NEW GODS: The Awakening

Invitation from a God

"And so the Gods threw a pool party,"

The sound of the class's soft giggling faintly reached his ear. The butterfly fluttered its long, elegant, beautiful wings. With a few strokes of his bright pink pencil, he copied the splashes of color on them.

"Well, we know who isn't paying attention now," mister Klaus, a man with a white beard and even lighter hair, cleared his throat "Damian Reyes Lucia, would you like to share with the class what has you so distracted?"

"It is not done yet," Damian asked without ever taking his eyes off the butterfly "Give me a second or two."

His pen moved quicker and the scratching sound it made as it scraped along the paper got louder. The butterfly took off as soon as the drawing was done.

"Here," she said cheerfully extending the paper towards his teacher.

The class erupted into laughter, although it didn't escape Damian that they were laughing at him.

Nothing new really. He was used to it.

"If only you were as interested in mystical history as you are in this... hobby of yours," Klaus ignored his extended hand.

"Then history would be my hobby," Damian shoved the new sketch inside of his overflowing envelop.

He would have to get a new one soon.

Oh well, he flipped the page over and grasped his pen, ready to go on to his second drawing.

"But clearly you believe that you have enough of a grasp on the Early Mystical Ages that you don't need to pay any attention in class," Klaus turned his back on him, pacing back to his desk slowly and dramatically "So, tell us what happened to the Abyssals?"

The pen fell from his fingers. His light brown eyes lit up and he could barely contain himself from jumping up and down on his chair. His energy was reminiscent of that of a child, though he had turned eighteen last summer.

His hair, which confused even him as to whether it was an extremely light brown or a very dark blond, looked almost golden underneath the glow of the sun, like the undertone of his light brown skin.

Klaus had no way to know that Damian had spent years of his life reading up anything and everything he could find of the Abyss and its citizens which was pitifully little even with Leon's assistance in finding more material.

"The Firstborns. The First Creations of Agasis. They were exiled underground for attempting to fight against death," while Damian started talking full of excitement and energy, his tone grew almost sorrowful when it came time for him to recount their punishment "Ever since, they have been known as the Abyssals."

"If I didn't know any better, I would think you pitied them," Fa apparently could not hold the snide remark in her.

He let out a pained grumble at the sound of her voice.

Damian turned around to address her face to face. Fa was glowering at him as usual, like he was some chewed gum she had stepped on with her expensive white shoes. She was petite with braided black hair and a fawn complexion.

Damian felt almost guilty for his admittedly unwarranted dislike of her. But every time he as much as glanced at her, all he could think of was her hanging off Leon's arm, looking absolutely radiant like the perfect couple they had been.

Fa had somehow figured out his feelings towards Leon and had basically taken every single opportunity to rub it in his face that he was hers and not his, demanding his attention every time they interacted for more than a minute, constantly attaching herself to him- and even worse being seemingly blind to how uncomfortable that had made Leon.