Chapter 1: Tyrant

The sun died, the moon lost its warmth and light.

The time is lost, making the flowers wilt.

The ground is still, nothing can be created.

The lightning is gone, cannot punish who sinned.

The space left, trapping the lost soul beneath.

“Everyone… We will meet again. It may not be in the next hundred years, but surely... surely… we will meet again. And when that time comes, everything will end.” A woman’s voice said.

…

In a small community, the silence was broken by a loud, ringing sound that could make one’s eardrums explode. In one of the houses, a shout was heard. 

“Fck!” Raine cursed as his eyes opened wide. He caught his breath, then coughed as he felt he was going to asphyxiate. He could feel his body is cold deep to his bones. He hugged himself, rubbing his arms for warmth. He looked around his room.

Their house has no air conditioner. He checked his window. His window is airtight. How can he suddenly feel cold? Thinking this, he shivered. It can’t be that his house is haunted? He suddenly froze when he felt his heart throbbed and thumped loudly. What is happening…? He placed his palm on his chest.

“RINNNGGG!!!” the alarm clock that woke him up made its presence known.

Raine’s face darkened. He raised his hand before he slapped the ringing and vibrating alarm clock on his bedside desk. “Sh*t! You’re noisy!” he said, then heaved a sigh as he turned and continued lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

What a weird dream again. He thought as he tried to recall the dream that he just had. But, like most people, he can’t recall all of its details. All he can remember is there was a flash of white… and a vast but empty land surrounded by mountains and trees covered by snow.

It is cold. This is the impression that he left when he woke up. He has been having this dream for almost three years since his mother died. Same dream every night... Even if he can’t recall all the details of his dreams, he knows that it was the same as that flash of white and the vast and empty land were seen by him in his dreams repeatedly. And on top of it all, the familiar coldness was there, and lingered on his skin every time he woke up.

As if he has been in that place in his dreams.

Raine shook his head and got up from his bed, then started preparing for school. I have to be early in school, or those idiots would make a ruckus again. He thought and grinned as he went to take a bath.

One hour later, Riverside High School.

“The president is here!” the students whispered.

“The chairman is near!”

“Make way! Make way!”

“Oh, my god! Pres is really handsome!” a female student exclaimed.

“If not for the school rules not to engage in carnal desires, I would have long thrown myself to him!”

“Are you that worthy to touch him?!” another female student asked.

“Stop the fight! The pres will get mad!”

“Amitabha. It is a fine day today.”

“Have you collected the protection fees – ow!”

“Idiot! The pres already told you not to receive payment from the people!”

“Shut up! The chairman is now here! Stand by your class’s line!”

The whispers finally died down when the entrance door of their school building opened, revealing a tall and handsome youth that looked more radiant as the sun, making their eyes become blind.

“Ah! Too bright!”

“My eyes!”

“I’m willing to be blind just to see him!”

The radiant youth Raine Leister frowned his thin and red lips. His fair and smooth skin is taut as his dark eyes chillingly glared at the crowd of the students standing in front of him by their class. His slender arms were crossed on his flat chest, above his right hand is a crest of a yellow sun. It is the student council’s logo.

On his left hand, at the tip of his fingers, is the blue armband with a white moon, with its different waning and waxes figures, sewn on it. It is the disciplinary committee’s armband. The locks of the youth’s ink-black hair fell on his forehead, showering his long and thin eyebrows. His long and curly eyelashes are blanketing his deep and dark eyes.

“Close the doors.” Raine’s voice is deep but carries gentleness as he walks to the front of the lining students divided by their class.

“Yes, chairman!” a disciplinary committee saluted and immediately closed the doors of the students’ building together with his fellow members.

Raine Leister turned to the waiting student council officers waiting for his orders, forming a line, on the head of the crowd. “Have you checked the attendance?” he asked as he looked at the one in charge of every class’s attendance.

“Yes, pres!” she answered.

“The hair colors for women and hair cut for men?” Raine asked.

“Only three hadn’t followed the rules, pres!”

“Their uniform?”

“Well-pressed and clean, president!”

Raine Leister's eyes surveyed the whole space, checking each student his chilling eyes pass, making their spine feel cold. “Open the door leading to the school gym.” He said as he walked forward.

The crowd dispersed, making way for him as he walked in the middle. The student council officers followed behind him while the disciplinary committee members ran to open the door and made a line as a way leading them to the school gym.

Raine Leister saw the teachers and the school principal waiting for them in the entrance. They turned and saw him leading his schoolmates.

“Leister. You are working hard.” The principal told him as they walked towards the stage.

“It’s perfunctory.” Raine just said as he motioned for the principal to come up the stage.

The principal just chuckled as he ascended the stairs. The disciplinary committee members were already by the flag poles, holding the rope to raise the flag. The teachers all lined up, standing by the walls of the school gym. The student council officers stood beside the student council adviser.

