Nomatter how much Reiss insisted, Ginger refused to sleep that night. Or rather, instead of refusing, he just could not bring himself to close his eyes and not feel like when he opened them again, he’d himself drowning in darkness with the voices of many, many dragons begging him to use the Perfect Execution.
And how thrilling was it to know that his other soul was now equipped with a weapon that had been used to try and assassinate the Ebony Dragon Cycles ago. Whether it worked or not – something Ira refused to confirm when the dragonlings had asked – wasn’t relevant at all. All Ginger needed to know was that one use of it could harm any or all of the hundreds of dragonlings he shared a dormitory with.
How could he close his eyes and sleep in such a situation?
The only saving grace he had to hold onto was the fact that apparently, the Perfect Execution was not a single target Pieyro. It was an area of effect type Pieyro that could not be performed promptly. The only way to lessen the preparation was to use it with a group of allies in the target’s range.
Ira had explained this to further ease Ginger’s troubles.
‘I know you don’t have much of an idea of the Ebony Dragon’s powers, but I’m sure you can imagine that creating a Pieyro he could dodge would have been useless. The Perfect Execution was designed to cover a massive range so that any hope of the target escaping would be minimised. And because of that, it takes a lot to cast the Pieyro,’ Ira had said.
But as much as Ginger took his word for it, he had wanted to ask the gateway why then he had rushed to guard Caron and Reiss when he thought he (Ginger) was going to use the Perfect Execution earlier, but he held his tongue.
In any case, the plump dragonling resolve to not allow his second soul a chance to do something worse than whisking him away to somewhere far away in the dead of night.
Even Reiss had run out of words to use to encourage Ginger to rest after the plump dragonling laid down all these facts before him.
Like the last time Ginger found himself afraid to sleep, Reiss told him that he would watch over him for as long as was needed – not that it made any of them feel any better with all the new series of factors involved now.
Speaking of sleep, the dorm rooms were eerily quiet. All the First Year boys were out cold, all tucked into their beds neatly… and messily.
Ira had told Ginger and Reiss that he had sorted out the mess Ginger left behind when his second soul hijacked his body. He didn’t go into specifics, but the two dragonlings had mostly figured out how exactly he had resolved the issue. He simply packed all the sound-asleep dragonlings into their beds, whether they were in their uniforms or their night clothes.
He must have tempered with their memories as well, ensuring that when they woke up, they remembered having gone to sleep in such unrefined styles and without bothering to change.
It showed the next morning.
“I swear by Argent, Professor Mara is trying to kill us with all this homework. I was so tired that after I finished that I fell asleep right when I sat on my bed.”
“Yeah. It’s getting worse by the Stride. Will we still be sane by Stride five? I have a Hunt this Breather. I don’t think I can afford to go if I’ll to have come back to all the notes I need to write for Edelman’s class.”
“I’m really just concerned about the strange dream I had. I haven’t dreamt about my late uncle in a while. I mean, I miss him and all, but he’s been dead for seven years.”
“I…I don’t even remember falling asleep at all. I could have sworn I was in the study room. Is that kind of exhaustion normal for someone my age?”
The dragonlings shared their stresses before going to bath. Even those that weren’t well acquainted found themselves befriending each other over the talks of abuse as they changed their clothes; some lamented that they were just going to have to go for Classes as they were – exactly as they were when they woke up.
Reiss beamed at the sight.
“Ira is a little smarter than I gave him credit for,” he said, hanging from his top bunk to talk to Ginger. “He altered the memories of some and kept the others as they were. That way, everyone doesn’t remember the same thing – going to sleep because they were tired.”
“…Yeah. Smart.”
Ginger’s response sucked all the energy out of Reiss. His face slunk.
His eyes were slightly swollen and spiritless. He rose from his bed and joined some of the other dragonlings to the washroom. Some of them gave him odd looks. The conversations spawned by the rumours this Stride were still alive in their heads, and they would have loved to poke Ginger with some questions, but the plump dragonling’s temperament seemed to diffuse in the air and discouraging all attempts to approach him.
The plump dragonling’s mood didn’t change even when he and Reiss went down to the classes. Reiss tried his best to cheer him up, but nothing he attempted worked at all. It all bounced off Ginger like stones on a wall.
The dwarfish dragonling was thankful that they didn’t run into Vassilis at least. That might have dragged Ginger to the nearest grave, as he saw it.
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It was Caron who managed to get a reaction from Ginger first.
She gave a great, dragged-out yawn in Ginger’s face when he was entering the classroom. The plump dragonling sprang to life and dived back with a look of disgust.
“Your morning breath—”
“Is the sweet sort. Thanks, I know,” Caron cut him off, her drooping baby blue eyes blinking a couple of times.
“It stinks!” cried Ginger. “Why didn’t you brush?”
“I forgot. I woke up late. I only realised I forgot to clean my mouth when I go to class,” she said and wore a lazy smile. She pulled Ginger into the classroom and past the chattering and grouped up dragonlings and hung on his shoulder like a huge zit.
Ginger kept trying to shove her away, muttering something about how he had met a beast in the Wild with the exact kind of rancid breath Caron had, but her grip on him was as firm as a tick’s.
Reiss, following behind them, was a little jealous, but not to the point of showing it.
The trio found their seats. Reiss and Caron sandwiched a protesting Ginger. Now that he was lively again, dragged from his cesspool of deep, ugly thoughts, Reiss found it hard not to laugh at the look of his swollen eyes when he frowned.
