The bracelet wrapped around my wrist starts to tighten itself. As it eventually disassembles and turns curved again. Displaying the panel without voice recognition. I'm staring right at Oda as he's looking at what the panel is displaying.{Isaiah - Paragon+}(Intellectual Development Empowering Archive: 1010/100 | Unstable)(Biological and Physical Capacity: 8/11)[Historical Saves: 2/11.]I stutter as I attempt to speak. I am looking directly at Oda, who is stunned and in awe."Things might be difficult,but I have someone I need to get back to."{[End of Chapter 2]}"Holy, now I get why you are able to ascend to become a paragon." Oda, in an astonished tone speaks to me. It's clear he is amused by the 'Paragon' turning to a 'Paragon+'. But I'm still quite uncertain about what it means and what any of the writing displayed on the panel means.Oda fixes his posture and clears his face off, in a position that makes him look like he's going to announce or declare something important. I hastily prepare myself to listen attentively to what he says next."Isaiah, you are unique in ways even you may not know. For now, all I can say is that you cannot leave for the other world." Instead of clearing up my thoughts, he's out here, making them more blurry. Now I've got even more questions to retrieve answers for."Otherworld? And what do you mean by paragon?" As I look towards Oda, in need of a clear-cut explanation in the language, I can fully understand the meaning without having to interpret a thousand other meanings.Oda puts his hand on my shoulder for a brief second and then replies, "Follow my lead." I'm not getting a definite answer, but still—I decide to ultimately follow wherever he's headed. There's no other option for me other than to just listen to whatever he's throwing at me.I say goodbye to the pretty nice-looking nurse—doctor, scientist?—before getting out of the evaluation room. The scientist actually blushed at me.Following Oda to the hallway back again, it's nearly two-three stories tall, as I can recall. Still, my head seems to be in a higher, slightly elevated state above the door frames. Not going to lie, I haven't seen any other males around here except for me and Oda. The nurse and the few women silently laughing at me from before were the only people I've seen here so far. To be fair, I woke up in a futuristic room with all sorts of fancy furniture. Vintage, Victorian, traditional, and religiously significant artifacts included."Well, you see." How do I explain this? The entire history would be hard to narrate to this kid. Even if I did manage to pull it off, he would most definitely not get the hang of it.'Horithius.' A million possibilities shine bright, a thousand stand tall, a hundred make way, a dozen reach goal, one succeed. It's not worth it, I guess."The world you used to live in was known as Earth. To you, we must be parallel world visitors, men in black, secret government organization agents. For us, this world is our Mother Earth." (Oda)Everything here is the same as it would be everywhere, except for the random hatch falling chair with fancy equipment and this new bracelet that manipulates surrounding air particles to show up numerals and alphabetical words. Apparently saying 'Arcane' with the intent of opening the panel triggers the panel to open.Oh damn, it actually started. The beads of the bracelet start to dislocate from the string, with their sensors measuring my body. I'm guessing it's measuring the temperature and the other measurements needed for evaluation of health. But well, the bracelet doesn't actually show anything related to health or weight loss management.{Isaiah - Paragon}(Intellectual Development Empowering Archive: 90/20 | Stable)(Physical and Biological Capacity: 8/10 | Unstable)[Historical Saves: 3/12]The Idea archive was way higher before, around a 1000+ in the limit for 10. I guess I really don't understand what this bracelet-looking holographic watch is trying to imply here.I stop for a moment as I see Oda looking at me messing with the panel."Right now is not the correct timing for this, Isaiah." He says to me as I ask him how to revert the bracelet back as the beads seem to follow me wherever I go. The beads are also stuck in one place, unable to be picked up by force."Just imagine the panel going away or say the words that turn into Arcane again." I do; as Oda says, the writings start to slowly fade away.Alright, back to the point, normally I wouldn't agree to one thing so vividly, but after seeing—and encountering—the various things that were previously unknown to me, I've come to the conclusion that I might actually be in a different world. I mean, being in a coma explains the Angelic demon revelation, but experiencing just so much more is not a typical dilemma.Interacting with made-up people or inventing an air-manipulating, hardened technology seems a bit too far-fetched even for me."Isaiah, I think we've gotten to know each other quite well now." Oda looks at me in the eyes and reveals to me."It's time for you to attend the ceremony that's happening today." I thought Oda was going to say something else, well—then I could've gotten an alibi to get out of here. I don't think that's how it works here, but well, it was quite enticing.Could this kid really ever shut up? "Ahem, I know you've been in a scurry this day, so I suggest you take some rest before heading to the ceremony."I look around; in a matter of minutes, we've already been past the hallway