Sffwwiiip!

After the blinding white light of Riarshi's ID card faded from his vision, the teen found himself standing in the middle of the A Wing hallway. Just to his front stood dorm room number 001. It was just his luck the POH had assigned him the dorm room on the furthest end of the hall.

In truth, it didn't matter. His blue card could transport him from the HQ atrium to the front of his dorm door in less than a fraction of a second. He had no stairs to climb, nor was he forced to walk very far with a heavy box held in his arms.

Riarshi shook his head, and the remaining blurriness faded. Shifting the box over to his left arm and supporting it with his chest, he reached his right hand out and opened his dorm door for the first time.

His eyes then met an image of luxury.

This one room was nearly the size of his entire old apartment. Its pure-white painted walls reflected the afternoon sunlight glistening through the large panelled window in the back of the room. The red carpet beneath his feet was exceedingly lush, and he couldn't find a single rip throughout its stylistic design. The air smelled like clean linen, a big difference from the musty scent his nose often detected outside of his apartment.

Riarshi turned his gaze. He even had his own personal bathroom set to the left. The discovery was in good timing, because he needed to go bad. 

Riarshi placed the box down at the edge of the side wall, right next to ones his other helpers dropped off before returning to their dorms to finish their own unpacking. He had given them the key in order to drop them off. 

He then walked into the bathroom to complete his mission. After doing so, he washed his hands and took every sight in with a wandering gaze. 

Shining marble countertops housed a smoothed stone sink with a waterfall faucet. At the far corner of the bathroom was a glass-panelled walk-in shower. Riarshi didn't need to shower just yet, since he usually took his at night, but soaking in the fine work of art placed before his eyes made him want to jump under steaming-hot water to reflect on his foreign surroundings.

And he did just that.

Riarshi stripped down, grabbed a towel from the dark oak cabinet near the door, and jumped into the gorgeous shower calling his name. The warm water hit his skin, and steam fogged the glass panels surrounding his naked figure. 

He chuckled - he couldn't remember the last time he had hot water during a shower. This beautiful dorm room, this pristine bathroom, the enormous and grand HQ, this was his home now.

The water grew hotter as time passed, falling down along his arms, legs, and back, turning his skin slightly red. It felt amazing... it felt unreal... and for some reason, it just didn't feel right.

Because of uncontrollable circumstances and magically placed barriers, Riarshi had grown up with less than optimal levels of magic. Strength was all that mattered in this world, and for the longest time, he had lacked just that.

This amount of wealth and luxury was typically reserved for individuals with stronger magic - for the higher class who populated the city. In truth, he didn't belong here. He was only a mere commoner, and worst off - a demon.

He was a total accumulation of what this country and its citizens hated: a low-life commoner, and a monster who fed on other's despair.

Hiding his true self had so far been a success, though not without a few mishaps. Everyone he knew believed he had discovered a source of hidden strength when he defeated the demon at the Tryout. In reality, he simply utilized the strength secretly hidden within - a demonic magic whose usage still terrified him.

Reassurance from his friends had helped soften the blow from Felix's words, but it didn't close the wounds. In a sense, Felix was right, though his reasoning was flawed. Riarshi didn't hold back that day to steal the glory, but he did hold back, nonetheless.

If he wasn't afraid of himself, if he wasn't afraid of using his demonic magic, then maybe... maybe he could have saved the people who died, after all...

The hot water running down his face and steam-filled air melted the solid ice dams behind his eyes. Riarshi seldomly cried, but the overwhelming guilt of his own cowardice and the recent recalling of his parents' deaths dragged his emotions to the surface.

When the faint taste of salt met his lips, Riarshi shut the water off and got dressed. He already had enough of today.

Riarshi's queen sized bed had been pushed into the back left corner of his room. In the far right corner stood a giant TV on a multi-shelved glass stand. The set up faced out toward a small, sectional couch shaped like the letter "L".

Even with the insane amount of offerings provided by the POH, he never expected furniture to be included with the room. Walking toward the makeshift family room, Riarshi found a paper note taped to the couch. Despite his mood, he managed a grin while reading it.

Hope you like the little set up. I took the liberty of making the bed for you and plugging in the TV. Remote is on the coffee table. I guess this makes up for eight years' worth of missed birthdays, right? LOL. I'll be busy with some work for the next few weeks. I may not be able to visit for a while. Good luck, Riarshi. I'm always a text away. - Khohn.

Normally, Riarshi would have finished unpacking the rest of his stuff. Instead, he jumped onto his newly made bed face first. His warm, showered skin brushed against the soft linen and comforter. A heavy sigh allowed his body to melt into the bed and the harmony it offered. He could lay here all day and be totally fine with it. Sleep was the only escape from his stress he could find.

