'Where is Sunny?'
The thought repeated in a loop in Zachary's mind. He felt his heart drop to his stomach — then as if he wanted to puke it back up. His head was pounding, and the ringing in his ears only disoriented him further. Cold tremors ran through his arms as he kept asking himself the same question.
'How is he not here?' Zachary stumbled slightly as the ground seemed to shift beneath him. 'My presence in this world has been brief. It shouldn't have had time to change the story yet...'
He clutched his face tightly with one hand, as if that could help hold himself together.
'So why?' His eyes began to water from the stress — and then a voice snapped him back to reality.
"What are you looking at?" Nephis asked, glancing over her shoulder with a slight frown on her otherwise impassive face.
'Fuck.' Zachary cursed under his breath as he quickly assessed the situation. From Nephis's point of view, she had been minding her own business when some random guy started tweaking out behind her — while staring in her direction.
'Great, just great! I'm already in a bad situation, and I go and start things with the second protagonist on the wrong foot.' He scrambled for a way out — and blurted the first thing he could think of.
"Nothing, I was just wondering what you were listening to?" he said with an awkward smile, pointing at his ears — all the while cursing his own stupidity.
Nephis arched an eyebrow slightly — the most her expression had shifted in this whole encounter. But she answered. "Night&Gale. Third single."
"Oh, are they any good?" Zachary asked reflexively — then immediately regretted it. 'You dumb bastard! Night&Gale are supposed to be the best band in the last ten years or whatever, some yada yada Orpheus thing. And you're out here asking if they're good?'
This time, Nephis actually gave a full expression — one of awkward disbelief. "You haven't heard them?" she asked incredulously.
"I mean, I've heard of them, but I haven't heard them," Zachary tried to explain — just as the academy doors finally opened.
Nephis turned and started walking across the bridge. "That doesn't make sense," she said, not looking back.
"It actually does..." Zachary mumbled in his defense — but she was already gone.
'Great job, Zachary.' He thought as he followed after her.
He kept cursing under his breath. Still, at least the conversation had pulled his heart back from collapse — though his thoughts were still a mess.
***
Zachary arrived at the Sleeper compound on autopilot. He tried to pull his thoughts back to reality, but they remained chaotic. They no longer circled around Sunny's absence or the consequences it might have on the flow of the story — they had dissolved into a mush of bad thoughts and depressing introspection.
To add salt to the wound, he was surrounded by teenagers who seemed a little too excited for his taste. He just wanted to sit in a corner and calm his mind, but the Sleepers refused to let him go, bombarding him with questions. He could feel someone approaching, and when Zachary turned his head, he saw a normal-looking Sleeper already opening his mouth.
"Hey man, how are you?" And without giving Zachary a chance to answer, the boy continued. "I received a Memory in my first Nightmare, you see, it's a—"
Zachary cut him off with a hand on his shoulder. "I don't care, dude," he said with a forced smile, and walked away.
Only for another Sleeper to speak up. "I tell you, friend, there was this Nightmare Creature that—"
"Congratulations," Zachary said with fake interest. "Why don't you go show off to that wall over there? I'm sure it'll care more than I do." And with that, he turned around without a second thought.
If Zachary hadn't been in such a mood, he might have noticed that Jet's words were starting to come true — the ratio of female Sleepers approaching him was higher than that of males. But he was too tired to pay it any mind.
'Man, Gerard Way was serious when he said that "teenagers scare the living shit out of me,"' Zachary thought with slight amusement — until he felt something.
{_^_}
His mind began to buzz strangely, and then a young man tapped his shoulder. He had brown hair, a handsome face, and green eyes that stared at him with intensity.
"Hello, my name is Caster." he said with a professional smile. "I don't know why you're acting like that, but you're making the rest of us uncomfortable." He spoke with a kind of friendly seriousness. But Zachary couldn't care less.
"And that's a fucking lie," Zachary replied with a dark smirk. "If they were really that uncomfortable, they would've stopped coming near me a while ago."
He answered, but then quickly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
'Man, I know I'm in a bad state. But that doesn't mean I should antagonize every single Sleeper who's rightfully excited to talk about their experiences. And even worse, now that I don't even know what to do next, it's probably not smart to clash with members of the main cast of the first arc.'
So, with a sigh, he said to Caster, "Look, man, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude or anything. It's just that I'm not feeling particularly well right now, so if you could leave me alone for a bit, I'd appreciate it." And without waiting for an answer, Zachary made his way to a secluded bench, away from the other Sleepers.
Sitting down, he closed his eyes and leaned the back of his head against the wall. A long, tired sigh escaped him, and slowly, his mind began to settle.
Zachary kept his eyes shut. But as if to compensate for his lack of sight, his other senses sharpened. He could still hear the individual conversations of the Sleepers around him. He could feel the fabric of the clothes he was wearing, the weight of the bomber jacket on his body. He could also feel the faint wind brushing against his face from the direction of the door. He could smell the clean air in the room, and the faint metallic scent of the wall behind him. But more than that — he could feel the gazes the Sleepers occasionally threw his way.
