"What happened?" I ask. "You seem bothered." I'm starting to worry about what actually happened. I really hope this isn't something to do with my father's job.
"Yes, you should see it for yourself!" Mika answered. Her response makes me even more anxious. I prepared myself for the worst.
"Come quickly! We must hurry!" Then Luis dragged me and started running, Mika tagging along with us. I'm starting to think this could be connected to my father talking to someone last night. That's the most logical explanation I can think of at this moment.
After a minute of running, we came to an old house. Then Luis went inside and shouted, "Here!" The expression on his face bothered me.
A house? I asked myself. This house seems pretty old… what's inside? I sharpened my senses, trying to pick up something—something that might be trouble. I cannot activate my spirit dive in front of these two; it would freak them out. So I lessened my mana flow as much as I could, then rushed inside to see what was going on. My eyes widened with surprise—the old, worn-looking house outside was actually a bluff. Inside was neat and clean, with well-arranged furniture and some freshly harvested fruits on the table. It was dazzling.
"Wait… uhmm… what the hell is this?" I asked, confused about what was going on.
"Can't you see? This will be our hideout," Luis replied with his chin held high, smiling enthusiastically.
"Hideout?" I asked.
"Yes!" Mika responded. "We thought that maybe here we can spend more time with each other. Like this is our team's temporary house."
"All of that trouble just for this?" I looked at both of them with a disappointed face. I mean, it's my fault for overthinking, but of course I was worried.
"Come on, relax." Then Mika pushed me to sit on the comfortable sofa. "This will be our temporary house."
"Did the two of you make all of this?" I asked.
"The cleaning? Yes, and all—" Luis started to answer, but Mika continued, "Not really. This is Madam Lillia's old house. She said she would sell this house and renovate it for the future. So, for the meantime, we asked her if we could at least clean it from the inside and use it before they start renovating it. There you go."
"I see." I looked around. "This seems like a pretty good house."
After that event, we spent the whole day in that house just playing and fixing some of the parts. A few months passed, and almost every day we came to that old house as if it were our own.
Luis' POV
After we started occupying that old house, I began gathering natural foods and storing them so anytime we went there we had something to eat. I've been doing this almost every day.
"I think I gathered enough fruit. I should get going before Mika returns home."
Ohh wait, where is Nathan? Oh, I remember! I looked around until I saw Nathan practicing with his sword again. Wow, he's really good with swords. I smiled while watching him so focused on his training, but somehow I felt jealous of him. He's a good-looking kid. He still has parents. He's a genius—matured, skillful in almost everything. But nah, I'm proud of him as my friend.
After a minute of watching him, I suddenly realized I had actually forgotten the fishing rod at the pond. "Oh shit, yes, I forgot!" I quickly ran for it.
"There you are!" I left it there for almost half a day, but it didn't even catch one.
When I turned back, I saw a wild boar rushing towards me. "Fuck!" I barely dodged it, so I quickly ran, but it seemed persistent and continued to follow me.
"What the hell did I do to you, you damn pig!" I shouted while running aimlessly throughout the forest.
After a while of running, I finally lost the boar. Oh god, I'm so tired. Then I began to realize I was lost in the middle of the forest. Shit, where am I? I had wandered into unfamiliar territory without noticing, distracted by that freaking pig.
As I walked, suddenly I stepped on something like an old piece of wood, and then I fell. Fuck, this was a human pitfall trap. It was almost ten feet deep. My head was the first to hit the ground, so I lost consciousness for a while.
When I woke up, it was already afternoon, probably around 6 p.m. Nighttime is coming. Luckily, I was still alive. No hidden spikes—that was good. But little did I know, what was inside this pit was not spikes but hundreds of snakes. When I realized, I panicked.
"Ahhhhh! What the fuck!" Hundreds—if not thousands—of venomous snakes were all over my body. Some were trying to climb up, some were just sleeping, some crawling around me. I checked myself to see if there was any bite. "What? Not even a single one dares to bite me?" I took that opportunity to escape this pitfall trap, grabbing anything I could find to help me climb up. Sometimes I accidentally stepped on or grabbed a snake, but they still didn't bite me. They seemed scared of me. Nothing mattered to me more than escaping.
Almost thirty minutes later, I finally reached the surface. It's already dark. Due to exhaustion, I fell asleep.
When I woke up, I was already in our hideout. The first person I saw was Nathan.
