Chapter 10 - Preparing The Truth

Beep! Beep! 

The sun shone brightly outside of my window and it blinded me for a moment as I rolled out of my bed. I slammed my hand to turn off my alarm clock. My head still hurts from yesterday. It felt like a hangover except, instead of being drunk; I was just in a psychological shock at realizing my parents cared about me. 

I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. My eyes drifted toward the alarm clock to check the time. The clock read 7:45 am. It took a moment to process it, but if you remembered the conversation with Justus yesterday, I was supposed to meet him in his office at 8:00 am. His office wasn’t super far away from dorms but still. 

I rushed to the bathroom and aggressively brushed my teeth as I stared at myself in the mirror. My appearance looked like a wreck and I had minimal time to fix it. My cheeks still felt dry from when I cried myself to sleep. If anything, I felt more anger for Justus for not telling me this information sooner.

The questions I had in my mind were way too many to count. 

I just hope I get some answers soon, I said to myself as I finished brushing my teeth and threw on a t-shirt and a gray hoodie. I threw open the door of my bedroom and closed it just as quickly with a slamming thud as I sprinted down the large dormitory hallway. 

I navigated the campus with a blinding speed. My heart unusually motivated me to reach a place on time because I had many personal questions that I wanted answered immediately. Once I reached the familiar stupidly enormous staircase that led up to the second floor of the main building, my body took a physical break from all the running. 

With one last effort, I bolted up the staircase and arrived in front of the Vice Principal Keeper’s office right on time. Knock Knock, the door swung open not 2 seconds after I knocked on the door. 

There, standing in the doorway, was the same intimidating person as before, except this time he was wearing a different suit. 

How many suits does this guy have? I asked myself as I walked to the chair next to the desk and sat down with a thud. My body practically melted into the seat cushion as my body couldn’t handle the intense amount of running to make the meeting on time.

Justus noticed this and raised an eyebrow at me while giving a brief humph which I didn’t quite appreciate. 

“If anything, I appreciate the determination you had in getting here on time.”, Justus said to me as he sat down in his familiar black leather chair, which looked a lot more comfortable than mine.

“Before I answer any of your questions. Just realized that I cannot answer all of them right now. If I cannot answer a question of yours, just don’t press your luck. For your safety, you cannot learn everything right now. Besides my office and a few other places, you are constantly being monitored from the shadows. Keep this in mind when wandering around campus.”, Justus said to me as he put his elbows on the table, putting his hands together.

He nodded at me to ask away. 

“Well…what did you mean by I am on your side? How are you connected with my parents? How much do you know about my past?”, I asked him, praying for a response to at least one of those questions. Justus sighed at me and shook his head slowly. 

“All I can tell you for now is that I am on your side. I do not stand for the philosophy of Keepers. I can’t tell you why, but just know the Keepers are not who you think they are. The World Keepers and the Keeper Administration are different beings entirely from the students.

This may be confusing to you, which is completely understandable. Just keep being wary of them.”, Justus said to me as he noticed I was about to speak up again. 

“Before you ask more questions, let me give you something real quick.”, he said to me as he got up from his desk to pull a book off his bookshelf.

“Here is a copy of Magic and Emotions with some extra chapters that you can keep indefinitely. I suggest you read it thoroughly. The book will answer some of your questions. Also, if you want to learn more about your parents, I suggest you go back to your family’s house this weekend. 

I will arrange for you to do that this Sunday before classes start. There will be no one watching you at your home because I will come up with a good excuse.”, He said to me as he handed the book over, “This is all I can answer for now.” 

I quickly grabbed the book and placed it in my lap. I was happy enough, for now, with at least getting some information from him.

“Thank you Justus for telling me more. However, I expect to learn more in the future whenever the time is right. I will forget none of this.”, I say to him, hoping to intimidate him slightly. 

He looked at me with an unwavering expression of seriousness unaffected by my attempted intimidation tactic.

“Of course. Now the next matter at hand on why you are here is because I am going to tell you some things as advice when you fight against Leena. First off, her mana capacity and the raw power of her fire magic are extremely intense, even for advanced noble students. The only reason she was not put into the Noble Class from the start is that her family lost their nobility status when they went against the Keeper King, also known as the leader of Tarondar, for an important issue.”, he said to me cautiously. 

Without warning, he enveloped his hand in a blade of light and within a flash, had his hand blade of light energy pressed up against my neck. My eyes exploded wide open with fear. 

“This world, the continent of Glozaria, and specifically our nation of Tarondar. It’s barely being held together. Here in Keeper Academy in our floating fortress, it may seem like we are here to protect, but it’s an illusion. This includes them supposedly protecting students and healing them in duels. They only take care of the students deemed full of potential and are royals or nobles.

If you aren’t careful, they will kill you. The only reason they haven’t is because they would rather study you and your magic before killing you. The monster of magic you have within yourself is keeping you alive. However, this doesn’t mean you can take your fight lightly with Miss Leena.”, he said to me as he withdrew his hand. 

“If you get hit at point-blank range from her magic, you could die. My guess is, she will take it lightly on you because, from my observations, she is a good person. Also, since you both are in the noble class, there is no reason for either of you to go all out. I am going to confirm this, though.”, he said as he walked over to the magical intercom.

I wanted to stop him from what he was about to do next, but my body wouldn’t move itself. 

“This is the Vice Principal Keeper speaking. Leena Grey, please report to my office on the second floor of the main building. I repeat, please meet me in my office on the second floor as soon as possible.”, Justus finished saying on the intercom. 

What in the world is he trying to do?