|| CHAPTER ONE ||

An obnoxiously loud ‘BANG BANG BANG’ shuttered Taelyn’s bedroom door.

“It’s finally time. You should probably get ready, eat something, and off we go.”

“I’ll be there in 15 minutes,” as he stood in his own bed. Distant footsteps faded as he walked down the stairs. He looked at the clock.

5:55 AM

‘Is this a joke?...Oh whatever,’ he muttered as he groggily got off the bed and breathed. One. Two. And finally...three. KEEP IT TOGETHER. He suddenly coughed. Shit. Damp and smelly clothes. Ever since he turned 16, he has to do everything by himself. Groceries, laundry, cleaning, and other crap he doesn’t bother to do. Sometimes, it depends on his mood and free time. He eyed around his room. A perfectly clean new school outfit and already made two suitcases. He’s sure the old man is happy to finally get rid of him. Believe it or not, Taelyn used to be a promising student. However, ever since his parent’s bodies were declared missing from the burnt mansion, he hasn’t been focused in school as much as he used to. Hours, hours, and hours poured into mystery books, detective stories, true crime documentaries, and demonic practices. Living with the old man wasn’t exactly easy as they both clashed a lot. Sometimes over ridiculous things such as food, money, privacy, weapons, corpses, and all other normal stuff. Moreover, he doesn’t even bother to remember his name. Just ‘the old man’ is enough for him. Even though he used to say constantly everyday at the dinner table. However, ever since that unforsaken day he was expelled from his last school, he had nowhere but one place to go.

The Scitus Academy.

Cue the dramatic sequence because this one is going to rowdy-ruff and hella more interesting than any average educational school. They’re known as the last hope. The Dark Academy. Or commonly known among locals as ‘the transformation chamber.’ This was his last shot of re-integrating himself into society. If he fails, his old man will surely throw him out into the sewers and let him rot there to die. Even worse, be put in juvenile detention. Naturally, he flawlessly aced his entrance examination and admitted into this ‘gifted’ academy. They never really reveal how much he got right though. Just said that he ‘passed.’ No one really knows what goes inside this international academy. What the public only knows is that they have a 99.99% rate of turning delinquent young teenagers into respectable and notable young adults by the time they’ve graduated from the academy. Four years. This ‘transformation’ is their most renowned progress that’s heard all over the country. Speculations do arise to whatever happened to those students who didn’t graduate. No comments were made and no one really paid much attention to those ‘miniscule percent.’ Praised for being exclusively diverse and accepting of all races, backgrounds, and cultures. Their main values are intelligence, individualism, and consistency. As long as you’re a troubled kid with a fucked-up past and luxurious plates of chronic issues to bear with, you’re most humbly welcomed into the red chair.

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“This should be interesting I guess” as he muttered to himself, finished buttoning up his academy vest. It feels oddly suffocating, proper and stuffy. It’s a jet-black vest with red lines around the edges, with the academy’s emblem on his left chest. Even the emblem looks strangely odd, but admittedly, it looked pretty badass. It looked simplified and modern but he can tell it enough. The head of a dragon, the head of a phoenix, the head of an elephant, the head of a tiger, and lastly but not least the head of a white snake. They all seemed to swirl in a circular motion. It does closely resemble a chimera with the head of a lion, goat and snake, but this one seems more unnerving. However, there’s definitely another odd thing standing in the middle of the circle. It does look like a tortoise back, but he couldn’t be sure. Laurels wrapping around it with the name ‘Scitus Academy’ below.

…

The sun was oddly bright today. No clouds. Just a hard damn gleam. Oh shoot. Maybe he should have put on some sunscreen. Oh wait, no that’s probably a bad idea. His sweats would just melt it right off. Unless he can go quickly get one of those small cool electric fa-

‘HONK HONK HONK!’ As the rented car pulled up in front of the motel where Taelyn was waiting for his ride.

‘Pop, you know you can just press the wheel instead of shouting ‘HONK’ out loud? It’s embarrassingly trivial of you.’

‘Stop your complaining, and do more the get-ing.’

Taelyn popped his suitcases into the back trunk, and sat in the passenger’s seat beside his guardian. The old man was pulling out a cigarette and lighted it. Taelyn watched as he smoked and puffed out. Watching something as small as a cigarette slowly ruining your guardian’s life is sure pitiful. He doesn’t look like his old self anymore. This time he looked older for his age. He skins ragged like a deflated balloon with many folds, dark circles are more prominent now than ever, black and brown spots swirled around his neck and head, and as thin as a corpse.

‘You know..as much as I hate to admit pop, I miss your old proper English butler-ish self. At least you had dignity back then’.

‘HA! It was all a front, I should have done this a long time ago.’

‘As much as we hate each other, didn’t you bet me that you will still outlive me? I was still convinced you would, but looking at you now, it looks like the table has turned old man,’ as he snickered but retaining his stale poker face.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME BOY? I will STILL outlive you,’ as he suddenly violently coughed and wheezed. He punched himself in the chest several times.

Taelyn couldn’t help but to feel ...sentimental. This is going to be the last time he would see his guardian until he graduates. He doubts his pop could outlive him, but he has seen him do some extraordinary things.

‘How about this pop, let’s make another deal. If you stop smoking and drinking, I promise I would take care of you for the rest of my life.’ as he said that last word he instantly regretted it.

WHY THE HELL DID I SAY THAT?!?

The old man looked at him in a surprisingly heartfelt manner. ‘Oh REALLY? HA. Fat fucking miracle. That would be a no.’

Oh well, He tried. Taelyn internally loosened his body in a relief. But something in him wants him to take care of this pathetic old man. Maybe it’s the fact that he was the only person he got. Dare he thinks...the only ‘family’.

His guardian flickered his cigarette out the window, and started the musty old rental car.

…

As they drove up the zigzagged mountains, ominous pinecone trees seemingly leaned towards them, everything felt extremely suffocating until old pop couldn’t help but turn on to his own classic jam on the radio. Ever heard of ‘Take My Breath Away’ by Berlin? Taelyn couldn’t help but lightly chuckles, resting his elbow on the window to suppress his smile with his hand. ‘This is too ironic’. With an old and hoarse voice, his uncle belts out ‘TAKE MY BREATH AWAY’ as he was literally losing his breath away to singing from his slowly-deteriorating lungs. But when the singer herself sang an octave higher, the old pop just gave out. ’Awh fuck it. I’m free as I am right now, I don’t need to sing that damn high,’ as he bitterly grumbled, staring straight ahead into the road. Taelyn couldn’t help but widen his eyes at him and desperately tried to push back down his laugh. ‘Oh, shut up.’ The old man couldn’t help but giggled too at his own singing. They both know he’s not much of a singer, nor will he ever be, but that was a nice moment they both deeply shared. ‘You shoul- really- stop that’ Taelyn said trying to sound strict. “WHAT? I think what you meant to say is - TAKE MY BREATH AWAYAYAYYYAYAYAY!” This is going to be a long ride than he thought.