Haze of Dusk (A trilogy) Read online

  “Ah…how are you doing? Where are you going?” He asks uncomfortably. There is it, the indifference. “Shorewen’s class, I still have it.” He widely smiles.

  “Splendid, we’re a team again. Just… that you’re a girl now…weird…” I giggle. “It’s not weird, and I’m still me.” I assure him. He smirks. We arrive at the door. “I know, but…it won’t be the same to Onnet. So just bully him by telling every girl about his knitting, if he bothers. That’s our secret. He’ll die if it comes out.” I laugh silly. I rush a nod, and together we enter the class. The noisy room falls into silence as we walk in. Osys and Onnet wave at us, and like before, I sit next to them.

  “Look at you. You truly are gold. No, you are diamond… your skin…flawless. Your hair…such fire…” Onnet says touching a strip of my hair the instant I take a seat. Unfortunately, I’m sitting in between him and Ramuso. I sneer, repelled by his flirting. He’s too quick. I glimpse at Ramuso, who chortles. He pushes a nod, indicating it’s time to terrorize him. “It’s still me Onnet…” I lean forward.

  “Remember, we clean the room together. I helped you…knit.” I say sneakily. He expands his eyes and nervously laughs. “Y-you…do know that’s personal…right. That's between us, roommates, buddies.” I can tell it will truly damage his cool status.

  I purse my lips.

  “As long as you don’t flirt with me, I won’t tell.” I threaten imperturbably. He chuckles. “Superb, kid…nice to have you back,” he says and strains a laugh. Ramuso breaks into laughter. He enjoys torturing Onnet, and I enjoy joining him.

  “So Judyala, how was your journey—”

  “Judyala,” a random boy cuts Osys. I study my surrounding. The boys in the classroom encircle me. “Welcome back…I’m Jeff.” Jeff, a fifteen year old elf gives me roses, but another fellow pushes him out of the way to give me a box of toffee.

  “Congratulations on your journey. Do you have a boyfriend?” I frown. I've never seen this fellow in my life. Why is he asking me personal questions? More boys come forward, handing me gifts, making me feel uncomfortable. It's not until Ramuso asks them to leave, when they lay back. “What is wrong with these idiots? She is still a he…alright!” Ramuso defends me, yet he’s chomping down my toffee. He didn’t bother asking. “Don’t blame them. Look how beautiful she is. Her skin is fair…you are…” Onnet stops for Ramuso, and I frown. He laughs.

  “Forget it…” Onnet says giving up. I sigh unhappily. I miss my brother’s body. I could’ve converse without rude ogles, and improper queries. The over-attention suffocates me. I never thought it be this difficult to be a woman in Doomsvell.

  The most feared instructor in Doomsvell inserts the room, dropping the volume and dispatching everyone back to their seats. Ramuso offers me one of my toffees. He ignores the fact class is about to start, “Miss Zayras!” I shove the box of sweet away, and stand up to face serious Khysso who stares at me almost grinding his teeth.

  “W-what…I-didn’t do anything wrong.” It is the first idea that crawls on my head when someone calls me with that tone. My nerves drop. I feel at ease to sight Khysso’s perfect face. He shaved the bit of facial hair he had. His sun-kiss skin is spotless. His dark hair is nicely brushed back. I can tell he took his time to fix himself. He stands flawless, looking neat with his dark outfit, and long collared coat. I gape taken by his flawlessness. His beauty impresses half the class. He truly is a desirable man. I can’t take my eyes of him. Khysso squints his eyes. Don’t do that, that is so sexy. He deeply breathes, his upper chest rising with air.

  “Do you not know in class, there is no eating?” Why is he telling me this? Ramuso is the one feasting on my gifts. He flashes his eyes at my desk.

  “And… what is this?” He looks at my gifts. “Well you all know, this is lecturing and not a romantic engagement? Do this in your own time…” he speaks stridently. His furious tone scares the hell out of me, and probably everyone who gifted me. He snatches my gifts from my table and throws in the trash near his desk. All-right that is it, although gorgeous, he is not very nice. And I thought now that combine our powers make miracle, maybe he treats me nicer. I was idiotically incorrect. Khysso Shorewen is still a prick.

  “Now please, go to your seat,” he commands radically.

