Dipan straightened his leg and untied his shoelaces, before retying them all over.
This was the fifth time he had done that.
Like others who had heard the announcement, he too had briefly searched for someone in the same spot as him but soon gave up.
That he was nervous was evident but more than that it was a sense of paranoia that gripped him.
He was a tall boy, with fizzled hair dyed a smudge white at the ends, eyes a cute little brownish pink which gave him a boyish look but it also hid a lot about what he carried with him and where he was from.
Unlike others he was feeling the most lonely and out of place, but you wouldn't clock that seeing the way he carried himself.
He was self aware of how much he lacked in terms of strength and power compared to the ones gathered here but he was not completely new to the feeling.
'Welcome to my life I suppose,' he thought to himself.
The Mausoleum had been a place he had wanted to pay a visit to as soon as he possibly could but certain elements kept him away from that.
'Not today though,' he clenched his fists and adopted a grim look of determination. 'Today I prove my father wrong. We are worthy of it all.'
He was about 15 when the first major emergence happened over here. Schools miles away had been shut too in fear of other potential spots becoming active and he had taken shelter with the hundreds of others in the underground metro tunnels.
The wreckage above after all the initial mayhem and the carnage was tough to hide from them, even as teachers and adults tried to cover up the best they could.
The Mausoleum had also become a tomb of sorts for the countless dead and maimed for life before being converted into what it had become today.
One particular sight from that day years ago stayed with Dipan.
It was the imagery of a fallen church spire, it's uptured cross rupturing through five dead kids with their torsos and tongues hanging together out and on top of it all, a nasty creature with its head upturned and bleeding into the bodies of the dead. It's dark blood shadowing it's deeds.
Beside the piled up remains of the cross and carcasses was an Awakener. His hair flying wildly while his shirt was ripped from his battle and his eyes had this sunken look to him, like he had been tearing up in wrath or pity. Dipan was unsure of which.
Dipan shuddered at the memory and shook himself back to reality.
He had researched about this damn place well in advance and had a faint hope that the amount of Awakeners gathered wouldn't be too much, considering how low intensity of a zone this was.
But he was dead wrong. And it only seemed like the more of them that kept coming in groups, the worse his anxiety got.
'This is gonna get me jumpy as hell, no doubt.'
In fact he almost did jump when he noticed someone standing right beside him.
It was some tall guy about his own age or even older perhaps, wearing sports shoes, loose cargo pants, a white shirt and a cap who was looking down at him a bit embarrassedly as he extended a hand.
"Hey, I'm Sanit. Wanna team up with me?"
Dipan met his gaze then looked at his sides. He was obviously alone and looking for a partner. No weapons too, which meant he was an inborn.
'Figures why he's alone then,' he thought to himself. 'And he looks inexperienced and amateurish too, to be chosen of all people, just my luck'.
Before he could reply though he saw the various sneering looks directed towards them both and winced as if someone had pinched him.
"Go away dude." He said to Sanit not meeting his gaze.
"I would but it's really important I get inside somehow so I need this more than you can imagine. I'll be out of your hair I promise. Besides shouldn't we–"
"Would you look at that? Two inborns sticking together? How cute."
The military camo guys remarked and a few of the crowd chuckled along which made Dipan's blood boil.
He had been avoiding them for good reasons. Mercenaries never had good reputations but after aligning with foreign Awakeners and consequently becoming part of some distasteful campaigns abroad that was best not talked about, it had made them worse.
And these guys took their bad rep as an achievement, almost like enjoying the sullying of every moment and place that they came by. Colluding or conversing with them was only gonna be a death trap.
"I'm not an Inborn you maniacs," he grabbed his small axe as if to prove it, then turned to Sanit who was a bit taken aback.
Sanit raised his hands, "ok cool, so you can still partner up with me then, right?"
Dipan snarled, "you give me no choice. Just don't get in my way."
"Fair enough."
Sanit stood aside as he watched Dipan flimsily adjust his clothes and handle his weapon.
"You ever done this before?" He asked him which seemed to have touched a nerve.
Dipan's eyes snapped to him before he answered, "several times. But that was in other cities. This is my first time here in the Mausoleum."
He looked at Sanit who to him seemed like an eager puppy, turning his head here and there, smiling a bit too much.
