Dante was turning twelve this year, but he was barely let out of the tower because it was normal for Midarans to homeschool their children for twelve years. The tower is where the royal family lived. The royal family was King Silas, Queen Crimson, and Prince Dante. It’s tradition that the ruling family only has one child so that there is no ill-will between siblings about becoming King or Queen.
Dante turning twelve also meant he was going to start in-person school, which had changed a lot since the humans came the same year he was born. Schools were integrated immediately and Midaran teachers had to learn how to speak human languages in order to teach. Midaran students also had to learn a human language because the King proclaimed that it was important for them to communicate with humans. A lot of Midaran parents were cautious about their kids being in the same room as humans and vice versa. They knew too little of each other for them to be comfortable. King Silas kept most of the information about humans confidential until they had arrived. None of this affected Dante, he was just excited to get out of the tower and to become a hero for Midarans and Humans alike.
“Are you ready to go out Dante,” asked Queen Crimson. (Midarans speak telepathically, italics are used to show this.)
“Yes, Yes, let me go Mom,” Dante said quickly as his mom wouldn’t let him out of a hug.
His mother gave him advice and questioned him, “You behave, okay? Do you remember your human greetings and how to say your name?”
“Yes, mom,” Dante responded lazily.
“Let me hear then,” his mother said.
In his best English, Dante introduced himself, “Good morning, my name is Dante.”
His mother finally told him, “Good job sweetie. Okay, I’ll let you go.”
Dante left as soon as the door was open. He walked on the grey roads past the emotionless grey Midaran buildings and saw other Midarans going to school, no one nearly as excited as he was. As soon as he got to the school, he was in awe of how much different it looked from Midaran buildings. So, this is a human building, Dante thought to himself. The building was wide and, in the middle, had double doors. The building also had glass windows and only one floor. There was a sign above the door that said, “Midway”, because it was built in between the Midaran and Human cities. Dante rushed in and immediately saw a bulletin board labeled “Classes” and below it had everyone’s name, so Dante began looking for his. It was at this point that Dante realized that Midarans don’t have last names because of how small their civilization was before humans, so he was able to find his name quickly and next to his name was written, Room 5. He didn’t have a hard time finding the correct room since the building wasn’t that big. Once he walked in, the teacher had her name written on a white board in blue letters. It read Ms. Agnus.
“Find the chair that has your name sweetie,” she said to Dante,
“Oh, uh, yes,” Dante muttered. All his previous excitement had turned into nervousness. It was as if he forgot all the English his mom taught him. He found his name quickly because the classroom was small with 12 seats and there were already some humans there. They gave him long stares and Dante could feel the weight of them. He took a seat and stared blankly at his desk. Three other Midarans were in the class, but the humans didn’t give them nearly as long glares as they did to Dante. Then another human came in and he received the same evil glares as Dante. The human boy came in with his head down as if he expected the eyes of hatred to be on him. Regardless, he found his name, took a seat, and tried to ignore their stares.
The last seats were finally filled, and it was time for the teacher to take control of the class. She had the students introduce themselves in English and started from the front row. When it was Dante’s turn, he stood up like everyone else had done to give his grand introduction.
“Uh-h-h-hello, good morning, my name is Dante,” Dante spoke in a shy voice and was frustrated with himself because of all the English his mom had taught him was having a hard time reaching his mouth. An awkward silence followed, until the teacher spoke.
“Oh right, I forgot Midarans didn’t have last names,” Ms. Agnus in a comforting tone, “You may sit down now Dante.”
Dante sat back down and stared at his desk once more. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and calm down. He had to take multiple deep breaths until he was less nervous. Once Dante was attentive again, the boy who had also been stared down was about to introduce himself. The boy remained silent and stayed seated.
“Come now,” Ms. Agnus said in a voice like silk, “we just want to know your name.”
The boy took a deep breath and spoke in a firm tone, “My name is Enzo Lucifero.”
There were murmurs among the human kids and people began to look away from him as if he could kill with one look. Dante looked for the other Midarans in the class and spoke to them.
“Who is he,” Dante asked.
“I’m not sure...Prince,” One of the Midaran boys responded in a snobbish tone and then asked, “Why are you here?”
“Who are you,” Dante questioned with nervousness, “How do you know who I am?”
“I’m Cassius,” the boy responded with confidence, “I’m the son of Hades, Captain of the Police, and I’m more fit to be the next King than you. Anyone can tell you’re Royalty because of how dark your eyes are.”
Dante didn’t respond because the teacher had begun talking.
“Now, now, stop gossiping,” Ms. Agnus said, however, even she didn’t sound as comforting as before, “We need to get started with our classwork.” Dante couldn’t pay attention to Ms. Agnus because this was the first time he was so aware of his eyes and he wanted to know what it meant to be king.
After class was lunch, which meant all the kids got to go to the field. There were Human and Midaran games to play. There were also some benches if you wanted to rest instead. The field was pretty much empty because the terrain of Midaran didn’t allow for complex structures. So, the only human games there were handball and tetherball. For Midaran games, there was only a game called Rain. Where you would throw a ball into the sky and then you would have to hit the ball out of the sky and try to hit someone with it. The ball had to be hit at a downward angle, and if someone missed, another player would have to wait for the ball to bounce once and then they had the freedom to do anything they wanted as long as the ball went downward. If the ball hit a player, they were out, and the ball would be reset by throwing the ball into the sky. Last player standing wins and no element skills allowed.
