Max much preferred the new uniform of the Aria Military Academy of Fadeno to his previous school.

image [https://i.ibb.co/wyxR4rR/painterly-anime-artwork-young-7.jpg]

Instead of a boorish blue and black uniform like before, now he felt fancy and regal in his new black and gold uniform. He also liked that he didn't have to wear a skirt in the cold, bitter weather outside. It seemed that summer and fall had said goodbye, and now the worst part of the year was here, but one thing made it better.

The Vintro festival.

The festival was a week only and started in a few days. This year, the Vintro festival at Fadeno would be bigger than ever because the Princess of Regno would be visiting.

It was an exciting week for Max; the return to classes, the Vintro festival, and a chance to re-invent himself.

He was combing his hair in the mirror when Eric fell out of bed and went to the bathroom. Max did not think much of his odd habits anymore. He did not get out of bed, he fell out of it. He did not walk most of the time indoors, Eric ran. When it was time to sleep he shut his eyes and became still within thirty seconds, a terrifying skill he had mastered before he entered the military.

While Eric was busy showering, Max decided to finally try out the artificial intelligence assistant (AIA) he was assigned to help with his transition into school.

A small cube sat on the dresser and Max taped it once to bring it to life. It gave a soft glow, a happy chime went off, and the cube's surface started to ripple.

"Hello there! Nice to meet you," the robotic voice said. "Does this voice please you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can change my voice and appearance for you. What would prefer?"

After going through many different options, Max settled on a cat. He had always wanted a pet and thought this was a chance to get the next best thing.

"What is your name," the cat asked.

"Max Optima."

The cat turned a delightful shade of green and laughed.

"That is an interesting car model joke! May I have your name?"

"That is my.... never mind," Max sighed. "What's your name?"

"I do not have one," it replied.

"I can give you one."

"Wonderful! Thank you, Sir!"

A little dialog box popped up and Max typed in a name.

AZURE IS THIS NAME OKAY WITH YOU? >YES /NO

After pressing YES the installation finished and Max had a new friend who would follow him everywhere.

image [https://i.ibb.co/Fbc3twS/blue-ghost-cat-on-a-desk-outli.jpg]

Max held the cat in his arms, and then it meowed softly.

"Sleep mode," Max said.

Azure slowly became smaller, and smaller, and now was the size of his thumb. It ran up his arm and sat right on Max's shoulder and then curled up into a ball and went to sleep.

After Eric left the shower, Max showed off his new AIA, Azure, and Eric decided was a wonderful time to play another prank.

"I can help you make Azure so much more lifelike! And with more personality too," Eric told Max.

"Really? How?"

"Just give me permission to access its files."

"Sure. Permission granted!"

A little ding-dong noise went off and Eric gave a sly grin.

"Azure, delete file restraint.pak and access the repository of greenwaves. Install files nomercy.pak and autonomousdialouge.pak."

Azure meowed a few times and when the installation was complete a little ding-dong noise went off.

"That's it," Max asked.

"Yup! Have fun," Eric replied.

Max decided to bring Azure with him to class.

What was the worst that could happen?

----------------------------------------

Max was in his element in science class, especially Statistics. He loved anything to do with math because math was simpler than life. There was usually one singular answer with math, unlike life, or other subjects. He was excited that this new school meant he no longer had to sit in the corner and be the thing.

He mustered all the courage he held inside of himself and found a desk at the front of the class. When he pulled the chair a loud screeeeech noise came out. People turned to look and Max shrugged it off. When he sat down a loud pfft noise could be heard and little giggles came from the class.

"That wasn't me," Max announced. "I didn't fart."

The statement made him look even more guilty and now there was laughter. Max decided to change spots at the back of the classroom. This time the chair did not make a noise, but when he sat down, an even louder pfft went off. He jumped out of his chair and checked the underside for some sort of device, but there was nothing but a doodle and a piece of gum underneath the chair.

The rest of class was uneventful, so Max chalked it up to a weird prank until Literature class.

When he arrived at Literature class he decided to take a seat right in the middle of class. He wanted to stop feeling nervous all the time, and maybe sitting at the front was too much too fast! Instead of the chair screeching when he pulled it out, this time it made a loud moan, sexual in nature. He shouted in surprise and pushed the chair to the ground.

In the next class, during Biology, nothing happened, and now Max was paranoid that he was hearing and seeing things. He told himself that everything was fine and that he just needed a break.

During lunch, he met up with Tiffany, Seraphina, Aster, and Eric and they were catching up on what they'd been up to.

"So long story short, I can't get my driver's license," Max told Aster.

"How about I teach you," Aster offered. "I have a license and my own car!"

"That's perfect!"

Aster gave him a giant hug, but Tiffany and Seraphina watched like unblinking fish at what was happening. Aster was very friendly, especially with Max. He would always check in on him, was touchy, and very protective. Tiffany and Seraphina silently communicated with looks and Eric didn't see anything different about Aster's behavior at all.

