I was used to being bullied, it started from the first day I stepped my feet into the grounds of Aegis academy. It was all my fault, I should have known better than to help out the school's existing outcast. The rule was simple: help a reject, become one.
In his defense, Lian Soren tried all he could to warn me. But what was I supposed to do with the boy bleeding out by my feet? I damned us both.
Keeping us both alive became a battle. Lian was picked on for his unassuming looks that made for the perfect human to target, while I was targeted for the opposite, I stood out a little too much; with my silver hair and strange blue eyes, I was a magnet for trouble.
"Kairo! Good morning!" Only one person could be excited for a morning at Aegis, I turned to frown at the culprit and my best friend, Lian Soren.
"There is absolutely nothing good about this morning, Soren." I sighed, shoving my hands in my pockets as I moved to join him. He was beaming at me as usual, dressed in the signature matte black color of Aegis, and a white scarf tied loosely around his neck to mark rank. White: the bottom of the food chain. I fidgeted with my own white colored trim.
"Aren't you a bundle of positivity as usual?" Lian laughed as we walked to the classroom, but used the mostly abandoned back entrance because frankly, we hated mingling with people from our grade which was of course the lowest grade: F. And God forbid we met anybody from any of the higher classes.
"We are in deep shit and you know it. We could not raise the 'Ae' points Ryo demanded even after selling virtually all our belongings. We are dead. Simple." I paced, yanking my hair with my hands as I considered the worst of what Ryo could do. But it just kept getting darker.
"I think we should go to him." Lian suggested, perhaps he could also sense the fruitlessness of my pacing. But his abrupt statement was enough to snap me out of it.
"Are you saying we should seek out, Ryo?" I asked, too shocked at what was a goddamned tasteless joke. "On purpose?"
"It is better than being hunted like an animal down the school grounds, yes?" Lian asked, his easy tone belying the tension in his eyes, and I nodded. No matter how bad this was, the alternative was worse.
~~~
The laughter reached us before Ryo did.
Three of his lackeys flanked him, all draped in black uniforms trimmed with crimson, Class C, the untouchable middle tier.
He strolled down the hallway like he owned the place. Maybe he did.
"Well, well," Ryo drawled, lips curling into that perfectly cruel smirk I hated. "Look who came crawling instead of running."
His gaze flicked from me to Lian, disdain dripping from every syllable.
"You owe me Ae points, and you bring your emotional support toy instead?"
"Ryo—" I began, but his fist cracked across my jaw before I could finish. My head snapped sideways, and I tasted blood.
"You think I'm running a charity?" he sneered, stepping closer. "You two are a waste of air and uniforms. But I'll be generous today."
He reached into his pocket and tossed a black Rift card at our feet.
"Five minutes," he said. "Inside this simulation. Come out alive, and your debt's cleared."
Lian flinched. "A simulation?"
Ryo's grin widened, but his eyes were empty. "Sure. A simulation." I frowned. Something was off. Something.
His friends snickered as they turned away, but not before Ryo leaned close enough for me to smell his cologne.
"Don't worry, Kairo," he murmured. "You won't feel a thing."
~~~
"I don't want to do this." I grumbled as we stood on the edge of the hallway that leads to a highly prohibited corridor. Prohibited because it contained a highly realistic rendition of the rifts outside that was ripping the world apart.
"It's just a simulation, no matter how realistic it appears." Lian said, with an encouraging squeeze to my hand as we ventured forward. Not that we had a choice, I thought, tracing the darkening bruise around my jaw absently. Courtesy of Ryo.
"Kairo?" Lian called and I raised my hand to feel him out, the darkness was not allowing me to do much else. The corridor was pulsing beneath me, a dark and otherworldly atmosphere suffocating me. This must be some highranked simulation.
"I think we are in a real rift." Lian gasped as he came to an abrupt halt as he pulled me to a stop with him.
"No way, Ryo said we are just here to last five minutes for Ae points." I pointed, even as my hands trembled. I knew Ryo could not be trusted, but could he really send us to die?
A sudden shriek down the tunnel jolted us and we looked at each other in panic, it was fucking alive.
"Run!" I shouted, as I turned on my heel and dashed back to the entrance. Whatever was down here could eat us for lunch. Lian and I were severely lacking in every aspect of our physique. We were the waste of the school, it would be hours before the authorities bothered to look for us, that was how Aegis worked. The weak were sacrificed to feed the strong.
A small creature bounded up ahead of us in a flash and cut off our escape as it leered at us, its small wiry body, an ugly shade of green and gray rippled with tendons, and its too long limbs dangled by its side, the claws in place of fingers was a true subject of horror. It was a scene straight out of a nightmare. And the smell of burning ash flooded my senses.
In a flash it advanced towards us, and I barely managed to push Lian away, but it got me. A chilling bite of pain almost overwhelmed my senses as I looked down to see a long gash of steaming pain by my side.
"Kairo!" Lian shouted, as I rolled painfully to my feet, doing my best to ignore the pain. The creature grinned again, and ran towards us with a terrifying speed, going for Lian but feinting towards me at the last moment, and I was quick enough to stop its launch with my arms.
A sickening crunch registered, and the creature bit away at my arms, its grin widening as blood ran in rivulets down my torso. I was going to die, I just knew it.
Lian sprinted forward – I didn't even know where he got that hammer, and swung. And with the jolt that followed, I knew he got the creature which earned me temporary relief as it released me.
I could not hold in my sob as I dropped to the floor. Ryo had sent us here on purpose. I should have known better when he smirked the way he did, and the way his goons laughed. They decided that we were no longer useful and sent us here.
"Kairo! Get on your fucking feet!" Lian yelled as dragged me upright with wide eyes, looking frantically around him.
"Where did it go?" I asked, already weak from blood loss and he shook his head, still frantic.
"It just retreated after the hit. We have to get out!" He yelled and I obeyed, dragging my broken body to the entrance. If I could just survive today then I would finally quit. I have had enough.
Before we could take a few more steps, the laughter and strong smell of ash returned, intent on finishing the job, and we skidded to a halt.
It bounded for Lian, but I raised my injured arms and did the one thing I was capable of doing, summoning a bow. And even then, it is usually weak on impact, but I manifested every single one of my 'Ae' Aether points and shot the translucent light blue energy at the monster, and it skidded to a stop with a long howl.
Bullseye.
Running to Lian, I pulled him up, we needed to move. The arrow had injured it, we just might manage to escape…
"Kairo! Watch out!" Lian yelled, and I turned just in time to see him jump in front of me, directly in the path of the enraged goblin, and I could only watch in horror, too slow to react as those talons sunk into the chest of my best friend.
I was frozen as I watched him die. The talon was brutally yanked out of him, and I dashed forward with all the speed I possessed, barely able to cover him with my body as I felt my back split open and I looked down to see the intruding object protruding from my chest.
"Kairo?" Lian garbled as blood spurted from his lips. "Survive."
It was his last word, and I watched him stiffen in my arms. I knew I was not far behind, but even as the hole in my chest burned, my rage burned hotter.
Ryo….I wanted to see him bleed, I wanted to burn the world that discarded me; discarded us. I wanted to live enough to watch them burn.
[System activation sequence. Initiating Host Integration]
My fallen body seized as it welcomed death, but I could not help squinting even as my heart slowed. What on earth?
[Welcome, Host. You have been chosen by the system for this mission. Click yes if you accept]
I was dying anyway. So I said yes.
The world turned dark.