Chapter 13: Awake And Alive

As Tom ran away with the ring securely in his hands, his heart raced faster than it had ever raced in his entire life. He felt a bit guilty for running away and leaving Alex all alone with the two bullies.

'I scored higher on the test, I should be the one protecting him, why am I running away like a scared cat? Why did I even listen to him? And out of all, I thought Tang was a nice guy, why is he doing this?'

There were a lot of 'whys' in Tom's head that he was losing focus, he didn't even have an idea of where he was going. He just let his fast speeding legs lead him. That was until his small framed body crashed into that of someone else making him stop dead in his tracks and stumble backward, almost falling on his bottom.

Tom had expected to see the person fall due to the force of the impart. He was indeed running at his top speed, but the person stood erect, unmoved by the impact.

"What's the hurry for, Kiddo?" The sound of a familiar voice was heard as the person spoke, filling Tom with surprise.

*****

Alex's eyes slowly opened up, he was disoriented and his vision was blurry. He stared looking at the white above him.

'White? Where am I? Is this the afterlife?' Alex thought. He felt his body laying on something soft rather than the cold hard ground of the alley.

When his vision became clearer, he noticed that the white above was the ceiling of a white room. Turning to his sides, he saw several sick beds; some were empty while others were occupied by sick or injured students.

'How did I get here? Did someone bring me to a hospital? Well, thank heavens I'm still alive.' Alex thought as he tried to remember the incident of what happened.

His hands subconsciously moved to his chest where he had been slashed by Tang, it was then he noticed that the cut had been healed and was no longer there. Generally, his body felt way better than it did before.

'The necklace...' Alex sat up as he searched himself for the necklace but he couldn't find it. He remembered that it was cut from the slash but the rest of his memory after that was foggy. He sat up making the bed creak and forced himself to remember.

'I held it in my hands...blood spilled on it...it was glowing...wait,... those writings, what were they?'

'It said something about me getting a... syndrome? No, it was err...a system. Yeah, that's it.'

The moment he thought of the word 'System', certain words appeared before him in his periphery just like before, in the alley.

[System reactivating...2/100%]

'It's real. It wasn't a dream? What's all this?' Alex wondered as he watched the percentage inch closer to a hundred percent. Maybe he had been hit too hard in the head and had gone nuts. Who knew if this was how mad people saw the world and now there was a possibility he was one of them?

[System successfully activated]

[Dragon System Menu]

Alex slowly read the words. The word dragon had caught his attention. He didn't know what it was other than it being just a part of his name; Pendragon.

"What's this menu?" Alex said and once again, a new set of words appeared.

[Status] [Bloodline skills]  [System skills]  [Quest]

He seemed to be getting a hang of how this system operated. The words he focussed on and said in his mind would suddenly be highlighted and then chosen, just like when one clicked on an icon on a computer.

It was becoming easier for him to navigate the system. He smiled to himself, for a moment it seemed like he had forgotten the painful incident he had just gone through.

The door of the room was suddenly opened and a lady walked in. The first thing she saw was one of the patients sitting up, staring into nothingness with a sullen smile on his face.

'What's wrong with him?' the lady dressed in the typical nurse attire asked herself as she walked to his sick bed.

"I wasn't expecting you to wake up anytime soon. It's a miracle that you are alive! When they brought you here, you were all beaten up and had lost a lot of blood. How do you feel?"

The lines of words from the system disappeared from Alex's view as his concentration was broken. He looked at the lady with eyes of confusion.

'They? Did Tang and his friend bring me here after beating me up?'

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is May and I am in charge of Holster Academy's Infirmary. I tried my best to heal all your physical injuries. You must be one of the new students here. I'm sorry you had to run into some bullies early on." She sighed and continued.

"I bet this wasn't what you expected the Academy to be like. I have talked to the Principal countless times about the ever-increasing number of injured students like yourself, but he keeps talking about the need for competitiveness and strife, saying they would make the students stronger." May said, her tone almost like she was complaining to her patient.

She seemed to be stressed by the whole issue. She had bags under her eyes and they were on the verge of turning red. She hadn't received proper sleep in a long while. The more students got injured, the more work she had on her hands.

"Yeah, you're right. I was excited to come to the Academy at some point and develop my ability but now, I've realized I was just too naive. Today is actually my first day in the Academy." Alex replied the memory of not being able to use an ability flashed across his mind.

'When did it get so bad in the Academy? Things weren't like this before.' May felt sad hearing Alex's story.

"You said they brought me here, who are they?" Alex shook the sad thoughts away and asked the question he had wanted to ask after hearing May speak.

"Yes, a little boy came in with one of the Instructors carrying your unconscious beaten body. Instructor Blake to be precise." May replied.