The Divine Demon - Book 1: A New Beginning

28. Darkness

Double doors burst open into the cool evening air.

Two overly shined dress shoes, sparkling in the fading red sun, stepped casually down the steps leading to the academic building and onto the concrete sidewalk of Hero Street.

It was six-thirty at night. The evening sky was slowly and gradually transitioning from the deep, rich orange and pink of dusk to the dark indigo of night. Starlight snuck through the pinkish-gray rows of clouds.

"I told you to come to my office at five. But here you are, sitting alone out in the cold." Khohn said icily toward a nearby bench, which was half-lit by an overhead streetlight.

Khohn's eyes - hidden behind thick-lensed glasses - focused on a dark, slumped figure sitting on the bench just outside of the academic building.

The figure didn't move or speak for a while. It kept its shimmering hazel eyes staring at the dirt and stone streaked walkway.

"Sorry, Professor Khohn..." Riarshi mumbled, still refusing to look his professor in the eye. "I couldn't stay in that building any longer-"

"I've already spoken to Hara and Tabito," Khohn scolded, interrupting him. He seemed unconcerned about Riarshi's excuse. "Stand up and follow me, Riarshi. We have something important to discuss. Though we're not doing it out here in the open." Khohn's glasses reflected the spotty glare from the stars birthing in the East.

The sky continued to darken. Floating clouds hid the moon behind a dark-gray cloak.

Khohn, walking hurriedly, passed Riarshi's bench and continued down the sidewalk leading toward the Spiritfield Stadium. Riarshi slowly rose to his feet, wiped his nose, and followed Khohn as ordered with his head low.

Where the hell was Professor Khohn going? Didn't he want to meet in his office?

Despite these questions forming and colliding within his head, Riarshi's body acted without thought and shuffled a few lengths behind his professor. The chill air nipped at his cheeks. He stuck his hands into his pockets.

His fight with Hara had given birth to a tidal wave of negative emotions that flooded every cell in his body. The corpse-like hands - clawing and reaching from that black wall - had run their fingers along his shoulders, sending sharp, painful chills into his chest. The glowing blue eyes, which normally stared at him hungrily from a distance, had hovered close by the nape of his neck, their bitter gaze grazing his skin.

So he had done the only thing he could think of. The only remedy that worked... He had ran away. Otherwise, what he did to Leon might have happened again to someone else. He didn't know what he would become, or if his emotions would turn him against his own friends.

Instead of letting the hands seize him, he had darted from the building and sat himself on the nearest bench. His knees could barely hold weight once his feet met the sidewalk. Hara's words had bounced around his head, blocking the formation of other thoughts.

And now, as he walked behind Khohn, the thoughts returned in the form of an overwhelming flood of negativity.

It was true, he really was a burden to everyone around him. Because he still maintained his childish dream of becoming a Hero, because he only focused on surviving the Program, he ignored how his actions affected those around him. Maybe Hara was right, maybe he was holding Tabito back from accomplishing everything he could have if he wasn't his partner. He was only dragging Tabito down - using him for his own selfish desires.

Tabito and Hara were high magic users. Both of whom were destined to become great Heroes and contributers to society. While he - a half-demon commoner with weaker magic - had no expectations of greatness.