"I hope you'll understand one day" Those were the last words I heard during my normal life, I never understood what it meant, even now. Eventually, after what felt like a lifetime, my eyes opened, and yet, I had no clue what I was looking at, it looked like a ceiling, yet, in my mind, I was meant to be dead, and here I was, I could feel the bed under me, I could hear the flipping pages of a book every now and again.

"Oh, you're alive" I heard a seat move and then, a black-haired guy who I assumed to be in his thirties looked at me. "Welcome back to the world of the living" I went to sit up until my entire back felt like a hammer hit it. "Woah...relax, you just died"

"Wh-who...are you..?" Though it hurt to speak, I managed.

"Kai, do you remember your own?"

"Lee..." He waited "Just...Lee"

"You don't remember anything?"

"I remember...it's just, my friend's family took me in"

"Ah...right..."

"So...where am I?"

"Eaxura, it's a home to over 500 million people" It had to register for a moment, what I just heard didn't sound right in the slightest. "It's more of an estimate, but, it's close to being right, listen, all of this will be explained, right now, I need to see if you can stand if you're able to talk" I grabbed the railing beside my head and begun to pull myself up, it felt like I was being shot a million times over, yet, I was able to manage, and although I had to lean on the railing, I was sitting up. "A bit more, come on" He didn't help at all "You got a nice surprise waiting for you, but I ain't gonna carry a lifeless body" With one more painful push I managed to stand, yet, I was now resorting to leaning on the walls. "Good enough, come on now" I looked around the room as I limped my way forward, there were a few things, I was connected to a high tech machine until I woke up, there were a few cabinets filled with things, a wheelchair, and as we almost made it out of the room, a closed door with a caution sign.

"Isn't that...?" As we left the room, a few people commented on us, yet, I couldn't tell who exactly they were referring to.

"Shut up! They're gonna hear"

"Focus on the cleanup, the trials need to be perfected this year" An arm grabbed me and turned me to a door.

"You were straying too far"

"Sorry..."

"Whatever, so, beyond this door, is something that's going to seem unreal"

"I think being brought back from the dead is unreal enough"

"Well, yes, but there's more...nevermind, just go in" I grabbed the knob of the door and twisted it, moving myself forward so it would open, as I took a few steps into the room, I was greeted by three others conversion with each other. A familiar pink-haired girl who was hyper, the blonde girl who might as well be a doctor already, and the blonde guy who was itching to get back to work, all of them however, were my childhood friends, they were each bandaged differently, based on how they died when we were human.

"How..." Even though I was quiet, Sam perked up and saw me, if she could she would probably break through the ceiling, instead though, she jumped up and ran to me ready to tackle, until she was met with the hilt of a sword, sadly, with the momentum she had, she couldn't stop herself from hitting it. I jumped back slightly from it, Kai seemed unfazed, and Sam seemed annoyed.

"Come on! Really?" She held her nose

"Kid can barely walk as is, give it a rest" She didn't respond, at first I thought it was from the response I got, but I noticed she was looking up at my head. "Oh right, I forgot" He grabbed a piece of my hair and pulled it forward.

"Heyuh!" I staggered forward a bit.

"Look" It was hard to see considering my hair was still close to my face, but even I could see that it changed color to a pink-ish white.

"Looks good on you!" Sam was approving of it.

'That's because it's similar to yours" Nicholai walked over with her arms crossed "Though I will say, it's way better than the green...I do have to ask, Lee is the most physically fit compared to the rest of us, why didn't he wake up first? Even if it's not being fit, Sam would wake up before us considering her energy"

"It's hard to explain, Lee was shot through the eye, hence your vision"

"My vision is fine"

"You have a bandage over your right eye"

"I...do?" Kai looked confused, with a slight ting of worry.

"Nevermind...Anyways, if you haven't noticed by us bringing you back, magic is a thing, however it works slightly differently, Bonds, Links, Corruption magic, magic, DT Magic"

"DT Magic?" Kenneth commented

"That's what urked you?" Kai sighed. "Listen, let's get the bad part out of the way, you all are no longer human, instead DTs, resurrected beings reborn to live the life they couldn't, however, there's currently a war going on between The Reunion, and us, it's how our magic has gotten more lethal or potent, there's another threat, called corruptors, they have a way to nullify our magic and with every person they kill, another person is brought to their side, they look nothing like humans, more so horrific beasts brought to life, because of that, I have to say, the purpose of DTs have been lost, instead, we've been fighting wars in other worlds, multiverses, and dimensions, and thus, even though I don't want teenagers to, I still have to ask if you're okay with joining" It was a lot to take in, by joining we'd become soldiers. "Now, I'm not saying I'm gonna kill you guys if you say no, if you say no, we'll just get you all housing and we'll handle it with the people we have, it's up to you all" I was waiting for everyone to give an answer first, yet, they all looked to me.