point. I could've sworn the hallway was larger than three soccer courts. Looking towards Oda for answers, I get no response."How did we?" I look at the door in front of me. It's right where I first woke up to go to the evaluation room. My mouth is unable to speak words, and my lips shut as I'm driven to a state of existential crisis. Is this real? I didn't feel this way when I saw the demon, yet I'm feeling this state of vulnerability out of nowhere.I guess I'm taken aback by the sudden speed travel and the thought of being unable to track time or distance.As I slowly start to calm myself, Oda opens up the door of the room, letting me get inside."After you wake up, everything will slowly start to make sense." Oda slightly tilts his head, looking at the old-fashioned clock that is hanging on the wall right across the bed."Wake up at 8, in the morning." Oda says to me promptly before closing the door behind me.I inspect the room; it's the same as it was before I went to the evaluation room. It's weird that I had myself evaluated by a random guy that I guess saved me for some reason, but I don't know what exactly was evaluated about me.There's the vintage 90's lamp placed right near the bed, on top of a table that looks like it's from the rustic ages. Near the lamp rests a flowerpot, a normally decent and plain-looking one for that record.Then there's the fake window to the right of the bed that has a frame that looks like it's meant for viewing the outside world through glass but unfortunately is covered very toughly by an outer layer of metal walls. I touch the metallic layer covering the outer parts of the wall; it feels incredibly tense and dense in structure.Other than these few additions, the entirety of the room looks very futuristic. Not entirely sci-fi according to my club criteria, but a general mark is uplifted for sure.I look at the bed for a while when my vision starts getting blurry; I know I need some rest.I lay my body out evenly on the bed, making myself as comfortable as possible.As I stare at the roof, I slowly start to doze off to sleep.**It's been an hour since I was caught up in detention by the teacher. I really tried to talk my way around with the teacher but ended up badly stuttering. Well, there's still another hour left for detention now.The bell rang half an hour ago; I think Alice and the others have probably returned home. It's not a usual occurrence, but sometimes I tend to go alone. Generally believing my presence to be a menace to her. I mean, goddamn it, I can't stop myself from feeling and thinking about her, and at the same time I can't express myself to her. It's complicated, but I'm really not sure what I feel.At first, when Ria said that Alice cared for me and wanted to hear my struggles, I thought I had someone I could call dear, someone I could say everything to.Then again, I thought about it. What would I go and say to her? "Alice, I'm getting bullied." I can't stand up for myself against them; I'm a physical toy for them to play with and then toss around.She'd think I'm weak, which I undeniably am. Circumstances: I can't lift a twig. Even my bag is mostly empty—except for club days when I prefer to put the bag down all the time."Search for that toolbag." I hear words being spoken outside of the school building. I head over to the window, nudging my head just a bit to avoid being noticed."Shit." is the only word describable for this situation. My club leader AND the Brandies are searching for me like hungry coyotes.Riswan is sitting near the main tree shade, observing the Brandies waste their energy searching for me. "I'm telling you, he's not here." A shorty from the Brandies says before being ignored by the others. Riswan takes notice though, as he nods his head in a yes."Search every corner possible; do not miss out on a single corner." The taller and much more muscular member says."I'm just going to pass time and hope they go away." Taking a step back, I settle down on my table. Looking at the clock and thinking about what to do with the spare time I have right now.I'm dozing away, thinking of Alice being caring about me.***I am sitting at the dining table. It is just me there, with Elizabeth standing near the counter. I'm waiting patiently for the food, awkwardly looking around everywhere trying to find something to stare at.In the last moment, before I was going to turn about towards the TV, Liz states, "I hope you can make some new friends."A while back, recently in that course, we've had to move states. Alongside move schools, I guess—Now that I think about it, it's really fortunate of me to be taken into their care. After my parents—grandparents passing away, I've had no other relative to take care of me.Instead of getting into an orphanage, Alice's family applied to take me as a guardian. I've been no less than a burden to them, yet I'm trying to make it seem less applicable."Last few months have been quite troublesome, haven't they?" I try to look away, but at the end, I look back, staring at the table and answering her."N-not at all." It's been tough for me to accept her as a motherly figure even though she tries much to get closer to me, affectionate as a mother and caring a womanly figure. It's just—never mind."Liz, we are running short." Alice's father came inside with the bills. We've just recently shifted here, yet the payment is due for two months."Can you see if there's any way to increase the deadline?" Liz says as I start to take breakfast."Next