  I sneer,

  “This…is my seat…” It’s the seat I’ve always sat in. What's his problem?

  “Not in my class. Here, boys sit with boys and girls…go with girls…” he points at an empty seat on the girl's side, again next to Azania. Onnet, Osys and Ramuso groan. I can tell they're bothered by his decision. Seriously, what is his problem?

  “Do you gentlemen have something to say?” He asks evenly, his wily eyes on my friends. They shake their heads in terror. Ramuso bows down his head, and in a discreet tone he utters, “prick” I press my lips together, avoiding laughing. Although I no longer can disrespect Khysso, deep within me, I’m disrespecting him a nasty way. But to stop myself, I recall the many times he saved me, the memories lightly eases my negative-thoughts.

  I sit next to Azania. She nicely smiles at me. She is cheerful to have me all too herself, again. “Today, you will all do some reading on generic sorcery influences for half an hour. As a result, I’ll give an exam on the reading. Let us see who has been paying attention, and who has not,” he says sitting on his chair. Every girl excluding me dreamily stares at him. As for the fellows, mainly my friends, glare at him with such a dislike the awful vibration is conspicuous.

  The class plunges into a restful reading period. I recognized the section so my interest towards the subject discontinues. I flash a look around; the classroom is at still, but not entirely. Ramuso is making silly faces at Khysso, who most likely is correcting documents. I snort. Khysso’s eyes rapidly look my way. I clear my throat and turn the page, giving awareness to the lecture. I peek, again Ramuso taunts him. I press my lips together. That Ramuso is an awful kid, and I’m the only dumb one to go along with his amusement. Ramuso calls my attention by waving his hands on the air. He glides over a paper to me. My heart is accelerating. I'm scared to be discovered, yet the thrill of getting caught excites me. The paper gets to me without Khysso noticing. I put it inside the book, and view it. A witty drawing of a round twig name Khysso makes me burst into laughter, breaking the intense silence.

  All eyes fall on me,

  “I…I…comical lectures…” I say pointing at the book, but Khysso doesn’t swallow it. He stares deadly. His cold gaze shivers my spine. That’s it, no more looking at Ramuso, that kid is dangerous. I read the lecture, but aloof by it my eyes obtain a heavy weight closing every now and then. My hair tinkles my naked skin so I fondle my itchy shoulder. A sensation of awareness and nuisance persists in me. I glimpse to my front to be startle by his eyes on me, but coming in contact with me, Khysso shoves his head back to his work, avoiding our sight from meeting. I heave a sigh. Was he just staring at me? My heartbeat hastens to the thought, forming an irrational sensation in me.

  “Alright class, study time is over.” He stands from his desk, and passes the written exams. It’s my turn. Khysso hands me the documents. I want to beam a smile, but he’s cruel, and his face does not lift to meet mine. I seal my lips rather humiliated. I'm acting like one of the girls, infatuated. What’s wrong with me? I breathe out, and take my exam. Khysso’s handwriting is a charming script. I stop admiring his handwriting and look through my papers. I scoff. Khysso handed me a set of ten pages, as for the others, a three page insignificant exam. I grimace, and raise my hand, “I think you handed me extra,” I say innocently. He groans,

  “Miss Zayras, you avoided the book and seemed to yawn to my lectures. Therefore, I am assuming you know it all. Then, why not entertain yourself.” I gasp.

  What! That’s it, he's pushing my fury. Say something, say something Judyala…damn it! Why did I promise to respect him? That jerk… wait… how does he know I was yawning? Could it be he was watching me after all? I exhale, overpowered. I have no choice, as eve
ryone has a twenty five question written exam, I remain with one hundred questions.

  Little by little the class empties, and I stay behind. Again, I feel as if I’m in Srogeri’s class, and I’m always the last to finish, for my old man abused me with lectures. At least, there’s no arithmetic, and I have the response for every problem. The difficulty is to state a clear solution, and that takes plenty of mind work. After a good period of time, I complete the assessment. I rush to Khysso. I slam the documents on his desk. “Thanks to you I missed lunch.” I can’t believe I just talked to him like that. Khysso chuckles, here it comes, scold me for giving you attitude.

  “You can always have dinner,” he seems fairly controlled. I chuckle.

