Andrew stood with his back against the wall as a small gray suv approached the gate, coming to a slow stop as it neared the gate. Two people came out of the car, a short teenager with long black hair. Her fit build caused some shame to most athletes out there, even at 14 she looked like the peak definition of an athlete.
"Evelynn, how are you." He greeted the short girl as she walked up to him with a small smile of recognition.
Evelynn was never much of a talker and preferred to keep things to a minimal. Following behind her was Andrews mom, her brown hair stretched past her shoulders as face looked at him with concern and pride.
She was very conflicted with the situation, on one hand, her son was giving away his secured seat in survival and giving it to his sister causing his safety to not be guaranteed. This concerned her, but she was proud for the same reason.
"You dont need to convince me not too" Andrew said as he looked at Evelynn, her face was twisted with confusion and shock at his words. Surprised that he had read her mind.
Andrew took out the small silver plate and handed it to Evelynn.
"Someone needs to keep Vee company, and you and i both know that you are the best at that. Besides, i've got some things to do." Andrew lied through his teeth as she took the small silver plate with a slow nod, small tears forming in her eyes.
Evelynn didnt say much and just gave him a long hug and Andrew hugged her back. Words werent needed in situations like this, more was said without them.
"Thank you, ill miss you." Evelynn said looking up at him and giving him another hug.
"Ill miss you too, but youve got to get packing. You two got here later then i expected, so go get some rest. Meet here at grim wolf at 9 AM, a bus will be here to take you to the airport. If it makes you feel any better, i didnt really want to go on a still slightly injured leg. So enjoy yourself and get strong." he patted her head and backed off as she nodded once more.
She walked back to the car and his mother stood in front of him.
"You know, im pretty upset about this."
"I know, but i couldnt really care less. You know that those two wouldnt leave eachother, even in a life or death situation. So either you three stay with an extra plate, or i give you one that will actually be used."
"I suppose your right, but what if i wanted to use it?"
"Stop it with the jokes" Andrew responded to her light tease.
"Thank you, Andrew. It means the world to me to see how close you are with your sisters, without friendship or contact. Even with her annoying pointless comments." She said as she also gave him a tight hug.
They were around the same height now, her head rested over his shoulder as he hugged her back. She patted his back as she withdrew her arms.
"I should head back, i assume i will be seeing you later." she said with a small smile.
"I suppose so, maybe you would like to move over here with my brother?" Andrew suggested.
This place was a lot more luxurious compared to their own home, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms. It was really on the low end of the spectrum for houses these days, especially for a 5 person family.
But she shook her head.
"I have too many memories in that house, I would rather spend my potential remaining years in someplace I find warm and fuzzy. Then somewhere strange, thank you for the offer though. I hope you will come back whenever you finish what you said you had to do." she told him as she prepared to leave.
"Ill see you whenever i do that, i promise. Ill call you every once in a while to let you know im alright. Okay?"
"Alright, get some rest." she waved her hand goodbye as the gray SUV woke up to another slow start and continued down the street.
Andrew stood there for another moment before taking the quiet walk back to his dorm. The only light provided now was by the bright moon and the orange lights sprawled around the cobbled path.
He turned to a nearby tree and punched it as hard as he could.
"God danmit!" He yelled to himself.
The conversation with Zoe was starting to settle with him and it only made him feel worse and worse the more he processed what happened.
The bark on the tree creaked in effort as he released his hand from the tree. His hand was covered in bark reminants
Looking at his shaking hand, numb from impact he punched the tree once more. Causing multiple branches to fall on the ground beside him.
'I've been too ignorant' He grimaced to himself in disappointment.
'It seems affected me more than I would have liked' He shook his head and looked down the illuminated pathway before setting off
He walked into his large dorm room to find no one at the reception, so he just continued forward towards his room.
The door opened to reveal the dark room, lit up by moonlight shining through the tall glass panes. Andrew left the lights off in the room and walked towards the bed, letting out a sigh as he laid down.
