MEDUSA 𓆙 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 [English Edition]

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐 • Sparring

RIVEN'S EGO was almost hurt to realize that Sky was beating him in that sparring session. He shouldn't be surprised, not when his blond best friend always excelled in workouts like that.
At least he was grateful they weren't on top of one of the platforms; after all, he didn't feel like getting wet in the frigid, algae-filled water next door.

He smirked and swung his sword, missing a blow that should have been accurate.

"You've been slow this summer," chuckled Sky.

"Correction: I got high this summer," Riven brandished, baring his teeth.

It didn't even matter that Riven kept fighting the boy everyone thought was the best—especially after Riven was said to be the worst around. Then he looked around, looking for Director Specialist Silva, who was talking to Verena. Riven had no idea why that woman was there, and it didn't matter either.

They were the authorities in this place, and Riven had a big problem with authority.

"Okay, enough. You win," Riven decreed, rolling her eyes. "Can you distract your father and mother-figures? While I go into the woods to get high."

Before Sky could respond, Riven had already dropped the training sticks on the ground and was running towards the forest. But as he ran away, he saw one of the junior specialists. Don? No, Dan. He considered telling him to fuck off, but before he did, he'd already crossed the shimmering blue Barrier and gone deeper into the dark, deep woods.

As he climbed a large boulder, he could almost hear Silva's voice in the back of his mind, warning him about the burns and how merciless monsters were with their inhuman strength and speed.

He sat up, but it was at the same instant that he heard a deep, low sound, something like bones hitting bone. It came from the trees. However, that same sound made the hairs on Riven's body stand on end, chills running under his skin.

Nothing could have prepared him for that vision.

It was the mutilated corpse of an old man. His head was barely intact, his bare skin was ripped like a sheet of paper. It looks like that body had been dragged there, but the chunks of charred flesh didn't make sense. There was no fire around, not even an ember.

Riven tried to swallow the fear like a good soldier. But that bad boy façade was a lie. Then he was spun by Sky. He yelled for Silva. Even though he yelled for Verena, because he knew he needed help.

◈

THERE WERE LIGHTS HANGING across the patio, and lively music was playing. Right beside the punch table, Viperine had a red cup of the sweet drink in her hand. She looked around, not daring to drink that rosy liquid without some of the alcohol she carried in a container hidden in her coat.

She hadn't socialized until then. At most, she exchanged a few words with her two roommates that were only to get them to stop screaming when they saw Anakin. All right, she'd exchanged more than three words with Terra in the hallway—besides the idiot she'd run into as soon as she arrived.

If that was the stereotype of people who studied there, then she wouldn't really care to meet more people. But while she couldn't decide between socializing or finding a dark corner and putting alcohol in that punch, she overheard the conversation between Terra and three other girls:

 
"Maybe he was just old," Terra said. "People die of old age."

"Well, he was decapitated," commented a black girl who was stacking some muffins on a napkin. "By the way, who discovered the body?" 

"Riven," she replied. "He is a self-centered kid these days, but he used to be nice."

"Do you like him?" asked another girl with a headset around her neck.

"No! Of course! she exclaimed," eyes wide. "Why? Does it look like I like it?"

Viperine rolled her eyes, thinking how ridiculous some girls made themselves for boys. She didn't really understand what made them like the most troublesome... Who was Viperine to talk about that? She herself had only had affairs with the worst kinds of boys, the ones who broke her heart into a thousand pieces that could never be put together again. At least she was never the one to get hurt in those relationships.

She crossed her arms, careful not to spill the punch. Viperine left the side of the table, determined to get the alcohol she called it so much. When she crossed the table where those girls were, even though they were talking quietly, she heard the redhead ask:

"Who's that?" The blonde girl who passed.

"Her name is Viperine," Terra replied quickly. "Freshman. She is in room 169. She has a snake named Anakin. She already argued with Riven five minutes after she arrived."

"How do you know all this?' asked the dark-haired one. "It's our first day here in Alfea."

"I met her," she defended. "We're almost friends."

Friends. Viperine suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, striding harder to the empty, dimly lit hallway in the lower corner of the courtyard. She walked to the end of it, turning around to find a dead-end place with no classrooms nearby, just a few student lockers in the corner.

She took the small metal container out of her coat, opening it with agility. The noise of the liquid pouring into the punch was like music to her ears, a distraction from the real world that she so desperately needed—

"You can't drink here," said a boy, too shy. "It's against the rules."

"It's my medicine," she lied, wrinkling her nose.

"That doesn't look like medicine," he claimed. "Principal Dowling..."

Viperine rolled her eyes, ignoring him and taking a long swig of her finally drinkable drink. She studied the boy, realizing how shy he really was, so much so that he could barely meet her eyes. Clever.

"You look too silly to be an expert, but as for a fairy..."

After realizing something, he exclaimed, "Your type is not welcome here."

"Mind faerie, I should have known," she sighed, then tired. "You leave me no choice but..."

His eyes widened in panic. Viperine smiled at that. Without socializing, with a now alcoholic punch, she had to admit that her first day at Alfea hadn't been that bad.

9.11.2022

𓆙 𓆙 𓆙

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