The class returned back to its slumber after that brief interaction, no one dared look up from their phones or put their heads up. As if they were going to be punished if they did.


    Not much time later the bell rang, an announcement to get out of your seats and to your second class.


    Huh, from this it says my second class is Ps 101  well it can''t be that bad can it?


    Kal made no waste of time by exiting his seat and heading outside, finally being able to take in the vastness of the school. It was absurd how much money was clearly put into this school but everyone knows that the results show in its ranker and protector programs.


    “Alright building 201 class 306…” Kal ingrained this next class deep into his head as he did last class.


    The transition time was 15 minutes, it was clear to Kal why they did that but most students treated it as a recess, presumably the upperclassmen.


    The buildings themselves all varied in size, structure and content contained.


    There’s a lot of repeat buildings, but that’s probably because of the sheer number of kids who go to this school… ah there it is.


    Kal arrived at the front door of the building labeled “Ps studies and Fundamentals.”


    Entering the door he could see it was pretty full, and more lively than his last building. The quality difference is there. And it was cleaner than the last.


    Alright this class can’t be worse than the last…


    Kal peeled the door open, the fluorescent light struck his eyes causing them to wince slightly.


    “Hey! Welcome to my class!” The teacher jumped out her seat immediately greeting him at the front door.


    Kal jumped back slightly.


    Eh, she’s uh quite energetic.


    “Good morning ma’am…”


    “Ah! No need for formalities as I’m a student teacher!” Her eye’s sparkled.


    Makes sense, what teacher has blonde hair with black and red streaks? Is she 12?


    Kal let out an uncomfortable chuckle, “Your hair is uh nice, uh what’s your name again sorry I didn’t catch it the first time?”


    “Thanks! I cut it myself, although I wanted it a little longer than shoulder length… Oh yeah my name is Rita! You’re uh…” She paused for a bit and then quickly whipped to her desk to presumably check her student attendance.


    “Oh yeah Kal! My only student…”


    “Erg! Only student? What do you mean by only student..?”


    “Well yeah turns out ‘others’ aren’t very popular on earth, plus I''m still getting used to the customs of this place…” her head dropped down.


    Wow, I would’ve never guessed she was an ‘other’, I mean it’s not like I have anything against them but still…


    “Yeah, sorry about that…” An uncomfortable chuckle left his mouth.


    “Eh it’s fine, I don’t really mind. I guess I learned to put up with it in a weird sense?”


    Kal slowly positioned himself out the doorway and into the classroom, sitting in the one available chair which was in another compromising position and one he wasn’t sure if he was quite comfortable in.


    Are you serious, in front of the teacher again?!


    Nethertheless he took his seat, the only seat, right in front of the teacher again, the teacher''s desk to be exact.


    The bell rang again, indicating that class was about to start.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    “Well I guess it’s time for class to start, but to be honest, I don’t really have a lesson plan… So let’s just talk!”


    “Uh, okay…”


    “Ah come on, no need for the formalities or uptightness like I said. We’re practically the same age. I’m 16 as well, give or take a couple years.” Her voice brimmed with excitement.


    “Well okay then, I’m Kal and I’m 16 on the nose, no giving or taking for me.” He laughed a little.


    “See you’re lucky, because where I’m from they don’t really track your age unless you were a noble or the such, you kind of just go by major events when you were born and just count the seasons from there.”


    “Damn that’s tuff, So I assume you were er not a peasant but a normal working citizen?”


    “Yeah basically, times have changed, back then before there was no ‘middle class’ as you people on earth call it from what my parents have told me. But ever since king Azan regained control of his family and the continent things have been going pretty good!”


    “Ah I see, and I take it you weren’t born into a family of farmers or the such cause of well…”


    Kal’s eyes focused on her snow skin and slender arms.


    “Yeah we weren’t very outdoorsy people, we were actually librarians!”


    “Oh nice, I do enjoy visiting the library from time to time, what kind of books did y''all have?”


    “Well we actually were a kara based library, so we stocked books on all that kind of stuff.”


    “Kara? I think I’ve heard of that in the news but isn’t that an energy resource they’re trying to harvest from the fractures? I mean back then before the shattering and revolution I heard there were traces of kara but now it’s gone. Is it not?” Kal voices rose.


