Burning Phoenix - Saga 1

(Prominis 20, 56 / 6:00AM)

(Gwen on Megaphone) GOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOORRRRNIIIINNNNGGGG LAAAAAGEEEEFOOOORRRR!!!!!

Same as yesterday, Gwen yelled into the megaphone, her cheeks and face still recovering from Luna’s rage the day before. Despite this, Gwen continued to do her duty as a wake-up caller.

Meanwhile, Luke barely woke up, his sweet dream was cut short because of Gwen’s antics. Even though he was barely awake, he exhaled slowly and screamed internally.

(Luke’s thoughts) I was having a good dream!

Getting ready fast, Luke changed into his black shirt and pants, the dark fabric keeping him cozy and nice.

Upon exiting his room, all his friends and other candidates also left their room. But the same routine that happened yesterday was happening again because they were missing one person…

(Gwen) Luna is still asleep huh? Well, guess I have no other—

David and Jenny held Gwen back, their hands holding Gwen back from even setting one foot in Luna’s room. David gripped her arm tightly while Jenny’s arms barely contained Gwen’s enthusiasm.

(David) Don’t go in.

(Jenny) Please don’t Gwen! You’re still recovering!

Gwen had a strip across her nose, followed by her right cheekbone having a white bandage. Her right eye was heavily bruised, yet she moved it just the same as the left. Despite the two adults that are older than her, she still tried to break free.

(Gwen) But it’s my duty!

(David) To wake them up, not give them purple nurples…

(Gwen) Then who should wake her up?

Gwen, Jenny, and the rest of the candidates all looked over at David, their eyes gleaming with hope. David, knowing that it was his job to handle Luna, started walking over to her room, his face calm.

But the door to Luna’s room was open…

(David’s thoughts) What?

Checking inside, David saw that Luke was in her room. He started to sweat a bit, his hands quivering.

(David’s thoughts) Get out of there kid!

Luke tip-toed with ease, and sure enough, he reached the side where Luna was sleeping. Upon seeing her face, he recalled the scene in which he was in the hospital room.

(David in Luke’s thoughts) Luna isn’t that bad of a person. Once you get to know her, you can understand where she’s coming from.

(Luke’s thoughts) Here goes nothing…

Moving his hand, he gently tugged Luna’s shoulder, trying to get her to wake up. His face was red and warm, with eyes relaxed and content, yet scared that if Luna wasn’t in a good mood, it would send him to the infirmary yet again.

(Luke’s thoughts) I just hope she’s in a good mood—

Luna then opened her eyes to see Luke tugging at her, and sure enough…

(Luna) Get out!

Silenced anger filled every part of her face. She got out of her bed and grabbed Luke by the end of his collar, his body shaking as he dangled from the ground.

As her way of making a point, Luke’s face was facing the direction of the door. She had her left hand on Luke’s nape, and her right hand on Luke’s pants, positioning herself to get a clear shot.

(Luke) Wait! Wait! Wait—

In no time, Luna used all her strength to throw Luke into the hallway, his entire body being flung to where his friends were.

(Luke) Ow…

Despite checking over his body to not see any injuries or bruises, his chin did hurt since it was the first to land on the ground, as well as the prank Sean did last night.

Luke didn’t check to see Luna’s room, but he heard the door behind slam shut.

Without getting up, he remained motionless on the ground, letting everyone watch his embarrassing display with Luna yet again. Not only that, but Luke’s fists were clenched, but in no time, he burdened it down in his heart…

(Gwen) Ok … looks like we’ll be having breakfast now. Try to catch up with everyone!

(David) I’ll wait for her.

Before he continued walking, he stopped by Luke who remained constrained to the floor. As his eyes glanced at Luke, he silently gave him a nod of approval, until he got to her door.

As all the candidates continued walking, following Gwen’s orders, four of his friends decided to get up quickly, their eyes filled with sentiment and compassion.

