Descendants of Gibbous
Chapter 49: Weird

Chapter 49: Weird

By the time Damien was standing in a line of young vampires like himself, he had received enough jealous stares from other boys to make him break a sweat here and there—all because he had been touched by the fairy.

They had been separated into four groups that made up the dominant tribes of Gibbous, each receiving enrollment letters that matched their tribal qualities from the senior students passing the papers between the queues. Once the students were given the letters, they were allowed to leave the school grounds since the enrollment ceremony had ended.

When Damien received his letter, he didn’t waste time looking for Eden. He just took his sheet, rolled it into a pipe, and walked away from the queue of students who still found him amusing and were whispering to each other, looking at him.

Two times!

He had embarrassed himself two times today and being in Gibforge’s grounds only made it worse. And thanks to him being in history books or whatever, it seemed escaping this newfound fame wasn’t going to be easy from now on.

’Now where the hell is Ahara?’ Damien wondered, making his way to the entrance by the yellow statue he had left her.

It took a bit more scanning for him to locate her. She was talking to Twiller, nodding a little too much for a casual conversation. Damien soon realized that it wasn’t a normal conversation. Ignoring how they were standing in a somewhat secluded corner where no one was, it was just the three of them—Twiller, Ahara, and Mei—an awfully suspicious combination if you asked the boy given what he just went through.

’Should I sneak up on them?’ Damien debated with himself as he watched the group but stopped thinking about doing it when the thought of what happened at the hospital crossed his mind.

’Yeah, no. That Vice Principal looks like she’ll kill me if she senses me lingering around them suspiciously.’

Shaking his head and ignoring the small voice in his head trying to deceive him, Damien decided to walk in on them directly, managing to draw their attention the moment he was within hearing range.

"Ah, there he is!" Twiller beamed at the boy.

’So they were talking about me.’

"Afternoon, Principal," the young vampire slightly bowed his head at the old man, earning him an approving glance from Mei-ling.

Ahara didn’t waste any time before grabbing her brother, about to pull him into a hug—but then she froze, looked at the teachers next to them, and stopped. She wanted to ask Damien if he was okay after the experience he just had, but then he had told her not to smother him in public not too long ago. With that in mind, Ahara swallowed whatever questions she had and patted Damien’s shoulders as if removing something from him before grinning at him.

"Good on you for choosing Fangpeak. I was about to think you’d break our entire bloodlines record you know."

Damien’s brows rose high up his forehead. "You were in Fangpeak too?"

"Not just me. Mom, Dad, and the entire Amaris family who learned at Gibforge before them too."

At this, Damien couldn’t help but bite his lip in guilt. He hadn’t made his choice based on any sentiments or what he had heard from the fairy. It was pure luck that he got into Fangpeak because the only people he knew were already in that house. What would have happened if they had been placed in other cardinal houses?

"Wow. Now I’m suddenly glad the fairy didn’t get to decide a house for me."

The moment the words left Damien’s mouth, the air around him changed. He raised his head just in time to see Ahara glancing suggestively at Principal Twiller, whilst Mei-ling nodded at them, leaving the three secluded under the dragon statue as she made her way to the qualified students who were now leaving Gibforge’s stadium and going home with their families.

Such was the case for the disqualified students too. They were now a bit more lively since coming from the infirmary. Maybe the nurse had some sort of therapy spell that she used on them because the majority of the students no longer looked gloomy.

Damien wished she’d given him some of the anti-depressant shit.

Where he was now, old man Twiller was giving him that curious look again, and he was now standing closer to Damien than ever before—enough for the lad to catch a whiff of a light lavender scent on him. Twiller had long changed out of his amour into a striking white robe that matched the color of his beard, and a pointed hat that reminded Damien a lot of the witches on Netflix.

"Tell me, Damien. When you got possessed by the Gem of Memento Mori, was there something that happened to you that you haven’t told even your sister here?" Twiller asked, pointing at Ahara who was also closed in on her brother’s face.

A flicker of surprise flashed in Damien’s eyes, announcing to the two adults that something had indeed happened.

"How did you?..." He trailed off.

"It would be a bit stupid of me not to suspect a thing after you got back your aura from using the gem wouldn’t it?" Twiller cut him, stepping back and stroking his beard.

"I’m pretty sure your sister told you but the gem was your father’s special weapon that he used the day you lost your aura," he added glancing at the nodding Damien before he continued. "It’s just a theory, but I think the gem was the reason you lost your aura."

"Hmm. Ahara told me that."

"Did she now?" Twiller glanced at the young woman who avoided his gaze, looking above at the dragon statue as if she had never seen it before. Smiling, he then turned back to Damien. "But are you sure you just got possessed by the gem and nothing else happened?"

