CHAPTER TWO: To Obtain Power, One Must be Responsible
Wiping his face, Lavan vowed never to forget Ms. Jackson. Despite his lack of motivation bred from years of attending school in a system that prized rote memorization and obedience over flexibility and creativity, she had been there to help him from day one. She had seen him struggle to pay attention but did not admonish, instead involving him in the lectures a little more to build his interest. She had seen his abysmal grades but did not scoff, instead reassuring him that brilliance was not built in a day. She had heard his questions of why it was so difficult for him and…listened. She’d given him her ear and patiently nodded along, becoming the only person he’d ever ranted to.
“Gather in a circle!” Lavan commanded, raising his voice over the wind and disjointed cries of confusion from his peers. After selecting his Quest difficulty the world had gone white for what only felt like an instant before he awoke standing up in a field of short grass. Plains stretched all the way to the horizon in front of him—the direction from which this world’s star rose, assuming it was morning—a forest of mixed trees sat behind him, and roughly two dozen fellow students were sprawled all around him without belongings beyond their clothing. Most of them seemed to hear him, as indicated by the fact that they turned to see who had spoken, but only a few people moved at all. It wasn’t enough.
“GATHER AROUND!” Lavan roared, even louder than when he gathered his class’s attention. “NOW! And drag anyone else who doesn’t move with you!”
Part of Lavan had expected to hear some insulted backtalk that prideful students tended to use whenever a classmate they didn’t know tried telling them what to do, but to his surprise, nobody gave him any shit...even the guy he knew to do that. Everyone began making their way toward Lavan with varying levels of discomfort in their expressions—two individuals in particular each dragging a sobbing mess behind them.
With everyone roughly in a circle Lavan wanted to begin setting the foundation for his position as the group’s leader, but the blubbering of the two unfamiliar students made for a poor atmosphere.
“Thanks, Senia and Georgy,” Lavan said with a nod as he passed by the two classmates who had dragged the crying students to the circle—though one of them gave him the stink eye. He’d have to address that eventually.
A tall girl with black hair and a visibly muscular blonde boy stood behind Senia and Georgy, trembling with their faces in their hands. Lavan wasted no time, immediately putting an arm around each of the strangers and bringing them both into a hug.
“I’m not going to sugar-coat it; our lives won’t be easy from now on,” Lavan began, speaking loudly enough for the other students to hear. “I know it sounds cheesy, but you’re not alone. We all have each other! And we’ve all taken classes in the case something like this happened. I can’t promise that we’re all going to be okay, but I can promise that as long as we all work to survive, nobody will be abandoned!”
Lavan continued like that, saying any relevant motivational speech that came to mind for a good minute or three—because telling them that their crying wasn’t useful would have the opposite desired effect—before the stocky blonde guy slowly stopped shaking and pulled away, wiping his face of its tears for the last time.
“Thanks, man. I mean it,” he said with a sniff and a slight quake in his voice. “I’m… I’m not usually emotional like this, but my mom just remarried and…” he straightened his back and cleared his throat, “her wedding’s in a few days and she's pregnant. My little brother’s due next month. I won’t get to see…”
The blondie shook his head and offered a fist bump, which Lavan gladly reciprocated.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now,” he continued somberly, but with a hint of determination. “I’ll see them in however long it takes me to get back. I’m Gust, by the way.”
The tall girl’s cries had steadily died down since the embrace and while she listened to Gust’s story. By the time Gust finished speaking she also pulled away from Lavan, but her tears did not stop flowing as she stared at her shoes and hiccupped.
‘Well, that’s probably the most I can do for them.’
Lavan returned to where he stood before he’d moved to console the blubbering messes and took in the sight of roughly twenty fellow young adults staring back at him, having already unconsciously accepted that he took the leading role.
The leading role which he definitely would not have attempted to acquire had Ms. Jackson not stayed behind to see him out. In doing so she had reminded Lavan that, just like she had done for him, he could be the guiding figure for those who needed one. Perhaps not as a role model whose footsteps should be followed exactly, but at least as someone who could illuminate another’s path forward.
However, it wasn’t as though that enlightenment had come from nowhere. Lavan possessed years of leadership experience obtained from a few of his addictions. Had he not already proven himself capable of leading teams—even if only within videogames—he would not have even considered taking charge of a group of Chosen.
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“Ahem,” Lavan cleared his throat, sizing up his peers. Though they varied greatly in appearances he surmised that they were mostly, if not all, seniors. That was good. Older students were typically more capable. Additionally, a few guys and one gal had decent muscle—at least, compared to Lavan—while one dude in particular was built like a mountain. That was very good.
