Chapter 23: Lost Record Number I (2)

In the southern part of the city, just down the long street of Ender’s home, lied a huge block dedicated to a certain institution spreading over several districts. Equipped with cutting edge technology and equipment in addition to the many facilities for various purposes, this was the school where Ender and Helenor went to. Reserved to only the best of the best, this was a place where talents were nurtured before they came out to the world, in hope that it would bring salvation to their race. From the sky, the campus looked almost like a small city within another city. An entire area was reserved for students living on campus, which were the case of most students. Even if they lived in the same city or just right in the nearby district, many decided to stay here to hone their skills and to dedicate themselves to study as hard as they could. All for the glorious future!

“Ender, Helenor!” an elegant girl on heels waved her hands at the two siblings at the grand entrance of the school. She had long black hair and wore a green tunic over a white one piece down to her knees. Her eyelashes were long and dark, accentuating her alluring violet iris even more.

“Sister Loriya!” Helenor waved cheerfully at the girl who was about the same age as Ender.

“Welcome back, Ender!” Loriya turned to the young man and gave off a charming smile. Her cheeks blushed slightly at his sight while her eyes were on the verge of crying. Then, unable to hold her composure, she hugged him securely within her chest. “It is good to see you back.”

“I am sorry for making you witness that.” Ender remembered the day he collapsed, he was with Loriya. That day, she called him out, asking to meet him privately. Then after school, the two stayed behind even though classes have ended and everyone was on their way home. The sun has begun to set down. The wind was gentle. Loriya was sitting next to the window. Her long hair wavered at the blow of wind. The two have known each other for a long time. Yet, why did he feel so tense that day? Noticing his gaze, Loriya turned around and approached him. Then, she said something….What did she say? Ender could not remember. The only thing in his memories was the image of him collapsing down onto the ground. He could not breath. It was another episode. But this time, it hit much harder than the previous ones. Loriya, she was crying, screaming for help. And then, everything went dark. Next thing he knew, Ender has been moved to the hospital in an isolated sector that forbid all visitors. He later learnt that Loriya has come to his come many times to ask about him. But he couldn’t see her for some reasons. The doctors and his parents told him that they wanted to make sure that he was fine before they could let him get in contact with anyone. Being a good kid as he was, he quietly followed the instructions given to him, just as he has always done.

“It is okay. You are fine now. That is all what matters.” Loriya swiped away her tears. Despite her efforts to remain cool, the girl could barely hold herself together. Astora could see how hard she tried, clutching her trembling hands tightly like that. “I am sure everyone will be delightful to have you back. Let’s go to class, shall we?”

“Yeah, of course.” Ender said. “By the way…back then, what did you….” the words couldn’t come out for some reasons.

“Hum? What did you say?” Loriya asked.

“Uhm no…it is nothing. We should go before class starts.”

The students all share the same uniform: white top and black pants or skirt. But what stood out the most was not the uniform itself but what was decorated on it. This school, or rather, the entire society was based on a hierarchy system, all based on a single criteria: talent. How did one measure talent? Through countless tests and individual accomplishments. At the same time, money had no part in the process. Whether you came from the richest or poorest family, it didn’t matter. The people at the top, those who were in charge of the country, they were only interested in those who had talents and rewarded those people with special privileges and the likes. This idea gave birth to the Ten Stars Echelon, ranging from one to ten ranks. The more stars you had, the better your ranking. Furthermore, aside from the detailed regulations, the Ten Stars Echelon imposed two basic rules.

The first was absolute obedience. Those of lower ranks must obey the orders of those of higher ranks. This was a simple yet harsh rule installed in order to give more power for those with talents. After all, only the intellectuals and strong could bear the responsibility of leading their people. At least, that was the philosophy of the people of this society. A violation of this rule would be punishable by exile.

The second was prohibition of immoral conduct. Despite the first rule, those of higher ranks could not order those below them to commit a crime or any act forbidden by the law. That included any act that may endanger the life of the afflicted party. In case of infringement, both parties would be held accountable and judged by the law adequately as accomplices of equal guilt.

There was however, one exception where the Ten Stars Echelon could not be applied: schools. Places of studies and training were created in order to generate talents and develop them. Furthermore, students were often still not considered functional members of society as they rarely contributed anything for the greater good because of the lack of experience and knowledge so on school grounds, the Ten Stars Echelon didn’t apply. At least, that was what it was on paper. In reality, truth was much crueler. Despite claiming a place of fairness, not all students could just ignore the Ten Stars Echelon. Sure, on school ground, they might be protected. But what happened when they got out? What if some prominent student obtained a higher rank and they somehow wronged him or her? Would someone be that naïve to think that it would have no consequences?

In term of greatness, one had to talk about Ender’s family. His parents both had eight stars, as some might say at the peak of success. Helenor too was the same with six stars, something phenomenal for someone her age. Despite her seemingly childlike behavior, she was among the student representatives along with Loriya who also possessed six stars. Both were gifted with high intellect and power. Helenor specialized in psychic abilities, far beyond those her age while Loriya possessed exceptional insight with her analysis skills and proficiency in several topics like biology. To summarize, they were the stars of the school. But those stars were frighteningly bright, too much for someone like Ender.

“Hey, the Zero finally comes back.” A student whispered within the crowd who was gathering in the hallway.

“Why is he coming back? I thought he dropped dead already.”

