(also known as zaemgsoragjaorstneariotkrs or hwatever)
Chapter I
I laid in a pond, eyes shut, my clothes soaked with water. The cold hard stone on the bottom of the pond pressed into my back. It seemed to have cut me, pain throbbed dully throughout my entire body. How did I get here… I tried to open my eyes but felt some resistance. I tried harder...
I fluttered open my eyelids to a thatched roof above me. I lay in a rather small house. Strange… I looked down into a world of red. I no longer laid in a pool of water, but rather a pool of blood.
I jolted upright and pain shot up my body. That was when I saw what else was laying in the pool of blood. Bodies. I froze. My eyes opened wide and pain flooded into them. My breathing had seemingly stopped, the sight was too much to take in. Vomit began crawling up my throat.
I saw bodies sprawled all throughout the small house. There was a man with his head split open, pieces of his brain had slid out of his skull. He also had multiple stab wounds in his chest, blood gushed out at rapid speeds. I looked to his right and saw a man with half of his torso sliced off. I could look into his body and see his organs. I looked further to the right and saw a body with no head. Further to the right laid an old woman whose body was all sorts of sliced up. And closest to my body rested a young woman with a single stab wound through her heart.
I hunched forward and expelled vomit until I had nothing left in my stomach to vomit. I watched as it swirled in the layer of blood.
I set my hands to the ground and pushed off on my legs, setting myself upright. I nearly vomited again feeling the blood on my hands. My legs shook violently but I didn’t grab anything to stabilize myself, the walls were covered with blood and guts. My torso was splattered with blood and vomit. I peered around for a door and found one at the far side of the room. I was wearing no shoes and my bare feet were laced with blood.
I took a hesitant step forward and pain jumped from my feet to the top of my head. I took another step, ignoring the pain. I had to get out of this house.
I stepped over bodies, avoiding looking at them, and headed for the door. I wasn’t taking my time. I took step after step quickly to get out of there as fast as possible. I got to the door and grabbed the handle to push the door open. It swung open and I collapsed onto the grass outside. I stayed on the ground for five seconds before I picked myself up. I had to get as far away from this house as possible.
I pushed myself up with my hands. I swayed on my feet as I took in the view around me. It was midnight, the house was in a dusty field filled with dirt and small patches of grass. There was a single tree sitting by the house, from the outside the house was an ugly small thing. It was made of sloppily placed wood planks and a stone foundation. I quickly averted my eyes from the house and the sight inside. I peered at the view in front of the house and saw a thin dirt trail leading away from the house. Along the trail was another house, it looked very similar to the house behind me. The door was propped open and in the doorway I could see a woman staring up at me in fear. Her eyes were wide with fright.
“What happened over there?” She cried over to me fearfully.
I stared at her. My mind was blank, I couldn’t think.
“Why is there blood on you?” She stared wide eyed at me, “I heard screaming…”
She opened her mouth to speak again but was cut out by a rhythmic humming. Down the dirt path a steel transport vehicle hummed across the dirt path, dirt flew up from underneath the transport. My mind wasn’t working correctly, I couldn’t think. Nothing made sense, I only felt fear
It floated straight towards me. I took a step away and pain ran through my body, but it began to become dulled by the adrenaline and fear that pumped into me.
The back of the transport opened and men rushed out, four in total. Two sprinted and stood right next to me in an instant. They grabbed me and pain shot throughout my body. One pulled out a rope and began tying me up, I felt too weak with shock to do anything.
The ropes around me made pain course throughout my body. The distant shouts of the lady rang through the air. I drifted away. My vision faded and I buckled to the ground as I blacked out…
Chapter II
I awoke lying on the floor of the transport. I opened my eyes and a strip of lights lined the ceiling of the transport. Four men sat along the seats of the transport
“He’s awake.” One of the men said.
“Good.” Another said. He looked down at me.
One of the men stood up, walked towards me, and lifted me up; where he started untying the ropes that trapped me. The ropes came off one by one, first my feet, then my hands.
My body experinced great pain from lying on the floor. I tried pushing myself up off the metal floor and it took an extreme amount of effort to do so
As I stood up, four figures loomed a couple meters ahead of me. All of the sudden, I sprinted away from them, or at least tried to sprint away. I attempted to reach the hatch open button. I took two steps and then collapsed.
I saw one of them walk towards me in my peripheral vision. He stood next to me and picked me up. He grabbed my shoulders and held me still.
Pain rushed throughout my body. “D……..…..im…….....lua……......as”, Was all I heard as I almost blacked out again.
When my vision came back I found my legs buckled underneath me, I was only still standing because of the man holding me. I pushed my legs up and stood, the man was still holding me so I would not fall.
Another man circled to stand behind me and gripped my right arm, he raised it to a ninety degree angle. The man who had held my shoulders now grabbed my left arm and pulled it to do the same. They trapped me.
