Tales Of Earthem: P.O.T.S

Verse 10- Beware of the Wolf

It was Jyros 9th month at Canta academy and he was finding life at school to be a bit more different then when he first arrived, walking through the halls people stared at him, quite surprisingly a day didn’t go by when someone new didn’t introduce themselves to him, but Jyros new found fame didn’t really affect his behavior, he was still the same socially awkward-shy boy he was when he first came to the school. Jyro was sitting in his History class daydreaming about his childhood, the teacher was running late so the students simply sat there and done their own thing which meant his daydreaming was justifiable to him. Jyro grew up in a place known as the plains after the plagues terror any area that wasn’t governed or ruled by a monarch was seen as part of the rural outskirts, the plains were considered part of this. The classrooms door flung open and the whole class immediately jumped back, a man in a black attire stumbled inside, he wore circled framed glasses and had his tie crookedly tied around his neck, he glanced at the on looking students then proceeded to the front of the class, his shoes squeaked against the floorings which made the students all giggle frantically, Jyro looked on in bewilderment at the odd fellow. The man finally made it to the front of the class he straightened his tie cleared his throat and thus begun to speak, “Welcome all ‘n’ apologies for my lateness it’s my first week here and…. Yeah you know how it is” said the man whilst he smiled nervously, “oh shoot that’s right! I am your new professor for History Mr. Cornelius Screew “he write his name on the board with handwriting similar to that of a Childs, the students looked at one another thinking is this guy actually their professor. Professor Screw then looked at his watch and after realizing 30 minutes had already gone from the lesson he hastily took out his books whilst papers and utensils spilled out his bag all over the floor “ugh drats drats drats “he said whilst the classes chattering and sniggers became louder, he finally caught his bearings and brought out a massive sized book from his bag, “ahem I’ve realized time seems to be against us sooo..ermm uh huh there we go ill read you guys this bit of text I myself have been studying” the students had no idea what he was going on about and couldn’t seem to take him seriously nevertheless Professor screew continued on , “I am going to explain to you all about the events of the last war”, Jyros attention suddenly focused on the professors words, the teacher paused for a moment to clear his smog filled glasses then continued “ have we all heard of the Hells Gate Tragedy” asked the professor the classroom responded with silence “ well…. Erm alright then I’ll continue, the Hells Gate tragedy was first recorded for about 1000’s of years ago the first time poured out onto the earth. The whole of the classroom fell to a defining silent, the wind that blew through the papers was the only sound heard and every student’s eyes were locked onto professor screws story, “mankind’s efforts to fight back have been improving vastly for example Thomas Writer… I’m with the idea to build the huge stone walls that protect our city he drew the first blueprint on sanded stone he found, but not only Mr. Writer , Greygone the shaft the man who crossed the entire lands on Earthem to create the Area Map, Lustwig Fernfor the greatest Exorcist to have ever lived he slayed 1000 demons with his two swords, and finally the late king Lord Marvarous, King Mars you know him as , the king who lead this country into many great triumphs over the demons and built an incredible dynasty within the kingdom which lives on today… through you all” the professor paused for a few moments and gazed around the classroom staring at the kids’ faces, their eyes were all glued onto him all taking in the valuable history that they didn’t know of, and as soon as the professor shut his book the whole of class groaned in disappointment, “I’m so sorry everyone but time is of the essence but am willing to answer any brief questions” said the Professor, almost immediately numerous hands shot up into the air, all trying to get a question in. The professor looked on at the various arms flapping away at him and smiled to himself “err how about you, yes you over there with the ribbons” said the professor, “Why do the gates of…. You know Hell keep opening” asked a young girl, the classroom seemed to be thinking the same thing as they all nodded in agreement, “that’s a very good question young miss and well you see we don’t actually know why it keeps opening, but let me make this clear the gates isn’t a pathway or a door that you can open freely, only one who has truly lost their soul and walks in the path of darkness truly knows the secrets” answered the professor. Bang! the loud sounds from the door slamming open against the walls was heard, a young girl with short blue hair stood surprised by the numerous eyes that locked onto her, “ oops sorry about that, I kind of over did it on the doors didn’t I aha” said Tristine nervously, “ sorry to disturb your lesson Professor….erm sorry I don’t know who you are” said Tristine whilst she stared awkwardly at the teacher “you can call me Professor Screww my dear and may I ask what brings you to my classroom?” he asked “ah yes well ill need to take Jyro Thomas sir, we’ve been summoned for training you see where both taking part in the strongest 12 event next month” the whole class then turned towards Jyro who felt quite embarrassed by being put on the stop, as he quickly got up and proceeded out the class the students in the class started chattering amongst one another, “ no way so that’s Jyro Thomas one of the 12 strongest, he doesn’t look scary” one voice said , Jyro quickly made his way out although he was quite enjoying professor screwws class. “ Couldn’t you wait for my lesson to end Trish, I mean I did only have 15 minutes left I’m sure training could of waited till then” Jyro voiced ,”there we go found you, come out GumGum” she said the pink ball of light immerged and fluttered around the sky before hovering around the two “show us the way to Emmanuel dorm please, the quickest way!” stressed Tristine, “Emmanuel dorm why would training be there he thought to himself “ alright Jyro remember that night we snuck in to the library and Valkos name was listed as the last person to have taken out the book ,well, I find that too darn fishy so I decided to investigate… well I should say ‘we’ ”giggled Tristine, Jyro sighed to himself and realized he wasn’t on his way to train and was accompanying his friend on another one of her covetous adventures .

