Concealed Trauma

Arthur was confused by the current situation.

Everyone in the room appeared to know what the Professor was talking about. His ignorance had finally caught up to him, and the possibility of being discovered as an impostor was already lingering in his mind.

"Arthur Bellrock!" He felt like he had been struck by a lightning bolt after he heard the professor call his name. "Yes, sir…." He responded nervously.

"Why isn't your grimoire open?" asked the Professor, pointing at the brown-covered book on his table.

The entire class turned over to gawk at him, and unfortunately, he had become the center of attention; it was unnerving.

Without answering, Arthur quickly grabbed and opened the book set ahead of him. It was written in text that he read at first, but the longer he stared at the white pages, the more the words became familiar in his mind, and he could now read them with ease. The letters were runes, an ancient language that was used by those who could wield mana at will.

Though knowing that wasn't going to save him from the fact that he didn't have a single idea of what dark arts were. He had to come clean or else... and with a gloomy sigh, he sprung from his sit and announced before Professor Obsidian could proceed with the lesson. "I have no idea what dark arts are…!"

That came out louder than he had anticipated. And following that, the entire class broke into a series of murmurs as they started to discuss what he had just announced. Some giggled, others rasped, and many sneered at him as he remained upright, trying to maintain the confident look he had started with. The only person he glanced at was Elizabeth, who was still in her seat with a straight face as if she wasn't bothered by anything happening around her.

The Professor smiled with his lips and said, "You should have said so before the class even started. But I'll offer you special tutoring regarding Dark Arts every evening when I get time. For now, you're currently excused from this class."

"Thank you…Professor."

Arthur took his seat, and Bairon, who had been silent the whole time, burst into a sudden laughter that disrupted the entire class for a moment.

He then stopped, slammed his fist on the table, and faced Arthur with a brave grin. "You don't have enough mana. Have I lied?"

Arthur turned pale, "How did you know?"

"Everything about you says it. You barely have a magical presence; your body alone is weak and how can you not know about dark arts? Something we are taught at a very young stage of our mana awakening. I can't believe I almost thought you were a true Rivian."

Two things caught Arthur's interest: First, the boy's accent, and second…. "Rivian?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, the shiny black hair, the green eyes…you look just like them," he continued. "You know, after the second holy war…someone should have stopped that bloodline from stepping onto the throne."

'There was a second holy war?' Arthur was surprised to hear that. How far in time had he actually jumped?

"Bairon, when was the second holy war?" He asked.

Bairon was baffled by his question, but he answered it anyway. "Huh…well, it happened two centuries ago when the demons expanded to the East. A full-out war said to be bigger than the first happened, and the demon empire was born. Why are you asking anyway? This is supposed to be basic history."

"It's nothing, my mind had simply short-circuited for a second," he answered before his head started ringing and he started seeing flashes of his death, reminding him of the pain and the face of the woman who killed him that day.

Arthur had no idea why this was happening now, but it was awakening the trauma he was already fighting so hard to conceal. He shut his eyes and squeezed his head after feeling like he was about to explode once again. Tears poured down from his eyes as he prayed for this to stop.

'I'm going to die.'

'I don't want to die!'

"Please…."

He cried silently as his entire body trembled from the thought of death.

'IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE, HATE HUMANITY, END HUMANITY'

There it was…that voice again in his head that only flooded his mind with the feeling of pure hate. He could feel his body grow cold from the feeling of death when—

"Arthur!!!!" Bairon alarmingly screamed his name telepathically, and everything he was seeing was completely erased as if it was all a bad dream. Arthur paused to look around and noticed he was still in class and everyone else was minding their business.

Bairon, who had pulled him out of the trance was terrified and concerned at the same time by the state Arthur was in right now.

"What has happened?" he asked Bairon.

"You had spaced out during our conversation, I had to use my skill to pull you out of that creepy imagination of yours."

Arthur noticed that Bairon was trembling. And though he hadn't had a psychotic breakdown this time around, there was a chance that Bairon tapped into his mind and he had seen what he was seeing.

"I have to go," he said with a glum and exited the classroom without saying anything else.

.

.

He continued to the next class which went well because it was more of theory related and didn't require him to use magic. It was an incantation class and they were learning about how to cast spells firsthand. To put it more simply, it was a beginner's class, and there was no need for them to rush into spell casting for now.

The Professor for this class was a short, fat, and jolly green-haired man called Professor Goblin. And he was a professional mage that was claimed to be a master of spell casting, mainly in wind magic.

But to Arthur, nothing was mastery about this man…he wasn't smart like the other professors, and his green robe had patches sown in it. And an awful amount of mud was on his brown boots. He looked like a farmer with the part-time job of a professor.

"Arthur Bellrock!" hearing his name brought him back to reality, and once again, the whole class was staring at him. He seriously needed to stop spacing out. Quickly, he looked at his teacher and then at the board behind him that had something written on it.

'Does he want me to solve what's on the board?'

He scanned the board. Thanks to the fact that could understand runes now, he was able to deduct what it meant in a matter of seconds--like recalling a memory of the person that originally owned this body.

"You're creating a storm...that is wind magic," he answered, thinking that's what the professor needed from him.

"Impressive. I see why you nailed the entries. But I was asking you to pair up with someone like everyone else."

"Oh…"

The Professor was right; everyone was seated in a pair. Well, everyone apart from him and Elizabeth. She was just in front of him and had been so quiet that he hadn't even noticed they were in the same class until now.

"Hey, do you want to pair up?" he whispered over her ear.

"If I say yes, will you stop breathing loudly?" there was anger in her voice.

"Maybe..."

"Fine." She extended and made room for him on her table, completing the pair.

"How did you know that it was a storm creation spell?" she asked just after he had joined his seat with hers.

"I don't know, it just happened…like I always knew it." He whispered back.

"Really? Interesting…"

Being this close to her only made his heart race for some reason. She smelled like a garden of roses, and her hair glistened in the spring sunlight as if she were an angel. She had small pink lips, and her white skin looked incredibly smooth.

Arthur wanted to touch her, but he had a strange feeling that if he tried something like that, he would be dead before lays a finger on her skin. But what amazed him the most about her was that she hadn't called him lowblood and hadn't told anyone about what she saw on his card. In fact, she treated him like an equal despite being noble herself.

'I guess she's a good person.' He thought and continued focusing on the lesson.

After a few moments of silence, Elizabeth faced him with a slight hint of excitement in her blue eyes. "There is a school event happening in three days. It's a special exam for those wishing to join the dark knight and mage sectors. I want to become a dark knight, so I'll need your help joining my party for the event."

"Huh!" Arthur's jaw dropped as he tried to process what she had just said. But she was enjoying the shocked look on his face.

"School event? Three days from now?"

She rested her face on her palm and faced him with a smirk. "And you're going to join my party."