“I totally messed up on avoiding Zack…”

Viran was forced to admit it as the massive teen himself walked beside Viran, pulling him along.

Had the boy always been this… touchy?

Viran was tempted to probe his instincts for an answer, but seeing as he almost had a sensory overload last time, Viran held off.

“So this Instructor Death guy… what’s he like?”

Zack asked as the ground beneath them slowly faded from soft grass to hard earth to cobblestone.

They were still in the false realm, Instructor Death was apparently visiting each of the halls individually instead of grouping them all up.

Viran knew he knew the answer, but he didn’t reach for it.

The memories locked up inside him roiled him for a moment before settling back down.

It was… nice. It felt like he’d shed some sort of burden, now he could just ride the wave like everybody else.

Who cared what happened next? Viran probably couldn’t change it anyway.

He shook himself out of his daydreams.

“He’s… a weirdo, real annoying. But he’s not mean, or at least not for no reason.”

Zack nodded, also seeming to be deep in thought.

”What do you think he’ll have us do?”

Memories pressed against Viran’s skull.

”I… don’t know.”

The world froze.

Yellow eyes winked at him, as if they were both in on some sort of joke.

“Are you sure you don’t know?”

”H-huh?!”

“I said, I’m sure whatever it is, we’ll do fine.”

The world unfroze.

”Yeah… yeah, I’m sure. So… why don’t you know Instructor Death? Were you not at the waiting room?”

Zack chuckles awkwardly.

“I… was busy.”

“Doing what?”

Viran asks with an eyebrow raised.

“Things.”

“What sorta things?”

“Like… uncool… things.”

“What kinda uncool things?”

“There… was a cat stuck in the tree. I couldn’t just not save it. I’m… I’m still manly right?”

Zack admits with a light blush dusting his cheeks.

Viran sighs.

”No, I’m afraid you’re practically a women now. I’ll pray for the Lord to save you.”

”The lord? Which one?”

Viran pauses.

“Oh… uh… it’s a god from E-”

A booming crack of thunder echos from nowhere, cutting Viran off.

“Well whoever that is, I’ll be thankful for the help. Oh! There’s the place! I saw it when we were hiking over to the houses!”

Viran falters as Zack picks up the pace, being tugged like a rowboat behind him.

“Did you… not hear the thunder?”

“Huh? What thunder?”

Zack replied, seeming genuinely confused.

“…Nevermind.”

Viran mumbled as the meeting place came into view.

It was nothing to write home about, just another clearing in a forest full of them. Only difference was this one was stony instead of grassy.

And the familiar man standing in the middle of it.

Instructor Death glared at the pair as they approached.

“You’re early.”

He says, voice neither a congratulations nor a complain.

“You,”

He points at Zack.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Ought to show up early more often, to make up for your lateness during the entrance exam. And you,”

He points at Viran, who shrunk under the instructor’s gaze.

“…Keep up the good work, attendance is key to surviving my teachings.”

Zack gawked at the instructor.

”Why does he get praise?! He’s only here early because I was the one dragging him along!”

Death raised a brow.

”Because surrounding yourself with useful subordinates is a skill to be honed. Now drop and give me 100 for the back talk.”

Zack complained under his breath about being more then just a subordinate, but dropped and started doing pushups rapidly, his form perfect.

The other students slowly drifted in, all getting various degrees of scolding for their lateness.

But no one else had to do pushups, it seemed.

Everyone had to awkwardly wait til Zack finished the pushups, giving Viran PTSD flashbacks to Test days in PE when he had to wait for the showoffs to finish their two hundred laps.

If he ever had to hear the words ‘Fitness Gram Pacer Test’ again, he might just vomit.

To the red-haired boy’s credit, he’d finished at a speed that’d make cocky 13-year-old boys everywhere break out in a cold sweat.

Instructor Death didn’t have anything to berate Zack on when he stood up, merely turning to the rest of the class.

“So now that everyone is done, welcome to your first class and assignment of the quarter. There will be one per week, so you better be training in between classes.”

Death began to pace the cobblestone floor as he spoke, his combat boots clacking loudly against the stone.

“You may be asking yourselves ‘Oh super cool instructor Death, why only one class per week? We want more of your genius instruction!’ Well, the truth is you’re all lower hall students, so really you’re not worth the trouble of visiting every day. Although, that will change if any of you make the cut for my advanced classes, but I digress.”

A murmur goes up among the students as they finally grasp what it means to be in a lower hall.

All except for Viran, who never expected to get here.

”Silence,” Death commanded, flexing his soul pressure into a shockwave that promptly shut everyone up. “You’re all in luck, today’s assignment will be easy. All you have to do is show up tomorrow being able to produce a bolt of all of your affinities, it’s more a test to see how powerful all of you are before any training.”

Viran froze at that, blood running cold as the instructor kept talking.

