As the lesson on history spilled out of the professor's mouth, the lights seemed to slowly fade to black, eventually covering everything in complete darkness. Following that the sound slowly faded, and the feeling of the cold metallic desk was replaced with warmth. The darkness was filled with vivid bright lights, as a young man with neatly slicked back hair found himself floating amidst an ocean of pastel colors. The sound around him became distorted, muffled, and incoherent. He couldn't help but stare into the colors, not remembering who, or where he was before.
As the young man stared into colors, they began to rapidly merge into one. They became three dimensional, and slowly formed into a face. The face of a middle aged woman with rainbow spiraling irises, and prismatic hair seemed to pop out in front of him. She was so large, it looked as though she could swallow him whole.
She opened her mouth, and sound shook the entire strange space around the young man, as a voice echoed out.
"Theo…"
'Theo…?'
'Theodore!"
"Theodore Reinis!"
The sudden snapping against the metallic desk caused Theodore Reinis to quickly sit up straight in his seat. His spine straightened and his shoulders raised upwards, but his neatly slicked back hair came undone, falling down just above his eyes.
In front of Theodore was an elderly man who was half bald with white hair, and a white curly mustache that was neatly combed. In the man's hand was a lecturing stick, often used to point at things on a board. The man seemed quite angry as he shouted.
"Since Mr. Reinis seems to know enough to take a nap in the middle of my lecture, I suppose he shouldn't have a problem answering for you, class."
The professor walked from the front row of desks to the board stationed at the front of the room, and slapped his lecturing stick against it, yelling out to the class, or rather to Theodore himself.
"When exploring ancient ruins, there are 3 things we must keep an eye out for, what are these things? Theodore Reinis."
The young man, Theodore Reinis, neatly picked at his black hair with tints of dark blue in it, trying to fix it back into place. He then stood up and looked around, seeing various other students sleeping, but he knew why he was being picked on. It's for his performance during last week's trivia, and the fact he has been chosen for the expedition to the ruins found just outside Violet Rock!
With a sigh, Young Theo spoke to his professor. "Mutated creatures, commonly known as monsters, are the first priority. The second is artifacts, or ancient items that predate recorded history. Items of unknown origin fit into this category as well. The third caution we must take is natural energy wells, which when disturbed, have a high chance of rupturing, and creating anomalies. This brings us to the honorable mentions. Bandits, thieves, poachers, and anomalies. It's highly possible an anomaly was created by a monster, creature, person, or by nature itself."
The Professor seemed to poise his eyebrows, then close his eyes. He acknowledged the answer as correct, but seemed rather disappointed with the results, even ridiculing his student in front of the class.
"You are correct in every aspect, but I did not ask for more than the 3 priorities. Talking so much will only result in the loss of your life mid expedition, Theodore."
Right as the professor finished speaking, Theodore checked his pocket watch to see that it was 3:00pm, only for the clock above the black board to strike 5:00. The bell atop it began to obnoxiously ring. As a result, most students got up and ran out one of the two doors on either side of the room, but a young girl with long orange hair tied into twin tails walked up to the professor and spoke.
"Professor Lew, I have a question about today's lecture. When you said Natural Energy can-"
Before he could hear anymore of it, Theodore let out a yawn that muffled his hearing, walking outside of the classroom behind the herds of people. He then walked down the hall, and past the receptionist, to the front door and outside the building. Hanging up above the large wooden school was a sign that read "SSA Archaeological Majors."
Theodore walked down the stone brick sidewalk, past the streets and cars that drove by. He could've taken a cab, but he never liked spending money on something so trivial. He'd rather have those few coins to spend in an emergency. Especially with them constantly increasing prices. Spending money on such a thing wasted more money than it saved time.
Reaching the end of the street, he waited at a 4 way intersection with a sign above him that read "Smither's Road" "Musketeer Street" "Mountain Road" and "Birdey Road." He walked from the direction that was Smither's Road, took a right towards Birdey Road, and continued down the street until he reached a small, yellow one story home with a brick chimney, and windows on all sides.
He fished into his pockets for keys, and went to unlock the door, only to try and realize it was already unlocked. Quickly putting his keys away, he swung open the door and stepped in, already taking off his brown coat to hang it on the rack. He didn't wear a hat, so he had none to hang, but there was quite a collection of hats atop the rack.
"I'm home! Please remember to lock the door!" Theodore shouted out.
In response a female voice shouted back. "I keep forgetting your father won't be home soon, sorry!"
Theodore quickly remembered something and ran back to his coat, taking out the old copper pocket watch, and attaching its chain to his belt. He then walked to the kitchen, where a woman standing at about 5'10 was, stirring a pot with potatoes in it. She has black hair pulled back into a pony tail, and brown eyes that look close to Theodore's. Around her mouth are heavy smile lines, indicating a bit of age, but she looked impressively young other than that.
"Are you making mashed potatoes, Mom?' Theodore asked.
"Yeah, the neighbors gave us some brown gravy, so I figured we could have some potatoes and ham tonight. Since it's only me and you, we don't need anything fancy." His mom replied in an honest and gentle voice.
"No worries, Miss Coul's gravy has always been good. Too bad dad misses it. He still has two hours until dinner." Theodore smiled at his mom, and glanced at the mechanical clock hanging on the wall across from the dining room table. It read 5:48, while his pocket watch read 3:47.
"Yeah, he better be eating well. Knowing him he will be eating all the gross and fatty food, and come back with an extra chin!" His mom said in a half joking, half worried tone. She was worried about her husband.
"I'm sure he will. Just like last time when you said he'd come back with a full beard, right?" Theodore smiled at the thought. "I'm gonna go study the information on the historical site, holler when dinner is ready, please?"
"Alright, sure. I know I've said it a hundred times, but please be safe tomorrow Theo!" His mom answered, with slanted eyebrows.
"I will." Theo nodded his head, then walked out the kitchen, and down the hall to his right, walking to the end of the hall and entering the bedroom to his left.
Theo then walked over to the desk a few feet from his door and sat in the chair. He opened the drawer next to his feet and pulled out a text book with a pamphlet stuffed inside. Beneath it he gazed at his old sketch book, suddenly grabbing it and pulling it out. He let the text book fall back in, and took out a case full of special pens and pencils, and began to sketch.
Time seemed to speed up, as he scribbled on the page. The page turned from a bunch of circles overlapping, then slowly shifted into a face. It was a middle aged woman with rings in her irises, and hair glistening at multiple points. If he knew how to paint, it'd be an impressively beautiful piece. He couldn't help but stare at the drawing, unsure who it was.
Right as his mind felt like it was on the cusp of remembering something important, Theo heard his mom yell, and quickly closed the sketch book, tossed it into the drawer, then slammed it shut and ran out of his room. He seemed like he wanted to get as far away as possible.
Theodore and his Mother, Lucy, ate dinner together, discussed what his father might be up to right now, and spoke about the topics of Professor Lew's lecture. Theo then went to his bedroom, and studied, then fell asleep, having forgotten about the drawing and the dream.