Damien knew exactly what the old man was getting at.

He had seen the fiery frames that looked like people that night a few weeks ago, and he had also seen the shadow and was trapped in the black endless domain, not to mention his death and resurrection in a matter of seconds after the time stop. It had all been too much for him to witness that day, but now that he was accustomed to Gibbous, it seemed that was the bare minimum of what this place’s beings were capable of.

What didn’t settle well with him though was how Twiller seemed to know that he was hiding something—but judging from his expressions, Damien could tell the man didn’t mean any harm. If anything, he might as well be the person who could help him understand what was going on with his aura—given his old age and power.

"Well, I did see three fire people and one shadow that looked like me in my dreams after I fainted, and it all happened in a never-ending place that was black with water on its floors and the gem was in the middle of it all," Damien explained in a low hushed voice, glancing side to side just in case any students were lingering around.

He was already their prime talking subject because of all the strange happenings that occurred to him recently. There was no way in hell he’d let them hear this bit of information! It was too cringeworthy and odd. That’s why he intentionally skipped the part about him dying or the fires going into his body and reviving him.

"Primal Ascension!" Ahara exclaimed, finally looking Twiller in the eyes. "He used Primal Ascension that night!"

"But he said a never-ending space opened right?" Twiller stroked his beard, raising his brows at Ahara interestingly. "If he opened a domain then that’s a stage above Primal Ascension my dear. The boy used Primal Eclipse."

A loud gasp came from Ahara which she immediately muffled with a slap to her mouth—but her eyes still showed a hint of surprise with how wide they were.

Damien glanced at her, wondering why she looked so surprised. "Umm, it happened just now too after my fight with Brandon—"

"When you suddenly moved at S-rank speeds!" Ahara cut him, her eyes still wide.

"Yes, but this time, I didn’t see the fire people. It was only my shadow, and the black space."

"Hmmm," Twiller hummed to himself. "And how long did it last?" He asked.

Damien wondered if he should tell him about the conversation he had with his shadow, but decided against exposing that bit of information. That was a secret he chose to keep to himself for selfish reasons—it was his special development arc.

"It only lasted for a short while," he white lied, somehow managing to maintain eye contact with the Principal.

"And how were you able to suddenly use your overdrive state during the match after not being able to pass through the portal gate if I may ask?"

’Man, this guy’s intuition’s scary.’

Damien glanced at his surroundings again to make sure no one was overhearing them.

"Don’t worry, nobody’s coming. I’d sense their aura from a mile away if they came closer to us," Twiller soothed his worries, urging him to continue. So Damien did.

"Well, it might sound weird but the shadow evaporated into my body through my chest," the boy explained in a lowered voice that almost sounded like a whisper.

To his horror, he was right about his story being weird because as soon as the words left his mouth, Ahara’s expression hardened and turned from surprised to cringing in an instant. Her eyes were immediately filled with concern, glancing between Damien and the old man as if they were talking about killing someone—a rather peculiar thing if you asked Damien.

"It is weird. We might be full of magic and aura, but having things enter your body and suddenly grant you power is still a bit of dark magic for a young Vampire like you to have you know," Twiller added, making the poor boy’s face drop a little.

"But it’s not unheard of. However, this would be my first time hearing someone say it happened in their dreams and manifested in reality," he quickly added once he noticed Damien sulking.

’Damnit. I knew it was a bad idea to tell them,’ Damien groaned in his head, suddenly feeling lonely now that Ahara had reacted like the rest of the people filling the stadium to his strange power. Even he himself didn’t understand a thing about his aura.

Every time he got serious with it, something was bound to happen; be it the sudden speed like what happened at the marathon or the sudden entrance into his empty consciousness where he could speak with the shadow and even get hit by it—there was always a surprising ending for him.

Noticing the sullen expression on the boy, Twiller decided to let him go...for now.

"Anyways, the good thing is that you got your aura back and you’ve returned home. We might not know exactly what’s going on with you, but at least you manifested tribal abilities and that’s the best thing any Gibbit could wish for. Now drop the saddened expression and go get ready for school. You have a lot of shopping and preparing to do."

Ahara clapped her hands at the principal’s speech, her eyes glistening expectantly at her brother. "Oh yes! I was too occupied with your stories to tell you the best part about getting enrolled at Gibforge...shopping!"

Noticing his sister’s normal persona returning, Damien visibly relaxed and was grateful she wasn’t mad at him.

"Come on, give me the list," Ahara snatched the enrollment paper Damien had received before proudly grinning at it.

"Ah, it still looks the same."