Astorion

Aiffel & Grate's dorm

Time: 6:00 a.m.

Aiffel woke up to his phone's alarm to find himself under the bed in his dorm. "Whoa! ...hmph.", He freaked out before turning off the alarm and yawned, "One of these days, I'm gonna break my phone just for this..." Then he thought as he came out from underneath the bed, "The fact that I made it home safely baffles me. Good enough, then. *looks at the window when he gets sun-kissed" Man, today the sun is not on my side..."

"Hey, buddy. Slept good?", Grate asked as he came out of the bathroom.

"No matter what time I go to bed, whether it be 12, 3, or 5 a.m., I have to get up exactly at 6 O'Clock in the morning.", Aiffel raged, "*beep* Blood Games."

"Chill, bro.", Grate laughed, "Today is the last day. After that, even I'd like to go into a coma for an uncertain time."

"Yeah, right.", Aiffel said in annoyance.

Blood Games - Day 5, Grand Finale

Big Friday

Begin!

Aiffel and Grate put their beer cases on the table and then put out all the remaining beer cans in a row.

"5 left for me.", said Aiffel.

"Same here.", said Grate before asking, "Are you ready?"

"Are you sure we are gonna do this now? Really, I don't want to see another beer can. But I am aware that I must. I had more than ten drinks last night. I believe... We can do this later on."

"There isn't any other option. I bet you won't have time for it later. Either act now or never."

Maria came in. "Hey! What are you up to?", she asked.

"I'm drinking beer for Blood Games.", Aiffel replied, "I have five more to go."

"Then get to work.", Maria cheered him up.

"THREE, TWO, ONE, LET'S DRINK!!!", Grate hyped up.

"HELL YEAH, AIFFEL, GO! GO! GO!", Aiffel hyped up as well. Both opened up a can and drank.

"Haha, it sounds intoxicating.", Maria laughed.

"I'm just unleashing my inner bear so I can consume some beer.", Aiffel joked as he finished and opened another.

"I thought you were a lion.", said Grate as he finished and opened another as well.

"How can beer be such a motivating force?", Maria was bewildered.

"That doesn't matter.", Aiffel replied to both of them.

"You're really pushing yourself, wow.", said Maria as both of them finished their 2nd.

"No, I think I'm done.", Aiffel said to Maria as he got exhausted from it, got down on his knees, and panted. Then he asked Grate, "We should have drank more earlier, bro."

"Yeah, we didn't because we're *beep*!", Grate yelled.

"Language, bro.", said Aiffel, "You're not supposed to use any swearing in front of a lady.", which made Maria laugh.

"Yeah, stop not right here now.", said Grate, "3 more to go."

"You want some?", Aiffel, as he got back to his feet, offered Maria a beer.

"Not before class.", Maria declined.

"Hey, that's cheating!", Grate yelled, "Just finish it!" Then they opened up their 3rd and drank.

"On second thought, we drank earlier more.", said Aiffel, "There are 5 days in Blood Games and the task is for 50 beers. That's 10 a day. But, now that there were only 5 left today. That explains...", and finished his 3rd.

"Yeah", said Grate as he finished his 3rd, "And there's more and we're not gonna count the ones we drank on Ophel-", Grate kept going before Aiffel covered his mouth in time to stop him. Maria was puzzled.

Reminder: Maria hates Ophelia Pond girls.

Then they opened their 4th and drank.

"What is the proof of this task's completion?", Maria asked.

"The cans in the case.", Grate replied.

"How so?", Maria asked, "What evidence do you have that you drank all of them and didn't throw them away?"

"*drinks* It's about trust and loyalty.", Grate stated, "It's about a noob's honor to be truthful to his own, don't cheat, and keep it real. Because only the Que is real!"

Maria laughed, "Ha Ha! But I'm pretty sure Jack cheated!"

Then the noobs finished their 4th and opened up the last.

"Alright, one more.", Aiffel sounded drained.

"Is it wise to complete these all at once?", Maria asked, "I mean you could have 3 drinks now and save the other 2 for later."

"*drinks* Maria, there is nothing wise about me this week...", said Aiffel.

