Gatekeeper

"There are things known and things unknown and in between are The Doors."

~ Jim Morrison

Riiiiiiinnnggg!

The school bell rang wildly signaling the end of the lunch break. Nick, a 26-year old history professor, opened his eyes realizing he slept while sitting in front of his office desk. He slowly sat up then half-consciously pulled a couple of books from his sling bag hung on the chair where he is sitting. Still drowsy he spends the next few seconds sitting, staring into nothingness, then he inspected a memo pad on his desk where the outline of his lecture was written and prepared to leave for class. As he stood up and was about to leave his desk, he remembered something. He went about face examined his desk again and began turning off the computer monitor and hiding a couple of smartphones in his table drawers.

As much as Nick looked like a stiff conservative teacher with a fashion sense who prefers dull colors, a stereotype of older professors, he had hobbies that matched his age. No he wasn't into sports, gambling, dating sites or porn nor was he into drugs. He had an addiction he didn't want other people to know - he was in too deep about gaming. Before he went full-time into teaching he always participated on popular online game competitions but when he got tenured his preference was on NFT games, where his preference of being alone and the desire for earning while playing became possible. Though he did earn quite a sum on digital coins or what others called crypto he just spent it back to play other similar Play-to-Earn (P2E) games. As much he loved the thrill of grinding and earning just to spend again he didn't like cheating on games. Others might he think he have a very boring life to have such a hobby.

But nobody knew about his game addiction as he looked around and found the cubicles around him empty. He smirked realizing no officemate saw him playing online games before dozing off during lunch break. He was about to head for his class when he felt a compulsion to go to the other end of the hallway. He went out through 2-door fire exit at the end of the hall, took half a dozen steps before stopping, closed his eyes and sniffed the air.

"Break is over, head back to class!" Nick shouted into the open space before him. "And I'm confiscating your cigarettes. Smoking isn't allowed here."

With a sharp jab to his left he snatched the lighted cigarette that was that a student was puffing a moment ago. Then he threw it on the ground, stomped on it while with the same hand beckoning the student who lost his smoke the pack of cigs he was holding.

"We're sorry Mr. Burns" the teenage boy sheepishly said. The other students were quiet still in shock since rarely would a teacher head in this part of the school.

"Get rid of those, get back to classes and there won't be any detention for all of you." Nick Burns shouted with authority as he looked to each of the students' faces quietly associating a name to each one of them as they scampered back to the school building.

The students got back into the school building before the strict history teacher could say anything more. They were scared because they got caught but secretly were glad that they won't be grounded for detention after classes. That means other teachers and their parents will not hear of this shameful incident as well.

The straightforward history teacher Nick Burns slowly turned around and followed the students back to the building. He arrived at his class almost 5 minutes late from schedule but no one seemed to mind. After all, a few of the delinquents he caught a while ago was in this class. With a casual greeting while heading to the front desk he grabbed a piece of chalk then started writing on the board.

He began his lecture on King Leonides, the Spartan King, who lead 300 Spartans and won against the armies of the Persians which wasn't originally part of the course outline. A few students who were grade-conscious thought he was buttering the class up before moving on to the more "boring" topics of his course. Little did they know that he was actually re-enacting the lecture he made for the teaching demo before he got accepted in his teaching post.

Unknown to many he had another secret which no one in this school got to discover. In a span of few seconds a strange wave rippled out of Nick Burns' body which covered the school building, the campus then the whole town before it disappeared. No one saw it, but the wave affected every living thing it passed through. Everyone with the breath of life felt a little relieved, relaxed and maybe a little drowsy before being fully alert again.

The wave also had a second effect, it would pacify unstable energies both seen and unseen including the cool, white smoky aura that enveloped John Dalton a few classrooms away. After the wave, the already invisible smoky aura of John ceased to exist and beads of sweat due to his fatigue finally flowed freely to his surprise.

To most people, the young Professor Mr. Nick Burns was an uptight boring history teacher who had few friends. But to the secret powers of the eastern islands where the Visionary Labs High School was located, he was the figure that pacified the region a couple of years ago, both from internal threats and from powers beyond the modern world.

He was one of the secret individuals that had a rare skill even among power users, for he had the power to nullify and seal abilities of others even lifeless energy particles if he wished. He was the last warrior standing and barely injured in the last portal war. He drove back the foreign invaders back into their realm, sealing forever the doors that connected their world to others thus he was nicknamed "Gatekeeper".

But for now Nick was enjoying his peaceful and boring life. He truly believed no one would disturb his current mediocre existence, not even the hidden powers of this world. But little did he know that there were new power users that has began to secretly exist in this world and it wasn't just John Dalton.