Chapter 2: The Destined Meeting, A Battle to Awaken
The next day was another school day and I got prepared accordingly. My dad drove me so I didn't have to walk. It was a short ride, so we didn't talk too much. When we got there, he called my name just as I was getting out.
"Don't get frustrated at life just yet. Now is not the time to give up." I could not help smiling. My parents were always trying to keep my spirits up.
"Thanks, Dad," I said as I left the car. As soon as he left, however, all of that joy I had left me. I don't want to complain about my school life, but the fact is there are only a few things I find to be good here. I took my normal route into the school straight towards the cafeteria. I was about to take a seat at one of the tables--near the door I came in through and relatively far from the nearest group of people--when all of a sudden I got this feeling. In a single instant, I took a sharp breath and held it, my muscles tensed up and I began to look around. My eyes must have looked wild the way they were looking around. In that brief moment--which was no more than two seconds--I felt like only my thoughts were my own while everything else was being controlled by someone else.
What's going on? I asked myself. What was that? Who am I looking for? And why-- Found him!
Before I could wonder who "him" was, my once tensed muscles relaxed suddenly. I took a deep breath as soon as my butt hit the chair. I covered my eyes with my hands and took a minute to not think; keeping my mind completely blank. Once I felt well enough, I looked up in the last direction my eyes were locked on. I saw many people and a lot of guys, but I could not find "him". It was like a dream where you wake up, remember having the dream and forgetting every detail.
I tried looking everywhere just to see where he went and still found nothing. Even after I left the cafeteria for my first class, I kept looking for the mysterious stranger. Where did he go, I thought to myself as I was still trying to wrap my brain around what just happened and why. Why am I even trying? I mean, it's not like I'm going to see him--
Thump.
"Hey!" It was at that moment I knew that my day just got worse. "Watch where your..... Ah, Joe Backsberg. I was actually looking for you."
Even before I had fully recovered I was backing away from the one I bumped into. Smiling at me was Chase. Chase was about the same age as me and only slightly taller. He was also part of the running team and he was one of the fastest members. He had blonde hair with gray tips that covered his ears. I had known Chase for two years by that point and ever since we met we have butt heads. Sometimes I wonder if it was me who started it.
"I heard that you got into trouble with some of my friends," Chase continued with his monologuing as I tried to find a way out of this. Before I could react, Chase wrapped his arm around me and herded me to a less populated area. "From what I've been told, you started a fight with them when they were just having a good time. That's not cool man." I suddenly found myself shoved up to a wall with Chase gripping my shoulder firmly. Instinctively, I used my free hand to grab Chase's wrist, but he grabbed it with his free hand. I tried to struggle, but he eventually was able to slam my hand against the wall I was lined too.
I screamed in pain while adding extra volume just in case someone was close by. He continued, "Look, man, I know that we aren't exactly friends or anything, but you should know better. If you disrespect me or my friends you get punished. I've let you get away with stuff in the past and now you went and crossed the line."
His grip was painfully tight and unyielding. Dang, was his hands always this strong? "If you're looking for revenge or something," I said through gritted teeth, "then you chose a crappy place to do it. Surely you know cameras are watching."
"He ha. You think that I care? Even if someone found out, in the end, I will still get away with it."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." This time, a voice came from someone else.
Chase immediately released me allowing me to drop to my knees. When I looked up, his back was turned to me while he was facing a man that was about 6 foot tall. The man was wearing a black tux, pants, and shoes with a star-studded necktie. His hair was black and slicked back.
"What are you doing here?" said Chase. He sounded scared, which was weird because even when he was talking to the principle he would have a calm demeanor.
"I'm here for a business matter," said the man calmly, "and you should be in class." Without another word, Chase made his way down the hall. It amazed me to find someone who I haven't seen at the school before have the ability to make someone like Chase do what he asked and get no back talk. The thing was, I have seen this man before in the cafeteria. I knew this man but from where? Wait, did I know this person? I was positive I've never seen him before today. No, that can't be right.....
"Excuse me." I snapped out of my daze and realized that I had been staring at him. "Do you need help getting up?" The man said reaching his hand towards me.
"No, I got it," I replied. Using the wall behind me for support, I slowly got to my feet feeling a little dizzy.
"You're not hurt, are you?" He asked.
"I'm fine."
"That's good. Your name is Joe Backsberg, correct?"
"Yes."
"Follow me." Turning on his heels, he began walking in the same direction Chase went.
"To where?" I asked.