  “You are making it hard for me. How am I supposed to respect you if you are being such a…” I halt, for he glares at me deviously unafraid. I gracefully smile, avoiding that wicked word. “Such a…good…instructor,” I force. He chuckles, taking me by surprised. “Are you seriously that hungry? I think I still have it here.” I confusedly look at him. He takes something from the bottom of his desk, and hands me an ugly round hairy-brown thing. I scowl.

  “What the hell is that?” I say nastily. He frowns,

  “Zayras…I thought you know better than that. It’s a coconut,” I gape.

  “No way…so that’s how it looks from close,” I seize it and observe the strange fruit that I've seen in pictures, and I study thoroughly, but never did I think from up close it be such an ugly thing. “You brought a coconut…” I gasp. “This means you…” his severe gawk tells me to stop. This means he destroyed the tree after all.

  “How does it tastes?” I ask, he shakes his head. “What! Alright we can share it.”

  “No thank you,” he seems disgust.

  “Oh come on…half-half… it has juice inside…so we need to make a puncture first.” I give him the fruit, since I can’t use magic it's up to him. He harshly sighs. I can tell he's exasperated by me. He points his index finger to the top of the fruit, slowly making a circle, burning the edges. He magically lifts up the cap. “There…”

  “You go first,” I command,

  “I do not want to.”

  “Oh come on Khysso, please. You go first,” he exhales overcome by my persistence. He takes a sip. By his still expression I think he likes it. I sit on the corner of his desk, expecting to be reproach, but he overlooks my freshness. “Sooo…”

  “It’s good,” he doesn’t sound convincing. I take it in my hands. And afraid, I take a sip. I gag. “It taste like dirty water,” he laughs. His attitude hits me. Khysso has opened up. He’s not being mean, but rather nonchalant. But… why during class was he such a jerk? “I think you have to consume more to obtain the flavor.” I take his advice, and guzzle down the drink. “Nope, still taste like dirty water.” I assure him.

  “Can we eat the inside?” I ask. I know by my reading, the inside has a better flavor. “You are asking for too much.”

  “Well, thanks to you I missed lunch.”

  “You still have time to eat…”

  “Just open it…please,” he sighs. He drinks the last bit of the coconut water, and breaks the coconut in two with his bare hands. I’m impressed by his strength. I wonder if he knows how attractive that is. “Looks icky…” I say pointing at the white lair that covers the inside of the seed. “Do you complain about everything, Zayras?” I pursed my lips. I do, don’t I?

  He scrapes the layer with a dagger he keeps on his belt and we eat the inside, which is sweet and tasty. However, by his lousy expression, it appears he savored more the juice than the interior. “I can’t believe you destroyed our tree,” I mumble in a daze, as I delicately eat the fruit. I sense his eyes are on me, but I don’t want to confront him. “You should go… I have to work,” he says in a soft tone, fondling the back of his neck. I get down from his desk. “Thank you for the…fruit…” I say viewing him. He avoids my eyes, and awkwardly stares down at the papers. I take my books from his desk. "Bye..."

  “Zayras,” his eyes rise meeting mine. I try giving him my attention without blushing. “I’ll appreciate if you dress appropriate. So please, if you need to wear your cloak, do so.” I stare at him stupefy by his request. Dress appropriate… there are girls who wear their tunics as dresses, their skirts so short their inner thighs show. I’m simply showing my shoulders, what’s wrong with this man? “Alright…I guess…” I awkwardly agree and walk away baffled by his request.

  The night approaches quick, and I lay in my room morose by the atmosphere. I’m sad I couldn’t meet with Corr, or any of my friends. Because of Khysso, I missed lunch, and because of Ronneto, I skipped dinner. He wished to go over the rules, telling me how he won’t allow any more rule breakage from my part. At least during the gathering we ate. Ronneto is very different from my old man. He's serious, strict, and I barely see a smile. He’s not tolerant, and caring like my old man, but the opposite.

  I read a manuscript Ronneto handed me, commanding me to study. It is a book that surrounds the perception in how to surge the ability of my most difficult wisdom, besides arithmetic, magic rule time advance, surpassing sixty second. As I read the lectures of meditation and concentration, I think of Khysso. He's great with magic advance. I can’t believe he reaches sixty second at such an age. He's truly stupendous.