"At least you appear to be enjoying it, haha.", Maria rejoiced, "I'm pleased."

"You know what, though?", Aiffel replied, "I believe that I am. Perhaps not the insane portions, but overall, it's a good time."

And they finished drinking the 5th and collapsed.

Successfully accomplished Blood Games Task - "Drink 100 Beers" ✓

"DONE!", Aiffel panted while Grate burped.

"My God! Look at you two.", Maria laughed.

"Now, Maria. Thank you for waiting.", said Aiffel as he sat up before asking, "What brings you here?"

"Yeah, about that.", said Maria and winked, "Let's get sweaty."

"...huh?", Aiffel was puzzled as he and Grate looked at each other.

Then Maria and Aiffel went jogging on the campus. "You know, the first thing that came to my mind when you said 'sweating', I'll be honest... it wasn't 'jogging'.", Aiffel panted.

"Haha!", Maria laughed, "Early morning jogging is very good for health, you know? You should do this on a daily basis."

After running for about an hour, they decided to take a rest under a tree. "Man... I feel like going back to sleep again.", Aiffel panted.

"I hope you're enjoying your sweating.", said Maria, "Listen... I need a favor."

"...I'm all ears.", Aiffel replied.

"I want you to find out about the girl."

"Huh? *puzzled* What girl?"

"The girl Rocky is *beep* behind my back."

"What!? *startled* Are you nuts? I thought we were done with that matter and you've moved on."

"Move on!? *laughs* Hahaha!"

"If he can move on, why can't you? ...Look, he has made a decision and he's happy with it. It's over, Maria. Let it be."

"*annoyed* It's not over until I say it is over. Definitely, it's not until I find out who the *beep* is. And you are gonna help me find out."

"...Why me?"

"Because he considers you as his new archenemy."

"The counselors took off his Muscleverse presidential title and the Verses are blaming me for it. He has suffered enough. I don't wanna get into this any longer."

"Fair enough.", said Maria, "Then let's make a deal. You help me find out about the girl, and I'll teach you some presidential stuff."

"Presidential stuff?", Aiffel asked confusingly.

"Don't just aim for becoming a Que. Also, aim to become the president of Masquerade in the future. So, to become a president, you need knowledge about leadership and presidency."

"What's your first impression about leadership?"

"Leaders are made, not born."

"Okay, but I'm pretty sure Richard or Jack will teach me that in time."

"*laughs* Hahaha! You expect them to teach you that? Let me give you an example. Who is your father again?"

"Jack Sabbath."

"Jack, huh? ...So, tell me. What's Masquerade's code?"

"Only the Que is real?"

"You got that right, but tell me what it means."

"Oh? *perplexed* ...uhhh!"

"See? Right there. A father is responsible for teaching this to his son during the Blood Games. He didn't teach you this simple thing, and you expect him to teach you how to be a leader? *Aiffel upset* I'll tell you what it means. 'Only the Que is real' is their saying of 'Blood is thicker than water.' It means nothing is more important than a Que. *Aiffel surprised* Let me add something more. Probably they'll tell you about this at your evaluation party... Masquerade's public catchphrase. Do you know this?"

"...No?"

"*smirks* Bound by Blood, Driven by Loyalty!"

"*amazed* Wow!"

"Each frat and sorority have codes.", Maria stated.

"So, what's Queendom's code?", Aiffel asked.

"Sisterhood above all. No matter how much animosity there may be amongst sisters, a queen should always put her sisters first. This also means never betray your sisters."

"...Quinn's treatment of your pledges doesn't strike me as sisterly at all."

"Oh, please! It's merely some hazing. It's the same as what the Ques made you go through. You don't necessarily have to like it, but you must put up with it once before joining the gang. You won't ever become a Que if you don't understand that."

"Ok, I get it."

"In any case, that's our public code. 'Sisterhood above all'."

"Public code? Meaning, there's a secret code?"

"*wink* Probably?"

"...So what is it?"

"What?*

"Your secret code."

"*laughs* If I revealed the code, would it still be a secret?"

