With the time spent going out and hanging out a lustrous time with Catrina, eventuality led to the both of them to head on back home. Cale stepped into the living room after arriving back
"..?"
A crumpled letter sat in the living room, clearly in misery from the individual who forcibly plucked it out of a textbook. taking off the slick white and black shoes he went to pick it up.
"Ah, so that's what it was"
The contents in the paper were in fact surprising to Cale, but also understandable
[Mom will be late since they called me to go back to work since there were more people at the Café than usual and needed the extra hands, I made you some pasta If you are hungry. I made this letter because you weren't answering your phone!]
'She did?'
He checked his phone. There were a lot, a lot of missed phone calls and messages
"Haaah"
A palm slapped disapprovingly on his forehead and then deciding to cease his thoughts, he went on to mind his own business and get on with already chaotic day
The word pasta hovered around him, his mouth salivated at the thought of filling his plate and plumping it up full with no restraint
No time was wasted, social batteries were swapped with batteries full of hunger and thirst to charge
Cale blew on the pasta, the warm steam hovering and dissipating with each lust-filled blow that threatened to eat it all up
"This is so good~"
Every braincell held a festival at the welcome guest that influenced their taste buds with pure undiluted dopamine
Murmurs quietly exited the festival hosted by the mouth as they continued to swallow in crisp silence. Deep in his mind though. Cale anxiously awaited for the day to pass and mentally prepare himself for whatever bullshit tomorrow might curve ball with him.
***
Outside of Gardenia High School, a weak drizzle relentlessly pounded against the hard floor, the thirst filled plants happily gulped all the liquid down to their roots for growth
Cale stayed seated next to the window, trying to catch a whiff of those humanoid monsters but no matter how long time was wasted waited not a single glimpse of them could be caught in high quality anywhere in Gardenia.
'Where are they?'
It didn't make sense, not in the least. Ever since Yesterday they were no where to he found, at one point. Cale even thought that they might just be actually gone, or at least...gone from the perimeters of the school
'Are they avoiding the building?'
Yesterday one of them killed some of the sludge like monsters, but afterwards they completely stopped and avoided the school building entirely.
'Now why is that?'
They were avoiding something and Cale needed to know what exactly they were avoiding at all costs.
Rooms where checked twice when setting a step forward
The cafeteria became more crowded than yesterday but the Sludges that were there didn't move around, they just sat In silence, some even curled up in a ball. A weird sight to Cale
'They are like stray animals...'
The creatures that were so scary before were now laying on the ground, disheveled and wimp with quivering fear
'Now that I think about it... Where is that Sludge from Yesterday?'
No matter where in the building he went. It couldn't be found at all.
"Hmm?"
Cale cocked his head at the motionless Sludges and realized a detail, something that wouldn't have been able to been noticed unless one took a closer look at them.
'They have different shades of colors?'
The sludges bodies weren't all the same, for example some Sludge's bodies color were more dark green than others, some had small horns that protruded from different parts of their body with a variety of different colors on them. Some even had small tails stuck to them. They were all different in some shape or form.
It felt like walking in a mismanaged zoo, not wanting to stay longer, he reached for the exit, but before he could yank open the door. Cale caught a glimpse at the edge of his eye, a glimpse of a figure patrolling through the Cafeteria.
'A teacher...'
Wearing a neat black suit with blue stripes. Its body resembled a human's, however it wasn't anything like a human.
'A dragon?'
That's the only accurate description he could give based on limited fantasy knowledge on dragons.
Cale read mystery novels, not medieval-fantasy ones, they were simply not suited to his tastes as a reader is all
'Well Information about dragons isn't really consistent to my knowledge...actually now that I take a second look at that thing...It looks more like a Lizard. Doesn't it?'
Black Scales shimmered like jewels on its body with the end of his horns and tail changing its color from black to a blue hue. Eyes electrifyingly purple
The teacher passed by Cale, utterly ignoring his existence all together. Its tail swayed with each step, waving and slithering like a snake.
'He was one of the people who were behind Zenox when he gave his speech.'
Other than that time, it had never been seen again, not even yesterday, which should of been its den by all means.
[Hm? Bringam Is that you? what are you doing so early here patrolling?]
A mucus-like creature greeted brightly at 'Bringam'
'A green blob runs the cafeteria?' Was Cale's first thoughts when reaching the cafeteria yesterday to see who even runs something like this in the first place.
'It looks like a Sludge monster that you'd find In a poison swamp while playing a game...'
If the other monsters he had seen weren't a Sludge, this thing was 100 and 10% definitely the living embodiment of Sludge.
[I'm not...I'm just here to ask you to give me a double-patty burger since I didn't eat anything this morning]
Bringam answered, sounding tired for whatever the reason may be.
[Ho Ho Ho, that's not really healthy you know? Well I'll whip you up a burger!]
[Ah, don't put tomatoes or onions on it]
[Got it!]
Cale lingered in the cafeteria longer than expected, but eventually he left Bringam back at the cafeteria run by a monster who knew how to cook than most humans
The urge to question the teacher and make him spill his secrets did surface above his rationale but it plunged into the trenches just as fast as it resurfaced.
'I don't have nine lives for that recklessness'
The only time Cale would willingly go up to him and question the slit-eyed lizard was If he had over a thousand lives at his immediate disposal, but even then hesitation was likely to win.
'Anything could happen after all'
Of course If there was a way to do it guaranteeing safety. Cale would definitely risk because of his curiosity to know more of Gardenia but otherwise
'I wouldn't do it'
A life was left dangling on a thin line here, how could anyone risk it for something that wouldn't allow them to gain anything significant.
Dong~ Dong~
Dong~ Dong~
A bell rang from a distance. It wasn't the School bell. But based on yesterday whenever that bell rang. It would signal the return back to Cale's world.
'It overlaps with the School bells though, so it's difficult to tell If It's ringing when you're Inside the school. I only found out because I went outside'
Trrr~
Trrr~
The school bells, though delayed for a few seconds started ringing as well, overlapping with the other Bell's ringing and drowning its sound out.
Shutting his eyes closed. Cale waited for a few seconds before opening them again to see if he returned
And in one piece did he return, though was the goal for today accomplished?
'Can this be considered a fail?'
Cale tried to spot the humanoid monsters in order to observe their behavior and attempt to at least spot any weakness and see how strong they really were.
However they couldn't be spotted at all during recess, but Cale still thrived and survived in the end which didn't make it seem like he failed In the long run.
'What now?'
He pondered deeply on how a plan without risking his life could formulated, however it proved to be impossible
'There is no plan that could work without risking my life'
A life needed to be risked.
Because to take something, is to give something in return for what you want.
This is no different, in order for Cale to learn more and understand more, find weakness or any other thing that fits the criteria.
Something had to be given, and that something was his safety.
How could someone after all, find out more about the unknown without exploring?
Has there ever been anyone who found out groundbreaking information without taking action and doing nothing?
"Shit"
He muttered as quiet as a tweet.
'I better not die after hyping myself up like this'
Murmurs ringed in his head, their conversations sung a playful yet dreadful tune.
"...."
'Not again..'
Cale clutched slowly at his head, covering his ears, the ringing didn't subside
Eyes turned icy the more the murmurs in his head ringed out.
It was an unpleasant experience, so dizzying that frustration boiled.
And that experience did not dissipate even after class ended, it persisted and attempted at gnawing someone it couldn't hope to crunch away.
'It'll eventually pass'
Words that shouldn't otherwise hold any meaning, yet carried a certain warmth of familiarity kept consolidating Cale. Without stop