4: JUDGE AND EXECUTION
//
8:24 A.M. // 8 - 28 - 2023 // ARC
Starring Cedrance Manamune
Featuring ???
//
“Serene!” He called. His feet tapped lightly on the grass, the air brushing past his face as he ran. “Serene!” Cedrance was sure he had seen her long and faded brown hair passing in the distance with some sketchy figures, a group of girls escorting a very reluctant, almost scared Serene. Cedrance couldn’t recognize any one of them.
The shade flickered to sunlight and back constantly as he put on more speed under the trees, sticking closer to the hedges that surrounded the main school campus.
Rounding the corner he almost ran into a group of people, who scattered slightly but couldn’t get annoyed, because Cedrance was already gone. He knew she had gone this way… but where were they?
Here there were no more shops, and the town and portal room were left far behind. Instead it was like a scenic park that surrounded the outside of the school.
Someone suddenly screamed.
//
8:27 A.M. // 8 - 28 - 2023 // ARC
Starring Serene Goldwin
Featuring ???, ???, and Cedrance Manamune
//
“Like hell I’m going in there,” I stared at the door of the public restroom. Suddenly I was pushed forward and tumbled inside, my hands outstretched and caught my fall. I whipped my head around angrily and Melinda slapped me.
My cheek was red hot. I understood now. They weren’t my ‘friends’. Serene, my body, was an idiot for following along with them. That was a stupid Answer.
Melinda was an impish looking idiot, a green hoodie and brown hair down to her waist. Rich, popular, annoying, and smelled like makeup. I didn’t bother to learn the names of the 4 other girls standing beside her and sneering at me like buffoons.
I rubbed my burning cheek.
“So you’re the infamous Serene Goldwin,” the bully purred. She looked at me up and down and frowned. That’s right, girl, I’m pretty. I’m richer than you, probably, the roll-your-r’s type of rich. If there’s one thing I knew for sure when I came to this world, it would be that I was downright hot.
No ifs, no buts.
“What about it?” I asked sorely.
“How the hell did you get him?”
Straight to the point, I see.
“Why don’t we take this outside of a bathroom?” I stood to leave but they barred me.
Melinda then grabbed my hair and I gasped as the flaring of pain spiked all over the top of my head, like every pore was on fire. What face was I making right now? A scared one?
“Tell me!” She screamed at me. “How did you do it, you whore, you bi—!” I punched her as hard as I could, and she slammed against the floor. If there was something on my face, it was annoyance. Or anger. The girls behind her gasped and moved to stop me as I stood up and grabbed her collar.
“You’re jealous, aren’t you? I’ve seen it time and time again! You’re no different, you’re just scum, after me because he likes me,” I spit.
Then my back hit the floor again as another girl threw me down. I laid there, dazed for a moment. My head hadn’t hit the floor that hard, thankfully. Her hair was maroon and she had a scar running down her chin. She looked like a monster of a human. She lifted a hand and all the other girls backed down.
“Oh, you better say your sorry and your prayer now,” the girl lifted her fist. Rage.
I didn’t learn martial arts for nothing.
Her fist flew and slammed into my jaw, and an agonizing pain coursed through my chin, but I bore through and ducked inwards as she threw her second fist, and I grabbed and hugged on at her left leg as tightly as I could. The girl tried to kick at me, though I held on. Just as she decided to punch me instead, my legs flew upwards and grappled onto her. I gave her a hard kick on the jaw and leaped forward to capitalize as she fell backwards, and then slid on top of her.
She had no time to react as my elbow raised and slammed it into her face as hard as I could. A loud crack and groan. I inspected my elbow quickly. Blood. She wouldn’t die, if she was strong.
The first bully leaped in to catch me off guard but I turned my head and flung up into her charge, my hair flurrying up and blinding her. Then she fell to the ground hard with a loud crack as I rolled back to lessen the damage. I inhaled quickly the other girls screamed at me, clearly surprised at my prowess. Blood was pounding down my head furiously now.
Were they all unawakened? How wasn’t I being blasted yet?
More girls closed in.
Melinda groaned loudly and face down on the ground. I suddenly had a stroke of genius. As fast as I could, I pounced on top of her and rolled her over so she faced upwards. Her mug was bruised and a streak of blood ran down her forehead. I took her left arm and threw my other leg around it and left my other leg near her spread-out right arm, then laid back so that her arm was on my chest and we laid perpendicular with me on top facing at the ceiling.
Then I pulled up slowly.
Then she started screaming. She struggled to get me off, and the other girls finally started slamming down on me, but I held on to all their dismay. Blood.
“Stop! Please! I give up, I give up! Stop, stop stop! Ow, GOD!! AHH!! PLEASE,” she begged and cursed, trails of ugly snot and tears stained her face. My own was stained with blood as they kept punching the daylights out of me, panic and desperation etched into their every clawing nails and frenzied attacks. I would be bruised and scarred for as long as I lived.
