Looking back once more, Melmarc scratched his head as he walked down the hallway. He'd just walked through a wall, seen a man go from translucent to physical and gotten the room of examiners worried. How much of the room, he wondered, was just an illusion?

Was the whole room an illusion?

The people in the room were real, though, that much he knew. He doubted any illusion could be that good. At least he didn't think any illusion would've recreated an Oath.

Another thought came to him as he walked, ignoring the hallway almost in its entirety.

I hope Doctor Donovan is okay.

The end of the test had been very worrying. With the doctor's behavior, he had a feeling that he knew what had happened.

"Took you long enough," Ark said, standing patiently at the end of the hallway.

Melmarc stopped, realizing that he hadn't noticed him. It was poor on his part since Uncle Dorthna had taught them to always be aware of their surroundings no matter what situation they found themselves in.

When he looked at Ark, Ark raised a worried brow.

"You good?" Ark asked.

Melmarc paused, looked back down the hallway in the direction he had come from, before looking back at Ark.

"You know the madness thing I have to deal with?" he said.

Ark nodded. "Being your father's son and all that?"

"Yes." Melmarc pursed his lips in thought. "I think it's contagious."

"Like, you can infect people?"

Melmarc nodded.

Ark's eyes widened in mock terror. Then he took a very intentional step to the side since there was a door right behind him, increasing the distance between the two of them.

"I love you, Mel," he said very tentatively, "But I'm already mad enough, it won't be good for my rep if I get any more insane."

Melmarc rolled his eyes. "I'm serious."

"I do not doubt you for a second."

Sighing, Melmarc walked up to the door. Ark did not move as he approached. He put his hand on the door knob and Ark stopped him with a hand on the wrist and a mock exasperation on his face.

"You're going to think about this all day and ruin my day," Ark said simply. "Come on, then. Tell your favorite sibling what happened."

Melmarc paused, thought about it. In the end, he shook his head. "I don't think Ninra will be free right now. She usually has lectures by this time. I'll call her later."

"Hardi har har," Ark deadpanned. "Nice one. And I will not address why you're keeping her lecture schedules."

Melmarc couldn't help but smile.

"So," Ark pressed. "What happened?"

"I think I might've broken the [Telepath]," Melmarc answered.

"The old man?"

Melmarc nodded. "I think something went wrong when he was inside my head."

"What is it with adults and never listening to kids," Ark muttered in annoyance. "I explicitly told them to be careful."

Melmarc gave his brother an odd look. "Why?"

"Well, for starters, who knows just how many spells Uncle Dorthna really has on you and what all of them do," Ark said without hesitation. "Second," he looked around, then leaned in and lowered his voice, "you are quite literally the owner of the world, that certainly has to come with its perks that are dangerous to normal people. I can only imagine what it will be like for us simple mortals if we enter your head. Now you're hopping around with madness rabies."

"I don't have madness rabies," Melmarc grumbled.

"Sure, you don't." Ark snorted. "But why do you think he's off his rockers now, though?"

Melmarc shrugged. "I got a notification at the end that he was lost in my mind, then another one saying that he was trapped. So, I had to release him."

"Wow." Ark couldn't help but chuckle. "Your mind's now a prison, huh. Remind me to tell any [Telepath] friend we make not to try and mess with your mind."

"If they try to mess with my mind then are they really my friend?"

Ark bobbed his head from side to side in thought. "Friends can be tricky. Imagine if Delano had mind abilities and tried to mess with your mind."

"He wouldn't."

Ark paused, visibly confused. "You're sure of it? Delano, the conspiracy theorist with delusions of overthrowing the government, won't mess with your mind?"

Melmarc nodded in response. "Delano is the monster that's your friend. As long as he's your friend, you don't have to worry about him."

"Interesting," Ark mused. "What about Eroms?"

"Any harm you come to from Eroms is always unintended," Melmarc answered, thinking about it. "He's like a big innocent bear that loves you, but he's still a bear and can accidentally crush you without intending to."

Ark was stroking his jaw now. "Everything makes sense now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I always wondered why you never had a lot of friends," Ark said. "For a while I thought it was your confidence, but that still didn't make sense to me. God knows there are girls that like you and guys that want to talk to you. I know how many times the lacrosse team tried to recruit you."

