Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Eyes Surround Me
In a misty place, Jon sees a boy who was crying, as he was being pressured by his parents to do better in grades. Despite the urge for Jon to help, he couldn't do anything.
"Stupid child! I told you that you need a perfect score on all your tests!" The mother spits, as her eyes burn with anger.
"Yeah! Look at your test scores. You made one mistake! Why did you get any? You should have gotten a perfect score." The father says, in a bossy tone, while his face showed anger as he grabbed his belt.
"Please! Stop!" The kid says, as his father beaten him with a belt, while he was all bruised up, with tears falling down his eyes.
Jon was shocked in horror, as he saw the kid being mercilessly beaten by his ruthless parents, while their parents showed no remorse.
"We won't stop until you find the factorial of x in number 10." The mother says as the father kept beating the kid with the belt.
"P- Please! Stop! All my other tests have a perfect score!" The kid says, while his voice was breaking, as the bruises he had became cuts that made him bleed.
Suddenly, Jon wakes up, remembering the scene, as his eyes enlarge with sweat all over his face while he breathes heavily. "What on earth was that?" Jon says as he was traumatized by the sight of the kid being beaten.
"Was that… a dream?" Jon says, as he gets up from bed and prepares for the first day in school.
"Whatever happened there, it felt like it had happened before," Jon says, as he was looking through his closet for his uniform, as he saw his brown hair messed up, and his pupils constricted in fear.
"Was it just me or was the kid's experience slightly familiar," Jon says, as he puts on his new uniform.
"Well, whatever it was, I'll just continue with my day," Jon says as he leaves his dorm room, while he was still in shock from the dream he had.
"My parents wouldn't treat me like that, but why did I feel like I was used to it?" Jon thought as he stared into nothingness, as he calmed down, his heartbeat slowly returned to normal and his pupils dilated.
"Why did it feel so real, even when it's just a dream?" Jon thought as he was approaching the academy's grounds.
"It felt like I was in that situation before…" Jon thought as he was in deep thought, not thinking of his surroundings.
As Jon walked towards the academy, he heard gossip coming from all directions on the red brick path that led to the gates.
"I feel strange…" Jon thought as he was approaching the gates of the academy. "Wh-what on earth is this emotion… it's making me feel like I'm being isolated."
As Jon walks towards the gates of the academy, a light blue-haired student approaches Jon, which makes him change his focus from his thoughts. "Hey there! You look like you're a commoner. What brings you here?" The student says as he reached out his hand.
"I'm attending the school," Jon says, as he grabbed the student's hand and shook it. "I'm Jon Arnvell."
"I'm Matthias von Dolivé, from the Dolivé family. You may call me Matthias." The student says, as he smiles and shakes hands with Jon.
As the two shook hands, everyone in the area was shocked, as a mere commoner was interacting with a high-ranked noble without any form of deference or submission.
Matthias notices the shocked expressions of the people around them and rolls his eyes. "Don't mind them. They're just surprised to see a noble talking to a commoner like you." Matthias says, with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Jon raises an eyebrow at Matthias' words but decides not to dwell on it. "Thanks for the heads up," Jon says as they both entered the gates of the academy.
As they walk through the academy's courtyard, Jon notices that there are a lot of nobles around, and they all seem to be looking down on him. He tries his best to ignore them and focuses on finding his way towards the welcoming ceremony for the freshmen who will be attending this year.
As he walks through the hallway, he bumps into a beautiful girl with long, brown hair and brown eyes. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Jon says as he helped the girl pick up her books.
"It's okay." The girl says, with a smile. "I'm Natasha Froebel, from the Froebel family."
"I'm Jon Arnvell," Jon says as he handed Natasha her books.
Natasha notices the breach of etiquette and raises an eyebrow. "You're a commoner, right?" Natasha asked, with a hint of disgust in her voice.
Jon nods, feeling a bit uncomfortable under Natasha's gaze. "Yes, I am."
"Well, just make sure you don't get in the way of the nobles, okay?" Natasha says as she walked away, leaving Jon feeling even more out of place.
Jon takes a deep breath and reminds himself why he's here. He's here to get an education and make a better life for himself and his family. He won't let the prejudice of the nobles get in the way of that.
As Jon enters the auditorium, he takes a seat and watches as the school headmaster enters.
"Welcome, freshmen to the Amisyce Academy. Here, we offer-" The headmaster says as his voice can be heard across the room, however, that was his gentle, deep, soothing, yet loud voice that made Jon, and many others doze off in the middle of his speech.