Most people could sometimes tell when they were being watched, but the feeling was usually vague, almost dreamlike. Zachary's new sense, however, completely outclassed that faint intuition. In his sightless state, he couldn't make out the silhouettes of the people around him, but he could hear their presence — even though it remained a chaotic amalgam of overlapping voices. More importantly, he could feel when those voices directed their attention toward him. He could distinguish the direction and distance of every gaze.
'So this is what [Cinder Eyes] can do, huh?' Zachary thought, considering the ability. 'Even though it's called "Eyes," the description said I "can sense more than I should be able to," not that I "can see more."'
He delved further into this sense. He could feel their gazes — but he also felt that, if he concentrated harder, he would be able to...
{_^_}
Zachary's mind buzzed again. This time, the buzz came from his left. He could sense someone sitting beside him, observing him intently. Zachary felt exasperated. He had been on the verge of discovering something about his ability, but the heavy pressure of this person's attention clouded his remaining senses. With a heavy sigh, and without opening his eyes, he asked in a low voice:
"What are you looking at?"
He felt the person beside him tremble in surprise, and a twinge of guilt crept into him. The question had come out a bit harsh, but he couldn't help feeling wronged — he'd been interrupted right when he was getting somewhere. Then he heard the person respond.
"I-I didn't look at anything." A woman. Her voice was timid.
"I can't see."
Zachary's heart dropped to his stomach. He immediately began praying that what he was imagining wasn't true. He quickly opened his eyes and looked to his left — and what he saw confirmed his worst fears.
Once again, the novel hadn't done justice to the girl beside him. Her pale face looked like porcelain, and her blonde hair flowed down like a golden cascade. Her eyes were turned in his direction, but they didn't look at him. They didn't look at anything. The blind oracle Cassia was sitting beside him.
'Fuck, that's why this bench was being avoided.' Zachary cursed internally as he quickly said to her,
"Fuck, I'm so sorry, dude—"
'"Dude"?! Did you call her dude?!' But he had already messed up so badly that one poorly chosen word hardly mattered anymore. So he sighed and continued.
"I'm truly sorry. You see, I'm not in a good state of mind right now. I try to maintain politeness, but everyone is so... interactive. And then I felt your sight on me — or, well, what I thought was your sight..."
'Fuck! She's blind, man. "Sight"? Seriously?' Still, he pressed on.
"So I reacted a little aggressively. I'm sorry."
He winced, frustrated. 'First Nephis, and now Cassie? You've really outdone yourself, Zachary.'
He reproached himself — then she replied.
"Don't worry," Cassie said, her voice now a little less timid. "It's true I wasn't watching you... because, well, you know. But I won't lie and say I wasn't paying attention to you. It's amazing you managed to notice. People usually tell me I have a faint presence." She offered a small smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Well, if you must know, my ability lets me sense more than I should be able to," Zachary said, then added, "I'm Zachary, by the way. Nice to meet you."
He extended his hand toward her — and only then realized he was offering a handshake to a blind person. So he quickly added. "And just for your information, I'm currently trying to shake your hand."
"Oh. Nice to meet you, Zachary," she said, extending her hand a bit awkwardly. He shook it gently. "I'm Cassie."
Just at that moment, a bear of a man entered the room and climbed onto the stage.
"I am Awakened Rock. Sleepers, welcome to the Academy."
Awakened Rock looked exactly as the novel had described him, and he continued with the same explanation he had given there. By now, the brief conversation with Cassie had sobered Zachary from his chaotic thoughts. The only ones remaining were the pessimistic kind.
He really didn't want to admit it. But deep down, he had housed the tiniest of hopes — hopes of finding his way back home. Letting the main cast go about their shenanigans while he quietly built his strength, using the novel's knowledge to his advantage. All this, just to find answers the novel had never provided. But before that seed of hope could bloom, reality crushed it.
Zachary felt wronged. He had done nothing to deserve transmigration. He had been content with his normal life. And now, just as he was about to take his first step on the road to finding a way back — that road was taken from him, without even the chance to mourn it.
Awakened Rock continued his explanation of the Dream Realm, but Zachary couldn't bring himself to care.
"...There will be a round of interviews after that, to prepare your suggested curriculums. Get a good night of rest. Your training starts tomorrow."
With a relieved sigh, Zachary followed the instructions and made his way to his dormitory. He didn't even bother to observe it. He simply reached for the bed and threw himself onto it with a defeated sigh.
He was supposed to go to the cafeteria, but he wasn't even hungry. He just wanted to close his eyes and rest. But the upcoming interview wouldn't let him relax. So he remained there, lying on the bed with an arm over his head, trying not to think about anything.
When the notification to go to the interview room arrived, he got up without a word and left his dormitory. Thankfully, all the facilities in the Sleeper compound were close, so he reached the room quickly.
He was honest about what he knew of his Aspect — which wasn't much, of course. He told them that his abilities were related to sensory perception, and that the other one was most likely a passive skill, something to do with bodily control — what he supposed [Balance Control] referred to. He refused to answer any questions related to his Nightmare.
