The classroom was full, which was a good thing. He feels that a lot of students dislike history because it is “boring”. And he will give them that, history can be boring sometimes. Especially when the teacher is not a good one. But Marcus likes to think that he was a good history professor, and the class he was teaching can be a living proof of that.

“Well now,” he started, it was weird having over 300 people paying attention to whatever you are saying, but Marcus got used to it, “today as you could see from the presentation, we are talking about the twenties.”

A groan was shared throughout the classroom. “Yeah, I understand. I lived these years and know how horrible they were.” He waved his hands and silence overcame the lecture hall.

He started to get into the lesson, but ten minutes into his lesson he heard a shout from one of the students. “Yo, Rhax!”

Before he could think about it, he turned his head to the person that shouted it and released a “hmm?”

“Holy shit, it is really him!” The one who shouted, Adrian, went into crazy mode. “Marcus, you are Rhax?” A commotion started inside the lecture hall.

‘Perfect, just perfect.’ Marcus cursed inside his mind. He calmed himself and then spoke. “First of all, how the hell do you know that name? Second, why are you all freaking out?” He didn’t think that his video was very popular, he posted it like 1 hour ago.

Adrian answered. “Bro, your video of killing that Direwolf bare handed is the most popular video on Yowitch. And of course, we would freak out, we just met the man who killed a goddamn Direwolf with his bare hands.” Adrian exclaimed.

Marcus sighed. “I had a knife; I wasn’t bare handed.”

“Is that to be less impressive?” Another student, Eric, questioned.

Marcus didn’t answer, he just raised his arm and the hall went quiet. “Enough of me killing a Direwolf in Ethea, let us get back to the lesson.”

“Hell no, you got to show us the video so everyone can see how badass you were, and then you have to explain to us everything that happened.” over half of the hall started to talk at the same time.

Marcus didn’t like where this was going, so he tried to put a stop to it. But to his surprise everyone in his class started to agree with Adrian and Eric’s proposition. Even Annie, who is known to be his favorite, unofficially of course. He doesn’t have favorites, it is unprofessional. But Annie is a seed he is raising, she is extremely bright and loves history.

Marcus sighed loudly. “I can’t show you the video, it is very gory. And I lost an eye, and body parts in it. I don’t think it is a good idea.” He noticed Annie’s face, it was completely pale now, more than it is normally, her blue eyes were filled with worry.

He really can’t show the video, not because of the violence, not that it was a small deal, but he was sure that he would have an episode because of it. He didn’t have one in the morning when he posted it because he forcefully kept himself feeling pain to make him remember it is not reality. But he thinks that if he sees it with hundreds of people with him, he would definitely lose it and then make his students afraid for his life.

While he was inside his mind, he didn’t notice Adrian who sneaked to his computer that was connected to the projector and then played the video.

Hearing the familiar growl, Marcus’s head snapped to the video. And what met him was the crimson red eyes that haunted him. Then his left eye started to burn, his body was trembling from the pain it was feeling. He distantly heard his screams and his head hitting the floor.

He was trembling, the pain was unbearable. With his good eye he saw familiar blue eyes, then looked at him with worry and concern and tears. He heard shouts around him, but his screams were still the loudest. He felt that there were two people holding him in place, stopping his body from thrashing and spasming.

His left eye was burning him, he didn’t see anything in it. It was as if it was never there. He tried to tell his mind that it was real life and his body was okay but he was too small and insignificant at the moment.

His head was lifted and placed on a soft place, with hands cradling it. They were going through his hair and face. He heard someone whisper inside his ear. “Marcus please come back, it is okay, you are okay, no one is going to hurt you.” The voice entered his brain and it seemed to make him calm a little bit. He started to feel his body stopping its thrashing and his screams getting lower and lower till they were stopped.

He finally opened his eyes and was met with Annie’s blue eyes that were filled with tears. He looked around and everyone was standing around him. Simon and Harry were holding him in place.

He opened his mouth to thank them, but nothing came out of his throat. Noticing this, Annie spoke. “You screamed your lungs out for 2 minutes straight, it will take time for your voice to come back.”

He nodded and tried to sit up; it was painful but he did. He looked around his class, and he was immediately rushed by Adrian. “Marcus, I’m sorry, it was my fault.” He was on the verge of crying.

Marcus didn’t speak because he couldn’t but he patted him on the shoulder. He then took out his phone and wrote something in his notes then gave it to Annie to read. “It is okay, you didn’t know about it. But don’t do it again.” Annie read. She was glaring at Adrian; Marcus can see that Adrian has just made an enemy out of Annie.

He took the phone again and wrote. “I’m gonna go home, the lecture is canceled. Read the pages I marked in the book.” Annie read out loud.

“Marcus, I will take you home, I don’t think you are strong enough to walk there.” Annie stated, it was not an offer. Marcus knew her.