The two made it to the entrance of Emmanuel dorm ,they passed through the black gates where a tall castle like building stood in front of them, Jyro felt it reminded him of a smaller version of the academy from the outside, “ try blend in and look like you actually live on this campus” said Tristine ,her and Jyro then begun to follow the trail the pixie was leaving, “wow so your telling me no one but us can see gumgums trail right now” Jyro asked, “yup only us ,nymphs all have a special ability called “ Warm eyes” it means they can live next to humans for years without being noticed or seen and they only make their presence known if they feel like doing so” Jyro was amazed and thought to himself there still so much about the world he lives in that he doesn’t understand. When the two entered the dorm the whole place glittered vibrantly, the floor had black and white tiles that gleamed under the huge chandelier lights that towered from above, Jyros eyes did what his eyes have been doing the moment he entered Canta ,which was stare in awe at his surroundings “ oi Jyro be alert we have to look like we belong here” prodded Tristine whilst she waltzed through the entrance boldly, “ wait, what exactly are we doing here Trish, I thought we was going to investigate Valko?” Jyro asked intently “yes that’s exactly what we’re going to do” the young girl then dangled a set of keys in front of him, Jyros face fell realizing what they was about to do, “ so were breaking into his room.. How in the world do you always get peoples keys?” Jyro stressed, Tristine simply laughed then smiled at the boy “guess you could call it a talent” she said. The two of them entered Valkos room and the first thing Jyro noticed was the un seeable size difference of Valkos room compared to that of his own, the bed was twice the size of his own as well and the walls were covered with bronze wolf heads and various paintings of wolves all hung on the walls neatly, “wow” gasped Jyro “yeah it’s no surprise he’d have a room this pretty considering his family are well renowned “said Tristine “huh what do you mean? Are they rich or something?” asked Jyro, “ incredibly so, he’s fathers part of the royal council and just by bearing the last name Tius it’s enough to get you anything you want really in this land” said Tristine whilst she continued to rummage through Valkos desk. Whilst Tristine went through the countless books and sheets of paper on the desk Jyro was too busy captivated by the hangings on the wall, he came across one painting that stood out amongst the others a naked man standing on a rock with one of his arms missing the painting was titled ‘TYR’, “Trish-do you think it’s true what people said about Valkos family being descendants from wolves” Jyro asked “huh oh erm who knows Jyro I’m not sure.. Where do you think he’d put those missing pages” stressed Tristine, Jyro seemed worried because he was quite concerned why the girl was so obsessed with finding the books missing ages. Jyro approached the girl who seemed to be in a crazed state while frantically searching for something, “Trish, relax it doesn’t look like where going to find anything , come on lets go back now” he said Jyro put hit his hand on her shoulders and she looked at the boy and realized she may have taken this too far, “yeah… I guess your right it’s just that someone important to me got in a lot of trouble to find all the texts written by Merlin Albert, so I think I kind of lost my senses for abit” the young girl said. Footsteps and chattering could be heard from the outside “ uh oh sounds like Valkos back quick hide somewhere” Tristine screeched the two kids quickly scurried around the room trying to find a place to hide and eventually ended up rushing under the bed. Valko entered his room with 2 other boys, “look at your desk Valko you can at least clean up here once in a while” one of the boys said “what... oh that mess well that’s odd I swore I cleaned up ,I must have been in a rush in the morning stop being a tosser and move away from my stuff” said Valko, “ so what you think about the Academy then Valko” one of them questioned , “ what do I think of it… I think its bloody boring, it’s been almost a year and they haven’t taught us nothing about slaying or killing any demons I mean isn’t this supposed to be a school for exorcists” the paled headed boy remarked, “ I heard it’s because of King Mars, apparently he doesn’t agree with the first and second years learning demon killing arts” , “ pfft that’s why that old senile fools dead then isn’t it” said Valko, “hold on a sec I got something to show you guys” Valko then opened his wardrobe and dragged out a brown chest , he lifted It open and brought out what looked like a black colored crossbow “whoa where did you get that!” one of the boys exclaimed , “some nutter I met gave it to me, imagine all he wanted was a couple of pages from some old book haha what a sucker right?” spoke Valko, Jyro and Tristine looked on from under the bed listening in what was being said. When it looked like they was finally leaving Valko suddenly stopped and begun