"You finally woke up!" Nathan said.
Then Mika rushed towards me. "Luis!" She hugged me. "I'm so worried about you! What happened?"
Due to my current state, I was unable to speak.
"It's been dark, we were looking for you; lucky Nat was able to find you in the middle of the forest unconscious." I could see Mika's worried face, her eyes watering with tears.
"You were gone like four or five hours, and she was really worried." Nathan smiled at me as if telling me something. "What if you were gone for one or two days? Man, I'm telling you, she would turn the world upside down to find you." Then he laughed.
Mika pinched him. "Ouch!"
I smiled, realizing how lucky I was to have these two beside me.
Nathan's POV
The end of the year is finally coming. After summer break, we are finally five-star students. Time really runs fast.
"Nathan! Mr. Xavier, Nathan! Do you hear me?" Professor Maxin shouted. I heard him the first time he called me, but since my mind was outside the class, I didn't pay attention, so he shouted louder.
I stood up. "Oh? Yes! Uhmm Professor! I— I'm sorry… I was…" I stammered.
"Why are you standing?" Prof. Maxin asked. "Please sit, Mr. Xavier. Anyways, let's continue."
"Psst! Psst!" Luis whispered. "What the hell, man?" He was trying to hold his laugh.
"What? It's nothing, haha." I playfully smiled.
Then suddenly, the bell rang continuously.
"What's happening?" Mika asked. All the other students in class were confused about what was going on. The nonstop bell caused panic among them.
Our professor walked outside. "Stay here everyone, I'll check what's going on," he said before leaving us.
"What the hell is going on? The class was just starting," Mika asked Luis.
"I don't know. It's not even the bell for classes to end," he replied.
A sudden disturbance happened outside the classroom. I could hear students mumbling. They seemed worried and distressed. Then the commotion began—I saw some students running and shouting outside, some causing a stampede in the hallway while everyone panicked. The whole room was in an uproar. That made me anxious as well. Some of our classmates started to peek out the windows to see what was happening outside. I stood up to see for myself.
"What's going on!" Mika grabbed my hand and asked, trembling.
I turned to her and saw her face filled with the same trepidation the other students had. Luis had joined the others at the window.
"I don't know either. The professor didn't come back."
Our classmates started running outside, joining the stampede as the mayhem broke out. I had to pick myself up from the situation and start thinking.
"Safety first!" I grabbed Mika to run outside and called out to Luis. "Luis! Let's get going! We need to get out!"
To my surprise, Luis was pale and scared, sweat dripping down his face. It seemed like he had seen something outside.
Before Mika and I could reach the door, a loud explosion started in the next room.
The whole building was shaking as if there was an earthquake—but it wasn't. Many more explosions followed all over the school, like bombs raining down.
While I held Mika tightly, I tried to reach Luis in the chaos. But suddenly, I saw a piece of square-shaped metal thrown into our room. Before I could react, it exploded, and the whole room shattered along with all the students inside.
I briefly lost consciousness. I couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything. Dust covered everything, and with my blurry vision, I struggled to pick myself up, stepping over other students' bodies as I searched for Mika and Luis among the piles of rubble and the dead.
I realized we were on the ground floor. Our room had been on the third floor, which meant everyone was scattered somewhere in this shattered building.
What the fuck is going on? I crawled toward the light outside. The bombing hadn't stopped. As my vision cleared, I saw dead bodies, scattered arms, limbs, feet. Some bodies were burning. It was all over the place—as if I were in the middle of a war.
Finally, recovering little by little, I started to gather mana so I could protect myself if I encountered an enemy. I hid in the pile of rubble. This was the first time I experienced a life-or-death situation. I was losing composure, but I had to focus for my safety. I looked around for survivors. Many were greatly injured, crying out in anguish.
To calm myself, I closed my eyes and focused. Breathing slowly, I recovered my senses. Then, with the mana I gathered, I stood up to find Mika and Luis. With my enhanced sense, I finally found Mika unconscious on the ground. I picked her up and carried her to a safer place, then started looking for Luis.
Where are you, Luis?! Damn it. As the bombing stopped, I could hear students screaming and crying everywhere, begging for help. Chaos consumed everything.
"Hear us, students! This is the last day you will see your beloved principal! Come forth, everyone!" A voice outside started speaking, as if calling everyone.
Who was that? Was he the cause of all this? I needed to know what was going on.