Jon then woke up to the sound of the headmaster closing his speech. "That should conclude my speech. I am your headmaster, Fredrick Froebel." The headmaster spoke, as he stepped off the podium, where Jon could see many people waking up from their slumber.
"What happened?" A student says, stretching his arms and yawning, as he wakes up.
"The headmaster gave his speech about equal treatment of each person, but I don't think it's that important." Another student says as he sits next to the newly awoken student.
Jon stood up as the bell rang, trying to find his classroom, which was named N-343. However, while walking in the halls, he stumbled upon Matthias, who was walking in the same direction.
"Hey Mr. Matthias, are you perhaps going to class N-343?" Jon asked.
"Yeah. Are you also in that class?" Matthias says, asking Jon.
"Yep. Hey, let's walk together to class, shall we? I don't know where to go." Jon says as he puts his hand behind his head with a smile.
"Sure. I know the way there since I visited my siblings here before." Matthias says as he walks with Jon.
"U-uh… why is everyone staring at me? What is wrong with nobles and commoners walking together?" Jon asked.
"Because nobles have this sort of superiority complex over the other social ranks, thinking that they are on top and seeing the others on different social ranks to be animals or something. I don't discriminate, so I only see you as a normal person.
As Jon enters his classroom with Matthias, Jon sees more people staring at him. Matthias looks towards a shaken Jon, feeling like he is being isolated.
"Wanna sit next to each other?" Matthias asks as he offers Jon to sit next to him, to try to stop the others from staring at them.
"Sure! I'll take this one next to the window." Jon says as he sits in his chair.
"So, is it just me or every person here in the academy are nobles?" Jon asked as he was slightly feeling out of place.
"Well, yeah," Matthias says as he looks around the classroom. "But, don't worry. I'm sorry for my fellow nobles that have been rude to you." Matthias says, in a reassuring tone. "Although there are nobles who are rude to commoners, there are also kind nobles." Matthias further stated as he calmed Jon down.
"Oh, okay. I'm glad to hear that." Jon says as he looks around the class.
However, as Jon looked around the class, he saw the girl that he bumped into earlier who was friendly to everyone except Jon, who when she saw him immediately freaked out.
"Why am I in the same class as this filthy commoner?" Natasha says as she was disgusted by the presence of Jon.
"What's wrong with that?" Jon says, as he was annoyed by Natasha.
"Well, it's because you're not supposed to be here!" Natasha says, as her statement can be heard across the classroom.
"I did pass the entrance exam, so I am free to attend this school," Jon says, as he replied to her discriminatory remarks.
"Ugh, I don't like arguing with people with such filth." Natasha says, as she looked away with disgust.
"Gosh, I hate arguing with stupid people" Jon thought, as he was bitter about his classmate.
"Why do I feel like I've seen him before?" Natasha thought, as she scratched her head to her dilemma.
As everyone was gossiping around the classroom, the teacher entered the class, where all the students zipped their mouths.
"Good morning class. I'm Ms. Elana, your homeroom teacher." The teacher says, as she smiled happily. "As you may know, we have a commoner in this class." Ms. Elana says, as she looked towards Jon with a hint of disgust, while showing a smile, hiding her true emotion.
"Wow… I'm really not welcomed here." Jon thought, as he could see through the smile of the teacher.
"Well anyway, we'll start by introducing ourselves to the class." Ms. Elana says, as she grabbed a notebook with a brown color that seems to be made out of expensive leather from the wooden desk.
As she opened the notebook, she checked the attendance of the students by making the students introduce themselves.
"Alright, to start our attendance, you will have to introduce yourselves in front of the class." Ms. Elana says, as she read the notebook.
As everyone introduced themselves, Jon was getting ready for his introduction. "What should I say?" Jon asked himself, as he stared into the window. "Will they welcome me?" Jon thought, as his attention was focused on his thoughts.
"Mr. Arnvell! It's your turn to introduce yourself." Ms. Elana says, as she switched Jon's focus towards her.
"Ah! Right, it's my turn now." Jon says, as he walked towards the teacher.
"I'm Jon Arnvell. uhm… I'm 13, and I guess I'm just a commoner." Jon says, as his hands were shaking in his nervousness.
"Would you mind telling us about your situation?" Ms. Elana says, as she was hoping to humiliate Jon in front of his classmates.
"Oh, uhm… I was admitted here by the headmaster, Fredrick Froebel." Jon replied, as he simply smiled towards the teacher.
"W-What is this aura…" Ms. Elana thought, as she sensed an overwhelming surge of power emanating from Jon.