"What?"

"Well, you were practically the leader during our human lives" Sam chipperly reminded me.

"Well...Not all of us are fighters..." I looked at Nicholai and Kenneth, Sam could fight, but...she had a bit of an issue when it comes to that.

"We don't have to be" Nicholai looked at Kai "There's healing magic no?"

"There is" Kai quickly responded

"Then I'll be your medic, and Kenneth can handle any tech."

"You all get magic and I still gotta use tools...also...you still owe me my bot"

"Dave? He's being fixed"

"The hell you do!"

"Listen, Dave won't be able to keep up being a normal bot, so we're adding the capability for him to get links and bonds too" Kenneth calmed down a bit after he was told that, seemingly understanding.

"The links and bonds...what are they?" Sam asked.

"Well, they can typically be used interchangeably, but they do have their differences, Links...actually, we'll start with bonds...bonds, are what you all have with each other, when you learn how to use the HUD you'll probably see it, bonds are made from special connections with others, whether it's enduring a nightmare together, fighting a war together, or simply spending a long time with them, there are typically 5-7 levels of a normal bond, and the more special ones reach 8-10, bonds can form new abilities...an example, Lee, Sam, your roses" Sam looked a bit stunned by the comment. "Sam tends to roses, and Lee helps, even eventually growing his own plants and roses, though this is probably far off, you could probably form an attack or support move based on it, like...maybe burning a fire into a rose...or using roses to heal each other, regardless, both parties are needed to use it" I recall my mind numbing the longer the explanation went. "Links do not require a strong bond, and instead can be formed, however, a strong bond automatically forms a link, links are ways to mimic your link's powers, if Sam has fire moves Lee doesn't, they link, and now they permanently have each other's powers, there is a downside...I'll use video game terms to better explain it, in RPGs or other games with magic, you have MP, when you use your link's power, you use your link's MP, not your own, while us DTs can still use magic without MP, it instead exhausts us overtime, there have been links where they share MP, as in their total MP goes together...though, that's less common, but not rare either. Links can form from anyone, as they are manually set, thus, if it comes down to it, you can link with an enemy to take out a greater evil, and while links can be broken, it's more difficult. Understand?"

"S...sorta?" Was the only response Sam could give.

"You asked, you got it explained"

"That's true..."

"So, what's the answer here?" Once again, the four looked to me for a reply

"We'll join" Kai smiled

"Good to hear, Nicholai and Kenneth aren't fighters right? In that case, we'll give them a quick training session, for you two" He looked to Sam and I "We'll go meet Raymond, Neal!" Soon, a person wearing a uniform with a box with an antenna on the back, walked in "Take care of Nicholai and Kenneth"

"Understood sir! Come along now" With a bit of hesitation, Kenneth and NIcholai went with who I assume is Neal, leaving us with Kai.

"Let's get going, you two aren't gonna be used to warping or portal hopping, so we'll take the human way" Kai led the way for us, it didn't take long to leave the building, but when we did, it was startling to see how massive this place was, I could see tall buildings miles away, and a bunch of people were walking about. "Welcome to Eaxura, home to 500 million people, and not a single person is crowded" We walked with Kai, while Sam and I just gazed.

"ooha...if only I had my camera" Sam slouched a bit, slightly pouting.

"By the way, what exactly happened? I get how you all died, but I don't exactly get what started an outbreak"

"We don't know either, we kept searching for an answer for two years...never found one"

"I see..." It was a long walk, it wasn't silent though, people and kids were running about, everyone of them acted like nothing had changed...not only that, but some of the kids didn't look at all related to the parents they were with, i guess while some of the parents may have lived...a lot of children would die in the outbreak...schools included...

"What's wrong?" Sam leaned over so she was in my vision, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Just thinking, about if we had gone home that day"

"Oh...I think about it too, two years of searching and I never found them, not as zombies, not as humans"

"And we wouldn't keep you apart from your family" Kai pitched in the conversation.

"How would you know though?"

"The pink hair, it's natural, just like how Lee's new hair color is his natural color"

"The hell it is!"

"Believe what you want, and stop complaining, it looks good on you" I didn't comment back, looking closer, while there were still a decent amount of people with your average natural hair like, black, brown, ect, ect, the rest had colored hair, and the families that looked related, the kid would always have the colored hair even if a parent had normal hair...was colored hair more of a dominant trait? Maybe that's why I had this hair, maybe my mom or dad had it...but that meant my hair got dyed...with something stronger than normal hair dye...as even coloring my hair green had to be done every few months, but not the brown hair I was 'born' with. With my pondering getting cut again, we had arrived to what looked to be a massive stadium, I couldn't see the top, hell, the entrance looked like a mini pebble compared to the rest of the thing if I recalled right.

