Jian wakes with a start. His mind is a fluster over the dream he had the night before. “Quib... who is she....” he says as he looks around his room. The room is blurry since he isn't wearing his seeing glasses. His hand reaches back behind him to the desk next to his bed. He feels around for a few seconds before finding his eyeglasses. Jian unfolds his bifocals and places them on his face, and then looks around his dorm room.
The room has accommodations for four with a computer desk at the very end. Jian is a junior this year, and all of his other senior dorm mates had moved out when summer had begun. On that note, the school year had just began a week ago, and yet it already feels like winter, not that the weather would give that away, though. The room is painted a sandy, tan color along with the floors being made out of birch-like wood planks. His computer is stationed on his desk, which is top of the line since he is the son of a prominent computer industry's CEO. Even though he has a computer of his own, the private school's network doesn't allow him to go to his blog, which is why he goes to an internet cafe every week. Since his friend Carie doesn't have a computer of her own, he let's her use his computer to contact her parent's in England every few days. As such, she has her own key to get into his room.
He lifts his feet over his bed and is about to get up when he suddenly feels a pain in his chest. He grips his heart and feels the hole in his shirt from where the syringe had been injected into his heart the night before, but yet there is no blood, no hole in his chest, it's as if the injection site had healed itself up on it's own. “Oh yeah, that's right, the heart condition that I apparently have... if I had one at all....”
He then lifts himself up from his bed and walks over to his dorm room door. Before he exits, his cell phone begins to ring. He takes it out of his pocket and looks at the on-screen display, where it shows Carie's name in bold letters. He flips the touch screen and puts the phone to his ear. “Hello?” he says before Carie responds.
“Hello, Jian. Did you have a pleasant sleep last night?”
Jian let's out a loud sigh before responding. “Not really, last night was kind of a nightmare.”
“Oh, how so?” she responds in concern.
Jian remains silent for a few seconds, trying to decide on how he should tell Carie about last night's affairs. Eventually, while leaving through his door and into the dormitory hallway, he says “Listen, it's kind of a long story. Can we talk about it at the usual place?”
“No problem Jian, I was heading there myself. By the way, have you seen Boz today? I saw him in the courtyard earlier, but I had to go back inside of the dormitories for a second. When I came back out, he was gone. Do you have any idea where he might have went?” Carie says in response.
“I have no idea, honestly. Maybe he went back into the dorms? Either way, we're probably going to see him in class, you can ask him then. I'll see you in the courtyard, alright?” Jian says back.
“Eh, well, alright. I'll be seeing you soon, okay?” Carie responds as they reach the end of their conversation.
Both Jian and Carie say goodbye before Jian turns off his phone and exits the dormitory. He stands in the doorway for a second, allowing his eyes to adjust to the sunlight. After which, he moves to the side of the dormitories and begins walking to the center of the courtyard. Sitting on one of the benches, facing towards the dorms is the lean, fit figure of a female wearing the Unimori female school uniform.
Jian waves to her as he walks closer, almost immediately recognizing her as Carie. She waves back and yells. “Hi, Jian!”
Jian doesn't respond until he is within ten feet of the courtyard's center. “Hey Carie, did you sleep well last night?” he says while sitting down at a bench next to Carie.
“Yes, I slept rather peacefully. But besides that, I got us both something to quench our thirst.” she says before reaching into her purse. She pulls out two bottles with magenta-colored liquid inside of them. She sits one of the bottles next to her before handing the other bottle to Jian. “I found them when I was in the market district yesterday. They are apparently made out of pure pomegranate juice. I got five of them, one for me, you, Boz, Lera, and Oni.”
“Ah, alright, I'll try it out.” Jian says, reaching over and grabbing the bottle out of Carie's hand. Curious about the drink, Jian opens the screw top and takes a quick swig of the juice. He takes the bottle off of his lips moments later and exhales. “Not bad. Hey, how's Oni been now-a-days anyway?”
“Oh, she's doing great I heard. She just got back home a few day's ago from a vacation to Europe. She got herself a few trinkets while she was there, little odds and ends that she thought would look nice in her room....” Carie stops mid-sentence to take a drink of pomegranate juice before speaking again. “Besides that, what happened yesterday that had you so a fluster earlier?”
Jian let's out a sigh as he considers his response. Knowing Carie, she would probably have a panic attack if she heard about this mystery disease he had, or at least used to have. Nonetheless, he can think of no other way to dodge the truth. “There was this girl I met yesterday at the internet cafe. She had light purple hair and she had it up in a spiky knot behind her head. She sat at the console next to me just so that she could talk to me. I'm not really sure, but I think I'm falling in love with her....”
Carie let's out an “Awe” in a high voice, not expecting Jian's response. “Jian, that's so sweet. Does she know? Does she like you too? Tell me all of the details!”
