Chapter 21.

PART 1.

Yograj waits for his prey to walk into his trap. He contains his urge to pace in his office. Pacing is for the weaklings. Though he might have failed to get the boy the previous year, he knew that Zeko would bring him for the exams, and it would be the perfect time to strike, and gain a new piece for the eternal chess game going on among the families.

‘Should I spring the trap during the very first exam?’ He considers his options. ‘Hmm. It won’t do. Zeko will be expecting something like that. I shall wait for him to drop his guard.’ He thought.

‘Besides, the boy probably would spend some additional time after the exams in the castle. Though it will be hard to get him out of there, it is certainly doable.’ He contained his excitement.

Getting excited too easily is the mark of a loser. Yograj might be many things, but a loser is not one of them.

PART 2.

Raven and Josh wait for Hatori. While Raven sits uneasily, Josh paces anxiously. They don’t know what kind of state their friend will be in when they see him. Getting involved with Zeko’s training indirectly last year was maddening enough for them. They can only think of how much more maddening it would have been for their friend.

Both kids were standing on a tower, observing the gates of the castle from the top. This place does not provide the view of the entire castle, but it still gives the view of the most used paths of coming and going inside and outside of the castle. After seeing a terrifying looking man coming inside with a confident walk, followed by a child on his heels, they realized that their friend had just come.

Running down from the tower, ignoring the adults please to stop running in the corridor, they both stop in front of Zeko, who is just in his way to enter his room. “Well well. Your friends are here, boy.” Said Zeko. “You should remember how they feel like inside your head.”

“Hello guys.” Said Hatori, extending his hand. Ignoring his hands, both boys jumped at him, and hug him fiercely.

“I’ll leave you alone for now. Be ready tomorrow, I want to see whether you boys have become lazy or not in my absence.” Said Zeko before walking away, making Hatori’s friends jump in fright.

After staring in space for a while, they both snap out. “Let’s go for a walk.” Said Josh.

“So, how was living with the terrifying guy?” asked Josh.

“Mostly normal.” Replied Hatori. “He’s not that terrifying once you get to know him.”

Both of them stumbled after hearing that. After staring at each other, they once more started to stride, as Hatori called them on it. “Why did you stop?” he asked from some distance.

“Yeah, I think the training got to your head.” Said Josh.

“No, that’s not true.” Protested Hatori. “You see, I saw just how awesome he is.” Hatori tells them about his training and the house where he lived, and how Zeko faced everything in the house, and came out unscathed, all without waking up once.

“That’s… awesome.” Agreed Raven grudgingly. He couldn’t deny it after all.

While Hatori was telling his tale, Raven noticed the changes in their friend. For one, he walks with confidence, and without any assistance. Second, when they hugged him, they felt his body. Raven couldn’t believe just how hard his body felt. He did not know whether as a kid, it was possible to get a body like that.

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Josh also made some observations of his own. He feels how Hatori seems on an edge ever since he arrived here. But he chalked it up to his training. At least he is not getting any vibes that he needs help. By dinner time in the night, both boys were convinced that the training didn’t’ do anything bad with their friend.

However, they got their views shattered harshly, when they went to wake him up the next morning. Though Zeko told them that they should let him sleep in after their trip, all the while making them run around the castle, it is 10 in the morning. Apparently, even Zeko feels it is late enough.

They entered his room. Hatori lived in this same room last year, so they didn’t need to find his room. “Oy. Wake up already.” Said Josh. As they entered his room, Hatori twitched a little.

But when Raven touched his shoulder, he suddenly grabbed his neck. “What?” he choked.

After getting over his shock, Josh tries to make Hatori release his grip. “Let go already!” He put his entire body, and finally dislodged Hatori. He falls out of bed, and finally wakes up.

Josh is surprised when Hatori releases his hand. He didn’t know when he grabbed his hand. “Yowa! good morning guys.”

“Good morning.” Raven covers Josh’s mouth.

“Yep. A very good morning to you as well.” He replies. “Give me a moment with Josh, will you?” Raven walks out.

“O… okay…” Hatori decides to forget this strange incident. No point in getting worked up in the morning.

“Why didn’t you tell him anything?” asked Josh, once they were outside.

“Because he did that in his sleep.” Said Raven. “Remember how he told us, Zeko was basically attacked by his room, and took out everything in his sleep?”

“Yeah?” Josh didn’t like where this was going.

“I think we saw a small glimpse of that inside.”

“Dammit. I knew there was something wrong with him.” Muttered Josh.

“Yes. But there’s nothing we can do. Just don’t bother him too much with it. Let him relax here.” Said Raven, ignoring the bad word for now.

“Yeah. Maybe it’ll curve his instincts.”

“Wow. I didn’t know you could use big words.” Said Raven, as they walked into the room.

“I can use big words!” and the argument went on.

PART 3.

Porus and Zeko were talking about Hatori’s training, during the king’s break. “So, he managed to sense the light itself. It is not perfect, but it is incredible.”

Porus smiled. “Interesting. You delivered the results, as you said before you took him away.” Zeko surmised that Porus is still not happy about it. “But the question is, can he survive in the academy?”

Zeko remains quiet.

PART 4.

Raven watches as Hatori follows the moving torch with his face. To make sure he is not sensing them, they put him in a room, hid the lighted torch, and then let him loose in the area. And he still managed to find the torch.

They were even more delighted when he showed them that he could bend the light. “I couldn’t do anything more than that, though.”

“Yeah, but it is cool that you can already do this.” Josh mimed the zig-zagging light.

“I’ve got something for Hatori.” Said one of the castle workers. He hands Hatori a paper, and leaves.

“You’ve got a time table.” Said Raven. “Can you read it?”

Hatori began to read. After finishing, he just sighed. He hates exams. And apparently, even this dimension is not immune from the disease.

(End.)