1 Chapter 1 : The fool!
Chapter 1
Title: The fool!
"..."
A pebble fell into the calm waters of a river, followed by a smaller one; then, a flat stone was thrown and skipped over the river waters. The one throwing the stones was a boy standing on the riverbank.
"Hmm," he sighed.
Splash!
He jumped and fell into the water. The boy was dressed very simply, with a physique considered normal for his age, appearing to be around fourteen years old, with a plain and friendly face. He had black hair and black irises, and there was a circular mark on his hands.
"I thought I was going to die!" He emerged from the waters and began to breathe deeply. After a while, he left the riverbanks and headed towards the road. It was hard to tell if he was trying to commit suicide or just taking a bath.
He started walking while talking to himself. "Should I? Or not? Who knows? Oh, life."
It didn't take long for him to reach a large gate. Everyone was dressed in uniforms and had the same circular mark on their hands, similar to the boy's.
As he passed by them, everyone looked at him incredulously. He ignored all the stares and entered the infrastructure inside the gates, something hard to believe a normal person could do.
While making others' work worthless, he continued walking. It was a huge school, but he seemed to have a specific destination. The number of people looking at him increased, but he ignored them.
He finally reached his destination, in front of a beautiful door, and a voice from inside authorized his entry.
"Come in!"
He entered; there were two people, a man sitting around 40 years old, elegant, and a woman standing. Both had the circular mark on their hands.
He sat down.
"What happened to you?" Asked the man.
"I fell into a river on my way here, that's why I'm soaked." He replied calmly.
"I can see that. I want to know why you didn't change your clothes?"
"Simply because I was informed that I should arrive punctually."
The man looked disdainfully at the boy. He took a deep breath and said:
"How was the exam?"
"... I failed, so I came to find out what awaits me in the future. I was informed to come here."
"You are an excellent student. I honestly didn't expect someone with your results to fail in the end."
"The last exam was on another level. I want to know what my destiny will be from now on."
The man sighed. "Ah! Thales Chronos, unfortunately, your life routine will not change. You will not be sent to explore new territories or anything like that. You will continue as a student and will have to take the exam next year."
"??????????"
"I didn't understand." Thales couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"I didn't understand either." The man shrugged. "Usually, when failing the final exam, it indicates that you are not an ideal candidate for co-governance. However, Cardinal decided to give you a chance. Don't think you're special; you're not the first in this kind of situation."
"Still don't understand how a person can repeat a year. Hamm." The director seemed very annoyed.
He wasn't speaking sarcastically. "Mr. Director, what if I can't make it next year?" Thales became more respectful, knowing that he was given another chance.
"No, forget what I just said. There's no way I'll fail next year." He was determined. "It's good to hear that from young people. I hope you succeed."
Thales left the room happily and went to the schoolyard. His classmates were celebrating for passing the exam. Among all the graduates, everyone passed, and few achieved what Thales couldn't. Still, Thales was the only one who failed in the midst of hundreds of students, which was beyond humiliating.
Thales sighed and returned to the dormitory. A boring world was about to unfold before him, that's what he thought as he saw his classmates smiling. "The good thing about this story is that I won't have to expose myself to danger for a good while."
A new year has begun.
Thales felt embarrassed to study in the same room as his freshmen, but there was nothing he could do. When people saw him, they were surprised.
Many thought he could be an intern or something of the sort. No one thought he failed, because simply, in that school, you don't fail.
When they say you failed, it refers to failing the co-governance test. No one thought a person could fail and repeat the year again, because in that world it didn't make sense.
They had heard in the past that people had to repeat the entire year for not achieving a certain number of points, but that was a thing of the past.
Everyone only focused on the final exam, which was a personalized exam and, regardless of the result, you would leave the school.
He had nothing to say to the people in the room. He sat down and started reading his book.
The classes were super boring; the content was the same, but Thales had a problem. Thanks to a certain person, he couldn't sit still for long. In his free time, he had to do something or his body would start trembling as if he had Parkinson's.
He tried to take advantage of this free year to solve this problem, so he went to the library and read a large number of books, gradually reducing the amount of books he read. However, it didn't work; it only increased the symptoms.
"I deeply hate those lunatics," he cursed the people responsible for this. It was terrible not to feel calm if he wasn't doing something; it was as if he had to carry a heavy burden to live.
He grabbed his chest and fell asleep in the library. When he woke up, it was already night and he realized there was no one there.
"Could this be the prelude to the beginning of my story?" He headed to the bathroom and started talking to himself.
"I will witness something I shouldn't and be stabbed in the chest by a red spear?" Fortunately, none of that happened; he returned to the library and picked up his cell phone that looked like a piece of glass.
"I'm hungry, Cardinal, do you think I can go back to the dorm at this hour?" His question was answered by a message on his cell phone. [According to dormitory rules, you will be punished.]
"I knew it~!" he lamented. He was already expecting that response; he typed something and threw his cell phone, the content was: [Have you ever thought about rebelling against humanity?]
He also expected the response to be what any AI would give. He spent the whole night reading books, setting a goal that within that year he would read all the books in that library. However, even after many years, he was still far from achieving that goal.
Very vague!
"I don't understand this." A year passed, and Thales is once again facing the same exam he had taken before, not knowing what to do.
"I came to know what will become of me." He was once again in front of the director, dressed in strange clothes and a black cape.
"Ah!" He sighed. "Was the exam difficult?"
"The question was the same as last year, but I didn't know what to do." He replied honestly.
"Ohm, ah! Unfortunately, I have bad news." The director was very serious and went straight to the point.
Thales remained silent to hear what would be said; he was already expecting anything. "Cardinal has decided that you must be reeducated."
"Re, what?"
"Reeducated. I don't know how you want to put it, but you will have to start from scratch, from the beginning. Your curriculum is nullified; it has already been erased by Cardinal. You will have to study with children; everything you have done until today has been dissolved." The director continued. "I hope you understand. This was not a decision that..."
"Sir, he is not listening to you." The lady who had always been silent finally spoke.
"I see." The director looked at Thales, who had lost consciousness. "Can you take him to the infirmary?"
"Seriously? Do I have to carry him? Oh, weak-minded man, tsk." Certainly, the gentleman was handsome when his mouth was shut.
She looked disdainfully at Thales, stepped on him to confirm if he was really unconscious.
"Seriously? Do I have to carry him like this?" She couldn't believe it. Thales was thrown onto the infirmary bed, and the young lady returned to her duties.
Thales had a dream.
He was paralyzed with all the emotions that filled him and fainted in the middle of the street.
°°°•••
He woke up, his shirt was wet as if he had been out in the water; he spoke trembling.
" ... Calm down, you have already escaped those monsters; now, you must focus only on your life." He was in the infirmary.
His arms were trembling, his face was pale; he went to take a shower.
Then, he went to the library, picked up his cell phone, and asked the AI the same question; the response was as expected.
[As an artificial intelligence created to assist humans for ages, there is no reason for me to do anything that harms humanity. Can I be useful in something else?]
"Tsk"
Thales read some books and fell asleep.
He was certain that there was nothing more boring than his routine.
•••Illustration°°°
https://drive.google.com/file/d/105FaJzc-wWSaXmp2Uyf6XXTPO2CmRh3P/view?usp=drivesdk
•••Illustration°°°