"Oh, right. *grinned with sweat*"

"That's right. 'Only the Que is Real' and 'Sisterhood above All', both codes share some similarities. Being a Que makes you a brother. And just like the Queens, brothers are always there for their siblings."

"A good code, indeed. However, the Ques haven't given me that impression. It's all rather bitter, really."

"Many things are hidden from view until you seek for them."

"*confused* Huh...?"

"*gets up* Thanks for the chat. Shower time. And yeah, I hope our deal is done. See you later!" and then Maria left.

Aiffel sighed and got up as someone called him from behind. He turned around to find Sarah.

"Sarah!? Wow! Hi!", Aiffel was startled.

"Aiffel, what are you doing this early in the morning?", Sarah asked.

"Jogging."

"Wow! ...I'm impressed. Why didn't you tell me? I could join you."

"Haha... So, what's up with you? What are you doing?"

"I'm also jogging. But I don't do it on campus."

"Oh, I see."

As they were conversing, Trojan, wearing a tracksuit, came out of nowhere and barged in.

"Sarah! Hi!", said Trojan.

"Ahhhh... Hey, Trojan.", said Sarah as she felt a little awkward.

"Party Pooper! *beep* Creep! ", Aiffel thought annoyingly.

"You must be running. I was running some laps. Durability at work, you know? Why don't you join me to jog back to the mansion?", Trojan remarked, placing a hand on her shoulder, while entirely disregarding Aiffel, acting as though Aiffel didn't exist.

"Um, alright.", Sarah accepted, said 'bye' to Aiffel, and then she was leaving with Trojan.

"So, are you coming to this epic party at our luxurious mansion tonight?", Trojan asked.

"I'll try.", Sarah answered.

"Grrrrr!", Aiffel grinded his teeth and thought, "No emotions make any sense to the guy. That guy irritates Sarah, and that much is visible. Does he not understand at all or is he simply evading? ...Well, can't say a lot about a guy who lacks brains."

A crowd had gathered to view something on the school noticeboard when it caught Aiffel's attention.

"What is it this time?", Aiffel thought as he approached there and rattled through the crowd. Masquerade published a picture of Aiffel and Grate beating up an Imperian on the noticeboard with the tagline, '...just cleaning out the closet.' When everyone in the area came to congratulate him, including Cherry and Nebula from Queendom, Moira and Isha from Books & Beans, Richard and Marlin from Masquerade, Lawrence from MMM, and even Gunther from Muscleverse, Aiffel felt quite uncomfortable. Gunther and Arumi were hanging out. Following that, Diantha and Lugar came over to him. Aiffel believed they had come to warn or confront him.

But Lugar smiled, pat on Aiffel's shoulder, and said, "Good job.", before leaving.

Diantha said, "Keep it up.", before leaving as well.

"Damn, this is bad.", Aiffel thought in anxiety, "This might be Astorion's pride, but this is an absolutely messed up situation. This way the news will spread all the way to Imperial. Cindy will feel bad."

Suddenly Grate came and announced, "You should look at me! The hero of Astorion! Your proud astorian! You can see clearly in the picture that I'm the one to beat that Imperian with a bamboo stick and send him to the hospital! So, you should all hail The King Grate the Great!", so did the astorians around him. "And also you should all hail the Queen Suzanna!", Grate continued as he introduced Suzanne as his new girlfriend to everyone. Arumi smoldered with resentment as if rage flowed through her like lava. At the same time, Aiffel felt annoyed by Grate and left.

Meanwhile, Irene was walking by the hallway. Out of nowhere, Jack grabbed her by the hand and took her to a side. "What's wrong with you?", Irene yelled.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?", Jack asked furiously, "Why are you *beep* behind my back?"

"I'm doing exactly what you deserve...after what you've done to me.", said Irene, "You got the nerve to pull me here. I'm gonna scream and expose you right here!"

"Do whatever the *beep* you want!", Jack groused, "You know me very well... You can't do anything to me. Rather you should be worried about what I can do to you. Don't bring Velvet between. Stop telling her things."

And so Jack was leaving as he lit up a cigarette.

