OldBegginings:[Howdy again. This counts as monday, right? Also, from now on, the weekly upload schedule will be in affect. I wanted to get through the set up stages quickly to get more 'plot' related chapters for weekly releases. Also it kick-started a rather insane following without much outward advertisment from me. Note: I'm comparing this to the less impressive start my other series had.
I just want to thanks those who reviewed my work earlier. As you could probably have told, I was probably reading too much into the original 0.5 star rating I got. Well, good thing to know this doesn't represent the main consensus. Also, for editing, as readers of my other series know, all my chapters posted are up for editing. Usually because I'm incompetent, so miss out lots of typos, failed sentences and other thing, you probably shouldn't see, but, due to the former mentioned incompetence on my behalf, see regardless.
Well, hope you enjoy this chapter, and like the changes I did to chapter 1, with help from Z107288. I'll do the rest later, when I decide to make those edits that is.
Warning for this chapter: This is now a tragedy for a reason. Also excessive swearing, reader disclosure is advised.]
Walking down the excessively large corridors, Silence eventually got to the dining hall. The outrageous door was opened as she arrived, allowing to see into the room before her.
Rebecca entered the room, and beaconed the perplexed Silence to follow her. It was excessively big. About two hundred chairs were positioned for the maze of tables encompassing the room. Due to the small amount of empty space, people awkwardly maneuvered themselves just to get around the room.
Most of these seats were filled, with few absences here and there. Silence only recognized three of the people she saw, these being Thor and Anubis sitting on opposite sides of the head table, and Lunar sat on the other side of the room. Silence assumed that seating order was decided by rank. Supporting her theory, Silence's seat was closer the center of the room, slightly closer to the door than the head table.
Excessive conversations broke out between individuals in the sea of people, creating a constant level of noise, most indistinguishable. Through the layered conversations Silence could hear a large range of topics. From emotional debates on the cuteness of girls to obviously unbiased politics, she ended up hearing more different types than she could fathom.
Silence paused for a moment, feeling a shudder down her spine. After assuming it was just culture shock, she began to follow the now waiting maid to her seat.
As Silence walked in, a bunch of looks were faced her way. Most confused to her identity, she ignored them for the most part, following Rebecca to her seat, sat down and had a drink of water.
She looked round the room, looking at the candidates for the strongest 100. They were surprisingly normal, no overly excessive builds, you could mistake this for a dinner meeting of rich business people, but of course, this was no ordinary collection of people. Each having an extensive history of achievements, had Silence cared, she probably would have known each of them.
-
It seemed like she arrived just in time, since soon afterwards the vacant seats were all filled. Surprisingly, even with all the people relatively close to each other, the humidity and stuffiness of the room didn't go up. With the food, this would probably change.
The same elderly man from the assembly, The Headmaster of the school, now walked in. A full ensemble of smartly suited men and women at his sides. He stood, hovering over the chair at the head of the table as he looked onto the occupants now sitting, everyone meeting his gaze.
Shortly following this, about twenty people, each carrying two large silver plates, laid their plates on the tables, silver covers removing any chance of seeing into them. As if Silence, well, silenced everyone, the occupants stopped their banter focused on the Headmaster.
'Don't tell me he's going to say graces or something before we can eat... Please let this not be the case. Oh, yeah. We all have to introduce ourselves.' Silence thought. After remembering how this was the introduction for all the new people in the dorm, she sighed relieved.
"Ahem." The Headmaster cleared his throat.
After noticing the few people not focused on him before now doing so, he continued. "Another year has come and gone, this means the older members from last year have graduated and left. It is a shame that these people have left us, but in their wake we have brand new members to replace them. Now, since everyone is now present, I feel this is a good chance to introduce these new people. From highest to lowest rank, could the new members please introduce themselves."
With that said everyone looked with anticipation to Thor, who calmly stood up to oblige.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"I'm Thor, real name James Jackson from the first year military course. I'm ranked one as most of you know, and will be leading the student council for the foreseeable future. Pleased to meet you all, I hope we can make the next years enjoyable for all." With a bow, and his harem's gushing, he ended his well prepared introduction and sat down again.
