Spirit of Hope
Chapter 4: School Days
Two days have passed since Sohjin’s battle with Aragon. Currently, Sohjin is fast asleep on a roof near Save Bank. His phone abruptly buzzes violently in his back pocket. The combination of the noise and vibration wakes him up. As Sohjin opens his eyes, the bright sun blinds him.
“Huh?” Sohjin mumbled, shielding himself from the sun.
As he collects his thoughts, he rubs his eyes and picks it up.
“Hel-“ He started, but was interrupted by a loud voice blaring in his ears.
“SOHJIN, ITS BREAK WHERE ARE YOU! DON'T TELL ME YOUR SKIPPING!” A familiar voice yelled.
“Huh? Alex, I don’t understand.” Sohjin replied groggly
“UHH, HELLO SCHOOL!” Alex exclaims, “WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN ANSWERING MY CALLS!? We have so much to talk about.”
“Ok, I’ll swing by your house right no- SCHOOL!!?” Sohjin yelled, his heart sinking. He unlocks his phone and his eyes darted to the date.
Monday, April 18, 2016
10:43 am
99+ missed messages from Alex
2 missed messages from Mom
1 missed message from Hamza
Sohjin's facepalms himself while muttering cuss words.
“ARE YOU COMING OR NOT?” Alex asked.
“Ye..Yeah. I’ll meet up with you at lunch." He said, scratching his head. "By the time I get there the break will be over and…Mr Clark. Already in deep trouble with him.”
“I’ll let you go then, see you soon.” Alex hung up.
Sohjin stood up and paced around the rooftop with his hands on his head. “What do I do?” He sighed, walking over to the shed where he left his damaged mask. He slips it on and turns around and without a second thought he leaps off the building. A cold rush of wind hits him as he descends closer to the ground.
“School shouldn’t be that far. Can’t believe I’ve been out for 2 days.” Sohjin thought, using the city as his makeshift obstacle course.
“Hey…Mrs Magic was it? Are you there?” Sohjin asks, running across the window of a large building. The windows beneath him reflect her image, catching Sohjin's eye. He stops and looks at the window reflection of Mrs Magic in awe.
“Whoa.” Sohjin admired.
“Don’t stop, keep going or you’ll be in deeper trouble.” Her calm and firm voice says as she points at the school
“Right” Sohjin nods, as her image fades, his eyes are met with an older lady yelling at Sohjin for being a creep.
“Oh…So sorry ma'am.” He said, jumping off the building and making his way to the school.
“I have a lot of questions for you Ms Magic, starting with what are you.” Sohjin asked, safely landing on a nearby building continuing on his journey.
In an instance, Ms Magic appears beside Sohjin traversing with him. “I am a Keeper” She said. “I am one of 8 of Earth's Keepers tasked with the responsibility of protecting this planet. We grant people our strength to individuals who have potential to become Guardians.”
“Guardians?” Sohjin repeated, jumping to another rooftop.
“Yes, Guardians are those bonded with us Keepers. Through this bond, they gain extraordinary powers to defend this world.”
“Are there others like you?” Sohjin asked.
Ms. Magic nodded “ Across this very galaxy exists keepers and guardians. Though our connection with those keepers is lost, I can still sense their presence through their Seishin.”
“Seishin? You mentioned that during my battle with Aragon.” Sohjin questions. “What is it?”
“Seishin is the fundamental building block of everything in the universe. Every living creature is made up of Seishin. Seishin allows you to perform numerous superhuman feats, if you remember from your battle you gathered your Seishin and channeled it into that attack or when you blasted energy.”
Sohjin glanced at his hands, “Right I did, do that. But how come I’ve never used it before in my day to day life?”
“It’s not something that can be awakened naturally for most. Using Seishin is an instinct that needs to be drawn out either through immense physical and mental training or a catalyst such as powers or keepers.”
“So, anyone can use it.” Sohjin asked eagerly.
“Not without training to use it safely. Without proper training, their Soul Force can overwhelm users potentially leading to their death.
Sohjin’s eyes widened. “Wait, so I’ve been using something that could’ve killed me!?”
Ms Magic turned to face him fully, her voice was soft but serious. “Don’t sweat it Sohjin, I’ve been suppressing your power but even then you need training not only to understand your abilities but to learn the responsibility that comes with them. So in the meantime don’t use your powers”
“Got it, thank you.” Sohjin said, flipping onto the office building, he pulled out his phone and checked the time. “Good break is over, I have so many other questions, but I need to focus on this first.” He thought.
