Entering the school Marvin took his study schedule, which was quite similar to the one in his previous school, like he asked.

It was when he was in his classroom however that he realized that, while he had only spent a grand total of five minutes in it, he was quite done with life in this school. The pointing and whispering from before was back, only this time it was combined with a couple of stares from two of his apparent future classmates that seemed to ooze hostility.

One of the people staring at him was what he could only describe as a beast of a man.

Now Marvin himself wasn’t exactly the most intimidating of figures. He was quite possibly one of the shortest people he knew, and had a slim build. That person seemed to be his exact opposite in that regard, appearing quite large and tall, with a certain power that he seemed to radiate. Apparently quite sociable as well, given how, apart from that hard stare he gave Marvin for a few moments, he was mostly preoccupied by talking with the sizable crowd gathered around him.

While Marvin didn’t like to get stuck on first impressions, he had the distinct feeling that he shouldn’t exactly cross the guy.

The other guy, whom Marvin noticed was sitting alone at the back with the only empty desk in the back rows being the one next to him and the window, was still staring at him. His look, while not as hostile as the buff person’s, held a power that combined the harsh shadows on his brown skin, curtesy of the early morning sunlight and dark classroom as the lights were still closed, had a vague aura of power that surrounded it. Not as much as the other guy’s, but still enough for Marvin to have an awareness of it. It made him look a tad disturbing as well.

Still, Marvin found himself going to the empty desk next to him, as it was in quite the good position, being next to the window and further away from where the teacher would most likely be. Right as he sat on the oh so comfortable school chair of his desk however, the guy next him had a complete makeover, smiling and giving off a completely different feel to before.

“You know you’re quite the hot topic Marvin Perlie!” exclaimed his new school neighbour in a casual tone

“And I assume you know my name because, even though I’m new to the school, you just happen to be my long lost twin, separated at birth?” responded Marvin, deciding to mix some poor attempt at humor, although it did get a chuckle in response, with his ‘I am a person that can talk to other people easily’ voice

“If one of the most popular, and high strung, people in school calls you by your full name in front of a crowd then word usually gets around. Especially if that person happens to also be an honor student. Surely you’ve dealt with such high school nonsense before. My name’s Adam Lacetro by the way, nice to meet you.” smirked Adam Lacetro, extending his hand for a handshake, which Marvin reciprocated, a polite smile on his face

“Look, all I did was accept a ring and a piece of paper she lent me.”

“What!?” apparently mention of the ring was either a sensitive subject, or the act of holding it was some sort of taboo, because it caused Adam’s eyes to widen so much in such a short time that Marvin was afraid they’d pop, and he even shot a momentary glance towards the large guy that was also staring at Marvin when he entered with a worried expression

Before they could continue their exchange however, the lights of the classroom were opened and a middle aged man came through, proclaiming it time to start off the school day. Based on the almost collective groan that was heard in the classroom Marvin assumed that that was the teacher, and that what was awaiting was going to be quite the day.

After he introduced himself to the class, for the rest of the period, and for the most part the rest of the day, Marvin was left alone, with the classes alternating rapidly between boring and not so boring, and all the breaks in between filled with him mostly going through his phone or studying, and the occasional ask about his scars or his prosthetic leg, which he managed to tactfully weave his way out of answering.

Up until lunch time he’d managed to set himself up in a new routine, eerily similar to the one in his previous school, weird ring encounters aside. It was when he was sitting alone during lunch however, that something truly peculiar happened.

“Yo!” came the greeting from Adam Lacetro approaching Marvin with his lunch in hand. Said lunch was half eaten, and Marvin was pretty sure he’d seen his classmate sitting on a table with a few other students, so it was weird to the dark haired boy as to why he’d change seats so abruptly.

“You know it’s perfectly normal to be polite to a new student. Especially if they have been alone for most of the day.” Judging by Adam’s smirk and his amused tone of voice, apparently he didn’t do a good job at hiding that opinion from his expression. Although his eyes told a different story, giving Marvin the sense that the dark skinned boy had an ulterior motive.