We stepped in the building, people who were clearly from different walks of life from each other, were sitting around the room, either talking with each other, or prepping whatever weapon they had. We however, didn't wait, we got into an elevator and started going up.

"You have the power to summon your own weapons you know" His blank expression didn't change, he just looked forward at the door, waiting for it to open. "Each person's weapon is linked with their soul, breaking it is near impossible, and you can summon it mostly wherever...though I can't say what it is, as it's different for everyone" I tried making a motion, like grabbing a weapon from nowhere, yet nothing happened, I could hear Kai scoff, yet he made no comment, I kept trying a myriad of things until the ding of the elevator alerted us we had made it to the floor we wanted.

Kai didn't really wait for us, he walked out the elevator and towards a door at the end of the hall.

"Need me to slow down?" He said it in a condescending tone.

"I can catch up"

"I don't doubt that" The comment was instantly after I spoke. While we were still catching up, Kai made it to the door and knocked on it "I got em"

"Come in!" Though it was very faint, the voice was still audible. Kai opened the door as we had finally caught up. We stepped inside and looked around, it was a decently sized office, with the desk in front of the window, bookcases were to the walls beside the door frame, and a small table was close to the desk, with a book on it. A man, with what seems to be the same age range as Kai, was standing next to the small table, a moment after seeing us, he went to his desk and sat down. "Welcome, it's not much, but this is where I am most of the time" Sam and I took a few steps forward. "You probably have a lot of questions, so feel free to go ahead and as-"

"Eaxura, what is it?" I asked the moment I got a chance.

"It's a dimension, and a city, we use the term Eaxura as both, Eaxura is our massive city, divided in 4 districts, each led by a district ruler, we have a few people defending it too, the CEF, CSF, DTs, we had another group...but the ship they used was destroyed, and repairing it takes years"

"What're the CSF and CEF?" Sam asked her own question.

"Corruption Suppression Force(CSF) and the Corruption Elimination or Extermination Force(CEF), though, the CSF's name is sorta misleading, as they don't only deal with corruption, but acts more as a...police force in a way, a very talented police force, helping and aiding multiverses"

"Should I assume our multiverse has a name like games too?"

"You'd be right Lee, ours, is Zullo"

"Zullo?" It wasn't the name I expected...

"We didn't name it, DTs have been around for lifetimes, the people who named it are long gone, the name will grow on you, anything else?"

"The links, how are they formed" I had only one more question after this.

"It's a painful process, however, that's only for creating the cuff"

"Cuff?" Sam chipped in

"Links are like chains linked to wrist-cuffs, the cuffs only appear when links are being used, or when you summon it, its design changes on the person you're linked to along with its capabilities"

"One more thing"

"Go ahead"

"This stadium, is it for the trials I heard about earlier?" Raymond nodded

"We can't accept less than par DTs, as such, we hold trials, as the name suggests, it's like a...damn what is it...just think of it like surviving in the wild against other people, it's typically something that lasts a few days, last time we did it, someone tried breaking in and causing chaos...but nevermind that, the culprit was dealt with, to win, it's simple, through any means, be top 4, everyone is a rookie to DT powers, and all the magic and what not, there will be guides that you can upload to your HUD"

"What if we don't find the guide to open this HUD?" Raymond shook his head at Sam

"The HUD will open automatically when you get a guide...overall though, that's it, anything you wonder about will be answered during the trials, or after it"

"Actually" I spoke up once more as Raymond was getting up. "Why us?"

"Hm?"

"I may be wrong, but, people are waiting downstairs, probably waiting longer than we have, so, why are we prioritized?" There was a second of silence before Raymond responded.

"DT Magic, tends to be unique to one person, though sometimes there are copies...although those have slight differences...an example would be, cloaking their entire team, or making their eyes detect heat signatures like an IR sight, you get it...yours, is something we have to worry about"

"And why is that?"

:"If I told you, then when you find the guide on how to use it, you'd get people hurt"

"Wha-

"It's harder to use magic when you don't know what the magic is, that's another thing, besides for DT magic, and other rare occasions, so long as you know how to do it, and how to look while you do it, and have done it before, you can use the power, meaning, if you were somehow to forget your memories and your powers get reset, or maybe another timeline begins and you're still conscious of the previous one, you can use the power"

"Other timelines?"

"Some people get the power to time travel, thus creating new timelines, however, sometimes people mess up, and drag everyone with them"

"So instead of just rewinding, they create a branch in time" Raymond nods at what I said

"Perhaps it was a way for the gods to prevent paradoxes, like killing your younger self or something"

"Gods?"

