Darkness. Numbness, and sheer cold.
That was all an unfortunate soul felt as his consciousness flickered back and forth. He had no idea how he died. One second he was walking home; headphones in, lost in the sound....the next, nothing.
But now, there was something.
He felt a weight pressed against his chest - soft, heavy, a texture he knew all to well, it was the feeling of a blanket.
His eyes fluttered open as the light above beamed down onto him
His hands instinctively shielded his view from the light, as he moved his body.
"Where am I?", he asked as he slowly moved his head to the right.
An unfamiliar layout presented to him. The view of a desk would normally be beside him, a place where he would lay his phone and other devices, but now there was nothing.
Confused, he sat up and observed his surroundings.
"Is that?", he exclaimed. Right in-front of the bed he woke up in was....a hologram.
A real hologram, something you would see out of a sci-fi movie.
"What is going on? Is this some sort of prank?".
Waking up in an unfamiliar room was one thing, but as he seemingly realised...he felt different. His hands came into view, the view he was expecting; a pair of rough,calloused palms shaped by years of work - instead, what he saw shocked him.
They were slender, pale, almost delicate. Long fingers that looked untouched by hardship, veins beneath his skin that were feint, nails neat and clean. They didn't feel like his hands. They felt frail.
Turning them over back and forth, he was trying to get a grip on what was going on. These were the hands of a teenager, soft, unscarred- hands that never had to claw at life day by day.
Heart pounding, he clenched them into fists. Feeling how small and light they were, 'What the hell...'
Panic rose, he swung his legs off of the bed; as he did so he was greeted with a weakness and a strange sense of unfamiliarity, it was like this body was not his.
'Don't tell me....'
Sort of limping over to a room he soon found out to be the bathroom, he looked to the mirror, and what he saw was something he suspected.
The image in-front of him was a young man, average in every way. His hair was a dull brown, slightly tousled; his eyes a muted grey...everything was plain. An unremarkable face lacking any defining features, he was a blank canvas.
Time passed as he just stared. He was searching, searching for a similarity from his past.
"This cant be happening right now....did I really just reincarnate!?"
His hands grew redder as his grip on the sink only rose. He felt faint, and so his breathing quickened. He was experiencing a panic attack. It was an instinctive reaction from this abrupt change in scenery and literal body.
To cool down he ran the tap and dipped his head under. The cold water set his nervous system straight, and reminded him....this was his body.
After a few minutes of washing his face, he staggered out of the bathroom and into the room he woke up in.
Getting a chance to truly digest the room, he scanned every nook and cranny. Apart from the shockingly real hologram broadcasting what had seemed to be the news; there was only miscellaneous items around the room.
Instead of on the right of the bed, the desk he was expecting was on the left-hand side of the room, to foot of the bed.
On the desk was a mug, half-full of water. Next to it lay a small, sleek device, unlike anything he'd seen before. It shimmered faintly, glowing and projecting soft blue lines whilst charting unknown patterns.
The device called to him, and so, he reached out. His hands gently grazing its surface.
Suddenly, a faint light shone to life above the device - a floating translucent screen appeared displaying a row of symbols and images. He blinked.
"What is this?", he exclaimed.
Looking at the symbols he realised that it looked strikingly like something.
"Is this a phone?", he asked himself out loud, as some of the images seemed familiar.
Clicking on a magnifying glass, it took him to a search bar, confirming his thoughts.
"What did I reincarnate into? First the hologram and now this..."
The search bar just sat there, waiting for an input so it could perform something, but he had no idea what to ask.
As he pondered his eyes wandered to the drawers of the desk; 4 in total, 2 on each leg. Opening the 2 on the right, he didn't find anything worth mentioning. Switching his attention to the drawers on the left, he opened the one atop. Resting inside laid a letter addressed to a 'Riven Brown'.
"So my name is Riven...wait did I say 'my'??".
It seemed he had already began dealing with his fate.
Regaining focus, he began reading the letter----
--Eldris Academy -- Department of Arcane--
To Riven Brown,
Congratulations on your acceptance to Eldris Academy following your demonstration of promising aptitude during preliminary evaluations.
Our academy specialises in cultivating talent across the four fundamental mediums that govern our world's power:
Magic - The art of manipulating elemental and arcane energies.
Spirit Bonding - The forging of symbiotic connections with spiritual entities
Beast Taming - The mastery of wild creatures and beasts, bending them to one's will
Ki - The harnessing and focusing of inner life energy to enhance mind and body.
Your enrolment will commence on Cycle 50, Phase 4, Day 12. Please report to the Orientation Hall upon arrival for division placement and initial instruction.
Failure to attend within the alotted timeframe will result in recovation of your acceptance and reassigment of your position to another candidate.
We look forward to witnessing your growth and mark you will leave upon Eldris Academy, for your path may one day lead far beyond these halls.
Signed,
Administrator Keryn Voss
Admissions Office
Eldris Academy
----
Placing the letter down, Riven was trying to rack his brain over what he had learnt.
' Eldris?? Magic? Ki? Just where am I'.
The realisation of concepts that he had dreamed about that had now seemingly burst into reality, through proof of this letter, had him confused and shocked; it's not every day things like this occur. He was stunned....but also a little excited.
'Wait Cycle 50, Phase 4, Day 12?? is that some sort of date?', he pondered.
Glancing to his right he realised the 'phone' was still on, looking at the blue fluorescent projection, in the top left corner there was some writing.
As he suspected C(50)P(3)D(30) was written in the corner. "So it is some sort of date here", he took a breath before realising this was the 3rd Phase; attributed the phases to months and cycles to years, that could only mean he had a few days until the enrolment date....
Realising this, he grabbed the phone and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Thrust into a different world pretty much, judging by the letter its got magic and all sorts, and my enrolment is in a few weeks maybe..", he seemingly vented out.
His hands moved over the phones different applications, landing on an app with a days written on it, he tapped the icon, landing him into the month.
The first thing he noticed was the difference in days. "35 days!", he exclaimed, noticing there was 35 in each month. The second thing was there was only 10 'phases'.
Since it was the 30th day of the 3rd phase. He only had about 18 days till his enrolment.
"18 da-"
Before he could finish, he could hear a ringing from one of the doors at the end of the hall.
BZZZ! BZZZ! BZZZ!
It seemed someone was buzzing his front door.
Walking over stepping through his hallway, he was met with his front door and looked through its peep hole.
In his view was a short, mechanical object that appeared to be floating. It's surface gleamed with silver; lights blinking along its exterior, thin mechanical arms running along its side , with two glassy lenses ordained on his head.
It appeared to be holding something.
"What the hell is that?
"DELIVERY FOR RIVEN BROWN!", a mechanical voice echoed out.
'A delivery?', he questioned, before slowly opening the door.
CLICK!
"DELIVERY FOR RIVEN BROWN!", it repeated, extending its arms towards Riven presenting the package.