Beast Soul - Chapter 96

“What happened to me after we fell? Why am I not remembering anything after that point?”

“What do you mean? Aren’t you the one who should know this? After all, it was me who had blacked out when we hit the ground.”

“Wait, what?! What did you say?!”

“Who on earth was controlling my body?”

“Noah?” All of a sudden, a familiar voice interrupted Noah’s daydreaming, and he let out a gasp as his body twitched, causing the person who spoke to flinch in fright.

“Ah..” Noah looked around as he realized that he was currently sitting inside his classroom, and he nodded his head to himself. He then turned his gaze to the side, where he saw a timid looking boy with ginger hair and glasses staring at him with a nervous and fearful expression on his face, and Noah let out a bitter smile.

“Sorry about that, Kevin.” Noah said as he scratched his head with an embarrassed expression on his face. “I had fallen asleep, and for a moment, I forgot where I was. I’m sorry if I startled you.”

Kevin widened his eyes before shaking his head and waving his hands dismissively in the air. “Uh, no, no… it’s not a problem at all, Noah. You don’t have to apologize to me.” He continued with a nervous smile on his face. “I was just about to remind you that it’s already recess.” He pointed his finger at the front of the classroom, and Noah saw that there was no teacher present, and most of the students were up from their seats and were conversing with each other.

“Ah!” Noah let out another loud gasp and slapped his head. “I guess I slept through the physics class. Damn it! And here I was, trying to keep focus on the classes.”

“I don’t think that’s a big deal,” Kevin scratched his chin and began glancing back and forth at Noah and the chalkboard. “You can still get a good grade like always if you just read the textbooks.”

“I don’t know, Kevin..” Noah had a bitter smile on his face as he responded to Kevin’s words. “I’m way too busy these days. I don’t think I’ll have enough time to actually study properly.”

“Ah, I forgot..” Kevin’s eyes wide as he replied in an instant, which made Noah furrow his eyebrows. ‘Does he suspect something?’ A question appeared in Noah’s mind, but he was quickly put to ease as Kevin decided to complete his sentence.

“You’re the leader of our class now..” Kevin said with a smile on his face as he spoke, which made Noah raise his eyebrows. ‘Why is he so happy about me becoming the head of the class?’ Noah thought to himself. ‘Maybe he was happy that the bully Billy didn’t have the reins anymore.’

“Noah!” His conversation with Kevin was interrupted by the voice of Adrian, who was waiting for him at the entrance of the classroom, and Noah nodded his head at him before slowly getting up from his seat.

“I’ve got to go now. We can talk later, Kevin.” Noah turned around and said to Kevin before walking away towards Adrian.

As he was walking away, the students all took a glance at him, but no one moved their heads, as they didn’t want to alert Noah that they were staring at him.

But unfortunately for them, Noah was a bit different from a normal human. He had enhanced senses, and he had already sensed that he was being watched by these students. However, since he didn’t want to make a scene and cause a problem, he simply ignored the looks that he was getting and just walked out of the classroom.

“I guess someone like me suddenly beating up his bully is not exactly easy for people to accept..” Noah whispered under his breath, and Adrian looked at him and asked, “Sorry, what was that? Did you say something?”

“No, I did not.” Noah shook his head, and Adrian raised his eyebrows with a questioning expression, but he didn’t continue poking Noah and just let it go.

Noah was still thinking about the conversation that he had with his doppelganger about the events that happened after the giant mass of land fell down onto the river below.

He had thought that the doppelganger must’ve taken control of his body when he blacked out, and figured that he should know what happened and could explain the events back to him. However, the doppelganger was apparently blacked out as well when those events happened, and Noah was now confused and afraid. He wasn’t too trustworthy of the doppelganger, but if he really was telling the truth, then who on earth was in control of his body?

“Sh*t, I can’t believe I’m just getting more and more problems to deal with..” Noah clicked his tongue. He was getting sick of having to deal with constant problems one after the other. He knew that with the power that he currently has, there was always going to be a catch, but nevertheless, he had already grown tired of getting caught up in trouble.

“Are you sure that you’re alright, Noah?” Adrian asked after he heard Noah mumbling to himself. He knew that Noah also went through the same traumatic experience that he did, and so Adrian wanted to be more understanding about his physical and mental health.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” Noah shook his head once again as he lied. “Just tell me more about those secret societies and the hierarchical structure within the school.”

“Are you really planning on interfering with their plans?” Adrian wanted to know whether Noah was simply asking because he was curious or if he had something else in his mind. “I’m telling you, Noah. These are not just teenagers. They’re the best at what they do. You shouldn’t underestimate them, because if you do-”

“Listen to me, Adrian…” Noah grabbed Adrian by his shoulders before he could finish his sentence, making him look at Noah’s face as he continued, “I told you, didn’t I? You don’t have to worry about me.”

Noah let Adrian go as he spoke. “I know that it might be hard to believe, but I’m much stronger than I was when I fought you, Adrian.” Noah patted the side of his shoulders. “You probably won’t get it, but soon you’ll understand what I mean. Just trust me, okay?”

Adrian stared at him, looking like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he let out a long and heavy sigh of defeat and shook his head. “Fine. I surrender. Have it your way, Noah. Just don’t end up hurting yourself.”

“Oh, I won’t.” Noah let out a loud but short chuckle. “I’m sure of that.” He then continued, “Now, tell me more about this so-called ‘King’ of yours…”

——————-

A few meters away from the school’s main building was the old school building that had not yet been demolished. Although from the outside, it seemed like it would collapse at any moment, the infrastructure on the inside looked quite alright, albeit being a bit dirty.

“A.J, why the f*ck did you call me today? I was about to head out in order to watch the new Spider-Boy movie today..” A large muscular teenager with a mohawk and a nose ring asked as he stepped inside the old school building, and the young man in front of him turned around with an annoyed expression on his face.

“Gab, how many times do I have to tell you that you don’t question the orders given to you from the higher ups?” The young man, A.J, spoke in a tone of annoyance to Gabriel Malik, the teen with the Mohawk.

“This came from the higher ups?” Gab now seemed much more interested, and A.J. nodded his head. “From Zero. He wants us to meet with Dax. Apparently, he has an order for us.”

The two continued walking through the hallway until they stopped and turned to their left, standing right in front of a large door with the tilted sign, ‘Physics Lab’, written on it.

“I really don’t like Dax,” Gabriel whispered softly as he leaned towards A.J. “Well then, I suggest you suck it up because who knows how long we’ll have to stay here.” A.J. replied and immediately opened the door to reveal a dimly lit room with crimson red LEDs all stuck to the corners of the walls.

“Ah, boys! You’re finally here..” In the middle of the room stood a dark shadowy figure, who turned around and spread their arms wide as the two young men entered. It was Dax.

“Mr. Zero had ordered us to come here, Mr. Dax.” A.J. said as he bowed his head, and Gab did the same. “We heard that you have an order for us?”

“Ah, yes! There is indeed an order for you!” Dax said as he walked up to the duo and handed them a picture. It was a photo of Noah, and the duo stared at the boy in the photo with confusion in their eyes.

“I need you to find this boy, Noah Pemberton…” Dax smiled as he spoke, revealing his yellow teeth. “…. And give him the good old ‘Secret’ Test!”