Turning his head with a great smile, he replied as if the answer was supposed to be funny, "The principal's office. And just in case you are wondering, you are not in trouble. I promise, once we get there, I will begin to answer the many questions you have."
My heart stopped when he said "principal's office", and then relaxed soon after. As we walked down the halls, I got this unsettling feeling from the lack of questions I was asking myself. For instance, when I should have asked "What does he want with me?" My mind thinks "Man, this guy is strange". I ended up not doing a lot of thinking and by the time we got to our destination, I couldn't help but get nervous.
The mystery man was the first to walk in with me on his heels. Ms. February was sitting behind her desk with her hands on it while wearing a gentle smile. It was the kind of smile that was all lip and no teeth but still made it clear that she was happier than I have ever seen her, to my knowledge. But my memory was bad anyway.
"Good morning, Joe. Would you like to take a seat?" I did, taking the one on the right of the desk. "In case you were unaware, this man is professor Clayton Crown. He is a faculty member for WCU." Realizing that I had no idea who or what any of those things she mentioned were, she continued "WCU stands for White Castle University. Professor Crown has come to personally invite you to register." At the mention of White Castle, the area around my eyes began to tighten. After she was done talking, I turned to this Crown person while my pulse picked up its pace.
"Why?" I asked.
It was the professor that continued. "According to the records I was given, you are quite a studious kid. However, your somewhat violent nature has caused problems among your peers. Fortunately, we just so happen to give out scholarships if you're willing to accept them."
I was lost in thought for a while until Ms. February snapped me out of them. "Sorry," I said. "What do you need me to do?"
"Just keep doing what you're doing and don't get into any trouble again." Says the professor. "And just contact me if you do want to apply." He took a business card out of the pocket on his tux and gave it to me. It had the name of the university in bold gold letters at the top along with his name and contact information in black. I turned it around to make sure if there was anything on the back. There wasn't.
I thanked the professor for the card and the opportunity followed by Ms. February, who gave him a much longer thanks. I was then given a late pass and was sent off to my current class. As I left the principal's office, I noticed that the professor was sitting on a bench near the door reading a book. I walked up in front of him and made sure that I knew what I wanted to say to him. As I did that, he looked up from his book meeting his eyes with mine. "Did you have a question?" he asked.
"More than a couple, but I feel like most of them are either weird or stupid."
"I don't believe in stupid questions, as a great man once told me 'If you ask a question you're a fool for 5 seconds if you don't you're a fool for life'."
"Right. Ok, first off, why was I chosen."
Professor Crown looked taken aback; tilting his head and narrowing his eyes. "What do you mean by chosen. Is it not common for colleges to try and get graduating high schoolers to come to their schools."
"Yes, but not too many colleges send a personal messenger to tell said student about their school," I replied. "On top of that, I have never even heard of this White Castle until yesterday." I pulled out the business card he gave me just to be sure I was saying the name of the school right.
"So what are you trying to say?"
"The offer that you are giving me is great. I'd be an idiot to turn this down. But what did I do to earn this? Why was I, a kid with a case of ADHD, who is making a C average in all his class--excluding history and maybe one other subject--, and gets into messes that may or may not be his fault end up getting something like this when he hasn't done anything significant like joining the Beta club?"
He smiled. Then he began to laugh. I couldn't tell whether he was mocking me or he found genuine humor in what I said. When he was done, he looked around with a more serious expression. I looked around with him to see what he was looking for.
"I know you have questions--more than you may know--but we are too exposed right here. I love answering questions, it means I'm teaching something, but now is not the place nor the time."
"Why not? Who are you, really?"
"You know that's not the right question. You'll get your answer, but right now don't you have a class to get to?"
I didn't move for a while as I kept my eyes locked on him. This man knew something that went beyond a university. He had secrets, plans, and vast knowledge of something I couldn't grasp. Did it have something to do with asendeits? Was he asking me to join a special kind of school for people who were awakened? That didn't make sense since I wasn't awakened. Did this go beyond even asendeits?
I blinked. Then I shook my head. It happened again where I felt like I knew something but didn't know how to piece it together. Confused, I left the man to his book knowing once again there was nothing else I could ask him. Before I turned the corner, I got one more look at the professor, then I looked at my watch and went to my class.
While I was sitting in class, I started to think about what could be happening to me. Maybe I was gaining powers of some kind. It wasn't unusual for someone my age. Perhaps, but I wasn't holding my breath.
