Revenge of the Serpent

Prologue (1)

Theodore's bright green eyes gazed through the window as he rested his chin on the palm of his hand. He watched as the rain drops slowly dripped down the glass pane and occupied himself by listening to nature's white noise, completely ignoring a teacher that was lecturing in front of the class. On the whiteboard were complex math equations that he didn't bother to read, which was the reason why half of the class was slowly growing tired of listening to the endless babbling of the teacher. A female student that was sitting next to him seemed to have given up on the subject completely and decided to sleep, lying down on her arms as she snored softly. He let out a bored sigh, turning his attention towards the front of the class. More specifically, he was looking at the clock which was about to turn 3:00 pm in just around three minutes. He could see that everyone was silently counting down the clock inside their minds. Two minutes. One minute. 30 seconds.

Three.

Two.

One.

The bell rang and immediately the class was thrown into disarray. Students stood up from their seats as fast as they could and the sounds of footsteps and chairs scrapping against the ground silenced the teacher's frantic shouting. "Wait! I didn't say you could leave!"

Everyone ignored him and started leaving the room one by one. Theodore didn't rush though, seeing that the impatient students were clotting up the exit, he took his time packing his bag until the traffic was gone along with the rain outside, leaving only a faint drizzling as the sunlight of the evening seeped through the window. "Another day ended..." He thought as he swung his bag over his shoulders and began to walk. He could see his friend, Merlin, waiting for him at the front of his class.

The red-haired boy was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his dark brown eyes were searching through the crowd as if looking for someone. His arms would flail upwards with excitement when he spotted Theodore walking toward him. "Yo, Theo! Want to get some ramen today?" Merlin's naturally playful tone complemented his easy-going posture, when Theodore got closer his right arm went around his neck and rested on his shoulder.

"You mean that new shop? They sell ramen?" Meanwhile, Theodore's voice was deep and melodious in a way that people often mistook him for a singer.

"Yep, that one! You wanna go?"

Theodore took a moment to think. He shrugged before speaking. "Sure, I have nothing else to do any—"

Without warning, the floor started violently shaking, occupied by the screams of people down the hallway. Theodore and Merlin barely kept themselves standing as they turned towards where they'd heard the sound. "An earthquake?" Rubbles fell from the ceiling, prompting the two boys to start moving to safety. He grabbed his friend's wrist, much to his surprise, and dragged him into the classroom, sliding beneath a table while they waited for the shaking to subside. However, the cries of terror from the other students outside didn't stop. In fact, Theo heard a boy saying something along the line of "Monsters".

"Monsters?" Merlin frowned, having heard it as well, he was occupying another table right next to Theodore. "What are they talking about? Isn't this just an ordinary earthquake?"

"...They're still screaming. Something's wrong." It's normal for people to panic under the pressure of a natural disaster but this is simply too much noise.

He could suddenly hear frantic footsteps outside the classroom as the shaking slowly came to a stop, and moments later another person would enter, his clothes were tattered with blood all over his arms and legs, and his blue eyes were wide as he cautiously looked around the room, eventually noticing the two boys under the table. "Is this place safe?" The dark-haired boy asked, his voice shaking with fear.