The morning sun rose greatly into the blue sea-like sky up high. The clouds puffed away in all sorts of patterns, all white as the fluff or well-maintained marshmallows.
Nate Elfirm stood across a shocked bounty hunter named Colten Marsnip after he learned about the powers he wielded, not like a physical weapon or anything conventional, but something ordinary... and that is a controlled manifestation of a silver green sword with green markings.
Nate presented his sword for Colten to witness. "This is what I can make if I really try to concentrate hard enough."
"So you have this power to make this sword just appear out of thin air, but you can't control it," Colten asked.
"..."
Nate remained silent, but he didn't know why. But maybe deep down he thought that Colten might attack him for being someone unusual or even something even worse, he might kill him and use his body to trade in a reward.
From what he heard from Lucia, apparently, there is a bounty hunter organization somewhere in the vast city of Standart, but nobody knew if that was just a myth or actually the real deal.
But is Colten someone he could trust, or an enemy he has to oppose?
Nate must have faltered in his face with his confidence shaken, because Colten looked down, looking as if he was trying to say something to make the situation less uneasy.
"Listen, I'm not a bad guy or anything like that. I'm just here to make money off of collecting stuff, and I use weapons like these to defend myself."
"I believe you, I really do," Nate reassured. "It's just... It's probably something that has to do with the fact that there aren't a lot of people with powers like ours."
"Yeah. And Standart isn't exactly the place where they casually let people with special powers live amongst them," Colten scoffed.
It was true, a very well-known fact about what in Standart City. Ever since the Green Catastrophe had laid waste upon the land of Green Country, many cities around the area had dedicated themselves by forming defensive methods in case such a cataclysmic event were to happen again.
Most cities with large populations, including Standart, would implement various organizations to establish systems to keep away anything that might threaten the peace of the city, primarily protection against whatever might happen in the Siphence.
However, with no other similar events taking place since the Green Catastrophe, the organizations were then used as a force of security and control over whatever threatened the peace of the standard way of the city.
It wasn't all that bad for Nate and the others. Only... somewhat normal each day.
"Mr. Marsnip, is it okay if--"
"Call me Colten. Not 'Mr. Marsnip', okay? It feels off when you call me that," he mentioned deeply.
"Okay, alright, I'll call you that instead!" said Nate as he defensively put his hands up. "...Is it okay for me to talk about this power of mine, and what should I know about the Fadens that are around the city at all, and the--"
Colten breathed heavily for a moment and sighed deeply in return. He looked down, biting his lips, before facing the boy.
"I won't sugarcoat, not one bit. You have to give up, really... It doesn't matter if it is to find out the truth or to save someone you know; it won't lead to anything at all in this century," Colten urged.
He grimaced as he said what he said. Nate could tell he was serious about what he knew. Colten then checked his wrist watch and nodded to himself.
"I guess it's time for me to go now," Colten said as he picked up his bag. "I'm probably going to a different place to camp."
"It's better for both of us to just forget each other and what happened here. I have a feeling that it won't be pretty if we do meet up again," said Colten.
"R-right, yeah, okay..." Nate nervously said with his hands still in his pockets.
Nate walked away fully recovered from the injury he took from the Faden. As he walked towards the sweet and nourishing direction of home, he looked behind.
He saw Colten also going in the opposite direction. With his gear on him, it was surprising to see all that stuff stacked and stuffed inside so tightly that it was practically overflowing; just a tilt was needed for everything to topple onto the ground.
As he watched Colten leave the area that used to be his own campsite, he felt relieved that nothing bad had happened in that conversation, but at the same time, Nate was disappointed that he didn't learn much more from someone who also had those mysterious powers.
Questions he would have asked, like:
Did you get your power from the green crystal, or rather what you called it, 'the Theomin'?
And then...
Where did you get that other crystal? So that must mean that there are more of those things possibly around Standart City, right?
Additionally...
Where did those Fadens come from, and if they started to prey on people recently?
I might've asked him even this...
Is it possible for me to know the strange events happening in this place, like the green aura in the skies?
There are so many questions, yet it leaves little time to find the answers truly. Maybe it was for the best; it was what that guy really meant for Nate to best forget what happened in Vivid Forest. Nate went against a monstrous creature, and if not for the intervention of the bounty hunter, Colten Marsnip, then he would've actually been killed by it.
He had to accept living an ordinary life with a standard way of living in the beloved home of Standart City.
So... for now at least... he'll focus on my school and what he wants to do in life. That was his priority in Standart.
Nate departed from the former campsite of Colten into the path back home, which was not so difficult to travel on with an alternate route back to the front of the forest, and on the plus side, it was already early morning with the daylight out, unlike the unsettling darkness that encompassed the hours of the night.
He might be very late to class, with his Quad Four friends worried about him.
- - -
Nate ran as fast as he could, rushing towards the direction of Standart High, swerving near the many streets and the stores that were by them.
He was sure that someone he knew, like the agronomist next door neighbor Ollie Lisjurbule, attempted to signal him to have a greeting for the morning, but there was simply no time to spare.
Nate couldn't breathe in the sweet aroma that filled the streets of Standart's section of goods and services when the morning sun came up. He moved so fast that he would sometimes accidentally bump into the passersby on the sidewalks.
"Oops. S-sorry, my bad, everyone...!"
Nate would say this to almost everyone he accidentally ran into, with no time to pick up their belongings as a way of apologizing.
By the time he arrived at the gates to the grand, beloved high school of Standart, it was all closed; the time for the staff to shut the gates to catch any latecomers to school was 8:45 AM.
But for Nate's case with his time or arrival, it was 9:42 AM.
