Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: It isn’t that easy.

The moderately big building only able to harbor around 500 students. Most settlements only had one school each, each teaching every grade from kindergarten to college. This obviously wouldn't be good if the settlements were big, but it didn't really cause too many problems, as most settlements tended to have a population of only a couple thousand, the biggest settlement having a population of 50,000. The settlement Soren and his family lived in had a population of around 2,000. Due to how small the schools were, every year, the students would switch out with a different group of 500 students. This was Soren's first day back after the year-long interval, but he wasn't particularly nervous about it. He had already gone through this process nearly a dozen times already, so he was quite used to it. He was also a part of the same group of 500 hundred students he had gone to kindergarten with, although there would probably be some new faces, due to the… Aither. It was pretty common for a couple of people to go missing every once in a while. The Saviors couldn't be everywhere at once, so an Aither would sometimes get the chance to snatch someone up and get back to their ship before being noticed by anyone. There was an estimation that around 15 to 30 people would be taken in a year, which was quite a lot considering how small the population was. Soren's mom parked on the curb on the left side of the school, turned towards Soren and slightly grimaced. "Can you… at least try to make another friend, other than that one 'girl'?" She said carefully, not trying to drag on the conversation, one that they have had many times. Soren looked towards her, eyes blinking slowly, and gave a small shrug. Around two years ago, he had met this mixed species girl in school. Soren honestly wasn't surprised when he found out that for some reason, humans were able to impregnate some of the more humanoid aliens that came along with the Aither. It had seemed that the Aither had brung along some of the slaves they collected from across the universe. Anyway, it seemed that it was possible to have children with some of them, resulting in a mixed species child. They usually took more to the appearance of their human side, but still tended to have some uniqueness about them. His friend Claudia, for example, had goat-like horns that were curled on both sides of her head, along with two surprisingly sharp horns that protruded from her forehead. Due to how most people would avoid her, she had quite a playful personality, perhaps to cope with the lack of attention she receives… Regardless, Claudia seemed to be one of the only people that didn't feel the urge to keep away from Soren. Soren's family lived on the poorer part of the settlement, which was pretty common knowledge among people, considering the small population. Most kids' parents worked in government facilities, which paid quite well, but Soren's mom hated the idea of working in those places, as it was very common for the employees to get treated as less than human. However, most parents don't tell their children about their workplace environment, so Soren's family was seen as the odd one out. But, to no one's surprise, Soren didn't really care. When he was growing up, it was a bit hard to get through the day with the constant bullying and loneliness, but nowadays, he really couldn't care less what they said to him. "Bye, mom" He said in a low voice before opening the passenger side door, and stepping out. As he closed the door and his mom drove off, Claudia came up from behind and hooked her arm around his shoulder, standing beside him "Hey dude, it's been a while, huh?" she said, a grin plastered on her face at all times. "Yeah, I guess…" Soren says, not really surprised at her being behind him, his instincts had long warned him of her presence. "Jeez, I forgot how dull you can be. Could you at least try to show some sort of emotion?" she says with a wry look as she starts dragging him towards the school entrance. Soren had let himself be dragged, already familiar with Claudia's antics. He kept his gaze forward, mummering almost inaudibly, "You know it isn't that easy for me…" Claudia sighs languidly, but doesn't push the matter further. They enter through the open doors and quickly find their classroom, where the other students in his class reside. Soren looks around, noticing some unfamiliar faces among the students. It had seemed that some had been added to the statistics…well, Soren didn't let it bother him too much, it was to be expected at this point. He quickly finds a spot among the array of desks, back left corner by the window, and Claudia finds a seat in front of him. The bell rings right after they sit down, signaling the beginning of the school day. The teacher walked in a bit later, introducing himself for the new arrivals in the class. It was the same teacher Soren had come to know from the beginning of his high school years. Soren zoned out a couple of minutes into the teachers spiel of the new policies and expectations for this year, but before he could completely disassociate, he notices some movement outside of the window suddenly. He turns to look out of the window with rapt interest, hoping to see something worth his attention. Quite a ways away in the school's parking lot, he sees what appears to be a person, maybe in their 20's, wandering about the parking lot. The guy's skin gave off an odd kind of glow when he stepped into the sunlight, his steps moving at an irregular pace, his movements slow, languid, but sporadic at the same time. It reminded Soren of a wounded animal. "You good?" Claudia says, startling Soren for a moment as he brings his attention to her, "Oh, yeah." He quickly says, his focus back on the parking lot, only to see nothing there. It seemed the strange man had run off somewhere.