Corwin Benedict
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The Game Of The Gods Chapter 8
🕑 Added 2025-02-07 21:47:12 +0000 UTCRose is quiet, with a small smile as we walk into the classroom. I keep the conversation going by pointing at scratches on the wall, and telling her about the seniors who’d decided to leave their mark after graduation.
The couple of students already in the classroom stare at us curiously. After all, Rose is the new student, and she’s walking with the class psycho.
Rose smiles and winks at those staring, then follows me over to a desk in the back. I sit at the window, and watch as she shoots a boy a smile, before sitting next to me.
I miss the warmth of her arm in mine.
I let out a small sigh.
Rose turns to me, “What’s wrong?” she asks.
“Nothing, just feeling bad for all the poor boys that are going to have their hearts broken.” I give her a smile.
“Oh, hush. I like smiling at them, nothing more. It’s way too dangerous to be around me anyway.” She brushes her hair behind her back and sets her backpack to the floor.
I stick my tongue out at her. “I’m like glue, you’re not getting rid of me.”
“Yeah, well, I guess you’re different.” She pulls out a notebook and opens it to a random page, revealing a bunch of small doodles.. “You’re already involved.”
I lean down, my hair resting on the desk as I catch her eyes. “Is that the only reason I’m different?”
The boy in front of me whistles as he sits down at the desk in front of us. “Man, I wish I had one tenth of the charm you do Elena.”
I turn my gaze to the boy, and briefly consider if my new powers will let me kill him with my eyes.
Blake smiles cheekily, showing off his dimple. “Sorry El, couldn’t help myself.” He turns to Rose and offers his hand, “You’re the new kid, huh? I’m Blake, Elena’s best-friend.”
I snort.
“Don’t do me like that, El.” He says as Rose takes his hand, “And can you stop glaring at me? I’m scared my shirt will catch on fire.”
My eyes narrow at the boy. He’s right about being my best friend, even if I don’t want to admit it.
Notorious playboy, and reformed bully, Blake is irritatingly charming. Blue eyes, raven hair, and a six-pack he likes to display whenever he gets the chance, make for a devastating combination at our highschool. During one of my weaker moments, I’d even considered dating him, not that I’d ever admit that to anyone.
We became friends freshman year, after I beat him up for bullying one of the nerdier kids in our class. It’s a long story, but he’s a relatively good guy now.
“Hey. I’m Rose, Elena’s newest friend.” She says. “Nice to meet you Blake.”
“Nice to meet ya. You’re in good company, El might be a little…” His eyes slide over to me and he reconsiders his words. “But! I’d trust her with my life a thousand times over. Plus she’s intelligent, badass, and very pretty.”
“Oh?” Rose gives me a questioning look, and I roll my eyes.
While Rose is looking at me, Blake gives me a little thumbs up.
Idiot.
Before anything else can be said, the door to the classroom is thrown open. A new teacher strolls into the room, his eyes looking over everyone with a calculating gaze. “Hello class! My name is Mr. Monroe, Scott Monroe to be exact. I will be taking over as your homeroom teacher.”
A hand rises at the front of the class.
“Yes, Miss Telemor?”
“What happened to Miss Reynolds?” The preppy girl at the front asks.
“She suffered an unfortunate accident and quit to take care of herself.” He picks up an attendance chart at the front of the class. “Any more questions will have to be directed towards the principal.”
That said, he starts calling out names.
My psi explodes into motion, and I put a hand to my head. Someone else is using their psi on the people in the room.
I look up, and everyone is giving their full attention to Mr. Monroe. My own gaze is drawn to him as something forces me to pay attention.
I ignore the sensation easily, instead twisting the psi inside me as I consider what to do.
The teacher is using psi. Is he another Beta Tester? I glance at the rest of the classroom. Everyone is taking notes, and no one is passing notes or staring at their phone.
Everyone is being controlled, including Rose and Blake.
Anger fills me as I’m tempted to break the control he has over the room. But no, it’s a bad idea. If he’s hostile, which the fact that he’s using mind control implies, then I could start a fight in a classroom filled with people that he can apparently control.
I lean back in my chair, and let the psychic control continue. My title grants me near complete immunity to his control, but I still have to sit there and pretend as if nothing is going on.
Class passes in agonizing slowness as the man controls everyone like puppets.
Finally, class ends causing all the students to gather their things and leave. I breathe a sigh of relief as I grab my bags and move to follow Rose and Blake.
“Elena, stay a moment.” Mr. Monroe says. I freeze as his psi washes over me, commanding me to stay where I am.
The rest of the class leaves, walking out the door.
