“Yo!”

Will waved at Seth from his spot on the couch. It was the finally the last day of the week they were given by Origin. According to the liaison that met them when they arrived in Ethin, all of them should be receiving a package to signify the end of their relationship to Origin.

“Anything arrive yet?” Seth inquired while rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Will shook his head while gesturing at the table.

“Nah, I wasn’t sure when they were supposed to come, so I ordered some breakfast while we wait.”

The table had a generous spread of exotic fruits sitting around three bowls filled with some sort of grey sludge. Seth strolled over to the couch adjacent from Will and grabbed a smooth, blue, tubed shaped fruit.

“Sydney not up yet?” he questioned before taking a bite of his new find.

The taste was surprising sweet and had the soft consistency of a pear. Will smiled as he watched Seth begin to wolf down the fruit after hesitating on the initial bite.

“Not up yet, you know girls and their ‘beauty sleep,’” he joked.

They both shared a grin while Seth moved one of the bowls aside to grab another one of the tube-shaped fruits.

“Yo, try the stuff in the bowl, I know it doesn’t look good but the dude that brought it up said if you try drinking it through one of these, its like some local delicacy.”

He passed a pink, hollowed out, straw shaped fruit to Seth. Seth shrugged and tried it out.

HOLY FUCK!

Seth’s eyes actually rolled back just like on TV while slurping down the pseudo smoothie. Will began to laugh, and Seth didn’t even try to stop him as he drained the whole bowl. If he had to describe the taste, the closest comparable thing was probably what he imagined the ambrosia of gods to taste like.

“My god,” was the only thing that he could muster out.

Will nodded in approval.

“No need to say anything, I absolutely understand.”

The two continued to pig out for awhile before a ding sounded from the console behind Will. They both looked at each other with raised brows before Will got up to check out what the dinging was.

“Forgot that we linked each other’s consoles. Looks like Sydney got a package, think we should wake her up?”

Seth gave him a knowing look.

“Your funeral man.”

Will took a second to think about it before walking back over to plop himself on the couch.

“Yeah, I don’t feel like dying today.”

Seth nodded in approval before continuing to feast. Will was about to dive back in as well when he noticed something.

“You alright man?”

Seth looked up from his food.

“Yeah, why?”

His friend shrugged before pointing at his eyes.

“You look tired or something. Have you slept much?”

Seth didn’t really know what to say.

“Uh, yeah, I’m getting plenty. Just been having some weird dreams I guess. Nothing out of the ordinary though.”

This was out of character for Will.

Don’t think I’ve ever seen him this serious before. It’s nice he’s worried about me though.

“I appreciate it man, but I’m good.”

Will didn’t look convinced.

“Really man? Cause you have had some crazy dark circles under your eyes for the last couple days. Guess it never registered for me until now.”

Seth frowned at his explanation.

Hmmm… I guess I haven’t gotten much sleep now that I think about it. I could only sleep a couple hours last night after that weird dream that I have had the last couple days. And I suppose I’ve gotten sent to Perdition a couple times as well. There is no way in hell I could ever sleep another wink on the same night I was sent there.

Seth finally noticed the weight that had settled in his bones, as well as the slight headache prickling through his brain.

Shit, I am tired. How did I miss that?

It seemed like all the adrenaline of exploring the new city and his new life had finally caught back up to him.

“You actually might be on to something. Think I’ll go get a couple more hours of ‘beauty sleep’ as well. Do me a favor, if my package gets here, just put it off to the side until I wake up.” Seth asked while getting up.

Will shooed at him.

“No problem-o brotha. Doctor Rivera is always right, go take a nap.”

Seth grabbed one more blue tube to munch on before heading to his room. He was nearing his destination when he heard Sydney’s door slide from a little ways down the hall. Seth instinctively hurried to his door and slipped inside. A relived sigh escaped his lips as he settled back down on his bed.

Some old habits are worth keeping.

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BANG!

“Mmmrph?”

BANG!

“Whaaaaaa?”

BANG!

Seth groggily sat up in his bed.

BANG!

He turned over to the clock on his nightstand and squinted in an effort to make his eyes adjust.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

“Motherfu- Will I told you not to wake me up man!”

Seth stumbled over to the door while cursing. He practically threw open the door, only to find Sydney standing there with a fist cocked back.

“There you are jackass! It’s about damn time!”

Sydney’s hand shot forward and grabbed Seth by the collar, a move he couldn’t dodge in his sleep deprived state.

“What’d I do?!” he yelled as she attempted to drag him to the main room.

After a couple moments, she let him go and gave him a pissed off look.

“Why the hell are you so heavy?! Whatever, just follow me jackass.”

Seth hid a triumphant grin and got up to follow her. He trailed behind her into the room only to find Will wearing an apologetic expression. Past him were three identical looking square boxes, seemingly made of the same glowing white material Seth remembered Origin having.

“Sorry man, I told her not to wake you up.”

Sydney gave him a deadly glare.

“Yeah, after he lied about my box getting here for SIX HOURS!” she roared angrily.

Will shrugged under her glare and Seth’s disbelieving stare.

“I wanted to open them together, but you needed some sleep.”

Seth threw him a wry grin, “Honestly, I’m impressed you were able to fool her for so long.”

Will reflected his expression as Seth gave him a fist bump.

“Ah, it was nothing. You know, boys rule and girls drool baby!”

Their laughter was cut short as they realized Sydney looked like she was about to kill both of them.

“Erm, anyway, looks like we got our packages! How about we open those up!”

Will motioned to the boxes in an effort to defuse the situation. Sydney grumbled something unintelligible before stalking over to her box. The two boys followed suit and picked up their own boxes.

