Azario's anxiety began to swirl violently within him, he noticed that his plight was shared by a significant number of the people around him-their faces tense.
Emily's face sank.
"Oh-sorry, I didn't mean it like that."
"The enforcer is going to call out people's numbers and those people will go and take the series of tests first. They will start from the people with the smallest numbers to the highest number that is present here."
Relieved chatter erupted from the people.
Azario's anxiety began to subside.
"I'm number 5679, so there's no way I'll be first-right?" he muttered in trepidation.
"Oh-everyone please quieten down," she requested, looking desperate.
Her pitiful tone drove the masses to eventual silence.
"Please listen carefully to the numbers that they call out, you'll see a recording of me next when you are taking the tests, and you'll see me again if you pass and make it into archery class, so I hope to see you there!" she announced, mustering cheery resolve.
The screen changed to a blank slide with a list of 4-digit numbers on them.
"Number 3456-" The vertex enforcer robot on the left-hand-side wall started to call out the numbers in an unsettlingly convincing male voice. Some people looked towards the enforcer, whilst others keenly scanned the list that had appeared on the screen.
The once spotless wall next to the commanding robot enforcer, now seamlessly slid open revealing another hallway. The enforcer beckoned the people who were to take the test to go into the hallway that had opened whilst calling out other numbers.
Finding himself once again looking at a screen in anxiety, Azario scanned the numbers listed. Reading them, he felt a sense of relief as the numbers were in the 100s and 1000s.
'No way! It suddenly jumped to 3465'
His anxiety grew so much that he trembled.
'Please~. I hope that I'm not on the list.' he begged as if to manifest such a reality. He reached the end of the list, breathing a sigh of relief, as he did not find his number on there.
'Thank goodness I'm not one of the firsts.'
Other people in the room seemed relieved, whilst others looked like they'd been sentenced to an early execution.
'I might be able to ask those who come back from the test what to expect and prepare myself accordingly.'
"HUUGHCHOO~" A suspiciously provocative sneeze resounded behind Azario.
Azario's head snapped back, his eyes focusing on the culprit. It was an ordinary looking dark brown-haired adolescent male with a ponytail and glasses, who seemed to be slightly taller than Azario. He still looked like he was recoiling from the heaven shattering sneeze, his right hand still in front of his face. The guy noticed Azario's gaze.
"What?" the guy inquired, positively perplexed.
"Are you being serious?" Azario deadpanned.
"What?!" the man vocalized, seeming genuinely confused.
A few people around him seemed to have taken notice but most of them just went back to their conversations unbothered, making Azario's reaction seem rather excessive.
Azario began to sweat.
"That sounded like you were.. you were basically… " Azario deliberated, not knowing whether to say the scandalous thing he was thinking of.
"I was basically?" The man pressed thoughtlessly.
"It sounded like you were ascending okay-and not the spiritual kind," Azario blurted out, exasperated.
Laughter began to erupt around them. The guy in question seemed to be slightly embarrassed but began to laugh too.
"It really did," a pale skinned adolescent guy added, who was stood three paces to the right of the pony-tailed man, his face adopting a light smirk. His slick back hair was light brown and it was neatly combed to his right side. The gel evident as his plentiful hair had a unnatural wavy cross section. His hands were stuffed in his pockets. He was about the same height as Azario.
"See~" Azario proclaimed to the man in exasperation, no longer feeling alone.
"It was a honest accident!" the pony-tailed man replied in mock complaint.
"How do you even make that noise on accident?" a voice inquired, full of mirth.
It belonged to another adolescent male stood next to the slick back man, his arms crossed and his skin a tad darker shade of brown, his black hair at the top was kept short, the sides even shorter. On the surface his face adopted a gentle expression but he seemed to be taking in Azario with sharp glances.
This claim brought about another bout of laughter this time, even from Azario himself, who chuckled loudly. Once the laughter cleared up, Azario observed these people, who all seemed to be a similar age as him.
The pony-tailed guy focused on Azario.
"Anyway, what's your name? Mine's Andrew," he announced.
"Oh, I'm Azario," he mumbled, feeling a pang of anxiety that was clearly projected into the air.
"That sounds like a Pokémon!" the slick back guy added jokingly.
"Yeah~" the brown-skinned guy agreed with a chuckle.
"Yeah, I've heard that too many times it's not original, it's a Greek name, "Azario blurted dismissively, his words borderline incoherent.