Dante wasn’t the most athletic but when he saw a lot of Midarans playing Rain, he had to join. It went just as bad as he thought. Cassius would not leave him alone and hurled insult after insult. A target was placed on Dante as well because this was one of the few times someone could attack royalty. Eventually, Dante had enough of running and dodging so he decided to rest on the bench.
“And why are you here”, a kid yelled at another kid at the benches, “My mom says your kind are evil”. Dante immediately looked where the voice was coming from and expected to see another Midaran being bullied. The sight he witnessed made his head spin. Three human boys were surrounding another human boy on the bench. Dante went to get a closer look and realized the boy sitting down was Enzo. Enzo didn’t fight back or say anything, so Dante took initiative.
“Why are you so mean to him?” Dante asked.
“Stay out of it Mid,” the kid said, “These are human problems, not yours.”
“Just cause we’re not the same kind doesn’t mean I don’t understand,” Dante snapped back.
“Oh really,” the boy replied in a sinister tone, “Then why don’t you take his punishment.” The boy swung his fist with all his might and knocked Dante down. Enzo finally stood up.
“He didn’t do anything wrong!” he exclaimed and swung even harder and broke the boy’s nose. The other two boys started swinging at Enzo and overwhelmed him and beat him to the ground. Dante found the strength to stand and was furious.
“Leave him alone!” Dante shouted so loud that the teachers finally turned to see what was happening. In this same moment Dante felt a cool wind being exerted from him and soon there was ice on the floor. The two boys cried in agony and were covered in frost and cuts from such strong winds. Dante’s anger was a blizzard and even the first boy’s blood from his broken nose had frozen over and stopped bleeding. The human teachers couldn’t get close because of the snowstorm and turbulent winds. The teachers were powerless in front of Dante’s newly awoken power. After a few seconds, Dante calmed down and didn’t even realize the kind of power he unleashed. He went to give Enzo hand to help him get up.
“Are you okay,” Dante asked in a soft tone. Enzo just looked at him wide eyed, not with fear, but with admiration. Enzo wanted his power so he wouldn’t be bullied. After some hesitation Enzo reached out to grab Dante’s hand. However, once they touched Dante felt an unbearable pain and collapsed to the floor immediately. With the arctic weather gone, the teachers intervened and separated all the kids to be sent to the hospital. The first boy had to have surgery to fix his nose. All the boys except Dante suffered from some level of hypothermia. Dante had the complete opposite; he had a severe sunburn like injury nearly everywhere on his body. Dante was taken back to the Royal Hospital where they treated his burns.
Dante woke up confused and had trouble seeing but he could hear just fine. He overheard the doctor talking to his mom and dad.
“This is the result of him overexerting his power,” the doctor started, “He is a part of the royal family, so it makes sense that his power level is absurd for his age.”
The King and Queen looked at each other silently. King Silas knew this was a sign that he would be the one to tell Dante about his powers. Then the King received word that a teacher by the name Ms. Agnus requested to see him. He allowed it and went to speak to her.
“Hello, I am here to tell you about what happened at school today,” Ms. Agnus spoke in a nervous tone, “Your son saw three boys bullying another kid and decided to step in. This led to a fight between the four boys. However, your son somehow summoned chilling winds that nearly froze the other boys to death. They are all in the hospital being treated for hypoth- “
Ms. Agnus cut herself off when she saw the horror in the King’s eyes and his uneasy expression. He didn’t know that Dante had attacked other people.
“I understand,” the King said as he turned so did his stomach because Dante was too young to have this much power. He also thought about the effect this would have with the humans.
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Enzo woke up in a dark room and only saw shadowy figures that seemed to be organizing equipment and he couldn’t guess for what. The only light was the one that shined on him from directly above. The light made the dark deeper and he started to lose where the shadowy figures were. Panic started to set in so he tried to get out of the room, but he couldn’t. He was strapped to surgery bed by his arms, legs, feet, and neck. He began to cry as loud as he could for help and also because it felt like his body was being torn at the seams due to his injuries. He continued to scream even louder and became desperate, so he began shaking violently to get the restraints off him. He tried ignoring his pain, but it was impossible, and he begged for mercy and for power like Dante.
“Why can’t I be as strong as you,” he whimpered, slowly relaxing his body, “If I had a little bit of your strength, I could fight back!”
“So, you want power,” a calm voice from the shadows said, “We could give you power, but it would hurt. And honestly, we don’t know if it would work. You may die. Is that fine?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes. I don’t want to be weak and depend on people to save me,” Enzo said with passion and grit.
“Okay then, that settles it,” the calm voice stated, “We will try our best to give you power and in return, if you do gain this power, you will use it for our purposes too, do you understand?”
“Yes, I do,” Enzo promised blindly. Slow footsteps approached him and a man stepped into the light. He was dark skinned with a small black afro alongside a short black goatee. He was dressed in a traditional outfit which consisted of a long brown coat that was rimmed with red fur, red boots, tan pants that fit a little loose, and a red turtleneck. The man seemed to be around 6 feet tall at least. His build was sturdy and muscular; however, he gave off a comforting aura.
“Hello, you can call me Sahel,” Sahel finally introduced himself, “Well then, let’s get started on the procedure.”
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