Raine Leister’s gaze swept past the space again as he watched his schoolmates arrange themselves. “Good. Proceed.” He told the class president of the class responsible for today’s flag raising ceremony.

The class president gulped down his saliva and turned to his classmates.

Raine Leister ignored him as he snapped his fingers. “Begin the national anthem. Sing, every one of you, or I will pull your vocal cords.” He said, his eyes narrowed towards the students near him.

They held their saliva from swallowing as they felt their throat start to get hurt. Can we still sing properly like this? They all thought as they began to sing when they heard their national anthem played.

The supposed to be heroic song turned to a funeral song.

“Good.” Raine Leister said, ignoring their expressions. “Proceed to the pledge of loyalty to the country.” He said and glanced at the student who is ascending the stairs to recite the pledge.

The student almost tripped and fell off the stairs when he heard Raine Leister’s voice. With his knees shaking, he walked to the center of the stage in his greatest efforts to pledge to Raine Leister – err, to the country. The students, along with the teacher and the principal, looked at him in pity. They covertly looked at Raine Leister – this school tyrant, their king!

One hour later.

The ringing of the bell is like the trumpet of hope for everyone inside the school gym. They almost ran towards their school building without the disciplinary committee members pleadingly looking at them, their meaning to cooperate with them or else the king might go mad. And so they had to keep their itching feet and walked like a robot as they headed out of the school gym after their flag raising ceremony began.

They had never been thankful for their early classes as much as they had now.

The sight of the students uniformly walking out of the school gym is grand and pleasing for the Riverside High School – the school for the misfits. In short, the school is the worst school in their district. Outlaws, bullies, gangsters, they all mixed in a hotpot called Riverside High School. Of course, the outlaws are former outlaws who already served their sentence in prison and have now regained their freedom. They enter school to reform themselves and their life, starting anew again. Some were thieves, robbers, while there are some who were just wrongly accused and were sentenced to prison because their opponents were a wealthy family framing them up.

There were also the school bullies. Their majority is being an unloved child, or abandoned by their family because they are a child out of wedlock, and was thrown to their dying grandparents to be fed and taken care of. Or that both of their parents remarried and now they are in between the two families. And so, their resentment and hidden accumulated sadism was vented out on the poor and weak timid students.

The gangsters, on the other hand, prey on the timid residents in their district. They are ‘begging for charity’ to make them cough out money. Sometimes they use kids, but mostly it is them doing their deed. They threaten them by using violence, at the most the victims will be sent to the hospital and get a fracture.

There were also female students who liked to wear thick makeup, short skirts to the point their underwear can be seen, and loose and unbuttoned on the chest shirt. Yep. Sluts. Either they were too sexually deprived and are horny or was sexually traumatized so they ended like this because a shadow was left in their heart.

Anyway, this Riverside High School is a rest stop for these misfits. Where does he belong, you say? You guessed it. 

Student Council office.

Raine was leaning his head on the head rest when the door suddenly opened.

“Pres!” Lovis called, still panting. Obviously, he ran as fast as he could.

Raine raised his head and looked at him. “What?” he asked.

“The captain of the soccer and baseball club!” Lovis said. “They – they are in the field and are fighting!” He said.

Raine rose from his seat and went outside to go to the track and field with Lovis following behind him. There, they saw a horde of students gathering on the field, obviously watching the two club captains fighting.

“Pres…” Lovis said and looked at Raine, looking very worried.

Raine walked towards them. Then, he heard them talking in between their punches.

“I told you it is just 2 hours!” The baseball club captain said as he gritted his teeth.

“Can’t do. We are having our deadline. Our next match is coming!” the soccer club captain said with a dark face.

“Then how about 2 minutes?” Raine said.

Everyone turned and all of them looked at him, looking surprised. Meanwhile, the soccer club and baseball club captains looked shocked as if they had seen a ghost.

“Crap. It is Raine Leister!” Raine heard one of the students exclaim as they finally reacted to his sudden appearance.

“They’re screwed.” Someone said with a look of schadenfreude.

“Ah! It is Raine!” one of the girls said and squealed.

“Oh my, gosh! He looks so cool!” another female student said with blushing cheeks.

Raine ignored them as he turned to look at the soccer club and baseball club captains whose faces were pale. “How about it?” he asked as he walked towards them. “Two minutes to knock both of you down.” he said and looked at them murderously.

They nervously gulped down their saliva and took a step back every time Raine walked towards them.

Raine felt pissed looking at their cowardly expressions. “You bastards… you have got guts to fight. How about you fight me, then?” he asked and cracked his knuckles. “Here I am, doing my best to improve this school… yet you two…” he said and narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Everyone also stepped back.

Raine suddenly stopped and turned to the onlookers. “You do have a class, right?” he asked and smiled at them, though his smile looked creepy.

Their eyes went wide and immediately ran away.

Raine was satisfied. Then, he turned back to the two. “So? Fight me?” he asked as he pulled up the sleeves of his uniform.

