Leuko - Blind to the Sunlight

Chapter 19: Law of Peace

"So if they continue to bicker with each other, they will start to hate each other and it will create an uncomfortable setting inside the dorm." Allister explained as I watched Cynthia and Clair insult each other about being greater than the other or something. I still don't fully understand what it was about, but they seem to like it with how much they were doing it.

"You little idiot! I at least know my position in this world! So don't give me any speech about being smarter than me!"

"Little?! I'm not little! I'm towering over you! If I'm little then you must be microscopic!"

Wait…isn't Clair taller than me…wouldn't it mean…no… it's just Cynthia being delusional.

"Ah! I'm sorry to tell you but I measure people based on their intelligence, and clearly, you have none of it."

"Oh really, then let me prove my intelligence, ask any questions and I will respond to them more easily than you could ever do."

Clair raised an eyebrow before smirking at Cynthia. "Really? Then tell me, by telling that I'm microscopic compared to you, what does it make lord Luciel?"

Cynthia was about to respond when her eyes suddenly widened as she looked at me with horror. "Wait, Luciel! I didn't mean it. Well, you are really small…but it's not a default, it just makes you look cuter." She said hurriedly, completely forgetting about Clair, who looked at her in derision.

…I'm not small…people are just taller.

"Oh no…you're actually mad."

I'm not mad, because If I was, it would mean that I agree that I am small, which I'm not.

*Beep*

The door of our dorm suddenly opened and we all looked toward it to see the newcomer.

It was a girl with blonde hair styled in loose pigtails with pink hair ties, and her hair had subtle pastel-coloured streaks, including green and pink. She wore a white short-sleeved shirt with paint-like colourful splotches and grey overalls that end just below the knee, with the cuffs rolled up. The overalls also have colourful paint stains, complementing the shirt. To finish, she had a simple grey snicker on her feet to accommodate the rest of her dress.

"…ah…it finally worked." Her face which was once filled with boredom and annoyance was now filled with joy…but she still looked extremely tired.

"Hi! You must be our last roommate! My name is Cynthia Goldwin, and the little boy with white hair is Luciel, and the one with black hair is Allister!" Cynthia approached her with a smile on her face.

…I'm not small…

Clair also tries to introduce herself. "And my name is…

"It's irrelevant, so what your?" Cynthia interrupted Clair before she could finish, but she stopped when she noticed the confused look fon her face.

"Oh…what language are you speaking?"

The girl looked at Cynthia with even more confusion and looked around in the room for help.

"…she asked you what language you were speaking." I responded to her, which she immediately understood.

"Oh…I don't know." She lazily responded.

"Oh, that's Alolian. Alola companion! My name is Cynthia, and this is Luciel, and the other one is Allister!"

"…Mina…is…is that all I have to say?"

Cynthia grabbed her by her hand before walking toward us, until she froze. "Of course not! We have so much to talk about, like why did you arrive so late!?"

"Oh…I forgot what number my dorm was…so I tried them all."

"Couldn't you…have simply…asked her what it was?" Allister asked in confusion.

"…I could?"

"…yes…"

"…oh."

"Well, what is important is that you were able to find it, which so your devotion to fulfilling your objective no matter what!"

"…Not…not really…I just was too lazy to sleep on the floor."

"Not important, and at least you have a good reason, contrary to this Clair over there." She gaged when she said Clair's name, which just made Clair role her eye,

"For your information, I was…" 

Clair suddenly stopped talking…no…it was more than that…she stopped moving…even Cynthia was not moving…

…Why are they not moving anymore?

I looked beside me and realized the same happened to Allister and Clair, both stood frozen with a surprised look on their face.

Are they in pain?

Maybe they forgot to make their heartbeat for a minute, it can be really painful when you forget about it.

But why would they all forget at the same time?

…wait, maybe that's what's normal here…should I make my heart stop beating too?

But before I could proceed, Cynthia started to calm down and signalled us to move. "Welp, you hear the voice inside our head, we need to meet in a common resting place."

…the voice inside our head?

Isn't that a bad thing?

"It…it supr…surprised me…" Allister said sheepishly while standing up from the sofa.

With no other choice, I also stood up and left our dorm with the other, yet none of them acted normally…well except Mina who looked as if she just wanted to lay on the floor…or maybe that was just her normal expression?

Well she must be very ignorant then, because we no longer have to sleep on the floor as we have bed!

Oh! If I showed it to her, maybe it would allow me to become friends with her!

