(Octavian 26, 59 / 8:30AM)

(Jenny) Luke?

A faint knock was heard outside Luke’s dorm.

Clasping both of her hands down to her crotch, Jenny straightened her back as her glasses started to loosen their hold on her ears.

With the helm of her lenses reaching onto the bottom portion of her nose, she adjusted the position by using her pointer finger to push it back so that her eyelashes made contact with the lenses.

(Jenny) Are you there, Luke? David said you have a letter to read.

Hearing nothing but silence, Jenny turned the golden circular door knob until a quiet click was dispatched. Still having her right hand on the knob, she turned it clockwise for the door to be open wide.

(Jenny) What the…

Luke slept peacefully on the hard wooden floor.

Still resting his eyes, Luke slowly turned his head to the left as dark eyebags reeked every part of his eyelids. His right cheek was still being crushed by the floor below, and his arms remained motionless as his left hand held onto a metal blocky game controller.

But Luke wasn’t the only one in that position.

On top of his bed that he couldn’t sleep, laid Jack, Miles, and Stan who toppled onto each other like a can of sardines. All three of them were in a deep slumber, not even the whiff of stale soda or homemade pizza was enough to wake them, as the food was all piled onto one of the desks beside the TV.

The TV was one of the few colored ones that were manufactured from Ticia right before the fall, as well as one of the consoles being produced at the same time. Even though Kepputha was technologically 30 years behind Ticia, the outlets and power were relatively the same.

And to the opposite side of the room lay Gary and Diego, who slept sitting up as they both had the back of their heads rubbing against the white wallpapered walls.

Looking down specifically at Luke, her face darkened while unclasping both of her hands, letting them drop to her sides.

(Jenny) Hey…

Luke slowly opened his eyes as the eye-crust tried to glue them shut. Unable to even push himself out of the floor, he let his mouth open agape, his lips already dried and wrinkled like he ran a marathon in a desert.

(Luke) Hey Jenny … cough … Do you need something?

Fast forward.

(David) All six of you look like shit.

Several minutes later, the six men were all huddled up inside the large kitchen inside of the Dark Angels building.

Every one of them had pitch-black eyebags that encompassed all around their eyes, with the only exception being Jack. Instead of the coffee cups that the rest of the men had in front of them, Jack only had just a plastic water bottle that was straight out of the storage room.

(David) What the hell were you guys doing?

(Luke) We were doing a video game tournament, but then it turned into casual game night, and then a roast battle, and then a wrestling match, and I guess we all just crashed…

(David) sighs…

(Boris) Are those party animals awake I take it?

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Out of the end of the hallway, came a chubby man who wore a black fedora and suit, with circular glasses that reflected his gray irises.

In his right hand, he held a khaki-colored envelope, while he had his left hand inside of his pocket. With everyone in the room turning their attention onto the overseer of the Dark Angels, Luke rubbed his eyes while letting out a soft groan.

(Luke) Yeah, we’re awake, but barely.

(Boris) Then I hope you’re wide awake to take in the info on this envelope then.

Standing in front of Luke, Boris held out the envelope as Luke proceeded to shyly take it. Gripping it with both of his fingers, Luke tore the top part of the envelope as a single line of paper was deeply tucked inside.

Shaking the paper that resided in it, it was then settled on the table in front of him.

(Luke) Who’s this for?

(Boris) It’s a military envelope, and the person they want to communicate with is with you.

(Luke) Me? What does the military want from me?

(Boris) I suggest reading it will work. You know, with your eyes?

Putting the pieces of the khaki envelope inside of his leather jacket, Luke unfolded the layers upon layers of folds that were bonded together like a mysterious code. Finally having the full paper right in front of him, it was big enough to be compared to just a regular sheet of ordinary paper.

Clearing his throat, Luke skimmed through the top of the letter as there was one name that he recognized immediately.

(Luke) It’s from President Reed.

Everyone went silent, with some of them puckering up their mouths with their lips.

David and Boris, the only ones who didn’t let shock overcome them, hovered over Luke as he continued to scan the paper. Boris, who had his hands behind his back, read along with Luke while David could barely keep up.

(Luke) It’s a summoning, the president wants to see us personally.

(Boris) Not personally, Reed wants to hold a military ceremony for you guys.

(Luke) But this letter doesn’t say anything about a ceremony here.

Luke put down the sheet of white paper as he still had it with the tip of his fingers. Bringing it down to his side, Jack clasped both of his hands together.

(Jack) We saved the city. We saved this country. I mean, it’s about time we get acknowledged for our labor of fruits.

(Luke) I think you mean the fruits of our labor.

(Jack) Whatever. But still, we should go.

Luke scratched his right temple with his right hand.

Glancing at Jack, he squinted his eyes back onto the paper that he held with both of his hands. Looking toward Jack again, he put down the paper as he still had his palms hovering over the letter.

(Luke) Well … maybe I was just paranoid that’s all. It’s all out of the blue you know. And also it seems pretty late for them to finally acknowledge us.

(Stan) Best guess, probably took a while for the politicians and high figures to safely settle into Lagefor again.

(Luke) Maybe, but remember that telephone call that Boris had on the day that Lagefor was attacked?

Stan folded his arms, tilting his chair back as he looked down onto the ground. Rocking back and forth, Stan allowed the memories of that pitiful and chaotic day to settle in, his face soulless and lack of human emotion that even put Miles in worry.

Not only that, but Stan quickly stopped his rocking, while fully having all four legs of the chair as straight as a crystal. Laying down his hands, he had them supported by his knees that started to dig deep into his wrists.

(Stan) I remember. Many high military personnel were assigned to Las Thens, by orders from President Reed.

Luke held both of his hands together in a firm grip, as he hunched his back forward so that his face was slightly leaning. With his left red eye gleaming onto the brown-ginger-haired man that made eye contact back, Luke slowly let out a comforting smile that caused Stan to tilt his head up.

(Luke) Either way, I don’t think the President would just let his city be terrorized by a couple of liches.

Getting up from his seat, Luke turned around to face both Boris and David who stood side by side like peas in a pod. Straightening his back, Luke angled both of his hands and arms so that they were pointed downward onto the kitchen floor.

The rest of the men that were sitting at the table followed suit.

(Luke) We could give the President some regard. I guess me, you and him had one promise in common.

(Boris) Not letting this city have the same fate as Clastine, I know.

Luke then turned his head toward the group of men that he had played with not too long ago, as their faces were all drooped down to the ground.

Putting both of his hands onto his sides, Luke’s smile reached a higher altitude, barely reaching the level of his nose. Sticking out his right hand, he then gave all the men that were behind him a big thumbs up, causing some of his friends to flinch upward by the sudden gesture.

(Luke) I think it’s about time that we make a name for ourselves.

(Gary) I like the sound of that.

(Diego) Me too.

(Stan) Me three.

(Jack) Me four.

(Miles) You killed it.

(Jack) Shut up! You killed it!

As he saw the lazy-eyed yet moving men who were barely awake to begin with, Luke grabbed the cup of coffee that was still letting out burning steam. Putting the edge of the mug right onto his lips, he ingested half of the hot coffee in one go, before settling it down onto the table again.

With his right sleeve, he swiped away a bit of that same coffee that got onto both his bottom and upper lips.

(Luke) Before we settle on a date, I should probably tell Luna and Hope about this…

(Luke’s thoughts) And also our little goofstar.