My hostage plan was going very wrong.
“AHHHHGGG!!” The girl howled. She was moving more than ever now, and the girls tried to move me but I held steadfast. But I was blacking out.
Everything was going wrong. I made my final decision. She would go down with me.
How was nobody here to intervene? In the bathroom, six girls were fighting for their lives.
With every last bit of strength I could muster, I turned onto my stomach.
—CRRRACK
The bully’s scream was deafening as her arm twisted, and bent.
And snapped, clean in half.
She wailed a horrible, bloody cry of anguish.
The onslaught of kicks and attempts to pull me off ceased. The ring in my ear followed the scream, drowning out all the noise around me. My whole face swelled and bled, as did the rest of my body. They had taken care not to kill me, but only that would have stopped me. Breathing was insanely difficult from the snot, tears, and blood, and I throbbed and ached and hurt like never before. It was the worst feeling of my life.
The very last sensation of consciousness was the feeling of being picked up into the air.
And then I blacked out.
//
10:14 A.M. // 8 - 28 - 2023 // ARC
Starring Zendolyn Ato
Featuring Avil Daniase, Gwen Olynn, and ???
//
I didn’t recognize anyone as I walked down with the unawakened group in the sleek white paths in the sweltering heat of the sun. It was as if I was in an extremely high-end mall, except without the shopping and restaurants. Everything here looked like something one would expect from a futuristic academia, from the modernness of the designs to the giant glass doors, and yet there were some recognizable characteristics that made the place also feel like it could exist in the real world like the standard but intimidating looking gym, the vending machines, and the Olympic-sized swimming pool we passed by.
The dorms were only ten minutes behind us.
Many other students and upperclassmen passed by us, and made me feel very subconscious about myself. Then I remembered that this body wasn’t mine and I felt better.
The campus felt so open, and humongous to boot. So many things caught my attention from the obvious portal room to the grand cafeteria in the distance. What would a cafeteria in my world serve?
I received a few odd looks as we walked on. It made me wonder what they were thinking about as they set their eyes on me.
Then I frowned. Was it the disowned status? Or was I gaping too much?
After another minute of quiet steps, we finally stopped at another door. The sign on the wall beside it read “G-Wing, UAH2”. Unawakened homeroom.
The teacher, who stood at the front, opened the door. He was a tall, strong, and exceptionally cliché-looking character beside with a baseball cap.
Looking into the classroom, it was about as I expected: a wonderfully open and large auditorium lined with ascending rows of seats and a long, connected table, as cliché as I expected it to be. The ceiling lights were bright but there were no windows to see outside. Up at the front was a huge whiteboard and a podium.
As I was the last to walk in, the doors closed behind me. I walked up the steps and took my place around the left center, a row where nobody was sitting. It was where I felt was safest.
The students in the room had all sorts of strange and defining features that would make the word plain feel like a commodity. Even the very short boy who sat behind me had mid length dark purple hair and large eyes, yet that wasn’t as special as the girl beside him who had pitch black hair. She kept glancing around the room and caught my eyes with her own, a mesmerizing foggy and misty ocean.
Somehow they faintly reminded me of something, or someone, and yet nothing at the same time. I looked back to the front.
When everyone settled down the teacher began to talk, first by taking attendance. My name was the first.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Zendolyn Ato.” Everyone turned to stare at me.
“Here…?”
“Mason Auric.”
“Here!”
…
I was okay. I let out a sigh of relief.
“Avil Daniase.”
The boy behind me responded, “Here.” Wait. Say what?
“Jennifer D’angel.”
Avil Daniase? I looked back cautiously. That was the name of one of my main characters. Mini little Avil who went through the puberty to end all puberties. I didn’t expect the purple hair, or the almost gangster-like energy he brought to the room. And if his personality was as I remembered writing, then the girl besides him was…
“Gwen Olynn.” The girl beside him raised her hand.
“Here.”
Both of them were together. I didn’t know what to think. Gwen didn’t look as sickly as I wrote her to be, and yet she also didn’t look healthy with very pale skin.
“Melinda Yeh.”
Silence.
“No Melinda? Alright then, Christopher Yoo.”
The last hand raised up. “Here.”
Afterwards the man at the front introduced himself as Professor Justin and proceeded quickly in an impatient tone that he didn’t expect to be teaching this class very long.
“Because,” he said, “you guys are going to become Awakened soon, with everything we’re going to do to you.” A few students shuddered, including me.
“Historically this class is always empty after the fourth month or so,” he reassured us. He then waved us off and dismissed us to my surprise. “Today was an easy day, and we’ll leave it at that. Tomorrow, though, is a real day. Prepare yourselves, make sure to wear your uniforms, and see you all in class at 8:30 in the morning tomorrow.” He quickly rushed out of the room, muttering about an appointment.
