"Be cautious, bad things are going to happen soon." Gong had said.
Bell nodded before steeling herself.
"Well, not right now, I'll explain in a bit." Gong continued after noticing Bell's braced posture.
After a moment, Bell softened up and began looking around the foyer room of whatever train car that she had entered.
The room that the two found themselves in was quite large, almost as large as a living room. A hallway connected to the back wall of the room and fancy looking chairs lined the remaining walls.
On the back wall, one fellow student stood observing a map of the train car. From what Bell saw, the student wore a black suit and let their long, silky black hair down. The student had a briefcase held beside their black slacks.
"Be cautious of her." Gong warned, she floated around Bell, moving like she was swimming underwater.
'Alright.' Bell thought as she took a few brisk steps forward with her suitcase close behind.
"Hello!" Bell said with a cheery inflection in her voice.
The girl turned to face Bell, and she was almost blinded by the girl's bright smile.
'By my lady.' Bell swore.
Outside of the girl's radiant expression, she was akin to a porcelain doll; She had fair, pale skin that bordered an unhealthy complexion. Her suit fit her perfectly, and Bell was unable to point out a flaw in the girl's jet-black hair.
"Hello! I'm Mona Chronis." The girl, Mona, replied with her hand extended. "And you are?"
Bell shook her hand, staring Mona in her piercing violet eyes, "Bellona Finley, you can call me Bell."
"Alright." Mona said with her beaming smile slowly turning down into a content smirk.
Bell traced where Mona's gaze had turned to, and Bell started reading the map. After a few moments, Bell got the lay of the land and noticed a pin near a lounge just ahead of the two. The pin extended forward when Bell started to home in on it, the pin read:
[Terrarium students meet here.]
Mona spoke, breaking a momentary silence between the two, "You want to head to the lounge?"
"Sure." Bell replied, turning her head to face Mona. "We gotta head there anyway."
The two then headed down the hallway and Bell thought towards Gong, 'What's wrong with Mona?'
Gong appeared in front of Bell and began walking backwards, "You'll see soon enough, but I will warn you about one thing: She's weird. Really, really weird."
Bell looked at Gong with an expression of confusion and growing annoyance, 'Is that it?'
Gong laughed and replied with a smile, "Not at all, but she'll be fine, you just have to be cautious for a little bit."
Bell wished that Gong would simply say what was going to happen, since she had already lived however many more years, but no.
"Aw, come on! It'd be no fun if you just knew everything!" Gong rationalized, "Besides, it's not like Mona's a real danger, or anything."
Bell didn't argue with her older self, as deep down, Bell knew that she would lose in any argument. In the moment, Bell was just filled with a bit of annoyance.
"A bit?" Gong asked.
Bell shook her head, finding that she, Gong, and Mona had reached the lounge.
There were tables and chairs placed here and their, with most of the room being filled with game tables. Pool tables, Ping-Pong tables, Foosball tables, name it, they had it.
"Well, actual-" Gong had begun, but Bell shot her an annoyed stare, cutting the old woman's sentence off.
Gong raised her hands and "Never mind... edge lord."
Around the tables, chairs, and couches were a ton of other students. There were a select few that were influenced by their Akashic Shard and its transformative ability on their bodies. One student was a head taller than everyone else, and he had huge, bulging muscles.
'He's sixteen, right?' Bell asked in her mind.
Gong examined who Bell could've been asking about, then said, "Oh, the tall, blonde one? Yeah, he's your age."
Afterward, Mona spoke up, "So many people!"
"How many do you think there are?" Bell asked, "I'd say... probably around thirty-five."
Bell noticed that Gong was going to say something, and looked at her with an expression that said, "Don't."
Gong raised her hands once more before closing her mouth.
After a moment of silence, Mona spoke up with a guess, "About forty?"
Bell nodded, "Yeah, that sounds kind of close."
Then, as Bell and Mona reached the center area of the lounge, a man appeared in the middle of the crowd. A few of the students around him jumped in shock and one yelped.
"Alright, everyone!" He announced at a volume that shocked Bell. "Gather around!"
In an instant, Bell felt a strange compulsion to follow the man's order, and did so in response.
"So weak..." Gong observed.
'Shut up.' Bell responded with her mind.
However, everyone else around looked to follow the man's order until there was a large crowd that surrounded the man. It was when that happened that Bell was able to get a good look of the man.
He wore a pair of dark jeans underneath a thick, beige shirt that showed some of his white undershirt. A pair of black shoes decorated his feet, and he wore a few rings on his fingers.
"Let's get this show on the road!" He began, "Now, we're waiting on about ten or so others, so I'll be just explaining a bit."
A pole extended from the ground, and several rows of thin metal rods protruded forward out in several directions. Keys dangled on keychains from the metal rods.
"These are the keys to your rooms." The man explained.
After a momentary pause, his eyes widened before he continued.
"Ah, it looks like I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Teacher Brutus, and I will be the chaperone for this car."
Teacher Brutus bowed, covering his heart with his right hand.
"We're going to be heading out in the hour, and as an ice breaker, I'll be offering everyone a spot in a Lord of Swords tournament that I'm hosting in about half an hour!"
A few of the students around began to relax after whatever spell that Teacher Brutus placed upon them. Afterward, they looked to grow a bit excited for whatever this Lord of Swords business was.
Gong chimed in, "It's just a tournament. You get a cool shield, and the win condition is a killing blow."
Bell nodded before tuning into whatever Teacher Brutus was saying.
"...we'll probably get raided a few times on the way."
Bell's eyes went wide.
'Is this that trouble you mentioned earlier?'
Gong looked a bit somber as she said, "Yeah, I'll explain a bit more later."
"Don't worry, though, we have second year students and other staff members on the rooftop. They can keep you all safe, and if things get bad enough, then I and the other teachers will step in. I don't think that it'll ever get that bad, though."
Gong chuckled and Bell shot a curious glance towards her ghostly apparition.
"Oh, nothing." Gong explained, "It's just that Brutus is going to have to step in in like an hour."
Bell calmly turned to face Teacher Brutus before doubling back and facing Gong with a horrified expression.
'What?!' She thought.
During the entirety of the time that Teacher Brutus was explaining the situation, more and more students filled the room. After a certain amount of people filled the room, Teacher Brutus paused.
"Well, it looks like we have everyone here!" He announced with a smile.
Teacher Brutus took a deep breath before announcing, "If you'll all come here to grab a key, then you can head to your temporary room, and we'll get on the rails!"
After a moment, everyone started to gather around the strange pole, all picking various keys.
"Over here." Gong said while pointing at a specific key. "Grab this one."
So, Bell did.
Looking around, Bell exited the crowd and got a breath of fresh air. "Yeesh." She whispered.
'You're in room two fifteen. Beside Mona and a few others." Gong explained.
Bell regained her composure and began for a nearby elevator.
'Alright. So what's up with that raid you were talking about?' Bell asked.
It was strange, actually, Gong was able to read her mind to a tee.
"You should lay down before I explain. Oh, also." Gong said before cutting herself off.
She appeared before Bell and walked backwards. "I can't read too deep into your mind, you're just really obvious with your thoughts."
Oh.
Afterward, the two's very short journey was ended when Bell laid down on the bed in her room. She was sure to lock the door behind her, afterward, Bell placed her suitcase underneath her bedframe.
"Well, I guess I should explain what's going to happen in the next hour and a half. Well, more like five and a half hours." Gong began.
Bell felt the color drain from her face at the idea of more being placed on her plate at the moment.
Gong sighed, then stated, "Fine, take a ten-minute break, then we'll get into everything.