(Fred) I don’t know how you do it …

(Gary) If you want Luke, I could buy you a drink.

(Diego) Lucky…

(Stan) Here, let me help you—

But there was another candidate that was with them, a girl with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Even Stan was shocked since she managed to slip past them with ease, which caused the four boys to look away nervously.

As Luke was still on the ground, he noticed that her hands were quivering, wanting to move forward but fighting to remain in place, almost as if …

(Luke) Uhm … d-do you need s-something?

As Hope watched him silently, she instantly reached out to him, pulling him up from the ground. As Luke got to his feet, he saw that her eyes remained focused on his eyes, which caused him to look away blushingly.

(Hope) You shouldn’t be dealing with this. I don’t understand why you push yourself for her.

(Luke) It’s ok really.

Remembering the scene with Sean, she looked at his chin which was still recovering from the punch.

(Hope) Let’s go. Hold my hand.

(Luke) Really, I’m fine—

(Hope) Now.

(Luke) O-ok…

As Luke followed Hope to the breakfast area, hoping that Hope wasn’t another Luna, the four boys eyed the teenage boy and girl walking to the breakfast area.

(Fred’s thoughts) My best friend…

(Gary’s thoughts) I take it all back… he’s not getting a drink out of me!

(Diego’s thoughts) It should have been me!

(Stan’s thoughts) How does the pushover have a love interest in a day?

______________________________________________________________________________

(Prominis 20, 56 / 12:02PM)

(Luke’s thoughts) Finally, we get to have lunch…

Once making it back from their grueling training, Luke was exhausted from the intensity that David, Jenny, and Jerry put them through. His arms felt like noodles, barely enough strength to grab a feather. His legs cramped along the way to the lunch area, each step screaming at him to sit down and rest.

Getting his food, he found two wooden tables that were on the opposite end of the lunch area; a place where all his friends would hang out. Setting down his tray, he waited for the others to come by, since he was the first one in the line.

(Luke’s thoughts) Why is everyone else so picky with food?

Luke’s stomach then growled from hunger, and in response, Luke started to devour everything the mashed potatoes and miso soup on his plate, not caring if he was labeled as messy, ever since the hellish walk.

(Luke’s thoughts) People should value the food they have…

As Luke was halfway into his lunch, two boys sat opposite of him. Luke, despite not caring that he was messy, resorted to a more classier way of eating, eating up his own words at the drop of a hat.

(Luke’s thoughts) Why are Cameron and Ryan sitting here?

Cameron was a year younger than Luke and Ryan was a year older. Cameron was a horse-human that had more human characteristics than horse ones. He had brown eyes and dark brown hair, his hair long and straight. He had a big nose, as well as huge ears that looked longer than some elves. He was taller than his age, and he was skinny and lean for an 11-year-old boy.

Ryan on the other hand was a bunny human, and he had more bunny characteristics than human ones. Ryan had small, black eyes, as well as medium black hair. His nose was short, his ears the same length as Cameron, and looked to be short and chubby for his age group.

(Ryan) I saw your fight with Luna yesterday, I was generally surprised that you’re still alive.

(Cameron) The way you pulled out that perfume was a cool play! I should have a perfume bottle with me!

(Luke) It’s nothing really … well … I was just trying to survive I guess …

(Ryan) Hmm … you’re really smart, you know that right?

(Luke) I’m not that smart compared to others…

(Fred) I guess we’re expanding our friend group huh…

Fred, Diego, Gary, and Stan sat at the table next to Luke, Cameron, and Ryan. As the boy group started to expand, Fred noticed a girl looking in their direction, and a mischievous smile formed on his face.

(Fred) I think Hope’s looking at you.

(Luke) W-Where?

Luke looked around, sweat starting to form as he tried to find her. Sure enough, she sees her on the opposite side of the room, with her eating with two other girls.

(Luke’s thoughts) She’s over there huh? Looks like she’s eating with Loraine and Gemma … I know Gemma is in our age group but why is an eight-year-old signing up for the Dark Angels…

As Luke focused his attention away to the girl's table, he then saw another table that had three teenage boys in it.