"W-wait, the headmaster!?" Ms. Elana says, as she was bewildered by the sudden announcement.
"Yeah, he actually-" Jon says, as he was cut off by a classmate.
"Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure my father won't admit a commoner like you." Natasha says, as she interrupted Jon, her blood boiling with anger.
"Ms. Froebel, cut it out. Let him speak." Ms. Elana says, as her eyes rolled towards Natasha with a hint of spite.
"Well, I guess it's your choice whether to believe it or not." Jon says, as he returned to his seat, while gazes of distrust and jealousy were seen by Jon.
"Are they mad at me?" Jon thought, as he was gazing into the blue sky that slowly became more cloudy overtime.
"Alright class, that should be all for the attendance. I'll be leaving now." Ms. Elana says as she walked away from the classroom.
increasingly.
"W-wait… Arnvell?" Natasha thought as she was figuring out who Jon is. "Isn't he-"
"Ms. Froebel! I've called you three times in a row!" A teacher named Mr. Earnest says in an agitated tone, as he strode towards Natasha. Natasha's eyes widened in surprise, and she quickly looked up from her work, realizing that she had been lost in thought and had not heard the teacher's calls.
"O-Oh yes! May I ask you what you were asking Mr. Earnest?" Natasha replied as she was startled, as she was distracted while she was lost in thought.
"I was asking you what is 6 divided by 2." Mr. Earnest says, as he looked towards Natasha's eyes.
"U-uh…" Natasha stammered as she didn't know how to answer the question. "N-no idea."
"And see class! That is why you need to listen to your teacher during your class." Mr. Earnest says as he returns back to his seat in front of the class.
"Now you, commoner, stand up and answer what is 36 divided by 6 in front of the board Mr Arnvell. " Mr. Earnest says sarcastically as he sees Jon gazing into the window.
As Jon walked towards the board, he heard a voice from within him as Mr Earnest laughed, thinking that nobody could even solve that question, as it required nobles to study in a prestegious university in order to solve the problem.
"The answer is 6. This is an easy question. 6 multiplied by 6 is 36, therefore the answer is 6. By the way, you should remember something by now." The voice says faintly, as it was barely heard by Jon.
"I'm done now, sir." Jon says as he walks back towards his seat, as he was hiding his confusion from everyone.
"W-what!?" Mr Earnest says, as his eyes widened as his mouth spelt shock, as his skin became pale.
"Y-you solved it!?" Mr. Earnest says as he was bewildered by such intellect displayed by Jon.
"It was an easy problem, Mr. Earnest." Jon says as he was contemplating his inner voice, wondering where it came from.
"Can someone else hear this voice?" Jon thought deeply, as he stared into the window once again.
"No?" Jon says within his thoughts. "Alright, then what was the thing about remembering something?" Jon thought, as he slowly started to hallucinate.
"W-wait, why can I understand these hard problems now? They seem so easy to solve." Jon thought as he slowly remembered some math skills which seems to be from his past life, however he is not aware of knowing such knowledge in the past or any knowledge about a past life.
Time passed, and math class was finished as Mr. Earnest walked away from the room, baffled by the intellect displayed by his student.
"W-who is that kid!?" Mr. Earnest thought as he walked towards his next class.
"He's not even a noble? How on earth could he solve a problem as difficult as that!?" Mr. Earnest thought as cold sweat dripped from his face.
As Mr Earnest walks away from the class, Ms. Elana enters the room, feeling a slight sense of importance and excitement.
"Class, today we'll be conducting tests to measure each student's soul strength." Ms. Elana says as she was joyous due to the fact that she could finally teach the class without the commoner.
"Your soul has power in which everyone can use magic, and you probably already know this as a noble, however there is a commoner here who is oblivious to magic. Now, everyone has their own soul types and soul strengths. Some are high, some are low. Some are fast, and some are slow." Ms. Elana explained to the students.
"Soul strength is how strong your soul is. You may also see the element or type that your soul has. Each person is usually given 1 element, but some may have two, like me." Ms. Elana says as she pulls out both of her hands to show a wind ball on one hand, and a plant that grew from her palm on the other. "See?" Ms. Elana said confidently as the students were amazed.
"The most common elements are wind and water." Ms. Elana says as she drew a ball of wind like the one she had earlier, and a flowing water that seemed like it was flowing from one's hand.
"Next, we have the rarer elements, which are grass and earth." Ms. Elana says as she drew a rock that floats within one's hand and a blooming plant from one's palm like the one she had earlier.
