"You are Lior? What a change…" a voice sounded beside Lior, and he turned his head to look beside him. There was the blonde he had seen earlier, seated on the chair.
"Well, if this is surprising to you, I wonder what I would say about myself. I've been surprised for over five days now, and I've just come to accept where I've found myself—which really shouldn't be so." Lior braced a smug smile, looking at the blonde. He asked, "And what's your name?"
"Really?" It was like Lior's question was unbelievable and huge, as the guy cradled surprise. He said, "How can one change from one mere boy to this strong one in just a few weeks… well, it's amazing, anyway."
"I get it," Lior nodded. "And what's your name?"
He looked around the classroom, taking in the various students inside, from the ladies to the Lords, young if he might add and then Sid, who was just behind him. Then he looked back at the blonde. "At least, everyone in this classroom already knows my name."
"Well, that's all for today," Lady Lyra said as she closed a book. She added, her eyes on Lior, "You should take care." She later walked out of the room, and the class finally entered into the discussion they had been waiting for.
"So, you asked about my name earlier. Well, that's daring," the blonde guy beside Lior said, and Lior arched his brows at him.
Looking properly at him, he asked, "And what's daring there? Are you the emperor? Or wait, the emperor's probably old—are you the prince or what? And if you were, I can't ask your name?"
The guy shook his head with a chuckle as he finally said, "No, it's not that. If how and what you've been saying since wasn't baffling enough, you looking at me and requesting my name is something, I was just surprised."
"That you would forget me that soon."
"Well, it's not my fault that I can only remember names and all, but not faces…" Lior scratched his neck as he stared and that was when he noticed someone coming toward him.
His face lit up as he thought it was just one of the classmates about to talk to him, and thus get to meet more people in the world but that wasn't the case. The same guy suddenly fisted his hand and brought it down to his face. Lior tried to dodge it, but it was easier said than done.
As he saw the fist coming to his face, dodging it felt like a task, as the fist was too fast and ended up colliding with a small side of his face, sending him spiraling to the floor.
"What the heck!" Lior shouted as he held his face in his hand, his eyes wide open while looking at the person who hit him.
The guy looked at him with a smug look, and as Lior still lay on the floor, he suddenly got on top of him and threw punches at his face. Lior quickly raised his hands to guard his face, and all the while doing this, his mind was spiraling with questions that had no answers.
The frantic punches went on for a while as Lior kept blocking them until someone suddenly yanked the guy off him, and Lior stood up immediately. His eyes darted around to see the blonde standing before him and the frantic guy seething at him.
"Lucan, are you seriously supporting him now? Are you okay? Why remove me from him? Let me spoil his stupid face!" the guy shouted.
Lucan licked his lips and scratched his ears as the guy finished shouting. Then he said,
"I think you've had enough of shouting around and punching around too."
He gestured toward Lior, pointing at his hands. "Look, his hands are already red. Still not okay?"
Lior looked at the hand he was referring to, and it was truly red but was that even the real problem right now? Right now, Lior was shocked by the identity of the blonde.
He was Lucan?
He was awed by the information—a great deal. Lucan was the one he suspected of causing the death of his predecessor, so why was Lucan assisting him now?
But Lior didn't get much time to think as his body suddenly felt dread, as though something bad was going to happen to him and instantly, he looked back and he felt a chill immediately. It was one of the students. His hands were covered with frosty air, and he was coming toward Lior.
As he reached him, he raised his hands, ready to smack them on Lior, but Lior didn't stand on business. He stretched out his hand to stop him and held the hand in place before it could touch him. Lior didn't know where the strength came from, but he found it as he held it tightly in place and just then, he felt it again.
The heat. The same heat he had felt while at the Red Stag street. He felt as though he was burning from the inside. His face squeezed hard as the heat became unbearable inside his body, and it spread to his hand. It took a while, and Lior noticed something different from the unbearable feeling he was experiencing. It seemed as though the pain had been transferred. The person he was holding suddenly started squeezing his face hard as he appeared to be in distress and then the room started smelling like burnt flesh.
Lior's eyes widened as he realized what could be happening but just then, Lady Lyra's voice sounded. "What exactly is going on here?"
And Lior's hand left the guy's immediately. He kept his hands hidden behind him, and on the person he had been holding, his skin had melted and seemed as though he had been scalded.
Lady Lyra entered the classroom and stood before them. "You, you, and you—follow me. You are all going to the discipline hall," she said, pointing at Lior, Sid, Lucan, the frantic guy, and the scalded guy.
"I didn't even do anything…" Sid mumbled as he followed behind them.