An ear-piercing sound spread across the entire building jolting Zik from his slumber.
A bubble of lethargy seem to form over his mind but he pushed through it.
'That must be the bell...' he thought as he put on his T-shirt and rushed to the door.
Stepping through the door, he couldn't help but be awed. Everywhere around him had young males and females his age scurrying down towards the platform where he met the walker earlier.
but although they were in a rush, they didn't bump into each other. It was like everyone one of them was in an isolated pocket of space while at the same place within the same space. And yet all of this seemed trivial compared to what he was seeing at the moment.
It took Zik a few moments to come to terms with the fact that the place that laid in front of him was the same as the place he passed through earlier.
There were a few minor changes and a lot of major ones.
The corridors seemed to be bigger and wider, the number of rooms had grown exponentially and the whole space had grown bigger as a whole.
He didn't know for how long he had slept, but it couldn't be that long considering the lingering fatigue and yet somehow the building had changed.
Lost in his reverie, Zik didn't know for how long he had stood there entranced.
Almost every aspirants like him had assembled on the concrete platform and yet he was lost admiring that he didn't realize someone was standing right in front of him.
"What are you staring at?" The person said in a male voice that couldn't belong to someone older than a young adult.
Zik tilted his head a little, a slight frown creeping into his features. He was about to respond but the boy didn't allow him
"Hurry up!!! we'll miss the bell's call" the boy called over his shoulder as he had already turned, sprinting down the corridor.
"The bell...." Zik's eyes widened as he realized he had been standing for a while.
His muscles tensed as he sprinted after the boy barely getting to the elevator before it was too late.
They arrived alongside a few others just before the walker from earlier mounted the raised platform.
'That platform definitely wasn't there before....' Zik thought.
The Walker, having mounted the platform, scanned through the crowd of teenagers before him.
They were numbering close to a thousand and yet there was pin drop silence as not even one of the aspirants dared to move a muscle.
He could see a variety of emotions in their eyes. Some looked on with fear, some had determination and resolution etched into their faces, there was another group whose eyes were filled with desperation and there was another who had a maniacal glint as if they couldn't wait to wreak havoc and create mayhem.
This barely made any difference though. It doesn't change the fact that about ninety percent of the aspirants standing right in front of him would die, either to the horrors of the trial of to the blades of the very same aspirants which they stand together this moment.
But that did little to bother him. He didn't care sending hundreds of teenagers to their death, he had once been an aspirant himself and he had known the struggles so why should he care. The world wasn't kind in any way, everyone wants to devour each other and in seven days these kids would be no different.
He cleared his throat
"Aspirants....." His voice boomed across reaching out to every single person standing on the platform
"It is a great honor to be your first guide on the path of power....."
"It takes great courage to forsake mediocrity and chase power...."
"It takes a certain level of grit to stand in the face of danger..."
"You have today decided to step out of the folds of the ordinary folks and into the powerful embrace of the clans...."
"You have today made it your life goal to walk the path of greatness....."
".....you have taken the first step to join the shapers of the world...."
".....and so your courage shall be rewarded, your grit shall be repaid in kind....."
"... although some of you might perish on this path, your spirit shall be remembered....."
for the next hour, his words wove a tapestry of warnings and promises, glory, power and possible death.
Then he began giving out instructions on what was expected for the next seven days.
The bell would ring only twice a day but they might not see him until the last day.
The first ringing signifies the start of a new day, the aspirants are to assemble on this platform. Once everyone one was present, one of the doors on this floor would open signifying where the activities of the day would be conducted.
The rooms on the first floor were the only ones that weren't residential, now their purposes were laid out although there weren't details about the activities that were to be conducted.
There would be a short break after the first ringing and the activities had ended. Aspirants could use this time frame as they saw fit, be it fraternizing, making plans, honing combat skills or perhaps resting, There will be rooms provided for that.
Then there was the second ringing and this only signifies one thing which was dinner time.
At the sound of the bell, aspirants are to gather here where they would be directed to the dining after which they're to retire into their respective rooms to observe the curfew.
After a few more instructions, the walker dismissed the aspirants and since it was almost the end of the day, this meant that it was dinner time.
One of the several doors in the base floor opened automatically and the aspirants began trooping in.
Zik wasn't worried about there not being enough space to accommodate everyone after everything he had seen.
He stepped into the room only to see it wasn't a room but rather a very long hallway that stretched far and wide. Rows of tables outfitted with long benches lined the entirety of the space.
Right beside the entrance was a counter that automatically gave out food. Zik picked up a plate and waited in line, after a few minutes of waiting he got his own serving before he chose a corner to settle down and eat.
The food wasn't really bad, consisting of a generous serve of mashed potatoes and some chicken nuggets. It was an upgrade compared to what he had been eating for the past months and so he decided to cherish every bit of it.
Halfway through his meal, someone else suddenly dropped their plate beside him and settled close to him. Looking up, he saw the familiar face of the youth from earlier, the one who had nudged him towards the platform.