At that I took it as my cue to leave, but then remembered how people were staring at me earlier. I glanced around me and noticed a few eyes turning back to stare at me. I knew how this game worked. Inhale. Out.
I turned around to the pair behind me. “Hey, Avil and Gwen, right?” I said brightly and tried a friendly smile. Thank you, pretty voice, thank you. A Guide popped up but I ignored it. “I got a little bit lost when Professor Carmela was talking about the point system earlier. Could you guys help me a little bit, please?”
I suddenly thought, what if we already knew each other? Did they dislike me? Oh, what have I done?
The boy looked back at the girl, who shrugged. He blinked, “Aren’t you Zendolyn Ato? Never mind, your hair and voice make that obvious. Well, you get points from…”
He seemed to know the gossip surrounding me, but didn’t press. I was safe.
I swept my eyes around the rest of the room. People’s eyes were averted. We were all unconfident unawakened kids, and earlier I was alone. Crowd interrogation only happens when people have confidence to ask, but now I was no longer alone.
Good.
I looked behind him and turned to look at the rest of the room. They flinched at eye contact.
“Well, thanks, Avil,” I said after he finished.
“No prob.” He probably didn’t understand that he saved me from a sticky situation.
“I’m going off to the dorms now to settle in.” I nodded at Gwen, who didn’t acknowledge me. “See you guys tomorrow.”
By then everyone had already left the room and it was just us 3. The loud clacking of footsteps eased the awkward quietness as I left the room.
I poked my head out the door. Look left. Look right. No eyes on me.
Run.
I was completely out of breath as I entered a reception gate that guarded the dorms. I had already caught a glimpse of the tops of them from the outside.
It looked like I was going to have a nice stay.
Inside, I noticed a few students sauntering around the lobby with three others in the line, the one in front talking to the receptionist, who’s counter was in between two glass doors that lead out to the main area. A mini waterfall bubbled on one side of the room, and the couch and TV were occupied on the other side.
How early was I? Everyone else was probably going to the mall and having a blast or earning points. I checked my backpack. No money to speak of. I probably wasn’t eating tonight until I got some points.
The first one looked to be around my age, a guy with short and pale green hair.
Main character alert. But I didn’t remember writing about such a timid looking guy, though. He seemed to be having the most awkward conversation of his life.
The woman behind the counter had a loud voice that carried over to me.
“Well, I’m sorry but we don’t have any more options unless you have any points.” She explained with a pained face.
“O-oh. Okay,” the boy’s nervousness was spilling out in his twitching fingers and stuttering breaths. “I understand.”
Thank you, green head. You spared me from asking myself.
“Dean Harvest, please take your watch.”
I noted the name, then glanced at my own bare wrists. Before leaving, an Agent had confiscated my own watch saying it was the property of Silverdawn. I was so relieved when I heard at the entrance ceremony that students without that watch would be provided one by the school as a welcome gift at any place owned by the school, which was the whole island.
“Sorry, sorry,” he sputtered, then he grabbed the watch and dashed out the door to the main area.
The next girl came up to talk to her and I took my place in line.
When it was finally my turn, the receptionist greeted me, “Hello, how can I help you today?”
I pointed at my wrist. “Can I get a watch?”
She nodded. “I’ll need your name.”
“Zendolyn Ato.” Her eyebrow raised, but dipped back down instantly as if it was just an instinctual twitch. She knew. Her fingers clacked on the keyboard and nodded again.
“Please scan your finger on this,” she said and placed a small white device on the counter towards me. It looked like a card scanner, except with nowhere to swipe a card and a gray drawn outline of a fingerprint. I obliged and placed my finger on, then suppressed a grunt. A wave of tingling spread from my finger throughout my body and then stopped, as if I had been mildly pulsed with a machine. What was that?
“All right, Zendolyn Ato, you’re good to go. This is yours to keep and will not be replaced under most circumstances,” she said and placed a watch in front of me. It looked like the same brand that I had before it was confiscated, a little inconspicuous white bracelet except with the ARC logo etched into the side.
“Thanks.” I picked it up and fitted it onto my wrist, and then headed out the door.
“Have a good stay!”
The sun blinded me for a moment as I walked out, and when my eyes adjusted I gasped.
I was definitely going to have a good stay… when I got points. The left side was the shared and true dorms, for the people who didn’t have points and where practically everyone would be staying in the first few weeks. All around me were condos and apartments that gradually got more expensive the farther right they were. There were divides between a few sections, each seeming to be a greater barrier of wealth inequality than the last, and yet I could only see so far. The complex of housing wrapped around the backside of the main ARC campus in an arc-like fashion. A few roads led out to the mall and to the campus, the one I walked on away from one of many gates. A girl passed by on her bike, and I noticed it had an ARC insignia on it. I found it slightly awkward how there were no distinct separations between boy dorms and girl dorms.
