18: THE UNIVERSAL DESIRE
//
2:11 P.M. // 10 - 25 - 2023 // Red Rock - Turtlehead Peak Trail
Starring Kali Lapuz
Featuring Regan Yglesias, ???, ???, ???, Rubia and Penelope
//
“Aw c’mon, bro! You go first!” I giggled as Regan squeezed from the back to shove Marsh out of his seat by the van’s door. Her arm pushed up against me as she fought to kick Marsh out, and I begrudgingly allowed her to.
A cool breeze set into the van.
Marsh grunted, holding down on his seat, as two other guys tried to pry his finger off. “Hey, hey hey! Man, really?”
“Move it!” Regan barbarically tore his left hand from its grasp against his seat, and he yelped, making Joshua and the others laugh.
“You’re our upperclassman, so it should be you that goes first, eh?” Joshua patted Marsh from behind as Marsh struggled against Regan’s and Corey’s assaults.
Then I had an idea.
Projecting my voice, I pulled the van door’s lever to my left, and it brought everyone’s attention as it slid open. “Hmm, actually? I don’t know…”
Joshua slowed his relentlessness. “No…”
“Betrayal!” Regan screeched, more of laughter than disbelief, though it wasn’t much of a big deal to begin with. I rested my hand onto her arm, still posted on my shoulder now hurting, my other reaching for her opposite shoulder.
“Hey, Regan,” I sneered.
“Betrayal!” She repeated again, not really listening.
“Get this psycho off of me!” Marsh hollered, his buddy Lorenzo, the driver at the front, laughing hysterically.
Without a warning, I squeezed on the pressure point on her elbow and near her neck.
“Aaaahhh! Oowww, tss, tss, tss, tss! Kali, stahh-stoooop it!” Regan made the necessary noises of pain, and then gave up quickly as she caught the smile on my face. She succumbed at the realization of what I was doing.
“I think you already know what I’m gonna say.”
Regan paused as I loosened my hold, and then began making a ruckus again as I squeezed again, Joshua and Corey howling from behind. “Mercy—ahhh! Mercy on this poor mortal soul!”
“Kali and Regan at it again,”
Marsh sat there in shock, and then I made eye contact with him over Regan’s hunched back. He made a grateful expression.
I smiled even wider. “You owe me.”
Both Regan and Marsh flinched.
…
A voice called from nearby. “If you need to use the bathroom, go now! We’ll be leaving for the trail soon!”
We were the only cars in the parking lot.
The morning sun was barely over the mountains in the distance, washing us in its golden shower, the soft desert winds blowing up dust against my ankles. Ashen trees and desolate plants, spiky and unforgiving in shape, littering everything that the sand all around touched. The sound of the other van’s door, a creaking noise as it came to a close and let out the last person.
“Why’d you make me go out first?” Regan snuck up from behind and suddenly whined in my ear, and I made my attempt to leap away but her arm was too fast, circling around me and putting me into a chokehold, not squeezing but simply holding me still.
I gasped, and was suddenly stuck staring at the dusty ground of the parking lot, frantically trying to remove myself, but she held her ground.
“Hmm? Someone’s struggling,” Regan sadistically pushed her hip into me, being taller than me her hip shoved into my stomach, leaving me breathless.
“Mercy—ahhck!”
“Honestly, I’m so glad I got permission from Arc to get us that day off,” someone sighed from behind, and then karate chopped Regan who made a squeaking noise and quickly let go. My head spun around to praise my savior, and I was met with ruby red eyes.
Oh, I knew who she was!
“Thanks for that, Rubia.”
“No problem.” Rubia nodded with a little smile. “If she’s out to get you again, make sure to call me up!”
Another girl came from behind Rubia, putting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Were they fighting again?”
Rubia casually acknowledged her with a shoulder nudge. “Oh, Penny. Nah, with Regan and Kali, you just never know.”
“From what I’ve seen,” Penelope added, “these two always get back at each other. So this time I bet Kali started it first.”
Penelope and Rubia began walking away, and I gaped my mouth open as Regan cackled next to me. “Yep! That’s totally—”
“No! No, no, I can’t let you guys go thinking I’m at fault, it’s—”
“La, la, la!” Regan yelled over my voice, “Kali’s a loser, la la la!”
