CHAPTER FIVE
Kri Shk Shik Kshh Krik Kshhik
Mr. Verim stands at the front of the classroom, scribbling some lesson material across the chalkboard. Tasked with figuring out where the students stand on their educations, Mr. Verim uses the most of his own Blessed knowledge to feel out for any gems he might have. His specialized work reads as several points in a chart spread across the entire wall.
Ability types of both Blessed and Cursed.
Elements that can be respectively related to each.
The types of Manifestations each can have.
Melody slowly writes along, making sure to double-check her work at every opportunity. She's careful when she has to be. Melody shifts in her seat and lets her strawberry-pink-blonde hair fall off of her shoulder and down her back. Her loose ponytail drapes her hair down her back like a waterfall. Its warmth has her shake her head and the hair dangles off of her right shoulder now.
A cursory look around the room has everyone doing the same shifting around, the lesson taking a while to transcribe down. It's standard for the second year to review what they should already have knowledge of. This makes Melody quickly wonder,
"Oh, I hope Mason is doing okay with this. I always had to help him understand the Blessed."
She cares about her friend. Hoping for the best, Melody moves on with her work.
Fweeeoot
Melody is suddenly hit on her back, but only by a tiny wisping stream of yellow Blessed energy. Not enough for any serious damage, but just enough to annoy.
"Wha-?"
She doesn't let herself react fully. She tries to continue her work, gripping her pen a little harder.
"Jerks."
She thinks, spitting the words in her head.
Fweeeoot
A spit of lightning-fast energy whips her back. This time she stifles a yelp. Melody turns now to look at Okirk and his gang looking out the window nonchalantly, clearly to blame. Melody perches her lips, raising them to her nose.
The attack appears to be modified lower-level tier magic. It's normally used for distraction, using minimal Blessed energy for speed and less power. Little damage, major annoyance.
Okirk and his gang seem to have it out for Melody already, not great fans of her being friends with Mason, a Cursed boy. They were given a strict talking to in the form of a history lesson by their teacher Mr. Verim, but it doesn't seem to have stuck, likely making it worse in the end.
Okirk waits until Melody turns back around, her impatience leading her to return to her work. His friends give him assuring looks, telling him to fire off another blast at her.
"Heh, yeah."
Okirk sneers, relaxing his curled fingers beneath his desk, preparing another shot. Twisting his hand, Okirk starts to power up the magic, funneling his own Blessed energy into his fingertips. Then, with a simple flick, the magical flare races wildly in the space between him and Melody's backside.
Fweeeerit
This time scratching her back, Melody's face is notably redder. She has to control herself so as not to get on Mr. Verims bad side, very likely to explode and throw her own Halo magic at Okirk, maybe destroying the back half of the classroom in the process.
"Nrgh. Damn it, can't lose it here…"
Melody assures herself she won't explode on the boys.
She wants to make good impressions with Mr. Verim, a hopeful intent of having him tutor her on the use of their shared rare Blessed trait. The Halo. Melody bites down hard, gritting her teeth and pretending Okirk's arm was in her mouth to bite through.
"Pheeeeew. It'll be okay, Melody. They're just being annoying because their boy-brains are so tiny."
She loosens her grinding teeth and fights through the irritating offense.
Okirk and his thugs giggle behind her, sharing knowing nods.
Fweeeeeeeeeeeroo
"HAGHH!"
Melody unleashes a beastly growl. Standing up and kicking her chair back at the unfortunate soul behind her. Pushing her too far, Melody stares daggers into Okirk. The brutish boy can only shyly sink his neck into his shoulders, yet still wearing a sheepish glare himself. In this shared moment of Melody yelling and Okirk hiding away, a hum can be both heard and felt.
VrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRR
She can feel that it's resonating with her own Halo, and instinctively knows to close her eyes. Hard.
In this frozen moment, a burst of yellow and singeing-white energy fills the room. Without warning, Mr. Verim, who sits at his desk with a cup of coffee kissing his lips, activates a Burn Flash.
WHKASHHH
In this blink of time, Mr. Verim was able to activate the Burn Flash and make sure that it didn't incinerate anyone or anything in a 10m radius. The trick to this is a mastery of control over his own Blessed power. The room is blinded.
"Yagh!"
"Wha-!?"
"Buh!"
"Yow!"
"Agh! Dammit!"
Okirk shouts out, sounding less like his bullying-self and closer to the yelp of a puppy accidentally stepped on. The students clamor to one another, finding each other through fast blinking eyes and wiped away tears. Desperate grips hold on to the student next to them's uniforms and arms.
After this moment of disruption and confusion, the class can look and see that Okirk is actually knocked back a few feet from where he stood before everything went white.
Continued in PART TWENTY-ONE…