The familiar dusty office smell returned to Solstice's nostrils, his eyes still facing upward at the dull metal ceiling, in the same position he was in once he descended into his Chain Trial.
It took another couple of seconds for Solstice's consciousness to fully settle back in and to regain his motor controls, he abruptly sat up. Just a few feet away was the police officer Jest, who sat back in the chair just across from Solstice's cot, unfazed by Solstice's awakening.
"Congratualtions, you officially are a new traverser at the Grade 0 stage, a Prosaic." Jest began clapping his hands in celebration, a faint smile appeared on his face as the corners of his mouth slightly lifted. "Now here's the not-so-fun part of this, the appraisal and protection period for you."
Solstice nodded softly in understanding before asking a Jest a question. "I understand an appraisal period for me, but what is the protection period for?"
Jest still kept his faint smile as he answered. "This is something I can better explain to you later but just for confirmation, although I'm pretty sure I already know the answers. You definitely inherited a divine bloodline and Gift, correct?"
"You could tell?" Solstice was only slightly surprised by this, afterall, there were signs that he would be bestowed a powerful unique fate.
"The signs were there, I also felt the birth of a new divine descendant shortly after you awakened. It's not common for new divine descendants to pop up, the mere birth of one causes waves to be sent throughout the universe. And if I felt this, I'm sure you can come to the conclusion that others have felt your awakening too." Jest snapped his fingers and a coffee mug magically appeared in his other hand, as he raised it to his lips to take a sip. "Ah, that hits the spot, watching over you was quite tiring…."
Jest covered his mouth with his other hand as he yawned, then tossed the coffee mug still filled with piping hot coffee, to the side, but it disappeared completely in midair.
"You're a traverser too? What grade are you?" Solstice's eyes glinted with slight admiration in the casual magic show that Jest displayed with the appearing and disappearing of the coffee mug.
"Heh, see a little bit of magic and your childish side really shows…..well you are only fifteen so you are a child I guess. My grade? How impolite of you to ask! Cough I can show you magic tricks later, we should move to a safer facility. Cough Cough Damn what's up with me am I getting sick? Anyway, there are some evil people in this world unfortunately, they're probably already on their way to get their slimy hands on you." Jest stood up and began walking towards the door gesturing for Solstice to follow.
Jest opened the door for the both of them as they left the room walking down the corridor, the other holding rooms containing the 2 chosen from before were open.
"What were the outcomes of the other 2?" These were the other 2 chosen that were undergoing their Chain Trials at the same time as Solstice, the 3 of them having to be held in this shabby government facility in the polluted Outskirts. It seems like the Wyrd arranged these 3 chosen to have intertwined fates, whether they would meet later was highly likely.
"They lived. They actually awoke around the same time together about 5 minutes before you awoke, oh, and you're going to rip your hair out once you hear this." Jest glanced at Solstice as he continued. "Those 2, also inherited divine blood and Gifts, the same as you…..simply insane."
'What!?' Solstice's already weary mind nearly deconstructed on the spot as he stopped walking, standing there with his mouth agape. "They inherited divine blood too…..five minutes before me…..we got to get the hell out of here then!"
"Relax, I'm here for the 3 of you." Jest assured Solstice. The both of them exited the corridor and regrouped with the other 2 young chosen sitting on an old sofa, situated in the corner of the dusty lobby entrance.
'They're about my age. They also look strikingly similar to each other, are they twins?' Another young man and young woman around the same age as Solstice stood up from the sofa as soon as they saw Jest and him appear.
The young man and woman shared a few stand out features. Black hair, perfectly straight nose, slightly olive skin, and boasting well tempered lean bodies. They duo had pretty amber colored eyes, ones that people could get lost in. The young man was pretty close to the same height as Jest, at about 1.9 meters tall. The young man's hair was a crew cut like Jest, he wore a clean white t-shirt with some black shorts.
The young woman was the same height at around 1.9 meters tall, and had long luscious curly hair that fell all the way down slightly past her shoulders. She adorned an open brown leather jacket with a black shirt tucked into her brown pants.
"Gather round." The duo walked over quickly to Jest and stood closely to him. Jest glanced at the 3 of them before he looked towards the south.
"The three of you need to place at least one of your hands on my back." Jest gave them an instruction in which the 3 of them did promptly, each placing a hand on Jest's back. Once all of their hands were placed, the 4 of them were instantly somewhere else completely.
'Whoa.' The trio of 2 young men and a young woman collectively were surprised in their sudden new environment.
"Welcome to the Southern continent!" Jest exclaimed as he turned to face the trio with a slight smirk on his face.
"We were in the Eastern continent only moments ago…." The young man of the brother-sister duo mumbled outwardly. This immediately changed their viewpoints of the policeman Jest, the whole detective getup was probably just something he used to go places freely. There was no way someone this powerful was at the low-ranking of a detective, he was definitely at least a high grade traverser.
"This is where the 3 of you will undergo your appraisal and ultimately be under our protection for the time being. As you can see, this is a much more established government facility. In particular, this is facility E-027 which is controlled by REST. REST stands for Research of Enhancement, Society & Theology. They dedicate their time to furthering their knowledge and understanding of the Wyrd and how it can enhance us in various aspects of life, societal life of the many other races who had been living in its realm before, and understanding various aspects of the divine. This is primarily a research facility but we do bring special people such as yourselves here from time to time." Jest explained.
Jest gestured for the 3 to follow him, he started telling the trio some parts of the research facility as if he was giving them a tour.
