Mark Howard

'Not shabby' Mark made his way inside room M-43, and while looking around he put a crate with his stuff on the bed.

He opened it and after a while he separated his stuff into piles. He grabbed his clothes and went towards the wardrobe, placing them neatly inside. 'Everything is so clean! Not bad once again.' He praised while inspecting the inside of the wardrobe.

He looked around and spotted a weapon rack that was some distance away from his bed. He placed a longbow along with a quiver and a dagger on it then turned around, inspecting the second door inside his room.

He opened the door which led him to the bathroom and as he looked around he went towards the sink. He clasped his hands into a bowl and washed his face. 'This should keep me awake for now' He told himself, he wanted to explore around for a bit, maybe meet some people but it was late at night, maybe he wouldn't be able to meet any.

After drying his face and hands he looked towards the door which was facing opposite of the one he just came from. 'Is there more?' Mark asked himself doubtfully.

He opened the door but what he saw was darkness, he didn't know why it was so dark, he wasn't able to spot anything inside but as magic fluctuations hit his body and the Darkness began extending inside the bathroom he panicked and slammed the door as fast as he could.

"What was that?!" He said out loud almost screaming.

***

Inside the room where he just tried to peek at, Max was disrupted from his meditation.

'Um?' He got up from the comfortable bed he was in. 'How much time has passed Matt?' As the darkness summoned involuntarily by him while meditating disappeared, Max was able to see the fact that the moon still dominated the sky outside his room. Be didn't know how late it was or what was that slamming sound he just heard along with the scream, but he should check one after the other at their own time.

'It has been a few hours, not that much actually, now you could get some sleep as well' Matt recommended.

'Sure but I will check out what that scream was, come' At his calling Matt's corporeal form dashed in the darkness attaching to Max's right arm.

'Let's see what that was now'

***

On the other side of the door Mark was catching his breath, seeing darkness forwarding like that wasn't something he had experienced so far.

'Wasn't light supposed to disperse darkness? Instead, the darkness looked like it was consuming the light and becoming bigger?!' He refrained from thinking out loud as he was afraid that someone might hear him. But that was all he could think about because right after the door which he slammed closed out of reflex burst open.

A teen about the same height as him, with dark eyes and dark hair went through the door looking seriously at him. Because of the large shield he was holding with his right hand he felt threatened but one thing he immediately noticed was that the darkness wasn't inside the room anymore. The wisp inside that room lighted the inside of Max's room once again for Mark to see.

"Don't fight me! I didn't do anything wrong!" He said, alarmed that he isn't supposed to mess with the person in front of him. He currently had no weapon on him while the other party had a large shield, he didn't like any of these odds.

"Are you the guy next door? Why are you screaming like that?" Max was a bit annoyed after seeing Mark, he thought it was some unwanted person but it was his dormmate causing a scene for some reason. He turned around while motioning to Mark in an inviting way.

"Come inside if you want, don't slam and shout at this hour, you disturbed me very much..." Max walked forward as he used his left hand to massage his forehead. He went over to the weapon rack and placed his shield down then turned around and sat on the bed.

"I am sorry for not having something to offer but I moved in this morning... and I was meditating..." Seeing that Mark didn't say anything he continued. He accentuated the last words he said.

Mark, after hearing Max talk for a second time, snapped out of the confused and frightened state he was in. "No problem at all, I just got here and was unpacking, saw the door to the bathroom and then the door to your room, I almost barged in without asking."

"I am Mark by the way, Mark Howard." Mark extended his hand towards Max which he firmly grabbed. "I am Max, Max Edward, nice to meet you Mark," Max said with a tired smile on his face.

"Nice to meet you too Max but I think should be going, you seem really tired and I also should get some sleep, should we do this later" Mark proposed the idea at which Max nodded.

"I guess we will talk tomorrow then," Max confirmed it while giving a small nod at Mark, the reason was a valid one so he didn't find it weird.

"See you later Max," Mark waved at Max as he left the way he came. Mark closed the door as he rubbed his eyes.

'I'll go to sleep, I can't do anything if I begin seeing stuff'

***

'What a strange fellow.' Matt pointed it out to Max.

'Maybe he got scared of something... do you glow in the dark sometimes?' Max asked not understanding why Mark was so frightened when he was in the bathroom.

'Is this some kind of bad joke?' Matt asked extremely annoyed.

'Just asking, you don't have to be mad.' Max waited for a response but there was none.

'Alright then, I am sorry but I am also going to sleep so good night Matt.' As he wrapped himself with the blankets provided by the academy Max began sleeping soundly.

***

'That guy, there is something off about him' Mark thought to himself while also wrapping himself in the thick blankets from his bed.

'But he might be an interesting guy...' His line of thought was interrupted as a yawn escaped his mouth. 'I'll see about it tomorrow' Mark placed his head on the pillow and instantly fell asleep, he had a long journey to get here also. He didn't get any sleep on his road here so he was just as tired as Max.