"Are…are you…are you alright…Lu…Luciel?" Allister asked me while still standing behind me.

"I'm never alright, but right now I'm just worried about you."

"Eh? Why?"

"Well you all said you heard voices inside your head, and according to Joy, this is very bad…but apparently it is also weird I had none of these."

"…you didn't hear her?"

"Heard who?"

Cynthia looked at me in surprise. "Olympia, she just used her psychic power to tell us to all meet in the resting area. Apparently, every other esper will be there, and it's just a way for everyone to meet each other, and become friends."

Friend!

We will meet more potential friends!

They will probably all introduce themselves as Cynthia made us do, and like this, I would be able to learn their desire!

Preferably, I would want all of them to be as weak and cowardly as Allister, as it is easier to fulfil their need to be protected, but I doubt that will be the case.

The moment we arrived inside the room, I could already some other people already there, but the most noticeable one was the weird girl with hair of two colours. She is on the ground on the opposite side of the sofa while holding her knee in her arm and mumbling some incomprehensible words in despair.

The reason why she was so easy to notice, even without taking into account her colourful hair, was that she was the only one not sitting directly on one of the sofas or just standing straight.

It also helped that everyone kept their distance from her and tried their best to divert their gaze away from her.

This allowed me to deduce one thing, she had no friend and no one loved her!

This is a perfect candidate for being my new friend!

I guess there's also the girl hiding in the ceiling, but she doesn't look like she wants to be found, so I will leave her there for now. But I'm sure no one loves her too for her to be so distant from us.

Ignoring Cynthia, who was still looking around the place to choose a place to sit down, I started to walk toward the sulking girl.

But before I could interact with her, a deep and majestic voice spoke to all of us.

"I am entranced by the privilege of your presence. The name I bear is Olympia, and it is my charge to serve as your guide among the stars." The one who told us that was a tall woman who levitated in the center of the room.

She looked extremely calm, but also detached from the current situation, as if she wasn't looking at us, but something beyond that.

But more noticeably, was some bandana placed around her body, showing clear signs of injury, yet she still stood as if everything was fine.

"For a fleeting moment, I must implore your silence, that I may illuminate the duties now binding you as part of this collective."

"Yeah…just listen to her…she would get it better than me anyways." Another adult said right beside her in an extremely tired voice. 

He was a rather young man, with short, messy blonde hair with bangs swept to the side. He wore a dark purple headband that matched his long scarf, which had jagged ends resembling flames. The scarf was accented with a gradient transitioning from purple to red at the tips. His outfit consists of a black long-sleeved top and light blue pants that are slightly loose. 

I barely noticed him before he started to talk, not because he was almost invisible, but because Olympia's presence was simply that much more impactful for all of us.

Olympia nodded after his comment before addressing us once more with a smile. "As you are undoubtedly aware, you now reside within the esper wing of the dormitory, a place where vigilance bears greater weight. Yet, fear not, for such duties are hardly cause for concern, even for those whose years on this earth remain few."

"To those who can barely discern what she is saying, she just means that you will have to follow rules specific to esper." The young man added before looking at Olympia. "She just has a weird way of talking, but one day, you will get used to it.

Olympia didn't even seem to acknowledge the man's opinion as she started to explain the rules of this place, while I prepared myself to note it down. "The first command is that you shall not use your power to cause harm."

"Just don't use your esper power to make another student uncomfortable, but you can still use it for another thing if you want, we don't care about that." He specify.

Just the first rule, yet it was still able to create a lot of murmur among us.

"We…we can really use our power? They won't punish us for it?"

"I…I guess…well I suppose with someone this strong taking care of us, they probably don't think anyone can cause any problems."

"That's…that feels weird."

What are they talking about? No, why are they talking at all? She just said we shouldn't talk! 

As if to confirm my thought, Olympia asked them to stop talking. "In the fragments of my last recollection, I recall imploring you to refrain from speaking in unison with me."

"Yeah, not cool, not cool at all."

The students who spoke were frozen at the new attention they got, clearly embarrassed of not being smart enough to listen to simple rules.

But happily for them, Olympia continued to explain the other rule before anyone could remark on their rude behaviour. "Second instance, you shall not leave your dorm after the moon defeated the sun." 

"Basically, we have a curfew, so when it passes… 7 pm…I guess…we would expect all of you to be back to at least the dorm tower, and past 9 pm, you better all be sleeping. Evidently, if some have a justification for staying up later than that please share it with me, I would just explain it to the guard."

