"Bring your food here, you lap dog!" Mire shouted.
Each of the five tables had the biggest bully that acted as the 'boss' and they demanded how food would be shared.
After his little speech, the head servant for their dorm had ordered them to be served food that was little more than vomit of watery green.
And for his own table, Mire and her gang were the ones ruling.
"Don't you hear me? You'll get double the beating today!" she snarled. They were the same age, but she was taller and sturdier, with arms three times the size of Vacuse's.
Everyone at the table bent their heads and began to scoop food into their mouths like hungry dogs, afraid it would be snatched away the next instant.
Only those Mire called stood up and moved toward her, their bowls in hand and their eyes down.
Vacuse's mouth curled in disgust. He couldn't believe he had once been like that.
A pathetic thing.
He walked toward her, his eyes raised and steady.
"...time to start getting things into motion... I can't kill Drenvar now... but I can still raise my standing in the house until I stand above everyone else... I can still influence things the way I want until I finally get rid of Drenvar... I must raise the Vorrakyn Family with my own hand..."
He reached her place and, one by one, Mire collected the bowls from the other children and poured them into a wooden bucket, leaving them with only a few spoonfuls.
When it reached Vacuse's turn, she sneered. "My lap dog."
Her gang laughed and snickered. Vacuse turned toward them with a slight frown. He didn't remember any of their names or faces. They all likely died before they grew up in his past life.
But Mire was different. She left a deeper scar in him than he expected. Before he had even grown, she had beaten him into submission and broken his will early.
All his life he struggled and battled with it, trying his best to be more assertive instead of the submission that was carved into him.
"Well? Bring your bowl here and sit on the floor beside me. I will give you your beating later," Mire waved.
That was why she called Vacuse her lap dog. She would have him sit beside her and then throw him food.
Vacuse shook his head. "I was really trash."
Mire's eyes flashed. "What did you say?"
The whole table went quiet immediately and all the heads swung his way. What the other children liked best was to see someone get beaten. It was one of the bright spots of their day.
Even the children from the other tables turned around.
"Eh? Isn't that Mire's dog?"
"So he really can talk? I thought all he could do was cry."
"So pathetic. Mire should send him here for training. Maybe she can't control her table anymore!"
"But what... what did he say?"
Vacuse held her eyes. Red against red as he repeated his words slowly and calmly, ignoring all the other voices. "I was trash."
Mire snorted, her cheek wobbling. She'd eaten her fair share of food and was one of the healthier children in the whole dorm. "You have always been trash. Tell me when you haven't? You can't even protect your own food. You are nothing but a dog."
The irony, Vacuse thought. All of them were dogs of Drenvar. He moved closer to her. "Yes, I am a dog."
Then he slammed his plate on her face.
Bam!
The wooden plate shattered as it was rammed into her shocked face with such force that she was sent falling, flying from her chair in a scattered heap.
Vacuse raised his brows in mild surprise. He was only expecting to spill the food on her face, not send her flying back. His attack shouldn't be that powerful. At six, he didn't have enough strength when he hadn't even learned to use the force.
Instinctively, he mentally checked himself, his lower abdomen, and he sucked in a sharp breath in surprise. His soul space... was it that advanced already?
It was just at the level it had been when he died, and then he had already hit the limit of what his body could handle. Although he didn't have the power to match the soul space yet, he still had the residue that his six-year-old self could produce.
Vacuse grinned.
Everyone stared at him in surprise and at Mire.
What. The. Fuck?
Life wasn't just some fairytale where the hero gets power overnight. The children had tasted the cruel end of what the world could offer, and most things couldn't shock them anymore.
But this?
What the hell?
Mire thought the same thing as she pulled herself to her feet. Her right eye was shut and swollen, and her face red, but the other eye still shone with cruelty.
Vacuse grinned. "Oh. You still want more? It seems you don't like it when dogs do what they do best. Biting."
With that, he flew forward, faster than he should, faster than any student present should be capable of, and he was immediately in front of her.
Mire flinched. "W... wait!"
Vacuse didn't wait. His hand flew forward and he slapped her so hard that a tooth flew out of her mouth with blood, and she was thrown to the ground again.
The only sound in the room then was the clattering of a wooden spoon on the ground. Even the head servant stood up to watch, his eyes wide as he realized that Vacuse was using the force.
Vacuse wasn't satisfied enough, so he went to her side and crouched beside her.
Mire was crying at this point, snot and blood mixing together on her face. She looked up and flinched as she saw Vacuse's face. It was like looking at the face of a smiling demon.
Fear filled her eyes. "Pleaseeeeeeeeee!"
Vacuse nodded and rubbed his chin. "How many times did I say that word? Please? And yet you took my food. Let's just say I said the word ten times. I will forgive you and only leave you with a light punishment."
Hope entered her eyes. "Thank you..."
Vacuse snickered. "I will only make you say please ten times."