Just as his eyes closed, he heard a knock at the door.

So much for that.

"Come in," Riarshi groaned.

His face was smothered in the pillow, so he couldn't see who entered when the door opened. There was a brief silence before Riarshi heard faint, shuffling footsteps along his carpet.

"You okay, Riarshi?" said the familiar, yet somber voice. Riarshi recognized it instantly. It was Tabito.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied. "Just tired from all the moving today. I'm totally drained."

"Well, you better get some coffee in you or something," said Tabito with a bit more enthusiasm. "I passed by one of the squad leaders in the hall earlier. They're apparently holding a welcome party in the common room tonight. It's at nine, so don't you dare say you're too tired to go."

"I'm not going," Riarshi said flatly, his voice slightly muffled by the pillow.

Another pause. "What? Why?"

Riarshi didn't answer.

"It is Felix?" Tabito asked gently. 

"Yeah."

"Hey, man. Don't worry about what he said. We have your back."

"I appreciate you guys having my back," mumbled Riarshi. "Trust me, I really do. But you heard what he said. Apparently a bunch of the other interns hate my guts and think I'm some selfish nut job. I don't think going to a party where booze is likely involved would be a good idea." He shifted himself on the bed so that he faced away from Tabito's voice. "I'll pass on this one."

"Listen, Riarshi," said another voice, "I get what you mean. But this thing is mandatory. We'll be meeting our squad leaders tonight. If you skip, all three of us may get in trouble."

That was definitely not Tabito's voice. It was higher pitched, but also extremely familiar. Riarshi quickly pushed himself off his stomach to see Hara standing next to Tabito. A look of confusion swept over her face in response to Riarshi's sudden reaction.

"Wait, Hara... how did you get in here?" Riarshi asked with widened eyes. When he arrived earlier that day, he'd been told every room possessed a barrier spell at the front door that prevented anyone of the opposite sex from entering without invite. Obviously, this was for safety measures, but Riarshi sort of wished this rule applied for all sexes in general. He didn't want uninvited guests, no matter the sex. "I thought the opposite sex couldn't go into each other's dorm."

"Well, you said 'come in'," she stated matter-of-factly. "The barrier breaks once the person who knocks is invited in. Both Tabito and I knocked on the door together."

"Oh, that makes sense," Riarshi conceded, plopping down onto this bed again. He spread himself out on his back and placed his hands behind his head.

"Speaking of getting invited into dorms," Tabito said with an evil smirk on his face. He leaned in toward Riarshi and whispered in his ear. "Besides Hara and Helga, there's three other girls in our wing. This party just may be our ticket to getting such an invitation."

Hara rounded on Tabito and smacked him across the head. He clearly had not been quiet enough to avoid her ears.

"Tabito Clarke," she reprimanded, "I swear to the gods...  if you do something stupid to mess up your internship, it'll fall back on the rest of us."

"Oh, come on," Tabito whined, rubbing the back of his skull with his hand. "Just look at our setups! We're all literally within walking distance from one another. Even the other wings are just one teleportation spell away. It's like we're in one of those fancy colleges across the city. You always hear stories about partying and living it up. We gotta have a little bit of fun while we're here!"

"We're working now, Tabito," Hara corrected coldly. "Be professional for once."

"I am being professional. I just want to improve some of my inter-work relationships!"

"Can you two just shut up already?" Riarshi snapped, gripping his bed sheets in his blanched hands.

His friends fell silent and looked at him with visible distress on their faces.

Riarshi was already on edge. The worries in his head hadn't quieted since his shower and his bed was slowly sapping the remaining energy he had like a sponge. He was tired, he was hungry, and for the first time in a long time... he wanted to be left alone.

"Please, just stop," Riarshi pleaded, his voice dropping low. "I'll go to the stupid thing tonight... Just... please leave me alone until tonight..."

"Oh... alright. I got you," Tabito mumbled. He turned around and walked out of the room.

Hara remained still and silent by his couch. Her blue eyes stared at Riarshi, looking into his own. After a second that felt like an eternity, she finally turned around and followed Tabito out of Riarshi's dorm. She never said a word.

Once the door shut behind them, Riarshi crashed down onto his bed and buried his face into this pillow again. Right now, nothing could quiet his racing mind, not even the warming company from his friends.

Why did he get to enjoy this upgrade in life when four others lay six feet underground, never to see sunlight again?

He wanted to scream into the pillow, let everything out, but the comfort and scent of his new pillows took over, and he fell asleep.