Thanks to medical advancements, both boys were discharged after only a day. Their parents didn't let them out of their sight for three whole days—understandably.
After that, Riven and Jordan started doing morning jogs. Riven had lost some weight and seemed more focused than ever.
"So…" Jordan asked during a break under a tree. "Mind telling me what's up?"
They sat in the shade. Riven nodded.
"So my forced evolved ability is both complicated and simple," the boy said. "Basically it's an RPG system. I can see stats, level up—there's even a skill tab."
Jordan blinked. "Wait… you're telling me your Evolution gave you a video game system?"
Jordan then started to laugh. "Your soul desire is to play games!" The boy was laughing uncontrollably, but after a while, he soon stopped after really thinking about it.
"That's… kind of insane. But we've played enough of those—there's gotta be more to it, right?"
Riven frowned at his brother's laughter, but soon continued. "Yeah. I explored more while Mom and Dad were watching us. I found four tabs: Stats, Party, Shop… and Skills."
"A skill tab? So this is your ability?"
"Sort of. Let me read it out so you can have a better understanding."
[Copy]: The user can copy another Evolver's ability and make it their own. User starts with 1 ability slot. More slots unlock at higher levels.
(Next slot at Level 5)
"It even showed me a video of the black-haired guy and pink-haired guy from the attack. I chose the gravity power—which I originally thought was telekinesis."
"That's actually awesome and most like me. You can copy more abilities as you level up," Jordan had a big smile on his face. "What about the Party tab?"
Riven then started to read. This was the tab that he was really looking forward to.
[Party Tab]: You can only invite Evolvers into your party. Regular party members can receive healing via system potions and be tracked.
Bonded Party Members are trusted individuals with special privileges. These members have their own personal connection to both the system and the original user of the system. Bonded party members get their own levels and can be given, removed, or swapped abilities by the user.
Note: Bonded members keep their abilities even if removed from the party.
Jordan had a face of awe. "Can I be your first Bonded Party Member?!" he questioned.
Riven smiled. "You know it. But first, I have to do this quest."
[System Questline: Sigil Gate Academy]
Train to unlock your full potential.
• 100 push-ups
• 100 sit-ups
• 20km run
(Twice per day)
Penalty for failure: Loss of abilities
Riven trained hard. His family noticed the change—especially when he eventually showed off his gravity powers. But he kept the system part to himself, not wanting his parents to know that his forced evolved ability had something to do with a game.
The night before Sigil Gate Academy would arrive to pick the boys up along with other students around their ages, Riven entered the Party tab.
[Invite Jordan Harlow to your party? Yes / No]
Yes.
He looked at Jordan. An orange display hovered above his twin's head.
"Your level's 3? You're above me already," Riven noted with a laugh.
"But you can't learn another ability until you hit Level 5, right?" Jordan asked. "So why not copy mine?"
Riven shook his head. "Because Ink is your ability. I don't want to take something that's part of you."
Jordan wouldn't admit it, but that meant a lot.
"Plus, Gravity is way more cool."
That feeling Jordan felt before went away after his brother said those last words.
"Anyway," he said, changing the subject. "Do we go watch Evolvers fight so you can copy their moves?"
"I already tried. I think I need to be in person—or feel the power firsthand."
The morning arrived of the day that they will go on a new adventure . The twins tied their shoes, ready to begin a new chapter. At the bus stop, their parents gave long hugs before sending them off.
While waiting on a corner where other students were at, a bus came. It was red in color. It stopped in front of the students. When the door opened, no one got in. Instead, someone got off—it was a female.
"Hello, everyone. I'm going to make this short and to the point since we are on a schedule. Today you will be attending Sigil Gate Academy if you have an ability, and for those who don't, you'll be waiting for the other, now."
The woman then pulled what looked to be a small orb. "I want you to put your hand on this and channel your evolved ability if you have one. The orb will light up. If it does, you are permitted to go on the bus."
Only a handful of students who were there went up to the woman and put their hand on the orb with it lighting up in different colors. When it came up to Jordan, the boy walked up and did the same as everyone else, with the orb shining a black color with the woman's face showing a look of surprise.
"Black is a rare color to see in the orb," she commented as she gave Jordan the go-ahead to get on the bus.
But after his brother went, and it was his turn, Riven realized—
"How do I show the system on this orb? Maybe if I just say activate system in my mind," Riven said to himself as he walked and put his hand on the orb. Nothing happened. The woman then gave the boy a suspicious look, which made Riven's mind race even more. "What now? What do I do? It isn't working." Riven tried over and over again, yet nothing still happened.
"Riven, what are you doing?" Jordan called out. "She said to channel your ability through the orb, so use your Gravity and hurry up."
Jordan's words made Riven realize that he copied the black-haired man's gravity ability, so that's the exact ability that he used. And when the orb lit up purple, Riven was then able to enter the bus. As Riven walked on, he could see the bus driver mean-mugging him. He quickly walked over to where his brother was sitting and sat next to him.
The woman, realizing no one else had evolved, then walked on the bus ready to go to another stop. The bus then continued around the area, getting more students. Yet most of them stayed outside of the bus, showing that they weren't evolved. This meant one of two things: one, none of these students went through a traumatic event—or an event that scared the life out of them—that allowed them to force evolve; or two, none could evolve at all. When they got near the gate, Riven looked at another bus that looked way fancier than the one they were already on. When he saw where the bus was going, he could see it was getting the remaining students who were at the corner.
