After a few more attempts, Ray stood before a set of doors. He planted his palm against it and pushed.
The doors opened revealing a large amphitheater with chairs neatly stacked above one another to provide a clear view of the person standing at the bottom.
Dozens of eyes fell on Ray as the door shut behind him. Rows upon rows of people stared at him, dumbfounded.
'Shit!' Ray didn't panic outwardly. Instead, he walked briskly to an empty chair in the middle of the class.
The teacher standing at the bottom was a rather stern-looking woman with vivid brown eyes and a wrinkled face.
Her cold glare lifted across Ray's skin. "Back to what I was saying…" She continued as though Ray hadn't entered at all.
Ray rolled his eyes, 'Teachers never liked me anyway.'
He looked around the class for any indication of what the subject was that was going on. 'What sort of people don't write out the name of a class?'
With a small sigh, he scooted close to another student and prodded him with his finger. "Psst."
The student turned to Ray with the most annoyed scowl that Ray had ever seen anyone have… except for himself but he didn't care.
"This class, what is it?" He asked and waited for his response. The boy stared at Ray like he had grown an extra head.
His eyes widened and he scanned Ray once more, "I know what this is. It's one of those practical jokes I've been hearing of recently. Nice try." Then he turned to pay attention.
Ray gritted his teeth. 'Who is playing games?! I need to know if I should stay here.' He could always listen but he didn't want to spend any mental energy understanding what he mightn't even need.
"I'm not joking!" He seethed and the teacher cleared her throat. Both Ray and the boy turned to her.
Her eyes were glaring daggers at Ray but he wasn't fazed… too much. Right?
Ray slumped his shoulders and partly hid his face behind his palms. The boy whose attention he'd been trying to get stood up and went to the row closest to the teacher.
'I can't believe I have to listen.' He mentally groaned and stopped filtering out what the woman was teaching.
Her next words, however, drew Ray's attention. "And that is how 'Aide' was discovered."
Ray's eyebrows furrowed and he raised a hand. Her eyes locked on the hand and a small smile spread on her face until she saw who it belonged to.
The smile fell even quicker than it had appeared. "What?"
A wry smile spread on Ray's face. Her disdain was palpable. "What is 'Aide'?" Ray seemed to have asked the worst possible question as the entire class turned to him.
Onyx materialized on the chair beside Ray with a smug smile on his face. "Oh look at you! No matter the context, you always pull attention." He joked, excitement sparkling behind his onyx eyes.
The teacher rolled up her sleeves and pointed at her solar plexus then at Ray's. "Our solar plexi are spheres made of two types of energy. Our very life force and 'Aide'."
Ray adjusted a little and leaned forward to better listen.
She continued. "The exact origins are unknown but what is is that it dictates the functions of our world. Everything, every organism has a form of 'Aide' flowing through it. It exists in the cores of humans and the bodies of beasts."
Pieces of a puzzle that Ray hadn't even been aware of clicked together in his head and his eyes widened. "The energy we use to cultivate is 'Aide'."
Unbeknownst to him, he had said it aloud.
"Yes, brilliant." She nodded and her scowl reduced a little. "It exists in its natural state as a sort of golden energy and our life forces split it and absorb the 'Aide' of a particular element. This determines your core element and so much more."
Ray's head spun a little as gears started to move. He stared at Onyx out of the corner of his eyes, 'If the normal energy for cultivation is 'Aide', then what did I absorb to get Onyx?!'
At the same time, Onyx turned to him and his black eyes squinted but he said nothing instead, vanishing.
"The core then expels the rest back into the environment. Stabilizing the core and providing enough energy for other cultivators." She seemed to have concluded but Ray wasn't.
He raised his hand once more and she inhaled deeply. "What is it?"
Ray's eyes hardened, "You mentioned that the cores are a mix of our life forces and 'Aide' which in turn grants an element. What of those that are born with two cores?"
Her eyes steeled. "Those people are just like what you can find in any animal. Diseased. Their life force is unable to fully separate 'Aide' so it absorbs energy for two elements during the core formation stage of fertilization."
Disgust built up behind her eyes and her lips curled up, "Don't ever bother yourself with people like those. They're hopeless bugs in our otherwise perfect system."
Ray clenched his fists and anger erupted in him. He would not have anyone call him a bug. 'What of beasts? Are they also imperfect bugs?!' He wanted to scream at her but he held it back.
He let out a slow breath and ran a shaky hand through his hair, "Okay, I understand. That makes sense."
The teacher stared at him for a few more seconds before resuming her initial topic on historical figures responsible for the discovery of 'Aide'.