"I didn't like lacrosse," Melmarc pointed out.

Ark waved the reply away with a flick of the wrist. "Not the point. The point I'm trying to make is that you don't have friends because you're a perfectionist."

"I don't think that's it."

"Oh, that's definitely it," Ark disagreed, nodding sagely. "You just explained how Delano won't ever make the mistake of going too far while Eroms would not intentionally go too far. You're not good at forgiving people."

"No," Melmarc objected, holding up a disagreeing finger. "I'm good at forgiving people. Your friends just shouldn't hurt you."

Was this the reason Ark had a lot of friends whenever he wanted friends? Was he okay with his friends hurting him or taking jokes too far?

"I agree, Mel," Ark said, his voice slipping into that gentle tone he tended to use when he was giving human relationship advice. "Your friends aren't meant to hurt you, but your friends are human. It is inevitable that they will hurt you. They just have to be remorseful and apologetic about it. Girls are more complicated, though. In my experience, most of them will hurt you and still blame you for it."

Melmarc already knew about the information on girls. It was the reason he was always careful when a girl was being nice and kind to him. One mistake could have him thinking that they were flirting only to be led completely astray.

Ark placed both hands on Melmarc's shoulders now, focusing Melmarc's attention.

"Friends are human," he said. "If you choose your friends because they will never hurt you, you'll end up with too few friends. What will you do when Delano and Eroms finally hurt you? And what even leads you to believe that you're the perfect friend that has never hurt them?"

Ark looked down the hallway as if to reconfirm that they were alone while Melmarc thought about his questions. They were.

"If they hurt me, then we'll talk about it," he answered. "It's really not that complicated."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Ark released his shoulders. "Then use that concept in making friends. Don't be afraid of failing. Sometimes, you pick the wrong friends, and that is normal." He looked Melmarc in the eyes. "Got it?"

Melmarc nodded very slowly. "Got it."

"Good. But don't go suddenly becoming a social butterfly, though. Take it one step at a time. Now, back to the original conversation. Why do you think Ol' Donny has madness rabies?"

Melmarc opened his mouth to protest that Donovan did not, in fact, have madness rabies but gave up on the argument almost immediately.

"When I released him from my mind," he said, instead, "he asked for a cup of water, poured the water on the ground, and put the cup on his head the wrong way."

"What do you mean by the wrong way?"

"He put it on his head the way you would put a cup on a table."

"As opposed to the way you would... put it on your head?" Ark asked slowly, skeptically.

"Depending on the shape of your head," Melmarc answered absently. "The point I'm trying to make is that he poured the water on the ground because the ground was dry. Everything he did helped to calm him down, though. I had to put the cup properly to complete the entire process."

When he was done, he waited. Ark waited, too. It was Ark's turn to say something, and they knew it.

After a while, Ark sighed. "This is going to take some getting used to. To be more precise, the accepting is not the problem, it's the understanding. So, what you're saying is you knew he was mad because he did things that were not supposed to make sense but made sense to you. Am I on the right track?"

Melmarc nodded.

"And what was he doing when you left?"

"Nothing else, just catching his breath," Melmarc answered.

"Then I'm sure he'll be fine." Ark looked down the hallway again. They were still alone. "As long as he didn't suddenly start pulling his hair out and making baby noises, he'll be fine. Fallen High has amazing [Telepath]s and [Healer]s. Between all of them, I'm sure they can fix whatever's wrong."

Melmarc really hoped so. Interestingly enough, Ark's words did a good job on alleviating his worries.

"Besides," Ark turned and opened the door. "Spitfire didn't like the dude."

That was surprising. "Why?"

"He doesn't like anyone that can enter another person's mind. He thinks it's unsavory. He prefers..."

Ark's words trailed of as the door opened to a waiting room with three people sitting nervously. One of them, a girl, had one foot tapping so hard that it was a surprise that she hadn't worn out the sole.

Ark and Melmarc paused as all three pairs of eyes focused on the two of them. Ark pursed his lips. Melmarc took in the room and everyone in it.