Oh, that one is easy to follow then!

...but why do I feel that the hardest part will be to make Cynthia follow them too?

Well…I guess as a friend it is my duty to make sure she doesn't get into trouble…or is it? Well, I might as well try…where is she anyway?

I tried to look for her in the crowd, but I wasn't able to find her no matter where I looked, I even looked on the roof, and even if there was somebody there, she wasn't Cynthia!

…maybe she got back to our dorm?

But I do was able to notice my other roommate, Allister was once again hiding behind the bronzed muscle girl, Clair was standing straight right beside the red spiked hair guy, and Mina…Mina was sleeping on the floor…

I really need to introduce her to our bed, she would love it!

"The third decree, let every dispute find its resolution through the art of Pokémon battle!"

…a what?

It seemed I wasn't the only one confused by the situation, as everyone looked as confused as me…well not everyone, some seemed to know what she was talking about according to how calm they were.

"Eh Olympia…we still didn't explain to them what a pokemon battle was yet…"

"Irrelevant, rules are rules, and they shall be explained all at the same time, as the cosmos willed it."

The man looked even more tired from her explanation before looking at us. "And this is why I said she is better at explaining it than me…because she evidently knows more than me on everything." 

Hmmm…if he says so, then it must simply be me who cannot understand what she's saying.

"Fourth obligation, in absolutely to will of fate are you allowed to depart from the academy territory."

We expected instructor Morty to once again clarify her weird formulation, but this time he didn't look as relaxed as before. "…this rule is fundamental…you cannot leave the academy ground, it is extremely dangerous to go beyond our gate. Do you remember the Salamence that attacked during the competition? It's considered as a lower threat on this island! So if anyone decides to go out, we cannot assure your survival as when we escorted you to the exam ground…that was done on his whim."

A boy with lime hair decided to raise his hand at this moment. "Then how were some weak refugees even able to survive for so long without getting annihilated?" 

Morty threw a furtive glance at me before looking at the student who asked the question. "I have no idea."

The boy stayed silent before also looking at me, but Olympia didn't care for it and continued her speech.

"Fifth decree, fret not over tidying your chambers, for dedicated attendants shall see to their cleanliness. Yet, maintain a semblance of decorum, lest it diminish the sun points you are granted to hold."

"This isn't even a rule…it a…you know what Olympia…let me explain it for them, you just have to give out more detail for when I'm wrong.

Olympia seemed to think for a moment before nodding. "Affirmative."

"Thank you, Olympia." The man said before looking at us once more. "I believe I still haven't introduced myself yet, my name is Morty Serine, most of you probably never heard this name in your entire life, but I can assure you that it will be the only one you will hear when you're dead."

The room soon becomes completely silent, with most of the students looking at Morty with fright.

But the silence was interrupted by an almost inaudible laugh, but as it was the only noise in the room, everyone heard it. "Fufufu." 

I only had the time to notice she had purple hair before my attention was on Morty once more.

"Alright, sorry for this bad joke, I just tried to break the ice, there's no need to look at me like that."

"Correction, there is."

Morty looked at Olympia in shock before whimpering. "Fine…just think of me as a weirdo then…to think my reputation was already destroyed before even the first day…here's I thought I could last at least one week…"

The low mood of the instructor made people extremely uncomfortable, some even considered going back to their dorm, but Morty regained his spirit just before anyone could do such a drastic option.

"Alright, I know all of you are still children, so I'm not expecting all of you to respect these rules for free, and sadly for you, there's no reward for those who respect the rule, but there are consequences for those who won't. But as I, and other members of the board, doubt that the majority of you have any idea what even the concept of responsibility is, the consequence will be quite light, just a deduction of your Solar Point, depending on the severity of your crime of course."

…how does it work for me then? I have infinite Solar Points…how would they…oh, of course. They will simply blame every mistake of the other on me, and as there is no limit to punish me, they will use every opportunity to do it, it is a classic trick.

"Oh right, I forgot none of you even know the value of a Solar Point, so let me put it in context. One normal pokeball is worth one pokeball, which is usually worth 100 pokedollards in most regions."

…What is a pokeball?

…is it a pokemon in the form of a ball? Or maybe it is like the Meltan on my arm?

"The way to gain Solar Point is extremely simple, each single one of you will gain a periodic number SP each month that will allow you to access luxury establishments or other commodities. But as Geeta stated earlier, there is no need to worry about necessities such as food or health facilities, these will be free for as long as you are a student."