"Zullo has gods, this entire multiverse, is filled with gods, Zaya, Ichor, Askeesh, ect, ect, though, they went missing ages ago...I wouldn't doubt someone finds them, there's only so much room, oh, if you find them though, be careful, they're gods for a reason." The two of us nodded "Also, Kenneth and Nicholai will be sent into the trials with you later on, probably a day or two after...so, will that be all?"

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"Yeah...think so" I crossed my arms, all of this, was much more than just a lot, even now.

"Before I forget" Out of nowhere, Raymond summoned two IDs "This is for you two" He handed the IDs to me, they had our pictures and names...when the hell did they get this? I thought to myself, yet, I considered the idea that, they knew when we died, perhaps they just used our school pictures. I handed Sam hers while I clipped mine to the center left of my jacket. "There's not really a uniform for DTs, that's mostly for CSF, so just wear what you want. Oh! You two know what loadouts are right? Like a preset in a game?"

"Yeah?" I replied while Sam clipped the ID on her jacket.

"Well, there's a thing for that with us, but it's more so for outfits" Without delay, and without a second even passing, Raymond's outfit changed to a more formal uniform "Tada" His voice was monotone. "The way to do it is easy as well, but it requires the hud. That's all, good luck, and find your way"

"Find our way?"

"Me and Kai have to go somewhere and deal with something important, it's not a far walk, just take a left after you leave" I turned around to Kai who was already gone.

"Guess we better get to it!" Sam started walking before she came to a stop. "Wait...you said be the last of a few teams standing, does that imply we could just die again...or that we have to kill other people?"

"Yes" Raymond said with a straight face, there was a moment of silence until he continued "But don't worry about dying or killing, So long as the tower stays up, none of us can die in Eaxura from each other"

"But we can die from outsiders" I made the point

"Yes, however, Eaxura can't be warped to or even seen on any teleporters, warping, magic, at all, unless we allow it." Even I can't deny that's one good defense, how they did it though, even to this day I wonder. "Now, get out there and win!" It was worrying that we had someone so important rooting for us...and the reason being unknown.

Regardless, we got back on track and went out the room, taking a left.

"I guess in a way we're gonna be heros!" Sam seemed somewhat happy, yet somewhat gloomy. "I didn't think it would involve hurting others though"

"Do you think you're gonna be alright?"

"Hm" it wasn't exactly an answer

"Sam"

"hmhm?"

"I need a yes or no"

"I don't know" it was an answer that I had to take, especially when we came across a bunch of different teams talking, some groups were just two people, some up to eight. Each had their unique flair to them, whether it's their weapons, outfits, whatever

"So we're not taught to summon our weapons, but they are..." I mumbled under my breath. Some of the paths were blocked by the different teams, except for one, considering it the only way to go, we started our walk. The floor was all wooden, yet it sounded off, like it was something much denser, I didn't see many shadows either, so the lights must've been coming from below and above, what really got my attention were the walls, they were made of something I had never seen before, yet when touched, it felt warm and smooth, contrary to its appearance of being strong.

"Damn man, that kinda attitude is why we lost last time" While we were walking along the small hallway, we came across two other people, a guy with blue hair, and another guy with brown, spiky hair. It seemed the blue haired guy was scolding the other.

"The hell're you on about? It ain't my fault the guides don't come back after being taken, we weren't told anything" Sam and I tried passing them without being noticed, yet they instantly spotted us.

"Oh! I guess you two are gonna be in the next trial?" I was going to continue on and ignore them until Sam grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"You bet we are! We're gonna win too!" I guess the competition was hyping her up, not a bad thing. She let go of my arm when I stopped making an attempt to move.

"Hmhmh, well, top 4 win, I got an idea, you two make an alliance with a group yet?"

"Not really" I joined the conversation

"Well, there's no reason to betray each other, as top 4 wins, and we're both small groups" They were right, and they know a bit more than we do.

"If we come across each other, I don't see why not" The blue haired guy seemed pleased by my answer.

"Alright then, take care you two, oh! Actually" He took out a shot, a button on the top of it, a glass to see what's in it, and the two caps, blocking the button, and the top, where I assume the needle was.

"Yeah, cause I'm gonna take random drugs from a guy" He sighed, as though he's done this before, using his mouth his took off the needle cap and held the other cap and shot in his left hand, he took out a knife and made a small cut near his stomach, Sam immediately turned away with a shudder, the guy injected the shot, and after a few seconds, the cut had instantly healed itself.

"ew'ts ugh stiiim"

"Huh?" Was the only response I could give to that. He took the cap out of his mouth and spoke again.