As I walked across the street to the left shared dormitories, I wondered what my game plan was. I had a few options, but no clue which would be for the best. First I brought my attention to the watch. I swiped up in the air and the screen pulled up. Future technology was cool. Browsing the apps, it was a lot more empty than the one I had at Silverdawn except for the app clearly named ARC. I pressed the app and was greeted by a blank profile page with all my info. 0 points, unranked, unawakened, classless. Then I looked around the options, then clicked Info and scrolled down to Housing.
I quickly scanned it. Boys and girls can’t enter the same premises without permission, no adultery, no smoking, no alcohol, blah blah, and then I noticed at the bottom a link, which I clicked and which sent me to another screen that told me where I would be staying.
[Room C6, floor 2.]
I stopped and looked up.
The front of the building simply felt like a hotel. It had no special characteristics, except the very homey vibe emanating from the steps up to the entrance.
The comfy lobby was completely empty, and I silently went up the elevator. The door opened to floor 2, a wide hall, the doors separated with wide gaps of open walls. At least we would have pretty decent space in our dorms. C4, C5, C6.
Here.
Did I get a keycard? Puzzled, I lifted my watch to the lock on the door, which glowed a sudden green and unlocked. Okay, okay. This was cool.
I stepped inside and took a deep breath. I decided then that I wouldn’t need to waste points on a better room. This was nice.
The room was a standard lodging with an air conditioning unit near the back and furnished with a chair and television on the back wall. To my right was a large closet. There weren’t any windows, but the light compensated well enough for a comfortable atmosphere of freshly laundered sheets and wiped surfaces. There was a nicely large desk for me to work on, and a bed beside it for quick access. I hoped the walls were soundproof though. To my immediate left was a large restroom. I could see the edge of a queen-sized bed from behind the wall, tucked into the inner corner.
However what excited me most were the six boxes lying on the floor in front of me. Those were the things I had packed up just before leaving and being disowned. Closing the door behind me, I put down my backpack and pulled off my shoes, putting them both to the side.
I kneeled down and carefully ripped open the first box, and then fished out the most important thing. A few papers which had my handwriting, all the important details on Zendolyn Ato’s phone, which included a lot of passwords. It was a horribly intense writing session, but a writer writes fast. I pulled up the screen again and opened a blank document. A holographic keyboard suddenly appeared in front of me. This never happened before, I thought with a surprised smile.
I copied all of the information from the paper onto the document, though it felt weird as the hologram had no substance for me to feel the keys. I wanted a laptop. Or a real phone. Ooh, or iPad… nah, too large. Holograms were a little weird.
Then I began to transfer all of my contacts onto my new watch… there were only 2. Total.
Zendolyn Ato was a real introvert. I was glad that was the case, otherwise I’d have much more people to attend to. And my introverted self couldn’t fake knowing people.
The rest of the box was filled with clothes, clothes, and clothes.
Next were the other boxes. I wouldn’t touch those, as they each contained a different instrument. A french horn, a keyboard, violin, cello, and a microphone and speaker.
I thought about the trophies still in my room, then shook my head and began to move the clothes into the closet. My back ached by the time I was finished, and my arms were sore from the repetitive folding motion. Another fleeting thought. Was I really prepared for ARC?
The answer was a definite no, but I didn’t bat an eye and pushed the boxes into the far corner. Done. I looked around and smiled at a job well done.
Finally I looked at my watch again for the time. 10:45 AM. My smile dropped instantly and I groaned. Well, if I had nothing to do, I might as well go outside for once, right?
Hell no.
I crashed onto my bed and stared up.
I was bored. My eyes drifted to the door, then back up at the ceiling. I frowned.
No.
I racked my brain for things to do, how to be productive, and whatnot. Earlier, didn’t Reyenal use a Guide…?
The ominously cliché screen appeared in front of me again.
========================
Answer
Memory
Overtake
Will you use a Guide?
Yes//No
========================
Curiosity led my mind.
“Uhmm, Memory,” I said nervously.
Another screen began to count down in front of me.
5
4
3
2
I shut my eyes. Then I blacked out.
[User input:] ⇒ [Access//Guide]
[User input:] ⇒ [Memory]
[Accessing core memory of Zendolyn Ato] ⇒[Randomizing keyword]
=[System failure!]=
[New user detected] ⇒ [Updating settings]
= [Optimizing user experience]=
=[System updated!]=
=[Attempt 2]=
[Accessing core memory of Zendolyn Ato] ⇒ [Randomizing keyword]
[Keyword chosen!]
SECRET
=[Beginning core memory]=