When Wren woke up she had a massive headache. "Why do everything that leads to great pain always have something to do with that damn system? It's starting to piss me off," the girl said aloud. She felt something in her chest when she started to get mad. She sat on her bed, waiting to see if they were going to connect the telepathic link and explain themselves, but they never did. "I wonder if Mom will let me go inside of the Wall so I can talk to these bastards," she knew that was never gonna happen. So she got dressed and walked outside. The city was buzzing with a lot of people trying to sell things: food, weapons. It was a common day, so if you decide to see her friend. She knocked on a door. The person who answered it was a tall, dark-skinned man.
"Oh, Wren — Tessa never told us you were coming today."
"Yeah, I'm kinda popping out of the blue. See, we kinda had this problem. You probably heard her — probably yelling in pain or something like that. I can't really go into detail, but…" He then stopped her.
"I'm not good with this girl stuff. If you wanna talk about it, talk to their mother, not me. Sorry. But come in." He said, walking away and leaving the door open.
"Oh, OK," she said aloud but thought to herself, "Wait — a 'girl thing'? If this was related to the system that means everyone else, including Leo, should've went through the same thing unless they did something that singled me out." She walked in. "I still can't believe this place looks so nice for a small home," she said, looking around at the relics posted up on the walls and the weapons that were in glass containers all around the house.
"Oh, Wren, hello; she didn't know you were coming."
"Oh, hello, Ms. Ashvale. Sorry to come unannounced. I just wanted to talk to Leo and Tessa about something." But once she went into the same room as the woman, she could see Leo's head between the woman's lap; she seemed to be twisting up the boy's hair. "Uhh — what's going on here?" Wren questioned.
"It's called a re-twist," Leo responded.
"Are you crying?" Wren asked, looking like she was about to laugh.
"Yes. I'm crying — this shit hurt."
But the boy got smacked on his head which made the pain worse.
"Language," Ms. Ashvale said firmly.
"Yes ma'am," he sniffled.
"It can't be that bad," Wren thought as she walked out and started to go up the stairs, but before she did, she could see Leo's face which told her it's that bad.
When she got up the stairs, she entered the room and saw Tessa, who was sitting up looking like she was waiting for something. She was surprised to see her best friend walking into her room so abruptly.
"Oh, Wren. What are you doing here? I expect to hear you in the—"
"Telepathic link," she said, finishing her sentence. "I don't think they're going to explain what happened, but quick question: did you hear Leo scream while you were going through it or did he mention it at all?"
"No. I thought it was only me who went through it, and he was gonna turn on the link and explain what happened to me because when I did go through it, Leo was the first one who entered the room; put a pillow over my mouth to stop my parents from hearing me for the most part. Then bam — darkness. It's good to know I wasn't the only one going through that pain."
"I'm going to text Jude and see if she went through the same thing."
"Jude — when did you have time to get her number?" Tessa questioned.
"Uhh, long story — that I'll answer when we all meet up or if they bring it up." Wren then started texting the girl the question.
"Yea, the same thing happened to me. Luka, Skye, and Nico we didn't have any of your numbers, so we had no way to tell any of you."
Wren looked at the text blankly. "Wait — you literally just got my number. Why didn't you ask me anything this morning?" she texted back.
"Well, I didn't really want to talk to you at all after what you did."
"Fair," Wren said out loud as she showed Tessa the messages. Tessa had a confused look on her face.
"What did you do?" Tessa couldn't help but question.
"Just now. It was something stupid. And Jude and Joey probably won't forgive me for what I did."
"Wait — this includes Joey as well?"
"Just forget about it."
"Forget? Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm going back home. I came to check on you and you seem fine; same for Leo. You know something — he does seem a bit off about him."
"It's the hair, isn't it? It's been going rapid; luckily none of my parents have noticed yet, but I have the same worry with his teeth, Wren. I'm worried that something is about to happen to my brother."