Sohjin’s school is a modern suburban school surrounded by nature's beauty and the city's buildings called Oakleaf High School. At the front of the outdoor school dominates the Library, next to it is the A building that connects to the front office.
Towards the back of the school is the giant blacktop that is surrounded by the foreign language building. Near the blacktop is the large gym which is connected via stairs.
Behind the gym is the large parking lot, which is where most accidents in the area happen. The gym is connected to the cafeteria by 2 bridges on different sides, the far right side of the bridge is identified by the ginormous oak tree that has stood for generations, and can be seen from the Library.
The bridge on the far left leads up to the front office while the left side leads to the cafeteria and deeper into the school. The bridge allows students to pass over a large ditch that occasionally turns into a river depending on the season.
“10:57, 4th period, it’s early enough that I could sneak in.” He said. “I can’t wait to see my favorite teacher.” He muttered sarcastically, as he dashed on to B building, which is parallel to the A building.
“Need to hurry and change. I forgot my bag and It's too late to go home. Where am I gonna put my clothes? I don’t even have extra.”
A light bulb suddenly went off in his head. “The Lost in found!” He happily said, heading towards the gym.
He jumps onto the cafeteria building and dashes across the way and onto the oak tree. Nesting on the long tree branch, he crouches down getting into a mini runners pose. As he inconsistently gathers his Seishin, electricity conducts from his feet and sparks off the tree.
“Please don’t set the tree on fire.” He murmured.
He slowly stood up while maintaining his running pose and with all his built up Seishin, violently dashed off the tree and onto the roof of the gymnasium.
He stands up, dusting himself off and climbs down to the locker room. His hands wrapped around firmly on the locker room doors and found the doors were locked.
He looks around him and checks his surroundings and leans up against the doors. Electricity swarms around him as he knocks the door down.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Sohjin dashes around the locker room, finally arriving at the lost in find, he quickly changes his attire from his destroyed costume to a dirty beige polo shirt that is opened up to reveal a white shirt, accompanied with baggy dark brown pants and black and white Adidas paired with white socks.
“Not bad, although this shirt smells.” Sohjin said, while tugging at the neck of the white shirt. “Now, what to do with you?” He said, holding his suit in his other hand.
Sohjin scans the area and finds a trash can and shoves his suit in the trash. “Alex is gonna be pissed when he finds this.” Sohjin chuckled, as he took a picture and sent it to Alex.
He goes into the bathroom and checks himself out in the mirror, wiping off the dried blood and promptly leaves, marching to Mr Clark’s classroom.
“Class is on the blacktop, not that far.” Sohjin said, slicking his hair back. “Hey wait a minute, my wounds are healed up and mostly gone! I haven’t noticed until now. ” He said, admiring his healed up arm. “Ribs still hurt, Ms Magic, this is because of Seishin right?” He questions
“It’s a combination of it. Healing your body is one of being guardians' perks. It uses Seishin to heal.” Ms Magic says, walking beside him.
Sohjin nodded and arrived at the door of his class. His right hand trembles in fear as he reaches out for the door handle.
“Don’t be scared Sohjin, just sneak in and it’ll be fine. Remember you fought Aragon.” Sohjin reassured, taking a deep breath out.
“I better not get a detention, Here goes everything.” He said, twisting the metal handle and letting himself in.
He opens the door, and inside desks were unorganized due to group work, he stealthily sneaks inside and looks towards the direction of the teachers desk and notices he is gone. He gradually steps in looking around the classroom for the teacher. He stealthily makes his way towards the back of the class. Where he slips into an empty seat and grabs a Chromebook as he looks at the front board.
“WW2 in Europe”
He turns to his left and asks a guy with a middle part, “Hey, what site is tha-''
“Sohjin Teca,” a deep voice interrupted.
Mr Clark has a demanding presence as he once served in the military. Standing tall with a confident smile and perfect posture. He keeps his thin brown hair with hints of gray, nicely trimmed and slicked back and accompanied with a well groomed beard. His sharp and understanding eyes never fail to miss any action in the classroom. Mr. Clark is a very complex person, who is a serious person that weaves his soft side into teaching. He’s a one of a kind teacher that instills students' love for learning and their confidence in their abilities.
Mr Clark’s deep voice opens up with, “it’s a pleasure to see you, nice of you to drop by. So tell me what brings you into my class so late. Were you skipping and couldn’t resist my indubitable charm?”
The class chuckles and settles back into their conversation. Sohjin looks into Mr Clark’s eyes and is burned by his intense stare. He looks away and answers with, “I’m sorry, something came up.”
“This is the third time this week, one more time and it’s a detention. Don’t make this become a habit,” He said, “what do I say everyday at the beginning of class?”
