It had been five days since the incident.

  No alarms had gone off that night. No immediate announcements. No heroes dropping from the sky to quarantine the grounds. Just the sound of half a building vanishing into the wind—and confusion.

  And now, that confusion had fermented into something worse.

  Rumors.

  “They say it was an experiment gone wrong,” whispered a girl in the lunch hall, leaning across the table with wide eyes. “The Science Division was working on a tele-spatial core stabilizer. Something to create temporary warps for rescue missions. Boom. Malfunction.”

  “No way,” her friend replied, jabbing a fork into a tray of synth chicken. “I heard it was an upperclassman fight. Two seniors going at it behind closed doors. Maybe even the headmaster covering it up.”

  Across the room, someone else laughed.

  “Nah, man. It was a villain.”

  “You think a villain got on campus?”

  “Not just any villain. An S class. The type that makes your heart stop just walking past 'em. I heard the walls vibrated before it blew. That’s how you know it was real power. Real dangerous.”

  The hall buzzed like that all day.

  Even the teachers were tight-lipped. Some acted like they did. Others said nothing at all.

  Above them all, Headmaster Kael stood with his hands clasped behind his back, addressing the sea of wide-eyed students at the morning assembly. He wore his usual measured calm, as if everything were perfectly under control.

  His slicked-back black hair contrasted sharply with his pale complexion, and his beard—trimmed to the millimeter—spoke of meticulous precision.

  He has a power called Absolute Command, wit verbal Commands that force reality to obey—but only if spoken in his calm, controlled tone. His power is a form of hyper-authority—every word he speaks becomes a law written into existence for a short time.

  Then he spoke, his voice deep and resonant, echoing across the silent courtyard:

  “SILENCE” The whole world obeyed in unison, even the birds in the trees weren't making any noise. Quite a scary power.

  “An investigation is underway. As of now, there is no confirmed cause of the structural failure in Building E. All students and faculty are safe. The area has been quarantined. Until further notice, classes will proceed as scheduled. There is no need for panic.”

  “Live your lives. Train hard. And remember—discipline is what separates chaos from greatness.”

  A pause. A flicker in his eyes. Almost like he was searching for someone in the crowd.

  And just for a split moment it did look like he found what he was looking for.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  But then.

  He turned.

  Walked away.

  And the world was lighter.

  ...........

  Back in the freshman wing, Ethan sat slouched at the edge of his bed, frowning at the ceiling.

  “...He didn’t show up again today,” he mumbled to himself.

  A knock came at his door.

  It opened before he could answer.

  Ava strolled in, arms crossed, chewing on some gum.

  “Yo.”

  Ethan sat up. “Didn’t your mother teach you to wait for people to say ‘come in’?”

  “She did. I just didn’t listen.” She leaned on the wall. “You seen Jack?”

  He shook his head.

  She squinted. “He’s been weird, yeah?”

  Ethan stared for a second, then nodded. “Yeah.”

  Ava scoffed, her tone softer than usual. “Like... even I feel weird messing with him now. It’s like mocking a ghost.”

  Ethan’s eyes lingered on the floor.

  He thought about Jack’s eyes lately.

  How they didn’t blink when he should.

  How he didn’t even react when Ava threw a paper ball at him in Power Control.

  How he sat in the back of the class with a thick black book, not moving. Not existing.

  “I don't think he even sleeps anymore,” Ethan murmured. “I think he lives in the damn library now.”

  Ava shrugged, but her usual edge was dulled. “Yeah, well... everyone’s saying weird crap. Maybe it got to him. You think it messed with his head?”

  Ethan didn’t answer.

  “I mean, I’m one of many to blame, but yeah a lot of people did crash onto to him, and it doesn’t help that his not getting any better, still dead last”

  Ethan knew, Jack didn’t want to be helped. Just left alone. As if he was ready to be buried.

  ………

  Lily watched from afar.

  She sat in the back corner of the library, behind two stacks of criminal profiling studies. Her eyes weren’t on the pages.

  They were on him.

  Jack.

  Slumped over his desk. Reading. Still. Always.

  Barely blinking. Barely breathing.

  Not even pretending to take notes anymore.

  A hollow figure.

  Someone barely pretending to be human.

  His shirt was wrinkled. Hair unkempt. Hands twitching now and then when a line hit too close to home.

  Lily frowned.

  They haven’t said a word to each other in five days.

  And that was saying something—because she didn’t need many words to read people. Especially him. She noticed the way his eyes didn’t follow people anymore. Just pages. Just patterns. Just threats.

  At first, she thought it was depression.

  Now? She didn’t know.

  And worse...

  Part of her was scared to find out.

  He was a walking shell.

  A weightless body with no soul.

  ___

  Later that night, Jack sat at the edge of his bed, still dressed in his school uniform.

  He hadn’t changed. Hadn’t eaten.

  The lights were off.

  The moonlight trickled in through the massive window behind him, cutting long silver bars across the room. He stared down at his hands.

  His body felt distant. Detached.

  He hadn’t had another outburst.

  Not since that night.

  But something inside him had shifted.

  He felt it.

  Power wasn't the right word.

  It wasn’t energy. It wasn’t fire. It wasn’t light.

  It was absence.

  Like something had hollowed out space around him, and now the world was just... afraid to get too close.

  His heart beat in rhythm with silence.

  And for a second—just a second—he thought he heard something whisper behind his ear.

  He turned.

  Nothing.

  But he didn’t sleep. He didn’t even try.

  He knew he couldn’t.