Aether's Legacy | Elysium [Dreamnotfound]

Welcome to AGE: Part II

George was seventeen when his worst fear came to life. It happened during a history exam.

The question on his paper read: Who was the spokesperson for the first Extramundane movement before court in 202x? He tried to concentrate, but he was acutely aware of his elbow pressed awkwardly against the arm of his desk. He clutched the hair at his forehead with one hand and gripped his pencil tight with the other.

His eyes traced the sentence repeatedly, but the words on the page turned into a scramble game in his head. It didn't matter how many times he read it; his attention was stolen by something else.

A cough from the back of the classroom. The teacher's expo marker squeaking against the whiteboard. The girl in front of him cracking her back against the chair. A boy cursing under his breath. A thought that wasn't his—

Man, I really hope Mr. Fergunson curves the test.

He looked up so fast his neck popped, and his eyes landed on the dark-haired girl in the front row—the one he had once had a crush on but who he had been too shy to talk to. With her eyebrows scrunched tight in concentration, she rolled her bottom lip between her teeth and circled another answer on her paper.

There's no way I'm gonna pass this.

Although the voice sounded like his own inside his head, he knew it was hers. It stirred a panic within him that made him rush through the rest of the test. He struggled to focus on his answers seeing as every few minutes, another foreign thought would invade his mind.

I really hope they have fried chicken for lunch today.

Why do we even have to learn this?

Stupid Carla's going to throw off the curve again.

He was the first to turn it in. Mr. Ferguson swiped through the test and eyed him skeptically like he was asking if he was sure. George responded with a nervous smile and then scrambled out of the room, clutching the strap of his backpack and gathering tears at the corners of his eyes. On the way to the exit of the classroom building, he bumped into Dream who was talking to two other Bio-E's from his year.

When Dream realized who it was, his eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "George, you finished your test already? Wanna go grab a bite with us?"

It didn't take long for Dream to notice the way George wiped his eyes and forced a smile. He evaded Dream's puzzled gaze and instead shuffled past and muttered, "Not right now."

Behind him, Dream muttered something inaudible to his friends and then rushed to catch up with him.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, and he reached forward and grazed his thumb against his wrist in a way that made his stomach do flips.

"'m fine," George mumbled while pulling his wrist to his chest and continuing down the hallway.

What aren't you telling me?

"I said I'm fine, Dream."

"I didn't say anything."

His entire body tensed up. The lone hallway caved in on him like a frigid void yearning for a life to take. As he turned slowly to face Dream, he pursed his lips tight and wished for it to be a nightmare. But it wasn't.

Dream's eyes bore into him.

You can hear me?

"Yes," George replied with a breath of air that could hardly be considered a voice, but he knew Dream had heard him.

"Your powers?"

He hung his head low, and his eyes verged on tears when he squeezed them shut. He didn't have to respond for Dream to understand.