“#@! $@ !$@!” A voice so beautiful and ethereal could not possibly exist in reality.
But reality stood at the doorway.
“#@!{}: @!”#:!” The professor replied.
She was by no means the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Back on Earth, he could scroll through the popular short video app DooTok and find 10 girls more beautiful than her.
But there was something about the woman in front of him that could not compare to any girl he had seen.
She smiled.
And then an arrow struck his heart.
His heart physically ached. Just thinking about going back to Earth and leaving her physically hurt. He felt a loss he had never felt before.
She walked all the way to the back seats and sat on the only empty seat in the hall. Next to Yaaro.
And then he was over the moon.
There was a certain aura around her. Her smile reminded Yaaro of the cool comfort of a cold pillow and her gentle eyes were the very shape of compassion.
Something rattled on the floor.
“#@! {:)” She said. It was a pen.
Yaaro bent down, picked it up and gave it to her.
She took it.
The way she reached out her hand to take the pen from him. My God. The way she took it… Was like tenderly reaching out to pet a soft and fluffy kitten. An intense desire to protect this flower in the desert bloomed in Yaaro. He felt silly for thinking this way of a girl he had only seen now. The professor’s words melted into each other and it only sounded like a “Blah blah blah”.
The world.
The world was slightly more colorful.
Unknowingly a smile bloomed on his face.
“#@! #@.”
Mesmerised, his voice came out softly, “I’m sorry I don’t… I don’t understand.”
What was she trying to say to him? Yaaro prayed to all the Gods that atleast she could use the voice.
The girl smiled,“Thank you.”
That was the death blow.
Yaaro fainted.
----------------------------------------
He opened his eyes. There was a blank ceiling staring at him. There was a comfortable bed that he was lying on.
What the hell happened?
Yaaro slowly got up. He was lying on a bed in the infirmary. With a confused look, he tried recalling everything that happened. Undoubtedly, the first thing he remembered:
Was the face of a beautiful woman.
She wore a paradoxically elaborate yet simple red headdress. It was shaped like a hood that covered her head and tapered to a point at her glabella. It flowed down the back of her head like a tail and covered her ears with long flaps.
The headdress itself was smooth as satin. There were two golden ornamentations lining either side of the long ear flaps that added to her simple beauty. Although the hood tapered down to her glabella, it was shaped such that her eyes and eyebrows were visible.
With every slight movement of her head, the headdress waved and shook adorably. And with every tilt of her head, the light caught on the gold ornaments, and her sparkling eyes.
Her eyes. My God. She had beautiful red irises embedded like a jewel in her doe eyes. Physical beauty was one thing. But it were the smaller things that added to her beauty.
When the professor said something particularly hard to follow, her beautiful eyes would dart around slightly. As if trying to catch the words themselves. Sometimes she would doodle cute flowers in her notes and smile with satisfaction. Her hands moved tenderly, as if lovingly caressing the very air.
And when he could not find words to describe her anymore, he remembered the second thing.
He had fainted.
Yaaro gripped his head. If embarrassment was a physical force, he would’ve died ten times over.
“Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck!!!”
He didn’t even know it was possible to faint for such mundane reasons. How was that possible?
As he was pondering the reasons, the curtain beside him opened. There was a woman in a nurse uniform and a long coat. After giving him a few instructions and remarks about his condition, Yaaro was discharged.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
His stomach growled, but he decided that more than food, he needed answers. Moreover, he was curious.
Very curious.
With gleaming eyes, he marched to the cafeteria. Throwing the doors open, he scanned every corner. At the far end were of course, the familiar faces of Darius and his gang. But he had no business with them. Since yesterday’s events, they hadn’t meddled with him, and so he wouldn’t meddle with them.
It was a symbiotic relationship.
There he is.
Locking onto his target with eagle eyes, he sauntered over.
And then slammed the table.
Sholin yelped, almost knocking over his bottle of water.
“My friend!” Yaaro grinned like a conman and patted his back, “How are you?”
“Oh, it’s you, Yaaro.” Sholin let out a sigh, “I didn’t know it was you, please don’t scare me like that.”
Yaaro took a seat next to him, “Of course, of course. I just wanted to ask a few questions.”
Sholin shrunk. His eyes darted around and his voice lowered to a whisper, “You know there’s people around right?”
Yaaro scoffed, “What kind of questions do you think I’m here to ask?” He pat his back again, “Relax, they’re pretty normal questions.”
Sholin nodded, still hesitant. Yaaro meanwhile, drew closer to Sholin. His voice lowered to a whisper and his tone became very serious.
“Tell me all you know about magic.”
Sholin blinked. And then he sighed.
“This was what you wanted to know? Well, alright.” Sholin replied in a whisper, “I saw you at the lecture today, so I’m assuming you know the story of the Arakan.”
“I don’t know.”, Yaaro shook his head.
“See this is why you should pay attention to lectures! Anyway,” He continued, “The Lord carved out four gems from his body, one for—
“Each of the elements. I already know this story of your Lord. What is the Arakan?”
“Oh! You were listening? I’m surprised. The Arakan are what the gems are collectively known as.” And then Sholin looked as if struck by a horrible realization. With bulging eyes, he whispered, “Wait. Yaaro, you are not a believer in the Lord?”
