The Nations

Quan snapped out of her reverie when the bell struck twice. Mrs. Hilda left the room and a few moments later, another teacher entered the second grade.

Mr. Kei is a friendly and humorous face, but even so, he remains firm. Quan liked this one teacher for his lesson: Dark History. Dark History is not always as dark as its name, but other students still like it because it is quite interesting. Sometimes the lessons learned are not always in public books outside of school.

As the lesson started, Mr. Kei wrote “Blood & Secret” on the board and first looked back on last week's lesson for a few minutes as usual.

“What causes us to be called White, Silver and Black People?” Mr. Kei asked the dozens of students in front of him in a loud voice, after discussing last week's material.

The class suddenly thundered as all the students answered in unison while banging on the table (as they were considered lazy, Quan and Exan simply replied casually without a fuss).

“BLOOD!”

They all sounded like they were doing a black sect ceremony or something, which made Mr. Kei smile with amusement. “I see,” Mr. Kei said again. “If I may know, what is the motto of the White Nation?”

The students stood at once, burning with enthusiasm. This time Quan and Exan were forced to join in with a sigh, while Abara was as excited as the embers.

The rumbling sound of a fist in a fist. “FEROCIOUS TIGER!”

Quan was sure the neighboring class was not earless. Dark History started only fifteen minutes ago and is as chaotic as it is now. For the gods' sake, she loved Mr. Kei and his Dark History. However, couldn't they put an end to this energy-intensive event?

“Silver Nation?” Mr. Kei asked again.

The stomps of fifty-two students. “FIERCE LIKE A WOLF!”

“Black Nation?”

“Deadly.”

The disciples said the latter in low voices and serious expressions, before they sat back down. The sight would have looked a little scary if Mr. Kei did not laugh and then clapped his hands. However, it turned out that the teacher is not done yet.

“Blue Nation?”

There was silence for a second.

“But they are gone,” said a student.

“Gone,” Mr. Kei repeated, staring at the ceiling and pretending to think, “and not allowed to reminisce? I wonder what if it was our own people and not the Blue Nation.”

The students looked at each other. Quan chuckled at them and then stood up. Abara and Exan followed, then two or three other disciples, and then all the rest followed. Mr. Kei stopped pretending and waited with his hands tied behind his back.

All the students in the class raised their right fists above their heads and exclaimed in unison. They struck the arms against their chests and uttered the slogan of the long lost nation in unison.

“WE ARE GREAT LION, BLUE SEA, AND SOFT CLOUD!”

When the students sat back down, Mr. Kei's smile looked proud. “Extraordinary!” his praises beamed. “Who would have thought that you guys still remembered their motto? Moreover, say it aloud! It’s really praiseworthy. Your seniors who used to be you should also imitate you!”

The students high-fived each other and cheered with pride. Quan even smiled while Abara and Exan high-fived each other with their fists while grinning.

The slogans were said to respect each other, no matter which nation you are and from. Normally people would be a little awkward when chanting other peoples slogans, but Quan's classmates were not. She indeed felt a little proud, even though she was a little embarrassed if she had to stomp her foot again like that.

“But something was missing.”

Those words silenced the joys of the disciples. Quan lost her slight smile. The other students stared at Mr. Kei with an incomprehensible look.

“So,” Mr. Kei decided. “Does anyone know where the flaws are?”

Many students tried to find answers in the thick books they had and some of them just looked at each other and shook their heads because they did not understand what the teacher meant.

“Yoan?” Mr. Kei called a boy ranked first in the class.

It must be surprising when a smartest student you know says he don't know when asked by a teacher, but this time it was even more surprising because no one should be surprised when Yoan answered, “I don't know, sir,” quietly.

“Lein?” Mr. Kei asked again.

The fifth ranked girl just shook her head guiltily and Mr. Kei only responded with a smile. Mr. Kei's gaze searched, and then stopped at Quan, who was just silent and instead stared back with an unreadable gaze.