Three transfer students, the siblings nick-named 'Crimson' ranked 22, 'Glow' ranked 30 and the unrelated 'Crow', ranked 54 followed Thor's introduction with their own. Introducing their real names, snippets referencing their abilities and politely referencing how pleasant it was meeting everyone. After them it was Silence's turn.
Keeping it succinct, she simply introduced her as, "I'm Silence. Pleased to meet you all."
Lots of confused faces met her, asking 'is that all?' as they sighed, looking to the next, all apart from one person that is.
In response, a curious Anubis stood, seeing her chance, asked the now sitting Silence a seemingly reasonable question. "Sorry miss Silence, but I wanted to check. Our records identify you as Melissa Shard, of the Shard dynasty who were executed after being found as villains. Is this accurate?"
In response to her question, conversations from worried people in the hall started emerging, causing a stream of hysteria that were unjustly made.
Feeling the impending witch-hunt alienation she had experienced several times before, Silence clenched her fists, attempting to control her emotions as her face became flushed with rage and embarrassment. Trying to reason why the accusations were wrong, everyone talked over her, accusing her regardless of anything she said in her defense.
Eventually Silence resorted to silencing the room, creating one-way barriers over everyone's mouth. Clearly lost to the rage inside her, she started her angry rant, attempting to convey how unfair this treatment was.
"Shut. Up. Shut up. Shut up! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" She stood, gradually raised her voice, causing everyone around her to flinch, all encapsulated on the little girl. Most realized they couldn't speak, so helplessly listened to her as she continued.
"I AM NOT A VILLAIN! MY FAMILY WERE NEVER VILLAINS EITHER! MY FAMILY WENT MAD FROM AN ACTUAL VILLAIN POSSESSING THEM! ME AND MY SISTER WERE FORCED TO RUN AWAY, FINDING OUT THEY WERE MASSACRED BY THE 'HEROES' SOON AFTERWARDS WITHOUT ANY REGARDS OR HUMANITY GIVEN, MY FAMILY WERE COINED AS VILLAINS BY THE STATE, AND ME AND MY SISTER WERE ALMOST EXECUTED TOO IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE REAL FUCKING VILLAIN FINALLY GETTING CAUGHT! And I thought I had finally escaped that bullshit. Ha ha ha... THEN EVERYONE I MEET CALLS ME A VILLAIN EVEN THOUGH I WASN'T, AT SCHOOL I WAS ALIENATED, HATED AND HAD TO FUCKING ACT AS IF I DESERVED IT FOR NO FUCKING REASON!" After ranting for a while, she took a deep breath to calm down.
The barriers over the majority seemed to break, still enchanted by the little girl's rant, no one spoke up.
After feeling more relaxed, she continued her rant, "running and hiding, I eventually thought it had passed. Having to abandon my own fucking name due to the past it was claimed to have. AND HERE WE ARE, YOU FUCKERS CALLING ME A VILLAIN AGAIN FOR NO FUCKING REASON! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOUR GOSSIP, FUCK YOUR OPINIONS, FUCK YOU!" She started panting, ending her rant there.
Realizing she had completely ruined the once gleeful atmosphere celebrating the new year, her Headmaster present, she now felt embarrassed. Her cheeks scolding hot, she fled the room in a hurry.
-
This left the remaining occupants, now free of Silence's gag, now tried to continue where they left off. Most were mixed with shock and intrigue at Silence's ability, to gag the entire room with such speed and ease wasn't easy, and with the contents of her rant that hit most of them in the heart.
Anubis, as a self imposed punishment, also left the table. She didn't expect, or want, to open a deep trauma. Having a weird feeling of attraction to the girl after their 'interesting' meeting earlier, she was simply curious to know who she was. She did get to see Silence's ability first-hand which was the main target of her curiosity, but rightfully felt bad for asking, therefore punished herself.
-
A unanimous vote took place inside the dining room, initiated by the Headmaster, resulting in the topic never being brought up again unless she brought it up herself. They happily welcomed Silence regardless of her past, and the rest of the newcomers. Then continued to celebrate the new year, hoping that would be the only drama to happen.
-
Silence had darted to her room alone, closing, bolting and locking the door behind her. She set up barriers so no one could hear her tears, and curled up in a ball. Terrible memories of the traumatizing experience from two years ago flashed through her mind. She eventually cried herself to sleep.