We jogged up the front stairs, and got to the double doors with handles stretching across either door which were labeled “Push”.

I did as it said, pressing the weight of my body against the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Crap. Guess we’ll have to find another way around,” I said, annoyed.

“W-wait.”

Rowan went up to the doors, and tried to push them open. When that didn’t work, he stepped back, then ran into the door, bursting it open.

Then, Rowan turned to me and bowed down, as if he was a servant treating his king.

Playing along, I arched my shoulders and walked exaggeratedly into the school.

The first thing I saw was a giant cafeteria, with dozens of round tables with seats scattered around the room. Along the walls were cornucopias arranged in a line around the entire room.

To the right, there were stairs leading to a sort of second small floor, where there were more tables to the left and even more stairs in front, followed by a hallway with stairs to the right of the beginning of the hallway.

To my left, there was another hallway, but with lockers on the wall visible from where I was, and the hallway was leading to the left.

When Rowan walked inside, he looked around the room in amazement, but stopped when he laid his eyes on them door we came through.

“O-oh. So t-that was what was b-blocking the door.”

I turned around to see what he was seeing, and laid my eyes on torn up floorboards that were once blocking the door, now completely ripped from the ground thanks to Rowan.

“I’ve never been to a school before… sure, it sucks that this place is so run down. But that’s to be expected considering it’s been abandoned for longer than anyone can remember,” I explained.

“R-right. Your l-learning ability.”

“So, where are we going first?”

“I-I was thinking w-we go to the hallway.”

“Alright,” I said cheerfully.

As we walked to the hallway, I thought Wait a minute. If we can hear Pemo and Raen through our own thoughts… does that mean we can talk back to them?

Pemo. Raen. Whichever one you are. Show yourself.

You could’ve just asked nicely, a cheerful, high pitched male voice joked.

Whenever he spoke, it felt like he was intwined with my thoughts. Except the only thing keeping me from confusing him with my thoughts was his voice. My thoughts aren’t nowhere near as positive.

Tell me about yourself. I wanna know whether you’re a threat or not.

Ok… rude. But I get it. My name’s Pemo, and I used to be a Grim Reaper, a powerful species able to control the dead. I was a twin son of the Grim Reaper king, Modsil.

Which stands for Wisdom, judging by the name.

Yeah. I assume so. He’s always been known for his infinite knowledge.

If he’s so smart, then how’d he let you die?

I… huh. You make a good point. Though, as loving as he was, our mother was always usually the one who took care of us.

Makes sense. Your father is always busy as king, so she has to do most of the work.

That’s just the thing though. She’s just as busy as him. Her name was Meni.

Translating to Time… she told fortunes.

Usually incredibly vague, but… yeah.

So how did you die?

I… don’t know. I believe Raen knows, but he refuses to tell me.

You know why?

Not 100% sure, but… he does hate me. Maybe that explains it.

After making it halfway down the hallway, Rowan and I reached a classroom to the left, which had a sign above the door which, while damaged, still clearly said Art.

I grabbed the handle and opened the door, allowing Rowan to go through before I followed him inside.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Once we were in the classroom, I saw dozens of not a hundred paintings, sculptures, and other stuff across the walls. The room was probably one third the size of the average school gym.

At the end of the room was a giant window, and against the right wall of the room was a large, stone desk, with a chalkboard made of grey slate stone, instead of the modern day chalkboards which are made of porcelain enamel.

Then, I noticed the desks. Completely stone and wood. Like they were made in the Stone Age.

I ran my hand along the top of a desk, before I heard Rowan say “A-alright s-students, c-class is now in s-session.”

Rowan was standing on the chair behind the teacher’s desk, making him appear taller, and he was holding a pencil underneath his nose.

Playing along, I sat in a desk near the front before he said with as deep a voice as he could muster “Y-you will call m-me Mister M-Matthew. T-today’s lesson will b-be… yeah, I c-can’t do this.”

“No, you can,” I said comfortingly, “You just have to believe in yourself.”

“I-it’s kind of h-hard to do that w-when you have zero c-confidence whatsoever.”

I stood up, walked over to Rowan, and stared him dead in the eyes, saying “You. Can. Do. This.”

Then I sat back down at my desk and said “Here’s a tip. Start breathing out in slowly through your nose, and out through your mouth.”

“H-how is that s-supposed to help?”

“It’ll focus your mind. Just try it.”

Rowan nodded, then began breathing. The more he tried the breathing exercise, the less tense his body became. And the less stress he seemed to have… the more that warm feeling appeared.

“A-alright. I-I think I’m ready again.”

He took another deep breath, then turned to the board.

“Today, we will be learning something that will be essential for all of you for years to come. Addition.”