I huffed in exasperation, a slight bit of amusement, but nonetheless still ticked. “Whatever.”
“Heh,” Regan slung over me again. “I win.”
…
Regan inhaled in loudly as if to make a show of it. “Red Rock sure is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“There’s a lot of rocks.”
Each step we took billowed dust up into the air behind us.
In the end, Regan and I took the front of the hike. Penelope had made it clear that it was supposed to be a punishment, but rather it was refreshing to not be blindly following another person as if it was a group project. Well, it sort of was, but this time we were the leaders.
Behind us, the others seemed to be having a good time. We weren’t all that far into the hiking trip, so the danger protocols were still fresh in our minds. Rubia had been very thorough about it, and even though Regan and I were taking a bit of a risk at the front, she trusted us, but not enough to leave us too far ahead.
No, she was literally breathing down my neck.
“Hey, you don’t need to worry so much, we’re on a public trail anyways,” I tried to hint to Rubia, but she shook her head.
“An upperclassman always needs to watch out for her juniors.”
“Dude.”
She rolled her eyes as I glanced back to her, “I know, I know. But in the end Penny and I will be held responsible if something happens, which, yeah everyone collectively agrees probably won’t. Still. You get what I’m saying, right?”
Regan inputted sarcastically, “Mhmm, this is for you and not for us.”
Penelope behind her snickered. “Well, you could think about it that way if it makes you feel any better.”
I kicked aside a rock, the little trail pack I had brought along was held right against my chest and hip so it wouldn’t bounce and annoy me. I unbuckled it and swung it to the front of my body, unzipping the second layer and preemptively throwing a wet towel around my neck, still dry without water. My hair was all pulled back, the towel was at quick access to wrap it around my head in case I sweated, which was most definitely going to happen given the rockiness and the steepness of the path. I zipped and put my backpack back on as we kept moving at our relatively quick pace. Even in a club, we were Arc students with standards.
Along the sides of the hilly walls to our left and right were the studs of rocks and boulders, a canyon leading in one direction to the flatter and leveling expanse ahead. The monotonous orange and gold sands and stones of the desert were beginning to brighten with the rising sun beyond, green finally showing itself into the light with the few cacti and desert shrubbery around us.
Finally, the path ahead split into a couple roads.
“I’m pretty sure I read something like this on the website,” Penelope mused for a moment. “I think they said right is the easiest one, and left is the most confusing.”
I was immediately a fan of the right side. Less walking, please, my ankles were already starting to become sore.
“So,” Rubia raised her voice and repeated Penelope for a quick second, “vote of noise. Left side!”
Many of the guys cheered loudly, along with Regan, but she stopped when she caught my glare.
“And right side!”
I raised my hands into the air and yelled loudly, “Yeahhhhh!”
And then I also stopped, my cheeks flushed involuntarily.
To my dismay, Regan took the opportunity to have fun. “So, looks like Kali’s the only one who wants to take it easy.” I could already hear her infuriating witch-laugh in my head as she went on, “What a poor, unfortunate little baby. Maybe she needs to rest her feet or she’s going to get a boo-boo…—ow.”
Rubia chopped her on the head again.
An instant round of laughter caused me to shrivel up inside. Damn it, I was got good.
“Regan…”
—budubum, budubum…
All of a sudden a tension overcame everyone as a repetitive thumping noise interrupted the silence of the desert. Something was coming from the distance, behind one of the hills.
“Hey…” Joshua vocalized everyone’s thoughts, “did anyone bring a weapon?”
That small moment when no one said anything was unbearable.
Stolen story; please report.
I offered, “I have a retractable hiking stick in my backpack. Who’s proficient with the sword?”
A couple heads turned towards Marsh, who tersely approached me. “Hand one over. My abilities need a weapon to activate.”
I obliged and quickly unbuckled, unzipped, and pulled out the promised stick. Marsh pulled the stick out to its full length. “Is there any way to rig it so it doesn’t break or collapse?”
“Not that I can think of…”
“Don’t worry about Rubia and I,” Penelope added quickly, “we’re ready to use our abilities.”