"It's a stim" He took out another identical looking one, although this time I took it. "Don't worry about blood type, dosage, or hell, even abusing this, it has a way to stop itself, magic is one helluva thing"

"Attention!" Like an intercom, someone spoke, yet, it felt like it was more in our heads. "Those attending the DT Trials should enter in the next few minutes."

"Guess this is where we split" The guy with the spiky hair noted.

"Seems that way" And the blue guy responded. "Hey, you two take care, they don't really guide you, so it's all about what you think is right"

"Hopefully we meet later on!" Sam spoke cheerfully waving goodbye as the two of us continued down the hallway.

Yet, as soon as the two of us step foot into the next room, we came out of a tent, and into a winter forest.

"U-...um..." Sam was speechless as much as I was. Our jackets only let a cold feeling through, and not a dying freeze.

"Well...something tells me we weren't here before" I said, clearly making a joke. Sam was going to respond, until a chime rang out, and then, the same voice from before.

"Aaaaalrighty everyone, we have some returning teams, along with many more newcomers, remember, no one actually dies here, so show no mercy! Top 4 teams win, so maybe a little mercy is alright. Regardless! Give it your all! This year's season is winter! We got some people who are used to the cold feet here, so hopefully they use it to their advantage"

"Is he referring to us?" The day we died...it was during the winter, snow had been piling up on the school roof...the place I got shot, I tried to remember their face but couldn't, instead, a painful headache washed over me, I held my head while the guy kept talking.

"Across the trials there are a few caches that can give you an advantage, but your main weapon should always be the one you can summon, take care now! And goooood luck!"

"Do I sound li-" Sam turned over to me while talking, until she saw me holding my head. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah...it's just, when I try to remember what happened...who shot us...I can't...yet I remember everything else."

"O-oh...Are you gonna be okay?" I nodded, I could see some hesitation in her movement, yet, she accepted my answer anyhow. I looked around the area we were brought to, there was a campfire ready to be lit, a few small logs to burn, along with a chest, I crouched down to one knee and opened it, what was revealed to me was a unique looking pistol, I took it out and inspected it. "Just one round?" Sam commented on the fact it was a break action, there were no other bullets, no other mags...not that it could take any. I noticed an engraving on the pistol 'Embrace the Stars'

"What is that meant to mean?" I stood up and closed the chest, making a swiping motion, and with it, a weird menu appeared, like floating screens in front of me. "What the hell!?" I jumped back slightly, on the main center screen was information about the pistol, the only noteworthy one being, that the pistol's damage was marked with an infinity symbol. I swiped upwards, opposite of what I did before, and the screens went away, I repeated it, yet instead it was more of a menu you'd see on a pause screen

Map

Party

Inventory

Skills

Bonds

Database

"What the..." I looked at it all, a part of me understood it, I was thinking of the pistol when I swiped, thus giving me info about it...then I thought about the HUD while I swiped, thus the menu... There were a few screens with the menu, yet, they all seemed passive, not doing anything, I guess I would learn to use them later.

"What're you doing?" Sam looked at me confused

"The...screen?"

"What...screen?" I swiped the HUD away...I wanted to try something, instead of swiping down, I swiped to my right, the HUD appeared again, though this time, a bit less transparent. "Oh!" Sam was startled a bit, but it was clear she could see it now..."So cool!" She mimicked me, and thus her own HUD appeared. "It really is like a game" I was going to say something until she spoke out again "And I know, I shouldn't think of something important like a gaaaame"

"Heh, alright then, no need to say it like that" I spoke jokingly. "What to do now..." There were a few paths, though most of the 'roads' were covered in snow, making it hard to see what the road actually looked like, but not enough for the path to be unwalkable.

"You know what they say!" Sam raised a fist in the air "Right, is always right!"

"Yes, good job knowing your directions"

"Pri-..er no, I actually walked into that one...Onward!" Disregarding my teasing, we went to the path that would be considered the right one in more ways than one "Wonder where these guides are"

"Right, in snow like this it'd be hard to see anything small, especially if the pages are white as well." I scanned the road we were walking on, nothing I could see was there. "That, or they may not even be paper, it's more likely to be stuff for our HUD, in the database section"

"I was just gonna say that." I looked back down at the pistol I found, I only had one shot with it, it had to be one that counted, or maybe the winning shot of the trial...actually, if it worked outside the trials, could I take down anything with this gun? Sam started humming a tune, it sounded familiar, yet I couldn't figure out what it was. It most definitely wasn't from a movie, maybe from a game? It took just a moment until I remembered the tune, it was one I had played before, way before.

"Still remember that?" I looked over at Sam, who was smiling while walking.

"Course! First song you learned on your guitar right?"