They were currently located in a large open room, everything was made of metal except the very few furniture spread throughout. The metal exuded the same mystical feeling that the previous contaminant units did, meaning that this entire facility was most likely enchanted to a degree. The air conditioning was great, it was actually a little cold, there were ceiling lights spread throughout, and a large staircase was situated to the right that led to the 2nd floor. All the way down at the end of the large open room was a huge metal bulkhead-like door which led to somewhere unknown.
"Why is there a bulkhead? Is this a ship?" The young woman asked Jest, as bulkheads were commonly seen in ships or aircraft.
"Sometimes." Jest shrugged as he answered.
"What do you mean sometimes?" Solstice chimed into the conversation.
"This facility is one of the ones that can move, it's temporarily anchored here in the Southern continent." Jest didn't really elaborate.
"So it's anchored to one of the harbors in the Southern continent?" The young woman asked for confirmation.
"No. While yes, they can use this to travel the oceans, they primarily use it to travel the skies.
We're on land, in a large unoccupied region of the Southern continent." Jest explained.
"So it can fly?" The young man asked this time.
"Yes. Facility E-027's is also known as 'The Flying Nautilus'." Jest confirmed
To the left were 4 doors that opened to smaller rooms, each labeled for their uses. The room furthest down was labeled 'Captain's Office', the 2nd furthest down was labeled 'Communications & Planning', the 3rd was labeled 'Light Armory' and the closest one to the group was labeled 'Break Room/BCT'. BCT stood for Basic Combat Training.
"So where does the research happen, behind the bulkhead?" Solstice asked as there was clearly no door labeled 'Research' on this floor.
"On the 2nd floor is where the research and experimentation rooms are located. That's where we're headed." Jest led them to the staircase on the side. As they all stepped onto the 2nd floor, they saw many more rooms than were located on the 1st floor.
To their right were 8 rooms and to their left were 10 rooms. The 8 rooms to the right were the sleeping quarters for facility staff, while the 10 to the left were for research and experimentation. 6 of the research and experimentation rooms were occupied and the other 4 were open for use.
"Each of you will enter one of the unoccupied rooms and wait your turns. I will be personally appraising you 3." Jest stepped to the side letting them head to the rooms of their choosing. Solstice chose first and entered his room, the young woman entered the one right next to his and the young man chose last and entered the one adjacent to her.
The room had a bunch of equipment in it, as well as a desk and chair for study tucked in the corner, there also conveniently was a couch right next to it with a small coffee table in front of it. Solstice sat down and sunk into the soft cushions waiting for Jest to begin his appraisal process. About 15 minutes passed by as Solstice dozed off a little bit, resting his eyes when he heard a couple of knocks at the door.
The knob twisted and the door opened as Jest walked in with a small stack of papers. He took a few steps, grabbed the chair by the desk and moved it so he could sit right in front of Solstice, then he plopped the papers onto the coffee table.
"Ah! I forgot a pen, give me a moment." Jest stood up and walked back to a cabinet drawer adjacent to the desk where he rumaged around until he found what he wanted. Jest placed the ball-point pen on the coffee table, then leaned back in his chair crossing his right leg over his left.
"Why didn't you just make the pen appear out of thin air like you did with the coffee mug?" Solstice casually asked him why he didn't make use of his god-like powers.
"1st off, you got it wrong. I don't make things appear out of thin air. 2nd, can't I act like a 'normal' person from time to time?" Jest shook his head and chuckled. "Alright lets get started, you are to verbally retell what happened in your trial to me in detail, answer any of my questions, and additionally copy everything that we talk about onto these papers as well." Jest pushed the small stacks of paper forward.
"Ok." Solstice began to describe everything that happened, heavily focusing on characters like Rykel, Agar & Lady Eryn. Jest would nod from time to time, ask a couple questions, then repeat. He explained his encounter with the wooden automaton and the fear he felt from the abnormal Red Sun, then he went over his new powers in detail. Solstice would get lost in his retelling to the point where Jest would have to remind him to copy it down on the papers.
"Do you like tea? Coffee?" Jest got up from his seat again prepared to get some refreshments for them.
"I like black tea, with a cube of sugar and a slice of lemon." Solstice made his request.
"Well go come and get it yourself, I'm not your goddamned butler Solstice." Jest, who was already halfway out the door, smirked at the wide-eyed Solstice, then chuckled. "I'm messing with you, I'll prepare some for the both of us as well as a few snacks."
About a couple minutes later Jest returned with a couple of metal bottles and a bag of snacks, placing it all on the coffee table as he began to separate everything. Chips, crackers, chocolates, pastries and some candy.
"Perks of being me, I can pretty much get whatever I want, here's your drink." Jest held out a metal bottle to Solstice in which Solstice accepted and took a sip.
"Oh, the tea is really good. Did all of these come from a pantry here somewhere? I didn't see a kitchen but these pastries look amazing." Solstice's mouth was watering as he grabbed one of them. It had a beautiful golden, buttery crisp outside to it with a tid bit of flaky salt on top, with a big bite the sweet fruit filling ignited Solstice's taste buds with pure bliss. A tear slid across his face.
"This is the best thing I've ever eaten by far…." Solstice fell in love with the pastry, he felt that if he wasn't careful, he could lose himself to absolute gluttony. Solstice wiped the tear sliding down the side of his face. "What do you make of what happened in my trial?"
Jest straightened out the papers with the written details before he tossed them over his shoulder in which they disappeared. "Here's what I think."