“Yeah. Don’t worry—”
“I saw them!” A person to my far right, Corey, panting quickly, and startling me as I realized he wasn’t there a second ago. “Around a dozen or so bulls!”
Did he run all the way around the hill ahead just to scout them out?
“Do you know what kind? Regular, monster?”
—budubum, budubum, Bubum
His breathing was slowing down, but my heart was still beating fast. “I think they’re Stouthorned Bulls or something.”
Think, think, think. Kali, think…
“Then shouldn’t they avoid us?” I asked without believing my own words.
“That doesn’t look like ‘avoiding us’, Joshua in the back pointed out, a tremor in his voice. I turned to where his finger was pointed to, and where the growing noise of stampede was coming from.
—BADUM BADUM BADUM
Just as Corey had described, a dozen or so bulls headed straight in our direction, hellbent on running us down. How did I know? I just knew that I wasn’t going to be able to dodge them with the speed that they turned around the hill.
What Corey had failed to describe was that they were small bulls.
That they were Devilhorn Bulls.
I was drawing a blank.
//
4:54 A.M. // 10 - 25 - 2023 // Arc - Housing District
Starring Dean Harvest
//
I opened my eyes to the blank ceiling above. My room was dimly lit, shadows in the corners where my new mushroom lamp by the left wall couldn’t reach.
[‘Get out of my body.’]
I slowly sat up in bed. There was a potted plant on the window still, a little light positioned over it so it would never run out of light. It was still small, barely budding, a wisp of green in the brown dirt and blue pot.
Help me.
[‘Why are you still here?’]
Pulling my sheets off, I slid out to the left of my small bed, brushing past the potted plant and towards the desk. I pulled the chair out and sat down quietly. The backpack on the desk sat there too, waiting expectantly.
I don’t know.
[‘You stole everything from me.’]
Reaching into the backpack, I pulled out the textbook. Theory of Mana, by Cyril Wright. Its cover was hard, and clacked against the table when I opened it.
I didn’t want to.
[‘You are weak. Pathetic.’]
My finger faltered as I flipped through another page.
Please stop it.
[‘You’ll be the death of Mother and Father.’]
I won’t.
[‘It’s all about you, isn’t it?’]
It isn’t.
[‘Then is it for me?’]
…
[‘Is it for me?’]
…
[‘All out of Guides, aren’t you? You’ve relied too much on me. Thief.’]
I closed the book with a thud. It was quiet, but so deafeningly loud.
[‘You’re so weak.’]
… I know.
[‘Save Mother and Father. Save Grandma. You have to.’]
I know.
[‘Then do you know why you’re here?’]
Yes.
[‘Why?’]
To Awaken.
//
1:13 P.M. // 10 - 23 - 2023 // Arc - F-Wing, Refinement Class
Starring Zendolyn Ato
Featuring Reyenal Ato, Professor Carmela and Aythe Siena
//
========================
‘Jennifer Carmela’ has taken interest in you.
========================
Reyenal tapped my shoulder concernedly. “You good, Zen?”
I faced towards the front as Professor Carmela returned the seat back to its spot, the guys near her sucking in their breaths. “Yeah.”
“You’re paler than normal.”
“How can you tell?”
She whacked the back of my head, and reality settled back in as I hissed in pain. “What was that for?!” I whisper-yelled at her, but she rolled her eyes.
“Because you’re stupid.”
“What?!”
“Honestly, that was the first time I’ve seen her do that.”
“Students,” the professor’s voice quickly drowned out my anger, “did you read the agenda for today?”
I looked at the board in the back. What was… wait…
My eyes bugged out, but I remained silent. I was scared of that teacher.
What the hell did Test mean? I shuddered.
Professor Carmela lightly chuckled. “Well, Zendolyn, don’t freak out too much.”
I immediately became flustered when she called me out.
…
A minute later, after she had taken attendance, people were filing out of the classroom, led by the professor at the front. As I walked down the stairs I made the unfortunate discovery that I couldn’t see.
No, my eyesight was perfectly fine, but I literally couldn’t see anything except for the rippling back muscles of some dude in front of me. I disgustedly took a step back on the stairs, startling Reya behind me, but she quickly understood, and made a huffing noise.