"A Greek name! I think that's a cool name. It's better than just plain boring Andrew," Andrew gushed.
Azario felt his cheeks redden with embarrassment.
"You're being too kind," Azario dismissed reflexively.
"Well, I mean it," Andrew stated flatly.
Azario felt a smile begin to form on his face, so he hid it unsuspectingly with his right hand.
"My name's Samuel, but you can call me Sam," the slick back haired man announced.
"I'm Arif,"
"it's a Bangladeshi name," the brown skinned man added.
Feeling curious about them, Azario asked .
"How did you guys end up here?"
Andrew responded.
"I was at the gym."
"Same." Sam responded.
"Me too," Arif affirmed.
"So, you guys were abducted from the gym as well," Azario concluded. They all shared the feeling of shock together, collectively the expressions looked thoughtful and solemn. Azario tried to clear the atmosphere.
"Were you guys together?" Azario questioned Sam and Arif, observing their closeness.
"No-" Sam was cut off by Arif.
"This is the first time I've seen everyone here," Arif alleged.
"Okay, what numbers are you guys?" Azario asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
"What are you trying to do, interrogate us or something?" Arif remarked, his sharp eyes becoming even more testing and cold as they filled with incredulousness.
"No, I just wanted to ask", Azario responded, feeling attacked.
"I'm 5786," Andrew interjected, sticking his left marked hand forward.
As if spurred on, they began to answer one by one.
"Mine's 5652," Sam disclosed neutrally.
"Mine's 5975," Arif replied equally neutrally.
"Mine is 5679", Azaria responded in kind.
"So now that we got that out of the way, it kinda seems like we are the youngest here," Andrew suggested.
They collectively looked around, seeing mostly middle-aged or young adults chattering away.
"Yeah, they seem like they're 20 plus!" Azario commented with dread.
The group fell into thought, with Andrew venting vocally.
"What the hell is this ********!" he yelled visibly angry.
"How can they abduct us like this?! This is so messed up! I don't know if they're even going to inform my mom and my little brother that I'm OK," he ranted.
Azario felt a pang of sadness. He could empathize painfully well,
Now the collective faces all displayed worry.
"We might be able to get home if we survive this and save the world," Sam announced sarcastically.
They started to look grim.
*Haaaa~*
Azaria released a drawn-out shaky breath.
"That's the only thing we can do in this situation," Azario lamented.
"So… " Azario verbalized, trying to change the bleak atmosphere.
"Why did you guys pick archery class?" Azario inquired curiously.
"Because you're less likely to die that way, right?" Andrew reasoned, resulting in a murmur of collective agreement.
"Everyone knows that the guys at the front get killed first," Sam declared mirthfully soliciting smiles from everyone in the group. Except Azario.
"Plus, with the bow and arrow you can kill someone from far range and don't have to risk your life. It's a no brainer," Arif detailed slightly condescendingly.
"Yeah," Azario responded simply.
"Although", Andrew continued.
"Purple head really didn't want anyone to pick it, because of the 'wrong' reasons. He said some rubbish about not picking archery class for the 'wrong reasons' cause you could die," he recounted in complete ridicule.
"He must think we're stupid, "Arif stressed with equally as much ridicule.
"He really does-haha", Sam vocalized failing to prevent his laughter from leaking out.
"Yeah… " Azario muttered, feeling his insides twist unbearably.
Noticing Azario's lack of reaction, Andrew looked worriedly at him.
"What's wrong? " he asked Azario.
"N-Nothing," Azario lied.
"You can tell us, we won't judge," he proclaimed looking gently at Azario. The faces of the others softened too, making Azaria feel compelled to speak.
"It's just… my brother picked the Spearman class-," he managed to heavily breathe out.
"What?!" they exclaimed in unision.
"-and he's only 14… " Azario stated his face unsettlingly blank.
"14!" Andrew parroted incredulously.
"No way," Sam spoke with giddy shock.
"They abducted a kid to be a soldier," Arif worded, cruel mirth also present in his voice.
"Why would he pick that/" Andrew inquired.
"Did he think it was cool to be a soldier on the front lines or something?" He proposed.
"Something like that" Azario responded despondently.
"Wow, I feel for you… " Andrew declared sympathetically as he paused, considering his next question carefully.
"Was your brother the '5678' that the purple head was talking about?" Andrew questioned further.
"Yeah, " Azario responded.
