"OH SHIT!" A scream leapt out of my mouth.
Cloverbound activated, throwing me to the side as a streak of powerful lightning eviscerated the ground I was just standing on. As I rolled on the ground, I could feel a cold sensation on my hand signifying that the artifact had gone into hibernation.
Panicked, I spasm my face off the ground to look around, trying my best to absorb as much information on my surroundings as I possibly could; a fatal mistake I realised too late.
Three more identical streaks of lightning were milliseconds away from striking me down.
I would've panicked, screamed, fainted... reacted in any way possible if I could. Yet the lightning was simply too fast.
The bolts struck me, all three beams harmonising in my agony as I felt it scorch my very being, the scream that erupted got fried in my throat before it managed to escape.
As I collapsed into the ground most of my senses were unavailable to me, my vision was an abyssal black, my nerves had fried any sense of touch, and yet as if someone were playing a cruel joke on me, my hearing remained intact enough to hear a loud booming voice crush my spirit.
"YOU HAVE FAILED THE TRIALS OF OBERON ACADEMY" it spoke, the voice reminiscent of an elderly king.
'Ah...'
'Dammit.'
---------
12 hours earlier
---------
"Tonight. It's all happening tonight."
The 7 day grace period that was given to me had run out, unbeknownst to most of the other students staying in these dorms, the fate of our potential student lives would be decided today.
I had done everything I could to prepare myself, I ate right, worked out, and even tried some esoteric methods such as meditation in an attempt to hone my mind.
The fact is, my body is almost identical to the one I had back on earth save for a few scars. It's lanky, weak, and lacks any sort of muscular frame. A week of working out had produced considerable results in the amount of weight I was able to lift and throw around yet my body composition stayed the same visually, it certainly didn't inspire much confidence.
'But what else can I do? There's too little time...'
Again I found myself cursing the other main characters who would have a weak, but perfect base to build their strength from, I tried not to let it bug me but I couldn't help myself.
The biggest cause of concern was the lack of knowledge I had about the trials, I was going in blind with a sub-par physique, Cloverbound was my ace in the hole but it could only help me out once before it needed to go into a cooldown.
Shaking my head free of negative thoughts, I readied myself and crept onto the bed, never before had my heart beat this fast.
I could feel the pounding of it in my ears, a constant thump that only served to elevate my nervousness.
But as soon as I felt the beat become too hard to bear, it slowed down.
In fact, the majority of my body slowed down.
My right index finger was tapping on the bedsheet hung loose, and my clenched feet relaxed.
"Hoo..."
As much as I'd like to attribute this change in my mannerisms to my iron-will that calmed me down, this wasn't me. The calmness I feel now is manufactured. Alien. Unsafe.
'It's happening.' I thought, I could feel my eyes close in on themselves as my thoughts grew foggy.
'I'll do it... I'll definitely make it...' constructing a sentence felt as if it weighed a ton.
'I'll...' My arms had collapsed to either side of me and my breathing had quietened.
'I...'
'...'
'...'
'...'
'H...'
'Huh?'
'Wasn't I falling asleep?'
'I feel very alert all of a sudden, but I'm still on my bed...'
Heart pounding once again, I braved my fears and burst my eyes open.
"Woah..." the view stunned me.
As if I had been shocked by a stray bolt of lightning I shot up from under the covers and looked around at the magnificence around me, never before had I seen something like this.
Stars, each more vibrant than the last littered the pitch-black sky; the light of each cosmic bulb seemed to sink into the abyss that surrounded it. There were too many to count and even more to appreciate, my soul was starstruck.
In the smog-encrusted city I lived in in my previous life, every star had been snuffed out by the city's abhorrent light pollution, Memories of when I went on a trip as a part of the orphanage into the wilderness sprouted in my mind, the stars I saw that day had me chastising the sun in anger when it decided to come back up. This felt like that memory amplified a thousandfold.
My life itself, from birth to death was dim.
But this brightness, this dazzling and powerful gleam... it was spectacular.
I found myself envying those stars.
Time passed, I barely gave the ground around me a glance as it was nothing special compared to the view above; grass surrounded me in all directions and seemed to stretch on endlessly.
The fear I felt from being thrust into this unknown situation was soothed by the warm light from above.
I want to stay here forever.
Just... allow myself to sink back into my bed and I can finally rest...
I've been fighting so much... almost 18 years back on earth and now I want to fight even more? Monsters... evil men and women... hordes of creatures far stronger than I...
Why?
The future is bleak.
The main characters, all trained from birth failed.
I'm nothing anyways.
So let me sink into the comfort of a blanket and stare into-
My fingers clawed into my thighs, the soft linen pajamas crinkling as my muscles shocked me from my stupor.
"No..."
"I... need to move..." my lips struggled to move as I turned to crawl out of bed.
'But the stars Andri... they're beautiful...' a voice spoke up from my mind.
"I know..."
'More beautiful than anything we've ever seen Andri...'
"... I know..."
'Yes you do, so let's stay here... please let's just stay I don't want to keep going anymore... please...'
"..."
'Peace, isn't that what we always wanted? We can get that here, pure and neverending peace, you feel it right?'
"Peace?"
Is that what I want?
Peace?
"Haha... fuck no."
I want more than that.
I want joy, I want pain, I want hate and I want love.
Peace is for those who are satisfied but I am nowhere near satisfied.
The world fucked me over the first time round, fuck whatever else is around me, I'm not going to waste this chance. I refuse to stay still, I refuse to let anyone or anything other than me dictate my fate and for that I will do anything.
My legs which felt as if they were shackled to the ground suddenly burst out of the blanket they were under.
And with that, I completed the first trial by accomplishing a near impossible feat, getting out of bed.