But, they suddenly fell down on their knees. “We are very sorry!” they said and ran fast away from here.

“What… you bastards! Come back here!” Raine said and tried to go after them when Lovis stopped him.

“Pres…” Lovis called and shook his head, telling him not to pursue the soccer club and baseball club captains.

Lovis Colfie, or ‘Vis’, as Raine calls him. He is the student council vice president of Riverside High School. In short, he is the one who is keeping Raine in check if Raine is going overboard when punishing the students.

Raine helplessly sighed. “Fine.” He said. “Then you fight me, instead.” He told Lovis and prepared to strike.

Lovis’s eyes went wide. “Huh?” he muttered, shocked. “Wa – wait, pres… waaaaaa – uh?” he muttered when he saw Nine running towards them. “The Disciplinary Committee?” he was surprised.

“Chairman!!!!” Nine from the Disciplinary Committee called when he finally saw Raine. He almost cried.

Raine also turned and saw Nine who was looking at him as if he had seen his savior.

“Chairman!” Nine called, still panting. “E – Eight was… near the Cornfield High…” he said. Beads of sweat trickled down the side of his face.

Raine’s expression changed after guessing what he wanted to tell him. He didn’t wait for Nine to finish talking and immediately ran. Nine, who still didn’t catch his breath, didn’t waste time and followed Raine.

Lovis looked at them, dumbfounded. Then, he finally reacted. “Hey?! Wa… wait for me, pres!!!” he said and ran after them.

Raine arrived first and saw a group of punks beating Eight. “Hey.” he called. His face is dark and his eyes are cold.

The students wearing the uniform of Cornfield High School turned to him. “Who are you?” their leader asked and looked at Raine. But, seeing that someone had arrived, they stopped kicking Eight.

Raine’s eyes are extremely cold and the temperature in the surroundings dropped. Cornfield High School, right? He thought and inwardly sneered as he approached them. “Let him go.” He said, referring to Eight.

“Huh?” the leader of the punks said. “Who are you to order me – ack!” he cried when Raine unceremoniously hit his face with his forehead. The leader’s nose bled.

“The thing that I hated the most is waiting…” Raine said and glared at him.

“Boss!” the punk members cried when they saw what happened. They turned and glared at Raine.

“You bastard – ugh!” one of them tried to punch Raine but Raine kicked him. He flew away.

Raine looked at the others. “Next?” he asked. His expression is filled with indifference.

“Aaaarrgghh – ! Ugh!” another one tried to hit Raine with a bat, only for Raine to grab it, then twisted his hand and took the bat for himself before he hit the punk. 

“Ah, ah.” Raine muttered as he punched him in the face and kicked him. The bat fell off the ground. “Weaklings – ouch.” He cried when one of them hit the back of his head with a bottle.

Raine turned. The punk with the broken bottle tried to stab Raine but Raine dodged, held his wrist and twisted it.

“You’ve got guts.” Raine said and then broke his arm.

The crisp sound of the bones breaking echoed in the alley.

“AAAAAHHH!!!” The punk cried and looked at his broken arm with his face filled with horror.

“Owwww.” Lovis and Nine exclaimed and looked away.

“Pres…you will really get scolded badly if they knew that.” Lovis said, referring to their council advisers.

Raine looked at him after he pushed away the punk who hit him with a bottle and now has a broken arm. “Huh? I’ll just tell them that it was self-defense.” He said. Then, he turned to the other punks left. “Next?” he asked.

They shook their heads and grabbed away their comrades that had fallen.

Raine sighed when they left. “Goodness.” He muttered and went to Eight, who is trying to get up now.

Lovis and Nine helped him.

“Chairman!” Nine called and gasped when he saw something.

Raine turned to him and saw him and Lovis looked shocked. “You – your head!” they exclaimed.

Raine touched the back of his head and felt that it was wet. He looked at his hands and saw blood. “Oh, shit.” He cursed. “They will really kill me if they saw this.” He said and sighed. “Nine.” He called.

“Yes!” Nine nodded and dialed a number. “Hey, bastards! Bring Chairman change of clothes. And a medical kit.” He told the person on the other line.

After a few minutes we heard footsteps running. “Chairman – waaah!!!!” One cried and pointed at the back of Raine’s head.

“Chairman! Who the heck did this – “

“I’ll fucking kill him.”

“I’ll bury him alive!” they said.

Raine smiled when he heard what they said.

“Oh!” they gasped. “He smiled! Chairman smiled!” they said, looking very happy.

Raine glared at them. “Hey.” He called.

They immediately stood upright.

Raine took the bag after they treated his head. “Later.” he said and waved at them while leaving. My friends, and my gang. He thought and smiled.

Raine Leister, sixteen years old, the student council president and Disciplinary Committee chairman of the Riverside High School. His life as a commoner, he didn’t know at that time that it would turn 180 degrees after that fateful encounter.