Eric Elmoor and The Gauntlet of Godric

Chapter Three: MYSTERIES OF THE PAST

CHAPTER THREE

“Mysteries of The Past”

After the questioning was finished, the final bell signaled the end of school.

Finally, Eric thought, I don't have to come back here for another three months.

He was still bearing the smirk on his face from his door slamming shenanigans that made Falmir's papers scatter like leaves. Oh well. Eric felt like he deserved it anyway. Falmir, after all, said he didn't like him. For what? Who does he think he is? It was those types of people that Eric despised most; people on a power trip that thought everyone else was less than them just because they believed they were better than whoever they set their eyes upon.

But soon the smirk was erased from Eric's face as he exited the school, walked onto the student platform and saw Jasmine still sobbing. She stood by her friends Deleka and Shari with her face in her palms. Eric maneuvered closer so he could hear....

Thankfully, his slim body served a particular advantage as he weaved in and out of group after group of students with minimal effort. As he snaked his way through, Eric heard a few other people nearby utter “freak” under their breath as he passed. He didn't care. He had his eyes set on Jasmine and was determined to know what Falmir said that bothered her so much.

Finally making it within ten feet from where she stood, Eric remained still, trying to filter out all the other voices exclaiming how excited they were for the summer.

“What did he tell you?” asked Deleka.

“H-he said...,” Jasmine tried to explain.

“It's okay. Take your time,” said Shari, trying her best to sound sympathetic but came off as more pathetic. Eric knew she was just looking for her next piece of gossip to spread.

“H-he said that my father is nothing and that he would put in an immediate request to have him and me transferred to Gothenburg if I didn't cooperate. He said I could kiss my life here goodbye.”

“That jerk! Gothenburg is in the Darklands. The Assembly doesn't have any authority there,” fumed Deleka.

“You'd die there!” Shari exclaimed with delinquent epiphany. Everyone knew that the Darklands were lawless. Witches, blackmages, horrible creatures, and bandits ruled that part of Novogard. No one in their right mind would travel that far north.

“So, what did you, like, do?” Shari asked stupidly.

“I cooperated of course! Then he started asking all of these disgusting questions,” cried Jasmine.

“Like what?” asked Deleka.

Just then a tram pulled into the station and the doors slid open, beckoning the students inside.

“I-I don't want to talk about it. I just want to go home,” said Jasmine as she quickly boarded the tram without a moment to spare.

Eric watched as the doors slid shut and the tram sped off toward another part of the city. Following closely behind was the one Eric needed to board to go back to his apartment, but he couldn't take his eyes off of Jasmine's tram rounding a corner and disappearing into the city.

“You getting on or what?” one student asked as he bumped into Eric whilst trying to board.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” said Eric as he entered the crowded tram, grabbing a hand rail. The doors slid shut, the tram jolted forward, and finally left the school.

Arriving back to his apartment building, Eric exited the tram and saw several Initiative troops speaking with people on the platform. He could only catch faint hints of what was said but he did manage to gather that the troops were speaking to people about the attack earlier today. Most claimed ignorance of any knowledge of the event and even acted surprised when the troops told them why they were there. Eric even knew that was all a crock. Everyone in the Assembly territories would have heard about it by now. He knew why they did it, though. He knew that people just wanted the Initiative gone as soon as possible and the only way to do that was to make them think you knew as little as possible so they wouldn't hammer you with endless inquiries. Eric himself wanted nothing to do with them, especially after his experience with Falmir.