Chapter 5

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Drew plugged the fingers into the socket after he made sure to hide the hands in a way that no one would notice it with a towel. A strong urge to create new technologies was flowing through him seeing his surroundings, and his imagination was flooding with ideas. His brain neurons calmed down as electrical impulse from the socket clashed with the neurons, nullifying the urge. 

This was Drew's first day of school, a place where new knowledge can be gained. It was his second day, living in the future. Drew was careful not to speak much that would arouse suspicion. When Ethan's classmates and friends had come to speak with him, Drew said that his head was not feeling well and he needed rest. So most of the time, he was able to avoid conversations. Being bound to the wheelchair with no powers, Drew had lots of time to think more than before.

The day Drew looked in the hospital mirror, everything became clear. The ring swapped his body with the one he had touched in the visuals. The boy he had swapped with was Ethan. In the visual of the ring he had seen, Ethan was smiling at someone.

When he signed using Ethan's name on the discharge sheet of the hospital, Drew noticed that the year was 2025. He now understood that the ring showed visuals from a different time as the places and things he saw in the visuals depicted transition throughout different eras. Hence, those who wore the ring could time travel and body swap with particular individuals.

Ever since the revelation struck him, Drew had been determined to get out of the hospital. After Arian and the boy- Aradon invited Drew, thinking that he was Ethan to their house, Drew was observing the world around him. It was not recognizable. The world had advanced transportation facilities, and people have been beyond Earth. Things that had lived in the fantasies of people in his time had come to life. This made him excited to wander, and his inability to use the legs was cured as he learned to manage with the wheelchair fast.

Information required was in the advanced smaller version of the computer, unlike the big computer he had made. Search engine Google revealed everything he needed to know. However, when he searched about his era, his eyes became blurry. Further, the computer did not serve as a storage facility, and the visuals were less appealing.

The same thing happened when Aradon took Drew inside a historical museum. When the museum conducted plays and music about the seventeenth century, Drew's eyes became blind, and he lost his hearing.

When it came to knowing more about Ethan, Ethan's social media accounts revealed a lot about the boy. Drew was able to gather information about Ethan's family, acquaintances and life events. Even though there was scientific evolution, Ethan's body rejected the artificial leg, which has now become a bit bothersome to Drew.

Drew felt sympathetic for the boy realizing that he lost his legs after rescuing his sister. Drew wondered what Ethan had been doing the day Drew got admitted in the hospital. He wondered if the boy was trying to play volleyball, trying to revive his faith in his well-being or repenting his fate near the river that got his legs injured.

A commotion in class 7D of the Teddy Bear School awoke Drew from his train of thoughts. 

A boy and a girl sitting in front of him were speaking.

"I have the potential to be the next big thing in this class thanks to my left hand," the girl said with a cocky smile, standing near the boy.

"Talk about self-obsession." The boy responded, shaking his hair on the front.

"Whatever you say won't affect me, thanks to the self-fulfilling prophecy. I know I have the potential, but I am not there yet," the girl tossed her blond hair back. "One day, my brain would be taken to experiment in the labs after I'm dead."

"I agree with you on that. Otherwise, the world would not know how to prevent disasters," the boy said, turning away from her.

"You broke my heart Lewis," the girl said, faking to sniff. She wiped away a fake tear.

"I will give you a red masking tape to repair your poor heart, Vanel," Lewis said in a fake sympathetic voice, touching his chest with his right hand.

"Bullying level two: physical abuse, physical abuse," a robot came through the doors of the classroom and announced with its mechanical voice. The class burst into laughter, except Drew.

Drew wanted a stronger dose of electricity to calm himself. He felt irritated with the kids, especially the girl. Compared to Vanel, Amora was a girl in every sense. His mind imagined superior versions of invisible headphones to block out the noise. He could not close his ears as he was not sure if Ethan would have done the same. Drew turned his head to the right, where there was a plane glass window to focus on his thoughts once more.

Robots monitoring humans were one of the things the ring had shown him on the last screen. The robots in the visuals looked identical to humans but with metallic structures, and the brains of robots protruded from the head. The trees formed blue links with their brain like sunlight which embraces the world with its color. But the robots in this era were machines without self-power, different in appearance to that of humans.

Drew wondered what Ethan would be doing now. Unless Ethan decided to reveal his identity, Drew was sure Amora would not be able to understand the person standing next to him is not Drew. If Drew was lucky, maybe Ethan could reverse the body swap unconsciously.

But nonetheless, even if Ethan tried to control Drew's body as Drew had powers and was not handicapped, Drew was sure the boy was incapable as Drew was considered a prodigy by his peers unlike Ethan, who just was an ordinary volleyball player. Drew had looked at Ethan's drawing book. Ethan could not even draw a proper flower, so Drew was sure Ethan would not be able to summon anything. Therefore, Drew was not worried that Ethan would try to take over his body permanently as Travis was sure to stop him after realizing that there was a body swap.

The thing that worried Drew was Eve. As Eve already saw the visuals, Drew wondered if Eve swapped with a girl who was capable of complete deception. As Drew did not know the location of Eve, he was not sure if he could save her before it is too late. 

But there was a bigger problem. Amora is not strong. If she tried the ring, then unlike Eve, Amora would be overpowered by the new wielder of her body easily.

Aradon touched Drew on his left shoulder and Drew woke from his trance. A tall woman had come to the class.

"Good morning, everyone. Welcome to a new year of school. A bigger list of subjects has been added for us to choose. This is an exciting year for sure. Today we just have the motivation class and the moral science class where we would go to a home with plenty of dogs and will be giving them food. The rest of the day, you would sort out the new timetable and choose the subjects you would be taking. I will guide you whenever you need me," the teacher said smiling.

The classroom door opened, and a boy came in. He went next to the teacher.

"Welcome, Arach, to our new classroom," the teacher smiled to the boy. "Introduce yourself to the class."

"My name is Arach," the boy announced to the class. The voice was crisp and clear.

"Oops. I thought someone was going to be something great. Looks like the plans are ruined thanks to the national topper," Lewis said which made Vanel groan. "Anyways, why would someone like you decide to enroll in the only school that gives no grades to students? Aren't you the type that thrives in competition?" Lewis asked Arach.

The class looked at Arach intently.

Arach turned his face to the door side and kept his hands in his pockets and told, "As the other schools are using the results of the research from this school and since I was not interested in most of the subjects forced upon me, I thought, why not come here."

"But how did you manage to get admission here? This school was not intended for high-heads like you. Further, I thought the school accepted no more students," Lewis asked with curiosity,

"I got in easily as my father is the major investor in this school." Arach turned to Lewis, and raised his eyebrow, and looked at Lewis in a manner that asked if he wanted Arach to stand there and question him more. Lewis shifted his eyes away to the teacher. 

Drew looked back outside. He unplugged his hands from the socket. He could feel the shocks on Ethan's body as Drew's urge to create new technologies had been diminished. His thoughts wandered to the school.

This school gave no grades to other students, unlike other schools. It was big and had high tech technologies. There were many teachers. That was all he knew. Drew felt embarrassed to search on Google further about the school as he was humiliated by the name. 

Drew could not imagine how a system could work without distinguishing the brilliance of the deserved. Just because an appliance is from a famous company, no one would buy it without a warranty. If the weak are treated the same as the strong, then when the skills for a situation is needed, the probability to rely on the best would be minuscule. This was something he knew more than anything else.

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