Kyle woke up peacefully in his bed, although the light shining through his window seemed awfully brighter than he was used to and the bed was far more comfortable than he remembered.
Looks like today is going to be a spectacular day. Kyle thought to himself.
His eyes adjusted to the light as he shielded them with one of his arms while he instinctively fumbled with the other reaching for his alarm clock on his nightstand but only catching air.
Confused, he turned his head toward the ever elusive nightstand and lowered his other hand, only to freeze as he saw where he was.
He was in a room, yes, but he was damn sure that this wasn't his room.
Kyle's memories rushed back to him with a clarity that made it seem like it was happening all over again and all at once. He remembered the auditorium, the rip in space, the tower, classes, freya, the date, and most terrifying of them all...HE SAID HE WAS A MAN OF GREAT AMBITCHIN!?
His face reddened as he grabbed his head with both hands in embarrassment.
Freya wouldn't tell anyone, right? He thought back to their interactions and how she had acted, he didn't have to think long before he came to a conclusion.
I'm fucked. He sighed.
He got up from the bed and looked down at himself, thankfully he was still in his clothes aside from his shoes that were in a cubby, although two more buttons being unbuttoned showed that someone had thought it'd be a good idea to help him get more comfortable.
Pushing aside his wandering thoughts Kyle finally took the chance to fully take in his environment. A simple but comfortable room that was a good size, having enough space for one person to move around comfortably but not too much where the room dwarfed the person. A desk sat placed against the wall opposite of where his bed was and had a glowing ball floating above it, another wall had a door with the cubby where he saw his shoes and there was also a place to hang a jacket. There were also tapestries in this room too except they were all blank and dim except one that sported the world tower's logo.
Well it's definitely cozy enough. He mused.
Kyle's brow twitched when he saw a blue light pulsing from the glowing translucent ball floating above the desk.
He walked to it but was at a loss on what to do about it before sighing.
Please don't explode, please don't explode. He chanted one of his favorite mantra's that he just came up with before reaching a finger towards the glowing ball.
[UNREGISTERED PERSONAL TERMINAL, CLAIM?]
[Y/N]
Oh, that's fucking awesome. Kyle thought before pressing yes.
[CHANNEL MANA TO ATTUNE TO YOUR MANA SIGNATURE.]
He did as asked and the personal terminal changed from a ball of light to a curved translucent strip that pulsed with faint blue light.
Kyle picked it up and studied it, but was once again at a loss. He put it down and looked at the extra door hoping it was the restroom because he had to pee, and bad.
He hurried to the door but stopped when he saw two shirts and two pairs of pants, one short sleeved and one long sleeved, one pair of the pants were like joggers while the others were jeans along with some slippers, and they were all almost comically pink, no doubt courtesy of freya.
Joke's on her, I look good in pink. He smirked contemptuously while grabbing the long sleeved shirt and joggers, along with the pink slippers.
After handling his business and taking a very comfortable shower after wasting 5 minutes figuring out how it worked he stepped out of the bathroom and into the room, making his way back to the desk.
Slipping the personal terminal into his pocket, he took a calming deep breath and stepped towards the door and opened it, and immediately looked at the piece of paper that fell when he did.
Looking around to see if anyone could have dropped it he bent down to pick it up and see what it was.
Hey there, for any man of great ambitchin out there that doesn't know how to use the personal terminal or just didn't bother with the glowing light at all, go back an touch it and then follow it's directions. After you have done so you should have a translucent strip, yeah? Now turn one of your hands palms up and place it on your wrist. After you have done that say these words, "Open Sesame". Do that first before continuing or you will be confused.
Ignoring the jab at him Kyle stopped reading and stepped back into his room and closed the door.
Although he thought it was cliche, he could see how that could end up as the activation phrase if one of his ancestors created this so he said it.
"Open Sesame." He said aloud, only to be met with silence as nothing happened. He picked up the paper and started reading again, not fully believing Freya to be so childish.
Now nothing should have happened after that if you did it right, that's because you just got pranked!
Kyle felt that he was going to pop a blood vessel.
Ok, now with that out of the way say, "Activate". After you do that, click the one notification you have and it should show you the directions to the cafeteria, see you there. Your friend Freya.
Kyle followed her instructions, hoping that for his sanity it worked and he let out a sigh of relief when it did.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
With his hand out and palm facing up he gawked at the hologram that floated above his palm. He had raised his other hand to operate it and click the notification but got a surprise when it was opened as soon a he thought about it, an arrow pointing the way he should go.
He once again walked out of the door, ready to see his friends again.
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Kyle followed the directions that were being given to him in real time and knew he was going the right way as the sound of chatter was growing, and soon he came to a large door that was already open and was receiving a lot of traffic.
As he stepped in he looked around for his ragtag group of friends, almost certain that he'd spot them immediately for one reason or another, and he was relieved to see that he was right as he spotted them all in the same pink as him.
"Man, we have got to find our own styles, you guys are cramping mine." He said as he approached the table they were at as they all looked at him.
"Well this wasn't the ideal fit I'd have chosen if it were up to me but it's all they gave us...only us I might add." Malachi said with a frown.
Kyle looked around and saw that he was absolutely right, not a single other person wore a color other than black and white.
"Serves you traitors right, probably courtesy of Freya after that stunt you guys pulled yesterday." He shot back. "Lucky for me, I look great in pink."
"Full transparency, I didn't know a thin- DAMN this pancake is good. I didn't know about it, but I know it was funny, you should have seen your face." Ethan said through mouthfuls of pancakes.