Two girls and one boy, they each sat on individual chairs, the kind used as weapons in wrestling matches. The room was painted a different color from the hallway, a soft green where the hallway was…

Melmarc took a moment to look back at the hallway. He'd been so caught up in his worries that he didn't even remember the color of the hallway.

The hallway was a milky color as against the room's green color. The ground was made of black reflective tiles with white veins running through them. All three students kept their eyes on them.

Ark raised a finger to them as if excusing himself, then stepped out. Melmarc followed him, and Ark closed the door.

"Question," Ark said.

"Answer," Melmarc replied.

Ark thumbed at the closed door. "Do you think they heard what we were talking about?"

"No idea."

Ark turned thoughtful for a moment. "Alright, here's what we are going to do. I'll open the door and you go in, then I'll close it and say a few things."

"Why do I have to be the one going in?" Melmarc protested. Ark was already opening the door.

"Because," he said, shoving Melmarc into the room, "I'm older and you should listen to your older brother."

Ark closed Melmarc inside.

Melmarc did his best to suppress a sigh. At this rate, they were going to end up being the strange brothers. Hopefully, they'll get bonus points for what he did to Devin.

All eyes were still on him.

"Joshua," a voice said, quietly ringing through the entire room.

The only boy in the group got up nervously. Melmarc could see his hands shaking. He could feel the boy's fear. The fear of failure. He wanted to tell the boy that he was going to be alright, people rarely failed this admission process of the school. But he couldn't because it would be dissonant.

"Goodluck," one of the girls said, giving the boy a thumbs up while the other girl said, "Break a leg."

The boy walked into the wall—not a door—and disappeared through it.

How did he know to do that?

Maybe the first person had been told to walk through the wall and the others after him had seen him do it and just followed.

Melmarc was still thinking about it when Ark opened the door suddenly.

"Did you hear anything?" he asked.

Melmarc pushed him back outside, closing the door on the both of them.

"No," he said. "And I almost forgot the other thing I wanted to tell you."

"What's that?"

"There's an Oath in this school."

Ark's response was a very wide smile. It was as if he had just been told the most interesting thing in the world.

"Who is it?" he asked, excited. "Have I met him?"

"Why do you assume the person is a guy?"

Ark shrugged. "Force of habit, I guess. I'm a guy. I associate powerful people with being guys, sue me."

"Mom's powerful, though."

"To me, mom is mom, not a woman," Ark said impatiently. "Now, the Oath. Have I met them?"

"Don't know," Melmarc answered. "He was part of the interview we just did. They said he was there to observe."

"Mr. Callum?" Ark said in a very quiet voice. "I was sort of rude to him."

Melmarc wanted to be surprised but couldn't really say that he was as he nodded in response.

"Which of the Oaths is he?" Ark continued. "Fear or Grace?"

"Why Fear or…" Melmarc's words trailed of as his memories answered him. To stall his violent tendencies when his Oath aspects came to the forefront, Uncle Dorthna had suggested that he get some experience with the Oath of Grace while Ark had suggested that the Oath of Fear would not be a bad idea.

"None," Melmarc said in the end. "He's the Oath of Pain."

There was a pause before Ark replied.

"Oh."

And just like that, Ark had lost interest.

"Ark?" Melmarc said, trying to draw his attention back.

"I'm listening," Ark said absently, opening the door back intentionally.

Melmarc grabbed the handle and closed it. He forced Ark to look at him. "There. Is. An. Oath. And the person is here with us."

"Yeah, boring Oath, got it." Ark wasn't interested. "What use is the Oath of Pain to you? Pain tolerance?"

Melmarc thought about how horrible it had felt when he'd been drowned under the sensation of a collapsed lung when he'd shaken hands with Mr. Callum.

"Maybe?" he said. "But it's not like I can get to know him or anything. Mum doesn't want us associating with them."

"Exactly." Ark opened the door. "So, let's go inside and see what the next test is about." He paused again, the door open, and looked down the hallway. "Kind of odd that we've been out here for so long and no other student has come out, don't you think?"

Melmarc had a feeling he was the reason for it.

I hope Donovan is alright.

