Hashim's breaths came quickly, even as he tried to slow them down.
What had happened? Was Xavier still there?
Hashim reached inside himself, and he could feel him. So he hadn't left, not fully. Something was different about him, though.
Hashim stood up slowly, and then his world lurched. Suddenly, Xavier surged forward, forcing his way into the front.
Hashim tried to push him back, reaching for Jake's help.
But Jake wasn't there.
Oh, no.
Xavier was going to take control, and there was nothing Hashim could do about it.
But he didn't. Instead of pushing for control of the body, Xavier shoved himself forward and slammed thoughts into Hashim.
Images. Not just images, people.
Crying, laughing, awed, exhilarated, sorrowful, terrified, shocked.
Xavier wasn't trying to take control. He was trying to force Hashim to merge with him. And it was working. He projected into the future, creating visions of what could be, and presenting them rapidly to Hashim, blurring his vision and shaking his foundation with a rapid-fire approach.
Hashim was unable to cover himself from this dedicated mental attack. It was something new, certainly. Hashim hadn't felt such cold, detached determination from Xavier... Well, ever.
And that, more than anything else, drew Hashim in.
Xavier activated his ability, and the world flipped on its head.
- --- -
They raised their head, looking around. Their vision was warped for a moment, before they focused on something. The window. The only source of light in the empty room.
They reached over to the wall and flicked the switch there, firing a simple pulley mechanism that activated the light above, and their world was flooded with even more information.
Who were they? They basked in the light. The spotlight belonged to them alone. Drama, action, manipulation, that was them. All the world was their stage, and it belonged to them.
They were Anguis.
Anguis reached towards the window, his hand emerging into the light, and he was almost overwhelmed with energy. But he couldn't use it. It didn't belong to him, not yet.
After all, the spotlight may be his, but for now he would be at the edge of it. The plan demanded it.
Anguis turned back to the room, his body full of energy, and smirked.
It would be an eventful day.
l --- l
Anguis stood outside with Group Fourteen. He could feel Regus inside, but he wasn't going to let him out, not yet. He had to reach a certain point first.
Anguis hadn't eaten. His body contained too much energy for that. Instead, he had spent his time thinking and waiting. Thinking, because he needed a more fully completed plan, and waiting, because he needed Regus to return, and the third test to begin.
Now he was right outside Building Four, watching while Group Four emerged. Every other member of Group Fourteen was lounging about or gathered in groups gossiping, but Anguis and his squad stood tall near the entrance into Building Four that they would soon be taking.
Samantha stood on his left, John stood his right, and Peter and Rowan were on their right and left flanks, respectively.
They were an imposing sight, Anguis could see it in the eyes of everyone that exited the building. Group Three and Group One had already left, and Anguis had held their attention as well.
Some were angry, and others were confused by the sight of five newcomers standing there like they owned the place. Anguis intended to twist their emotions to his benefit, and they would never know it, not until they ran out of worth.
This was going to be fun.
Anguis's grin unsettled the other students even more, and the remaining stragglers from Group Four hurried out of the way of his gaze.
It was time. He marched forward, uncrossing his arms and clasping his hands behind his back instead. Rowan tried to mirror his position at first, but then he had to hurry to catch up, abandoning the pretense of power as he hurried after Anguis and the rest of the squad.
When they entered Building Four, Anguis guided them to the door they would soon be entering where he knew they would be resetting the terrain from Group Four's battle.
Anguis absently wondered what it would be as he waited. The rest of Group Fourteen slowly trickled in after him, uncertain. Their emotions would normally bother him, but they weren't officially his followers yet, just people who happened to be in the same group as him. Of course, he would have appreciated it if they had acted professionally, but this way, it was just another thing that set him apart from the common students.
As it was, Anguis was satisfied with the sight that was presented to Group Three as they stumbled out of their own testing room, just before Group Eleven was let in. A proud king with his royal guard, surrounded by peasantry.
The regal visage borne by Samantha and the way John's unique appearance screamed power only served to help, while Peter and Rowan were a bit nervous, which showed their inexperience and hinted to the members of Group Three that Anguis might still take in new followers. It was perfect. And the icing on the cake was the powerful aura emitted from Anguis himself.
It seemed, from looking at them, that Group Three didn't fit exactly in the power scale where the school had placed them. They had finished before Group Five, but after Group Four, and they were rather battered. Groups One and Two were almost pristine. It had only taken them around half an hour to complete the whole test, while Group Four was around fifteen minutes behind. Of course, there was the chance that the test they had taken had been tailored to make them fail, which Anguis didn't discount. If that wasn't the case, however, it could be little else but inside sabotage, unless they had gotten unlucky enough for a majority of their group to be nullified by the environment, or at least enough of them that it severely hurt their power level.
Anguis turned around. It would likely take the staff a few more minutes to finish cleaning up before they could take the test.
He eyed the rest of Group Fourteen, and slowly shook his head, looking thoughtful. It was a ruse, of course. He didn't have to make any sort of outward indication, but it helped if they saw him as their leader, the one who they would go to for help and who would command them. To that end, he would look like he was thinking of a strategy.
He wasn't. Anguis wasn't some great strategist, not like Regus. But he did know people.
And people needed motivation. If he was to simply recruit all of Group Fourteen, then that would cause the people from Group Fourteen to instinctively, and then deliberately, exclude anyone else, which would make it almost impossible, or at least difficult, for his faction to grow.
And grow it must, if Regus's grand scheme of building up a spike that would destroy the world's current administration was to come true. They, Hashim, would be the point, but others must bear them up. So, first they would need followers. Everything started with a base and a goal.
And next was the outline.
Anguis would set forth a plan from Group Fourteen, picking only the strongest and building up rules and guidelines for his followers, and then, slowly, they would be replaced by the true skeleton, the best of the best, who would guide every new recruit in the way they should act.
Anguis sensed approval faintly from Regus, and he smirked, nodding to himself.
Yes, this would work. But it was time to put it into action.
"Make lines," Anguis said softly. The quieter he was, the more power he displayed. There were other ways, of course, but once people knew how strong he was, they would often let him speak no matter what volume he was speaking at, and he didn't want to look like he was compensating for something.
Even if he was. With his current ability, Anguis wasn't able to utilize even a spark of power. He was just as weak as their body's physical strength. Although, to be fair, their body wasn't weak at all. In fact, it was rather strong. But that didn't mean he was about to get into a fight with a powerful ability user.
Group Fourteen quickly sorted themselves out. Under his gaze, though normally they jostled for position, they hardly struggled, any small conflicts quickly stopping each time he made a small sound of displeasure.
As they stood in front of him in three ranks, Anguis nodded, making his movements slightly slower than was natural to cause them to think that he didn't appreciate how slowly they had formed up, when really he was quite pleased with their speed. With a group of fifty, especially fifty students, almost all of whom weren't even technically adults yet, this was impressive.
Then the door behind him opened.