"He's that kid!" Sam stifled a grin, still unable to contain his dark amusement.
"He seems really out of hand," Arif commented evenly.
"Yeah, he kind of reminds me of my own brother. He's annoyingly, impulsive but he is autistic,"
Feeling the pressure to elaborate build, Azario blurted out.
"He was born with NF1, which meant that he would have behavioral issues-"
"-and luckily for me, he has mind numbing levels of stubbornness," he added traces of frustration still in his voice.
"NF1? What's that? "Andrew inquired.
"It stands for neurofibromatosis type 1, which is a genetic condition and causes tumors to grow along your nerves,"
"Tumors! That's messed up man," Andrew couldn't contain himself, looking apologetic
"I'm sorry to hear that," Arif replied somewhat concernedly.
"Damn!" Sam exclaimed
"Are they cancerous?" Andrew continued.
"They're usually not but can be… " Azario notified.
"How are you supposed to know" Andrew asked.
"It's the responsibility of the specialist doctor for NF1 to check every year, but the specialist doctor we had was a scumbag. Sohe kept dismissing any concern my mother or brother had and 'cause my mother couldn't speak good enough English, she didn't really know if it was serious or not and of course trusted the specialist."
"I only found out because I was concerned about the back pains he was getting, so I researched it myself", Azaria revealed vehemently.
He was so concentrated on his emotional rant that when his attention shifted back to the group-he saw that the expressions seemed blank, and not at all sharing the same emotion as him, making him feel embarrassed, he realized he had said too much
'Damn it, why did I just blurt all of that out for no reason? I'm such a idiot!' he thought, wallowing in self-hate
"Wow, that's really messed up. You need to sue that specialist," Andrew stated, his eyes looking serious
"100%" Arif echoed
"I was planning to. We were just waiting for the results of a scan for my brother… then this circus act happened," Azario's face creased, his voice tinged with vexation.
"Do the tumors give him pain?" Sam asked haphazardly.
Azario paused in thought for a moment.
'There's no point now. Might as well just tell them about it.'
"Yeah because they press on his nerves," Azario answered.
"That's crazy, that must hurt a lot", Arif stated ambiguous.
"Is that why he has those back pains," he hypothesized.
"It is," Azario announced.
"They did get better, after he started stretching like the physiotherapist recommended" he elaborated.
"Why would that help him?" Arif inquired further.
"Its because it makes the muscles tendons in his back looser, alleviating the pressure on his nerve,"
"Oh~" they exclaimed mutually.
"Anyway, you guys seem like you're a similar age to me," Andrew remarked.
"I'm 17 " Sam said.
"Me too!" Azario voiced in surprise.
"No way me too," Arif added with a wry smile on his face
"There's no way you guys are telling the truth cause I'm 17 too," Andrew declared; bewildered by the supposed coincidence.
"I'm not lying," Azario asserted firmly.
*Haaaa~*
Azaria released a drawn-out shaky breath.
"That's the only thing we can do in this situation," Azario lamented.
"So… " Azario verbalized, trying to change the bleak atmosphere.
"Why did you guys pick archery class?" Azario inquired curiously.
"Because you're less likely to die that way, right?" Andrew reasoned, resulting in a murmur of collective agreement.
"Everyone knows that the guys at the front get killed first," Sam declared mirthfully soliciting smiles from everyone in the group. Except Azario.
"Plus, with the bow and arrow you can kill someone from far range and don't have to risk your life. It's a no brainer," Arif detailed slightly condescendingly.
"Yeah," Azario responded simply.
"Although", Andrew continued.
"Purple head really didn't want anyone to pick it, because of the 'wrong' reasons. He said some rubbish about not picking archery class for the 'wrong reasons' cause you could die," he recounted in complete ridicule.
"He must think we're stupid, "Arif stressed with equally as much ridicule.
"He really does-haha", Sam vocalized failing to prevent his laughter from leaking out.
"Yeah… " Azario muttered, feeling his insides twist unbearably.
Noticing Azario's lack of reaction, Andrew looked worriedly at him.
"What's wrong? " he asked Azario.
"N-Nothing," Azario lied.
"You can tell us, we won't judge," he proclaimed looking gently at Azario. The faces of the others softened too, making Azaria feel compelled to speak.
"It's just… my brother picked the Spearman class-," he managed to heavily breathe out.
"What?!" they exclaimed in unison.