When school ended, I decided to walk home again to give myself time to think without distractions. Halfway home, I started to get the feeling I was being followed. I turned and saw that someone was behind me. I didn't know him, but I have seen him around Chase. It clicked with me that more guys were near and I immediately got tense. But when I turned around, my path was blocked by none other than Chase, another guy, and a girl. I didn't know the guy by name, but the girl was Chase's girlfriend Bre. She had long brunette hair and eyes so light some people have claimed they were white. If I had to explain her expression, I would have to say she looked bored on the verge of a fit. No, wait that sounds stupid. She just looked intimidating.
When I saw them there, I jumped back in fear. How did they get there? I thought. Did I get distracted? But I would've seen them coming.
"What's wrong Joe?" Chase asked, looking concerned. "Did I scare you?"
"What are you doing here, Chase?" I said, scared out of my mind while keeping the tone of my voice steady and calm.
Chase and his friends smiled and then I felt a great force hit the back of my neck. Crap. I thought. Forgot about them. Then I blacked out.
I woke up with a start. There was a pain in the back of my neck, but I expected that. I then notice Chase and his friends standing in front of me. There were five of them. Bre was holding my phone; no doubt trying to unlock it. Chase looked annoyed. My backpack was behind then with all the compartments open and the contents scattered everywhere. We were deep enough in the woods so that if noises were made, no one would be able to hear.
"The prodigal son is awake," says Chase. Using the tree behind me for support, I got off the ground. I didn't understand what he said, so I dismissed it.
"What the heck, Chase," I said through gritted teeth. Man, my neck was killing me.
"Which one of your parents is a werewolf. Or are they both; do you even know."
I took a moment to make sure I heard him right. "What?"
"I'm telling you, Chase," says Bre who seemed to have given up on my phone and put it in her pocket. "If he was born a werewolf, we would have known."
"I heard that Claymore takes any random human and puts them through an experiment that turns them into Silver." says one of Chase's friends.
"That's bull crap," says Chase angrier than before. He turns to me and continues. "What did he tell you?"
"Who?" Now I was getting scared and I don't say that enough. I was outnumbered, but when it came to Chase's people, that's nothing new. What got to me was the fact that Chase--the calm, cool jock--was getting angry and the last thing I said didn't make things better.
"Claymore! Dang it, Joe, pay attention to the conversion." As Chase was ranting, his eyes began to change into a glowing orange. The area around his eyes began to change into a slick grayish blue and was spreading across his face. As if caught on to the fact that he was losing his temper, he turned his head while shutting his eyes tightly. Whatever was spreading across his face began to reside. Taking a deep breath, he used his hand to comb his hair back. Once he was situated, he returned his attention to me and smiled; obviously pleased by what he saw.
Now I'm scared. Not because Chase was lashing out, but because everyone else didn't give a dime. Chase wasn't human--or at least wasn't just human. Was he an awakened asendeit? I guess that explains why he could run so fast, but why did his eyes and skin change colors like that? Whenever I've seen someone use their abilities, nothing physically changes about them. "What are you?" I said, gripping the tree behind me to keep my body from trembling.
"Well that's just rude, Joe," says Chase. "Here you are, bombarding me with questions and you don't answer mine. Maybe you forgot. I asked, what did Claymore tell you? I know you two talk a little."
"And then I asked you, who the heck is Claymore?"
"The guy with the tux."
"Professor Crown?"
"Is that really his alias?" says Bre. "I'm shocked."
"I-I don't know what you want me to tell you." I could no longer hold the fear in. I didn't know how to get out. "He was talking about how he wanted me to go to his college; White Ca---"
First came the force that pinned my arm to the tree. Then came the pain. I was so focused on it that I couldn't feel the blood run down my arm. Chase was now completely turned with his glowing orange eyes and every patch of skin now a slick grayish-blue. His fingernails had extended to a good five, six, maybe seven inches long. This change was also apparent on the other four; their hair remaining the same.
Chase then grabbed my other arm and threw me in the direction of his friends. As I was in the air, it was hard for me to focus on anything other than the blood running out of me. I was just realizing that I was airborne when something hit my right leg. Immediately after, a similar force hit my left leg. Both strikes slowed my momentum allowing me to drop to the ground; knocking the air out of me with a swoosh. My vision blurred, but I was still conscious. The inside of my head was rattling like bees in a hive. Two seconds after, I felt something warm run down my legs starting where I was hit. Two more seconds in and the pain made itself known to me making my vision fade even deeper into the black. All I could do was scream all the while knowing that only five people could hear.
