Deafening laughter crashed at the back of Leon's neck.
The young man's heart seized in his chest as a sudden cold and sharp pain lanced through him. Yet he stared at the smudged text, as if the words could shield him—especially from her.
He gasped, his head snapping toward the transparent window, toward the distant needle structure, stretching to the sky. The Granum Tower.
"I mean, honestly," Vera's voice cut through the classroom chatter in a sweet and venomous tone.
"Does he think staring at the building will make his father's work any less pathetic? Or earn respect?"
Vera's voice pierced through Leon like a spear, causing his knuckles to tighten around his desk—almost cracking the metal surface of it.
In this glass-walled academy, he was the odd one out. The one whose father always came home smelling of sweat and the sting of solvent in his clothes, rather than money and power.
He focused his eyes on the building as memories of his father's voice flashed through his mind.
'I will be working at Granum Tower. Maybe I won't come home early, so take good care of your mother and sister.'
Usually, his thoughts were only a mix of anxiety and pride. But today, under Vera's scorn, it was just shame.
'Dad… I'll make you proud, take you out of your work, and earn you respect.' He said inwardly as the feeling of something not right vanished from him upon seeing a luxury military black jeep passed by the road just outside the wall in haste.
A chorus of harmonized chimes erupted around the room, causing smart devices to light up on every wrist and desk. A low murmur of interest stirred, replacing the lazy hum of the afternoon.
Leon didn't need to look as a gasp cut through the air. He could picture her tossing her hair, soaking in the attention. With Vera, everything was a performance.
"Oh, my gods, guys, have you seen the news? A plane crash! Guess where this one landed?"
Leon just kept staring at the Granum Tower, at the speck he imagined to be his dad's scaffold, as he had no device to check.
Vera pulled his attention to her as she cleared her throat. But his gaze flicked past her just long enough to catch Zoe's steady and calm eyes. They looked as if she was holding something back.
Then, Vera's voice sliced through the numbness as her words struck like a poisoned dart.
"It says it hit a building under maintenance near an outbreak site." Vera's voice sliced through the numbness like a poisoned dart, and he could hear the ugly joy in it.
Leon's chest froze. Outbreak zone. Granum Tower.
For a second, the classroom vanished. Every sound was drained out. Only the speeding military jeep he saw dwelled in his vision.
He remembered how people lose their families whenever such cases of an outbreak strike. How some innocent children get dismantled by creatures that even the well-equipped military personnel and those that were born with special supernatural abilities couldn't fight against.
"Guess their families can pick up the brushes now." Her stare was like a polished and cruel weapon in Leon's mind, letting a cracking sound echo around him as he tightened his fist.
'No. Not Dad. Not there.'
Leon's breath clawed for escape as his chest locked, causing his book to slip from his hands and smack the floor.
"NO…"
He fumbled in his patched bag for the ancient, cracked communicator his family had shared through the ages.
His hands trembled so hard he nearly dropped the communicator.
With shaking breaths and tear-filled eyes, he hit the single speed-dial button, home. It rang and rang, but no response came.
He tried again countless times, but the empty tone that played turned like a nail in his own coffin. His vision began to blaze in blurry gold light as the whispers around him felt distinct but cleared to normal as the whispers turned like a nuclear blast against his ears.
As he looked around nervously, he caught Jade's uncaring glance, Vera's venomous gaze, and Tiger's predatory grin, all staring at him with pleasure.
When his eyes flicked past Zoe, her eyes stopped him. No mockery. No pity. Just a steady look, he couldn't name.
Then, Vera's voice cut through in a sharp tone. "Some people are just born unlucky." Her laugh rang like shattered glass. "Guess that's what you get when your dad's nothing but a painter."
A shadow fell onto Leon's desk, followed by footsteps at the classroom door. The noise died down as they witnessed Mr. Lee standing at the door with a pale face.
In Leon's gaze, Mr. Lee's eyes seemed to be etched with a profound grief he'd never seen before.
"Leon," Mr. Lee said, his voice sounding in a mix of emotions Leon had never heard from him before. "A word, in my office. Now."
Leon felt every head turn, their stares glaring down on him brightly and mercilessly.
He pushed himself up from the desk, legs shaking, the room tilting in his sight. Somewhere deep down, he knew where this walk was taking him—straight to the truth he didn't want.
"Don't worry," Vera murmured as he walked by. "We'll be here for you. Just like always." She didn't laugh at Leon this time—only smirk.
Every step Leon took seemed like a battle. His eyes kept on blazing faintly even as he blinked countless times hoping it would just vanish for good.
Mr. Lee didn't speak and didn't wait for him either as they walked through the hallway.
Leon kept on scratching his scalp as eyes drawn to him like a murderer sentenced to death.
The walls of the hallway were so clean that even an ant would refuse to crawl across them. They were only adorned with monograms of past students – those who graduated with supernatural ability, and those who joined the special forces to fight against primordial beings.
But among them, one stood different. It had its own glass-and-gold cage that seemed to defy the law itself. Beside it stood a monument of a strange creature – a hybrid of dragon and a mutated ant.
As they reached the monument, Mr. Lee paused, gestured toward the door at his right-hand side and alerted Leon to enter.
Just as Mr. Lee entered, he placed a heavy hand on Leon's shoulder, then exhaled deeply. "I saw the news," he continued in a voice that carried a grief Leon had never heard before.
"I know your father was at the Granum Tower today. I am… so sorry."
The moment Mr. Lee's words faded, the last trace of hope in his heart died followed by the golden blaze in his eyes. He stared at the floor, unable to speak and unable to breathe either, as if his soul had been trapped under his feet.
"Let me take you home," Mr. Lee offered.
Leon nodded and followed Mr. Lee through the gleaming halls, a ghost in a world of vibrant, careless life.
Every window seemed like a prison gate as eyes drew to them like holes in a fishing net.
But among them, one stayed still, unblinking. Just staring like the destroyer of worlds.
'Why?! Until I see his body with my own eyes, I won't believe it.'