“Heh. I’m not exactly a stranger to this Adam. But I have the feeling you didn’t just come here to chat about our day.” stated Marvin, smirking at the look of betrayal on the other boy’s face, one that took but a moment to change into one of amusement.

“You know, you have got a lot to learn. Look at them for instance.” Adam pointed to one of the most central tables of the cafeteria where Marly Mallory sat alongside the buff looking boy that looked at him like he was going to bite his head off in class, and a few others. Everybody sitting at that table looked like they were having fun, enjoying each other’s company, although Marvin couldn’t understand exactly what it was he was looking for.

“I don’t get it.”

“Mallory held that ring for all of the past two weeks of school, worrying about something relating to it, and only God knows what that was. Now, before the new guy, meaning you, even arrived at school she passed it off to you, and she’s just laughing, probably about this. She basically just passed her burden to you!” explained Adam in a way that made it seem like Marvin should have already figured out easily.

“And how do you know the ring and her being worried and the ring are related. Maybe they’re two seperate, and completely independent things.” reasoned Marvin, which only caused Adam to shake his head and huff out a laugh.

“Having been in this school for four months and two weeks longer than you, means I know certain things you don’t, new guy. Things like the fact that even the walls are gossiping about our every move here. I mean you must have noticed it.

“Seriously. It’s like for every regular, sensible human being entering the front doors, there are like ten that would either spread and inflate every little thing about you into oblivion, or force you to listen thereby making you a part of their chain of gossiping or whatever. And the sad thing is, it’s almost always based on something true. I-I don’t know how they do it.” By the end of this explanation-or more accurately, rant-Marvin started getting the idea that, even people talking in not-so-well-hidden hushed tones, and not-so-discreetly pointing at him had happened to a lot of other poor souls.

Although he did take this information with a grain of salt as not to judge dozens of people on the word of one single person, it would be a lie to say he didn’t see where Adam was coming from.

“Which is why, my short, fellow dark haired friend, I have two things to tell you. Number one: watch yourself. Number two: I don’t really have a number two planned, and I’m not so great at improvising, so I’ll just leave you here and go back to my embarrassment! See ya around!” called out Adam hurriedly, leaving Marvin confused at his behavior.

And he had to admit, even though both of his encounters with his ‘fellow dark haired friend’ had been weird-he wasn’t even sure what the point of this conversation was, other than complain about gossiping and maybe call out Marly for whatever reason-they definitely were entertaining in a weird way.

The rest of the day resumed normally enough, until it was at last time for classes to be over. And while most of the students were heading out Marvin found himself in the location reserved for the archery lessons, a grassy area on the back of the school with targets on various distances, and a wooden floored patio where a bow and a quiver full of arrows are hanging on the patio’s left wall.

But what catches Marvin off guard is the fact that he’s completely alone in the entire range. And while he didn’t expect the place to be swarmed with students, he expected a teacher to be there at least .

In his everlasting wisdom Marvin picked up the bow and drew it at the target. He was interrupted however by a low, gruff voice calling him out.

“The range is closed for today, kid!” Marvin turned to the source of the voice, a very large, hairy and extremely pale man with sunglasses and graying hair and beard. He was slowly, but quite aggressively, making his way toward the dark haired boy.

“I-I’m sorry sir, I wasn’t notified.” nervously explained Marvin, worried about what the man would do to him, even though the logical part of his brain told him that he was probably a teacher, and he wouldn’t actually harm a student.

A teacher that Marvin hadn’t seen at all during the day.

A teacher that looked almost identical to the figure he’d seen on a rooftop in the morning.

But that didn’t necessarily mean anything bad was going to happen. Right?

Then the man took off his sunglasses, revealing almond shaped eyes, with large golden pupils. In short, eyes that one would expect to see on a wolf, not a human being.

“Give me the ring.” he stated, actually quickening his pace.

