Chapter 3 - Rare Silence

Once the two-hour-long course finally ended, the sleepy students hurried out of the auditorium, eager for the much-awaited period of rest. "Coming?" Reyes, now full of vigor again, turned to ask Ran.

"I'll rest a bit. If I'm not down before the bell rings, come wake me up, will you?" Nodding their agreement, Reyes and Daveed left the auditorium with the swarm of students.

Breathing a sigh of relief at the now empty space, Ran basked in the rare silence. He finally gave way to drowsiness and propped his head on his arm, slowly drifting away.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye, and soon he was the one being pinched. Looking up drowsily, he saw his friends' silly faces staring down at him. "Time to get up," Daveed announced, clapping too close to Ran's ear and making him jump.

"You're alright?" Daveed asked, and Ran hmphed, stretching his limbs before getting up to leave with his friends. However, Reyes' attention was zoomed on the last row.

Tilting his head, he uttered a curious, "Hey."

"Hello," a low husky voice responded. Reyes did not look back and instead stared intently at Ran, who jumped at the sound as if he'd been hit.

"We're practicing archery now, Madamme Khannah is not someone who takes lightly to having her class missed. You should come along," Daveed said to the stranger while shoving Ran out of his seat.

As they walked, Ran kept sneaking glances at the boy who had accompanied him in the auditorium, but the boy remained unperturbed. Finally, unable to stand it anymore, he asked, "Did you come in while I was asleep?"

Despite the arrays, his senses could still pick up sounds within a close range. But if he's knocked out, he won't sense anyone's presence. So that's what must have happened.

"No, I stayed in my seat after Professor Gregory dismissed the class," the boy said, which earned him a stunned look from Ran.

"What's your name?" Daveed interjected, cutting out Ran's line of questioning. "I'm Daveed, this is Reyes," he offered, "And the idiot with the mouth wide open is Ran."

"Daniyel," the boy responded.

By the time they reached the playground, Madamme Khannah was already addressing the students.

"Today's class is focused on Archery," she announced in a commanding tone. "You will learn to hone your aim and concentration, and then you will slowly incorporate your magical abilities into the act."

The gathered students exchanged excited glances. They readily assembled their bows and arrows and started shooting at either still or moving targets. The late arrivers greeted the Madamme and hurried to take their places on the field.

Madamme Khannah made her rounds amidst the students, offering pointers where needed. As the instructor of Magical Administration at Hyacinth High for over a decade, she could easily single out those with potential and was often on the lookout for hidden talents.

In the back row, the two tardy boys caught her attention. One was the young master of the Ophelia line, and the other was the new child who joined this semester. As they each took their stances, she could tell that Daniyel was a natural with the bow and arrow. His movements were fluid and graceful as he aimed straight for the bullseye every time.

Ran De Ophelia, on the other hand, was messy. He had no concentration whatsoever, and his arrows all missed. Many of them veered off course, making her fret he might accidentally injure a student.

After pacing back and forth for a while, she loomed over Ran with furrowed brows. "Everything alright here?" she asked concerned.

Ran hesitated for a minute before admitting, "I'm not very good at this." Watching the mysterious new kid hit a bullseye on every target with ease didn't help his confidence either.

"Not to worry, dear boy. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses," Madamme Khannah gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Perhaps you ought to sit this one out?" She offered gently.

Ran persisted, but as the class went on, his frustrations only grew. He could feel the other students' eyes on him. He'd be worried about their judgment of his lack of skill if he weren't too occupied trying to tune them all out.

Oddly, the sounds at that moment were unreasonably heightened. As he tried to focus on his breathing and shutting them out, a voice pierced his skull like a drilling hammer.

"You'll have to excuse the young master, he is used to being served everything on a silver plate. Nobody taught him how to move his muscles," Nahro taunted and got a few snickers from the kids surrounding him.

Ran felt his cheeks flush but before he could respond, Dani shot a blazing arrow that passed right by the jeering boy's head, synching a few hairs on its path.

"Hey," Nahrin shouted, "Don't mess around," shutting off her brother out of sight and pointing her bow and arrow at Dani.

"What are you going to do about it?" Dani taunted fixing his bow to aim back at her.

Rushing to stand in the middle of the two, Madamme Khannah raised her hands to stop them from maiming each other, "Aim at the targets. The one with the highest points in the lowest amount of time wins." She declared.

Consequently, Dani and Nahrin took their places at the range, drawing their bows and taking careful aim. The first few rounds were neck and neck, with each of them hitting their targets dead-on. The rest of the students stopped their activities to watch the two go at it.

The sun blazed down on the field, and sweat beaded on Nahrin's forehead as she aimed her arrows at the moving targets.

The targets jerked and jostled further away, the two concentrating on following their movements. Feeling that the competition wasn't as riveting, a student sent a gush of icy wind to steer the arrows off course.

Once again, Daniyel incorporated his fire magic. He condensed all his energy into the arrow and let it loose. It streaked through the air, leaving a fiery tail behind it, and hit the flying target, incinerating it to ash.

Nahrin frowned, the sweat making her long hair stick to her face. She wiped at her face with the back of her sleeve and quickly regained her composure. Taking in deep breaths, she visualized an invisible forcefield that quickly manifested around Dani. The forcefield acted as a siphon, sapping his strength, and slowing down his movements.

She continued to concentrate on her targets, ignoring him. However, the tenacious kid still managed three more strikes before hunching down in exhaustion from her assault.

Nahrin was winning the match, and the kids were either cheering or booing. Reyes and Daveed were loudly accusing her of cheating, and her brother was yelling back at them that Daniyel cheated first by aiming at him.

Some other kid was shouting out the scores at the top of his lungs, "Five shots for Daniyel, now six shots, Nahrin got her eighth point, she's about to score another one..."

But Ran could barely concentrate. He sensed something was off before he could register what it was. Clutching his bow tightly, he attempted to block the constant hum of energy that flowed through him. He tried to subdue the panic that was slowly baring its fangs.

From an early age, he learned to make peace with his curse. It was fine that he could hear things no one else could; whispers from across the room, rustling of clothes, even the faint thump of a heartbeat.

But at this school, he had found a much-needed respite. The damper from the arrays had allowed him to tune out most of the influx of sound only letting in what he could handle. Within these grounds, he could pretend to be normal.

Yet, slowly but surely, everything began to unravel in the past hour. Ran felt the magical protection give way, like air being forcibly expelled from his lungs. His eyes widened with terror and confusion as every sound in the school flooded into his brain.

His grip on the bow and arrow faltered, and they slipped from his hands. He tried to take deep breaths, desperate to steady himself, but the blood pounding in his veins surged straight to his head, leaving him lightheaded.

The assault intensified with each passing second until he could no longer endure it. Clutching his head with both hands, he collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.

Then, just as suddenly, the magical arrays stabilized. The deafening chaos faded into murmurs from the students. But Ran heard none of it, he was now lying unconscious on the grass.

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