sniffing the air “wait boys, do you smell that,” valko said, “huuh smell what” “ aaaah not this again Valko” said the other boy,” no seriously someone, I mean I can smell something different”, Valko slowly walked around the room sniffing the air intensely whilst Jyro and Tristine held their breath praying that they wouldn’t be found. Valko slowly made his way towards the bed and his sniffing got more intense , he crouched down and approached closer and closer towards the two in hiding, just as he was about to lift up the sheets covering the bottom, a stack of books came tumbling down to the floor, “ what is actually the matter with you two, didn’t I tell you to stay away from my stuff” Valko hollered” erg let’s get out of here who knows what you’ll break next in here” Valko and his friends then exited the room. Jyro and Tristine sighed in relief then slowly got up from under the bed, “well that was close” said Jyro, “too close, but you heard that as well right? Someone told Valko to rip those pages out, erg this is getting complicated “said Tristine in distress, GumGum quickly appeared from beneath the stack of books on the floor, “so it was you who saved us then… you little mischief” spoke Tristine to her Nymph.

The two kids made it back to the main building to the sounds of two bell chimes signaling an assembly for the first years, whilst Jyro and Tristine entered they saw Johnny seated in the middle benches who begun waving to get their attention. The two saw his gesture and walked over to sit beside him “Alright Johnny “said Jyro “yeah not too bad Jyro how’s your day been” whilst the two boys conversed Tristines eyes were locked onto Valko who was sitting below her, the headmaster slammed his hands together to quieting the noise , the sound that resonated from his palms felt like two boulders smashing together “alright quiet down now students...ahem” the headmaster said, Jyro looked on to see Mr. Kobi taking the assembly, seated behind him was all the professors that taught the first year. “I’ve called you all here for two matters that must be discussed, the first issue is that it’s come to my attention that a considerable amount of school tools have been going missing and Mr Reebz our school utility man has alerted us of this” he announced “YEAH AND YOU LIL BUGGERS BETTA WATCH OUT IF I CATCH THE CULPRIT ILL MAKE EM SEE HELL” screamed Mr. Reebz from his seat, “alright take it easy now sir it’s just some few tools” replied Headmaster Kobi to the amusement of the students, “ well I think we should all be careful sir, we do have the child of a convicted thief amongst us” blurted out Valko whilst turning around to look at Tristine. Tristines eyes flared up immediately as she gripped her fists tightly in anger, “Tristine what’s the matter your shaking all over” Jyro asked, the girl slowly came to her senses and took a deep breath “it’s nothing I’m fine” she replied, “alright quiet down now, secondly to celebrate the event that’ll be taking place very soon will be having a pre-show event to give the school a look at the 12 strongest, this will take place… tomorrow” the headmaster announced ,as soon as he done so the students responded with a roar of applause , “ whys everyone so excited” asked Jyro , “for two reasons Jyro firstly this means we get more time off lessons secondly…because of her” Johnny then pointed towards a girl across the room, she had long golden hair with a very beautiful appearance, her blue eyes fluttering each time she blinked, she looked like a princess Jyro thought to himself , “ ha-ha that’s the sort of reaction I’d expect anyway her names Isis Gates the strongest E grader in our year” said Johnny. The professor then brought out the list of names of the 12 candidates, “now for the chosen 12 you’ll each be assigned one of the twelve professors behind me who will act as your mentor from today onwards to the end of the event…. That is all”, when the Headmaster announced that Jyros mentor would be Professor Dhanoa Jyros suddenly felt excited inside, he was almost wishing that shed end up as his mentor.

It was the day of the showcase so Jyro woke up extra early and meditated in his room for an hour or two, Jack taught him that the best way to use his VDE is with a calm mind so meditation became an essential training method for him every single day. Whilst Jyro began getting ready he couldn’t help but feel happy inside, and it probably had to do with the fact that he’d be spending the day with Professor Dhanoa who he admired quite a bit, Jyro was all set and proceeded to the door when Sebastian suddenly growled at his feet, he looked down to see the little cub carrying his glove in his mouth , Jyro glanced towards his arm realizing he almost walked out without it being covered“ thanks friend I almost forgot this” said Jyro whilst he picked up the glove, about half way into the year Jyro started wearing a long glove he purchased from town to help hide his cursed arm, Jyro thought that the bandaged arm tended to spark attention from others to help preserve his secret he decided to fashion a long brown glove.

