𝐓𝐈𝐀
"Are you okay?"
I asked the girl as I continued to study her expression. I just realised how she didn't ask about what I was talking about earlier, since I was sure that she heard me with her looking so shocked and all. Maybe she doesn't want to talk about it? I don't know. Sighing, I began to ask for directions to a place without many people around. It's suffocating being drowned in stares as I walk by.
For a moment, the girl just listened to me, and I wondered why she was staring at me weirdly too. I mean, not in a bad way. It's just that her stares were filled with curiosity. The girl didn't even say anything after I asked her for the direction; she just nodded and gestured for me to follow her. So I did. Her silence is making me uncomfortable since she doesn't even say anything at all, which makes me think that she's mute or something.
"May I know your name?"
I tried to look friendly as I gave the girl a smile. She appears to be hesitating and deep in thought for a brief moment.
"Gally."
She replied and stared at me as if waiting for my reaction. That was odd, but I still excitedly shook our hands and kept saying how grateful I was to meet Gally. I mean, for real. I'm really glad that she decided to help me. Although I did notice some people had been staring at us and began whispering. Gally notices that too and looks at me for any reaction, but it just makes me even more confused.
Why is she doing that?
"She doesn't seem to remember."
I swear I heard Gally murmur to herself, but I have no idea what she meant by that. She seems to be hesitating, a lot.
"What happened in The Norm? Can you tell me?"
Gally whispers, as I noticed people had been giving us weird looks. I know she notices how confused I am right now, but seriously, I can't seem to find the words to say since I don't even know what The Norm is. I looked around for a moment and pulled Gally towards somewhere where there were no people watching us.
"I need to tell you something."
I confessed. I mean, what could go wrong if I told her that I'm not really Tetiana? It was nerve-racking somehow, but I was dying to let someone know that I'm not Tetiana. Maybe Gally might be able to help me survive in this world? That thought really did cross my mind. And it seems like Gally would believe me if I told her about my real identity. I don't know. She looks like she would believe me... Although I'm not really sure.
But she seems curious. Maybe that's why she decided to listen to me? I wonder about that...
"I'm actually not Tetiana. Umm. I don't know what happened or how, but I think I'm dead. But I'm not? No, I mean I came back but—as Tetiana? Somehow, people had been calling me that name. Oh, and Anna too. Everything here is so weird. There's also magic too. Remember the healing magic girl I was talking about earlier? I was sure it was healing magic... Was it? There's someone familiar, Edgar! But it doesn't seem like he's the Edgar that I know... And there are so many things that I want to ask, but people seem to be ignoring me...why? Was Tetiana bad?"
I blurted out everything that was on my mind. It was relieving to say all that. And looking at Gally's reaction, she seems like she believes me. maybe? I don't know. If she doesn't believe me, why would she look so shocked and speechless? Even her eyebrows were furrowed.
"I had my hunch, but actually hearing it It's disturbing."
Gally says truthfully. I can't help but smile because I know the feeling way too well. I was relieved that I told her about it. I mean, woah. Can you believe it? Gally is like an angel. She believes me when everyone else doesn't. Somehow, Gally reminds me of Amber, my childhood friend back at home.
I miss home so much.
"You should be careful with the Alpha. They're not someone you should mess with if you're not the real Tetiana. God knows what they will do to you if they find out."
Gally sighs and looks at me with worried eyes. Okay, what the heck is even the Alpha? Everything is still so confusing for me, and I was really glad that Gally noticed my uneasiness.
"What do you mean, Alpha? And, what's The Norm? Adroit? Wait, does everyone have healing magic or something? And something about the red beast... Is that really a thing?"
I inquired, heck, I was very curious, and Gally seemed surprised, but she just giggled at how excited I sounded. Well, I can't help it.
"Well, you see, here we are set by ranks. And on top of that, is Alpha."
Gally began talking about the ranks in that place. She explained to me that the ranks are determined by someone from the upper place. Woah, this really does feel like I'm in a movie or something.
"Alpha students have special privileges because they have royal blood. There are three types of Alpha; Abnormal Alpha, Adroit Alpha, and just Alpha. "
Gally explained, and I was already confused. What the heck does that even mean? Oh my god. I seriously can't process everything just yet. Too much information hurts my brain. It feels like my head is about to explode. Gally notices that and stops talking.
"Are you okay?"
She asked, and I just nodded, telling her to continue talking since, no matter what, I needed to know about the rankings.
"So, Abnormal Alpha is someone who possesses elemental power. You know, fire, water, wind, and earth? Yes that. and also vile. Vile is a dark magic, and not everyone has it. Adroit Alpha is, you could say, they are meant to be leaders. Although they lack powers, they are the brains because they excel at academics and strategy. And lastly, just Alpha. They're just royals who don't want the title or don't want to be labelled as abnormal or adroit and usually just follow. These people have no interest in becoming the leaders. But still, they are the people you shouldn't get too close to."
