"Man…I know I suggested, but to think they're sending me without hesitation and regret on their eyes at all…hah, they're so cold."
I stretched my arms up. Then, I bent my body to the sides and jumped a few times. I was warming up my body. Kyle asked for sparring, but the vice mayor scolded us, saying we couldn't afford an injury since the two of us were included in the first group to enter.
"Sir Atlas…"
I gave Serin a quizzical look. She's been loitering around me for a while now. She already birthed out her anxiety egg, so why does she look like someone who can't poop this time?
"What?"
Serin bit her lips and bowed her head. Her messy bun bobbed from that movement. I clicked my tongue and asked, "Where's the comb I gave you?"
She paused for a moment, then she rolled her eyes at me. She sighed and chuckled, "You always have a knack for making heavy atmospheres light, sir."
"Do I?" I'm not aware. I just asked about the comb because I was genuinely concerned that she'd become more and more like a madwoman singing gospels on the streets while scratching her hair and holding out a tin can to every passerby.
Serin glared at me. I raised my brows, and then when I realized what she had done, I flicked her forehead.
"Ouch!"
"I know what you did!"
Serin pouted and yelled back, "I was trying to practice, okay! The more I train and use this power, the higher the chance the limit increases."
I stretched my legs while I asked indignantly, "Why me? Use it to anyone else who knows nothing of your ability."
"I did. But I stopped."
The words stopped coming. I looked up, wondering why. Then, I saw her avoiding my eyes. I know she's an introvert, but she still can hold conversations eye to eye. So, I asked carefully, "Did something happen?"
Serin wet her lips and turned away, "Nothing…just, your thoughts…are funny. They're annoying, but I don't feel uncomfortable reading them. Everyone's minds are on edge and high on clouds. They had nothing to think of but getting stronger, who more powerful, how envious they were towards another, curse, indignancy, hostility, profanities…
"While yours are just full of nonsense and stupidity. It put me at ease and it's easier for me to practice. You don't thoughts have no malice. How do you do that?"
I laughed. Her timing was just off. If she read my mind during the time I was watching the vice mayor practice, she'd learn how I once wondered what size her cup was. Ah, right. She wasn't training with us back then.
I scratched my forehead and timidly replied, "I don't know if that's a compliment or not."
"Of course, it is!" Serin slapped me on the shoulder, and then she added jovially, "Besides, you're an instructor. You should guide me and help me improve! Don't have favorites."
Did she think I was picking students and letting the weaker ones practice by themselves? Well, she's not wrong, but I was teaching those few awakeners first to help me train the others!
"I get it. Start your training now, then. Go run twenty laps."
Serin stood frozen. She looked at me sulkily, and asked, "How can that benefit my mind ability?"
"What? You said, don't have favorites! I train my students like that."
Serin stopped talking after an awakener on Kyle's team approached us. He bowed his head slightly, and said, "The commander is looking for you, Sir Atlas."
Maybe they finally decided on the three remaining awakeners to accompany us. I waved my hand to Serin and followed the awakener. He looks younger. I furtively swiped my hands above his head and gained another supporting character.
So, I asked his name.
"Lewis Cole, sir," his slanted eyes curved gently as he answered, but I was too stunned to speak. A drummer played the suspenseful rhythmic section during an award declaration inside my chest, and it rang in my head, accompanied by the spiteful laughs of a young dead student.
Lewis Cole was talkative; he went on and on even when I was not asking him. "I was a college student before the disaster struck. I had a younger brother in high school, but after the city was destroyed, I couldn't find him anywhere. I didn't even know if he was alive or not.
"So, I was really training hard to become stronger as soon as possible, so I could step out of this city and find him. Maybe he's still out there, cowering in fear."
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Lewis' eyes were filled with hope, and it was gnawing my conscience. He could find his brother if I told him I met him in that ghost town, but then he'd asked me why a corpse greeted him instead of his lively and talkative brother.
What answer will I give?
"But I know he's safe. He's a part of the fencing club at their school, after all."
I was speechless throughout the way. Lewis even apologized to me thinking he was being overly close and very talkative, which he is, and then, excused himself after we reached the café they declared as the meeting place.
Kyle spoke as soon as I closed the door behind me, "It's decided. The three awakeners that will fill the slots."
He pointed at the three people obediently sitting on another table, looking over at us.
Ethan Fray, Ryder Vaughn, and someone I don't know. Vice Mayor Aina walked to that person and introduced her, "This is Eva Ross."
The woman who has short blonde hair, bright silver eyes, a small face, and a petite figure, stood and bowed at me, then she spoke cheerfully, "Hello! I'm Eva Ross, and my main ability is sound manipulation. Nice meeting you, Sir Atlas!"
"Nice meeting you too."
Aina frowned at me. My voice might have come uninterested but I'm not in the mood for pleasantries. I nodded at Eva and sat across from the commander.
The vice mayor spoke again, explaining her choice, "If we're putting the interior of the door as something like a body of water, then we can use her ability to communicate underwater. She tried creating sound bubbles that allow sound to transmit toward another bubble."
I simply nodded. Kyle just shrugged his shoulders and explained why he chose Ryder, turns out he was the next strongest on his team. On the other hand, there was no need for me to explain Ethan's presence, as they all had seen what he could do with water.
Two days passed just like that. All the awakeners were gathered by the door. I casually touched it and the red screen appeared with a blaring noise, but no one winced this time.
[Advent of the Waterborne Abysmal Door]
[Door Availability: 7 days
Number of Entry per Trial: 5
Door Rank: B
Total of Victory Required: 200
Note: The door will vanish after the required number of victories is met.]
[WARNING: DOOR BREAK WILL COMMENCE AFTER 12 HOURS OF NO ENTRY!!]
"Hm? We still have twelve hours…"
"So that warning serves as a timer too."
"If it's 12 hours, then they should practice more or rest first. That's a long time after all!"
I glanced at my companions. They were all silent and just staring blankly at the red screen. I know how they feel. I felt like a death penalty prisoner looking at the clock tower inside a railed window on an isolated prison cell, waiting for the time of my execution.
We have the remaining twelve hours to prepare ourselves. Beyond that door where no one knows what's inside, we're going to stay alive for seven days and find clues on how to conquer it. There's no guarantee that we'd stay alive or just rot inside.
There's only one thing that's putting me at ease. I am the protagonist, albeit a substitute. The film is already rolling, and the curtains are still folded. The heavens can't change my role anymore, or put another substitute, which means I won't die.
Yes, that's the purpose of the escape system. However, I don't want these people to die on my watch either, so if I can't drag them into that distorted space the system uses, I'll just have to make sure they live until the door opens again.