Jyro walked to professor Dhanoas office which was located north of the vineyard gardens, knock knock knock! “Come in” the professor said Jyro entered the professor’s office upon entering he was immediately hit with a strong fragrance that filled his nose the scent was enough to make him cough and sneeze. “Oh why hello Jyro you’re here earlier than expected” said the professor who was in the middle of making a mug of tea, Jyro walked in and done what he usually does when entering new surroundings he gazed around and analyzed everything, “do you always touch things when you enter then” she said, Jyro started blushing when he realized he was gazing around. The professor invited him to sit down and proceeded to drink Tea with the young boy, Jyro sat in silent nervously he didn’t know what to say or do but simply held on to his mug of tea and admire the various ornaments around the room, the professor drunk her tea and smiled at Jyro “are you always this talkative then Jyro” Smirked the Professor sarcastically Jyro tried to muster up some words but only blurted out groans and broken English. “I’m only teasing, Shall we begin then... go on show me it” the professor asked, “it? Jyro thought to himself what is she on about, “you don’t need to look so shocked I had a chat with the headmaster and he filled me in on your Brand” said the professor with a straight look on her face, Jyro suddenly became shocked he remembered what Mr. Kobi told him about keeping lighting brand to himself so wondered why he’d tell people, but since it was her asking Jyro slowly settled himself and lifted his two fingers up, sparks of light flicked and sparked between them before fizzling out. “Wow so there are signs of it within you, but how comes it’s so little can’t you show me something more bigger” she asked, Jyro paused for a few moments trying to analyze the situation “ my master told me to not use my hands for producing the lightning, since one can never truly control it I could ned up damaging myself if I try to” he replied, so Jyro pulled out the Zooz stick and aimed it towards a vase filled with flowers across from him, “ fulminis pulsus” he said, a lightning pulse boomed through the air and shatters the vase, “ s..sorry about that” he muttered “ oh my I thought it was a rumor until now and that’s alright I’ve been meaning to replace that vase anyway” the professor looked into Jyro eyes and held his hand “ It seems my thoughts were right young Jyro you have a special gift inside you” ,Jyros pulse begun racing he was already nervous walking in but this made it almost unbearable for him, “ to be honest there’s not a lot I can teach you since I don’t understand lightning brand and I’m sure Jack has done something to prevent others from finding it, but I can warn you about something it’ll be for your best interest to not use that ability at the showcase today” said the professor, “Why not” questioned Jyro, “mmmm its best you hear this first, a few years ago a young boy entered the academy, he was arrogant ,cocky and only had eyes on one thing... Which was fighting strong people, this particular boys name was Jack. “Now Jack only spent two years at the academy before forcefully leaving, as a Grade E not only did he win the event he was already being deployed in hunting missions, as a grade D pupil he was approached to join the Royal army of Exorcists, the following year the queen summoned him to participate in the royal games for a chance to become one of the 12 holy swords but he subsequently rejected her request. The queen was outraged and ordered for his capture but no-one could match him in combat, he fought through the royal guards like a wounded tiger getting stronger as each blow hit him, but mind you his godly tenancy wasn’t what made him strong he possessed an ability never seen before called lighting brand, the ability you’ve now received. Jyros heart was overwhelmed and stunned at the same time, he knew Jack was amazing but now he understood why he felt such an immense pressure from him when they first met, “I had no idea, I almost feel guilty to not knowing my master had such a past” he said , “Well I must admit Jyro it came as a surprise to me too to hear the legendary Jack Sterling took a pupil, but after seeing your capabilities I’m not surprised he took a liking to you” said the professor whilst Jyro again tried to hide his blushing hearing the compliment, “so if you understand the magnitude that Jacks name and abilities have around here I’ll leave the choice to you young boy” she said, “but professor what do you mean by choice” asked Jyro intently, “ its simple today you’ll be involved in the showcase and the challenge you’ll be set will probably force you to show your full abilities, if you choose not to you could get seriously hurt or even removed from the event” the professor said in a serious tone, Jyro fell in deep thought because he didn’t really want to participate from the beginning . “But you’re probably the type who’d get themselves injured and endure the pain for the sake of your masters secret right and I applaud that but remember the type of person Jack was, would he really be happy to see you lose a fight in such a way” she added, the professors words hit Jyro as he then begun reconsidering what he’s actually going to do later on today.