As evening approached, Ash walked over to the boy's wing of the dorms and then stopped.

  Who's watching me... He said, looking around and then up.

  Out a window on the fourth floor, a set of purple eyes were watching him. But he didn't care, he was busy examining the building.

  Oh my... this is historic compared to the rest of the city.

  It was the cookie-cutter definition of the old school. It looked a lot like a museum: Georgian Era architecture, extremely large compound. There were two buildings in the corner of the school's compound where the dorms were.

  The one on the left was for the boys and the one on the right was for the girls. It was pretty simple, both were mainly brown with the windows painted white. When he went in, there was a sitting area with couches that also seemed historic.

  In the sitting area, a boy was sitting there, and he did not seem happy. He had dark hair and blue eyes with a stoic expression. That said, the aura around him showed that he was annoyed.

  "You're late."

  "I was talking to a friend-" The guy held up a hand to stop him

  "I don't care, you're going to die anyway."

  What? He thought with a dazed expression.

  "Let's go." He said, leading him up the stairs. "You're on the third floor, right below the prefect's floor. Normally, there would be 4 people in the dorm but, your roommate is...Special"

  "Oh. Thanks then." The guy stopped. And turned around.

  "I'm Charlie, the library prefect, who are you?"

  "My name's Ash"

  "Ash what."

  "Huh"

  "Your last name."

  "Oh," he looked around "Stairwell"

  "Are you related to Miss Lyra"

  "Hmm," he said, trying to remember who that was. "Oh, her. No"

  Charlie narrowed his eyes. "No?"

  Ash nodded his head.

  Charlie looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it. "The door at the end of the corridor. Have fun."

  Ash walked over to the door, stopped, and turned to see Charlie watching him, the same stoic look on his face.

  "Good night Charlie."

  As Ash entered the dorm, Charlie walked up the stairs to the prefects' floor.

  Then ducked as a dagger came flying to his face.

  "Why am I not surprised?" He said to the muscular boy on the only other free bed in the room.

  "Now I think you're on my bed"

  "Who are you?" A gruff voice replied.

  "Your roommate. I see they brought my stuff" he said, looking over at the new suitcases in the corner.

  The boy grunted and got up "There's no room for rich kids here, leave."

  "Or else?" Ash said, now sitting on the bed.

  The boy turned around and then walked to a desk that was filled with Weapons.

  "Or else this." He grabbed a dagger and threw it quickly. When Ash caught it, the boy was already in front of him, about to throw a punch.

  "Wow, that's pretty fast," Ash said, now beside him.

  "What-" the boy started as Ash struck his side and he flew into a wall.

  "That must be embarrassing, you seemed so strong-" he started as he dodged a sword coming his way.

  "I'm not done yet." He said, bloody from his impact on the wall.

  "If you say so." He said, dodging every swing as if he was walking.

  "You know." He said, grabbing his sword box from nowhere and blocking the strike with it. "You don't look like a sword's guy"

  "And why's that." He said, trying to kick him.

  Ash jumped and landed after doing a back handspring. "Ask yourself that. If other people see that you are uncomfortable with your weapon, then it’s probably not the weapon for you," he took another step back to doge a short sword this time.

  He looked taken aback. "What are you-"

  "Goodnight," Ash said, appearing in front of him and knocking him out with a smile.

  He woke up at dawn, lying on his bed on the other side of the room. Ash was dressing his bed and stretching. After he was finished, he turned around, looking innocent, and smiled at him.

  "Hi, I'm Ash, your new roommate. What's your name?" he said, walking up to him and holding out his hand, clearly ignoring the fight.

  "Alan. My name's Alan." He shook his hand after a moment.

  "Let's get along." He smiled even wider.

  After a moment of deliberation, Alan shook his hand "Sure."

  "Now what do you say about showing me around."

  Alan thought momentarily, looking at a dagger perched on his desk.

  "Ok"

  Everyone was in the cafeteria for breakfast, the normal noise you would hear in a cafeteria. The prefects arrived a bit late and, while the noise was reduced, it was still normal.

  Thorne was looking around, scanning the faces of the students.

  "Looking for something?" Charlie asked him, watching him blankly.

  Not noticing Ash's face among the students, he smiled.

  "No," he said, turning around to look at him with a small smile. "Nothing important." then walked away, ignoring Charlie's eyes following him.

  Hmm... Charlie thought, using his hand to cover his mouth, his eyes turning to the entrance.