“Urgg, just look at him makes me feel stupid. He better not spread his idiocy to us.”

All of the sudden, the touching return atmosphere has turned into a walk of shame filled with insulting gossips and repulsive glares. Astora was left speechless at the behaviors of the students. Meanwhile, Ender was expressionless. He was used to this kind of treatment. Indeed, he was the infamous Zero, the one and only person in this school who had zero stars. But has it been just Ender himself walking alone, it would not be this loud. However, he was being accompanied by two prominent stars of the school.

“Good morning, ladies!” a blond young man accompanied by two other male students greeted the trio in the middle of the hallway. Upon noticing Ender behind the two girls, the man smirked arrogantly. “And good morning to you too, Zero.”

“In case of you forget, Sylvestro, his name is Ender! I would appreciate if you refer to him with his real name.” Loriya took a dominant tone.

“Of course I am aware of his name. Who doesn’t? The infamous son of doctor Morpha who somehow never managed to get a single star, is that not right, Morpha Ender?” The blond man smirked.

Ender avoided Sylvestro’s glare, looking at the ground below him. It was so well cleaned that it showed the face of a young male. Ender looked at the reflection and asked himself: ‘Who is that? Why is he having that kind of wimpy face? Wait a minute...that’s me.’. Aside from the man in question, only Astora could see his face at that moment reflected by the shiny tiles. The face of someone who had endured this shameful show over and over again.

“Stop bullying my brother!” Helenor jumped in and defended her brother, waking the man in question from his thoughts.

“Why, can’t a full-grown man speak for himself? Or does he need someone babysitting him constantly?” Sylvestro mocked, his followers laughed loudly.

“You!”

“It is okay, Helenor.” Ender put his hand on his sister’ shoulder, stopping her. He didn’t want the girl to be punished with disciplinary actions because of him. “Let’s just ignore him! Class is staring!”. The three moved pass Sylvestro and his two henchmen. But halfway there, the blond man grabbed Ender firmly, almost trying to twist his frail arm. Then he murmured with a threatening tone.

“Don’t think this is over just yet, zero! You won’t be able to hide behind your parents’ fame forever! I suggest you watch your back.”

But his threat was heard by Helenor. All of the sudden, the girl’s eyes glowed. The ground and walls shook and windows began to crack. The air became denser. Then, Sylvestro started to collapse down on his knees, hugging his chest in agony. Inside his body, Sylvestro’s heart was being squeezed by an invisible force, killing him slowly.

“Helenor STOP!” Ender snapped the girl out of her anger. The death stare was gone, as well as the tremors. Released from his pains, Sylvestro breathed heavily while sweating profusely. This would not end well. The guy, despite his personality, was also a five stars, a somewhat talented and higher than the average students of the school who most often only got three or four stars. But there were rumors of him being very close to be appointed as a six stars. Furthermore, Sylvestro came from a distinguished family composed of very high ranked members in the echelon. He would not let this go so easily.

“You bitch!” The blond man screamed.

“What is going on here?” a voice rang loudly in the hallway. An alluring woman with round glasses in a black and white suit walked toward the center of the commotion.

“Professor Feina!” the students uttered.

Looking at the potential culprits, instructor Feina turned her attention to Helenor who was slightly taken by what she has caused. “Helenor, how many times do I have to tell you not to use your power on school grounds without permission?” the professor scolded.

“I am sorry.” Helenor looked at the ground apologetically.

“ *sigh* you are causing me so much trouble.” With a snap of her fingers, the cracks and fissures disappeared, as if they were never there. Then she turned to the other bystander students. “What are you looking at? Nothing happened here. Don’t you have classes to attend to?”

“Wait a minute, she attacked me first! Are you just going to ignore that?” Sylvestro argued with an annoyed voice.

“I don’t remember giving you permission to speak, Sylvestro.” Feina haughtily spoke. “Or does a mere five stars wish to challenge a seven stars on what transpired here?”

“I…..No…I mean….I….” Sylvestro trembled. The Ten Stars Echelon, while not officially applied to educational establishments, remained a very powerful order. It was no secret to anyone. Unable to say anything else, Sylvestro could only shut up and look as the professor escorted Ender and his companies to their class. With the woman gone, the blond man angrily hit the wall to release his rage. “That bitch, sucking up to them just because they are related to Morpha….”

“Calm down, master Sylvestro!” one of the henchmen said.

“How do you expect me to calm down?”

“We will get our chance for pay back….But not now. Soon!” the henchman whispered something in the young master’s ears. A smile started to form on his face.

“Yes…yes….I see. We will get back at them. That zero doesn’t deserve Loriya. She is mine.”

Unaware to Sylvestro, Ender was right at the corner and has heard their threat. Previously, he has dropped something after Feina escorted them to class so he decided to turn back and looked for his item. That was when he stumbled across Sylvestro’s threat. It wasn’t anything concrete just yet apparently but it still worried him. For years, Ender has been the target of their bullying and the scorn of the school. Have it not for Helenor and Loriya, he would have never made it this far. He wanted to do something for them. But he couldn’t, not at his current state.

Sylvestro was right. Ender had zero stars, something one could consider heretical in this society. A zero star basically meant he had no potential and was a burden to the group. Therefore, he must be discarded. Many cases have happened like this ever since the establishment of the Ten Stars Echelon. The victims were exiled and soon met their end at the harsh hands of nature. For without power, one could not survive in this world.