"First song I made"

"Isn't it both then? I mean, you have to learn the song in order to play it, but you also made the song...so..." I could see her point, it was one that actually made sense in a way.

"I guess so, wonder where they went..."

"The Guitar or Kenneth and Nicholai?"

"Obviously the guitar, it's what we were talking about, though, I am worried about what those two are doing"

"Good, I thought you were being heartless for a moment." I sighed at that response

"You and Nicholai, really"

"It's all of us"

"Yeah yeah" The walk returned to silence, we don't even know what we were walking to, we just kept going, until of course, a blockade prevented our progress.

"Huh...well...I can't climb that..." Sam dejectedly spoke.

"I think I noticed that, the thing is almost triple our height"

"No it isn't! I ain't that short"

"Stand up against it then"

"No"

"Alright then" I looked to our left, then to the right, the wall seemed to go on for ages, and an attempt at going through the door in the middle proved pointless as it was locked.

"Why have a path if it's gonna be locked anyways"

"We haven't finished a quest line yet"

"And you say I shouldn't think of things like a game" She crossed her arms while looking smug. "Really though, guess we head back?"

"Well, we could try climbing a tree and jump over" Sam looked at a tree, saw how close they got, and started walking to one. "Guess that's the plan we're going with.

"Hold on! I'll go by myself, if I can't open it, you follow" I stopped walking.

"Alright, be careful then" Using the branches, she climbed up the tree, once she got to a point where it looks like she could make the jump she hugged the tree with her back and hyped herself up. "If you fall I'll catch you, don't be scared" That seemed to be all she needed, so with new determination, she ran across a branch and jumped off of it, it did however, cause the branch to snap off the tree and come down at me. I tried moving backwards to avoid it, yet a small part of it still hit me on the neck, I felt it, what I did feel, was a warm feeling slowly dripping from my neck. I sighed before looking back at Sam, it seemed she just pulled herself up onto the wall, that was until we came to an issue.

"Uh...how do I get down?"

"Are there any divots or holes on that side?" She peered over the edge to check.

"Yeah, some"

"When you go down, catch onto the one closest, then drop, then repeat, either that, or drop down and I'll catch you, then I'll do it"

"Nah, I'll be fine" I saw her drop down, and after a few noises, the door had opened. "Ta-da!" Her legs were slightly wobbling.

"Miss a catch?"

"One...at the end" She was honest with her answer, there wasn't a reason to lie after all.

"Are you gonna be okay? Walking wise?"

"Yeah, I was able to walk to the door just fine...it's somewhat wobbly, but I'll be okay"

"Are you sure?"

"Mhmh"

"You mean it?"

"Yup yup" She shook her legs a bit before her standing returned to normal.

"If you say so" I let her start walking first in case something came up, but her walking remained normal.

"We're on our waaaaay, we're on the waaaay" To make sure there wasn't any silence, she began doing what she was.

"You know, I'm fine with it, but we're against other teams."

"Not right now there's a ceasefire for a few hours"

"Where'd you see that?"

"It's hard to see, but when you summon the hud, in the corner of your eye you can see stuff" I swiped my hand down to summon the HUD "We're on the roaaaad, to cross the woooorld" In the corner of my sight, I could see a few things. Me and Sam's HP and MP in the bottom right, a small map on the top left, and a few symbols on the right, one being messaged. They weren't hard to see, however, if you weren't looking for them, they'd be difficult to notice. I did have a mark of 2 on the messaged, I tried a few things to open it, however, simply thinking, 'open messages' seemed to have worked.

Welcome to the Trials-Trial Host

Can you see this?-Kenneth Broker

That was how it was presented until a notification appeared

'Current contacts consist of people you have given Nicknames too, would you like to register it now' Back then I was weirded out, until I realized the HUD was a part of my mind, thus, knowing what I call people. I decided on yes, and there was only a minor change, with Kenneth Broker, being just Kenneth, along with Nicholai Broker and Sam Calstianos, just being their first names as well. I first looked at Kenneth's

From: Kenneth

To: Lee,Sam

'Testing, testing...oh god this is weird, Neal mentioned a keyboard, yet he wanted us to try just thinking of the message we wanted to send, uh, dunno what to say, how's it going with the trials? I assume well, Nicholai wanted to make sure you two are well, and if you've gotten hurt at all to send her a message just in case, so she can tell you all how to handle it, then again, I've noticed we're a bit more resilient than we were as humans...Wait, how do you end these things? Just say so? Oh!'

The message ended then, I guess there's some command to end the message, I assume it was simply 'End Message' I went to the next one

From: Trials Host

To:Trial Attendees

'Goood afternoon people! As like the other trials, there will be a 12 hour ceasefire to allow any newcomers to get their bearings! This does not mean you have to work together, nor does it mean you can't steal, what this means is simply not to attack any other trial member, the ceasefire does not include animals.'