Wow. That seems like it’s gonna be a real challenge for you, Pemo teased.

Not really. I can do rocket science like I’m figuring out how much money to pay for groceries.

It was a joke.

I know. I’m messing with you by ruining your joke.

Well, you just explained yours. So no both our jokes are ruined.

“F-first off,” Rowan said, pointing a stick to the chalkboard, which had 2 + 2 written on it in chalk.

Easy.

I quickly raised my hand, and when Rowan, sorry, Mister Matthew called on me, I answered proudly “4!”

“G-good job Steve! Now,” he said, erasing the chalk with an eraser and replacing it with 4 + 4.

I raised my hand to answer, but then looked at a seat to my right, and sat further into my seat, crossing my arms and grumbling.

Rowan looked at me and the nearby desk confused, until his eyes widened as he realized what I was doing.

“G-good job, S-Samanatha! Though, n-next time, r-raise your hand f-first like Steve.”

I pumped my fist as “Mister Matthew” wrote another equation on the chalkboard. 1 + 1.

Really?

Yeah. That’s one’s gonna be impossible for you.

Why are you acting like this to me? We barely know each other.

Except we’re practically the same person. So technically we know each other already.

I’m part of you, not the same.

Eh.

I quickly looked at a seat to my left, and Rowan pointed to it, saying “G-great Bob! The answer is one!”

He then wrote a final equation on the board, 10 + 10, and I jolted my hand up, but “Mister Matthew” said “S-someone who hasn’t already a-answered.”

Hah, Pemo laughed.

“Mister Matthew” then pointed to a seat in front of and to the right of me, waited a second, and said “No. W-wrong, Cornelius. The answer is 20.”

I imitated a bell sound, and Rowan announced “Alright, that’s the bell. T-tomorrow, we’ll do some more practice with addition.”

I got up from my seat as Rowan hopped to the ground, and I pulled him into a hug.

“Great job bud,” I whispered.

“T-thanks,” Rowan replied, blushing, before hugging me with even more intensity.

We were hugging for several minutes, but eventually, I swear it felt like air was brushing through my hair.

Was he… smelling my hair?

Eventually, we released a hug, despite the butterflies in my stomachs wanting me to continue.

“So, where we going now?”

“I-I kind of wanted t-to check out the principal’s o-office.”

“Cool!”

We walked out of the classroom, back into the lunch room, and went up the stairs on the right until we reached the other hallway. The hallway was incredibly long, with probably at least 10 doors on each side.

Seeing the principal’s office was just a few doors down on the right, we started heading to it.

We need to talk, Pemo said abruptly.

About what?

You like Rowan.

Yeah. He’s a good friend.

No. More than that. We both know it.

No, I don’t. I’m straight.

Why are you convincing yourself this? The swords of creation don’t restrict their usage based on bloodline.

How could you know that?

Let’s just say… you and Rowan aren’t my only reincarnations.

Once we arrived at the office, I saw a sign sticking out above the doorway to the left. It had two words on it, but one of them was scratched out.

Principal Robe

I also noticed that, strangely, I couldn’t seen inside through the windows to the left and right of the door…

Maybe they were one-way?

We opened the door, and inside the office were bookcases on the left and right sides of the room, a long, fancy desk in the middle of the room that looked more modern day than the other desks around the school, and a glass case on the back wall.

A glass case… with two samurai swords inside, crossed together downward. There was also a motherboard-like pattern across the metal, making it look more futuristic.

I ran around the desk to the case, grabbed the side of the glass casing, and tried to pull it open, but to no avail.

“W-what are you d-doing?”

“These… are the swords of creation!”

“T-the… what?”

“You… seriously don’t know what the swords of creation are?”

Rowan nodded “no” nervously.

I sighed, trying to figure out how to explain them.

“Have you heard of the Wampanoag African Americans?”

Rowan squinted skeptically.

“They were the African Americans involved with the first Thanksgiving,” I explained.

“O-oh. Y-yeah, I know them.”

“Well, the Wampanoag were nearly massacred, but then one of them found these swords in a cave, and with these swords alone, they had the power to wipe out an entire army. Once the colonists retreated, the Wampanoag tribe retreated themselves, leaving the swords behind as to not disturb history.”

“H-how can two s-swords be that p-powerful?”

Rowan stepped back fearfully.

“Why are you… barely anyone can use their powers anyways. You need a very strong mind and an unbreakable will.”

“O-oh.”

I grabbed the side of the glass case again, and asked “Can you help a little?”

Rowan nodded, then went to the other side, just before a loud crash shot out through the hallways of the school and into the office.

“What was that?!”

If you were craving some action, then don’t worry. It’s almost here.