month is the best chance for me to pay it all at once." She is visibly upset and concerned about the financial condition of the family. Elizabeth has been worried for a long time about this.I know Elizabeth is a great person overall, and her motivational words always inspire me. Considering that, it would be shameful for me to say I don't trust her.I want to open up to her and share with her everything that's happening with me. Everything that I'm going through.I wanted someone to just share everything with. Alice is someone I can trust with that fact, but she's also in a rough shape. Consulting with her would mean I'm downing myself in front of her and acting like a loser."Hey!" Alice just barges in and hugs me from behind while I'm eating. I'm coughing as she tightly squeezes my stomach. I look back; she's smiling at me—'Blush' was the last thing that came to mind, yet still, that is exactly what my face conveyed, judging from how Alice was looking at me.I respond to her in the same way, this time not having any food in my mouth to chew on. Luckily, I didn't get astonished by her in the other way..."I've been making a few changes in the school track club, actually." She says after I accidentally included the 'what's up' phrase."And, I've been wondering if you would like to join it." I am really not the kind of guy to make it in—and I'm not trying to be desperate for her. (not'nt)"Oh, I'm not really a sporty person, you know that." An excuse to her: I used to run miles with her when we were young."Oh, come on, you'd make a perfect fit!" Alice says, I guess she remembers my legacy.Having two clubs join at the same time would spell doom for me though, considering that during that time I had just met the hook by the Brandies. Additional track stress would really cramp me up in a tight space.Alongside that, Alice is probably a long shot off the bat for me. If I tried to go in for her, that is, God; I can't even talk with her without stuttering a few times. Plus, I guess she's already with someone. (I didn't know the guy was just her photographer and nothing else.)"I can't," I said to her."Come on, Isaiah. We'll have fun together." I know I shouldn't; Ria would probably be there."Okay." I said yes-"Alright! Since you're going to join the new science club as well, just join our events and practice." (Alice)# "Okay, I will." Something just kept me from saying "no.".I diminish back into my thoughts as I turn back to a place where reality flowed differently. I see a glaring violet flower. Lavender flower. I stare into the void as the lavender starts to reignite the lights and illuminate the void.I'm still dreaming, aren't I? I look at the flower; it seems familiar.I'm not that good with flower names, or any names for that matter, but this flower strikes a memory in me. Something that revolves around my grandparents.I remembered it—a flower that never really existed. I think the incident happened after I was in an accident. I was really young back then, and my parents didn't know where they were or who they were. I was living with my grandparents and just overall enjoying my time with them while it lasted."Sweetheart, don't go stranding off to the street, alright?" (Grandma)"Alright granny!" (Isaiah)I started playing with my ball in front of the house yard. The road was right in front of me; right when I was going to catch the bouncing ball, it went towards the way my grandparents didn't want it to go. Just when I hit the road, catching the ball.The car slowed down right before impact, but that wasn't enough; the momentum of the slide the road had carried it towards me. I was in the hospital, unable to wake up or move for a long time. That's how my grandparents summarized the incident to me.Then I woke up; my grandparents were different. They acted and behaved differently. Mostly like dead flesh, dead inside with no emotion.Afterwards, there was a lavender flower growing in our backyard. I watched it grow because, for some odd reason, it caught my attention.It soon disappeared after a few months. Shortly after it disappeared, my grandparents fell ill, and everything just took a wild turn for me.My grandparents, how did they look? I can't picture them vividly... ***I tilt my head a bit, opening my eyes up, and turning the vibrating watch off."Huh, how long has it been?" Much more than an hour and a half. The watch must have been going for 30 minutes then. That would also mean the guys outside heard it going off for thirty whole minutes...I stand from the bench, slowly making my way towards the school window. Making my head position just as much to the left as possible, leaving me with a clear vision to check the outside of the school precisely.'Phew', I exhale my breath as I see no one outside. It's relatively quiet too; no one's out there screaming to the top of their lungs to find a kid.I make my way down the stairs that led me to the inside of the school. 