"There are animals?" I looked over to Sam, who was continuing her thing. "Actually, I guess it makes sense for hunting" Eventually Sam's song came to an end. I was wondering what made her stop until I realized we somehow went back to our campsite...it was the exact same, our footprints, the chest being closed, yet not locked.

"Um...do you think it was locked for that reason?" Sam turned around back to me, she looked guilty.

"It's alright, don't feel bad, we weren't warned at all, though it makes sense, we most likely got our camp at the edge of whatever map there is, if we head back it'll probably be an actual path.

"So it was locked so people don't cheat?...How could you cheat with that?"

"Think about it, if we know there are people approaching, we can go through the door, and we'd warp right behind them."

"Oh...I guess that's a way...ooh, I've been meaning to ask, what do you think our magic is gonna be?" Without words we decided to stop for today, with a quick check in the tent we already had some food and water, and we could try learning things on our own anyways, no one wants to wonder in the dark after all.

"Yours is fire"

"ooooh, are you making an assumption on how I act?"

"Hehe, I was kidding"

"I know~, yours would probably be some inspire move like any leader does in games, like 'All allies do 10% damage'" She tried making her voice deeper to mock a video game text read, yet with her high-pitched voice, she just sounded slightly deeper than the average girl her age.

"Just 10%?"

"It's a level 1 skill, course it won't do much"

"Damn...guess I'll have to level it up" Soon the fake sun had fully set, I grabbed a stick and began twisting it between my palms endlessly, trying to get it to set a fire.

"Wish we got a match over a one shot pistol"

"Well...the pistol...may come in handy" I spoke with pauses, as most of my effort was in the fire.

"That's true" Sam started rocking left and right waiting for the fire, she already knew she couldn't help, so she decided to give me space instead. It felt like I was fighting a war with my hands, if I was still human they'd probably be bruised by now, eventually though, a small fire started, I waited a moment, looked at it, until the fire had become self-sufficient.

"Fi-na-lly" I sat back beside Sam and looked at the fire. When I faced Sam, she had a somber expression, it wasn't common, nor a good sight to see...obviously. I didn't say anything, it's probably something I can't handle is what I thought then, not handle in the, I'll get sad myself sense, but more in the powerless to do anything about it sense. Even with that though, she spoke.

"How do you think Q and Cypher are?"

"The hacker kids?" She nodded

"They were younger than we were, and while they acted mature, they're still kids...and...we sorta left them, no warning, nothing left behind, they probably think we just abandoned them"

"Where did this come from?"

"I guess the adrenaline from coming back alive, and the idea of being a hero wore off"

"Well, you still wanna be a hero no?"

"Of course, I get to help people, though, Nicholai, Kenneth, maybe even your reason is different from mine...the misfit crew...heh...remember that?"

"I do, such a dumb name others gave us...it, was accurate though, we may share things in common but...overall, rather different"

"We would probably be called it even more if Q and Cypher were around."

"Mh...I don't think they'll think we abandoned them"

"Hm?"

"What you were worried about before...you're right in saying they're young, but they're smart too, and not the soulless sorta smart, we did a lot for them, even putting our lives in danger to keep them safe, there's no reason we'd leave them out of nowhere...and they'll know it too...at most they'll think we had no choice but to leave, at least, they'll figure out what happened."

"They'll figure out we died and got brought back to life by magic?"

"You know how those two were, I wouldn't doubt it" The fire continued to crackle, I didn't feel cold at all, more so, the warmth of the fire was more prominent. "Our previous life aside, how're you doing?"

"With all this? I think I'm okay...I'm just hoping things don't go wrong"

"Why do you think that?"

"Think about it...yeah, they revived us...but...children fighting in wars? The main initiation is killing others we're meant to work with? All the groups on earth too, i mean...at least the military wasn't like most zombie scenarios where they're killing us, but they weren't helping either" She leaned back, almost falling on the snow. "And you and Nicholai are meant to be the negative ones"

"Hey, I'm not always negative" Her somber expression turned to a smile.

"I guess not, it's enough to note though" I felt a pain in my stomach, mostly from not eating in a while. Sam was probably feeling it too considering her next words. "Well! We should probably eat something right? I can help"

"You, can take a rest, I still feel pain in my eye from being shot once, I could only imagine your arms and legs"

"You had to remind me?"