“No.”
That simple reply caught him off guard, and Sholin simply muttered an ‘Oh’. Against such nonchalance, what could he do?
----------------------------------------
From the outside, Sholin looked frozen with bulging, fear-stricken eyes. But he struggled against his invisible cage. Sholin’s mind raced with fear but the words were stuck in his mouth.
And then the pressure disappeared.
A huge heave and he gasped for air.
“I…” He coughed, “I understand.”
“Good… Now another question.” The boy, Yaaro said.
A jolt of fear shook his heart, “What— What is it?”
The man with the killer aura and deadly eyes was suddenly nowhere to be found. Instead there was a sheepish boy sitting in front of him. Sholin couldn’t believe his eyes at the sudden transformation.
“Who was that beautiful girl with the pretty red headdress?” Yaaro asked, a hint of shyness in his voice.
Sholin had no words. In all of University, there was only one person with the red headdress in question.
“Ah that person! She is the daughter of a councilor of the Elf Kingdom of Lisamour: Hyphis de Maribelle Lisamour II.”
“Hyphis… an elf…” Yaaro smiled and gazed into the distance, before suddenly snapping back to reality, “Wait, she’s royalty?”
“Well… Not exactly, but yes, something like that.” Sholin replied.
To this, Yaaro grew irritated and demanded, “Full answer.”
“The Elf Kingdom has a high council that rules the kingdom and these council members are elected from the kingdom’s aristocracy. So she’s not exactly royalty but… Her father is the most powerful member, so he’s similar to a King.”
Yaaro’s head drooped, burying itself in his hands. Cautiously, Sholin peeked at him, trying to see him from different angles.
“Yaa—”
“Do you think I have a chance?”
“Wha—!”
“No no!” He threw his hands up and tried to allay Sholin’s shock, “Just to talk to her, nothing else… I’m planning to leave in a few days anyway.”
A gentle smile appeared on Sholin’s face, the man in front of him was so unpredictable that it was surprising to know that he had such a human side to him. Seeing him like this, a desire welled up in him:
He wanted to help this man in his quest.
For some reason, Sholin was completely convinced that if anybody could woo her, it was Yaaro.
From where did I get this unreasonable belief from? He chided himself.
“Well. If you want to talk to her, you’d need to raise your standing somehow.” He gave his honest response.
And almost as if on cue, came trouble.
Darius and his group of lackeys surrounded the table, instantly plunging the cafeteria into silence.
“Sholin Kuln.” The man with the cold sword hanging by his waist— Darius’ most esteemed lackey, Holstein— pointed at Yaaro, who casually looked around, “Do not talk to this man again.”
His booming voice instantly made Sholin shrink into his seat.
“Yes— Yes sir.”
“Sholin.” Yaaro said with a smirk, “Don’t listen to him.”
Sholin paled. From where did this man get such an unreasonable amount of confidence? Darius was the University’s top talent; every kingdom on the continent would fight like dogs to recruit him. Those who opposed him would face a fate worse than death. There were even rumours of the von Straaten’s taking dissenters to an underground torture chamber.
He didn’t want to see this brave man suffer the same fate.
“Yaaro please don’t…” His voice came out meek and barely audible.
“I can’t hear you, speak up!” Yaaro shouted.
“I said stop it!” He shouted pathetically, “Just bow and he’ll forgive you! Our Lord is gracious! He’ll forgive you if you do, so just stop being so hostile!”
Someone laughed in the background. And then a few other people. And then Darius too.
“He’s right, you know? Lick my feet and I’ll forgive you. I won’t take this matter further either.”
Something changed in Yaaro’s eyes. His face contorted into a grimace and a mad glint appeared in his dark brown eyes. A chill permeated the room when he stood up.
His whole demeanor changed. He stood like someone who had slaughtered an army with their bare fists and was now standing in pools of their blood.
Malice oozed from his laughter. He grinned, and without using the voice he spoke, “⍓︎□︎◆︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎,” His grin grew wider, “✋︎❼︎❖︎♏︎ ♋︎●︎⬥︎♋︎⍓︎⬧︎ ⬥︎♋︎■︎⧫︎♏︎♎︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♌︎♏︎♋︎⧫︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ♐︎◆︎♍︎🙵♓︎■︎♑︎ ●︎♓︎♐︎♏︎ □︎◆︎⧫︎ □︎♐︎ ⬧︎□︎❍︎♏︎□︎■︎♏︎ ●︎♓︎🙵♏︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎📬︎ ✋︎⧫︎❼︎⬧︎ ❍︎⍓︎ ♐︎♋︎⧫︎♏︎ ⧫︎□︎ ♒︎♋︎❖︎♏︎ ♍︎□︎❍︎♏︎ ⧫︎□︎ ⧫︎♒︎♓︎⬧︎ ⬥︎□︎❒︎●︎♎︎📪︎ ⧫︎❒︎◆︎●︎⍓︎📬︎”
It was unlike any other language they’d heard. Everyone present listened in confusion.
“Sholin.” He said.
“Yes?” Immediately Sholin sat up, ramrod straight.
“How do I legally make this fucker kneel?”