7th floor, 6th floor, and casually I started to go down the stairs one by one. The stairs weren't that slippery, although the tiles of the floor were pretty much very slippery and dangerous to run on.I couldn't help but imagine myself in this dire situation while going down the stairs towards the main hall, where the door to my house lies.Even if I did manage to get away today from them...What is going to happen to me tomorrow? Or the day after that, and the day after that, if I was lucky enough to escape. Brandies, their 'homework' for each and every week is being answered by me. That is three extras covering various topics, including my own. Riswan, I thought he was a friend until he tried to take advantage of me. Forcing me to borrow $50 from him to make the club poster more 'exciting'. Then requesting double the amount in return. It has probably been tripled or quadrupled since the beginning."It's an interest" for the non-existent money I borrowed—was forced to borrow. I paid him the fifty back immediately. "Our chores, your protection." Brandies, protection from them, to do their work.I am just a huge bag full of exploitable holes. holding a sign saying, "Pick any, put any."I reach the main hall that would lead me out of the school. Before exiting out, I take a step outside the school with my right leg and pull a step inwards with my left leg; this would allow me to snatch my body in faster than the individual can even notice me. I look outside; there aren't many people walking on the roads, nor on the pavement.The footpath is nearly empty except for the cats and dogs barking at the school's outer wall. In a shift of relief, I walk outside, making another check on whether there is really anyone there. My eyes are saying there isn't anyone present, but I can feel someone nearby.Just to be safe, and the safest as I can say, I take cover near the outside boundaries of the school. Sure enough, I see a familiar human handshooting the dog away as it barks at them. Making their hands into a makeshift gun and trying to scare dogs away is not really a great strategy to keep them out, but I guess it would work.Riswan is laying on the bench in a lavish style as the Brandies are either sitting or slacking off, picking nose boogers. "Are you sure he's still here?" I eavesdrop on their conversation.Riswan responds to the mid-hair style tanned guy, "I heard his watch go off; he's still in detention." The taller Brandy and much more muscular member protests, "You've been saying that for an hour now. We could just come back tomorrow." Adding on, "More than two hours actually."Hushing off and in a menacing tone, "He'll be here very soon."I'm stricken by the realization that for me not waking up as soon as the watch rang, Riswan and the Brandies now fully know I'm detention. Or at least was.Now, the main thing for me to be concerned about is, how do I get to Alice without catching her primary attention...I look away from the Brandies discussing my supposed arrival with Riswan and move towards the left side of the road. I've never really been to the left-wing area; it's cluttered and mostly a slum-type area. Illegal immigrants live there, and all sorts of vicious activities take place there. Just yesterday, a homicide happened near the outskirts of the area.I'm not so sure about this.Still, I slowly start to head over to the left side. "Did you hear that?" Riswan says to the Brandies before coming over to the side of the boundary. I'm shivering and looking for a way out, but I don't think there's any way to avoid them.There's one way, but I don't think I can ever return if I do this. Return back for a while, that is... "What are you doing? Go on and check where that footstep came from.""There's a pair of shoes?" They look at me running away towards the cluttered area in a hurry. "Get him." Riswan commands as the Brandies start to run towards me before tripping on my shoes, causing a chain of falls.Well, I certainly didn't expect them to fall on my shoes, but—that was part of the plan! I'm smiling as I'm taking the most random turns in the area. I feel light; my speed is gradually increasing in that light motion; I've ventured far enough to top now.It's been ages since I've run—ran for my life, that is, from students looking to eat my skin up for some extra money and work...Sounds depressing and weird when thinking about it right, but apparently it isn't really that farfetched. We really are something, aren't we? I look around; I'm in an old alleyway."Something smells like it's rotting." I move towards the corner. It's all dirty and stained. The walls are covered by moldy paint, while the ground is filled with never-ending trash and a very foul smell. With a step forward, I slowly reach towards the rotten smell.Covering my nose, I see a rotting corpse.It's lying near the wall, shade covering the mutilated body. I move closer. It's a dead carcass of a cat. I'm about to vomit; it's spine is slit open, and the skull is smashed to the ground. Even the blood that is flowing outwards has degraded and started to mold in itself. It's horrifying. The back is screwed together with scissors marking each screw; the cat was tortured before death.I puke standing near a wall, not daring to touch the wall and instead just bending over. Right then, a sudden noise comes from inside the rear alleyway. That alleyway is blocked off by a dead end, as far as I can tell. This cat most definitely fell prey to a kid who was really twisted or a man who wanted it gone.The noise that I ignored before comes ringing back again. It's distorted; neither a dog nor a cat could ever make that noise. The sound comes again, a higher-pitched voice; it's like something eating or something more of a mating call. It's soothing yet disturbing, reminding me of my worst nightmares. The sound seems like it's being imitated by a man.I take a step back, saying goodbye to the already dead cat. I feel sorry for it, unable to bury it or give it a proper significance. It just fell prey to human nature—death without