"Trust me — everything's gonna be all right. If he does turn into what we think he will, then we'll find a way to deal with it. Try to turn back. But for now we need to just rest. After tomorrow we're gonna have to go back to the Academy with something that I'm not trying to deal with." Wren waved goodbye to Tessa as she made her way out the door, saying goodbye to everyone else as well. As she walked along the sidewalk she was getting greetings left and right. The fallow were very popular in terms of the outside city of the Black Halo, but she didn't greet anyone back. She truthfully just kept to herself with only a few people truly seeing the real her. After a few minutes of walking, she started to speed walk faster and when she got ten minutes from her house, she turned a corner toward an alleyway, deliberately going away from her home. After a few seconds of walking, she then stopped.
"So what — do I have to call you out now or are you gonna get out hiding?" She had an annoyed look when she said those words.
Two people then jumped down from the two large buildings that were between the alleyway. It was two boys who both looked around the same age.
"How long have you known that we were tailing you?" one question.
"Ever since I left that house." She wanted to be discreet about the house belonging to one of her friends, not wanting these people to go after Tessa or Leo next even though she felt like they could handle themselves. "So who exactly are you?"
"We are just simple students looking for a little action."
"Student, huh? Where are you from — one of the camps or are you from the Broken Veil Academy?"
"That's for you to find out." One of the boys then rushed in with two daggers that he pulled from his sleeves. He tried slashing at her, but she was able to easily avoid it.
"By the way, that weapon looks like it should be a beast weapon. How did you get a beast weapon? Even if you tried to buy one from one of these stands, your academy or camp shouldn't have allowed you," Wren asked out loud.
"That's none of your business. Just let us rough you up a bit and we'll be on our merry way," the boy who stood in the back said.
"Not a chance."
When the boy who struck at Wren landed where the girl had once been, he felt a tingle on his shoe. When he looked down, sparks of lightning came out, striking him on his foot and going up his entire body.
"Lightning Step," she said with a smirk, but then the smirk went down. "God, I'm turning into Harkel." She could see the boy still stand after taking that blow. Even though the Lightning Step was pretty clever, it didn't really pack a punch. It only decently charged them up with lightning, but even then it did still stun them for a few seconds. In that timeframe, Wren got right in front of the boy's face holding her hand in what seemed to be a gun formation and she just whispered, "Spark Shot." A small bolt of lightning then came out of her hand and hit the boy right in his forehead.
"Dammit, I did it again."
She was so busy thinking that she didn't see the other boy coming from behind her with what seemed to be a mace. He tried hitting Wren on her head, but the girl was able to duck down and then she backed off, making space between them.
"So — the Broken Veil," Wren concluded. "If you were from any other place you would have used your ability in this moment, but instead you purely are attacking me with a weapon. Meaning You have no ability to use, so if I want to knock that weapon out of your hand, you're defenseless."
He then picked up his fallen comrade, with the stats that the weapon gave him allowing him to pick him up easily. He then tried to escape by jumping between the two buildings to reach the top of the roof, but when he reached the top he could see a field of lightning right in front of his face. It shocked him, making him plumbed back down and also making him drop his friend.
"Oh no, you don't get to escape. You started; you need to finish it." The boy was scared for his life after hearing what Wren had just said; it frightened him to his core. It didn't help that his body was still feeling the effects of that lightning field. But Wren was able to punch his legs, waking him and making him stand back up.
"You wanna go? Let's go. I was trying to save you, but if this is what you want." He then rushed, trying to strike Wren, but he stumbled when he tried to deliver a blow to his gut. She was able to block it with her free hand and then he hit the girl with the mace. She was able to put her guard up before it happened, but the blow was still strong, sending her flying back to the wall.
"That hurts," is all that she said before going down on one knee. "Why did his blow pack so much of a punch? Leo's punches while practicing his werewolf form while we trained didn't even pack a punch like that. But after Prestige, he probably can pack a harder punch then that But still, this guy isn't even evolved. This is just pure strength. That's bad how much is the broken veil evolving." Wren could see the boy she knocked out getting right back up when she recovered, making it once again a two-vs-one. "I can't really use any of my flashy moves here. People will come and try to break us up, but I have my own questions that I ask these people."