Luxury? So I can buy luxury with my SP?

Well that looks easy…hmmm…I wonder if I can buy friends with them too?

"There will be other ways to earn them, but as of now it better you familiarise yourself with our facility before buying what you really want." Morty proposed when he suddenly noticed a student raising her hand.

The girl with colourful hair who was once loathing in front of me now stood excited toward Morty. "So…could we…just saying to a Squawkabilly…is it possible to use Solar Point to gain enough connections to diffuse video to other regions?!"

Morty stood dumbfounded for a moment before scratching his head. "…I mean…when we finally are able to penetrate the weird frequency of this island…then I guess we will offer this service to everyone…"

"But if I invest enough SP into it, It will develop even faster right!?" She said in desperation.

Morty started to look uncomfortable toward her and tried his best to change the subject. "…I…I don't think…well…I'm sure…no…who do you want to contact? Your parent? I'm sure you're informed that you will be able to see them once a month…right?"

But instead of a face of comfort, the only thing Morty received was one of devastation. "ONE MONTH!!! This is too long! TOO LONG! AH!" But she eventually calmed down and fell on her knee. "Why do I even bother dreaming? It's all worthless…why is the universe against me…no…the universe would care about a worthless girl like me.

Morty gulped at her reaction and looked around just to see that the majority felt as uncomfortable as him toward the situation. But before it could degenerate even more, Geeta entered the room with her usual smile, even if I could see a hint of frustration in her posture.

"Ah Morty, I was precisely looking for you." She approached him before looking at Olympia and nodding in her direction, before looking at us. "Ah right, you are the one responsible for explaining the rule, I will allow you to finish it first."

"No no no no, miss Geeta, there's no need to worry about that, I finished a long time ago, please just ask and I shall."

"Really? Then please forgive my rudeness, but could you follow me out of the children's discretion." She turned around, and without looking back, she started to leave. 

Morty looked at us one last time, and a longer one toward Iono, before leaving us alone with miss Olympia.

"It seems the stars have judged once more that the eternal bliss of being forgotten was my only partner through time."

"So…now that all the rules were stated…can we go?"

"No, a last decree must appear for it to be respected by your hopeless mind before you may live in an environment selected by the fate of safety!" She said in her usual dramatic tone, but suddenly, for the first time since we listened to her, we felt that she was looking at us instead of looking at something distant. "Rule number seven…no, make it the first rule, make it the cornerstone of your existence!

DO NOT TRUST VOLO!"

She said in a chilling voice which made the whole room silent, but right after, the impression she was looking at us disappeared. "You can now banter between other beings of your species."

Right after, the boy with spiked red eyes started to whisper between his breaths, but it started to become louder and louder, to the point the whole room could hear him. "Volo…Volo…Vo…THE BETRAYER!!!? THE ONE DEVOID OF GOD LOVE?! THE FIRST GUILTY OF IT WRATH!!!? THIS VOLO!!!? VOLO HEAVEN!!!?"

"I allowed you to speak, not to scream. But your words are true, I was referring to Volo Heaven, and I'm glad the stars blessed you with the knowledge of the danger his presence brings."

"Why is he even here in the first place!? Do you have any idea how much of a threat he is!?"

His words started to create a sense of panic among the student, especially Clair who looked as if it was the first time she ever saw the boy in this much panic.

But Olympia simply raised one hand, and the boy stopped talking and only looked at her fiercely. "Is presence is as unwelcomed for us as he is for you, but even the cosmos doesn't have the fortitude to chase this nightmare out of our waking dream. So as usual, and as humanity has done for the lifespan of millions of stars, we shall depend on his mood."

Her answer left him in shock before sitting back on his sofa with a troubled look on his face. "I see…my apologies for my complaint."

"If you so desire to pay for your comportment, then you may start by sharing your identity with the rest of the being. Fate has decided that it would be favourable for all of your destiny."

"A what…ah! A presentation? How fortunate, I already had a thing to share with everyone." Lance stood up from his seat before moving toward the center of the room right beside Olympia. 

She didn't give out any special reaction, she didn't even gaze at him, something the boy didn't seem to care about either.

Clair was attempting to stand beside him, but before she could even move, the boy spoke with an authoritarian voice. "My name is Lance Root, and I require you to kneel."

*BAM*

Immediately after his command, everyone in the room kneeled in front of him, their knee deep into the floor, and their head completely lowered. If someone was sitting, then they simply fell off the couch.