  “Profound absorption and energy transfer are the keys to extending time…” I read out loud. “What the hell is that supposed to mean…” but as I think of magic law, I think in how Khysso and I can break it. Why do I need to increase my magic, when I can break it? A thump startles me. I gaze behind to find a man standing next to my bed. I gasp, his appearances races my heart. “Talking to your-self…” he taunts me. I’m on my knees, breathless by his appearance.

  “How…what…you…” he smiles, leans forward and presses his lips against mine, taking my life into him. I can’t believe it, we kiss, why does it feel so wonderful? A remarkable energy surrounds me, altering my prospects. “Missed me…” he whispers brushing his lips with mine.

  “So much…” I manage to say in a daze.

  “I thought of you dearly… at all time…you are everything I think of. You have no idea how much I need you, Judyala.” He whispers. I caress his cheek.

  “I need you too, Khysso,” and again our lips cover one another’s mouth.

  - 16 -

  Manners

  Casandree speaks to us about the arclaw’s limitations, but I hear or see nothing. In my mind is that strange deranged dream that grumbles my stomach and confuses my emotions. Of all men, why did I dream with Khysso? Why did I not romantically dream about Corr? He's the one I have feelings for. Could it be I’m spending too much time with Khysso? Yes, that has to be it. We spend almost an entire day when on the dragon’s cavern, and yesterday, we ate a coconut together. Dreams are not real. They are created by our inner thoughts. I’m sure my head considered him too much as I slept for there's no way I can like Khysso. It’s clearly affirmed, his heart, and body belongs to her. I can never have feelings for him, not after what I saw.

  “Spellbound is very powerful, so intensive that the male arclaws senses when their love ones are in danger. This moves them before their soul mate enters the threat. Therefore, it is another reason why the male has to be eliminated first. For if they envision harm coming to their love, they will attack in such anger that will kill a human instantly.” I hate her voice. I can’t stand her living form. I’m nauseated by the true bitch she is. All I seek is to leave the room, and never to return to this class.

  I dash out of the room the instant the hourglass chimes. My emotions are bothersome, and I pursue for some alone time. I want to face him, so I can prove to my inner self that the concept it’s producing is foolish. Out of the question!

  I slam my books on the desk, and sit next to Ramuso’s seat. It's still early and Khysso hasn't come forward. The room is empty, and the solitude I find facilitates my tensions. I lay my head on the desk, but loud clamoring abruptly boosts m
e up.

  “If it isn’t Zayras. What happened to you? What did the prick do to you? We missed you for lunch and dinner.” Ramuso says sitting next to me. Onnet and Osys also sit with us. I’m glad to see them. I miserably breathe out. “I had a meeting with my guardian. But today for sure we can go together.” I say in a gloomy tone.

  “What’s wrong with you? You look moody. Ah…I bet you have your…girly visitor…eh.” I glower. I wonder if he means my menstruation. Onnet truly is a hog.

  “No I don’t. What’s wrong with me is that I can’t stand arclaw communication and that dim-witted Instructor Sellias. I do not like her…she’s such a harlot,” I hiss.

  “She’s giving arclaw communication! No way, she’s grea…” Ramuso ends his words as I give him a cruel look. He nervously laughs. “Sellias is one gorgeous woman. I don’t blame Corr for—” I grasp Onnet from his collar, strangling him. The rage in me is conspicuous. “She’s a harlot,” I scream at him.

  “Fine-fine, she is. T-take it easy…” I hear Ramuso and Osys laugh inconsiderately at foolish Onnet. I shove him away. I can’t believe I went aggressive on him. “Holy crap, Zayras… that’s some grudge you have there… makes you hotter.” I gnash my teeth. I take my books and head to my seat, for the other apprentices arrived, in them, I see him.

  Class starts, and I try to distant my eyes from him, preventing any type of contact. I’m not going to dive into his enchantment, for even though it was a dream, it still gobbles my thoughts, and my emotions. I’m ensnared by Khysso. There’s no way to take him out of my mind. That moment, I dislike sharing the same ambience. I want to drift away, release myself from his grasp—I hate this tumbling sharpness on my tummy—I dislike the ill sensation. Khysso walks around class handing the graded exam. Evidently, my rating is perfect. I have my old man to thank.