Balance of the Skies (bxb)

PART 2 - CHAPTER 6

The first few weeks passed by quickly. Lorien found himself adjusting to life at the school and was enjoying lessons so far. Although he had no roommate for the first three days, this quickly changed when he was joined by another boy just a few months older than him. Wilford was rather small in stature, with light brown hair and eyes, but with an infectious smile that lit up his whole face. He had immediately taken a liking to his dark-haired roommate. Both boys were rather shy at first, but once Wilford started talking and asking Lorien about his family and life at home, they had quickly felt at ease. In fact, they spent the second night following Wilford's arrival, chatting about their interests, hobbies and friends. They were also delighted to discover that they had most lessons together and Lorien felt in his heart that he was close to having a new friend.

The two boys spent a lot of time together also outside their classes. Since they were both not much into going to clubs or pubs that surrounded the school, they usually spent their time in the school library researching their favourite painters. If the weather was permitting, or if they were looking for some inspiration, they would walk around the school gardens, trying to identify a spot where they would sit, chat, doodle or sketch. Their pencils and drawing books were never out of reach.

"So, what do you intend to do once you finish the course?" Wilford asked one sunny afternoon as they were both lying on the grass close to the fountain situated in the middle of the garden.

"I don't really know yet," Lorien replied. "I hope to be able to at least find a job that is art related... an art teacher perhaps?"

"What? No way! You are so talented Lorien. You will be a famous artist and all the galleries in the world will be fighting each other to be able to exhibit your work," his friend said animatedly.

Lorien blushed furiously at this. "Thanks Wilford but you exaggerate. I am not that good, but I hope to improve."

"You are too humble," Wilford huffed at him. He was about to say something else when the bell rang, signalling the end of afternoon break. The smaller boy groaned as they both picked up their things to go inside.

"I will surely fall asleep in class," Wilford grumbled. "History of Art is sooo boring. Why they leave it till last period is beyond me."

"It's not that bad. I find it quite interesting -"

"Seriously Lorien?" Wilford cut him off, looking at him as if he had just told him he had seen a flying monkey. "There is nothing interesting in hearing about old times and trying to remember dates and different periods, blah, blah, blah."

Lorien smiled at this as they kept on walking towards their class, but he couldn't help but notice that there was some sort of excitement in the air. Students around them were talking animatedly, scampering hurriedly along and smiling.

"What's happening?" Wilford asked a blue-haired girl who was in their history class and was also making her way there.

"Haven't you heard? Koray's back," she replied, eyeing Lorien while grinning.

"Really? Wow! That's wonderful news," Wilford replied, and Lorien was not sure if his friend truly meant this or was being sarcastic.

"Who's Koray?" Lorien whispered to Wilford, who was jumping up and down on the balls of his feet.

"Only the country's top sculptor! No, make that the world's top sculptor!" Wilford shouted.

"Does he give lessons here?" Lorien asked again as they reached their classroom.

"Seriously Lorien? Koray is a student here. I don't think he is much older than us."

Lorien was quite surprised to hear this. Still he wondered, how come he had not heard of this famous sculptor before. It was true that he was more into painting and sketching rather than sculpting, yet he felt he should be more open to other forms of art as well. However, any other thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind as his history professor entered the classroom and the lesson began.

~~~~~

The next day, Lorien woke up with a burning sensation in his stomach. Scratch that, he realised that the burning feeling was actually on his stomach – something was burning his skin. He shot out of bed to discover that the pendant under his shirt was scorching hot. He rushed to the bathroom, throwing his shirt off, and quickly removing the pendant. Although it felt indeed like it was on fire, it left no burn marks on his skin, much to his relief. This relief was, however, short lived the minute Lorien looked in the mirror. His normally black hair had streaks of orange and red lacing through it as if he had dyed highlights. And his eyes – they were no longer dark but hazel, with flecks of orange and red. It looked as if his eyes were about to shoot flames any minute.

Lorien was shocked as he stood there staring disbelievingly at his reflection, looking at himself yet not recognising the face in front of him. He also realised that he had been clutching the pendant so tightly in his fist, that its image was etched into the palm of his hand.

After a few panicked short breaths, he looked at the mirror again, only to see that his hair, now damp with sweat, and his eyes, had returned to their normal colour. No orange highlights, the red specks gone.

"Lorien, you okay man?" Wilford asked him from outside.

"Eh, yeah I'm fine, just... just an upset stomach...."

"Maybe last night's steak was not cooked well?"

"I don't know, but I'm better now thanks," Lorien tried to sound positive.

"I'm off to grab some water bottles coz we ran out. Do you need anything? Will you be okay?"

"Yeah thanks. I'll just take a quick shower and maybe lie down a bit longer." Lorien took a deep breath as soon as he heard the door to their room close. He looked at the mirror again and wondered if he had imagined the whole thing. He decided to take that shower and wait for Wilford to return.

~~~~~

As it was raining and windy outside, the boys could not go out to their favourite spot by the fountain, so they made their way towards the library, only to find it closed with a notice stating that the librarian would 'be back in two hours'.

"Shit," Wilford muttered under his breath but loud enough for Lorien to hear. Then, "How about we go to the canteen today?"

"I don't know," Lorien still had not completely recovered from the fright he had had earlier, and being in a room full of people was something he wished to avoid.

"Oh, come on, let's check it out and if it's too much, we'll think of somewhere else. What do you think?"

"Okay," he agreed and they made their way to the canteen, which surprisingly was not at all crowded and there were a number of empty tables. The two friends chose to sit next to a window and Lorien looked outside at the sheets of pouring rain thrown here and there by the howling wind. He was thinking of taking out his sketch book, when a group of four or five people walked through the canteen doors.

They were three boys and two girls talking rather loudly, animatedly and Lorien could not help but notice their expensive looking clothes. They had an air of superiority about them that Lorien instantly disliked. He was eyeing each student in turn, when suddenly his breathing slowed almost to a stop and an icy cold fist clutched at his heart.

One of the boys was looking directly at Lorien with a mixture of curiosity and what looked like contempt.

He had silver white hair and he looked a lot like the boy in Lorien's dream.

All of a sudden, the boy's expression changed to one of agonising pain and he dropped to the ground, clutching his right side.

Time stood still as Lorien saw the silver-haired boy's friends panic as the male lay motionless on the floor. Yet, he did not hear anything except a loud roaring in his ears.

Lorien stood up and ran.