The Institutum

Chapter Three- Rhett: A Lovely Day at School

Rhett

School. There's a whole big fuss over school, Rhett thought incredulously as he walked through the main hallway of Regis High. Rhett honestly couldn't believe how high schoolers could complain about it. If they did what he did, maybe they would be thankful of the normality school brought. There, you just had to memorize facts, you didn't have to think on your feet all the time. He didn't, he couldn't, understand why they didn't like hanging out with a big group of kids their own age.

That morning, Rhett had gotten into the school uniform. He felt pretty stupid, dressing up like some pretty rich boy. Complete with the black pants and school shirt with the logo on it, he was thankful his old school had never required a uniform. Of course, he had only been five years old at the time. He felt better as he had kept his leather jacket on; he couldn't stand to leave it behind.

His jacket had been with him since he was seven. Of course, when he was seven the jacket was much, much too big, but he didn't care. The soft leather was almost like his comfort blanket, but Rhett would never admit that out loud. His parents had been more of a figment since he was ten. Kids born into the business were expected to be completely capable at that point, so his parents had started to take their own jobs and he had gone by himself. That being said, Rhett was still just ten. He was a kid! So, the jacket had become a comfort to him.

Rhett also found it useful to keep weapons under.

He walked through the hallways, not drawing much attention to himself. He turned the corner where he saw a crowd of kids dispersing. Rhett looked up, and straight into the brown eyes of a beautiful, if not sick looking, girl. He paused a moment, looking at her. She had this strange look on her face, staring at him appearing slightly green. Rhett felt curiosity bubble inside of him, but then he remembered who he was and why he was there. He shook his head and continued his way down the hall, trying to find the basement.

He walked through the halls, keeping his head down, and quickly found the basement door without so much as a mishap. He wandered down into the basement and flipped on his flashlight, which had created a small lump in leather jacket. Once again, the jacket was handy. He looked around and, standard to procedure, took out a Timebunt and placed it on the ground. It scanned the way and spotted two Fures in the area. Luckily, Rhett had managed to get to the basement before them but, he was cutting it close on time.

Rhett jogged to where he had suspected the map was. As usual, he was right. After all, he had stayed up all night researching it. The map was behind a riddle protected case. It said

"Quod maior sit Deus,

More quam diabolum malum,

Pauperes habere eam,

Dives erat opus, certe,

Si comederitis, morte moriemini?"

Rhett had learned Latin for moments just like this, which happened more often than you would think in his line of work. It roughly translated to:

"What is greater than God,

More evil than the devil,

The poor have it,

The rich need it,

And if you eat it you will die?"

Rhett sat and thought about it for a minute. He hadn't heard that one before, but he had trained for things like this as well. Then it came to him. Nothing.

"Nihil," he said to the stone, careful to pronounce it correctly.

The old stone case clicked open, releasing a poof of dust that made Rhett have to blink a few times. It revealed a rolled up parchment that lay nestled in the darkness. He picked the yellowed map up and then slid it into a tube in his jacket.

He turned and jogged back to the stairs, swooping down to pick up the Timebunt. He knew he had to get out of there quickly to avoid the Fures. Rhett raced up the stairs and into the hallway.

But he was too late.

Luckily, Rhett saw them before they saw him. There were two, walking to the door he had just come out of. Rhett let out a little annoyed breath through his nose and grabbed his Manicis, putting a hand on his dagger. He figured he could probably just pass off as a regular high schooler and surprise them, but no such luck.

They looked at him, looked away, and then did a double take. Rhett got this reaction a lot from Fures, and occasionally from humans. It was kind of hard to mask the two giant scars on his face, parallel to each other, from his right ear to his chin, barely grazing the edge of his mouth. It was an old scar, but still very obvious. To the Fures, it only told them that he was a very dangerous man, one they should fear at all costs. Rhett had quite the legend.

When he was only five years old, he had come across a very powerful Fure. An epic fight had gone down, and he had come out victorious, somehow. However, had gained his scar. That fight had also earned him his first level up in eye color, but that was beside the point. The Fures had told everyone they knew to beware the man with the double scar.

Rhett sighed, realizing he would have to deal with it now. "Alright, listen, guys. We can do this real nice and easy, I have some Manicis right here. Just come peacefully," Rhett said calmly.

Out of his side vision he saw a couple of the other students glance at him, then regard the Fures.

It looked like one of the Fures might have agreed to do as Rhett had suggested, but the other shouted "Never!" before the first could say anything. The second one charged towards him and Rhett simply sighed and slashed at him with his dagger. Then, he put the Manicis on him, and the Fure went still as it disappeared. Rhett gave the other an expectant look and it just put its arms out to him. Rhett latched the Manicis on and that one disappeared too.

Then, he was sideways, face slamming against the floor as a heavy weight charged him.

"I am officer McCain! You are under arrest!" A man, who Rhett realized had tackled him, yelled in his ear.

Slightly annoyed, Rhett sat up, sufficiently pushing the officer off of him. He surveyed his surroundings and found that a mob of teens were watching him. Rhett glared at them, his eyes flashing angrily before looking at the cop next to him.

"Why?" He asked, his eyes narrowing. Sometimes Rhett forgot that the "real world" had law enforcement too. Stupid ones.

The officer stuttered. "W-well, you have a knife!"

"Oh," Rhett said, looking at his, now dirty, dagger. He considered this, and said, "How about not?"

Then Rhett was up and running, sprinting to the doors where he could escape the basic human law system. He busted out the doors, sprinting down the steps- only to see three cop cars, which Rhett thought was a bit over kill, lined up, all with guns aimed at him. Bystanders on the street watched with interest. Rhett muttered Latin curses under his breath. He chided himself for being so stupid, getting caught by mortal police officers.

Rhett stopped and dropped his dagger into his pocket. Well that went well, he thought bitterly, then slowly lifted his arms.

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