“Alright, let’s see what they sent us. How much you wanna bet it’s some poison brownies to finally finish us off now that they are done with us.” Will investigated.

“Don’t be stupid, why would they give us all this money and a place to stay this week if they’re just going to kill us?” Sydney snapped at him.

They really can’t stop arguing for five minutes huh? Seth admonished.

The two finally settled down after a pointed look from Seth. With a shared nod, they all pushed the glowing white button on top of their respective boxes. With a small beep, the top half of each box dissolved into small motes of light. The three were left staring at the few contents sitting neatly inside. Each of them began exploring their own boxes in silence.

For Seth, it seemed like there were four items inside. There was what looked like a keycard, a small chip, an onyx ring, and a note. He grabbed the note first. It looked to be on another plain notebook paper that was reminiscent of the one that was originally in the Avengers lunchbox that now sat in his cache. He unfolded the paper and started checking it out.

Hello there Subject 50, or should I say Seth. It seems this will probably be the last time we will ever be in contact, so I would like to say thank you. Although you and your fellow subjects most likely hate me and everything Origin embodies, I would still like to express my appreciation for your contribution to our work; especially you Seth. The information you have given me will revolutionize the way we do things from now on in ways that you cannot understand. In appreciation for your help, please accept a special gift along with the other items I have left for you in this box. I wish you a joyous existence and a fresh start.

-Lyak

Seth honestly… didn’t give a shit about the message from Lyak. Although he was surprised at his lack of anger. This patchwork bastard stole him from his life and threw him into a life-or-death experiment like he was nothing more than some piece of bacteria to toss under a microscope.

Yet… I kind of don’t care.

So far, he had gotten to start a whole new life where the only thing limiting him was his own ambition. Granted, his Umbra was still something to worry about, and the constant whispers paired with his weird dreams weren’t exactly comforting. Regardless, he was happier now than he ever was back on Earth, and his new life was just beginning.

I don’t hate you, but I also don’t want anything to do with you.

Seth looked at the rest of the contents of the box, unsure of how he really wanted to proceed.

Come on man, no need to throw away good shit just because of a meaningless emotional reaction.

He promptly tore up the note and stuffed it back into the box. Next he skipped the keycard and grabbed the small black chip. He began inspecting it and was about to put it back in defeat when a small vibration came from the band on his wrist. Seth quirked an eyebrow and sent a small amount of energy into it. A tiny squeak sounded from Seth’s mouth as he checked the new balance.

Common Currency Remaining: 10,968,690

Looks like one of our problems is solved. Seth glanced over to find Will literally drooling and Sydney sporting a greedy sheen in her eye. Seth quickly shook his head to focus.

Well they stole six months of my life and almost got me killed quite a few times, so I suppose this ain’t bad for a bit of compensation.

That’s when a thought struck him. He hurriedly grabbed the keycard that was identical to his apartment key, only to find that it was now engraved with his ID from The Chrome. He turned it over where he found a receipt stuck to its rear. It looked to be a purchase confirmation for… A CENTURY?! Seth’s head was reeling.

Just how much money do these people have?!

He still didn’t really know how much money was a lot here, but a high end apartment that gives him free five star meals and ten million of the local currency seemed like a lifelong fortune.

“Guys, I’m pretty sure we have enough money to do fuck all for the rest of our lives, and still have enough left over to buy a small island.”

Will and Sydney both looked at him with wide eyes and nodded silently. Wordlessly, they all turned back to their boxes, hoping to find yet another fortune sitting in their midst.

After putting the card in his cache, Seth gingerly picked up his last gift. Originally, it had been a straight black band sitting in the box, but as soon as Seth grabbed it, the ring slowly melted in his hand. Seth was worried he had somehow broken it until the black little puddle in his hand began worming its way around his left pointer finger. He watched as the thing finally seemed to find the spot it wanted and began glowing.

A slight pinching sensation was felt as the light began to dim and sink into his finger. A pain reminiscent of a tattoo rumbled from his knuckle to his fingernail. Finally, the pain subsided and Seth gazed at the new marking on his finger. It was a simple lock symbol, just a silver outline of a keyhole.

Well that was a little anti-climactic.

He poked the symbol and tried to identify it to no avail. He thought for a moment before manipulating his energy toward it. Nothing changed though, the mark just felt empty. Taking a different approach, he called up his Menu and checked the Status tab. His body diagram hadn’t changed and neither had his basic information. He scrolled down to his attributes next.

Level: Tier Two (Progress: Early)

Intellect: Class D

Constitution: Class C

Might: Class C

Intuition: Class D

Resolve: Class B

Race: Fiend (Class D)

Titles: Little David, *Undecided*

Of course, another ‘Undecided’ prompt. That’s really starting to piss me off. I suppose I have to do something with this mark before it’ll give me a title.

What that ‘something’ consisted of was unknown to him, but the idea of getting another title sounded pretty good. He wasn’t totally clear on how exactly you got titles, but he knew that they were pretty damn good. Seth finally looked up to see the other two still absorbed in whatever they got from their boxes.

“Alright, I’m going to head out.”

Sydney just waved goodbye without taking her eyes off the purple thing in her hand, but Will looked up at him, confused.

“Got a hot date or something?”

Seth shook his head with a bemused look.

“Nah, I told a guy I would swing by today. I just wanted to get the package beforehand.”

Will shrugged and turned his attention back to the box in front of him.

“Have fun.”

Seth shot him a thumbs up and walked out.

“Since we seem to be collecting compensation today, how about I go grab some more.” Seth muttered to himself with a grin.