"Hey Kyle, let's exchange PT contacts." Dami interjected with glowing eyes while holding out his wrist.
"How do I do that." Kyle raised a brow, shooting a glance to the others wondering when they got their terminal.
"Oh man, date must've been terrible, she didn't even tell him how to use his terminal just to avoid exchanging contacts." Haji said with a shit eating grin.
Kyle just raised his middle finger to him without even looking at him as he kept his attention on what Dami had to say.
"You don't know? Wait, you do have one right?" He went wide eyed with his mouth hanging a bit.
Expressive as always, never change Dami. Kyle thought as he layed his arm down to display his wrist.
"I just got and activated it this morning when I woke up. I didn't even know what it was until I touched it, and Freya left a note telling how to activate it." He explained as he showed Dami his terminal.
"Oh? Were you guys so busy with something else that she couldn't explain last night?" Haji said while wiggling his brows, Kyle once again ignored him.
Dami also elected to ignore him and with glee he aligned his wrist with Kyle's as a purple light flashed and a prompt appeared in front of Kyle.
[MARTIAL SOVEREIGN HAS SENT A FRIEND REQUEST. ALLOW?]
[ERROR]
[PLEASE CHOOSE AN ALIAS.]
The corner of Kyle's mouth twitched as he tried not to physically cringe at his friends' chosen alias.
"Why didn't you just use your name?" He couldn't help but ask.
"They asked for an alias and also it's also common for adventures to use tittle's instead for when they party up, so we decided we wouldn't use our names." Dami replied with a big smile.
He's lost it. Well, whatever floats his boa- Wait...
"Wait. What do you mean we." Kyle asked in horror.
Dami looked at everyone at the table before looking back at Kyle.
"It seems my identity has been revealed." Ethan said a little too seriously while wiping his mouth after drinking his water.
"You have guessed right. I am Terra Glare." he said while interlocking his fingers with his elbows on the table.
"I am Tenebrous." Haji said while leaning his head lazily on his closed fist.
Kyle looked to Malachi in desperation, only to be met with a shrug.
"Aether." he said.
Kyle sighed. It seemed that there was not getting out of this.
"I didn't want you guys to know about my other life, but I guess you would find out at some point." Kyle spoke in mock sadness as he willed his alias into being.
[OMNI-INVICTUS IS NOW YOUR ALIAS]
"Woah, and I thought that my alias was way past arrogance." Dami said as he smiled all the while.
"What? What is it?" Ethan asked.
Kyle was about to reach out and friend him when he felt his wrist heat up and burn a bit, causing him to jerk his arm back and look at his wrist.
Nothing really changed except the PT looked like a tattoo now.
Well that was weird. He mused.
"Don't try to act mysterious come on." Ethan said.
Kyle friended him and the rest of the guys and let them get their jabs in while he decided to get some food before they started whatever these people had planned for them today.
While he ate and answered questions about his date with Freya time passed slowly, until about 45 minutes later when the diplomats and Freya walked in and things quieted down.
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"I guess all of you have rested well enough, or at least thats what I hope as I was told that some of you had a good bit of liquor during your feast, some more than others." She glanced at Kyle with a slight smirk when she said the last part.
"As much as I would have liked to let everyone to party their lives away to get it out of your system we don't have time for that." Freya said a bit more seriously.
As she said that more scholarly looking people sporting the robes of the World Tower entered the cafeteria and spread out along the walls along with other people who looked specialized for different jobs and subjects.
"During the next three months you will be learning about the cultures and common sense here on Reles, that includes some history along with financial literacy. We can't have you insulting everyone and starting wars all because of misunderstandings now can we?" She wagged her pointer finger and shook her head exaggeratedly.
"These nice men and women," she gestured to the people lining the walls of the cafeteria "are the ones who will teach you these things. There will also be specialized people who will lay the foundation for the jobs and elements that you're most talented in."
The men and women stood a little taller as everyone's attention was turned to them.
"The common sense classes will be taught in a designated classroom everyday after breakfast while the environment for more specialized classes will be left up to whomever your instructor is. You will have plenty of down time to relax, and you WILL need it."
No one said anything as she stopped and took a look around the room to see if anyone had any questions.
"There is also another mandatory class that will start within the next few days and that is practical combat classes. We only have you for six months and you must show some semblance of a combat foundation by the end of it, I will not allow any of you to treat this as a game." Freya turned up the seriousness the more she talked.
"Lastly, I can promise you that this will not be all for nothing." She softened her tone again, "Although it may seem that we are just trying to turn you into war machines, the path that you will follow is solely up to you. We can make you strong, yes, but the form in which you display those strengths are up to you alone."
With all of that said and done Freya begin introducing the teachers to them and it seemed that they would have three different teachers for common sense classes while the rest of the people who came with her were all specialized in one way or another.
The three teachers were Pedro, a merchant who handles business for the world tower and some type of troll/human hybrid who will teach them about money, Daisy, a dryad women who seemed to be on the older side of the spectrum who would teach them about cultures and history, and lastly Asim, a Djinn, the head of security for the world tower and their practical combat instructor.
It looks like this is it, let's give it everything I've got. I'm starting at the bottom of everyone so lets work 100 times as hard. Kyle mentality shifted from the playful flirt to one of high determination.
As they say, all the work you do along the path you have chosen for your self is fulfilling work, and as the days passed and turned into months the high school graduates turned magical warriors all proved to be every bit of their ancestors' successors.
One of them being more noticeable than the others but not in the same way as his magically talented peers, he was an insatiable black hole for knowledge.