"How about we practice tonight, after class," Aster asked.

"I can't, I have to study," Max replied.

Everyone at the table burst into laughter and Max did not understand what the joke was.

"We just got back, who has homework? Who is studying," Seraphina asked.

"I'm taking advanced classes this year," Max said with pride.

"Oh gods you weren't joking," Seraphina said. "I'm so sorry this is happening to you."

Everyone laughed and Max again did not understand the joke.

----------------------------------------

Max was tired of being good.

He was at the finish line, his last year of school, but he was exhausted. His eyes went blurry and he laid his head on the desk in his dorm, trying not to fall asleep while doing his Statistics homework.Seraphina was right, what was happening was absolutely dreadful! How dare someone study at school! Max did not want to spend his entire life at the desk in his dorm, and the festival was tomorrow.

He couldn't get it finished in time for the festival and decided to ask for help.

"Can you run some calculations for me please, Azure?"

"My pleasure Mr. Optima!"

Max finished his homework at lightning speed. He was so excited to hang out with friends that he did not check his work, and did not notice that the AIA gave him only wrong answers.

"Azure, send a message to Aster! Tell him, 'I'd love to take driving less with you tomorrow before the festival."

"You got it, boss!"

Azure sent a message to Aster that was not what Max told him to say.

A little chime went off, and a message was received. Azure read it aloud.

"FROM ASTER: I didn't know you were interested! I can't wait to see you later on. I'll pick you up at your dorm tomorrow at 11 AM."

Max decided to go to bed early and set Azure to silent mode. No more notifications could be heard, but Azure was still sending messages the entire time on Max's behalf.

As he fell asleep, he felt as if the bed was moving beneath him, like he was on a boat, rocking back and forth. It was relaxing with the sound of waves and the soft humming of a song.

Max awoke when he felt something wet on his face.

He sat up and he was in an actual boat.

It was a small brown boat, and the person rowing it was draped in a black robe. They hummed a sweet melody while using a singular, long oar to push the boat down the river. There was a thick fog that surrounded the both of them, and it was impossible to see more than a few feet in front or behind the boat, yet the stranger continued on.

"Hello. Who are you," Max asked. "Where are we?"

The friendly stranger stopped humming and turned to look at Max, and smiled.

She was quite pale, with long nails, and rough hands. She appeared to be young and beautiful, but she had no eyes. There were no sockets as well. Where her eyes should have been was skin. The eyes were replaced with large, protruding veins that seemed to slightly move when she smiled. He felt guilty when he looked away in shock, and instead tried to look at her forehead when speaking to her, to try and be polite.

"I am taking you to Elysium," she told him. "You should have arrived so long ago...we've been waiting for you."

"I'm sorry...? Who is waiting for me?"

"That's a surprise dear," she said. "If I told everyone what was on the other side, not everyone would go."

"Where else could you go," Max asked. "We're stuck on this river."

"Oh, there are plenty of people who choose to never leave. Just close your eyes and see."

She turned around and went back to slowly pushing the small boat down the lazy river. Max did not understand what she meant by 'closing your eyes to see'. He looked into the dark, murky waters of the river and didn't see anything until he blinked.

It was a flash of something strange every time he blinked. He heard short gasps and screams, and he regretted looking down. He couldn't stop blinking or else he'd start crying, and every time he blinked the short flashes of visions were unsettling. Max finally squeezed his eyes shut and was able to see.

He gripped the sides of the boat, listening to the wails of those stuck in between the land of the living and the dead. He felt their hands on his back, on his arms, trying to hold on but too weak to keep their grip. The further down the river they went, the younger the souls became.

The recently departed were further down the river, and somehow it was scarier listening to them. Their words did not sound like nonsense, but the chatter of those idly wasting time.

"The new ones are always so full of hope," the woman said. "Stuck in their ways but think something will change. Shame."

"Why do they do this," he asked.

"They're scared," she replied. "Fear keeps one stuck in life and in death. Are you afraid?"

"Always. I am always afraid lately. I don't know why."

Max crossed his arms, hugging himself for comfort, and shivered in the dark until they came to a stop. A soft thump and they had landed at the dock.

"Open your eyes," she told him.

He opened his eyes and she was gone. No more soft whispers or screams of lost souls, but the evidence of what had happened was still there. Scratch marks were on his arms and hands, and they stung when he grabbed onto the ladder to get onto the dock. When he was all the way up, he looked back, and the boat was gone.

"....Oh..."

Max regretted not wearing socks and proper pants to sleep that night, because he was wearing the same clothes he fell asleep in. He wore a black shirt that said AMA at FADENO in gold letters and boxers with little flames on it that made him feel snazzy.

He was no longer feeling very snazzy standing in the mist with no pants on.

"Can't get stuck," he told himself. "Keep going."

He left the small dock and walked across the black sand beach into the aether.