“The early bird gets the academic worm” The class reluctantly groaned in unison. Sohjin, embarrassed, slowly puts his head down and begins working.
At the end of class, as Sohjin tries to leave, Mr Clark says, “Sohjin, can you come here real quick?” Mr Clark sitting on a desk towards the back of the classroom, waving him over.
As the class empty’s for lunch, Mr Clark silently opens up with, “Teca, I don’t mean to pry or anything like that, but is everything alright at home?” Mr Clark finishes pointing at his left eye.
Sohjin’s heart skips a beat and his face turns red. “Damn, bruises must’ve not fully healed” Sohjin quickly thinks, while avoiding eye contact with Mr Clark.
Mr Clark leans in, putting his hand on Sohjin. “It’s alright, you can tell me. This is a safe place. If someone is hurtin-”
“I’m fine, just got into a rough fight, nothing major.” Sohjin quickly barged in.
“Fight? With another student or random person?” Mr Clark persisted.
“He’s relentless” Sohjin thought. Before Sohjin could answer, Mr Clark while adjusting his hair said, “Look, I was a teenager once as well, and let me tell you, you don’t wanna go down this path.”
“Path?” Sohjin questiond.
Mr. Clark let out a long sigh “Path of violence. It’s dangerous and destructive. I’ve been through it once and….I just…can’t see any of my students go through it.”
Sohjin stays quiet while avoiding eye contact. “If this is because of the accident, I understand. I went through something similar.”
Sohjin’s eyes quickly darted at Mr Clark. “The accident..the day that changed my life forever” Sohjin sorrowfully thought.
“It’s not easy, it took me years to ‘get over’ it…” Mr. Clark pauses. “best thing to do is talk about it and live life at its fullest potential for them.”
“thank you, this means a lot.” Sohjin said, with a hint of sadness in his voice. Sohjin gets up and walks to the door, his mind cluttered with thoughts.
“Maybe I should tell him about my powers” Sohjin thinks, looking at his hand, as he reaches for the door.
“Hey, I mean it. Live life to the fullest man. Been teaching 26 years and been alive for 48.” He said, a slight smile formed across his face. “Best advice I could give you is enjoy your teenage years and talk to as many girls as possible.”
Sohjin replies with a smile and left. Making his way down a flight of stairs and out the R building. From the front entrance, he took two 2 right turns, which led to a miniature hallway with stairs at the end.
Before he could make his way towards the stairs. A voice cried out his name.
“SOHJINNNNN” Alex’s voice echoed as he sprinted towards him.
“Alex? What are you doing here?” Sohjin chuckled. “first time I’ve seen him run.” He thought.
Alex stopped in front of Sohjin, leaning against the wall beside them, struggling to catch his breath.
“Holy, never… ran like this… in my life.” Alex wheezed. He slowly recovers and grabs his backpack, taking out Sohjin’s destroyed suit.
“What did you do to this?” He laughed and poked at the shredded fabric. Alex hands the destroyed suit to Sohjin and pulls out another suit.
“Made this, on Saturday. Should be more comfortable and DURABLE. Here, trade.” As Sohjin received the suit his eyes brightened up.
“Woah, this looks great, better than the first one. Thank you.” Sohjin said gratefully.
The costume remained the same, aside from the logo being more defined and detailed.
“Later today we need to improve your fighting skills, I was watching the security footage and you were probably the worst fighter I've ever seen,” Alex said, shaking his head. “Did you forget everything I taught you? You had no rhythm or coordination”
“I wonder where I lear-”
“And, what did you do at the end of the fight?” Alex interrupted, holding up his index to shush him.
“Well, there’s no simple way of putting this, but I gathered my Seishin and transferred it into my hand.” Sohjin said casually.
“Huh? Seishin?” Alex said, confused.
“Yeah, that's what Ms. Magic said. I’m still trying to grasp the concept. Apparently all living things have it.” Sohjin placed his hand on his chin.
“Who’s Mrs Magic?” Alex asked, bewildered.
“Ohh, that’s my Keeper, it's that thing that kept appearing.” Sohjin explained, grabbing the back of his neck.
“I’m even more confused.” Alex baffled at the concept. “Seishin, I’ve heard that before.” Alex says pacing around. “All living things have it, huh.” Alex picks at his hair and looks at the birds soar through the sky.
“Yeah no worries I’ll explain la-” Sohjin cuts off abruptly. A sudden wave of dizziness crashes over him, causing his vision to become blurry. His senses were distorted and felt like they were being pulled from every direction. He slowly falls to the ground, holding his head.