Jian knows that he can leave the conversation where it is for now, but if he did that then Carie would eventually remember the fact that he made it seem like yesterday was a bad event when they were on the phone. “Carie, that's not everything.... Right after I saw her, I fell unconscious. Apparently I have an extremely rare heart condition that would kill me as soon as I fall in love. I was lucky that this girl was there, she was able to restart my heart and gave me an injection that would stop the disorder and let me fall in love again...”
“Wait... but, that's not....” Carie stammers, barely able to form her own words to this new information. “But shouldn't the doctors have known about this disease when you were born? This doesn't make any sense...! Who was that girl that gave you the injection!? I'll look her up online after class is over today!”
“Her name is Quib Triha. You can use my computer after class to look her up. I'm going to go to the internet cafe after class, so hit me up if you find out anything, alright?”
“Alrigh-” Carie's words are cut off when she hears the loud roar of a convertible near the gates of the school. “Wait, what's that-?” Her eyes go wide as she sees the occupants of the car.
Boz and Lera exit out of the car, Lera now wearing a different outfit then before. Lera is walking with an obvious limp, but nothing severe enough to warrant concern for it being anything other then a sore knee. Boz speaks for a second with the lady driving the vehicle, but their conversation is completely inaudible over the engine's roar. The car rockets off down the road moments later, leaving Carie and Jian wondering exactly what happened that resulted in them Boz leaving the school premises and what made them need a drive back home.
“While you're looking up Quib...” Jian says without even casting a glance at Carie. “I'll try to pry some information out of Boz regarding where he was this morning...”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Jian and Carie sit quietly in their seats inside of their homeroom. Jian is sitting in front of Carie, eyeing Lera and Boz over in the corner. As if the earlier entrance wasn't confusing enough, now Boz and Lera are acting like actual lovers instead of just casting subtle hints like before. Lera is obviously not putting weight on her left leg, almost as if it causes her pain to use it. “Hmm, this is very strange....” Jian says, his mind drifting between possible reasons for their odd behavior.
“Oh come on, Jian, you and me both know that they have loved each other for a long time.” Carie says from the seat behind Jian, patting him on his shoulder. “But the thing that is more strange is why Boz was out of the school premises so early, and why they both needed a car to get them back here. You seriously need to ask them after class!”
Jian puts his face in his hands as the oddities start to overwhelm him. He sighs and then responds. “Carie... something is telling me that this is only going to get stranger. The heart disease, that purple-haired girl and whatever happened with Boz and Lera happening within a two day span can't be pure coincidence.... Something else is on the way, something big, I can just feel it!”
The bell to begin classes jars Jian back up right. He looks at Boz and Lera and nudges his head in their direction to get Carie's attention.
Boz leans in close to Lera and gives her a hug before whispering something in her ear. After which he backs off, grabs his school supplies and gives Lera a wink before leaving out of the homeroom doorway. “This is incredibly weird...” Jian gets up from his seat and says over his shoulder as Carie gathers her school supplies “As I said before, I'll try to get a hold of Boz and see if he can tell me what's going on. You go look up Quib after class, alright?”
Carie giggles and gives Jian a fake salute. “Yes, Captain Orien, sir!” She then lowers her military stance and says “Hehehe, I will see you after class, Jian.” and leaves out of the classroom rear exit.
The remainder of the school day for Jian comprises of him going meaninglessly back and forth between his classes, barely able to focus or concentrate on anything other then what is happening with Boz and Lera. As the school day draws to a close, he exits out of his last class, hoping to catch up with Boz and gain some understanding as to why they are acting so unorthodox.
As Jian walks through the crowded hallways of Unimori to what he thinks is the school's exit, he sees further ahead inside of the large cropping of students what he thinks is Boz's brown hair. “Boz? Boz, I need to speak with you!” he says in a rather loud voice, hoping to draw his attention.
But the hallway is too loud, Boz doesn't notice his voice at all. Seeing as he can't get his attention through word alone, Jian starts pushing his way past the students, trying to get closer to Boz. Eventually, he catches up with him and places his hand on his shoulder. “Boz, thank-”
Jian's words are cut off when Boz grabs his hand and spins around at great speed. Jian goes wide-eyed when he see Boz's clenched fist in the air, ready to strike.
Luckily, Boz means him no harm. When he sees that the person trying to get his attention is his friend Jian, he lowers his fist and loses the flare in his eyes. “Oh, crap. Sorry man, I'm just a little on edge. Do you need something, dude?”
Jian let's out a deep, calming sigh, seeing as his friend isn't going to hit him for no reason. “Jesus, you scared me. Anyway, it's cool. I just wanted to know what happened earlier, with you arriving-”
Jian stops mid-sentence, seeing the look in Boz's eyes that means that he wants him to be silent. Since they are in the center of a crowded, private school hallway, Boz figures that telling Jian everything right now would have bad results. “Listen, Jian, I'll tell you everything. Just meet me at the library later, alright?”