“So, let’s get the basics out of the way. We’re all students from Green River High School? Raise your hand if you’re not.”
Truthfully, Lavan would not have thought to ask that had he not been in Ms. Jackson’s class before the transfer, and was reminded of the protocol. Though his school didn’t have anything like a uniform, he’d already spotted two familiar classmates, so he naturally assumed they were all taken from the same place. But in the case that they weren’t, getting to know each other was important. Morale and comradery were powerful tools.
Thankfully, nobody raised their hands. That would make building an identity as a unit easier.
“Good. Now, raise your hand if you’re in the 12th grade.”
Lavan raised his hand first and was pleasantly surprised to see everyone else do the same.
“That means we’ve all been through four years of Deity Survival. Excellent.” Lavan made a show of searching his surroundings beyond his circle of peers, even putting a hand over his forehead to block out some starlight. “And since I don’t see any supplies, it looks like the hundreds of hours we spent in that class are going to be bear fruit.”
His words caused a wave of alarm and distress to pass through the circle as most of the other students also scanned the area, finding nothing but wilderness, which was uncommon for Deity Trials. Lavan took note of the ones who remained calm.
After the moans and groans of dismay passed, Lavan continued, counting on his fingers as he spoke. “Yep, that means finding land that won’t flood, building lean-tos, rubbing sticks to create fire, hunting, gathering, setting animal traps, searching for safe water, keeping an eye out for game trails, avoiding creating wildfires, weaving rope from tall grass, preparing for season changes, and of course…” he paused for dramatic effect. “Of course, finding civilization of any kind and practicing caution when determining whether to make contact is always a high priority.”
“Not to mention defining what kind of threats there may be, in order to avoid or confront them as safely as possible,” Senia added, her expression as bored as ever with her arms crossed over her chest. “Like monsters.”
“And since the goddess informed us that this world has a magic system we’ll need to learn for our safety—something I’m looking forward to, honestly—” the muscle mountain spoke up with a smile, his deep baritone easily drawing everyone’s attention, “then we might need to dedicate as much time as possible to discovering it. The scientific method, and whatnot.”
The muscle man’s words caused almost half of the students to bristle while a few smiled. It was clear that while some of Lavan’s peers were quite excited to become superhuman, most were worried about what they had learned in Deity Survival: sometimes when a group of people became Chosen together in a situation involving magic, whatever system they were made a part of was too difficult for a not insignificant number of their group to learn.
They feared becoming dead weight from being unable to adapt. Not unreasonable, but Lavan would eventually have to assure them that he held a “No person left behind” policy. Possibly with a staged event, if it came to it.
“Unfortunately, since the start I’ve been internally searching for any mental changes or new information we might have been given and found nothing,” the muscle man continued with a shake of his head. “It’s not that I haven’t found any examples of magic we learned from Deity Survival, but that I haven’t found any changes at all. Hopefully one of you can find something different within yourselves.”
He ended his statement with a meaningful look around at his compatriots.
‘That’s good; this guy’s a team player. I’m lucky he’s here,’ Lavan thought, realizing how the muscle man had set an example of openness and honesty.
“Thanks for doing that,” Lavan told the huge guy with a nod before turning to give a sweeping look at his peers, “and he’s right. I want us searching beyond ourselves every chance we get. Sometimes the Chosen are lucky and they’re given interfaces explaining everything, but other times they basically have to open their mind’s eye—”
Fanfare like distant cheers and the small explosions of confetti poppers littered Lavan’s mind as something new populated his vision. Evidently, he wasn’t the only one, because everyone recoiled at the same time as him.
Congratulations on completing a Secret Quest!
Parameters of Secret Quest “Huddle”:
— Every Chosen One must gather with their fellows to discuss their circumstances and at least attempt to organize.
Reward:
— Not dying! Had not every single member of your group attended the huddle…none of you would have had much of a chance at surviving. Only by working together will living past the first few weeks be possible. Especially since so many of you did not stick to the default danger rating! You all now have your spiritual senses unlocked, and have been given supplies.
Lavan fell to his knees and cradled his head in his arms after reading the pop-up in its entirety, his mind suddenly bombarded with new information. It was as though a bright, turbulent flame had burst to life all around the boy after having lived a lifetime in complete darkness…but thankfully without the searing agony, just the disorientation.
Then he heard the dull thumps of heavy objects landing in the dirt in front of him, and by fighting the urge to vomit, managed to lift himself into a reclined sitting position long enough to see several crates large enough for him to lay inside of.
Even through the nausea Lavan found the will to smile. The promised supplies had arrived, making their lives a whoooole lot easier. He had NOT been looking forward to living off the land from scratch.