Challenge

Stefan ignored the stares from the students heading to class as he made his way to his dorm.

Entering the lobby, he greeted the hall master.

"Good day, sir."

The man, engrossed in an ancient book, glanced up from where he sat, frowned, and said, "Stefan Hodstev, didn't expect you to return."

"Yeah, me neither," Stefan replied, scratching the back of his head. He needed a shower; his hair was sticky, and he reeked of old blood mixed with three days of sweat.

"Why do you look like you rose from the dead?"

Well… because I in fact rose from the dead!

"I was beaten up and just managed to crawl back to school. Thankfully, the Dean let me stay till he decides on what to do with me."

"Yeah, about that, the Dean asked for you this morning, and I told him you hadn't shown up. I heard you returned two days ago. Where have you been?"

Shit...

"Something important came up, so I had to attend to it, but I'm back now."

Stefan replied, hoping the man would let him go and stop asking stupid questions.

The man scrunched his nose as though he didn't believe him, but thankfully, he didn't say anything else.

Walking to a shelf, he opened a drawer and searched for something. After some time, he returned with a key.

"Your dorm key. Freshen up and go see the Dean, and stay away from the boys."

The man placed the key on the counter, pushing it toward Stefan.

"Thank you, sir," Stefan replied, chuckling internally. Like he wasn't the one they needed to stay away from.

Stefan scanned the room number written on a piece of fine wood attached to the key. "D-56," he nodded to the dorm master and proceeded down the corridor, reading the room numbers as he went.

Stefan didn't know how long he had searched, but finally, he came to the door with D-56 clearly written on the room plaque.

Stefan knocked a few times, but no one opened the door, so he unlocked the door.

Twisting the key in the doorknob, he pushed the door open. The room had three beds, each with a desk and reading chair. Above each desk, scrolls and old books were neatly placed on shelves.

This world was not very different from where he was from; the only difference was the absence of phones and electricity.

Stefan shut the door and walked in, checking the shelves one by one before he stopped at the shelf with a book with his name on it.

He opened the cabinet beside the shelf, his eyes scanning through. He had quite a collection of school uniforms, a little too many for someone who had no powers.

Oh yes, his parents were rich…

Stefan sighed when he remembered they were missing.

Were they dead?

Although he did not know them, he could not just ignore the fact that they had gone missing; they were his parents, after all.

Stefan sighed as he took out fresh clothes and his towel and headed for the long awaited shower.

Exiting the room, he found the bathroom at the end of the corridor.

This was the longest bath Stefan had ever had. He scrubbed his body as if he had been soaked in cow dung.

Going back into his room, he changed into the clean clothes he had picked, and proceeded to see the Dean.

As Stefan walked out, he stopped at the grand floor to ceiling mirror at the lobby and checked himself out, flicking a hair strand that stood out from the others he had pushed back into a clean style. He proceeded out of lobby.

"Off to see the Dean?" The hall master asked as he walked toward the exit.

"Yes." Stefan replied.

Stefan was in a hurry and did not notice the person coming, and almost tripped.

"Are you blind?" A familiar voice Stefan wasn't expecting anytime soon rang in the air.

Stefan looked at his pants to make sure they weren't stained. Here, there were no washing machines, the last thing he wanted to do was wash clothes on his first day here. Thankfully, the former occupier of his body did not leave any dirty linens before he went off to die.

Stefan looked up at Thad. From where he was standing, he couldn't have stumbled into him unless Thad had stretched out his leg for him to fall.

"Thad, do you not have a life? Or perhaps, are you in love with me?" Stefan asked, tilting his head to the side.

The students were returning from their classes for their break, and as they walked past them, some of them laughed, having heard what Stefan said.

"Don't be stupid!" Thad roared. He did not like to look weak in front of others, and Stefan knew it was his weak point. Tucking his hands into his pockets, he chuckled.

"I get that you are into me, but don't you think this is too much? You are literally in my face every second of the day."

Before Stefan could complete his sentence, Thad threw a punch, but Stefan dodged it with ease, his hands still in his pockets.

What? He dodged my attack?

Although Thad did not use much force, it was still ultra-fast for a normal human. There was no way a normal human could have dodged the attack with such ease.

The students had begun to gather, and there was murmuring. Normally, no one paid attention to Stefan getting bullied, but this was the first time they had seen him stand up for himself.

Thad was fuming, he was not thinking straight anymore; raising his hand, he tried to punch Stefan again, this time with a little more force, but Stefan dodged it, again.

The murmurs among the students escalated.

Thad was getting angry, rage coursing through him. Fighting with magic was prohibited in the dormitory areas, which attracted serious punishments, but at this rate, he was close to using magic on Stefan.

He clenched his fists, and balls of green flame burst out of them.

"Alright! Enough! Fighting is prohibited in the dorms!"

The hall master walked in between them, separating them.

"Thank you, Thad here was just about to get beaten up if not for your timely intervention." Stefan mocked.

At his words, the mages burst out into a loud laughter. Thad seethed. The flame in his hands burned even more.

He was this close to beating Stefan to a pulp.

"Fine. I wanted to go easy on you, but it seems you have grown wings to fly. I challenge you to a duel."