Boz doesn't wait for an answer. He turns away from Jian and pushes his way through the crowd that had stopped to see what was going on a moment ago. Jian sighs, seeing that Boz is currently in some sort of turmoil. He then lifts his feet and continues on his way, looking for the school's exit.
Jian now stands in the courtyard of Unimori High. He looks towards the library and wonders whether he should go there and wait for Boz to arrive or just make his way to the internet cafe and talk to Boz later.
He eventually concludes that Boz must have had something to do before their talk in the library, or he would have told him to meet him there immediately. Seeing as he probably has some time, Jian decides to leave Unimori and make his way to the internet cafe in the city.
Time passes as Jian moves at a steady pace out of the gates of Unimori and through the residential district to the east of the school. Before he knows it, he is already at warehouse alley, his usual route into the city.
He stops at the entrance, realizing that something doesn't feel right about the alley today. He can't put his finger down on exactly why, though. Something just feels off to him....
Jian shrugs his shoulders, deciding that it's just his wits getting about him. He then continues into the alley, walking by the piles of scrap littered around the area.
His walk through the alley goes unhindered for about three yards. As he walks, he still has an uneasy feeling, as if something was off with the place to begin with. Suddenly, the air around him flickers, and then he sees in front of him a demonic version of warehouse alley. The warehouses are made out of a demonic, evil-looking black steel. The sky above him is painted a deep, blood red, with the few clouds dotting the sky now dark black.
The demonic realm he is looking into only lasts for a few seconds, with the air around him flickering again and him being sent back to the human world. Jian shuts his eyes and shakes his head, not really knowing exactly what had just happened.
The evil version of warehouse alley reappears as he opens his eyes once more. Fear permeates his mind as he sees this, to which he immediately shuts his eyes once more, but when he opens them again, warehouse alley has not returned to the way it once was. With confusion and fear in his heart, he knows that he can do not but one thing. He must continue.
He walks further into warehouse alley, his head and vision low in his attempt to not see this demonic vision before him. He does not know why this is happening, but he knows he must continue.
Jian sees the exit of warehouse alley coming within view as he occasionally looks upward. The only thing he can think of to stop this is to get to the end of warehouse alley.
As he nears closer, he hears a rummaging behind him, the sound of falling metal. He turns back and sees the image of Quib behind him. He looks towards her, his heart beating more heavily, but not stopping like before. He says to her “Quib, is that-” but is cut-off by her words.
“Jian,” Quib says through the silence of this world. “Please, come with me. This world is dangerous, and I don't want you to die here.”
Jian then hears another noise behind him, to which he turns around to the exit of warehouse alley and see Boz, Carie and Lera standing before him. Carie speaks to Jian, saying “You are not taking Jian away from us! His place is here with us, not with you! Jian, don't leave with her! Listen to me!”
The two sides then begin to argue, both against each other and attempting to pull Jian their way. Jian, in distress, hunkers his head into his hands and drops to his knees, the stress to much for him.
After a few seconds of arguing, Jian throws his head into the air and screams, the stress becoming too much for him to bear. He opens his eyes upon noticing that the argument has stopped. He looks around and sees that the world has inexplicably returned to normal, his friends and Quib nowhere to be seen. Looking around, he notices that a few people have stopped to look at him, but then continue on their way moments later.
Confused, Jian gets to his feet and then decides to continue with what his original plan was. He walks forward into the crowd, and then continues to make his way to the internet cafe.
He wanders the streets, nudging past the conjested groups of pedestrians, his mind still racing through possible reasons for why he had seen that. “Maybe it had something to do with that disease Quib mentioned...? No, that can't be it, she would have told me before she slammed that syringe into my heart.... Dammit, I'll have to look it up online later!” he thinks as he makes his way to the internet cafe.
As he walks, the crowd around him slowly starts to dissipate until there is no one left around him. He doesn't notice this, his mind too entranced into what had happened to him earlier.
When he comes within a block to the internet cafe, he starts to question again who exactly Quib is, but he is knocked out of his thoughts when a balding man runs by him into an alleyway nearby, almost knocking him over as he runs past. “Hey, what the hell was that for!?” he screams at the man, but all he hears in return is a horrid scream from the man as he disappears into the alley's darkness.
Seeing as something is obviously causing the man some pain, Jian finds it within the goodness of his heart to check on the man, at least hoping for an apology. With a grunt, Jian follows after him into the alleyway.
The alley is damp and dark, completely shaded by the overhead building. Following the man's repeated grunts of pain, Jian walks further in, eventually finding him kneeling behind a dumpster and huddled up in a ball. “Hey... are you alright...?” Jian asks the man while not exactly sure what is wrong with him. When the man raises his head to look at Jian, he starts to realize that following him was the worst thing he could have done.
There is a fixture on the man's forehead, a sign that looks like a eldritch sigil that has apparently been graphed from the very bone of his skull. There is a feral look in the man's eyes, signifying that his mind has been completely drained and is now being controlled by someone other then himself.
With a grunt, he reaches up and grabs Jian's hand, pulling him closer....