Draeyer Academy (Rewrite)

Chapter 1-Thief

"Drae's shit!" He bolted awake.

Another knock—the sound that woke him—came from the closed door. He blinked, and tried to rid his drowsiness. Annoyance coursed through him as he did so. Someone had pulled him out of his well-deserved nap.

"Wait a moment!" His hands fumbled over the desk, organizing the scattered papers into neat piles. He then threw a couple of crumpled ones to the bin beneath his desk. "Come in," he said. Straightening his spine, he sat back against the red cushion of his seat.

The door opened with a quiet creak, but the sound loudly bounced off the grey and red walls of his silent office. A mop of black hair appeared out of the gap, and a pair of familiar gray eyes peered at him.

"Did I ruin your sleep, Professor Gael?" Knox said. The young man strode into the room, hands carrying a large stack of papers.

Gael wanted to shudder at the sight. He had just finished some documents the headmaster asked him to work on. Judging from the pile Knox was carrying, the old man had no intention of giving him a break. He pasted a smile on his face, and acted like he'd been wide awake the entire time.

"You didn't ruin anything," he said. "I wasn't sleeping."

Knox's lips wobbled, like he was trying to suppress a smile. Gael could see the laughter in the young man's eyes though, and embarrassment washed over him. Still, he continued to pretend that he was an adult who did not make it a habit of sleeping in his office. Again.

"If you say so, Professor," Knox said. "The headmaster asked me to give you these files. He said you have a week to work on them."

Do not grimace, Gael. Do not look so unprofessional in front of someone who looks up to you like an older brother.

"Thank you," he said, smile still on.

"I'll take my leave then," Knox said, then paused, "and Mother and Father want you to come to dinner this week, by the way".

"I'll try to be there."

Gael let a little sigh escaped when the boy left, only to stiffen when Knox turned with an amused smile on his face. "You might also want to wipe the ink off your face, or else grandpa might mistake it for one of his documents."

Before Gael could utter a word, Knox closed the door. Gael could hear his laughter from the hall and his mouth gaped. He jumped out of his seat and made his way to the tiny square mirror hanging on the wall across from him.

He groaned when his eyes landed on the ink letters marring his face. The words were visible enough that he had no problem reading them through the mirror. The most evident words were "Draeyer Academy" and the school seal, a silhouette of a baby drae curled inside a circle. He grabbed his handkerchief and wiped the ink off as best he could. Note to self: do not fall asleep on top of the documents. In fact, do not fall asleep on your desk at all, he thought.

Please, you know you'll do it again.

Gael threw the inner voice towards the back of his head.

His hand soon grew tired from rubbing at his cheek and he stopped. There were still black marks on his face, but you would need to get up close to his face to see them. He shrugged and yawned. It was only Monrion, but he felt like he could sleep through the rest of the week.

He glanced out his office's large window and saw that shades of purple, orange and yellow had replaced blue as the sun set beneath the clouds of the infinite sky. It would be night soon, and he decided to go night riding with his drae once the twin moons were bright enough to illuminate the sky. He decided to call it a day and clean up his desk.