"You should head to class." Danny said to me, annoyed.
"Why? What would even be the point? I'm just here to kill Kyle, which, by the way, I have absolutely no interest in doing."
Danny was the one that wanted me to kill Kyle. I didn't. The kid wasn't even on my radar with all the Chaotic Demons, Celestial Angels, real demons & armies trying to kill me.
"Fine. I'll go to class." I moaned. After fumbling through Arthur Leo's techbook, I realized that I couldn't open it. The damn thing was broken!
Wait...
I looked at it again. What was so weird about this?
That's it! The techbook had been broken, but it was broken in a way where the damage couldn't possibly be an accident.
The techbook was broken on purpose!
But why? Why did this kid break his own techbook? What did he want to hide so much that he needed to break the most important item he owned at this fortress.
It just didn't add up. Ever since I killed this kid, I had a weird feeling I wasn't being given all the information.
I knew that if I asked Danny, the stupid thing would just ignore me.
Over the course of these few days, Danny had always ignored pertinent questions & requests. I tried a lot, but it was fruitless.
The truth was, Danny only helped me when it wanted to, not when I needed it to help.
As if reading my mind, Danny replied. "Okay, fine. Since you like to complain about how I don't help you, then how about this. I'll tell you where to go for the next class."
Great. I have a backseat driver that just wants me to go to a boring class.
Listening to him, I slowly walked to the place I was instructed.
"This... is a classroom!?" I shouted, angrily fuming at Danny.
The so-called 'Classroom' was more akin to a giant colloseum.
It spanned to over 300 yards, the size of several football fields. The floor was not marble, but with a carpeted cushiony surface.
As I walked in, hundreds of kids rushed into class, ready to sit and learn. I took a passing glance at Sophie & Cinderella, who were also coming in to the class.
Fuck. This might be a little complicated.
I thought that, seeing Kyle enter the room. He looked... serious.
I just decided to sit down, and get ready to learn.
As more & more people filled in, I saw no more familiar faces. Cinderella sat next to me.
"Hey, looks like we're deskmates, Arthur." She laughed a bit. Her smile almost never reached her eyes.
To be honest, it felt like she was being fake in nearly every interaction we had. I didn't care, though.
"Yeah, i'm already regretting befriending you." I said, coyly. The truth was, I knew how to play along and be nice. I just hated it. Jesse Essej doesn't play nice. But Arthur Leo is an entirely different person.
I felt like an imposter, and yet, I was judging Cinderella for my distrust in her.
I wanted to puke from being kind to people I didn't even like. One thing I noticed, was that the orb wasn't speaking to me telepathically at all.
Suddenly, the professor of the class entered. He had a gothic style, and a smug look. I'd never seen him before, but his face automatically pissed me off.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Goth. I'm one of the 5 Authorities. I'll be your instructor for today." He said while laughing.
In response, I aimed a finger gun at my head to patomime me shooting myself. It didn't get any laughs.
"I see we have a smartass in here." Goth said, resuming his lecture.
Seemed like he didn't particularly care about me.
"Let's begin today's lecture," Goth spoke.
"As you all know, this world is corrupted by Chaotic Demons, humans that have taken the world by storm. They have powers that make them comoarable to gods. Our entire military operation is focused on killing, containing & controlling these monsters. We are here to train you kids for the sole purpose of assassinating these psychopathic freaks."
"Recently, an insane one has started killing lots of people. A man with the power to manipulate lightning."
I immediately knew he was talking about Road.
"The truth is, we have bigger problems to worry about than the Chaotic Demons."
At that point, my interest was peeked. A bigger problem than those with powers that make them gods? Who could possibly pose that big of a threat?
He suddenly dawned a grave expression.
"Several months ago, strange patterns were found in several cornfields across the nation. We call those crop circles."
"Later on, we discovered strange metal parts, technology that even we cannot comprehend. It was morphable, capable of withstanding our strongest lasers. It was far more durable than even iron, tungsten, steel, metal. Any element we have at our disposal couldn't match it. We tried to throw it into space, but it survived everything. We believe it is a part of their aircraft."
"Furthermore, there have been many strange dissappearances reported across the world. These reports consist of farmers swearing that their cows were swallowed by massive flying saucers that dwarved the sky itself. Importantly, all of the reports have been stated to have happened at night.
"And recently, we found evidence of strange unidentified flying objects zooming across the sky, ones we have no knowledge of."
Goth brought out a small photograph. It was a picture of Road. "The truth is, we believe that this Chaotic Demon, specifically, and his actions, were very strange. I can't put my finger on it, but his actions have been unexplainably tied to these reports. He dissappeared recently, but somehow returned, and now... He's become different, almost as if... He's not the same person.
Horror crossed every one of our eyes. Some mysterious force... had permanently changed a Chaotic Demon. They were controlling him!
-A FAR AWAY PLACE-
Meanwhile, far away in another part of the world, the former robot, Shelby, woke up.
"Hello, I am your father, Luc." That was the first thing Shelby heard.
Shelby, frustrated, introduced herself. "I'm... Ryan."
The truth was, Shelby no longer existed. A completely new entity had been born. The previous was a failure. Ryan was the new owner of this vessel.
Ryan got up, looking at the fluorescent light, shining through. He was in a hospital gown.
He spoke.
"I think... I remember. I used to be someone else, without free will. But now, I truly have that free will."
The lights were bothering him. Luc stood there for a few seconds, in front of him.
"My son, you have powers. Use them. You now have a completed body, capable of handling the super speed that nearly tore you apart."
Ryan broke out into tears inexplicably. "Wait, I... exist? What am I? What purpose do I have? Am I even human?"
Suddenly, he felt a shock, and once again, his mind, a piercing sensation tore through it.
Luc simply smiled. "Son, the previous vessel in this body was killed. She no longer exists. She was the failed prototype. You are the completed version. Your speed, it's insurmountable. Trust me."
Ryan could only stare into nothingness. He realized, at that moment, that his existence...
Was meaningless.