(Luke’s thoughts) There’s Jack, Miles, and … Sean …

Luke clicked his tongue as he recalled his last encounter with Sean. Despite forgiving Gary for his incident, and maybe Luna to a certain extent, for some reason…

As time ticks, Luke’s posture becomes rigid.

As Luke continues to stare at Sean with frustration, Diego notices that one person was missing from the tables.

(Diego) Man, I think out of all the candidates, Luna is the most antisocial out of us huh…

(Stan) The woman is crazy. Bitch almost killed Luke because he defended himself!

(Fred) Quiet, or else she might hear you…

(Stan) I’m just saying, she isn’t normal. Hell, I would say she is a psycho…

(Luke) Maybe … she just can’t express herself unlike the others. If she was from Ticia, then who knows what she might have seen.

As Luke looked down towards his hands, his palms became clammy as he glanced at the already eaten food on his plate. Looking around with sweat droplets forming, he felt like somebody was watching him in the shadows.

(Gary) There are a lot of weird candidates huh.

(Diego) Yeah, I think there was that Sean dude who pulled a jack-in-the-box prank on Luke. He had to go to the infirmary again because of it.

(Stan) What?

(Diego) Oh … I forgot to tell you, but Luke had a bad encounter with Sean—

Stan immediately got up and went towards Luke, who was eating quietly with Cam and Ryan.

(Stan) Is this true Luke?

Luke gave a nod of nervousness, which caused Stan to look over to where Sean was sitting, his eyes twitching underneath his freckles.

(Stan) That pointy-eared bastard…

(Gary) Uh, Stan, you're an elf too…

(Stan) He makes us look bad!

Stan then began walking towards Sean’s direction, his eyes hellbent on focusing on one person.

(Luke) Wait, Stan, let me handle it.

(Stan) This is disgusting… how can he and even that crazy psycho be called elite soldiers if they treat you like shit?

Luke stood up too, followed by Fred and Diego trying to hold Stan back. Despite the difference in strength, Stan didn’t want to push them out of the way, rather he looked at Luke, confusion in his eyes as Luke had both hands on Stan’s chest.

(Stan) Why? Why do you let people treat you like this? It’s not ok. You should value yourself more…

Luke’s heartstrings were strung but they weren’t enough to cause him to tear. He still had a hold on Stan, trying to push him back to his seat so that Stan wouldn’t do anything rash. Luke pushed more and more, wanting Stan to just sit …

(Stan) Your mother died for you, right? She wouldn’t want the person she sacrificed to be someone’s toy!

Water formed in his eyes, but he forced them down.

(Luke) Please … just please …

Luke then looked up towards Stan.

(Luke) Just please sit down …

Stan, looking down at Luke, submitted to Luke’s decision. Carefully and slowly, Stan sat back down, not looking at anyone.

(Stan’s thoughts) You can’t do this on your own…

As the boys returned to eating, Stan’s escalation made it so that the whole group ate their food quietly, not enjoying the awkward silence that followed.

(Ryan’s thoughts) My food got cold…

But in the shadows near the trash bins, there was a certain someone wearing a gray hoodie who saw the escalation with open eyes.

She ate the rest of her food in peace, her mood relatively more positive than average.

As she finished the rest quickly, she remained in the shadows, thinking about what to do next…

______________________________________________________________________________

(Prominis 20, 56 / 6:01PM)

(Jerry) Class Dismissed!

As Jerry finished his discussion about the basic level of education that kids should be learning, Jerry packed up his things so that he could go out to eat.

Jerry was an elf with average height, with short spiky dark brown hair and brown eyes. He had a more tan complexion as well as having big pointed ears, followed by a small button nose. He was relatively normal in weight, as well as having little facial hair on his chin. Wearing a brown jacket, black pants, and brown boots, Jerry also had an eyepatch upon his left eye.

