Our last class for the day just finished. When the professor dismissed us, I was the first person to make my way outside. There I found Raze leaning on the wall with both hands inside his pocket. When his eyes landed in my direction, he smiled at me before circling his arms around my shoulders as we walk through the school corridor.
As expected, we sneaked past the gates so that he could tour me throughout the city. We were walking back to school when we passed a dark alleyway, which was unusual because if you observe the alley closely, you can spot an exit that leads to a new place. Too preoccupied with my thoughts, without even realizing it, I snapped out of my reverie when someone nudges me too hard that led me to stumble on my feet. I glanced at my side only to find Raze giving me a questioning look, his gaze shifting to the alleyway then back at me.
"It's weird, dude, you're, blindfolded yet you act as if you can see things. It gives me the creeps. The way your head moves sideways as if observing every detail of the city, and the way you get engrossed in your thoughts when you're interested in something. It's cool, yeah, but a normal human being won't be able to act like that unless they're blind for months, or years, or even decades!" he said with suspicion and excitement plastered all over his face.
I just shrugged him off as we make our way through the high and mighty walls of our school gate. After securing our landing spot, I shook the leaves that clung to my uniform before following Raze to our dorm. I was about to turn off the lights and go to bed when I heard voices inside my head.
Don't go there.
Heed my warning!
Don't go there or you'll die!
Die! Die! Die!
The word die kept on ringing inside my head. Stop, why won't it stop! I started hitting my head repeatedly until the voices gradually disappeared inside my head. Without even realizing it, my eyes started drooping, lulling me to sleep.
The days passed by in pure bliss. Everyone is now busy with the upcoming announcement about their assigned building. I'm walking around the school grounds when I encountered a secret pathway hidden in one of the bushes near the 3rd building.
I was about to approach the entrance when three figures came out of the hidden place, making a 360-degree turn. I was about to run back to where I came from when someone called me, making me stop in my tracks. "Hey, kid, what's with the blindfold? is that the new vibe of kids these days?" he said before snickering.
I ignored what he said and started walking away when someone blocked my way. I groaned in frustration before bumping into the other person so that I could get through. Almost nearing the second building, I ducked when someone tried snatching my blindfold.
"It's disrespectful to run from your seniors' kid, give me that blindfold of yours, will ya?" he said while stepping in my direction, with both alibis holding my shoulders preventing me from escaping.
I tried prying myself off their grasp while slowly stepping backward, both hands covering my face. I can't let them touch my blindfold, or everything around me will die and burn into ashes, just like what happened in my hometown.
I remained composed and neutral while waiting for a chance to escape from their grasp. "We're running out of patience boy, It's your choice whether you'll hand me that cloth around your eyes or we'll take it by force," the guy from before said, his patience running thin.
"No! I won't give it even if it cost my life!" I said, sneering in their direction. One of them scoffed at my remark, and suddenly as if the world stopped moving. I found myself staring at the man in front of me. In the palm of his hands laid the cloth that costs the lives of many living creatures. I look up to the person standing in front of me. Anyone can see the mischievous glint in his eyes as he scans the fabric thoroughly, a grin of satisfaction forming on his lips before returning his attention to me.
He tilted my chin upwards to take a good look at my face before harshly letting it go. "Hiding your blind eyes for people to see, what a coward. This handmade fabric costs a lot of fortune, especially the divine power emanating from this object. A jackpot indeed!" he started laughing hysterically, the greed plastered all over his face.
Without having a choice, I punched the person holding both of my arms as hard as I could before kicking the shin of the other. Snatching the blindfold in his hands, I ran as far away from them as possible, only stopping when I felt the burning pain shooting from my eyes. As the pain worsens, I pulled my hair before crying into ear-piercing shouts of pain.
I can hear the guys from before as they ran away from the fear of turning into ashes. Opening my eyes, I can see the green scenery slowly fading into a black and white theme as the power I wield sucks the life out of every living thing that was once in front of me.
Fumbling for my blindfold, I felt shivers down my spine while tying up the cloth that was supposed to stop this curse of death from spreading. Without thinking twice, I started running back to my dorm with both hands clutched tightly to my uniform as I rack my brain for excuses and ways to get out of this stupid situation.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I found no one else inside the dorms. Running straight to the bathroom, I took a shower making sure to rub off the burning stench from the previous incident. Like a broken record on repeat, the events from yesterday's incident kept on repeat inside my mind preventing me from getting enough sleep the whole night, making my head throb in pain. The next day Yvo asked me if I was okay, which I answered, "Yes, I'm fine, just the usual hungover pain from the lack of sleep last night." before brushing him off as I started getting ready to school acting as if nothing happened yesterday.
While walking into one of the school corridors, I can hear them gossiping about the yard of the 3rd building being a burned area in just a limited period. Trying to lay low as possible, I wore a wig with the same color as my original hair color and a pair of earrings on both my ears.
I pulled my hood for the fifth time to cover my face but stopped doing so when a certain someone who stood not far away from me called and said, "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you. The old hag wants you in her office by ten if you don't want to get a good beating from her, and don't forget the gang's waiting for you at the hideout. It's been months since we last saw each other. I'm not even aware that your taste in clothing changed, hell man, I have to go. I'll see you later, Zachary Ace!" he said before waving goodbye in my direction.
Did I just heard him right? he called me Zachary Ace. What feature of that person is the same as me for him to mistake me! for someone. I don't even know him in the first place. To prevent my day from getting much worse than yesterday's events, I tried calming myself down, shrugging the guy as if he never existed in the first place.
***Other person's point of view,***
For months of not getting to nag someone. I did not expect to meet him in the first building wearing a hoodie. I'm not even aware that the so-called perfect student of our team would wear such a thing over his spotless white uniform. I was about to report back to my team about our leader's whereabouts when Kyle beat me to it. "Hey, homie, what took you so long? the old hag's already frying our boss, and she wants all of us there," Kyle said with his hands gesturing to the gates of hell.
I was trying to process the information when it all clicked in. "What do you mean about the boss getting fried already? I just met him at the first building a few minutes ago. I didn't know that teleportation can be part of the mission's side effects. If I knew about this matter earlier, I would have volunteered to go there by myself."
"Huh? don't tell me you accidentally hit year head somewhere after teleporting boss arrived here the second you started looking for him," he said, confusion written all over his face.
"But I swear, I saw him with my own two eyes just a while ago. He was even wearing a freaking hoodie over his beloved shirt. Could you believe it!?" I uttered the horror and amazement plastered all over my face.
"You're on drugs, dude. You'll see when we get there who I'm talking about," all he said before leading the way to the devil's den. I hope that it's not just a part of my imagination because I'd be damned if that person turns out to be one of the shifters. I mumbled to myself before following the others to the room.