05. A prince, a king, and a leader

Blinking politely Raphaēl considered his options. Could he say no to a prince he was in the same class in and could possibly break his arm? No that would not be a smart decision, he decided, "We can always study before classes start!" He suggested wanting to check out the library in the morning, it was a little late and he was exhausted via travel.

With a smile that sent shivers down his spine, he was dragged from his soothing room. The way his eyebrows raised with squinted eyes, and that cat-like smile only made him feel like he should not of said anything.

He also knew his arms would be bruised, he thought. As soon as he was released he noticed that they were now in the sea prince's room. It was quite beautiful.

His room was decorated with clams as a centerpiece bed, and multiple large chandeliers with smaller ones, in a bright pink colour scheme. His wallpaper was blue with drippings of white which seemed like the night sky, or perhaps the deep sea as coral wrapped around the walls and cabinet-shelves in a deep purple.

He wished to know how coral survived, but was momentarily distracted by the furniture. It seemed like the bedrooms were larger, despite seeming small on the outside. If he were correct the only rooms on floor two to explore any more were bedrooms, library plus study room, and also the indoor gym.

The furniture seemed to defy gravity with how his nightstand looked like an octopus with tentacles breaching, holding fried squid jerky…

For a second he wondered what exactly counted as cannibalism. He's a fish? But half? He merely decided to not ponder that specific deep dive until he noticed the piles up snacks which all related to seafood. Fish, cephalopod, eels, and even shark.

"Sea folk eat literally any type of fish…" he began to furiously scribble in his notebook. They also had furniture built to look like other sea creatures.

As the boy furiously wrote and broke who knows what number of pencils that night, the prince reached for his deskdrawer. Messily thrown together were a list of papers surprisingly I crumpled.

"Rael~, please help me do the entry homework?" Axul cooed, the smaller boy closing the ravennette's notebook, while putting his papers on top. Their fingers touched briefly and lingered before he pulled away.

He looked up at the taller boy and gently smiled. "Actually the entrance exam, and assignment too were difficult! Aha would you help pretty please?" The sea-creature batted his eyelids.

He had to admit this boy was much more charming than the people of his village. Even if he was not upfront nor pleading he gave off a feeling around him that made you want to help.

Had he really not done the entrance questions? "We had three months…? Did you not understand what they meant?" He asked tilting his head. The sheet was not difficult, and to be handed in first day.

Even with someone who has limited knowledge of the world he could answer about how the "Darkness Amongst the Interspecies Light." clearly. He managed to put his name on the top, very messy letters.

The prince coughed and eyes shifted. "Uhm you see… I can't read," he begun while pulling out a dictionary, from the bottle shelf of a stand on an opposite corner of his bed.

The dictionary was thick, and upon opening the language was vastly different. "My elective will be merman language! An easy pass, but not general language." That made sense.

He hasn't considered the thought other species had different languages. All paperwork was written in, and submitted, in the human language called "English", one of the multiple remaining ones.

Of course if humans had studied language, others would. And the people of the sea away from humans, would not know English. "You speak the language well for a person who just found out it existed, he muttered." Causing the small pink-haired boy to tilt his head.

"You don't know? We have this language, it's common amongst the population especially in our school of a hundred to seven hundred. On my part I didn't want to learn it." He explained bluntly.

There shattered all his hopes. Down in the notebook, merman have their alphabet but most species learn English as common ground, however his roommate refused to learn. "So funny."

The human couldn't help his chuckle. "You're surprisingly not that scary, want me to translate?" He asked with a smile and happy to help. He worried that after their first impression the two would be on bad terms but seems the opposite.

The prince stiffened slightly but he didn't notice as he begun scanning the questions. "Starting off with your environment, how is your homeland different than the residential territory of the VIA college?" green-eyed boy asked.

And like that, the homework session of their very first assignment begun. Four hours had nearly passed as he was constantly distracted by knowledge and begun questioning.