“I think it’s best if we joined Marvellous Impediments immediately, Caron,” he proposed. “It will be easy, now that I think about it. Ginger and I got nagged by this one upperclassman – Konstantina’s older sister. If we can find her, we’ll be good. What do you think?”
“HAAAAA!” Caron yawned in Ginger’s ear, causing him to jerk back, horror-struck. He had thought a cow had magically joined the class and replaced Caron. “That’s brilliant, Midget. We’ll do that.”
“I thought we were past that, but alright,” said Reiss with a sigh.
After Ginger made sure he swatted the air around him thoroughly to diffuse Caron’s breathe, he found it in himself to protest again.
“I get that this increases your chances of being able to… subdue my other soul,” Ginger said, continuously lowering his voice after to, “but have you really thought about this? It’s not that I don’t want your help, but managing two Out Courses in addition to our already packed schedule of lessons—”
“You’ll be doing the same thing,” hissed Reiss.
“Yeah, because it’s my problem!” Ginger hissed back.
“It stopped being your problem alone when you confided in us!” came Caron’s counter in a sharp whisper.
“Yeah. And I’m not going to give you another chance to swim in your self-pity, Ginger. Not after last time!”
Ginger crumbled under a weight of guilt. He remembered what Reiss meant. On the day when the Second Burning was supposed to be held, Ginger had been sinking in his own thoughts so much that he started to see everyone as an enemy out to get him. He had even begun to think that Reiss was against him too. That selfish feeling could be comfortable – relaxing even.
He didn’t dare retort.
All throughout the morning, Caron and Reiss didn’t leave his side.
It was especially wonderful having the drowsy dragonling around. Everyone was a little intimidated by her because of her new title as Vassilis’ rival. Even as she hung on Ginger, dozing off in classes, she was an effective deterrent against those that sought to approach Ginger maliciously.
The only time Caron’s charm didn’t work was when Vassilis had come over, when the trio were headed for Professor Mara’s class. Caron didn’t scare him, of course.
“The gatekeeper won’t be able to protect you for much longer. You’ll tell me how you found out about the Perfect Execution. I’ll make sure you tell me truth – everything you’re hiding. Mark my works, halfling,” he said with a nasty look in his eye.
Ginger didn’t grace him with a retort. He hadn’t wanted to and also, Vassilis didn’t give the him time to deliver one. He was gone in a flash.
“It’s that thing about his mother that he’s angry about, isn’t it?” said Ginger when the three were approaching the Forge.
“Yeah,” said Reiss. “He was very upset about that. Apparently, he doesn’t dream about his mother. It’s not just him either. I heard a few others talking about how they dreamt about people they cared about it – parents mostly, living or dead. I bet Ira tempered with the memories of some of them so they wouldn’t remember dreaming about that. It would be strange if everyone recalled having similarly-themed dreams. Oh.”
Suddenly, the dwarfish dragonling looked at Caron. Her expression had flickered at the mention of parents. She noticed the strange face Reiss made.
“Don’t overreact, Midget.”
Ginger was a little late in understanding what was going on. When he did, he felt the weight of selfishness sit on top of his heavyweight guilt. He had been thinking about himself since yesterday, almost completely forgetting that Caron had revealed a dark portion of her past.
‘Right. She’s never met her parents, and the only memory of someone who showed her the slightest bit of care isn’t all that intimate,’ he thought, scrunching his face.
Caron punched him and Reiss.
Both dragonlings winced. She hit hard.
“I didn’t share that part of my life with you so you could feel sorry for me. I did it so I could prove to you two that really I wanted to be friends with you. Don’t you start walking on egg shells around me just because of this,” she hissed and punched them again.
“I get it, I get it!” cried Reiss whose eyes were watering. Caron used Pooling-type Kardia with her last punch. It hurt like the devil.
Ginger had guarded adequately. He simply waved his hands in surrender.
“Alright. I won’t do it again. I promise,” he said sincerely. “But that doesn’t mean we can just pretend that you told us about that. When you need to, we can talk about it. Even if it doesn’t bring any solution to how you feel.”
Caron considered him. The first sentence she thought of wasn’t what she ended up saying. She smiled sheepishly.
“When I need to, I’ll tell you,” she said.
The matter ended there, but Ginger knew it was resolved only in speech. It didn’t matter though.
The trio were forced to drop it in the presence of Professor Mara’s strict pressure. His class was the only one that grew exponentially worse as the Strides went by. The students couldn’t even speak in his class anymore, not because he commanded it, but because they dreaded what he would do if he found out they were breathing.
The collective relief the students felt when they escaped the clutches of the Forge was unreal.
It was always nice to dive from Professor Mara’s class into their Prime Instructor’s.
However…
Ginger noticed a rare frown on Professor Lyall’s face as the dragonlings of First Blue filtered into the Huddling Fury. She eyed each one severely behind her round-rimmed glasses. She must have been sensing or seeing something that no one else could. Her gaze lingered on several of the boys.
Ginger’s heart stuck in throat and Reiss’ face fell.
Caron, who had finally succumbed to sleep after holding it in during Professor Mara’s class missed this.
Ginger shook her awake as soon as they found their positions in the room.
“What?” the sleepy redhead asked, shuddering. “What is it?
“I think Professor Lyall knows.”
“Knows what?”
“She knows that the memories of the others have been tempered.”
Reiss was biting his fingers nervously.
“She saw through Ira’s trickery. I think she managed to pinpoint everyone who has traces of foreign Kardia.”
“That’s…bad,” Caron yawned as she said it.