Location: Avalon Elite Academy – Cafeteria, Lunchtime
It started with a tray.
Grayson Lysander had just sat down at a back corner table, unbothered, book in hand. The cafeteria buzzed with chatter and cliques—noise he filtered out like static.
He wasn't a Vale.
He wasn't at the elite table.
He was new, alone, and—apparently—fair game.
Scene: The Challenge Ignites
Blake Tremont, a loud-mouthed senior with too many friends and too few brain cells, leaned over his table.
"Yo, new guy. That your seat?"
Grayson didn't even look up.
"Wasn't yours."
Fifteen boys surrounded the table a few moments later.
Jocks. Followers. Entitled legacies.
"You think you're funny, huh?"
"You ain't a Vale."
"You ain't nobody."
Scene: The Snap Before the Storm
Azra's fork stopped mid-air.
Caelan looked up from his drink.
Liora blinked slowly.
At the Vale table, silence rippled.
Nova (muttering): "Oh no."
Zeke (grinning): "They really just signed up for hell."
Rico: "Fifteen? Hope the nurse is on standby."
Scene: The Cafeteria Erupts
Blake shoved Grayson.
"I'm gonna knock your—"
He didn't finish.
Grayson stood. Calm. Hands still in his pockets.
Then he moved.
One step forward.
CRACK.
A knee to Blake's gut that folded him like paper. Blake vomited mid-fall.
Two others lunged.
Grayson spun, elbowed one in the temple—down.
Swept the leg of the next—down.
Another tried to swing a tray.
Grayson grabbed it mid-air and cracked it over his head.
Plastic shattered. So did the guy's balance.
He ducked a punch. Slapped a jaw sideways.
Grabbed a hoodie, yanked the guy's head into a table.
Five seconds. Six bodies on the floor.
"What the hell—"
"HE'S A MONSTER—!"
Three more rushed from behind.
Grayson turned, kicked a chair into one's knee, dropped the second with a single body shot, then cracked the third's nose using only the palm of his hand.
The cafeteria was frozen.
Scene: The Table Reacts
Vivienne (wide-eyed): "That's him."
Cassiel: "Even holding back… he's surgical."
Kai: "Fifteen humans… and he didn't even breathe heavy."
Scene: The Aftermath
Grayson stood alone.
Surrounded by groaning bodies.
Not a mark on him.
He calmly adjusted his sleeves. Picked up his tray. Walked back to his seat. Sat down.
And turned the page of his book.
Final Scene: One Thought Echoes
Caelan (low): "They didn't just mess with the wrong guy."
Azra: "They messed with the one the world warned them about."
Across the cafeteria, no one moved.
Because now…
They understood.
Grayson Lysander wasn't just new.
He was something no one should've touched.