The first thing that happened as Kail nervously walked into the study room was a shock of pain as he was greeted with a light gray fist.

"What the fuck!?" Kail blurted rubbing his face as he looked up at Devan. The kid had a blank face, his mouth played out in the typical cool guy fashion despite the obvious bruising that peaked around his glasses. Kail's stomach turned as he gaped up at the kid.

Devan let a small smirk pay on his lips before offering his had to help Kail up. "Payback." He said bluntly.

"What the fuck?" Kail said again. It seemed his vocabulary had been knocked out of him with the hit leaving him with just those three words.

Devan grabbed Kail's hand and lifted him up. Kail stumbled a bit as he found his feet. "I thought it would make you feel better. Let you know I get it."

"Shit, get what?" Kail asked numbly.

"I crossed a line, and I'm sorry."

Kail stared at the kid. He hadn't expected an apology. He was expecting everyone to hate on him, since it was so hard for him to apologize. He figured he'd just have to feel like shit for the rest of the epoch. Now he didn't know what to feel. That feeling in the back of his head snapped and he realized he hadn't been feeling hate for this kid. It was something this kid made him think about that made him angry. However there was a different feeling now. He felt like he'd known Devan for a long time. He felt like they were… bros. Kail swallowed. "You douche bag. What the hell- having to take the spot for the better man before I even get the chance. You're a real asshole you know that."

"Yeah." Devan said trying not to laugh.

"So…" Kail said looking down a bit embarrassed. "We cool?"

The half troll looked legitimately surprised for a moment before replacing his cool. "Like the polar ice caps." Devan said.

"Kail, Devan." The two boys looked to the door of the study to see Joy standing there, a smile on her face. "I'm glad to see you're getting along."

"Joy!" Kail blurted shocked.

"Hey. Are you alright?" Joy asked as Kail looked down ashamed.

"I'm sorry about last turn… c-can- I mean… we're still friends… right?"

"What?" Joy laughed and Kail felt the frown on his face deepen. Joy stopped. "Seriously Kail? We've been friends forever. Just because you lost your temper doesn't mean that'll change."

Kail rubbed his eyes, and walked to his desk. "Thanks."

A couple more students walked in and the study room slowly began to grow in noise. Kail sighed.

"Hey… Kail."

"Hum?" Kail asked looking up to Joy.

"You missed the last lesson…"

"Oh, right, can I barrow your notes?"

Joy nodded. "I think we're studying them."

"What?" Kail asked, confused by the statement. Joy looked uncomfortable. "Studding who?"

"The strange blue and orange guys from folds ago… you remember them?"

Kail looked down to her notes and saw illustrations. One was of a person clad in blue, one of a winged orange human. Kail stared, there were others, but Joy had put those two on top. She must have been looking at them. Fretting over it.

"I got these pictures from the web… I just wanted to see if the written descriptions were accurate."

"They look a lot like them… well… sort of." Kail said lifting the picture of the blue figure, it was an idealized human wrapped in a blue cloth, the length of it flying out behind him. Small words were typed at the bottom.

'God of the Wind.'

He picked up the orange guys illustration. It was a silhouette of a human figure with flaming wings. The guy in the picture was holding a sword. 'Demi God- sometimes referred to as Angel of Time'

"Are you telling me those two were from the mythos that we're studding now?" Kail asked too shocked to look away from the images.

Joy shrugged. "I don't know… but it's a little too scary of a coincidence…" She mumbled.

Kail nodded.

Devan walked over then. "Hey guys what are you looking at?" His face hardened as he saw the images. He grabbed the orange one from Kail.

"Hey!"

"I've seen… this before…"

"Where?"

"In my dreams…" Devan said. Then he pushed the pictures out so that they were all pretty much visible. He frowned. "This is weird."

"What?" Joy asked.

He pointed to the God of Space, and then to the God of Heart. "These two… they seem familiar as well."

Joy placed a finger on the God of Space. "She is supposedly the ancestor of my family." She said.

"You're family has a god as an ancestor?" Devan asked.

Joy nodded. "She was said to be very kind!"

"Cool." Devan said, still studying the images intently.

"Okay! Take your seats!" The instructor bellowed as he walked in.

Kail studied the images of the god's as the instructor set up a projector. "Alright we're going to continue from where we started yesterday." He said.

"I gave you all the names of the gods and the basic creation story. Does anyone remember it?"

Joy raised her hand. "The gods gathered to create the world."

The instructor nodded. "Very good! Can anyone…" He started as he hit a button and an image appeared. "Tell me who this might be?"

Kail stared the figure- whoever it was they had a strangely familiar symbol on them.

Tallos spoke up, razing his one arm that wasn't in a cast. "I-Isn't it the angel of b-blood?"

"Not quite!" The instructor barked, "It is the Knight of Blood, said to have been a magical troll who preordains the blood that runs through our veins. He is considered a demi god."

Kail's fist balled as the room faded away.

This damn planet. It was obvious it was just another way the gods or whatever were screwing with him. Rubbing it in his face. He stared down into the red liquid that ran in multiple endless rivers around him. Slapping him in the face with his mutant blood. It was like some kind of sick joke. Or maybe more like a punishment.
That had to be it, he was obviously being punished for something. Something he did in a past life- or something he had yet to do in the future. Whatever it was it was obvious that the fates were out to get him.

"Kail…" Kail came too with Joy whispering at him.

"Oh, man, what?" he asked.

"You were spacing out- mumbling to yourself- don't get into trouble- okay."

Kail nodded turning his attention back to the front of the class where the instructor continued his lecture going over the different aspects of ancient myth's and they're metaphorical meanings.

Kail couldn't help but start to wonder about calling them myths and he sure as hell wasn't going to look at the God of Wind as some kind of metaphor.

The study was coming to its first brake. They'd have to deal with a different instructor soon, and Kail took the moment to look to his left staring out the window. After the next instructor the class would be dismissed for *repast, and as the first rise reached halfway the study would be over. Most humans would probably go home and sleep for a couple hours.

Kail sighed the turn was just way to damn long, yet he was far from wanting sleep. The fear of falling back into the nightmares was too great- even though it had been more than a fold sense the last one he'd had.