The infamous speckled hair of the guy who had wrecked the training center with his buddy, and the handsome face to pair with, I felt out of my league to be in the same space as him. I couldn’t help but notice how his shirt clung to his sculpted body like saran wrap. There was almost no point in wearing a shirt at that point, with how much the shoulders were already tearing through his gym-bro white tank top and golden chain around his neck.
I was also keenly aware that he was looking at me. Well, not at me. Behind me.
I glanced back to see Reyenal, and then back to Aythe.
“Hey,” I said. “Can you move? You’re blocking the way.”
She looked pissed beyond my imaginations.
They had a staredown for a couple of seconds before someone called Aythe’s name, and he turned back and walked down the stairs with a cool air to him.
“*****,” Reya swore.
I childishly snorted. “What’s the beef between you two?”
I didn’t wait for an answer and followed Aythe down, most everyone was already outside and probably leaving without us.
In pursuit, she caught up to me and when we walked out the door into the hot air, she said quietly to me, “Every time I have a class with him, he’s always staring at me. I don’t know what’s ****ing wrong with him, but he’s creepy.”
I took a moment to look around, and spotted the sparkling gold hair turning around a corner past another nearby class, and sped towards it. “Yeah. That sounds pretty bad. What do you think that means, like, cliché-wise?”
We turned another corner into the main street towards the cafeteria. Reya didn’t answer, so I bluntly gave it to her. “He’s interested. Either because he likes you, or he wants to kill you. Or maybe both.”
She sighed, patting my shoulder to go faster, the sound of our feet against the pavement coming to a little jog to catch up, “Obviously I’ve thought about that already. And you know what? I think he sees me as a competitor or something.” She barred her arm out in front of me to stop me from getting in hearing distance as we slowed to a walking pace, in the blazing hot sun as we traveled somewhere towards the science and security buildings to the left of the cafeteria.
A few guys looked up from their watches at us from beneath the shade of the trees lining the middle of the street, probably sophomores on their free period or lazy juniors. I heard some yelling coming from the recently repaired training center behind us to the right, students hard at training, and then a few more yells. A wave of wind swished the back of my ear, and I pushed my hair back down as it attempted to stand up like reeds.
It didn’t take long for us to reach one of the research buildings, where we were led inside to the air conditioned facility, a blindingly front desk looking place, except there wasn’t anyone sitting at the front desk. Professor Carmela walked past it into a hallway to the left, a few doors a little agape that I was tempted to pull to a close.
She led us into another room, and I couldn’t see anything behind a mass of bodies. As I scooted into the crowd and made a little hop so I could see what was happening, what instantly stood out was the giant empty space in the middle of lots of desks, wires, and equipment. All of it looked science-y and tech-y and also very research-y. Most of the guys sort of clumped up around the edges of the tables, moving towards the side so others could fit in. The girls tried to peek around the guys’ shoulders, but they were too tall, so they resorted to shoving others aside to get a view.
Reya fitted in beside me, and she also tried to get a look, but then in the midst of all of the talking and muttering we quickly realized we were stuck in the center.
Not trying to cause a commotion, I stayed put and kept my ear out for any audio cues from the professor, which quickly came in the form of her knocking on the wall.
Everyone’s voices came to a steady stop, and then the professor began, “Today, we’ll be having a Full Person Assessment. Now, does anyone know what this means?”
I was baffled now. That didn’t sound like a pen and paper test.
If it wasn’t a written test… then was it a physical test?
Oh no.
I was already a little bit winded from running just that much to catch up to the other students, and now I had to do more of that? Why was Zen’s body so weak?
I caught a hand raising high into the air, noticeably much higher than I could reach. That meant someone tall.
“Go ahead, Aythe.”
Really, him?
“That means we’re going to be stuck through a machine, right?”
She laughed a bit, “No, no, not just that. I’ll give you guys a quick rundown of what you’re doing today.”
I shuddered.
“You’ll be having a mock interview, like what Zendolyn went through. He’s exempt from that. Then, you’ll be run through an individual and private potential and ability analysis. After both of these, you will be assigned an individual project to work on, made just for you. If you pass this project, your grade will go up. These are a part of the formula for being a good hire.”
The class was tense. All of these sounded very important.
“Simple, yes?”