Mahira looks up at the starry night with her glossy eyes. The stars look as though they are swirling in a beautiful dance amongst themselves. She smiles softly to herself as she thinks of the Earth she longed to get back to and chuckles. A sharp stabbing pain hits her stomach. She closes her eyes and thinks on her life and the choices she's made.
The soft sent of honeysuckle in the spring air leads a beautiful girl towards a bush in the woods near her bus stop.
"Yes! They've finally bloomed!" She exclaimed with a chuckle. The girl quickly picks a small bouquet of honeysuckle and begins strolling her way home. She pinches the bottom and pulls out the small drop of honey and puts it on her tongue. The taste of the sweet nectar is better than what the best bees and the best flower's could make in a thousand years.
The girl continues to walk home. The cool breeze in the warm air keeping her already big smile shining.
'Today is such a beautiful day' she thinks to herself as her smile drops to a small frown.
'Uuuugh. I have that essay to write....I hope tomorrow will be like this at least'
She starts to walk slower so that she can enjoy the spring day a little longer. She see's a large pebble in the road and begins to kick it as she strolls home. Waving to her neighbors and making a game out of the walk.
The girl dissapointedly stands in front of the driveway wishing to enjoy the beautiful weather just a little longer.
"Goodbye Mr.Rock maybe I'll kick you tomorrow" She chuckles and heads up the driveway and into the cold house. She takes off the constraining black shoe's and puts them in the wicker basket.
"Mooom? You Home?" She yells out with no reply as she walks into the kitchen. The girl walks around the island and grabs a sparkling water from the fridge, before walking up the stairs to her room.
She slides her backpack off and plops down in the swivel chair at her desk. She lays her head on the cold glass top.
"Uuuuuuuuugh" She lifts her head up and pulls her notebook out of her backpack.
"Vietnam War and the effect on the American Citizen's" She reads the tittle outloud and sighs deeply.
"Three pages....why does it have to be three pages..." Her eye's feel as though they're about to tear up out of the frustration and she begins to work.
『 Do you wish to put the worries
of this world behind you? 』
A message pops-up before the girl with a strange blue-purple glow. Immediately after she see's she jumps back, the swivel chair falling and her falling off onto the fluffy carpet.
The message seemingly following her as she falls. Her heart starts to race, and a dribble of sweat appears on her forehead.
"W-What the fffuck..." She stutters with fear.
『Accept』 『Decline』
The girl closes her eyes and slowly counts to ten while breathing g deeply and slowly. She uses her senses to calm down. Seeing nothing because of her closed eyes; Smelling the familiar scent of her book's and the Ocean Breeze febreeze she sprays from time to time; The taste of her lunch of a peach still fresh on the tongue; The sound of the fan wirling above and the birds singing their songs outside; the feel of her soft carpet beneath her hands.
She starts to slowly calm down, once she reaches 10 she slowly opens her eyes, yet the message still remains.
『 Do you wish to put the worries
of this world behind you?
Accept Decline 』
She attempted to move her face away from the message. If she were to look left, the message would stay put. If she were to look to the right, the message would stay put. If she were to turn around, the message would soon follow and reappear in front.
She stands up and slowly walks backwards, the message follows. A panic begins to set in again and her breathing becomes fast.
'Calm down, it might just be you're about to have a migraine. don't worry' She reassures herself and walks to the bathroom across from her room, opening the medicine cabinet and taking some Sumatriptan.
She calms herself down and ignores the message. Walking back to her room, she picks up her chair and gets back to work.
『 Do you wish to put the worries
of this world behind you?
Accept Decline 』
Fifteen long minutes pass and the message remains. The girl's heart drops and she begins to feel dizzy as she sits back from the essay.
'Okay let's think, what are some reasons for hallucinations. Mental illness, drugs, being sick. It can't be Schizo, I started puberty like 5 years ago, maybe it's my depression, but it's never done something like this, I haven't had anything today except for a peach and water so it's not like I could've been drugged, I guess it's possible I could have something like a virus or a tumor or something....I'll talk to mom about it when she gets home' The girl comes to the conclusion to wait longer and so she does, she gets back to work, and chooses to ignore the message again.
『 Do you wish to put the worries
of this world behind you?
Accept Decline 』
The stress clearly getting to her, she takes a break and begins to clean the house. She walks down the stairs cautiously, the message continuing to follow. She tries to swat it away as she walks to the sink. As she swats she notices her hand going through the message with a cold chill as if it were a spirit. She continues to try and swat it, and carelessly she hits "Accept"
『 Accepted 』
'Oops...well then' She shruggs attempting to stay calm as she washes the dishes that were left in the sink and starting the dishwasher for the dishes in there. Once she washes and dries the dishes, she pulls out the broom and begins to sweep the house. Taking about 30 minutes to complete the 1st floor's hardwood floor, she grabs the vacuum to clean the 2nd floor's carpeted floor.