'He looks like he wants to stick his tongue out in excitement,' the thought made Dipan chuckle and he began to relax a little at having mocked him in his mind.
"Scoot over." Sanit said as he came close to sit.
Dipan clicked his tongue in annoyance but moved anyway as Sanit sat next to him.
"This might sound really weird but I wanna know about scales. The lady outside," Sanit pointed with his finger, "she asked me about it and I was confused."
Dipan stared at him and for a moment Sanit thought he would be berated. Instead the serious dude suddenly broke into a laugh before stopping himself.
"You seriously don't know?"
Sanit shook his head in response.
"But like don't you have the internet or something?" Dipan asked.
"I don't understand it at all. Just tell it as simply as can be." Sanit insisted.
"Ok well," Dipan thought of a place to start, "scales are like measures. Realm Awakeners imbue astral energy or realm energy or whatever into their weapons right? To reinforce them."
That much Sanit knew so he nodded and Dipan continued.
"So it's exactly what it means. Scaling from 0 to 7. Its like a measurement of sorts. It takes a certain level to immediately activate a higher ceiling at once so usually it's a progressive power. The more the fights last the more the chance there is for a higher scaling. But–"
"There are drawbacks?" Sanit prodded.
"Of course there are." Dipan chuckled suddenly feeling engrossed in the conversation, "like the weapons for example. Pure astral imbuement will more than likely erode a lesser metal or material. It will hold yes, but only for a certain period of time and erosion in the midst of battle is fatal. That's why you need stronger stuff like Bharat metal but that shit is expensive and unless you have serious backing you're cooked."
Dipan let that sink in before continuing.
"Then there's the entire scaling process itself. You start at zero but what if you need to rapidly scale up in the eventuality of a powerful monster? You can't hope to just prolong the battle till you want to. Exhaustion and stamina will be the first enemy, before a stray claw."
"Dang," Sanit blew his lips in thought, "how do you deal with it then?"
"Huh? Me? Well," Dipan picked up his axe and sighed, "I just try and do my best."
Sanit could vaguely tell that Dipan wanted to add something more and even saw him open his mouth but then the announcement came.
"Alright everyone the barriers will lift and enclose in durations of three seconds. Make sure you and your team get in by then and make way for others. Don't block the path."
Sanit tapped Dipan from the back, "you wanted to say something?"
"It was nothing important." Dipan shrugged him off.
Dipan and Sanit strolled forward, the crowd growing packed as they got into small lines.
"Dude, don't push." Dipan complained, but saw Sanit was even more annoyed than he was.
"I'm not the one pushing," Sanit said and gestured him to continue walking.
"Steady people don't get too excited and barge in," barked a guard who walking beside them.
The sunscape passed as they got to where the caved in cenotaph once stood, now sunlight beaming in to shine at the bluish barrier that had four entry points a few meters apart from the other.
"Ok that's it, we've reached the limit of 25 people. You can all come in the next wave. Stay back."
Sanit heard the guards behind stop some from entering, way behind him. It made sense as the Mausoleum wasn't big enough for a lot of them.
"Oye, I heard this CEC is the biggest here." Some people ahead talked with each other their voices easily carried over to the back where Dipan and Sanit were.
"No it's not." Someone else retorted, "this is the second biggest zone, the largest in Delhi is Zone 101, the Stadium."
Sanit nudged Dipan, "hey what's a CEC?"
"It's the official term for such places," Dipan answered, "the government doesn't acknowledge it's existence but it neither takes outright action to outlaw it. They are right by the way," Dipan grunted as he gripped his axe tighter.
"Who?"
"The ones talking before us." Dipan gestured to the front of the lines.
"The Stadium is the biggest in Delhi, that's why it's also exclusive to all the big factions. They use it extensively as a training area for their members. Guys like us wouldn't stand a chance there, let alone getting access."
"Why is that?" Sanit prodded.
Dipan mumbled to himself for a bit then turned sideways, "you know why it's called CEC? What it stands for?"
"No clue."
"Of course you don't," Dipan sighed but continued anyway.
"Controlled Environment Culling. Zones meant for just that. Which means free for all mayhem which not many come out of. Especially if competition is aggressive. In places like the Stadium, it's a butchering factory for the weak."
Sanit gulped at this revelation.
Well we are in it now. Let's see how I fare here.