They are the ones who crafted your reality!
They call for you!
Will you heed their call?
doom!
"What the fk!"
A smooth black stone fell.
Raven's head jolted up, his hands flinging back to massage his aching head.
One could tell from the instructor's bulged muscles that he had used full force to send the stone flying.
"Raven is it?" He called out
Raven stared at the Instructor.
Instructor Lukas was a man of great stature. Standing at 6 feet 5 inches and muscles that couldn't fit into the suit he was wearing. He had long ruffled red hair and deep blue eyes.
Everyone knew better than to laugh in his class.
It was rumored that their instructor Lukas, a.k.a The Poker Lord had never smiled.
He always kept a straight face, and somehow expected everyone to do same.
Raven kept rubbing his sore head, staring hard at Lukas but still, he didn't give the hulk any reply
But the man didn't seem to be done asking his questions yet
"Are you from the Hart family?"
.....
Behind him, the room slowly went quiet.
Hart family?
....
Raven replied with a sigh.
The few students who had been shaking with laughter straightened in their seats. One boy stared hard at his book, pretending to read
Everyone knew that silence like this only made the Poker Lord angrier
Raven exhaled again and slowly dropped his hand
He opened his mouth and what followed...
"You should apologize first"
The words rolled out low and steady, sounding too innocent to be rude
A few heads snapped toward him
The boy who had been pretending to read slowly lowered his book, staring at Raven like he had just lost his mind.
No one spoke
Time seemed to pause in the classroom. Moving, heck breathing itself was a problem at this point because Raven had just said that… to the Poker Lord.
Who the hell is this transfer student
Does he seriously not know who Instructor Lukas is....
No.... there's no way he wasn't aware
Instructor Lukas was one of the strongest and popular mages in the country of Eldria.
He stood at the peak of the warrior-level realm and was said to have fought a master-level realm sorcerer to a draw.
Although the sorcerer he fought was just at the beginner level of the master stage, the gap between a peak warrior and a beginner master was still like a 12 year old to a full grown man.
And Raven...?
An unknown student who got transferred the previous week.
Sleep.
That's all he had been doing since he came, and yet somehow he had aced the entrance tests with a perfect score
All they knew was his name
Instructor Lukas adjusted his tie, his eyes still fixed on Raven..
Tap.
He tapped his finger once on the wooden desk in front of him
The sound was small, yet half the class flinched.
"So," Lukas said slowly.
"You want an apology."
His voice didn't carry any hint of anger and somehow, that made it worse
Raven didn't look away.
Lukas stepped down from the platform.
One step.
Then another.
His boots struck the floor with a heavy thud each time.
He stopped right in front of Raven's desk.
Up close, the size difference became overwhelmingly obvious.
Lukas stood like a wall carved out of stone.
Raven stayed seated calmly, still looking straight into Lukas' eyes that seemed to be losing their original colour
"You were sleeping in my class," Lukas said.
"You ignored my question."
His gaze dropped briefly to the stone on the floor and then back to Raven.
"And now you want me to apologize."
The air in the room felt tight as Lukas seemed to release a bit of his aura
Like something invisible was pressing down on everyone's shoulders.
Raven leaned back slightly in his seat
His expression didn't change.
"You threw a rock at my head." Raven rubbed his head again
"That usually deserves an apology."
Lukas stared at him for four seconds before a smile formed on his face. A very small smile
"The fk!"
Everyone in that room had heard the rumor.
Instructor Lukas had never smiled yet there it was.
Although it was more of a smirk but it was a smile regardless
The Poker Lord straightened.
"Interesting."
His voice carried across the room.
"Very interesting."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Tell me, Raven.
"Are all members of the Hart family this brave…"
The faint smile stayed.
"…or are you just particularly stupid?"
Raven let out a long, tired sigh.
He ignored the wall of muscle standing over him and leaned down to pick up the stone.
Half-bent, he spoke.
"I'm stupid…"
A grin tugged at his lips.
"…but that just makes the guy asking a stupid person for answers look even more impressive."
For half a second, the room held its breath.
PFFFT!
The boy who had been pretending to read nearly exploded. He snapped the book up to his face, shoulders shaking violently as he buried himself in the pages.
BOOOOM!
The air shattered
The entire classroom shuddered as a fist of pure force slammed into the space where Raven sat.
Raven didn't flinch.
Despite the full force of a warrior-level's punch pressing down on him, he didnt react
The black stone between his fingers rattled as the force pressed against it, and then—cracks spiderwebbed across the shimmering barrier that now surrounded him.
Instructor Lukas' fist had shattered wind itself. The sound alone could have flattened walls. Yet here it was, meeting resistance.
His brows furrowed.
A flicker of something—frustration, maybe disbelief—passed through the otherwise stoic Poker Lord.
His eyes narrowed.
The barrier trembled again under the raw force, tiny fragments of energy flickering and snapping. Every student froze mid-breath. No one dared blink.
Impossible… Lukas thought, though no word left his mouth.
Raven remained seated, fingers still wrapped around the stone, watching him calmly.
The faint grin he'd flashed earlier was gone, replaced by a blank, unreadable mask.
Lukas' mind raced as he increased the strength of his punch. The cracks widened, shards of energy snapped like lightning across the barrier
The power gap he had assumed.....obliterated.
Inside, Raven's calm demeanor was unmoved but his thoughts were'nt
This shouldn't be happening… How is he even breaking the barrier.
Then, the sound of heels clicking against the floor cut through the tension like a bell.
A female teacher appeared at the doorway
"Enough, Lukas," she said sharply. "I'll handle the ruckus from here."