Marcus was sure it was fruitless to argue with her, so he just sighed and nodded. Then she helped him stand and gathered his stuff and hers. They then walked out of the hall.

It was tiring to walk to the parking lot where Annie’s car was. They got into the car, it was an average middle-class ride, not very fancy but it did its job. Annie has put her black coal hair into a ponytail before she started driving toward his apartment.

She knew the address because she brought him his bag when he forgot it inside the lecture hall a while ago. Where she got his address from, he didn’t know. And he isn’t going to ask.

The drive to his apartment was silent, of course, his condition was the main reason. Annie parked her car in the empty parking space that he owns. He wanted to buy a car to fill it, but the chance never came. Every time he has enough money to buy a respectable car, a problem occurs and he ends up spending the money he saved to solve the problem.

Annie helped him into his apartment complex as his legs were still wobbly from the episode. The moment he entered his apartment he immediately threw himself on the couch and released a silent sigh.

Annie was fidgeting and Marcus saw that she had a question. He took out his phone and wrote. “Ask what you want to ask, Annie.” He then gave it to her to read.

Reading the message, she blushed in embarrassment for being this obvious. She swallowed her saliva and spoke. “Why do you play Ethea? You see how bad it is to your health. It gave you PTSD. And the pain sensitivity is unreasonable. Who would want to play a game that is like the real world?”

Marcus stayed silent for a couple of minutes then he started to write on his phone. When he was done, he gave Annie the phone.

“Life is short, Annie, one mistake and boom, you are a bunch of bones inside a grave. But inside Ethea, no matter how much you fuck up, you still have another chance. It is an opportunity for humanity to overcome their greatest fear, Death. Because in Ethea, no matter how much you die, you will live again, the pain will make you suffer. But in the end, when humans understand that death in this game is not that bad. Then they subconsciously will start to underestimate death. This will help improve humanity because without their greatest fear, humans are invincible. And I want to be a part of that. Also, the world is pretty cool and I want to use magic and kill a dragon if possible.” Annie read out loud what he wrote. She cracked and laughed a little at his last comment.

It is the truth though, he wants to kill a dragon, or better than killing a dragon, riding one.

Annie looked at him again but this time with a smile. “This is complete bullshit and I know you are aware of it.” She marked his speech about death.

‘Fuck, she saw through it.’ He cursed in his mind, he was not that good a liar, but he liked to think that he could give pretty good speeches involving made up psychology and theories.

“You win this time, but you must know how many people I’ve deceived with this tactic of false facts and wacky psychology and philosophy. Once when I was 16, I made an old lone woman in our neighborhood believe that we found a civilization underwater and they were going to attack us. I showed her videos of the movie Aquaman as a live proof, filmed by a crew that were lost on the sea and were rescued by the ‘Atlanteans’. It was hilarious to see her being racist to the Atlanteans, because in her words they were not pure-blooded humans like we are, so they are lesser than us. Now that I think about it, that was a fucked ideology. No wonder she was arrested a few years later for badly beating a girl in a mermaid costume while shouting: Get out of my land you fucking fish-fuckers. This is a pure-human only area.” Annie gasped when she read this, she looked at Marcus who was laughing like he was pure evil.

“Marcus, a person was injured. This is not funny.” She glared at him.

Marcus only shrugged, his sense of humor was not normal and he had accepted that a long time ago. And he doesn’t regret what he did, because the person who was beaten was the same girl who spilled all of her drink all over his head because she was making out with her Boyfriend and lost control of her hand. She didn’t even apologize. The Boyfriend did, but she didn’t, so she deserved what happened to her.

Annie sighed seeing his response. “Well, seeing you are okay, I will leave, unless….” Annie looked everywhere but his face, and was fidgeting with her hands.

‘Oh boy, not again.’ Marcus sighed in his mind. This is why he regretted taking Annie under his wing.

He suddenly had the urge to cough, so he did and to his surprise he could feel his voice returning to him. So, he spoke. “There is no need, Annie. Go back to school, you still have lessons.” His voice sounded like gravel; it was very eerie to the ear.

Annie looked crestfallen, he hated to cause her to feel such emotions, but it was a necessary evil. “Sure,” her smile was strained and looked forced, “I hope you get better. If you need anything then give me a call.”

Before he thought better, he blurted out. “But I don’t have your number.”

‘Fuck, I feel into the trap. I hate you, brain!!’ He swore mentally, he needed to control his damn mouth.

Annie smirked and a light shone in her eyes. “Well, we can’t have that.” She then took his discarded open phone and immediately wrote her number and gave it back to him. He took the phone and put it beside him, then gave Annie his best practiced smile. “Come on, you have a lesson, go and don’t be late.”

Annie smiled then went while waving bye to him. Marcus relaxed on the couch. This was a tiring day; he suddenly had the urge to strike some metal to release the tension.