Nat used one of her hands to hold her neck, as if choking, and used the other to reach out to Dom. She spoke, her words mixing with blood and creating a bloody gurgle:
"You can't save us, you worthless idiot!!"
Her face twisted as she moved forward, her hands reaching out.
"Arghh!"
Dom shouted as he bolted awake.
"No, no, no!!"
He curled himself into a ball, shaking with fear. After a minute or so, he slowly sat up.
'It was a dream.'
He sighed. "Twelve years of training, and this is the result." He chuckled miserably.
Looking around, he noticed that he was in a completely different room. The room looked… expensive.
"Woah."
Two drawers stood beside the king-sized bed, with a magnificent lamp placed on the right one to illuminate the part of the room untouched by sunlight. The wardrobe was positioned opposite the right drawer, with a door beside it, likely leading to the toilet.
"This is probably a dream."
He pinched himself hard and was immediately hit by a wave of pain.
"Woah, this can't be real!!"
Carefully, he put the expensive sheets aside as he got out of bed.
'The floor is made of wood!'
His excitement doubled. Making his way to the toilet, his mouth opened in amazement. The toilet certainly lived up to his expectations. Looking at himself in the mirror and giddy with excitement, he slowly traced the edges of the glass.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to this."
He left the toilet to explore the rest of the room. There was a table with a holographic display for research and checking his timetable. The wardrobe was huge and divided into two sections—one holding school uniforms, the other empty, probably for his personal clothes. By the time he finished inspecting every gap and item in the room, it was already nighttime.
"It's already night? Sigh, am I forgetting something?"
He held his chin and sank deep into thought.
'I don't think—Oh, shit, how could I forget!!'
He felt incredibly stupid—because he was stupid. Who forgets their awakening? The flustered Dom immediately headed back to the toilet. Staring at himself in the mirror, he closed his eyes. Blocking all unnecessary thoughts, he delved into his being. During the awakening process, he'd felt a pull just after the 'medieval' man was killed and when his friends were dying. From what he knew, that pull was a way of activating one's ability.
Drowning out everything else, he focused entirely on the pull and slowly began to feel it again. Immediately, he grasped the 'pull' to activate his ability. He opened his eyes, expecting to see some kind of power manifest—but nothing happened.
"Did I make a mistake?"
He tried and tried, but nothing. His ability wasn't activating.
"What do you mean it's 'not activating'? I'm sure I awakened something, right?!"
He kept trying, but slowly, the realization dawned on him. He slumped to the floor of the bathroom, his back resting against the wall.
For a few moments, his eyes went blank and then tears began to fall. He started sobbing, wiping the snot dripping from his nose.
"Twelve years. Fifteen fucking years, and I'm still weak. I can't even awaken. Useless. Fucking useless!!"
After crying for a while, he got up, rinsed and dried his face, then went to bed and fell asleep.
.........
The warm light filled the room, showcasing its luxurious furnishings. On one of these opulent items, a teenager lay down, his head resting on a soaked pillow. Slowly, he raised his upper body, tiredly rubbing his eyes. Dark circles marked the skin beneath his eyelids—a testament to his lack of sleep.
Without saying a word, he got out of bed and headed to the shower. After bathing and putting on one of the uniforms from the wardrobe, he checked the date and saw it was Sunday.
'It's the weekend, and I'm wearing a uniform. Sigh'
He hardly had any of his old clothes left; most were worn out. Even the outfit he'd worn for the awakening ceremony had been saved for months. He shuddered, remembering the days he'd starved to save up for that single attire.
'Hopefully, that won't happen again.'
'I should probably look for those guys.'
Taking one last look at the luxury he was leaving behind, Dom stepped into the hallway.
The hallway was silent, with no students roaming around.
'Weird.'
Ignoring it, he kept walking until he reached the stairs and began descending. Before he reached the bottom, the noise from the hallway ahead reached his ears.
As he exited the stairs, he was greeted by a crowd of students bustling through the wide hallway. The corridor had been designed to accommodate the masses, allowing them to pass without bumping into one another.
'How the hell am I supposed to find them in this?!'
Trying to find his friends in this chaos was like searching for an ant in its colony. Dom stood still on the stairs, brainstorming. After some thought, he decided to check the facilities one by one and figure it out from there.
The moment he stepped into the hallway, the approaching students froze. They stared at him with a hint of respect in their gazes; some even straightened their postures.
'Okayyy…'
Pausing for a moment, he continued toward the cafeteria. How did he know the way? A sign hung for directions, and a map was displayed on his lens.
After walking for over ten minutes, he finally reached the cafeteria—and it was enormous. Following the short line, his turn came, and he was asked to request whatever he wanted. He did so hesitantly. The lady behind the counter, noticing his doubt, smiled warmly as she took the plate from him.
"You can eat anything you like, as long as it fits on the plate. You can use the cafeteria twice a day. Once you're done eating, return your plate over there."
'That's basically free food. Finally!!!'
'He's probably an orphan,' she thought, her smile softening.
He found an empty table and ate in peace, scanning the room for his friends but not seeing them. However, he did notice a particular corner of the cafeteria with only five students sitting there. They seemed to glow with luxury and privilege. Clearly, they belonged to respectable families.
"Rich kids, huh," he muttered.
Finishing his food quickly, he returned the plate and left the cafeteria, his head hanging low.
"Fancy meeting you here."
Hearing the familiar voice, he froze. Slowly, he lifted his face. The voice belonged to someone he wanted to avoid but knew was impossible to evade.