As they finished, he looked to the clock with droopy eyes, he had nearly panicked getting up. Excusing himself, he rushed out and hid his roommate goodnight during their very first stay.

As soon as the tall boy left, the prince tsked. Slowly, he got up and stretched. He made sure the door was completely closed, glaring.

"Huh?" The prince muttered as his attitude shifted. He walked over to a wall, voided eyes. His leg slammed hard and made a large thud by the wall. "Do you think I'm cute? Don't be fooled, human. You will die with that attitude." He muttered before turning back to normal.

His voice mere seconds ago as gruff and scary as though he were actually attempting to fight the imaginary figure in front of him. Now he returned to a small boy of innocence while giggling "No worries! As long as you behave you'll have no troubles."

Meanwhile, the human had found his room on the opposite end, next to one of his other roommate's. It was a little sad how distant they were at the moment. He felt safer next to the peach-eyed child than a vampire or unidentified species who likely could break his wrist by looking at him.

Now that he entered, he could see his room clearly. Spacious and extravagant. A centre bed made of real wood and the largest, softest, fluffiest mattress he had ever been on. The size of the bed could fit five to four men his size!

The sheets were a lovely ivory-green to match the scheme of the plants which hung over the room and soft curtain drapes to remind him of his home. The forest still remained within him.

The desk was not as large as the one by his office but sufficed. His bathroom too, was extravagant. He had forgot his things in his roommate's room but did not feel like waking him.

Now awake rather than tired through the anxiety of forgetting and exploring he stepped out. The balcony was beautiful and firm. Seems like they weren't connected…

Oh "Why, hello there." The littler of the two smiled. The silver hair man turned all of a sudden and he nearly felt a twinge in his heart.

The man was looking at the moon with a hint of envy. His eyes were barely seen but looked sorrowful as he turned before turning to unapproachable, his figure ever so graceful and elegant as the coat draped over him had long sleeves covering his mouth and each expression.

His hair was now untied reaching the floor. The hair loosely curled and he wondered if it ever got stuck. Do vampires get haircuts? Or did this man prefer long hair?

Even his night attire was elegant. Royal purple with clouds and the sky. Probably warm, unlike what he wore which was thinner than some materials for such a cold night breeze, a bad time to moongaze.

He felt a chill down his spine but chose to pay no mind to his reaction to the cold. His curiosity got the better of him instead. "Are you having a rough time settling? Or perhaps you're like me unable to sleep." He in truth wanted to know whether vampires were truly nocturnal

The king seemed taken aback but did not falter. "As for you being unable to sleep, that is unusual. Humans tire easily as the weak creatures they are born as. However my case, the moon is like the sun."

"Really? Do you feel refreshed? How do you stay awake during morning? Do you feel tired at certain time of day the most?" The boy piled the questions after his curiosity over took, forgetting the dangers of the vampire king's presence while they held a minimum word conversation.

As his body stepped closer to the ledge it was nearly about to fall off. Although very abnormal of him… the vampire king stepped closer and could once again feel the warmth of his breath.

"You're going to fall." He muttered stretching his arms to steady the boy back. He could feel Raphaēl shiver after the touch but his bright eyes never faltered.

Let looking at the moon pale in comparison he thought as the boy's eyes were shinier than jewels. He joyfully stopped to hear what he had to say. "As the king, time is irrelevant." Was all he told the boy.

Perhaps a selfish part of him hoped or rather wished… to feel the warmth once more than he would come out tomorrow or during the morning to ask another. Taking off his cloak he threw it towards the boy.

Although unnecessary as his blood always his freeze, the king will always be seen wearing some form of long sleeves, unknown as to why. He always wanted to feel warmth in his over abundance of cold of the tundra within his heart and body he thought as he watched the boy walk off.

A sad yet disappointed look but very exhausted. Perhaps his lack of sleep drove him to talk to a monster. Surprisingly he wasn't cold despite feeling nearly frostbitten earlier in heavily clad clothing, but the monster who started a war which nearly extincted the humans merely shook his head denying the conversation and headed in.