Power Is Everything

Shanzina Merxado

“Shanz,” Mar said, tugging on my arm, “What if they’re waiting for us outside?”

Polaz flinched as he heard it, still venturing toward the end of the tunnel.

“They won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I connected the dots.” I glanced behind us, noticing we were two short. “Stop, where’s Marius? And your cousin.”

Before I began to walk again, Klaus emerged from the shadows with a furrowed brow and trembling lips. His pupils were dilated, eyes wide.

“Are you okay, Klaus? You look like you’re sick.” Mariella asked.

“I’m fine,” He said, looking at each of us. “I just want us to get out of here.”

“Where’s Marius?” I questioned. As much as he annoyed me with his frequent questioning of my whereabouts, I will not leave him behind in this mess.

Footsteps from behind Klaus eased my worry; Marius emerged into the light.

“We should get going. We have about two hours before class starts.” Not stopping, he made his way past us to Polaz, who began to walk as well.

I exchanged glances with Mar as we followed behind; something was bothering him. Ever since he woke up, he seemed to be on edge, yelling at our professor to stop the scarring.

Maybe he was scared, not wanting to see something equivalent to the horrors of what we witnessed at the cliff. I wouldn’t blame him; I would have been the same. It explains why he said my name before he jolted awake. My screaming didn’t help either. The soreness still clung to my throat.

There was some redness at the back of his neck, which turned to the corridors at our left, searching them. My eyes lowered to his hands clenched shut, with his thumbs massaging his knuckles.

I sighed at the thought of him getting into fights once we’re out to let off steam. I mean, he’s never really cared about school.

The walk was quiet, the pebbles crunching under our footsteps, echoing throughout the tunnel. It was pitch black, not even a lamp could help you see your next steps, hence the position of the fire orbs. Two in front, and one with us.

I listened more closely to our surroundings, through the thick walls of the tunnels, the sound of running water. In the dark, it was hard to tell its source, but my theory was confirmed as the echo of a drop reached my ears. We turned to the right.

Where would the water come from?

We continued down the path in front of us, only following the directions the woman instructed us. Ms. Celeste, was it? Klaus had made that note earlier.

I still have questions about this situation we’re in, too many. It makes no sense.

How were we even chosen? Who exactly chose us? The Founders?

I wouldn’t be surprised if that were true. It was all proudly introduced on the first day of school, the orientation. Then it hit me.

The house sorting. The Crystal of Frayza.

I was right to question its presence at the sorting, why we had our manas measured through it. Yet, I also can’t help thinking that it must be the other way for the students to be sorted to their houses.

As we turned left there was, in fact, a stairway. It was sitting in between two walls of stone, carved in to lead to an exit. At least, I hoped it did.

“Is this it?” Mar asked, looking up.

“One way to find out.” Marius said, taking on the steps first.

I took a breath, holding in my complaints about the stairway, if that’s even what I was stepping on. It was narrow, stiff, more like a ladder.

Behind Marius trailed an orb, which we, in turn, followed. The stairway had an archway made of stone that made Polaz lower his head. It seemed the railways were carved from the walls, creating a dent there. The narrow space made the air blow so cold we exhaled steam as we ascended. It reminded me of the gazebo, before we met Polaz. I remember it so clearly, yet so vaguely.

The thud of metal against wood made my heart jolt. I lift my gaze to see Marius pushing some sort of door. Judging from the rust and decay, it hasn’t been opened for awhile.

“It won’t budge.” Marius said, giving the door one more push.

“Maybe it’s locked?” Mar suggested from behind me.

“Chained shut from the other side.” Marius replied, lightly panting.

My skin shrunk as I took in the dead end. I was not about to go back when we made it this far into this tough stairway that was narrow, and small, and so very long, just to have to climb—or slide—back down.

“I guess I’ll actually have to blast us out of here.” I lightly shoved Marius away, his back leaning onto the other wall. “Stand back.”

My palm opened as I drew back my elbow, letting the air converge into an orb that danced around my hand, expelling excess air away from it. It pushed my hair away from my face, and drove dust toward us, making the others squint at the sight.

The second it felt adequate, I pushed my arm forward, making the door pop open with a rough gush of sound upon impact. We covered our eyes from the debris raining on us.

Slowly, we made our way up from the ground in a fit of light coughs. Marius reached the surface first, pulling me to him after. We were inside a wooden shack, one that felt more cramped as the others also came up.

Looking around, I saw gardening tools on the shelves. Gloves and aprons hung on the wall, normal needs for what was supposedly a storage for agricultural needs. All of that, plus the chains and bear traps that lay drenched in dry red. My stomach turned as I sucked in a breath, hoping I’d be wrong.

As I took a step forward, my legs felt the need to weigh me into the ground, and the air seemed to thin again. Before I knew it, I was on the floor, my vision blurring.

“Are you okay?” Marius said, breath tickling my ear as he held me, careful not to let me fall forward.

“I’m fine. Just.. I’m just… Exhausted.” I heaved my body forward. It felt as if a hundred weights had attached themselves around my body, “I need to get back to our dorms.

“What you need is the infirmary.” Marius pressed.

“Can you stand?” Mar knelt beside me, masking the anxiety we both shared.

“Yeah.”

Mar took that as cue to help me up and off of Marius. I don’t know how I was able to become this weak, but I do know it was because of that cave, that ceremony. I don’t even remember using mana to fight them off, much less move at all. Whatever drained me to this miserable point, staying any longer inside that cave wouldn’t help.