(Jerry’s thoughts) I hope Jenny will go out with me this time. She’s always around David…

With 14 candidates seeing their teacher leave before them, half of them left to go to their rooms, their stamina burnt up after a whole day of learning, fighting, and education.

(Luke’s thoughts) They left me behind … I was just packing my backpack…

As Luke was about to leave the class, trying to catch up with his friend group, he noticed that Luna, the girl who almost killed him the day before, was coldly staring at Luke. He felt her eyes peer right into his soul, her glaring filled with ice and metal.

(Luke’s thoughts) What does she want?

Luke’s body started to shiver, mostly from fear of what she had in mind for him.

Throughout the past two days, Luke barely did anything, other than defend himself from her, so why?

(Luke’s thoughts) Does she hate me that much…

As Luke tried to ignore Luna’s glares, he soon noticed another girl staring at him. Upon seeing the girl, he started blushing, his body filled with butterflies and timidness, a far cry from a certain girl.

Luke remained silent, as he tried to walk normally and smoothly out of class, but just as Luke was about to leave the room, he felt his shoulder being tugged. Looking around, he saw that Hope was staring at him, her cheeks a little red, and clasping her hands together.

(Luke) Uhm … d-do you wanna go somewhere?

As his whole body felt heavy, he asked a simple yet hard question to let out, making him look like he was out of breath. Hope started to see that he was blushing hard under his cheeks, which made her cheeks red even more.

(Hope) Y-Yes … I would love to—

Luna then stood up in an instant, her cold glares replaced with immense rage.Luke went pale as she saw her, causing his mouth to gape from fear. Hope noticed the fear that Luke was in and looked behind her, to see…

Luna was walking towards them…

Hope scurried away, her face turning pale as she saw the burning flames of Luna’s wrath. Now alone, Luke had no other option but to deal with the psycho.

(Luke’s thoughts) What do I do!? What should I do!? I don’t want to get beat up!

Luke then started to walk backwards, as Luna kept walking towards him. Each step he took was calculated yet nerve-wracking for if he tripped once, well…

Then the plan would be ruined…

Once Luke was near the door, he turned the handle of the glass door and opened it wide to get himself out.

(Luke’s thoughts) My room! I want to go home…

He sprinted with full force to his dorm, wanting to get away from it all. Luna, Sean, his strength, they were all tormenting him mentally and physically. The more he ran, the more he longed for his room, before everything, before he broke his dad’s promise about leaving that cold penthouse.

He heard footsteps chasing him, he knew what those steps were but didn’t dare to look back. Continuing with his run, he started to grab a hold of his head, wanting everything to stop.

(Luna) Get back here!

(Luke’s thoughts) Why did I bother being here…

Finding the door to his room, he then opened it and closed it shut, not wanting anyone to enter.

Finding a chair, he put it amongst the doorknob.

The way he was displayed in the past two days, he was ridiculed, embarrassed, almost killed.

(Luke’s thoughts) I want to go home…

He then curled himself up like a ball, the same position as he was in when leaving the city in a boat.

(Luke’s thoughts) I want to go home…

The sounds of a door being pounded on can be heard…

Still curdled up, he put both hands amongst his ears, not wanting to hear those vicious knocks that creak the door.

(Luke’s thoughts) Leave me alone…

(Luna) I know you’re in there!

(Luke’s thoughts) I don’t want to hate you … I don’t…

Mixed with emotion, all his body ever wanted was peace. He continued to sit on the floor, trying to dig deeper into another world, far from the reality he was facing.

(Luna) Don’t make me burst down this fucking door!

The more Luna pounded and kicked, the more Luke swam deeper into the other world. A world where he had his room, a world where Fred, Stan, Diego, and maybe Gary were his only friends. A world where—

His mother was still alive…

(Luke’s thoughts) I … I … maybe don’t want to die …

The sounds of the pounding and kicking stopped, and from there, deafening silence.