'Open status' he told the system as he looked up towards the flat white ceiling.
—----------
Andrew smith (space and light user)
Str: 19
Int: 13
Cha:5
dex :18
Bonus stats:
Wis: 30
Mana : 300/300
Spells:
[Item transport (level 1): allows movement of objects telepathically][Light distortion(max) : distort the color of anything you see)
—------------
….
'Open missions tab'
--------------
Congratulations!
Mission: kill 30 monsters
30/30
Reward: 3 Str points
Mission: Kill 60 monsters
63/60
Reward 4 str points
Mission: Learn a physical spell
Reward: able to learn 2 new spells
New Missions!
Kill 100 monsters
63/100
Reward 3 str and 3 dex points
--------------
"Well, that's pretty handy." Andrew said to himself as he continued to look at the ceiling. Trying to distract himself for a while.
But sleep was demanding after such an anxiety induced day, he was tired down to mush as he sunk into sleep.
—
Zoe looked around her surroundings as she boarded one of the fifteen buses lined up in front of the academy.
The buses were separated by last name to provide more organization for attendance.
"Zoe Ozowski?"
"Here!" She yelled out as she raised her hand slightly. Her head glued to the bus window as she looked out onto the soon to be left campus.
'Ughhhh why did you have to say all of that! You knew he was going to give it to his sister so why did you have to make a scene!' Zoe hit her thigh really hard with her right hand as she yelled at herself.
She gripped her thigh in pain as she immediately felt the consequences of the punch.
She kept looking at the far dorm rooms as if he would pop around the corner in a disorganized hurry, but the bus slowly moved and eventually the campus left sight. Tears flooded before her vision as she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the bustling noise of excited students around her.
-
Andrew stayed inside the dorm room to avoid contact with any other people, he had felt that such thing was only going to bring pain to the people he would meet. Besides, He would rather leave with a promise than a goodbye.
Andrew leaned out of his bed to watch some television for a while when people were leaving. The news was all about the new transportation and how multiple prototypes of another way up has started testing.
"Woah, that's fast." He commented to himself.
"Well, when no one has any more need to work. As well as the fact their life is on the line why wouldn't they be fast." He contradicted his first reaction.
Staying there for a while longer before turning to look out the window. The sun crept along the city buildings as he walked out his front door, it was just past 10 now. The hallways were empty as he walked down the melancholy yellow halls, the plaza revealed nothing as he entered the large room. The nobel white building brought him a feeling of insignificance, like an ant trapped in a cup.
The campus was no better as he walked around and not a soul was in sight, bringing a sense of misplacing. Like something was amiss in the air.
"This is really weird, I know that I chose to stay behind while everyone else took the chance to get out of here. But I didn't think it would be so off putting." he said to himself as a way to calm him down.
His nerves were getting too him so he walked towards the dungeon to get rid of some of that worry, through less… meaningful ways.
Approaching the dungeon Andrew made notes on how to defeat the 10 enemies on his current floor. He didn't want to rush into a battle craze like last time, especially while his leg was still partially numb from last time.
Putting his worries aside as he neared the large metal door. But he was caught off guard as the doors were open already. As if it was letting some invisible force in, but it didnt close.
Andrew walked forward towards the dungeon and entered it with caution.
—----------
Andrew Smith, welcome back!
Floor (2,9)
continue?
—----------
"Yes" Andrew said loudly as he prepared with the given sword. Immediately casting Light distortion to make it invisible.
The surroundings slowly morphed back into the warmly lit cave and 10 blue holographic blurs started to swirl down. Before they could even completely load Andrew through the invisible sword, leaving a small part of the hilt so he could focus all of his attention on the sword.
As it reached the far end he Used Item transport to keep it in place, but the grip was loose. Andrew walked forward a bit as the bandits finished loading and started to threaten him.
"Puny man! You dare intrude? Without a weapon at that?" The leader once again bellowed with radiance from his chest.