Wren then tried to play a different game; this time her lesson was that she was way faster than the boys. She got between them with what seemed to be a ball in her hand. The balls discharged two bolts toward both of the boys. The one with the mace was able to easily dodge it — same goal for the one that was originally knocked out. Wren then went after the one with the mace. When he tried to strike her, she covered the tip of the mace with a lightning string, wrapping it around and dragging the mace down with the boy following. She then covered lightning all around her face, punching a boy in his face, making him hit the ground. He didn't pick up the mace. Charging for the other, but instead of aiming for the head, she aimed for his legs. The boy cried out in pain after the hit was successful, but Wren clamped his mouth. He looked in Wren's eyes and she gave him a death stare that told him if he screamed, he'd die — and he believed her even more when he saw lightning once again charging up around her hand and her nails started to grow into claws of lightning.
"Now you're gonna tell me what I need to know or I'm going to beat it out of you. And if you go unconscious, your friend is next. I'll ask him the same thing and if he goes unconscious, I'll do the same thing to you and we can just keep going back and forth. Now talk." The boy across will see a ball of lightning glowing over his friend's unconscious body. It seemed to be growing bigger and bigger until it stayed the size of a bowling ball. He also saw it doing something like it was charging up.
"What are you doing over there?" he asked, worried about his friend.
"Call it insurance. If he wakes up, tries to attack me and he gets an unpleasant awakening, but it's not him. You should be worried about it yourself." The claws grew longer. She struck at the boy's leg and arm. He was going to call out in pain once again but she went and covered his mouth. He then showed signs that he was ready to spill what was going on.
"OK, OK. The Broken Veil wanted people who are from the camps to target those Evolves from the camps in the academies. Most of us lower people from the camp went after people from the Sigil Gate Academy, thinking you guys would be the easiest. For the higher-ups it was better to go after the people who are from the camps, knowing that they will most likely be the harder ones. We don't know how, but they were able to sneak our weapons into our homes, giving us beast weapons and making us have a better advantage. We guess the Broken Veil want their power to be weakened by getting rid of some of their students. We were just going to injure you — we weren't going to kill you or anything like that. Maybe a broken leg or arm, something that would keep you distracted."
"How many more people are involved in this?"
"Probably around ten or twenty thousand students around each family, obviously not counting the Broken Veils since why would they attack their own?"
"Why are you so little?"
"The Broken Veil camp isn't easy to get into, so it's not really that many of us. You have to be really impressive in the opening exams to be accepted into their camp."
"Wait — they don't select you guys before you join the Academy?"
"No. They select this afterwards. I promise you I told you I know. Please just let me go."
"Fine. I will. But first…" She then turned the lightning into a big glove, punching the boy across the face and knocking him out.
"Heh. You fool. What's stopping us from just reporting you? We have the Broken Veil on our side after all, and you just touched my mace, meaning your fingerprints are all over it," the other one who finally woke up said.
"God, can you just be knocked out and stay knocked out? You said I touched your mace — true — but I didn't touch it with my hands, or at least my fingertips never touched it. I encased them with lightning, making the tips not really make contact with your mace. Meaning the only fingerprints that are on there are yours and two. You do know the Academy is watching us, right, and maybe even the camps of the families as well. So if the Broken Veil does come to your defense, my Academy will come to my defense as well. But one…"
"It's because that wasn't our order," a person who looked like just an average civilian then walked up. "Our order will stop you from telling your parents about what happened and from you doing anything stupid. The Broken Veil attacking you guys aren't really our problems until you are in the Academy again, then it becomes a problem. But for right now you all have to defend for yourself or for your friends." The woman then walked away, going right back into the crowd of people.
"Creep," is all Wren said as she started to walk away as well so she could go to her home. "Oh yeah, and number three…" Wren then pulled out her phone and played a message. It was what the boys said about the Broken Veil and what they did. "I have voice message evidence and you can't come after me since my family is directly connected to the Academy, so I'd like to see you try. Bye-bye now."
All the boys could do was just sit there in defeat