Before he could even be properly confused about that, the man closed in on Marvin, using his right arm to backhand him, breaking his glasses and causing his mouth and nose to bleed.

Before he had the chance to go through the air due to this hit, it-yes 'it', that strength and eyes couldn’t possibly belong to a human-grabbed Marvin by the leg, throwing him face first all the way to the targets in the range and he actually felt his ribs bruise, an intense pain in his chest.

The beast man leapt through the air once more, raising its massive arms to strike him. In the instant before the devastating hit could land, Marvin felt a surge of energy course through him. He pushed through the pain, barely managing to dodge the beast man’s attack, thankfully managing to keep the bow and arrow in hand.

Taking advantage of the momentary confusion he seemed to cause to his attacker, Marvin aimed his bow as best as he could, shooting it in the right shoulder, not precisely where he was aiming, but still enough to stop any man-for a while at least.

So of course he caused virtually no damage.

Just as the beast man was about to attack him once more a projectile made its way through the air, landing itself opposite Marvin's arrow. It appeared to be a throwing knife, and it actually caused the beast man to stop for a second.

“My my, Marvin Perlie. You got yourself in quite a bit of trouble.” came an amused voice, one that he recognised as Marly Mallory, the reason he is in this whole mess in the first place.

Before he could say anything, the blonde haired heterochromatic quickly surged past him, a silver sword in hand. She managed to fight on even footing with the guy.

An inhuman scream came from the man as he jumped forward and attacked. Mallory, using her smaller form and higher speed, avoided the progress of her opponent, quickly settling in a routine.

Attack. Dodge. Repeat.

Marly seemed to be having the upper hand, dodging all of the other guy’s attacks, but just when she appeared to have found an opening to go on the offensive, the man used his large hand to grab her hair and push her to Marvin’s side, a large thud sound being heard as she fell.

“Damn Vaewolves…” muttered the blonde haired girl, propping herself on her sword, an angry expression on her face. However the fear in her eyes was clear to Marvin, no matter how much she tried to hide it.

As a last resort, Marvin took the ring out of his pocket-finding it had miraculously stayed in there-in an attempt to bargain for their lives.

Instead, however he found himself putting it on, but he wasn’t exactly sure as to why. It was this, this instinct, that lead him to do it. And he figured it wasn't not a particularly bad move, since a look of fear took over the wolf-like eyes of his attacker, and, surprisingly enough, Marly’s as well.

“Aspis you Aiax.” he whispered, just as the beast man-Vaewolf as Marly had called it-apparently got over whatever fear he had and lunged at Marvin.

In the instant before the devastating hit could land, Marvin felt a surge of energy course through him. It was a feeling unlike any other. He was incapable of imagining so many feelings so intense, could be mixed together within the span of a tenth of a second.

Then, it was as if his very body was being ripped apart molecule by molecule, as a golden glow completely engulfed him

A large bronze glowing shield was instantaneously formed in front of him, blocking the attack, and pushing the large man back. Said shield dissolved as quickly as it formed, leading to much dizziness and pain on Marvin’s part, but also a great sense of confusion-as to what even happened-and joy given how he’d actually saved himself and Marly amidst it all.

A loud, inhuman roar, broke him out of his thoughts.

Marvin realised the beast man was nearly on top of him once more. Thankfully Marly had managed to somehow match the thing’s speed and agility, stabbing it in the chest, a triumphant expression in her face.

They’d done it. They’d survived this, this-whatever this was. But before he could ask any questions, he noticed the heteropathic girl turn her head toward him, a worried expression on her face.

Suddenly, Marvin fell to his knees. Blood ran through his nose and mouth, and an intense pain went through his head and chest. Dizziness and nausea mixed into the pain making him slowly lose consciousness. It even hurt to breathe but he felt-he felt himself having a small smile on his face for whatever odd reason.

He faintly heard worried shouting from-from various people actually, but his condition got the better of him, and he passed out.