"Lastly, we have extremely rare elements, which are fire and shock." Ms. Elana says as she draws a fire burning from a hand and electricity charging up on another hand.
"Although these elements may be rare, there is a legend about people having light and dark elements, which are elements that have extreme power and are incredibly rare to have. It is also believed that only 4 people in history have both elements." Ms. Elana said, drawing a ring of light levitating from one hand and a dark gassy-like aura levitating from the other.
There were a multitude of reactions from the students, mainly positive ones, as they could finally prove to everyone their strength.
"Alright, we'll be conducting the test today so everyone should line up." Ms. Elana says as she instructed the students to go to the testing room.
As the students arrive at the testing room, they see a shining crystal ball which size is comparable to that of an adult human, as it shines across the room.
The students stare in awe of the glimmering ball that attracts the attention of everyone. "Woah!" Most of the students says as they enter the test room.
"Alright class, today we'll be testing your magical strength and for this week, we will try to awaken your element." Ms. Elana says with a hint of excitement, as she knew that she would not have to deal with the commoner, as Jon would most likely end up in the worst Class, Class F.
As one of the students walked towards the crystal ball, it suddenly reacted with a wind ball that slowly expanded as the student walked closer to it. The wind ball managed to grow a few more centimeters before the examiner graded the student, where it disappeared as the student walked away.
"Next! Natasha Froebel!" The examiner says.
As Natasha walks towards the ball, many students watch and admire the beauty of Natasha. Suddenly, a bright ring of light surrounds a plant that looks like an ivy. As Natasha walked towards it, it kept growing larger, almost filling the crystal ball.
The examiner was surprised, as Natasha has two elements, one being light, and a soul strength that was high.
The next person was called out, which was Matthias. As he walked towards the ball, a blob of water appeared that became larger and larger as he walked towards the ball, eventually standing next to it. The blob of water had something odd about it, however.
Jon saw Matthias' odd blob of water which almost filled the whole ball, he saw a small amount of dark gas fill up some of the air bubbles.
Matthias stood next to the ball, impressing the examiner yet again, as Matthias seemed to have the strongest soul strength among his class, as there was only one person left.
Matthias walked away, finishing the test. As he was walking away, he tapped on Jon's shoulder. "Good luck, my friend." He whispered, as he walked away with a dismissing wave.
As Matthias went to the spectator's room, he felt relieved, as he could finally make a name for himself and become the heir of the family. However, as he sighed in relief, Jon started stepping towards the ball.
All the students were thinking that Jon would be the weakest, as he is the only commoner in the school. However, as Jon took a step closer to the ball, it started to crack, as a ring of light surrounded the ball with a dark gas emitting from it.
As he kept taking steps towards the ball, the ring of light became brighter and grew rapidly, alongside with the dark gas that grew and became darker and more visible.
As Jon neared the ball, hints of a few different colors appeared, like a rainbow, and a liquid state of the dark gas started to reek from the ball's cracks.
Everyone stood there shocked, as Jon kept walking towards the ball.
"Wait, stop!-" the examiner said, trying to keep Jon away from the ball, as he kept walking towards it.
Suddenly, the ball shattered as Jon took one more step closer.
As the ball shattered, all the students ran away in fear of the shards and Jon's power that flew across the room.
The examiner and Ms. Elana hid under the desks that were nearby, trying to use their magic to protect themselves and the other students, while some of the other school staff tried to dispel the magic, however Jon stood there with no reaction, as the ring of light and the fluid of darkness surrounded the whole academy.
As Jon stood in front of the expanding magic, it duplicated by seven times, causing more chaos in some of the academy's facilities.
The second, third, and fourth years looked towards the window with bulging eyes and surprise, as the teachers who were teaching were frightened.
In the headmaster's office, he was signing some papers until he saw the massive amounts of power, impressed by whoever caused it, as his eyes bulged in surprise. Although he was signing some important papers, his hands stopped to admire the power display.
"Impressive. I didn't know that we'll have one of the eclipsers to enter the academy." The headmaster says as he walks towards his window in his office.
"Hmm. Whoever caused this could be extremely powerful…" the headmaster says as he opens his window.
"Maybe it's Elias' son?" The headmaster says as he questions himself while putting his right hand on his beard. "No, no… he wouldn't be this powerful. I heard he doesn't even have a soul."
"Alright. I've seen enough. I'll dispel this immediately." The headmaster says as he snapped his fingers, making the ring and the fluid disappear.
As the headmaster dispels Jon's magic, the staff in the power checking room lowered their magical shields.
"W-what on earth was that?!" Ms. Elana shouted, as she grabbed Jon's hand and pulled him towards the headmaster's office.
