Elias dragged his feet through the hallway of Emerald Ridge Campus, his face blank, his gaze cold. The silence of his walk was louder than the students whispering behind his back. His name wasn't just in their mouths anymore; it was trending on every campus gossip group, plastered across TikTok edits and meme pages.
"Is it true he tried to harass Maribel?" someone hissed from the side.
"He's weird anyway. Always alone. Creepy poor guy," another laughed.
But Elias didn't flinch. Not anymore. After what happened last night in the dean's office—after being publicly accused and humiliated—something inside him had shifted. He wasn't the same. The watch, now glowing faintly under the sleeve of his uniform, buzzed with a new notification.
Task: Endure. Reward: Authority.
The pain was the task. And Elias was done asking questions.
---
As the day dragged on, he sat alone in the cafeteria. Students avoided his table like a disease. Across the room, the campus beauty Maribel laughed with her crew, unbothered, sipping her imported strawberry smoothie while her TikTok live counter ticked into the thousands.
But one person watched Elias quietly. From behind a thick literature book, a girl in a navy hoodie and glasses studied him. Her name was Lira. She never talked much. No one noticed her, not even in the library where she practically lived. But she had scars—on her wrist, her thoughts, her soul. And when she saw Elias that broken, that quiet, she saw a mirror.
Meanwhile, the Rich Boys Club gathered near the auditorium. Brandon, the cocky heir to a private jet company, sneered as he watched Elias from a distance. "He's still walking around like nothing happened. Pathetic."
"Let's finish it then," Marco said, cracking his knuckles. "Let's make sure he doesn't show his face again."
They weren't ready for what was coming. None of them were.
---
Later that night, Elias stood on the rooftop of the admin building, the wind tossing his uniform shirt like a flag. He didn't want to cry anymore. Didn't want to scream. All he wanted was clarity. Why was this happening? Why him?
Then, a message flashed on the watch.
New Task Unlocked: Face Your Fear. Reward: Memory Fragment.
He tapped the watch. The world blurred. The roof beneath him vanished.
Suddenly he was five again, huddled under a flickering bulb, listening to his mother cry over bills. He remembered her voice—soft, kind, tired.
"I wish I could give you more, Elias… You deserve more."
The vision faded. He was back on the roof.
And now he knew—he wasn't fighting for reputation. He was fighting for her. For that memory. For every tear she ever shed.
And tomorrow, Elias would walk into that campus not as the poor broken boy.
But as the storm they never saw coming.