Eternal Awakening

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

An Engaging Lie

Richard rubbed his tired and sore eyes, trying to get rid of the scratchy sensation he got every time he blinked. He was tired. Actually he was beyond tired; he was dead on his feet. He hadn't slept a wink the previous night, and for good reason. Being trapped in a prison made of rock in the freezing cold for most of the night was enough to make it hard to sleep, but that's not really what had kept him up the entire night. No, his reason for being up after that little incident was a little more sinister.

Strangely enough Richard had taken Lythia's suggestion to heart and he planned to do just what she had come up with: beat Dawkins in front of the entire school and whoever else showed up to watch the tournament. Although to say he was going to beat him was understating it just a bit, because Richard actually planed to destroy him entirely. And it was that thought that kept him up most of the night as he tried to figure out the most devastating way to do it.

For the first time in his life Richard wanted to send the message that he wasn't going to tolerate being bullied anymore. His entire life he had been the target for intense bullying and he had just lived with it; never trying to stop it from happening. But that changed now, because now he had the power to stop it. And he was going to use that power.

The day had progressed slowly and Richard just tried to stay awake now that he only had two more classes until he was free to do whatever he wanted. He sat at his assigned seat at the top of the class and next to Coni, who had her head buried in a book and ignored the world around her. Strangely enough Daiya hadn't arrived yet and Richard found that odd, because usually she beat him to the classroom. He didn't have to wait long for her however, and a few minutes before the class was supposed to begin she entered the room and took her seat quietly, looking at Richard like there was something stuck on his face.

He looked at her expecting to find the usual smile she gave him each day, but found her lips were in a hard line across her beautiful face with a cold edge around her eyes as she stared at him intently.

“Is something wrong?” he asked in a whisper so only she could hear.

“Do you want to tell me what happened last night?” she asked. Her voice was just as hard as her appearance. She now folded her hands neatly on the desk, looking more like a professor than a student in that moment.

“What do you mean?” he asked and tried to sound innocent.

“I know you were attacked last night by a few other students.”

“Ugh, did Lythia tell you or something?” he groaned and once again wished the little nuisance in his room would just disappear.

“No, but it doesn't surprise me to hear that she was involved. I overheard one of them bragging about it over breakfast; about how they caught you outside of the school walls and used their magic against you. Hearing idle chatter like that isn't enough to go after them, so just tell me what happened and I will make sure something is done about the ones who attacked you.”

“Don't worry about it,” he answered quickly and turned back to the front of the class, waiting for Aura to arrive. She was usually there by now so it was a little strange.