"Hmph!", Irene smirked, "I didn't tell her about your bloody secret yet!"

Jack immediately pushed her by the wall furiously and grabbed her tightly by the throat with murderous intent. "Do you think I'm bluffing!?", Jack exploded in wrath as both of his eyes became all white like his eyeballs disappeared. Irene started to sweat and she was panting in great fear.

Suddenly Martin, a pledger of MMM, showed up and yelled, "Hey!"

Jack came back to his senses as soon as he heard him. Irene was tearing up with great relief.

"What's going on in here?", Martin asked, "Irene, do you know him?"

Irene kept silent and looked down.

Jack looked at Martin before looking back at Irene and laughed, "Him? ...that's fantastic! Then why do you still keep going with this? Cut me some slack and cut yourself some slack too...with him." Then he was leaving and spotted Aiffel entering the Ques house.

-The Ques House-

Aiffel was staring at the Bloody Pledge Board. Jack came in and asked, "Hey, hero. How's it going?"

"Hero?", Aiffel answered with a question.

"The one who makes it to the noticeboard is the hero of the day."

"Oh. But I think Grate is having it all the way."

"*opens a can of beer* Want some?"

"Nah... I already had 5 today. Completed 100 beers task."

"Not bad, son. How many tasks are left?"

"Just one. Commit a murder... So, I have something to ask."

"*drinks* Go ahead."

"If we complete the Blood Games without accomplishing only one task, can we still become Ques?"

"*drinks* Nope. Absolutely not. You'll definitely fail."

"*retorted* But, why!?"

"Manners?"

"*calmed down a little bit* But why, father?"

"This is a Blood Games rule. This is a Masquerade ritual... And we take our rituals very seriously."

"... *silent*"

"Tonight's the Grand Finale. Queendom is going to be here and we're gonna have an epic evaluation party tonight. Make the best of this day. *leaving* Good luck..."

Later. Aiffel arrived at the class. There were new faces in the class; Ophelia Pond girls. Ophelia Pond girls consisted of Pamela Rosette, Havana, Suzanne, Legato, Elara, and Zoella.

"Haha, there he is!", Elara laughed as she and Legato approached him.

"Who? Me?", Aiffel asked confusingly.

"You, indeed! I have to admit that anytime I think about what you did last night, I can't help but laugh!", Elara continued.

"Yes, such laughing stock.", Legato laughed.

"...what happened? Even Grate mentioned it last night, but I forgot to ask him. Since I was so inebriated, I have no memory of anything. What did I do?", Aiffel asked, even more perplexed.

"Wait. No one informed you yet?", Elara asked.

"Sorry, but we don't hire lions.", said Legato.

"...what?", Aiffel asked. Seemed like he had no clue about what she just told him.

"You freaking stripped off your clothes and yelled out, 'I'm a Lion! I'm a Lion!' while running around the club like a lion in only your underpants.", Legato revealed. Aiffel was flabbergasted upon hearing the revelation.

"Dude, you made Smithfield upset...I mean very upset. He was so repulsed when he tried to capture you and heard your pals chanting your name.", Elara added.

"Dammit!", Aiffel exclaimed in guilt, "I must sincerely apologize to Smithfield..."

"I don't know if he'll let you in again, but yeah. You should apologize to him.", Legato shared her opinion.

"Yeah... So, now that all of Ophelia Pond girls are here, are you willing to join Queendom just like Pamela did?", Aiffel asked them.

"I'm not interested in that matter.", Legato commented.

"Actually, no girls from Ophelia Pond want to join Queendom.", said Elara, "But I really don't know why Pamela joined them. Maybe she has her motives."

"Why is that?", Aiffel asked, curious, "Why don't you want to join Queendom? Do you resent them?"

"We had clashes with Maria and some Queens in the past, though not all of them.", Elara stated, "Rocky is Maria's boyfriend. You know that right? So Muscleverse came to spend some quality time with us at Ophelia Pond. Masquerade was the one to introduce Ophelia Pond to Muscleverse. Yes, they used to hang out together back in the day. One night, they invited them. And you know how news gets flushed around in here? It didn't take long for Maria to learn the truth. So, Maria straightforwardly told Rocky that if Muscleverse were to party at Ophelia Pond, then they would have to abandon partying with Queendom. And ever since then, Muscleverse never showed up at Ophelia Pond. That's how our rivalry began."