"Don't act like you don't feel it" Sam pouted before laying down on the ground

"Fiiiine, don't complain about doing it all yourself though"

"I never do" I headed into the tent, there were a few things I could cook, a stew in the cold would probably do well for us, though we're going to sleep soon, so the warmth of the food doesn't really matter in the long term....Meh, Stew it is. I grabbed the stuff I needed and went back outside. Sam, disregarding earlier, had prepared a few things so cooking would be easier. Though I smiled I shook my head "Stubborn as ever"

"It's called doing my part, I don't want you doing everything." I don't know how, but she managed to get some bowls, I pulled over the chest, its length was long enough for a few people to sit on...yet it had such a small pistol, powerful or not. I sat down and began cooking, Sam, eventually getting sick of sitting on snow, sat beside me on the chest as well. She began messing with her hud, and soon, checked the database, the HUD expanded, and a massive timeline showed up, showing key memories from Sam's past. "Whaaaah?"

She scrolled to as far back as she could, up till she got to 5 years old, then the key memories stopped

"Hang on, can you go back right?" She scrolled all the way to current day "Left a bit" With a swipe, she went back to the middle of the apocalypse. There was a branching route, yet it had a lock symbol on it. Maybe...if we hadn't found more medicine for Sam's illness, she would've died here, thus making a new route was my past conclusion. I opened my own hud and checked the Database, mine went all the way back to 3 years old, yet, my memories until I was 6 were locked. At first, I had thought the lock meant a timeline we avoided, yet, I was clearly looking at it now, showing otherwise.

"We understand one thing, two more unknown things appear" Sam could see my frustration with all of this. I checked the info tab of the Database, a few guides were there. The first guide was how to bring up your Hu...why the hell is this a thing? You can't even see it, unless you know how to do it already A part of me back then was very irritated at it, why not make it appear automatically...even if you were showing someone it, you could just do a visual demonstration. I took a breath before I paid my mind back to the stew, it was finally done. I grabbed the bowl it was in, and put half in each bowl meant for us. "Let's make a cheer"

"Isn't it a toast?"

"Well, toasts are with drinks"

"Sometimes food"

"Is it a yes or no?"

"Here's to another life" I raised my bowl.

"Good enough for me" She raised her bowl clanking it with mine. "To another life" With no warning Sam then lowered her bowl and got to eating. I noticed Sam had managed a way to go through menus in the HUD without touching it.

"How...?"

"It was in the how to summon your HUD thing" ah well, that makes more sense now...a bit misleading though. Was my thought. "I'm trying to see...if..." Eventually, she somehow found a way to get to the internet on her HUD, she seemed overjoyed "Thaf shuld mn" She had continued eating as she soon got to what she wanted. "We can watch videos still!"

"I guess we don't need the earth to have internet to see already uploaded videos"

"I love this thing!" She picked a video and we both watched it while eating. It was sorta awkward, knowing these people are probably dead...even more ironic that she picked a video of someone reviewing a zombie show...I guess she knows that they're not real, and nothing like the zombies we've gone against. It was probably due to the fact this show was showing zombies sprinting and spreading in seconds, while ours were slow, and only spread fast when you were bit by patient zero...which was like...4 people. Perhaps in her mind, she thought of them as completely two different things, she wasn't exactly wrong, but not right either.

"It's kinda wild to see how people thought zombies were gonna be, and how far off they were"

"Right? no airborne virus, no instant infection, no turning after you die...unless you were bit"

"Hehe~ People really thought the worst would happen huh?" She turned to me, clapsed her hands together and took a short bow while still sitting "Thanks for the amazing food as always"

"Heh, don't get used to it"

"You say that but you'll be the group's leader and cook eveeeentulllllly" She stayed seated, looking around.

"What're you doing?"

"Well someone has to keep watch, the ceasefire ends in the middle of the night"

"I can handle that, we don't want a relapse like before, with you staying up"

"Then you'll be all groggy and tired in the morning"

"And you won't?"

"hmmmm"

"We'll compromise, with the time it is now, each of us can get 4-5 hours in, we'll both be tired, but not completely devoid of sleep"

"It feels better when you get none"

"Sometimes I wish Nicholai was here to scold you about your health" I sighed after speaking. "Take the compromise, i'll ta-"

"Fine I'll take the first shift!"

"Goddamnit" I couldn't get a word in after, there was no use discussing it. I got up and headed backwards for the tent.

"Take care! Sleep well!"

"Don't go too far from the fire, snub it out if you gotta"

"Alrighty!" When I got in the tent, I almost crashed, the walking, cooking, it even felt like the HUD was draining my energy It's probably because I'm not used to it...nor used to having magic the HUD didn't use MP, nor our health, so it really was just our brains not being used to being connected to it...

My mind wondered as I layed there, about the day, about what Kenneth and Nicholai were doing, many things. I did however, manage to eventually drift off to sleep.