a reason. There's no dirt near here either. Just moldy plated mesh. "I'm truly sorry."The sound starts to increase again. It's becoming increasingly softer and distorted at the same time. I should be feeling comfortable, but instead, it's giving me nightmarish creepy vibes.It's like everything is coming back to me to haunt me—grandparents, Alice, Elizabeth, Remy, Ria, Michael, and everyone. I can't even remember my parents, their faces, or anything related to them, but still I'm getting a nightmarish illusion in place of them. It's like a tall, hollow, and dark figure staring right at me. Creepy face with grim teeth. It feels extremely uncomfortable. Their eyes start to open up—Red Hunter eyes, extremely narrow, and the glare almost blinding.All my bad memories, the time I was getting bullied at the park and Alice had to come, the bullies then turned their attention towards her. In a fit of rage, I punched them; my fists barely hurt. Alice had to stand there, as I got diluted.The bullies are getting creepier, same grim look."S-stop this." I said, looking around, the sound vanished. Everything faded away."What's happening..." I'm in shock at what just occurred out of nowhere. The soft, highly distorted voice that seemed to be a mix between a human and a different creature seemingly disappeared.I look around, trying to evaluate from where the voice must've come from. I need to find where it came from. Just before the things, illusions, or whatever those shadows are called, disappeared, I felt a strong pull. The dark aura was fading away, and I was able to see their faces. It was blurry, but even the blurriness was slowly fading away. Yet I blinked, and in a swoosh, they vanished.I look around; the space seems to be suffocating me. It's too tight; my body is sweating heavily. I didn't feel this way before..."My breath—my breath is starting to grow shallow..." My vision starts to blur as I use the last of my strength to slowly crawl over to the alley from where the noise came from. I'm dragging towards that area as my legs are nearly giving up. My right shin is creating high friction against the ground.I freeze as I see someone sitting down on the ground, legs widened. In the process of what looks like eating. Devouring? As the person pulls his hand upwards, opening his mouth to devour a piece of meat. It looked like human meat, specifically a hand."Isaiah." I'm shook. I want to turn my head around to see if there's anyone behind that called me, but I can't. It's stuck and frozen in one place; I'm scared of looking back and then turning forward. I'm scared of what will happen if I turn my attention around. The voice that called my name seemed to have come from all directions.Everything has gone silent.I can't move my body; the person in front of me stands up. I can only see his back; as he stands up, I'm able to get a more clear view of what he was eating from the ground. The shade of the wall that stands right before him covers the visibility of the carcass. I can tell it's the rotting flesh; the cat was not the main.As the sun starts to go down, the shade eventually fades. It's a half-eaten and ripped-off human body. The person starts to grow larger, to the point that he seems taller than a three-meter wall. His body starts to shine, illuminating a yellowish gradient of white. As the person turns around, I get to know it's not a person.The creature, fully naked without any genitalia, is standing upright. His body starts to illuminate as he spreads out both of his arms. Right then, in a bright flash, everything turns into a shade of white.Before returning back to the sunset setup. Behind the spread-out arms are now fully visible white wings. Not one pair, two pairs. A primary pair hovering over the shoulder, a secondary pair attached right under the primary one. It's got a feathered ear instead of a fleshy one. It's almost like another wing, miniature-sized.There's another set of wings around the feet. It's an angel. I just witnessed an angel devouring human flesh.It's an angel that ate a human and killed a human. It takes a step forward towards me as I take a step backwards, tripping on a stone, and I fall down. I see the face of the angel. It's not an angel. The eye sockets are replaced with a bunch of feathered holes. It's horrifying."Isaiah." The voice hits me again. 'Stop.'I can't bear this; my head is hurting incredibly. I'm trying to smack myself to get out of this dream. To avoid all this, it's of no use; all of this is real.I try to stand, but to no avail, trying to crawl backwards. The angel notices my struggle to get out; it turns it's head upwards. Facing the clouds that are tinted in red and yellow as the sun is completely setting.The creature starts to glow yellow, with a radiating pulse coming out of its mouth. It's a fucking demon that's going to kill me-I suddenly woke up; I was sweating while sleeping. The entire bed is full of my sweat. It's odorless, so it looks like someone peed all over. I can't imagine coming face-to-face with that demonic entity again. It's messed up with my brain.I look at the clock hanging across the bed and say, "I was supposed to wake up at 8 right; I might've slept longer than that." It's exactly 8. I woke up at exactly 8, not a minute less, not a minute more. Exactly 8 in the morning.I've never been exactly on spot with the timing; never have I ever woken up on time. It feels different. My body feels different. I need to get a mirror to check myself up asap.