From across the room, a shout came through, but unlike most situations where the sudden noise would disrupt the flow of the environment, this one melded seamlessly with it arriving directly at Derrick's bed Where Alden sat with Felix squatted beside him.
"Ha, looks like you've got some connections kid, well, I guess it's my cue to leave, see you later." Felix said as he left.
Not knowing what to do next, Alden got up and moved to Bismarck, the one who had shouted to him just now.
"Hi, how are you doing?" Bismarck asked.
"I-I, I'm doing fine." He stated resolutely.
"Oh, don't be scared of me, forget whatever that idiot told you about me. My name is Bismarck, what's yours?"
"Am Alden."
"Alden, that's a nice name, have you seen me before?"
'That's a weird question.' Alden thought.
"No."
"Wow, because I know you, we attended the same Junior High but just different branches." Bismarck said with a smile.
'How the hell was I supposed to know you then, the branches are like different schools on their own.' Alden thought.
"Oh really, I never noticed you sorry." Alden stated.
"Oh don't be silly, it's quite the coincidence actually. Since you're a familiar face, if there's ever anything you need, just ask me ok?"
"Ok."
Bismarck then kept him there for a few more minutes just reminiscing about Junior High. Turns out, Bismarck knew a lot more, he knew where his mother's shop was, that was new, he had a rough mental map of the area he lived, he knew some of Alden's friends, a lot. Alden just sat there listening because there wasn't much he could talk about considering if it wasn't just a few minutes ago, he didn't know this guy.
After their chat, Alden returned back to Derrick's bed and just sat there processing. Felix hadn't finished introducing everyone in the room but for some reason, the room felt clearer almost as if he'd finally started looking with his eyes rather than whatever he was looking at the room through in the beginning.
At 1:30pm a majority of the students marched out to go for dining. He stayed in the room still sitting on Derrick's bed, just staring into space. Time passed quickly, it was still afternoon when some of the students started coming back. Alden looked towards the door as some students filtered in.
Then something new happened, a figure, slightly larger than the average student not fat just larger, walked through the door. After taking a few steps into the room he suddenly went limp at the doorway. Those around froze, some startled others confused. Looking at the reactions of those around, he realized this was the first time it was happening.
His eyes began to glow as he looked at what was hidden to the world around. That's when he spotted the problem.
'Elemental poisoning, that's unique.' Alden thought.
That's when he looked around the room and everything clicked into place. The boy wasn't dead or in any immediate danger thankfully, the poisoning was being processed by his body but such a situation wouldn't go away after a few days, it takes months with special equipment to clear out a person's elemental system from invasion by a different element.
All around the room, Hex Essence had spread to every corner and this boy's system wasn't strong enough to repel it. Worse of all, he'd slept in this room all night, he just needed rest and he'd recover but the problem would persist until very prolonged absence from such an environment.
He quickly deactivated his skill before anyone could see it and misunderstand the situation as he watched everything unfold. The boy, Aaron, came with two friends. One he knew, Ephraim, the other was a new faces who probably belonged to the room. Alden made a resolution with himself to retrain his awareness.
Ephraim and the new guy swarmed Aaron, considering they didn't know what was happening it was understandable that they were panicking. It got so bad that the other guy almost got into a fight with Henry for offering his help. In the end, Henry backed off as the scene continued to play out.
After a few minutes of lying in the doorway, yes despite the panic written all over their faces, none of the two 'friends' had made an attempt to move Aaron from the way and Henry who offered to move him who they fought him off, Aaron woke up and walked weakly over to his bed.
'Get well soon big guy, I'd blame the captains for that unnecessary ritual they had last night but am not sure you even know of the hex element, oh well.' Alden thought silently.
Time passed smoothly and soon, night fell. Evening dining was served at 6:00pm and after it, the students funneled back into the barracks. For the second time this entire day, Alden saw Derrick again.
Derrick walked over to his bed, then paused slightly as he saw a scene that reminded him of the day before.
"Hello again, am assuming you've been inside all day?" Derrick asked.
"Yeah, this whole situation is more than a little confusing, I don't know where to start nor end." Alden replied.
"Ah ok, I think I can help with that, first, what grade did you get for your assignment?" Derrick asked.
"I got 17. Pretty high considering the lowest grade was 60 countrywide." Alden responded.
"Wow, you got around the same raw score as me, what are you doing in a base like this with a grade like that?"
"That I blame my mom, she didn't like the grade A base I got so she messed with the placement somehow and landed me here."
"Man that's tough, what department are you going for?"
"Research and Analysis."
"Oh my department, nice, sadly we just took our aptitude test to weed out those who weren't qualified for that department."
"Really, wait does that mean I won't have a place to go come Monday when operations resume?"
"Oh don't worry, am sure we'll figure something out."