  ...Interesting

  He stopped thinking and moved to the perfect table.

  After a bit, the cafeteria went silent. That had never happened before.

  6 out of the 7 prefects looked up from their table at the back of the room. Charlie already knew why they were silent and was far more interested in his chocolate.

  But at the entrance to the cafeteria, there was a boy with silver hair and eyes walking beside a bulky dark-skinned person, both walking in comfortable silence. Ignoring the stares, the bulky guy went to get food for the both of them whilst the gray-haired kid scouted for a place to sit.

  Then his eyes rested on someone and broke into a smile.

  Those who were fixated on him turned to look.

  He was watching Thorne. Thorne was watching him. They looked exactly the same, save for Thorne’s black hair and violet eyes.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  One was smiling. One was not.

  The tension continued to rise until Ash said,

  "Hey, you look just like m-"

  The next thing he knew, the world shifted and he was in an old castle and a sword was about to strike his face. Dodging it, he looked around to see who had thrown it.

  "You're fast," Thorne said, appearing behind him and then dislodging the sword from the floor.

  "What is this place-" Ash asked as he was hit by a slice made out of wind. Struggling to dodge the remaining strikes, Thorne laughed.

  "This is the wind fortress. My temporary viewpoint."

  "Viewpoint? You mean veils." Ash asked.

  That question threw him off. The wind stopped and Ash collapsed.

  "What?" he asked.

  "Forget it." Ash coughed out blood and forced himself up. "I didn't want to do this."

  "Don't worry, you won't be able to." Thorne got in position. "I'll continue until you give up," he said as he pointed at him.

  Ash grabbed his side. The pain was gone but he instinctively knew how bad things could get if he stayed here.

  I need to end it fast.

  He materialized his sword and rushed at him. Thorne stepped back and the wind started to rush at him. Taking this fight a bit more seriously, he parried the strikes where he needed to and dodged most of them. He needed to leave.

  "Where are you going?" He heard as the wind pulled him back and threw him across the room.

  "You don't strike me as a wind user."

  "I'm not." He said, snapping his fingers at him.

  A massive onslaught of slices appeared and attacked him and, while he was deflecting the strikes, he saw it.

  A small spark of lightning.

  Shit.

  In the beginning, he had faced monsters who had their own 'Domain' of sorts, and he always had the fortunate misfortune of being around when they reached their full potential when using powers In that space.

  Like right now.

  When he had reached the castle door, he heard a storm outside. That was probably the potential of this place. Storms and Lightning, not just wind.

  And it was starting to get bad. Almost immediately after he noticed this, the door started to creak, and the storm outside was probably getting stronger.

  Shit. He rushed to Thorne's right as he snapped his fingers again, moving way too fast for Thorne to stop him, but slow enough for Thorne to notice him.

  And Thorne noticed. Right before Ash struck him, he noticed that Ash’s his hair and eyes were a slightly lighter shade, asif they wanted to be white.

  I was right. It was a disguise. He thought to himself At least i know for sure he’s a fake-

  Then everything was normal. Thorne found himself back in reality, jarred among other things.

  I didn't end that myself. I automatically left. I had died. He looked across the room at Ash, who had found himself a table at the front.

  He grabbed his glass, trying with everything in him not to break it.

  "Is something the problem?" Seraphina, the head girl asked with a smile.

  She Knows I lost.

  "I think I hate him." He said calmly

  "You do, don't you." she played with her purple hair "Charlie likes him though"

  All of them turned to him, sitting at the far end of the table, enjoying his 8th chocolate.

  He Knows. Everybody Knows.

  "Must be something in the air," he said, flashing a rare smile at Thorne, then going back to his chocolate.

  Shit.

  "Anyways, we have stuff to do to get shit for class tomorrow." Elane, the logistics prefect said,

  "So let's do this..."

  Ash was sitting with Alan, none of them talking, when he got a text from Korin.

  "Well Alan, enjoy your day, I need to leave."

  "Sit Down. I have an announcement to make" a deep voice said from the coriddor

  Ash's heart stopped, there was a force pushing him down, stopping him from even thinking about moving, and his breaths became heavier.

  Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, which didnt help at all.

  "Relax," Alan said bringing him back into his seat "It's always bad the first time"

  "I can see that." he coughed, gasping for air.