My body hollowed itself thin, making me lean on one leg. I paced myself to breathe slowly. In. Out.

“We’re on our own from here.” I said, facing the rest of the boys behind me, “Try your best not to get possessed.”

“And how are we supposed to know what to do?” Polaz said scornfully. He hasn’t dropped it.

“The spirits won’t touch you without a reason to.” I replied, taking note to keep my breathing at a normal rate, “Like they said, they’ll prey on your deepest desire, whatever the fuck that means. It’s common knowledge.”

“Now, before we part, listen closely,” I pause, fixing my posture around Mar, “Try your best not to be obvious once we leave this shack. Chances are the Phantrits know we’ve been chosen. If not, our reactions will give it away once we see them. Unless, of course, they’re actively looking for us, but we can never be too sure.”

“We will know when we see one. Just keep your expressions in check.” I ended, but it didn’t satisfy all of them.

Polaz stepped forward, “I still don’t understand why we can’t just ask the professor what to do with them.”

“They wouldn’t tell us everything we need to know.” Klaus answered. I relaxed my shoulders slightly, dying seemed closer by the second. “Not right away, at least. I have the idea they’ll be dragging us around the bush with that.”

“Exactly.” I continue, “They did it the first time. They’ll do it again.”

“So that’s why we negotiated for a week to give our decision, but we’re already actually agreed?”

“Well, at least, I am. I know you have nothing better to do that involves the school. Detreeve’s too righteous to abandon people. Flynt’s grounded enough to make appropriate decisions.” I pointed out. “And Mariella’s safe with me whether she’s in or not.”

They went silent for a second, watching me. This was my cue to leave.

“Try to find whatever you can in the meantime. If this has been going on for centuries, I have no doubt the previous champions have left something around the campus.”

I urged Mar to turn around, but was stopped halfway. Klaus reached out for me, “Are you alright?”

“You look tired.” Polaz commented, “So tired.”

“She’s fine.” Mar said, pulling me away as she turned me around. “We just need to get some rest back in the dorms.”

“Remember what I told you.” I said, before we opened the door and made our way to the dorm building. It wasn’t that far, thankfully; lightning shot up my knees with every step.

“Don’t you dare black out on me, because I’m not carrying you all the way to our floor.”

“Whatever.” I laughed.

…

The way to our room was a little challenging.

The girls on our floor were already awake, getting ready for class. We had to sneak our way into our hall through the common room, which thank the gods, had no Night Guard in sight.

We had only an hour and a half to get to our first period, as bothersome as it was. Class shouldn’t have started until the second week of school, then I wouldn’t have to worry about my attendance record that much. For schools that focused more on pushing students on military service, venturing out of the domes— maybe not even making it back alive—they take their education seriously.

Mar and I took long in avoiding the open doors of the other rooms. We were about to cross the small corridor when we heard a girl from the room in front of us, asking her roommate for hairpins from the other room. I pulled Mar into a stop, making her look back at me with furrowed eyebrows.

Adrenaline ran its course through me as I heard the footsteps towards the door. Mar quickly ushered me back to the corridor as soon as she spotted the girl’s shadow growing bigger, hiding. She almost tripped, but I was able to grab her in time.

The girl knocked at the room across theirs, which opened to her asking for clips. Mar slowly peeked at the hallway, checking if the premises were clear, but instead I heard her gasp.

“What is it?” I said, curious, but all I saw were two students chatting and testing clips for their hair.

“They must be helping each other do their hair.” Mar pouted, “I’ve always wanted to style my hair up like that for the first day of school. I never got to because of the party last night. I even bought the latest set.”

I gave a raised eyebrow and a scrunched nose in response. Examining the girl’s hairstyle, I tried to see what she saw. The hairstyle had a main theme to it, tied into a bun with loose curls dangling around your head. The difference was the bun, tied halfway or fully, and the common ground was at least two or three hair accessories on it.

There was a fancy jewel hair pin on the left side of the girl’s hair, another was a subtle but elegant looking tiara placed in front of her high bun. The third was a common cultural accessory, a Spartza, a net of thin chains that wrapped around the bun.

In all due respect for their culture, I can’t help but be reminded of a Christmas tree.

“I don’t know, Mar. I think you’re better off without them.”

We immediately returned to our previous position as the girl finished picking out her clips, returning to her room. To our relief, she closed them shut. We sprinted to our room, just two doors away.

Mar took out the key and opened our door. I hurried inside before anyone decided to borrow hairspray from the other room. The last thing I wanted was being sanctioned for sneaking back to our dorms in the morning.

Closing the door with her back, Mar slid to the floor, letting out a huge breath. I crashed on the couch, my eyelids began to grow heavy, but I couldn’t doze off. It was too risky for me to return to my world with this situation, no matter how much I wanted to.

As I tried to balance my breathing, silence fell on us, too tired and shocked to say anything. Mar probably didn’t expect this to happen to her on her first day of school, or ever.

I thought everyone knew there was something wrong with this school, merely brushing it off. Seeing how the students were acting in their normal, typical ways, it didn’t seem so. Some things added up, yet, at the same time, some things were missing.

“Mar,” I called out, trying to sit properly.

She was still by the door, wrapping her arms around her knees with trembling fingers. I wanted to tell her that everything was alright, that it would be fine, but we both knew it wasn’t. There was no point in sugarcoating this. What I could do was make sure she takes less of the impact.

“Yeah?” She replied, not lifting her head.

An idea clicked in my head. It would surely bring her out of her thoughts.

“I need you to stab me.”