While she was cleaning, the message never once appeared again, and her anxiety began to calm down. She made her way back to her room and continued on the essay, completing it before her mom came home. She laid down on her bed and starred at the ceiling before turning on the T.V.
The girl's mom entered through the door around 7:30 and immediately started to get undressed. Her being a nurse she feels better leaving the sick at the front door. The girl leaves her room and calls down to her mom
"How was work?"
"I'm just glad it's done" Her mom sighed relieved
"I bet, you finally get to relax, you have tomorrow off right?"
"Yes, thankfully, I'm gonna go take a shower then I'll talk after"
"Oki doki" The girl smiled and made her way down to the living room couch. She read a webtoon as she waited for her mom to get out of the shower.
After about 45 minutes her mom finally came out, the heat from the shower wafting into the living room as she opened the door
"Hey mom, can I talk to you?" She said with slight worry
"Of course, is everything okay?"
"Is there anyway you can set an appointment with my neurologist...I started hallucinating and I don't know why"
Her mom got concerned "Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital, are you dizzy, neaseus, lightheaded?"
"No ma'am, that's why I'm so concerned, I didn't take anything, and I can't think of any other reason other than being sick with something"
"Okay baby, don't worry about school tomorrow, go lay down and get some rest okay?"
"Okay, I love you"
"I love you too"
The girl walked back upstairs and crawled into bed, snuggling her dark grey comforter and nuzzling the matching pillow. She closed her eye's to get some rest as she hoped for the best for tomorrow.
After about thirty minutes she begins to dream, she feel the comfy warm bed turn hard and cold, her blankets and pillow gone. She opens her eyes and is immediately blinded by a vast nothingness of white. She begins to walk and after about 1000 feet she bumps her head into what seems to be a wall
'Huh, so it's not infinite' she thinks to herself and turns around, continuing to walk, slightly faster than before. After about 2000 feet she runs into another wall.
'hmmmmm okay then, how tall is it' she slowly reaches her hand up and it touches nothing, so she jumps and once again nothing.
'so the length is 2000 steps and three hight is unknown, weird' The girl continues to think, believing she must be having a lucid dream. She is not new to lucid dreaming, however, whenever she has a lucid dream, it's typically of a recurring dream of her in a forest being hunted by people she can't seem to remember.
She sits and the hallucination comes back.
『 Welcome to the
Training Center 』
'Uuuuuuugh the thing is back. I mean it makes sense, I was thinking of it before I fell asleep but still' she rationalized. She bunches her hand into a fist and glares as if her glaring will cause the thing to dissappear.
『 This is not a dream 』
She stares unammused.
"If it's not a dream then how would you know what I was thinking? Checkmate" She jokes to lighten her mood
『 I am the system
I am in your mind 』
"Yeah yeah whatever. I'm just gonna lay here and wait for the dream to be over" She speaks to the system as she lays, using her hands as her pillows. The message dissapears and she sits alone in the middle of the white room.
As time ticks by, she becomes antsy and start pinching herself. Yet she remained in the room. The girl sits up and slaps herself.
"C'mon this always works" She growls. Yet it did not work.
"C'mon you piece of shit brain wake up!" The anger she feels could turn he eyes red as she gets on her knees and bangs her head into the floor. A wave of intense pain rushes over her body and her head begins to ache.
"Ow....I shouldn't have done that...." She puts pressure on her temples and closes her eyes from the blinding light. She thinks back to what the system said. 'This is not a dream' Her eye's shot open and her face begins to twist into a panic.
『Are you ready to begin?』
"BegIN‽ BEGIN WHAT‽‽" Panic begins to settle in, as she tries to use her coping mechanism she can't help but throw it away. What she seens is nothing, what she hears is nothing, what she feels is unpleasant, she doesn't even know what she tastes.
"If this is not a dream, where am I? Why have you taken me, WHERE have you taken me. Please. I beg you. Let me go home."
『I will help you put
the worries of the
Earth behind』
"You seriously think I care about the worries that much that I want to be HERE‽‽" Her whole body begins to shake and the tears start to fall from her face as she thinks to the first message. 'Do you wish to put the worries of this world behind you?
She begins to think of when she was swatting and hit accept.
"I did this.... I'm here because I accepted..."
『 That is correct 』
She lays back down on the cold floor. Her head spinning a million miles per minute. The panic she felt soon dissapears as she realizes why she is here. She looks calm, but inside a fire burns.
"Where am I?"
『 You are in the
Training Center 』
"Why do I need to train?"
『 To become stronger 』
"Why do I need to be stronger?"
『 To survive 』
"Survive what?"
『 The new world and the people
and creatures that are within 』
『 There are 756 other's from Earth
you are all currently training to
become stronger 』
"How long will I be here?"
『 Thats depends on you. Time
works differently, no matter
how long you take or the
others take you will all set
out at the same time 』
『 Shall we begin your Training? 』
"Let's begin"