Ark placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed Melmarc into the room. "Let's get this over with, okay? I'm getting hungry and I haven't eaten all day."

…

The conference room was quiet except for the faint hum of the air conditioner. Okoro sat with Enjin, the assistant instructor to the school's combat team, Fenti, physics teacher and assistant overseer of academics, and Delet the vice principal of the school.

Enjin sat as if he was in his living room, legs crossed on the table. Delet sat at the opposite end of Okoro with an expression that implied he was deep in thought. Fenti sat upright, professional in every way if not for the chaos and annoyance in her eyes, emotions being evoked by Enjin and he refusal to see things from her point of view.

A tray with untouched glasses of water rested near the edge, catching the light from the ceiling fixtures. The room had zero magical enhancements save for the defensive enchantments hidden beneath the paints on the walls.

"I think they are dangerous," Fenti said, not for the first time since entering the room.

Enjin rolled his eyes. "Delvers are dangerous. What's your point?"

"They are dangerous to the other students!" Fenti hissed at him from across the table. "We have a duty to protect our students from harm as best we can."

Enjin shook his head at the physics teacher like a disappointed parent.

"And this is why you teach physics and not human relations," he muttered. "You don't get people."

"Why am I even arguing with you?" the woman huffed, running a rough hand through her hair. "All you're interested in is your combat team and watching kids beat each other up. Personally, I think it is repulsive."

At the opposite side of the conference table, on the end that housed only one chair, Delet sighed. He was a short man with dwarfism. He was in charge of all academic affairs including the combat affairs.

He looked from Enjin to Fenti. "Are you two done?"

"I was never a part of it," Enjin said. "She was talking, and I was replying."

Delet rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger like an old man. Okoro knew for a fact that he was no more than forty-five.

Delet turned to Okoro now. "What is your opinion on this?"

Okoro shook his head. In truth, he was not supposed to have any bearing here. His jurisdiction was in the college section of Fallen. But he'd been asked to be here at the last minute, making decisions on teenagers.

"I'm here to consult, not decide."

"Then I'm consulting you," Delet said. "What advice would you give me?"

Okoro sighed. He would've thought this entire thing beneath him if not for the presence of an Oath walking around the building somewhere. The last update he'd heard about Pain was that the Oath had gone to the finance department for some reason.

There was also another reason he no longer thought the task beneath him. That reason was what had him present with the important assistants making deliberations that were only supposed to happen at the end of the entire admission process. By God, they had not even concluded the interviews which were the last faze of the entire thing.

"He broke a device that was not supposed to be breakable, at least not as easily as he had done it," he said calmly. "Then he passed an illusion test in a way we still do not know or understand—a test that, may I point out, he was not supposed to be able to pass."

Delet nodded with each point he made.

"Then he proceeded to break the bones of a student who is lauded in the combat department for having a physiology so strong that his bones shouldn't be easily broken," Okoro went on with Enjin nodding. "Finally, to crown it all, he has rendered the school's best [Telepath] slightly… confused?"

"I would say mad," Enjin offered with a smile.

Fenti scoffed. "Donovan is not mad. He's just mildly… confused."

"Dude said he's forgotten something important about his mom and doesn't know what it is," Enjin said dismissively. "And he keeps asking for water and pouring it on the ground. He's also unable to use his skill properly."

"He's just not fully functional," Fenti said.

Enjin frowned. "Have you even seen Donovan hesitate to use his skill before? No offence to him—he's a great [Telepath]—but he's in a really bad state for someone of his level. The entire psychology test has been put on hold until we bring in a fitting replacement from the telepathic department, someone that knows what to do and what not to do accidentally or intentionally."

"And that's why I say that they are too dangerous."

Okoro definitely understood where Fenti was coming from. He also understood Enjin's desire that made him stand against her.

Delet looked at Okoro. The man was waiting for an answer.

They had a boy who was immune to telepathic intrusions, capable of achieving feats that his class was not supposed to be able to achieve at its rank and had left an S-rank [Telepath] in a bad state… telepathically.

Okoro rubbed his forehead.

As if that was not bad enough, then there was his brother who was stronger than him.

Fuck my life.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.