Nate was worryingly late, but he had to go before the next class started. Sure, the first few periods may be on his record, but as long as he can make it into the other classes, Nate would soften the blow.
Therefore, he will take the chance that few people might consider unnecessary and insane. And that was called having to trek over the high walls around the school.
After reaching the front of the school, he peeked through the gates and saw that not even one soul was present in the square, socializing and conversations that ran the students and faculty amok.
Instead, only the flowerbeds and the broken fountain, which Nate and the other students agree that Dawson Bright was the one they should be thankful for.
Dawson was always a troublemaker, that's for certain.
Nate followed the walls surrounding until he could find a spot where there were enough objects he could find a foothold to grab onto the reachable and climbable ledges near the upper portions of the stony gray walls.
There was a worn-down toolshed and leftover scaffolding for some past construction project. Just enough to get a foothold on either two.
Nate looked over those two structures and looked towards the top of the wall.
Right then. If I can just jump onto the window on the shed, then next to the scaffold without tripping, then there's a high chance that I can even reach the stone ledges with one of my fingers at least...
Nate then sped towards the shed and landed on the scaffolds after successfully holding his own with the shed. Not one second more, he'd jumped with his outstretched hand, intending to grab onto the stone ledge.
"N-no, get..." Nate gasped. "...over there!"
He was in the air, not even one body part in contact with the ground. The wind appeared to flow and flap his clothing while rising above the grass. Two things would happen: either he would successfully reach the top of high ledges that are part of the walls, or instead fall down and possibly injure himself, with a broken bone or two.
Luckily for Nate, it was the first one. Nate finally breathed out in relief when he successfully grabbed the stone ledge.
Nate grunted as he had to physically exert himself to prop himself over to the other side. Besides, he was still recovering from his fight with the Faden at Vivid Forest. Only a few bandages covered his skin.
Almost there! I just need to go over without getting hurt or getting caught by someone.
Nate was just about to jump into the other side of the wall and scale down to the school courtyard when he saw a shadow he glimpsed at the far corner of his eyes.
It appeared around the main building's corner at first. Then the shadow gradually grew even larger until it clearly showed that it morphed into a silhouette of a person.
Before he got caught, Nate chose to remain hanging onto the outside portion of the wall.
Nate grunted in discomfort as he went still to prevent any noise from escaping. He also found a hole to peer through to check the identity of the one behind the shadow.
It was the high school's sole security guard: Mortin Kowpinn.
Not particularly regarded as someone bad at his job, Mortin always stationed himself by the high school's secured walls, with determination fired up in his eyes to catch potential latecomers and send them to the office, where he would say that moderate punishment is needed for students who don't show up to their class.
Naturally, this had led many people to frequently dislike him, especially towards Aliana and Brandin, although Mortin wasn't aware of his low reputation.
If he caught Nate now, he would definitely report him to the office, and Nate would get detention.
He listened intently to the security guards muttering, trying to make up the coherent words from a high distance.
"Hrrmmm...?" Mortin mumbled under his breath as he scanned the surroundings. "I could've sworn that I heard a noise here."
His analyzing eyes looked direct and sullen, trying to somehow sense anyone within the general area he could catch. Mortin's uniform was all dirtier with the remains of his toasted egg sandwiches, a delicacy he infamously craved for once in a while. His dark blue trousers were wet with sweat, like he was running in a high-stakes marathon event.
Mortin scratched his chin with confusion, but shrugged after a moderate period of time, with Nate desperately holding on to the ledge while his feet dangled helplessly below. His tired arms were begging to let go and fall.
"I guess it must be my imagination... or some pest got inside, I'll have to get my gear to catch that critter if needed."
After looking back to see if anything in the back of the school had changed, he finally proceeded to leave the area.
Nate sighed in relief before having to heave himself over the wall and land into soft shrubbery that cushioned his fall.
Phew. That was a close one, one more second, probably, and I would definitely lose my grip and fall. I just need to hurry before anyone else finds me.
Nate jumped off the pile of shrubs and went through the back door, leading to the hallway. Running past the classrooms that were in session and the straight light green patterns of the lockers, he finally arrived at the classroom where his English and Composition teacher, Miss Jessica, was teaching.
The chattering of the fellow students escaped the crevice of the nearly shut door. Nate quietly stepped just outside to listen and peek through to see the situation going on.
Thankfully, the teacher was nowhere to be found, and part of his Quad Four group was also present. Sam and Sheila were right at their desk.
Sam was staring at the ceiling with a bored look on his face as he playfully crumpled a piece of worn-out lined paper from his black notebook.
Sheila's eyes were completely glued to the novel that she was reading. Her face meant she was absorbing the details and knowledge within the book itself, completely not distracted by the chaotic state of a temporarily teacherless classroom.
Nate also remembered about the assignment that was supposedly due today in this class. He slapped his hand on his forehead in annoyance for not reminding himself of such homework.
Nonetheless, Nate let out a deep breath in relief as he wasn't going to be marked late due to lucky events surrounding Miss Jessica's not being present at the moment.
Before he walked in, though, Nate pondered to himself.
To return to a normal school day after experiencing nightmarish creatures in Vivid Forest at nighttime. A desperate survival, with me only retaining my precious life due to a bounty hunter named Colten Marsnip.
He shuddered at what he had seen in the early morning dark and believed that it might be a good decision to leave it to other people, since Nate was considered a liability, one who didn't know the full extent of his powers and the lack of control he exhibited.
As such, he would return to the classroom of Standart High. The high school of Standart City. The City of the Ordinary.
But only if that were the case, if more terrifying events were to happen in this city, that could force Nate to encounter their very sources.