fragile in the hoodie and he appeared breakable even.

The confusing part of it all is that he wondered why he was this concerned about someone that was clearly a threat to the entirety of the camp. He had no answer to that question but he was pretty sure the intruder wouldn't do anything to hurt the camp. He knew not where the confidence came from but he was certain he was correct.

As he continued to stare, his eyes swept lower and his gaze halted on the arm of the intruder. He kept thinking if he had removed his hand from his pockets since yesterday. He wondered how his hands would look. And as he kept staring, his gaze eventually became one of penetrating nature. Heat waves seemed to have generated from his eyes, going in a straight line and directly boring holes into the back of her head.

The class remained quiet as everyone sat, watching the intruder's every move. They were stiffly on guard as they didn't trust what the intruder could do. They half–mindedly prayed for a teacher to enter the room as they wondered what the teachers could be doing. They didn't believe that they could possibly abandon them with someone as dangerous as the intruder and for a while, they had panicked, thinking maybe the intruder had murdered the entire staff members but their hearts were calmed when a teacher came into sight.

This teacher was none other than professor Ethan and the class was prepared to see a fuming teacher like they had seen him act towards the intruder the previous day but they were stunned from the strand of hair on their heads to the soles of their feet to see a blinding smirk on his usually stoic and hard face.

The smirk revealed a few of his bright, sparkling teeth as his gaze swept mischievously over the students and rested momentarily on the minute figure at the corner of the room, away from everyone before moving back to the students.

“Good morning students”. He greeted.

“Good morning, professor Ethan!”. The students replied a little faintly, still stunned by his behaviour and also the issue of being tired from lack of sleep coupled with their lazy attitudes to begin the day's activities.

“I trust you all had a good night's rest?”. He asked as he swiftly moved his hands, pointing his fingers at different students and signalling for them to grab the fitness equipment placed in the storage room located behind the door at the far end of the room.

“No professor!”. They mumbled in reply as some proceeded to rest their heads on their partners’ shoulders, some went all sprawled out on the floor while some risked letting their eyes dart towards the intruder in the corner.

“Well then you all have to wake up. There's no room for indolent and torpid attitudes in this camp. In this camp, we don't train fools, we don't train dullards and most certainly, we don't train lazybones or quitters”. He admonished firmly, as his voice rose at each word.

“Besides, there's no hassle. If you all are sluggish heads, averse to activity or hard work...”. He paused as he glanced smugly at all of them before he continued,

“That's what I'm here for. To set you straight”. He emphasised on the last words particularly before he ended with a triumphant smirk as the students groaned in disapproval.

“Now, we don't have time to waste. We've got work to do and a whole day ahead of us. You know the drill, if one activity clashes with the other due to your indolent behaviours, it would affect your break time and your closing hour will be prolonged. Keep in mind I won't bat an eyelash before prolonging your closing hour. And if you didn't know, seeing you guys work your butts off till 6p.m brings me great joy.

Unlike other teachers I don't take my job with levity. I train you to be the best and not just among the best. I won't have any one of you tarnishing the good name of camp Arietis so for the good of all, mostly yours, I state my conditions to you all today especially because of our unexpected new member”. He bitterly spat the word ‘unexpected new member’ out as his eyes briefly bruised her figure and a scowl appeared on his face.

He tried to tone down his anger by remembering the plan, what they all had discussed with the dean earlier that morning. The strategy was brought up just in case the intruder planned to attack. It was a risky strategy that wouldn't take effect until later and if the intruder planned to attack today, it would be useless and they would only have one thing to their advantage and that is his puniness, something that could cause them to win the battle or lose it.

They needed more. Something solid. Something concrete to hold their own against the intruder if he chooses to attack and they were all going to work together to get it.

“Now, on your feet! Ladies, give me fifty push–ups, guys, I want a hundred from you. If your pace doesn't suit my taste, you'll be doing double of what I asked you. So hurry up and begin!”. He shouted, full on power that the students began to wonder if perhaps their professor was a robot. He was never tired and even if he was, he never showed it. He never missed his classes and anywhere and everywhere they saw him, he was always looking so energetic.

‘Perks of being a titan’. They had thought but judging by how lazy Blayze was and how he was currently finding it hard to lift himself off the floor, it didn't seem that way anymore. Afterall Blayze was also a titan and so far, he was the dumbest and laziest one they knew.

Seeing as the students struggled to get to his orders, he firmly hit the spar he held–against the floor, making them all jump in fright.

“Do you think I'm here for jokes?! I don't get paid to take my job unseriously! Now get off the damn floor before I make you!”. He shouted as he hit the spar against the floor once again, making everyone wonder when he had gone to get it because clearly, he had walked into the room empty-handed.

They all hurriedly rose to their feet and began carrying out his orders. Yep, this was the original professor Ethan they knew. The one that had walked in with a smirk had been beaten out of his body by the original.

A few minutes later and they were all sprawled out on the floor, panting heavily. Some battled for the last drop of water in the bottle while others didn't even bother getting up. The supposed harmless exercise had turned out to be back–breaking particularly for Blayze who had been the last to complete his exercise.