“What a pity, I had hoped that you would be more of a challenge to control, being a Beta Tester and all.” He walks a circle around me with an arrogant confidence. “I thought there was some initial resistance, but it was nothing compared to the monsters of the tutorial.” He stops in front of me and lets out a sigh. “I had hoped to play the teacher a little longer, but seeing as this was so easy, I suppose it’s time. Come along, we’ll head to my house.” He turns towards the door and starts walking.
“Do you have any idea how creepy you sound?” I ask, placing my hand against my hip. “I mean, really? ‘Come along, we’ll head to my house’” I imitate his deep voice and shake my head. “What a thing for a young male teacher, like yourself, to say to his beautiful female student.” I let out an annoyed huff, then add, “After I had to listen to your boring ass lecture too.”
He turns around slowly, his eyes looking at me with warrily. “How did you-?”
“I would have said something along the lines of, oh, I don’t know, ‘wow. It’s great to finally meet someone from The Game Of The Gods. Why don’t we sit down and mutually agree on how terrible dying in the tutorial was’. But nooo, you just had to go the creepy villain route.” I sigh dramatically, and lean against the desk.
“I said, Come to my house.” Psi washes over me as he attempts to control me.
I push my psi against his, mustering everything I have to push against the mental control. My stomach twists with nausea at the sudden use of sigh. I lean back against the desk, pretending to be unaffected while my stomach does flips . “Really? After I just told you how creepy you sounded. You had to go even creepier. ‘Come to my house!’. Wow. What a cringy villain you are.”
I use [Unmatchable Speed], the world shifting around me as I appear in front of him. I point my gloved fist at his neck.
“Let’s get something clear here. I don’t like being controlled, and I don’t like my friends being controlled. So back. The. Fuck. Off.”
To my surprise, the man doesn’t even blink. He just smiles at me. “Now this. This is fun. Who would have thought that Set’s warnings about you were correct? I am sorry for what’s about to happen.”
Blood spurts out of my front as bullets puncture through me, their force throwing me into the teacher’s desk. No gunshots ring out, the room eerily silent except for my banging into the desk.
A woman walks into the room, holding an old six-shot western pistol. She hands the gun to Mr. Monroe. “Thank you Sasha. Nice shooting.” He turns towards me, “I like to be prepared. I can heal you from those wounds, but you’ll have to come with me.”
I bring a bloodied hand to the desk, and pull myself off the ground. I stagger back to the window, a smile covering my face as I glare at the two of them. “I have decided, that I hate getting shot. It hurts, you know?” I feel as the blood covers my shirt, my gloves struggling against the bullets still lodged in my body. “You really like playing the villain, don’t you Mr. Monroe? I would love to continue our little repartee of word, but I’m afraid that I’m late for my next class. There’s an important test, you know? See you tomorrow.”
I use [Unmatchable Speed] to jump through the window. [Take Your Time] activates, slowing time enough for me to grab onto the windowsill a floor down. I let go of the windowsill, and fall to the ground of the first level, whimpering as the bullet holes in my body complain.
I hurry to the girl’s bathroom and lock myself into a stall.
The wounds are closing slower than they should.
At the rate I’m losing blood, I’ll bleed out before my gloves heal the wound. I close my eyes, and try to sink into meditation. I need to focus.
The root chakra, it is blood red, symbolizing survival, life and death. I speed the psi up, praying that it’ll work.
I cannot die.
I refuse to die.
Captain! The ship is sinking! I repeat, the ship is sinking!
Calm down Cadet. This will not be our last fight! I refuse to let it be.
What are your orders Captain?
Batten down the hatches. We are in for a rough one.
Pain courses through my body, as I put all of my focus into my psi. A gasp escapes me, and a second later there’s the ding of a bullet hitting the floor. A second and a third bullet soon follow.
After an excruciating ten minutes, the wounds close, but I can feel an infection of something foreign making its way through my veins.
I grab ahold of my root chakra, then take the psi and chase every last bit of the infection down. After what feels like an eternity, I open my eyes and let out a sigh.
I lie there, leaning against the toilet for a minute before I gather the energy I need to pick up one of the bullets. I study it, watching as hieroglyphs flash in and out of existence down its surface.
“[Identify Item: Bullet]”
<Blue Window>
.45 Bullet (unique)
Owner: Scott Monroe
Abilities: Ignore Healing,
Infect,
???
<Blue Window>
Fuck. That’s a system weapon, isn’t it. I close the blue screen to look at some of the notifications that had been wanting my attention.
<Blue Window>
You have manipulated your root chakra and learned the spell: [You Better Heal Right Now]
<Blue Window
<Blue Window>
You have manipulated your root chakra and learned the spell [Clear Impurities]
<Blue Window>
<Blue Window>
You have resisted a mental attack and learned the spell [Resist Psi]
<Blue Window>
I wish I liked alcohol, because then I could say;
I really need a drink.
