The room was muddled with crumpled pieces of paper all across the floor. In the middle of it all a man sat behind a desk, on it were two monitors and four different stacks of what seemed to be documents, towered over his head. The man's face was buried in the table, he'd looked like he had just gone through hell and back ten times in a row, the bags under his eyes looked more like sacks, and strands of his sleek grey hair were falling off by the second.
The man looked particularly old, around his late 50s to be more specific, though you couldn't say the same about his physique, he looked burly, a lot leaner than most people at his age group, the man's aura exuded that of confidence.
The man stood up, just as he was about to walk away from what looked like too much work for a man his age, his phone rang, the man ignored it and continued on his way, only for his phone to ring for a second time. He continued to ignore it, everytime he did it only rang louder. Frustrated the man grabbed his phone and finally answered the call.
"OI MARCUS YOU BASTARD, THIS IS THE 5TH TIME THIS WEEK!" he shouted as if he already knew who was calling without checking who it was. "I'm telling you, just this once, I can't hold them back for much longer." Marcus said from the other side, he seemed desperate. "I'm telling you, I'm done with this type of thing! I got a whole school to take care of now! Do you think I have time!?" The man yelled into the phone releasing all of his pent up anger, "I know, he's one of 'them' Marcus, but I have one of 'them' under me already. I can't go out of my way to protect another one."
Marcus didn't answer, he knew how important the school was for his friend, and now he wants to endanger his friend's only reason to keep working because of his own incompetence, 'How pathetic' he thought.
"Alright John, I'll try to hold on for as long as I can, but please, when I'm gone, please take care of the kid, even if it's not directly, please." Marcus solemnly said, he'd dealt all his cards already, it won't be long before they eventually break him, when that happens, he still wanted Ray to live a normal life.
The man, John, didn't answer, he and Marcus had been friends for as long as he could remember, they grew up together eventually working with each other as mercenaries hunting down beasts. Though Marcus wasn't as gifted as him, he tried his best to keep up, in the end, they both retired.
John built Neo Academy, it wasn't hard getting the funds to start his own school due to the fact that he was a well known mercenary, Marcus on the other hand started living quietly, it wasn't long before John found out that he had adopted a kid, startled by the sudden revelation he asked Marcus why he did.
He wasn't ready for what had come out of Marcus' mouth, he'd thought that his friend had gone crazy from old age. Though all his doubts were dispelled once he saw what the boy was capable of.
'Awakening a gift at 10' a genius behind comprehension, he thought. Curious, he began searching for his own answers, and eventually he found the truth. A secret buried throughout history, one even the gods tried covering up.
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He knew revealing this to the public, would shake the world to it's core, if anyone was crazy enough to believe him that is. The thing was straight out of a fairy tale.
John continued on thinking, he knew this could deal a big blow to his school's reputation, he didn't know if he could handle the consequences of going up against a higher power.
"Tomorrow." John finally answered, he was debating inside his head if this was the right decision or not, he thought about all the articles that would come out, the amount of emails and calls he'll be getting, but he knew he just couldn't leave a friend hanging like this.
"I'll see if Ray is worthy enough to be under me." Hesitantly he hung up the phone as he hoped he made the right choice.
...
I had just finished training with the kids, it felt nice seeing James hang around with kids his age, Jacob was there sitting in one corner watching over James, and sometimes me, no, it was me the whole time, I felt like I was some kind of animal in a zoo, his eyes felt like ice picks, as they watched me the entire time.
'Is he mad about his lost?' no it couldn't be, he was acting alright after the fight, maybe he's just...
I immediately disregarded that thought, 'Im sorry Jacob, but I do not swing that way' I swore to myself.
On the other hand, James looked like he had a great time, he was getting along well with the other kids, and keeping up with the lessons too.
Just as I had finished changing, my phone rang, I immediately went to check on my precious little flip phone, only to see my grandpa calling. '
Weird, he never calls', I picked it up, and answered.
"Hello?" I could hear his disgruntled voice through the phone, he must've been talking to someone, he sounded like he needed water. "Gramps? What's up?" I replied in a casual way, it took him a few seconds to answer, "Listen, I need you to come home right now. Someone wants to meet you.". Confused, I tried asking him who it was, only for him to hang up immediately.
I quickly packed up and made my way home. I didn't have a lot of friends, so I don't know who would want to meet me, let alone make their way into this crappy neighborhood just to talk to me.
'Maybe it's Rein?' I thought. He's too occupied with his family right now so it couldn't be him, and if he did come here he would've given me a call, 'Cause he'll get lost otherwise' I snickered as I imagined a poor Rein lost in the middle of nowhere.
It was getting late, though it wasn't that dark yet, lights from different buildings illuminated the entire city up north, even reaching as far as where we lived.
I continued walking down the sidewalk, occasionally passing by little alleyways, there wasn't anyone there, but it definitely looked creepy, you could see trash bins, and other stuff like a bald guy getting robbed.
A bald guy getting robbed? I made a quick double take, before slowly peeking back at the alleyway I passed. There was someone there, two people to be exact, a bald guy in a business suit who had his arms up in the air, he looked like he had just seen his greatest nightmare.
'I would be scared too, if that was in front of me' I thought as I looked at the guy attempting to rob the bald man, he was about 2 meters tall, with a body bigger than anything I've ever seen, he looked like a bear, if a bear wore jorts and a baseball cap.
'Should I help?' The same thought raced around my head for what seemed like the hundredth time now, I wanted to, but I don't know if I could beat Mr. Bear over here.
Maybe I was too distracted, but the bald man eventually noticed me, he then started screaming for help and pointing at me.
"You! You there! Help me!" The man shouted while pointing at me, Mr. Bear then looked back only for the Bald man to bolt as soon as he turned his head.
"That rat bastard!" I exclaimed to myself, I was planning on leaving the bald guy to fend for himself, who would've guessed it would end up like this, I swore to myself that I would pummel that stupid egghead to the ground if I ever saw him again.