“Quan?”

“I have no idea, sir,” Quan answered immediately. “I would know if such flaws were written in my Dark History book. However, if you do not mind, I would say that the flaws are written in a completely different book. Though I doubt if that is even really called a ‘deficiency’ because I don't know what your statement means.”

“I didn't know you liked this lesson so much that you guessed it right, Quan,” said Mr. Kei, nodding his head.

Since Quan was not the type of student who would raise her hand for answers, Quan didn't feel the need to reply to that statement. However, she opened her mouth spontaneously. “Oh, I don't know. I'm not just guessing, if you understand my answer earlier.”

“Well, when it comes to how cold your tone is like just now, I already know,” said Mr. Kei with a smile. “Thank you.”

Of course, it happened again, though Quan never meant to be cold or anything. She is just trying to be honest.

“You're welcome,” said Quan in the end, feeling the need to return her teacher's thanks, no matter how impudent the reason was.

“And where did your answer come from, Quan Durbysch?” Mr. Kei asked while tilting his head.

Realizing that all the eyes in the class were on her, Quan's head felt as if an invisible ant was biting her.

“From the boring book entitled Children of the Night which is now in the museum,” Quan said finally. “People say it's just bullshit, I say it's interesting.”

“So you want to hope everyone believes that our ancestors were shapeshifters?” Yoan snapped in disbelief.

“I just said it was interesting,” Quan denied emotionlessly. “It's not my fault that you think I believe it.”

“Enough, child,” Mr. Kei scolded. “The book is an ancient manuscript that has been recognized by the Rovega government, so there is no need to argue.”

“Acknowledged by Suuvoc,” Quan said, mentioning the form of government in question. “I wondered why the contents of the manuscript had not been included in the school books.”

“Indeed it will not,” Mr. Kei admitted, “because the contents of the manuscript will only be included in books intended for teachers, not students. Because, guidance is needed so that you understand exactly what it means to prevent misunderstandings.”

“I don't think so,” said Quan sassy. “I don't think the contents are that dark so the students need to be careful.”

“You read all the pages?” a boy named Ben exclaimed in disbelief. “But the museum only shows the cover and explains a little of the contents!”

Quan waved her hand indifferently. “My family's ancestors discovered it and she had time to copy its contents before handing the book over to Suuvoc.”

“And you didn't even tell us?” shouted another girl from the other end of the class.

Quan turned his head. She made the girl fall into nervous silence by saying, “What makes you think you deserve to be informed, when Suu[1] himself doesn't allow my family to reveal this information to anyone else? After all, you could have obtained that information if you used your ears and mouth well enough.”

“Quan!” Mr. Kei warned.

Quan was silent as she realized her honesty had gone too far.

“Put your arguments aside, kids,” Mr. Kei started. “The part that is missing is what causes us to be called Blues, Whites, Silvers and Blacks. Yes, blood is one reason, but there are things that underlie this designation. The first is that our ancestors were indeed shapeshifters, except for the Black Nation.”

Mr. Kei paused for a moment and let his students accept the words with frowns before continuing. “It is said that the origin of these three colors besides black is the Red Nation. Do you know what era I mean?”

The students answered in unison, “Era of Red Blood.”

“Yes, of course,” Mr. Kei agreed, and then continued, “and within that one millennium, they created history by perpetuating the curse, and ultimately annihilated the Red Nation itself.”

“You mean to say that the Whites, Silvers and Blues are the result of a curse?” Exan cut in sharply.

Mr. Kei smiled and shook his head slowly. “Our ancestors who were originally the Red People did get a curse,” the teacher explained straightforwardly. “However, we were not meant to be born only to bear the title of a curse. Our life is a gift, even though it starts with mistakes that should not be done. It's not our fault or anyone's fault.”

“It's not a curse if they take that risk knowingly and deliberately,” said Abara.

[1] Suu; title of king