”Oh, I mean all of them, Sub-affinities included. I don’t care for slackers in my classes. Anyone unable to produce a mana bolt for each affinity obviously does not deserve to be here and will be promptly expelled. You may practice your manipulation, cultivate your Forging, or just go on home. I will be here for an hour or two if you need anything, so don’t need anything.”

With that, the instructor summoned a book from nowhere as beings made of darkness rose from the ground around the area. Training dummies.

Another shadow construct rose to form a chair which Instructor Death sat his hunky butt down on and began reading.

Spatial Pocket. Space Affinity. Shadow Construct. Dark Affinity.

His gift informed him now while he was too shocked to hold it back fully, but he quickly pushed it back into place.

The students quickly began filtering off to their various activities.

Most left the scene, not needing or wanting to do extra work.

Eric, following Death’s lead, conjured a cushion of air that he began to meditate upon, which caused others to follow his lead with seats of Air, Earth, and Shadow.

Some, like Zack, began to exercise, trying to empower their Body Forging.

They were all leaving, knowing exactly what to do, but Viran was stuck in place.

He didn’t know how to conjure magic, he didn’t know what his affinities even were, he was fucked.

He should ask the teacher for help, that’s the right call, the good call.

It was what he should do, and yet he couldn’t get his legs to move.

He just had to go over there and ask for help.

Just ask for help.

Viran began to tremble.

Sure it’ll be embarrassing, mortifying even, but just ask for help.

Go ask for help.

Wide eyes stared at the instructor, silently begging him to read Viran’s mind and come help.

Please go ask for help.

Please. Please. Please.

Please don’t let us get expelled.

Please don’t just stand there.

It felt like his body was too big for his skin, as if something wanted to rip out of him.

Please just be a man for once.

Just be normal for once.

Please. Please. Please! Please move!

----------------------------------------

Viran didn’t move.

He just… stood there. Just stood there and let Instructor Death leave.

What was wrong with him?

Why was he so stupid?

Why was he always so stupid?

Something deep within him strained, wanting to be set free.

He was going to throw up.

How pitiful.

Viran took a step forward, and then another, and then another.

Slowly he walked out of the class area and towards where he vaguely remembered a lake being.

He couldn’t go home to puke. And let everyone see him? No.

Every step made the pressure grow stronger.

And yet still he stepped.

Because he could do this, but not just ask the fucking guy who’s job it was to help, to help him.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Suddenly he was running, sprinting, with all his newly Forged might.

He vaguely wondered how he had gotten stronger if he hadn’t actually done any forging.

He didn’t get it, because he was stupid. So stupid and ugly and fat and no one would ever want him or love him and his family was gone and he’d never get to talk to his brother again and he was in the shitty fucking anime that he’d always wanted to be in and he had been so close to being friends with Zack and he was going to be expelled and there was so much red so much so much pain so much too much too much blood too much hurting and it was all too MUCH.

Viran fell to his knees at the river’s edge and let out a scream, all the fear inside him frothing up into a tidal wave of energy that sought to consume everything.

It ripped through the earth and water, eating away at it, destroying it to fuel itself.

A parasite. A blight on existence itself.

Darkness…

How fitting.

----------------------------------------

He didn’t know when exactly Zack showed up.

He should’ve expected it, really.

The charming main character stumbles upon his mentally unstable new friend, and comforts him because he’s just so good and kind.

“Viran?”

The boy in question slowly turned to look at Zack, eyes red.

“I… I wanted to help you with Body Forging today but you seemed nervous so I thought I’d wait til we went home… and then I felt your magic. Are you… okay?”

Zack said, playing with a button on his shirt.

“I can’t use magic.”

Zack paused, before putting on a reassuring smile.

“Hey, don’t worry, everyone lose control of their magic before. I’m the last person who can judge you for-”

“I can’t use magic. I have no idea what I just did.”

Zack tilted his head in confusion.

“You… don’t know how to use magic? But that’s… how do you not…”

Viran sighed.

“I can’t tell you. The…” Viran snickered. “The lightning doesn’t want me to. God I’m crazy and an idiot.”

A thousand questions visibly ran through Zack’s head, but he didn’t voice any of them.

Instead, he held out a large hand to the fat boy.

“Zack… I… I don’t…”

Whatever Viran was trying to say was obviously lost on Zack as the red-haired farmer promptly hauled Viran over his shoulder like he was a bale of hay.

He sighed pitifully.

“What are you doing?”

Zack didn’t respond for a minute as he took off running, the forest blurring under him.

It was only when they were at Zack’s door that he answered.

“You’re my neighbor and I already promised to teach you Body Forging, why not some magic on top?”

Viran realized quickly Zack wasn’t taking free will into account as the boy ducked under the doorway and shut the wood door behind him.

When had this gone so wrong? Wasn’t Viran supposed to avoid Zack?

He was… he was so… he was so glad he didn’t have to do this alone.