"I told you," said Bre, flicking my blood off of her elongated claws. "If he were a werewolf, he would have at least put up more of a fight."
"So what now?" said the other attacker. "After we kill him, I mean. We are going to kill him, right?"
"Even if we do, there's nothing here that will suggest it was us," says Chase allowing the blood to drip from his claws. "And if Claymore finds out, he can't do much. This will be looked at as a couple of leatherbacks killing a human. In other words, we'll be fine."
I couldn't hear what they were saying. All I could hear was the intense buzzing, feel the horrible pain I felt throughout my body and taste the dirt and blood that covered my mouth. Am I going to die? I thought. Is this how it ends for me?
NO!
That voice. It was my voice loud and clear in my head. The buzzing had dissipated and my breathing was steady again. The pain I had felt died down to a numb feeling. I still had the taste of dirt and blood in my mouth, but it no longer scared me. Slowly I got to my feet; undisturbed and in no hurry.
"What is this?' asked Chase.
"Look!" exclaimed one of his friends. "His wounds are healing." So that's why the pain left me. I continued to rise to my feet.
Chase turns to his girlfriend, his eyes twisted with fear and anger. "What was that you said about him being human?" he said through gritted teeth.
"I was sure. There was no doubt," says Bre, afraid of what she was seeing and hurt that she caused her boyfriend to get angry.
"What does it matter? He's just one werewolf." said another companion.
At that statement, I was already on my feet taking a deep breath. It was refreshing. In that one breath, I could smell the fresh leaves on the trees, their bark, the dead and decaying things on the ground. I could smell a salt scent and five individual scents; the scent of adrenaline and fear. As soon as my lungs were filled, instead of screaming, I let out a mighty roar that sent the birds above us taking off into the sky and rattling the branches they left behind. To Chase and his gang, the force hit them like a strong gust of wind that threatened to knock them off their feet.
"This is magical power." Chase had to yell over the intense howl so that the other could hear him.
Finally, I stopped. My whole body was a buzz while my heart raced at uncontrollable speed. I had to take a deep breath in order to get enough air in my body. Then, I start to hear rustling. I turned to look behind me and saw as three of Chase's friends were running towards me. Chase tried to stop them, but they kept going with their claws extended. The one in the middle keeps moving in my direction while the other two flanked either side of me.
I took a sidestep to the left grabbing the dude's arm and threw him into the guy coming from the right. Next, I tried to punch the third guy coming, but he was able to duck in time. However, with the help of some internal instinct, I raised my knee which landed a blow to his face. As he was falling backward I heard the sound of tearing the fabric. When I turned to see what it was, I was met with a scratch to the face which made me jerk in the other direction. Soon after, I was met with similar blows throughout my body leading to more tearing and the feeling of being poked. Enough, I thought. Instinctively, I stretched out my fingers as they began to feel stiffer and longer. I swung my right hand through the air and was met with what I assumed was flesh. With my left hand, I swept the ground; tripping the other guy and made him airborne. While my target was still in the air, I balled my hand into a clenching fist and brought down a bunch directly in the middle of his back. His landing caused debris to scatter around him. Not long after, there was another thump. Turned out that the guy I sliced through had just made contact with the ground. There were four claw marks where his rib cage should be and was slowly bleeding out. The one that I kneed in the face was on his back showing signs that his nose had bled a bit.
Well, that was three. That left Chase and Bre. I looked in their direction and saw a surplus of emotions on their faces that really didn't fit them. Bre's eyes were wide in shock and her mouth was dropped low enough for any small insect to fly in no problem. In contrast, Chase's teeth were clenched and his eyes were narrowed. However, I could see that his hands were shaking slightly.
Chase took a moment to assess the situation. He knew his race was not by any means strong which was why they stayed in groups. Even still, most monsters would think twice before starting a fight with a group of leatherbacks.
Regardless of all the facts, the greatest shock was that this person, who was once thought to be human, defeated three well-trained leatherbacks after being skewered and shredded. Chase turned his head with eyes closed allowing himself to revert back into his human form. "Bre, get Rick and meet me at the place." Bre did as he said and picked up the guy that I kneed. Chase processed by picking up the other two in silence and avoiding any eye contact with me.
I watched as they worked until they were gone from my sites and their smell became faint. It was then everything went black.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Jalen_Gaskin
Jalen_Gaskin If there is one thing that will get me to write a chapter, it's the fight I get to invision.
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