Gary opened up the envelope and pulled out the letter inside. As Gary started reading the letter, he didn't move a muscle. He stood still like a statue while his eyes were glued to each and every word he read.
It had been a good ten minutes and Gary still hadn't moved. It was as if he was reading the letter over and over again.
The whole room felt like they needed to be silent because of the atmosphere that was coming from Gary. A few more moments passed and Dan couldn't take it anymore.
"Hey man, are you okay?"
As soon as Dan spoke those words, Gary dropped the letter and ran out of the room.
The letter floated through the air until it touched the floor landing right next to Dan.
"It's probably just his girlfriend breaking up with him or something."
Everyone gulped. They knew the letter was serious and wanted to find out what had made Gary react like that but at the same time, they wanted to clearly respect Gary. All but one person that is.
Dan went to the floor and picked the letter of the ground.
"No!" Monk shouted, "Do you remember what happened last time?"
"What happened last time," I asked?
Everyone started to avoid eye contact with me. I had no clue what they were talking about or why they were acting like this.
Dan wafted his hand in the air ignoring Monks warning and started to read the letter. Then even Dan was frozen stiff. Dan was a big talker, almost as much as Kyle so to see him speechless, it must have been something important.
"Well then, what is it?" Martha asked
Dan then folded up the letter and placed it on the table.
"I don't think this is for us to see. Someone should go out and check if Gary is okay."
This was a strange sight to see. Dan was never compassionate towards others, so whatever the contents of the letter were, they had to be serious. We all split up and looked for possible places we might find Gary.
After looking around common hangout places at the academy, I decided to go to the roof. When I opened the door, I could see a blond boy's back looking over the edge. I walked over slowly to Gary thinking about what to say.
I was hoping I wasn't the first one to find him. If Gary needed comfort then I definitely wasn't the best person for that. Slyvia, Martha heck even Dan might have been better. As I got closer to Gary, he could hear the sounds of footsteps approaching him.
As he turned around, I could see his red bloodshot eyes. They were slightly swollen and puffy. It was as if he had been crying.
I came over and patted Gary on the back and started to look at the city view with him. If Gary wanted to talk to someone, I would let him say it first. There was no need for me to say anything.
We both stood side by side looking at the view until Gary eventually said,
"You want to know about the letter, don't you?"
I didn't reply but we were the only two on the roof so of course he knew I could hear him.
"Well you deserve to know about this as well. The letter it was about Amy… she's dead."
Suddenly, images of my first meeting with Amy started flashing in my head. The stupid things we talked about, how she used to watch me train for hours on end, it all came back to me. I don't know what the feeling was, but my heart sank down a little.
"But that's not all!" Gary made a fist so hard that his fingers were digging into his own skin and blood started to spill from his hand. "They say she died inside Roland academy. It was a duel with some sort of noble. And what do they do? They offer my family money like it will make all their problems go away!" Gary shouted.
"I bet he wasn't even punished. After all, he only killed a common girl form a poor small village. I swear I will kill the person who did this to my sister."
Anyone else would have probably tried to calm Gary down, but not me. I knew exactly what Gary was feeling. This hatred he had for this person he hadn't even met. It was the same hatred I bared. The sinking feeling in my heart too also changed to anger.
"Ray, you have to help me." Gary put both his hands on my shoulders. I don't think he realised his hand was bleeding for it was soaking into my school uniform. "You're actually a mage, right? You can summon a beast and even use fire powers I saw it. Demonstrate your powers in front of the master knights and get a transfer to Roland academy. You want to find this person too right?"
Although I did want to go to Roland academy, it was rumoured that was where the divine being was. I wouldn't mind helping Gary on the way, but there was still much I had to do here. What was behind the red door? What was in the dragon knights' tomb? Were the dragon knights similar beings to me? Only then would I be happy with moving on to Roland academy.
I then thought if I told Gary the truth, maybe he would be able to understand. He had been good to me this whole time and without him, I probably would have died the other day. if it was him, he could keep a secret for me.
"I can't do that Gary. My powers…they're not normal." Before I could finish, Gary turned away from me.
"I understand, you don't need to say anything else."
Then a thought came to my mind.
"The tournament, at the all kingdom tournament there will be people from all different kingdoms and academies. Roland will be there as well. Maybe we can find some information there."
Gary started to walk off and turned around and smiled at me.
"Thank you, Ray."