As the last student entered the bus, the gate opened, then the bus started to drive out.
"He-hello," a boy said to the two nervously.
"Hello," Riven replied back.
"Is anyone sitting here?"
The boy then shook his head no.
"Can I sit here?"
"Sure, I see why not."
The boy was surprised by his kind words and then sat by Riven and Jordan.
"So what's your name?" Jordan asked.
"My name's Joey."
"Nice to meet you, Joey. My name's Jordan and this is my brother, Riven."
Joey could tell the two were twins. After Riven lost weight, he looked similar to his brother with some noticeable differences—him being a bit more bulky than Jordan, and their hair colors being different as well, his being black while Jordan's was brown.
They noticed Joey's clothes were stuffed in a trash bag instead of a suitcase like everyone else had.
Joey, realizing where the two were looking, soon got up.
"I'll move."
"No, it's okay," Riven said back quickly, realizing they must've hit a nerve for looking at his bag like that.
"No, you don't wanna be seen with a person like me. To some of these people, I'm food."
Jordan could tell what the golden-haired boy was talking about. A lot of people on the bus looked at Joey like he was easy picking.
"Nah, it's okay, we promise. But hey, if any of those guys try you, come back to me and I'll settle the score," Riven replied back, making Joey smile and sit back down.
"Here he goes with the hero complex again."
Riven used to always get in trouble and fights because of the shows he watched—that being shows that helped out people who were weaker than others, a.k.a. heroes. The boy had always gone out to try and help the weak, even though he was weak himself, leading to him getting beat up, yet still getting the point across.
"Woah, look—we're here," a student said. That's where everyone could see it: the Dawn Gate. The gate that was separating wallborn from the people and danger on the outside. No one, unless people were premium authority, could get in or out the gate. Even people with barely any authority at all could barely get near the gate without having to be sent home. The gate itself was 431 meters tall, meaning even if a person tried to fly above it, it would take a while for them to do so. And by the time they got up there, they would have already been caught.
As the gate opened and the bus started moving again, a woman shouted from a broken-down house.
"JOEY! GOOD LUCK!"
With Joey responding by waving at her.
The bus rolled forward. Two men in purple and white uniforms stepped aboard.
"ID check," one said in a booming voice.
After confirming everyone, the bus moved on.
They passed cities filled with towering buildings, people outside the walls who seemed wealthier and more powerful.
"How come these people don't live inside the walls?" Joey asked.
Riven explained, "There are theories. Some say they're too poor. Others say they don't want to pay wall taxes. But the most likely reason—they're strong enough not to need walls."
The bus then stopped again. This time when the woman got off, they could hear her talk more formally and with more respect than how she did with the others. A girl with red hair then walked onto the bus. She looked around, then saw the boys. She walked to them and, with her hand on her chin tapping over and over again, she asked a question.
"Have we met before?"
"Umm, yes, we have. You and a person who I assume is your father saved me and my brother." When Riven said these words, flashes of being carried to the hospital came back to her.
"Oh yeah, you're that heavy bastard from before." Nico looked annoyed.
"A bastard, yes, but my brother is not heavy."
"That was not the main problem with her sentence," Riven replied back.
"Obviously, he's not heavy anymore—he lost a lot of weight."
Riven didn't like that emphasis she put on a lot when she said those words.
"And who's the shorty?"
"Hey, I'm not short," Joey whispered.
But before their conversation could continue, the bus was on the move again and Nico decided to take her seat.
"Oh, and one more thing—don't ever call that man my father."
"What did you do to make someone like her mad?" Joey questioned.
"That's the thing—we did nothing."
The bus continued to pick up more students. Almost everyone on the bus was getting to know one another. Until they entered a tunnel. At first it felt like everything was going to be normal, but suddenly, a blue light washed over the tunnel.
Most of the students felt sick and started throwing up. Then, out of nowhere, robots rolled out from the walls to clean up the mess.
Outside the windows, the sky turned pure white. In the distance—metal towers, airships.
"Flying aircraft?" someone whispered. "Nine of them?!"
"The Academy gets 30% from all wallborn income," the driver said. "That's how they can afford this."
"There are four major wallborn houses," he continued. "Dawn. Black Halo. Evolaris. And the Broken Veil."
Jordan raised an eyebrow. "Why would the Broken Veil support the Academy?"
"They hate Evolvers. But they still need strong non-Evolver recruits," the driver said. "Remember—they run their own academy too, for people without powers. And there was so that whoever didn't support Sigil Gate Academy was going to be blacklisted and targeted by the military. But nowadays, this stuff just feels like empty threats."
The bus arrived at a massive lot with other buses arriving as well. Students all in between the ages of 16–18 years old disembarked.
A man in a white uniform with a star badge addressed them.
"Welcome, students. I'm Dean Damian Wright. Top 5 scorers in the entrance exam will receive special rewards. So do your best."
[Questline has updated: Become one of the top five students of the first year]
• Top 5: Reward
• Top 3–2: Exclusive Reward
• Top 1: System Reward
"One last thing," Damian said with a smile.
"Welcome… to Sigil Gate Academy."
The floor beneath them lit up—and all the students vanished.