  The principal walked out, a massive twering figure wearing a dress shirt and trousers, his deep red eyes focusing on ash as he felt a flicker of hatred run through them the moment he saw him, but the pressure quickly reduced. "There has been a major issue in one of the districts and they need all hands on deck. We'll be working alongside special forces to evacuate the outer parts of the district. Understood. "

  "YES SIR." the cafeteria responded immediately, ignoring his pain

  "Elaine will give you the details when we are leaving later in the day." he turned around.

  As the principal was leaving, he stopped.

  "Vida."

  A short, pale girl shot up "Yes Sir."

  "Try and make contact with Alice, we'll need her"

  "Sir...I'll try." she clenched her fist as the cafeteria exploded with confusion.

  Alice is alive?

  Vida knows that terrorist?

  Are we that weak that we need someone like her?

  She is the best veil user in recent history, It’s so sad that she went down that path.

  “Who’s Alice.” Ash asked slowly, feeling it leave.

  “Tragic case, some genius veil user turned eco terrorist. Had a cult and everything.”

  Vida unclenched her fists slowly, and pulled out a tissue and cleaned the raspberry jam that had managed to get on her palms whilst her fists were clenched, she was a messy eater after all.

  Ash noticed it and ashed “And I’m assuming that she has a connection to the Vida girl.”

  “Adoptive guardian.” Alan said, stuffing a forkful of bacon into his mouth.

  “How true is this.” Ash asked.

  Alan simply shrugged, “Doesn't matter whether it’s fake or not,” he tore off the head of a bagel, “everyone believes it, and there's nothing she can do to change that. Especially after the raid that they did to get to her. They called in a special force and everything.”

  Ash was stunned, all of this for one woman. His body started buzzing.

  “I want to fight her.” he said without thinking, then held his tongue. Alan stopped stuffing his face and smiled.

  “I said it first.” then went back to his eggs. “Don't say it to vida’s face though, her Veil is one of the strongest around. She would kill you.”

  His body buzzed even more as he looked at the girl eating her toast and talking to her friends.

  Elaine got up and moved to the front, commanding all the attention

  "Liste, everybody, all of you are going to be in the outer areas of the district, only the prefects and the people they chose can come personally into the district will assist." she pulls out a list "Vida, Luca, Chris, Alice, Alan and...Ash have been chosen by some-not all-of the prefects as assistance."

  That's convenient.

  "I'm not going," Alan said.

  "Why, "Ash asked, turning around to look at him.

  "I don't like working with the prefects." he said, and that was it.

  "Oh...Ok." Ash wondered what the issue was.

  Getting up to leave, Ash said "Well, I'm going early. My benefactor is looking for me-"

  "Think about it"

  "About what"

  "The only prefects who know you exist don't like you-"

  "Charlie likes me."

  "He chose Alice. I lust know it" he responded

  "So, you're saying it's a setup." Ash questioned

  "Yes." he grabbed another plate of eggs from a nearby table,

  Seeing Ash's silence after that he started, "If you stay behind, I'm willing to offer a rematch-"

  "I'm so excited to see what they'll do. I can't help but want to go now," he said, shaking with excitement.

  "Wha-"

  "The prefects will be moving first, all those chosen by some of them should wait outside"

  "If you're not going, I am. Bye." He said, already leaving.

  As he reached the entrance, he finally sat down to think about what to do with his time.

  I lost my life being told by some random screen to fight. This is probably why. I haven't heard from him in a bit though. He paused for a moment, remembering what happened honestly, I wonder what’s happening to Anita right now, the people here must be crazy, calling this place Earth-. He sat up, realizing what happened, Malakar didn't look trustworthy, that’s why I didn't believe him. But the terrain hasn't shifted, there are no monsters from where I come from, and when there is… He remembered the news report, no one knew how to deal with them. His breath quickened as the news sunk in.

  The terrain doesn't shift. He got up, people don't know these monsters, He pulled out the wallet, calming him down a bit as he opened it. It didn't have the glowing blue light of a token. It didn't have any light at all. His heart evaporated

  Tokens are invalid-

  "Hi there, my name's Seraphina. Head girl. Nice to meet you." A voice said, walking up to him, pushing him back to reality, and halting the memories flashing through his mind. His mind went silent as he turned to see what made the noise

  She was a bit taller than the average girl, with purple hair and dark pink eyes, she would have been famous as a pop star or something.

  "Ash. It's an honor to be working with you." He said dejectedly.

  "As a warm-up, we'll be running there. Keep Up," She said, ignoring his sadness, and disappeared in a burst of wind.

  Ash stared after her. Resolving to silence the thoughts for now, he disappeared as well.