“Do not be afraid.” Another one of the men said.
I looked at their outfits to find they had matte black armor with green insignias on their shoulders, they had green colored clothes underneath their armor which peeked out from various places along their body, meant to make the armor as aesthetically pleasing as possible. The man speaking wore no armor, and stood shirtless in front of me. His entire body was tattooed with words that wrapped around his torso, arms, and legs. He owre only a tightly wrapped cloth from his waist to his knees.
The fourth man stood near me and dutifully gripped his sword in his sheath, ready to attack at any moment.
The shirtless man spoke “We are not here to hurt you. We are here to save you, and offer you an opportunity.”
I couldn’t seem to find my voice. All I could get out was a low scratchy hum.
“What you saw inside the house was not our doing. It was that of raiders. They killed your family.” The man said it as if it was a normal everyday statement. His emotion was completely neutral.
“...My...family?” I croaked out, filled with emotions; confusion, sadness, anger.
“Yes, your family.” He looked grim while saying it, and I sensed a twinge of sadness.
“I...that...that doesn’t...make sense…” Confusion ate at my brain, “why don’t I… remember any of them...why… why don’t I remember anything…”
“Your memory has been removed, it does not matter. Where you are going only your future and your performance matters.” he said.
He stared into my soul, “You weren’t meant to see your dead family, but sometimes mistakes happen.”
“How… what…?” My mind was swirling, nothing around me made sense. Was I dreaming? No. It didn’t make sense, nothing here made sense. All the… dead bodies. Just thinking about it brought vomit up my throat. The image of the house and its contents burnt themself into my mind. I avoided looking at the blood on my shirt and hands.
He said my family was dead. Why don’t I remember them? Why don’t I remember anything?
“I understand you are confused. Everyone is when they are first abducted.” The man said nonchalantly, “the only thing you must know-”
“He doesn’t need to know.” One of them said, “if he was awake during the house then we need to wipe his memory again”
“You’re right.” A different one says.
A few seconds passed.
“Okay.” The shirtless man said.
“I hate this part. It's always easier to do through the long range module.” says one of the men , looking strangely at me.
“Okay, let's get this over with.” One of them grabbed a device and aimed it at me. “Hopefully you never figure out who really killed your family” a devious look overtook his face and he pulled the trigger.
My brain melted with the strangest sensation ever. It felt like my skull had turned to liquid. My skull had turned to liquid. It was as if my skull had turned into… Wait...my.... Oh…. What was it… I… I...I… Wait… My family…. Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain. Oh my… that hurt…wait…my family… it hurt…my family…who…No…
Chapter III
I awoke in a bedroom. The bedsheets glared a brighter white than I’ve ever seen before. The same with the walls, and the ceiling. On the wall opposite the bed a holo-tv stood, it was a large round base that projected fully colored and animated holographs in 3D. It felt amazing to see one in person. It displayed a man being shot at by ion bolts. He dodged and weaved the bolts, and he shot his pistol and hit every target he aimed at.
I stared, mesmerized by the holo for a few seconds, until someone opened the door to my left. A man stepped into my room and his eyes quickly found me. He wore a military uniform. A sleek black shirt with metal plating on specific places of the shirt, such as the forearms and shoulders. His boots made almost no noise when he took a step. And he had very neatly parted black hair.
One of the metal platings extended to open a compartment on the forearm of his uniform. He pulled out a bundle and moved closer to place it on the table next to my bed. He then took a step backwards and looked me in the eyes.
He said, “I have lots of explaining to do, and you will have many questions.”
I didn’t respond and he continued, “You were what we call ‘abducted’. This is when one is lost in their life and our abductors find and save you. For you, your family was killed…”
My eyes shot up wide, the man didn’t seem to take any notice of this. He said that my family had died...I...I remember something. I remember what had happened. I remember the house. The abductors. And I remember the last thing the abductors had said to me.
They had told me that I didn’t want to know who really killed my family. And I remember the smile the man had when he said it. Nothing made sense. But I knew what he had meant, I knew the truth. I know he said that because he thought I wouldn’t remember. It must be very rare for people to remember what had happened after a memory wipe. I knew what had really happened. They had killed my family.
They had killed my family. They had killed my family. The thought consumed my mind, and with it came anger. Then rage. Why would they do this? The monsters. They were horrible. They killed my family.
I was dazed out in my own world, and the man seemed to notice. I think he was talking the entire time I was thinking, but I wasn’t paying attention.
“I know that’s big news. Especially just after a memory wipe. It’s always confusing.”
I opened my mouth to tell him about the people who had killed my family, but thought better of it. It would be better if he didn’t know that I still had my memory. But I did decide to ask him something.