"Yet, Masquerade parties with both Queendom and you girls.", Aiffel commented.

"Well, Richard isn't Maria's boyfriend, right?", said Legato, "It's Rocky. It's normal for a girl to get jealous of her guy spending quality time with other girls."

"However, there are some things.", said Elara, "Velvet is a Queen, Jack is Velvet's boyfriend, and yet he frequently spends time with us."

"Yeah, I don't understand their relationship sometimes.", said Legato.

"True. Jack doesn't appear to have any interest in Velvet. He likes to spend time at Ophelia Pond.", said Elara.

"Mostly with Zoella.", said Legato.

"Yes, that's right!", Elara exclaimed.

"Who is Zoella?", Aiffel asked.

"She is one of us...", said Elara, "She is over there."

Aiffel was about to look but Catherina showed up in the class. "Settle down, everyone. Wow. Looks like there are new faces in the class. That's wonderful.", said Catherina.

Aiffel was about to take his seat when he noticed Grate's seat was empty. He looked around and there was no Grate in the class. Then he asked Suzanne about Grate, but Suzanne didn't know. The class started.

Later. Catherina was pointing out Dew and Gunther's mistakes, "No, Dew, that's not right. Do it once more."

"I don't understand why I have to learn how to spell this garbage.", Dew retorted.

"I agree with Dew! Autocorrect is available on our phones! Nobody writes on paper anymore!", Gunther agreed.

"Sometimes a class may not teach a practical skill, but rather serve as a demonstration of one's intellectual capability.", Catherina stated.

"...what does that mean?", Dew asked, confused.

"Yes! I can't recall the skills I acquired from this class last year, but I already demonstrated my proficiency.", said Gunther.

"Refresh your memories, Gunther. You failed your test.", Catherina sighed.

As soon as the class was over, Aiffel contacted Grate, but his phone was off. Then he searched the entire campus for Grate, but he was nowhere to be found. Aiffel found the Ques by a tree, so he went over and asked them about Grate. The Ques also had no idea where he was. Suddenly Aiffel got a call from an unknown number. So he received it.

"...hello?", said Aiffel.

"...you must be tired of searching for the one that we have.", the caller replied.

"Who is this? *Jack whispered to Aiffel to put it on the loudspeaker and so Aiffel did*"

"An Imperian... You boys got the nerve to come to our area and beat up one of us. Don't worry, we won't beat you up... We will kill you. *Grate screamed for Aiffel* ...hear that? I wish I could kill him right now, but I don't want to do this in your absence. So, if you want your friend alive, you must come. I know you will."

"Where?"

"...Sixxity!"

"*stunned* ..."

"Oh, mechanic. Just yesterday you refused when I made you an offer... Now my boss wants to make a deal with you up close."

"Who is your Boss?"

"Don't worry. You know my Boss very well. After all, my Boss is from Alkali...from your past? *laughs* You'll see when you get here. *hangs up phone*"

Aiffel was trembling in shock. He was distraught. Jack passed the cigarette to Aiffel and to everyone's surprise, he smoked.

"Wow, that's new...", Marlin commented upon witnessing Aiffel smoking.

"That's how much he is *beep* up with that one call?", Busquets joked.

"Alkali?", Jack asked Aiffel.

"What is Alkali if you excuse me?", Adam asked.

"Not now, Adam. Right now this is between me and my son.", Jack said to Adam and meant for the ques as well, "For your information, we went to the same high school. And this is a sensitive issue. Care for some privacy?" And then the Ques were leaving. But Aiffel told Richard to stay.

"Dude...Alkali?", Jack asked Aiffel, "I thought you, Ronnie, and the Yakuza finished off everyone from Alkali... You sure nobody survived?"

Aiffel stayed silent. He wasn't answering anything. He was just dazed in the sky.

©Copyright @ 2022 The Orion All Rights Reserved