Afterward, he returned to his room and sat at the edge of the bed for a few minutes. He was checking his runes, but his eyes kept drifting back to the same ones:
Name: Zachary.
True Name: Heaven's Equal [Unclaimed].
Echoes: ---
Memories: [Ender's Solace], [Witness' Testament].
He wanted to check his newest Memory, but the remembrance of the Witness—no, of Dahrio's last moments—always left him with a bad taste and a sour mood.
At the moment, he didn't see it. No... he didn't want to see it. But through Sunny's absence, through the collapse of his goals, he understood something he hadn't wanted to face since waking up in this new body:
He had already wanted to go back.
He had usurped the Original One's rightful body.
"ɪ ʙᴇᴛʀᴀʏᴇᴅ ʜɪᴍ."
The Spell had been right. He'd made empty promises about placing his name among the stars—words that had meant nothing from the start. He had taken a life for a purpose that no longer held any meaning. And then there was Dahrio, who had betrayed everything he believed in for an uncertain future. A future built on hollow words. The Spell had every right to mock him.
A fatherly figure, betrayed by his own son.
"ɪ ᴅᴇᴄᴇɪᴠᴇᴅ ʜɪᴍ."
And for what?
He had taken two people's lives for a purpose he could no longer pursue. Those Memories were a testament to his condemnable actions.
"ɪ'ᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀꜱᴛ."
With these thoughts echoing in his mind, Zachary went to bed.
****
Zachary woke the next morning unrested. Throughout the night, he had recurring dreams of the other world, and every time he woke up, it was only to find himself still trapped in this one. With a heavy groan, he dragged himself to the bathroom to wash up. The face that looked back at him from the mirror looked even worse than the day before.
Zachary's eyes were tired, defeated. Below his crimson gaze, dark bags hung heavy, betraying just how little rest he'd gotten.
"ʏᴏᴜ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ʟɪᴋᴇ ꜱʜɪᴛ." He muttered to no one as he changed into the Academy uniform.
With a tired sigh and a half-hearted attempt to lift his spirits, Zachary made his way to the cafeteria. He grabbed a large cup of coffee and, without much care, filled his tray with food before searching for a place to sit. It was still early, so there were a few empty tables, but most had people already sitting beside them—people who clearly wanted to talk. Zachary had no desire for conversation.
He kept looking and soon found a mostly empty table—empty except for a blind girl already eating her breakfast there.
So, with another sigh, Zachary made his way over. "ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴍᴏʀɴɪɴɢ." He said, taking a big gulp of the steaming coffee.
"G-Good morning!" Cassie responded, startled. She hadn't expected someone to sit next to her. She quickly turned her face toward him with a slight frown. "Are… are you okay?"
Zachary raised a brow as he took a bite of sausage. "ᴡʜʏ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀꜱᴋ?" He replied, more harshly than he intended.
"You… you don't sound okay," she said, her voice tinged with concern.
Zachary wanted to answer 'ᴡʜʏ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀʀᴇ.' , but he quickly bit the thought back. It wasn't smart to antagonize one of the protagonists. "ɴᴏ, ɪ'ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴏᴋᴀʏ."
Not wanting to draw the conversation out, he added, "ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ꜱʟᴇᴇᴘ ᴡᴇʟʟ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ᴀʟʟ."
Cassie squinted slightly, as if she didn't quite believe him, but she didn't press the issue. "I see. I understand. Sometimes—"
Her words were cut off as a group of Sleepers gathered around a screen showing the rankings of the new batch. Just like in the novel, everyone was making a fuss over Nephis's True Name. Zachary would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in his own rank. Scanning the list, he found his name about twenty places above Cassie's.
"ɴᴏᴛ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴄᴜʟᴀʀʟʏ ʙᴀᴅ, ʙᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴇɪᴛʜᴇʀ." He thought, returning to his food. That's when Cassie spoke again.
"Can you tell me what's happening?" she asked with an expectant tone.
"ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴀɴɴᴏᴜɴᴄᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴀɴᴋɪɴɢ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜱʟᴇᴇᴘᴇʀ ʙᴀᴛᴄʜ." Zachary replied matter-of-factly. "ᴛʜᴇʏ'ʀᴇ ʀᴀɴᴋᴇᴅ ᴀᴄᴄᴏʀᴅɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴏᴜʀ ꜱᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴀʟ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇꜱ."
"Am I ranked last?" she asked, her voice muffled.
"ʏᴇᴘ." Zachary answered without looking up. But then he noticed her shoulders trembling slightly, and he felt a small pang of guilt.
"Hey, don't worry. Nobody really knows what's going to happen." He said trying to cheer her up.
Cassie didn't seem convinced.
So, he added a line he remembered from a movie—one that had always stuck with him. "You know, even the smallest person can change the course of the future."
At his words, Cassie's shoulders stopped trembling, and she lifted her head with a softer expression. "Do you really believe that?"
"Yes, I do." And as he said it, something in Zachary's heart brightened—just a little.
With that they continued eating their breakfast in silence. And after finishing Zachary stood up and went to his first class. Wilderness Survival.