The God of Courage (boyxboy)

Chapter 20: To Where the Last Life Ended

1 WEEK 1 DAY

Raja sat quietly at his desk, promptly ignoring the worrying eyes of his roommate in the corner. Polaris hung from the windowsill, tail shifting to the imaginary breeze inside the room.

The headmaster, Nina, her name, had made everyone forget. Of course someone of her caliber in the likeness of magic could pertain to feats like those, but the unsettling feeling in his stomach.

Raja had the journal right in front of him, his fingers pressing against the familiar pages of the book and watching the sketches go by with each flip. There were a great deal of drawings inside, of Naveed and of Mylo and landscapes. There were drawn pictures of ruins, of what was before.

Raja closed his eyes, imagining himself in the darkness. He was humming, the seven-year-old child sleeping next to him in the makeshift hammock. The stars were shining so brightly that night, but the moon, it was dim, a lifeless being made to exist.

His fingers traced along the drawing, the last one. It was in the fields just outside the town. It wasn't Raja's drawing, someone else's. It was of a grave and on top, a bouquet of flowers, white lilies, what was rare before but now filled the lands outside of the town.

Raja opened his eyes again, setting the book to the side and clasping the lock shut. He placed the journal into his bag, looking at himself in the mirror just in front of him.

Bright blue eyes stared back, full of life. Looking closely, his pupils, for which they were once blue like any other person's, slowly started to turn a shade of white. In the blues of his irises, white spots of light shone free like stars in the night. They twinkled, shining in constellations faint from the sky. He blinked only once and suddenly, they returned to normal.

His hair had grown considerably since his arrival to the Academy. He had side swept bangs of inky black strands that flowed down his head. His hair ended just at the middle of his back and as his fingers brushed through it, he started to braid it. His braid ran down his back in a more organized fashion now, but he could see that the tips of his hair were also turning white, the same color of white as stardust. Just hidden under his hair were a small set of nubs, evidence of his otherworldly nature.

His skin, despite it all, stayed flawless. Its caramel color made him look as exotic as they come, The beauty mark on his cheek was his only blemish as he looked down, the inside of his hand and his palm two shades lighter than the rest of his body. His lips faded from the color of caramel to a faint pink color and his nose the shade of a button.

Hanging from his neck was the very same moonstone Polaris had blessed and what Noble had given them. A Beastmaster talisman was what it was called. He wore his school's robes, his sleeveless combat shirt and trousers underneath a loose-sitting robe of dark blue and silver.

His most blaring feature, however, was the stripe on his face. His bangs mainly shielded it from being seen but it peeked from just below the bangs.

Raja blinked, leaning down to greet with his reflection. He looked so different, so much more... mature.

The boy got up and Apollo did too, looking at him weirdly.

"Raj?" Spoke to his roommate. It was dark outside and it was the only time Raja felt comfortable to go out.

"I'm going to head out," Raja said, "Don't wait up for me, okay?"

Apollo glanced at him with a concerned expression, "Sure, but be careful. You know how they don't like us out after curfew."

Raja smiled, nodding. Apollo had been affected by the spell too, but maybe that was for the best, "You know me. I have a bodyguard following me too." He winked.