    “Yeah well the kara they’re harvesting is just a pure form of kara which can’t be filtered by regular humans, the one I’m talking about is what you’d call ‘magic’.”


    Kal’s eyes lit up.


    “Ah! Sort of like the glyphic code? I think that’s what it’s called.”


    “Exactly!” Rita jumped out her seat, “Well actually did you know that the glyphic code is a subset of kara? For some reason even though my world''s magic poured into yours years ago your bodies never adapted even though physiologically we’re both considered humans!”


    “Wow, something I actually didn’t know… For some reason I had always assumed that glyphic code was just always a natural place in this world.”


    “To be honest you kind of have the same principles as kara, with some differences as it’s much more scholarly? I don’t know if that’s the word but there are a lot more rules per say. It’s not all that different though.”


    “I’ve always wanted to learn the fundamentals but I had never really had the money , much less a suitable mentor…”


    “Well, you know…” Rita dragged out the O syllable, mischief glinting in her eyes. “If you want, I could teach you the basics? Kara’s not so different from your glyphic code—same energy source, just filtered through different rules.”


    Kal’s pulse quickened. Glyphic code was restricted to rankers and protectors, a luxury his mom’s salary couldn’t touch. “You’d do that? Even though you’re  not… y’know, authorized?”


    Rita snorted. “Where I’m from, knowledge isn’t locked behind paywalls or the such. Kara’s in our blood, our libraries, even our farming tools.” She twirled a strand of her streaked hair, voice softening. “Then the fractures opened, your world started mining raw kara like it’s oil, and suddenly everyone’s obsessed with ‘pure’ energy. But they’re missing the point. Kara isn’t just power—it’s like your language. And glyphic code? That’s just your dialect.”


    Kal leaned forward. “So the Shattering, that’s where kara came from?”


    “Bingo. Your world tried to industrialize magic. Ours lived with it.” She shrugged. “King Azan’s reforms back home balanced things—libraries for nobles and regular folks. Here?” She gestured to the empty classroom. “There’s been some reforms I see for better teaching but unless you''re really talented you’re not going far.”


    “But glyphic code isn’t even true kara, right?” Kal pressed. He’d seen the newsreels—rankers wielding glowing symbols like weapons, Protectors erasing riots with a flick of their wrists. “It’s like… a knockoff?”


    “A knockoff with training wheels,” Rita said, grinning. “Your bodies can’t handle raw kara, so someone or something diluted it into glyphs. Safe, predictable, boring. But the principles are the same. Learn the glyphs, and you’re halfway to understanding.”


    Kal’s mind raced. If glyphs were a shadow of Rita’s kara, what could the real thing do? “And you’d teach me? No… strings?”


    “None.” A smile formed.


    ╚══?═══════?══╝


    By the time lunch came into play, Kal wasn’t as hungry as he usually would be because of his breakfast.


    Beep Beep!


    A golf cart sped by, honking at students who were unsuspecting of it.


    “Move out the way dickheads!” A boy’s voice yelled, it seemed to have come from the golf cart.


    Bastard gets a golf cart? While we peasants have to walk around?


    “What a dickhead”


    “What a dickhead”


    Kal turned to his right, face to face with the voice that echoed his thoughts.


    Green eyes, a blonde buzz that was the first thing Kal noticed.


    “Wow…”


    “Wow…”


    “Another brother in this school?!”


    “Another brother in this school?!


    “Bro, I swear to you not, there’s barely any folk in this school mane.”


    “You tellin me, especially me? look at me you a lightskin i’m dark so imagine how I feel, ain’t no blending in for me at all! Not that I care though.” he bursted out laughing


    “Man, stop playin with me.”


    “Aye, I got another class during this, you got lunch?”


    “Yeah, damn they for real got you with the later lunch huh?”


    “I was trippin when I first saw my schedule but I gotta get used to it anyways, I would skip it to hang with you but it’s the first day, gotta make good impressions.”


    “I feel you, man, I’m boutta go eat for real.”


    “What’s your name? If we catch each other tomorrow with the same lunch, let''s eat together.”


    “Kalyani, you can just call me Kal though.”


    “Alright bet, my name’s Sylas.”


    “Alright Ima catch you then.”


    “Bet.”