Gally says, as she notices my reaction. It was confusing, but woah. I still can't believe that the place I am in is really in trouble. Since comparing myself to everyone here, I'm merely just a human who couldn't do anything, who doesn't know how the world works.
"It's okay, you will know about them sooner or later."
Gally said and patted my head. It was a really weird gesture, but I don't really care about that now.
"I told you that here, we are set by rankings, right? Well, you see, Abnormal and Adroit are rankings below the Alpha. There are five in total. Alpha, Assist, Abnormal, Adroit, and finally Anathema."
Gally stops for a moment to take a deep breath before continuing. I just listened in silence since I'm still puzzled with everything but decided to hear Gally out.
"You know about Alpha already, so let's continue. The second is Asist. They are the ones you met earlier; they possess healing magic. They heal people with their powers, and among all the students here, there are only three of them now."
Gally was silent. She looked like she was deep in thought.
"Um, so Abnormal students are just like I said earlier. They possess elemental powers and are vile. The only difference is that they don't have special privileges. Same with Adroit, but since they're not royal blood. They can't be a leader or anything higher than Adroit Alpha. That's why most of them decided to live a quiet life and most have timid personalities because, in the end, they are just going to end up as pawns to those Alphas."
Gally says as she sighs. I can't help but wonder what the "special privileges" mean. What makes them so different from the others, and what's going to happen to those students without special privileges?
"I should go for now. I'll come look for you, so don't go asking around since that'll be suspicious."
Gally mentioned as she started to walk away from me. We bid our goodbyes, and soon I was left alone again. I'm still processing everything. I can't believe that I reincarnated into a messed up world. Wait, I did reincarnated right?
The rankings are just too much for me to handle. like seriously? royal blood? Are they some kind of vampire or something? For now, I was glad that I found out where the library is, and it's a good hideaway from everything. I have nowhere to go, so being here is calming.
Today has been a rough day. But still, I decided to write down what Gally told me earlier since I don't want to forget about it. I never realized how tired I was until my eyes began to feel heavy as I slowly drifted off to sleep.
𝐄𝐍𝐙𝐎
I walked into the library looking for a book about how to make money without working for my dearest, asshole—friend Kyran, but ended up disappointed because such a thing never existed. I should've known that he was playing with me. I was about to go out of the library, but something odd really caught my attention. I know I shouldn't have done this but what in the world am I seeing right now? The one and only Tetiana, sleeping soundly on one of the armchairs.
Woah.
I can say that I'm really surprised to see her here because it was my first time seeing Tetiana up close and in the library at that. That was a weird combination indeed. It was weird, and I can't understand why, but I decided to sit next to the sleeping Tetiana, not making a single sound, carefully without waking her up. What the hell am I even doing? I have no idea what's pulling me to do this weird thing. What's even weirder is when I notice the paper Tetiana has been writing.
Oh ho?
What is this now?
It doesn't seem like a private letter or anything, so I decided to read it. I mean, why wouldn't I? It's in front of me, waiting to be read.
"Huh? What are you going to do with this basic information?"
It was surprising, and funny indeed, to see what Tetiana had been working on. I really never noticed this before, but I wonder why she looks so beautiful sleeping so peacefully like that. If she were awake right now, I would probably be called a creep for staring too much. I wonder why I even did that? This is strange. Why would I think that she is pretty when her personality is the worst? Ugh. Although we both share the same elemental power, which is Vile. I never really associate myself with the likes of Tetiana. Why? because Tetiana herself doesn't want to be Abnormal. She hates everyone. She will go to any length to become Alpha.That's what I heard going around. It's not like she told me that herself. Pft. Everyone knows what her goal is, but Aiden is truly a sucker for love, falling for a girl like Tetiana. I can't believe how they are even in a relationship.
It was terrifying.
While smirking, I suddenly had an awesome idea pop into my mind. I mean, adding information to her discovery wouldn't be so bad, right? plus, I wonder. Why did she even write all this? for what? Did she really lose her mind after coming back from The Norm? Still, I can't help but wonder.
Why did she look so different?
It makes me curious why I thought about that when I barely knew her. Oh God, thinking about her is making me lose my mind. It wasn't on purpose, but I unconsciously flicked Tetiana's forehead since I was annoyed for thinking about her but as soon as I realised what I'd done, the only thing that came to mind was to flee. I wouldn't want to argue with her because of this. I hurriedly went out of the library, hoping that Tetiana wouldn't wake up so soon.
Thankfully and surprisingly, she seems so tired she doesn't even flinch when I freaking flick her. Observing that, I can't help but feel amused.
The new Tetiana is making me wonder about a lot of things.
—
ALPHA the royals, exceptional, special privileges students
ASSIST possess healing magic
ABNORMAL ALPHA possess elementals powers, fire, water, wind, earth and vile (dark magic) manifestation, leveling up allowed
ABNORMAL possess elementals power, vile
ADROIT ALPHA a born to be leader, the brain, good with academics and strategy making.
ADROIT the pawns
ANATHEMA ?
—