“Wha…Wh..AT is this feeling?” He murmurs weakly cowering down.
“Sohjin, why are you scr-” Alex's eyes widened. He rushes forward with panic rising in his chest.
“WHAT'S WRONG” Alex yelled, looking around to see if anyone saw them.
“Not good, the worst time to happen is at school. Any minute someone turns that corner and it’s wraps” Alex worriedly thought.
Sohjin unable to form any words, besides basic grunts of pain. “My head.” Sohjin finally chokes out, “ The..pain..it’s like..I can feel something, with immense power.” He weakly clutches his head, trying to stand up.
“It's going to be ok, what else can you feel or see?” Alex says, placing his hand on his back attempting to calm him down.
“I..can’t explain it..it’s like a headache…I can barely move…and breathe, this Soul Force. It feels like it’s near the office. Whatever it is, it feels like Aragon but 50x stronger.” Sohjin said, slowly standing up with sweat falling down his face.
“Now that he mentions it, the air is thicker and it feels like something heavy is weighing me down.” Alex thinks. “But why does it have such a negative effect on him and not me?”
“You need to check it out, as Spectre, if it’s a bad guy then there’s no time to waste. NOW GO” Alex said.
“I thought…. I told you, you idiot I can barely move.” Sohjin replied, As he finishes speaking Ms Magic forms behind Sohjin. Alex quickly backs up with his lip quivering.
“So..Sohjin! I…Uhh..” Alex said, stumbling over his words with a look of shock.
Ms Magic briefly explains who she is to Alex. Once she finished, she bent down to Sohjin’s side.
“Sohjin your correct, what you are feeling is immense Soul Force crushing you. Since the fight with Aragon, you have unlocked your Seishin in doing so you have also unlocked the ability to sense other Seishin levels. If you don’t control it you will die due to the pressure.” Ms Magic teaches.
“Listen to me, you need to breathe and focus on their soul force. Drown out any other sensations you feel and only focus on theirs.” Ms Magic instructs.
Sohjin slowly sits up fighting the pressure and gets on his knees. He slowly breathes in and out, closing his eyes while focusing on their energy. “This doesn't feel like one person, it feels like multiple different people.” Sohjin thought, drowning out the surrounding area's Seishin.
Sohjin isolates Seishin, and stands up. “I got it, they're coming from the bridge, by the cafeteria.”
“Excellent, I knew you could do it. Now suit up.” She says, pointing at the suit.
“But I thought you said—”
“Yes, but you're the only one with the power to stop them. The fact that your friend can feel their soul force can only mean one thing, trouble. You're a guardian, your job is to protect people.”
“Right,” Sohjin nodded and took off running.
He leaped up the stairs and hurriedly sprinted into the parking lot, putting on his gloves and ripping off his clothes and slowly putting on his suit.
Finally he dashes towards the building struggling to put on his costume’s pants. He then dashes onto the building, putting on his mask, making his way towards the Seishin source.
He makes his way closer to the building, Sohjin reflects, “There’s definitely more than one person. Who could these bozos be?”
Leaping from building to building coming closer towards the Soul Force, he becomes nervous and uneasy as his heart rate picks up.
Pushing forward through the anxiety and nervousness, dashing from roof to roof, finally making it to the roof of the student council that oversees the bridge. He looks over the building edge to see the culprits.
He instantly tenses up and falls to his knees. His hands shook in fear. “5 of them. What do I do? I’m out numbered and..and Damnit their soul force is making it hard to think, their seishin is on another level. I can’t match that!.” He panicked feeling sweat fall down his cheek.
“I wanna run but…” His mind flashed to what Ms Magic said.
“You're a guardian, your job is to protect people.”
“Why was I chosen? Why me? TO HELL WITH THIS. IF AM I GONNA DIE TODAY…I'M DOING IT WITH GLORY! I'M DOING THIS TO WIN!” He thought, standing up and getting ready to dash off the building.
Before Sohjin could jump off, someone grabbed him and pulled back over the ledge. Sohjin, unable to react, is pinned to the ground.
“STOP, they’ll hear us.”
“Huh? JUST WHO THE HELL AR-” Sohjin tries to speak but his mouth is covered.
“Sohjin, didn’t I tell you to shut up!” The mysterious person said
Sohjin’s eyes widened in surprise as he stopped struggling. They slowly uncover his mouth and stand up, pulling off his all black mask with bright white eyes and white spots all over.
“This can’t be. It’s my friend…It’s….” He thought, “Hamza!?” He choked out in surprise.
To be continued,
Spirit of Hope,
Chapter 5: Breath of Danger