His own one hundred push-ups had turned out to be three hundred as he couldn't keep up with the professor. He had lingered on three while the professor counted seven for the others and that warranted the punishments. He couldn't even raise a finger as his biceps ached mercilessly. He had consumed two bottles of water in less than thirty seconds and Fiorella had been nice enough to help massage his shoulders and arms as he heaved shakily on the floor.

The professor shook his head in disappointment at this supposed titan who couldn't even handle three hundred push-ups. He needed to shape him into something worthwhile.

‘The battlefield has no mercy for anyone’.

That fact was what guided the actions of the professor. He believed in equality amongst the students while training. It didn't matter if you were a female or male, the battle ground doesn't give a damn about gender. It only cares about your strength and he believed the mighty and strong ones rule the battlefield. They command whatever happens and the odds always falls in their favour.

For this reason, the professor treated each and everyone of the students equally. He believed that in battle, what a man could do, a woman could do the same or even better and he didn't relent in training everyone of them intensely. He had pledged to put relatively high puissance of the students into war effort, the rest could be for intellectual property and he intended to keep to that pledge strictly.

His eyes darted to the figure in the corner. The figure didn't seem to have moved an inch from his position. He was aggravated by his defiance to carry out his orders.

“You!”. He called out, causing everyone's head to snap towards his direction. Their eyes followed the direction in which his head faced, noticing how he was bestowing upon the intruder, a death glare.

She didn't move an inch, seemingly she was the only one that hadn't heard him call her. Everyone marvelled at the audacity this intruder had to have ignored the professor's call, oblivious to the fact that she hadn't intentionally ignored him, she just didn't hear him. She continued to stare blankly at the far wall before her until she heard it again.

“Doom! I'm talking to you!”. She gently raised her head and turned towards the direction of the voice, already missing the peace and quiet that had been seized from her by this man.

“Get up!”. He shouted again and she paused for a moment before doing so. ‘This man was sure to die from hypertension or a heart attack when he gets old. A speaker is nothing compared to this man’. She thought.

“You didn't do the exercise. Everything I said this morning, did it fall on deaf ears? I don't tolerate recalcitrant students in my class. If you don't have the zeal to learn, then be my guest and leave the camp for people that are eager to learn”. He barked out as he gritted out the words, his anger clearly evident.

As always, she had no reaction whatsoever. She didn't even move one bit and this intensified the rage he already had as he felt it build up into a ball of fire in his entire system.

Professor Ethan hated being ignored. He hated not getting what he wanted. Basically, he hated everything that didn't fall in his favour and the students tensed up as they watched expectantly between the intruder and the red professor. They were patiently waiting to see who would crack first.

And after a long heated eye–to–eye battle between the two of them, the professor finally gave up.

“Two hundred push-ups with both hands, one hundred more with only one hand and one hundred sit-ups. Now!”. He gritted out.

Their mouths fell open as they blatantly gaped at the words that left the professor's mouth. He had never given such intense punishments, no matter how angry he was. They being shocked was a complete understatement. They all awaited the intruder's reaction.

The professor smirked arrogantly as he crossed his arms triumphantly, awaiting the intruder's pleas but he was shocked out of his mind–they all were, when they saw him crouch to the ground and start the hell of a punishment.

After he had completed fifty push-ups, they expected him to stop to take a break but he further surprised them by not stopping until he had completed the entire two hundred and immediately moved on to the hundred one–hand push-ups.

The professor waited impatiently for him to surrender and beg but he never got what he wanted. This puny figure had shocked them all, including the dean and the rest of the staff that had decided to take a peek to see how the morning exercise was going.

They had arrived when the professor was punishing Blayze and they had chuckled lightly at his priceless expression when he had been told to do another hundred. Now their expressions were of shock as they failed miserably in hiding what they truly felt.

After a few minutes, she finally completed the entire thing and stood firmly to her feet, immediately tucking her hands back into her pockets. She drew out her pen and notepad and quickly scribbled something on it before showing it to the professor.

‘Anything else?’. She asked, making the professor's hand that was tightly wrapped around the spar–tighten from rage. He hadn't expected that, no one had and the students continued to gape at her.

The sound of the bell reverberated through the whole school, marking the end of the period and it was time for them to file into the dining hall to have their breakfast and those that wished to freshen up had the time to, but they all remained grounded to the floor as they continued to stare at this figure.

Seeing as she was being ignored and that it seemed the professor had nothing else to say, she closed the notepad and tucked them into her pockets once again before taking a quick glance around the room, spotting the other staff members that stood at the second entrance, far from where they all were seated.

She immediately turned on her heel and walked away, heading straight for her room to wash away the sweat that irritated her excessively. She wasn't one to do well with dirt or sweat.

If the professor thought that she would back down, plead or bow down in fear or cowardice all because of mere push-ups, then he was exceedingly wrong. If he thought mere push-ups were a befitting punishment for her, then he definitely had something else coming and she wouldn't hesitate one bit to prove them all wrong.

She might be puny or minute in figure but neither of them knew a quarter of what she had been through and she was very sure they would die of heart attack if they heard even a piece of it.

And as she walked out of the room, the one who hadn't lifted his gaze off her figure, continued to watch her and for some reason, his heart swelled in pride.

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