Well not everyone, I was still standing up without any problem, and it looked to be the same for other people in the room, such as the green-haired boy. At least he stopped to look at me and gazed at Lance instead.

Olympia was also fine, but I could see she was simply resisting the effect instead of ignoring them, something I could detect with her trembling body and the fact that her feet lay on the ground instead of levitating.

Now…should I also kneel? 

I'm not sure, he asked us to kneel, so it would mean I should do it too…but everyone else kneeled immediately after he asked for it, so wouldn't that mean that kneeling right now would be a little useless? I mean, he's probably already angry if he wanted me to kneel. And kneeling is quite annoying to do because it is hard for Pandora to stand on me…well, I suppose the floor is clean here, so I wouldn't have to worry about dirtying his costume…but at the same time…

"Kyu. (Luciel.)"

Hmm? What is it Pandora?

"Mimi ki rykyu. (The girl is falling.)"

The girl? 

I focused back on my vision, and I realized that the girl who was previously hiding on the ceiling was currently falling down.

Hmm, she probably couldn't keep herself on the ceiling when she was ordered to kneel, and now she lost her hold…

…should I save her?

…no, there's no reason for doing that, she's not my friend after all.

I looked away from the scene to look once more at Lance who didn't say another thing after his stunt.

But suddenly, Olympia raised her hand and a purple coating expanded out of it and moved in a straight line right behind me.

Out of curiosity, I looked where she shot it, just to see the same girl who was falling currently levitating one inch away from the ground with an expression of dread on her face.

But right after, she fell down again in a kneeling position.

I looked in confusion at the scene, before looking back just to see Olympia was now also kneeling.

She must have used too much energy trying to save her instead of protecting herself, which made her lose control.

But why did she do this?

The girl wouldn't have suffered any pain, the ceiling was high enough to kill her instantly.

"Dude! What in the distortion!?" The boy with lime-coloured hair approached Lance with an angry expression. "Why are you doing this!?"

He was a black top with a orange cross in the middle, the shirt was clearly to small for him, as his belly was showing. To complement his look, were orange short that this time looked to big for him, but he was able to stop them from lowering with a metal belt.

"Humility."

"What?!"

"I'm doing this because I need to teach everyone her humility."

"YOU ALMOST KILLED SOMEONE!!?"

"I knew miss Olympia would save her, I'm just disappointed no other Archon also tried to do the same."

"Being dead is so much nicer than being alive, but I suppose there is a reason why being wants to keep the ugliness of breathing." A girl with purple hair said in a joyous tone while skipping. She was wearing a ragued purple dress with multiple trace of patchwork on it, just like me actually. Suddenly, she looked at me with a teasing smile. "Don't you agree, Gloom Archon?"

…is she speaking to me? Well if yes…then I guess there only one thing being death brings me. "…it hurt."

She showed me a disappointed face before sighing. "Would hurt less if you just die completely, don't badmouth death if you never try it."

"…alright, I will keep this in mind."

"Enough!" Lance screamed which made us look at him again.

"Sure little dragon boy, we will listen to your ego." The girl said with another teasing smile.

"No, first release everyone you're forcing to kneel!" Another girl with blond hair who could still stand approached Lance this time with an aggravated look. She was wearing a white dress with some red lines on them. Under that dress, were some sports shorts and on her head was a bicycle helmet where her long ponytail left a hole from behind.

But the way she approached him was truly curious, as she rolled toward us instead of walking with weird shoes with wheels on them.

"It will be done after I'm finished. So first, could the other archons appear too?" Lance responded while looking at another girl with purple hair who was kneeling like everybody else. "I know you're only acting, come out, we need to talk about a serious topic."

The girl stayed immobile for a short moment before sighing and standing up and fiercely looking at him. Right after that, Lance grabbed his head as if he had a headache.

"There is something more important than your school life at play!"

Eh? What is he talking about?

And why does everyone look like they understood!?

…oh…is it another thing like before where she talks through their mind?

Why don't they do it with me!?

Is it because I'm too sane to have a voice inside my head!?

Yes, it must be that!

"And you, are you listening?!" Lance said angrily at the last person standing, the prince of Unova.

"I'm always listening brash child."

Lance nodded at him before regaining a serious expression. "Then it's time to explain why I did such a controversial stunt!"

"The reason why I did it is really simple!" He raised one of his arms in the air and closed his fist.

"I did it!" 

"For peace."