The sun shone brightly, its luminous rays permeating the still waters of Greengrass bay. Up above, a flock of seagulls flew by cawing loudly, their shrill voices echoing through the morning air. A young man sat at the docks, staring wistfully into the minuscule haze surrounding him.
All of a sudden, a sound rang through his head, and with it came a voice he knew all too well.
{Ding!}
{Time Until trial: 00:10:00:00}
The boy let out an audible sigh and slowly rose to leave, he had come here for some relaxation, only to get reminded about the very thing he wanted to forget. The line of text still hovered in the air, much to the annoyance of its beholder.
"Dismiss."
With just a single word, the line of text disappeared, allowing Adam to walk home with much less anxiety than before.
Which, just to be clear, was still quite a lot.
****************
Adam walked down the sidewalk, observing the people around him with a keen eye. Observing humans was always a fascinating topic for him, there was just something so satisfying about knowing the hidden complexities of the human mind and theorizing about how different people would react in certain situations.
Of course, he never could get past the realms of a mere thought experiment. After all, jail was still a very real place.
His train of thought was cut short as he arrived at his house.
Adam's house was...strange, to say the least. It was quite small and extremely old, with its paint having been chipped many times during its existence, leaving huge spots of gray on the walls. The front yard, although spacious, was overrun by weeds and vines, they climbed up the pillars and into the tiny cracks and spaces in the concrete. Off to the side was an ancient well, which was strange, considering that the house had running water. Though, something inside Adam told him that the well probably wasn't used to fetch water.
After ascending the warped, creaky stairs, Adam had finally reached the front door. He twisted the knob and went inside. The interior of the house was almost completely bare, with the only things in the living room being a couch and a tiny TV. The wallpaper, like most things in the house, was old and grey and already peeling in some places.
The dusty shoe rack stood of to the side, leaning heavily to the left. Nailed onto its head was a little not that read: 'Falls Occasionally'
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Adam took of his shoes, placing them on the rack, it swayed a bit but ultimately did not fall to the ground.
He plopped onto the sofa, a satisfied groan escaping his lips as he sunk into the spongy material of the couch. Adam remained like that for a few minutes, eventually rising to make himself a cup of tea.
Now sitting on the sofa with a warm cup of tea in his hands, the young man finally allowed himself to relax, causing his thoughts to wander towards the topic of the enlightened.
Truth be told, Adam was unsure how to feel about his sudden awakening. On one hand, there was the fact that he'd suddenly gained an avenue to acquire incredible power. But on the other hand, there was the fact that it was just that, an avenue, and an extremely dangerous one at that. From what Adam had read online, about 60 to 70 percent of potential Enlightened did not make it out of the trial alive. And that was just an estimation, it could have been way worse than what was shown.
Though it wasn't like any of this internal deliberation mattered, since he had absolutely no choice in the matter. Whether he liked it or not, Adam was going to enter the trial.
He took a sip of the tea, grimacing at its taste. 'So bitter...' He thought, his face scrunched up in disgust as he looked at the dark liquid.
How nice it would have been to have actual authentic tea instead of the fake synthetic version from the flea market.
'Maybe I should start growing tea leaves?' He mused to himself.
At the same time, the notification sounded
{Ding!}
{Time till Trial: 00:01:00:00}
Glancing up at the notification, Adam sighed, looking at the time he had left.
He picked up the cup, emptying its contents down his throat in three swift gulps.
Adam had only one hour left, and he was going to spend it exactly however he wanted.
His phone rested in his pocket, The young man reached within to retrieve it. He turned on the screen, and blue light flooded the room. Adam opened a familiar website; 'Mesboard' and began scrolling the endless catalogue. He came across cat videos, beheadings from the Tango Cartel, and all sorts of obscure things. Adam continued scrolling, until he came to what he was looking for.
/Channels/ Debates_And_Questions
"Good"
Near the end of the hour, Adam was busy on his phone, delivering hate comments to unsuspecting people.
"Heh, take that, loser." He muttered, finishing up his argument with femboylover6969.
{Ding!}
{Time till Trial: 00:00:10:00}
The golden letters hovered ominously in the air, Adam halted his activities, and stared intently at the shimmering message, watching the numbers go down second-by-second and counting along in his head.
'...10...'
'...9...'
'...8...'
'...7...'
'...6...'
'...5...'
...'4...'
'...3...'
'...2...'
'...1...'
A sudden sense of numbness washed over him, as if he was being doused by cold water. Adam fell to the ground, unable to move even a finger, his phone fell beside him, allowing his to view its slightly cracked screen. femboylover6969 had responded: "L bozo. Stay mad."
"Motherfu-"
A blinding flash of light erupted, encompassing Adam in its silvery glow and injecting his mind with a flood of strange sensations, his body felt as if it was being stretched to tis limit. A sudden tug caused him to accelerate faster than he could comprehend.
This experience, though strange and terrifying, was quite short-lived and soon, Adam found himself in an entirely new world.