“Who killed my family?” I interrogated him. My own voice surprised me, and I realized that I hadn’t spoken since I awoke in the house.
The man was surprised, “Wow… Your brain has recovered fast. You can already speak clearly.”
“What’s the answer?” I asked again.
The man looked uncomfortable, and he averted his eyes, “We don’t know, we found them dead. It’s a very unusual case.”
I could tell he was lying. First off, the abductors had said it was raiders. Second, he hadn’t broken eye contact the entire time he had spoken to me up until that point. He knew the abductors had killed my parents. Rage rushed into my veins once more.
“But back to what I was saying. There are two types of people who go to this school…”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention earlier. What school?” I asked.
“Wow, your brain really has recovered fast.” He said astonished, “The school is the Northern Rim School of Battle. You will be attending it. This school will teach you to fight with ion swords, fist to fist, and use battle tactics. Your military position afterward is based on your performance in this school. You will be serving for the United Rim Military afterward.”
“Why am I attending this school?” I ask.
“Because we need soldiers. We’re winning this war, but the enemy is gaining momentum.”
“You’ll be staying here for a week. Then you will move to the Northern Rim School of Battle. You should prepare yourself, it’s a hard training ordeal. And when you’re ready, head down to the lobby and look for a sign that says abducted.” He left the room briskly.
I was left alone in the room. I stood up and looked down at my clothes, I was in white shorts and a white shirt. I walk to the door and open it. I step through to a long corridor. The man has disappeared. I look at my door number. It says 4926, I quickly memorize it and begin walking down the corridor. There were an infinite amount of rooms. The hallway seemed to go on forever. but almost no one was walking through the corridor. The only people who did were dressed just like the man who was in my room.
I took step after step. The doors slowly passed by, the numbers on the doors slowly decreased. It took an eternity to reach the end of the cooridor.
When I did, there was a massive cargo lift. I stepped in and looked at the control panel. I pushed the lobby button out of a massive array of buttons. The lift shuddered and began a rapid descent. The lift pressurized and where the door was, was now a liquidy film. The lift whizzed down and the counter on the head of the lift entrance rapidly lowered until it eventually read “L”.
I stepped out into a large foyer. The ceiling was high and a hundred different areas and attractions littered the foyer. People covered the entire floor, there had to be about a million of them. They all briskly walked to their destinations. Holograms sprang from the walls everywhere, each displayed advertisements.
Everything was alien to me, I stared at the scene with wonder, taking it all in. All of the different colors blasted at my eyes, the sounds of people and advertisements all jumbled together was a symphony to my ears. The scene was such a stark contrast to the empty halls above.
The lift started beeping and I stepped away as it began to rise. I began to walk forward towards the sign that read abducted. I attracted some attention as I walked through the foyer. Eyes followed me, probably because of my clothes. But one thing I noticed was that I was taller than most of them.
I kept on walking and avoided the eyes until I reached the sign. There was an entrance below it and I stepped in. There was almost no one else inside the room. A hologram suddenly flickered to life.
“Hello.” It spoke while staring blankly forward. “You will be attending the Northern Rim School of Battle. You will be taught to fight with ion swords, fist to fist, and use battle tactics. Your military position afterward is based on your performance in the school.”
It continued like this, almost word for word of what the man had said. There were only minor differences and additions. “The school has about 40,000 newcomers each semester.” That’s an insane amount of people I thought to myself. “There’s a leaderboard at this school. If you make it into the top 1000 of your class. You’ll be rewarded greatly. It takes incredible skill and dedication to top the leaderboard. The people who usually do end up as generals or a part of the top tier warriors, protocol omega.
BELOW ARE VERSIONS WRITTEN AFTER 2022/2/8
“The initiation will begin in…” there was a tiny pause as a more computer-like voice spoke, “7 days. Good luck!”
Chapter IV
The days went past in a breeze. In terms of the diversity of my actions, I really didn’t do much. But I made sure to fill up every living moment of my life.
The first thing I did was to immediately go to the armory and get an ion knife. I managed to sneak it by security as I assumed they didn’t like people taking their ion knives. I stored this knife in my inner coat pocket, where no one would see it and I could always have it on me.
The next thing I did was workout, I went to the gym they had there but I was like a fish in lava, I had no idea what to do. Luckily, the machines had instructions so I soon became well accustomed to working out. I exercised until I nearly passed out, I did this every day.
Afterward, I went to the library and consumed every bit of the book on war tactics, logical thinking, strategy, and more. I wanted to consume as much information as possible in the allotted time though. So I asked for a pen and notebook from the librarian. She gave me one and I then asked her if she had the book summaries on the books I wanted. She did and I then left from noon to the evening to read and take notes on about 10 book summaries a day.
On the last day before leaving for school I didn’t work out and went straight to the library. I got my food on my way there and immediately started reading.