As Ms. Elana was rushing towards the office, while Jon was being pulled by her, the door was already open, where a tall, old man sat earnestly in his seat, putting his leg on top of the other, expecting another student to arrive with the teacher.
"Mr. Headmaster, I apologize for causing the damage." Jon stammered, as he shamefully said his apologies, looking down at the floor.
"I'm impressed, kiddo." The headmaster praises. "Raise your head up, it's nothing to be worried about." The headmaster says, with his deep calm voice.
"You're Jon Arnvell, correct?" The headmaster asks.
"Yes, I am." Jon replied, as his sweat disappeared from his hands.
The headmaster laughs hysterically, "Haha… so you're Elias' son?" Says the headmaster, with the feeling of wanting to jump around, despite his old age.
"Yes sir." Jon says, with an expressionless face. "I am the son of Elias Arnvell, however I am deemed useless by everyone." Jon adds on to his brief reply, feeling as if he was on autopilot.
"Hmm… interesting." The headmaster says. "You may go back to your room. I will deal with the damage caused, as I am the headmaster, responsible for everything that happens in the school."
As Jon and Ms. Elana left, Jon wondered about his emotions and his tone, as he felt like a machine being programmed to say things in one tone. "Hmm, why did I act like that?" Jon thought deeply. "Wait, I feel like I remember something that is a distant memory."
Suddenly, Jon was transported in a misty classroom, where there was a little boy of around 10 months of age, was learning all of the basic mathematical calculations, such as division, addition, subtraction and multiplication.
"Alright class, so addition is when you add things together. If you have 5 apples and 12 other apples, you'd have 17 apples in total. It's as simple as that." A woman said, trying to teach the children math, as a familiar face writes down the solution to every problem.
"Subtraction is when you take away numbers from other numbers. Now, with your 17 apples, your friend can take 6 of them and you'd have 11 remaining." The woman said, as she signals the children to solve the problems in the book.
"Since when was math this simple?" Jon thought. "I now understand this basic math, which would be complicated to people in the world I am in."
The teacher went on to explain multiplication and division to the children, while all of them solved the questions perfectly, as if they were machines that you could program.
As the lesson was finished, Jon was back to the situation where he was earlier, in the hallway walking with Ms Elana.
"U-uhm.." Jon stammered.
"Y-yes?" Ms. Elana says with cold sweat in her hands.
"When will I get the results of the exam, Ms. Elana?" Jon says, knowing that he might get his results late because of the comotion.
"Next week." Ms. Elana replied, as she calmed down.
The day went on as Jon and Matthias ate lunch, where Jon felt more out of place, as all the people were staring at him, noticing his lack of etiquette.
"Hey Matthias, how should I hold my utensils?" Jon asked, noticing the gazes that were like arrows to the chest.
"Oh you should hold it like this." Matthias replied, noticing Jon's observation.
"Hmm, this commoner is really interesting…" Matthias thought deeply. "I used to feel inferior to other people, but I'm slowly getting back my confidence because of him."
"Maybe it's because he's my only friend?" Matthias asked himself, feeling isolated with Jon.
"It could be that others think highly of me, but can't I not live up to their standards?" Matthias pondered, wondering why the nobles expected lots from him.
"Wait…" Matthias thought, feeling like he had hit something.
"If the nobles expect lots from me, aren't all humans the same?" Matthias pondered.
"But this commoner… he's different." Matthias thought, taking the last bite of his meal. "If everyone expects lots from me, they'd think that I'm lucky that I was born in my family and they would do something else if they were me." Matthias sighs, finishing his food.
"So doesn't that mean that everyone is jealous of me?" Matthias pondered, dropping his spoon and fork on the plate.
"Then again, there's still this commoner who isn't jealous of me or the others." Matthias sighs again. "He really is something different."
"Hey Matthias, are you done with your food?" Jon asked, finishing his meal.
"Yeah." Matthias replies.
The two stood up and walked towards the school yard, and eventually walked back to the classroom, where the day carried on normally, where class dismissed and Jon walked back to his dorm room.
"I think I have a new goal set for myself." Jon says, tired from the day, as he was laying in bed. "I want to stand up for the commoners and fix the attitude of all the nobles in school." Jon says with enthusiasm in his eyes, waiting for the sun to set, as dinner was delivered to his room.
"Oh well, this was quite a hurdle of a day. Guess I'll sleep now." Jon yawns, as he lays in bed and gets ready to sleep, as he seeks to become a great mage to protect everyone and establish equality.
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