"Welcome back, children!!"
Murmurs occurred as he yelled, and distant voices were heard.
"Seriously!?"
"Why the hell him?"
I look at Faith, sitting on my right.
"This semester is going to be horrendous, you can tell too, right?"
"I might go crazy this time, man; make sure I am alive every day."
I pat him on his back and nod with a smile lingering on my face.
This unsightly creature was the vice president of this school, notorious for his ugliness and strictness.
Coming to greet us first meant that he would be our homeroom teacher for the semester.
I had endured hellish teachers back in my previous life, so this was nothing for me.
For my buddy Faith? Different story.
. . .
The classroom was dimly lit by several plants. The smell of perfume wasn't ending anytime soon, but the period was.
Faith and I were in the back of our class, away from attention, but we still could follow the lectures.
Faith was now sleeping next to me.
I poked him to let him know that the period was ending in a few minutes and that we could have lunch break soon.
Faith nodded and went back to sleep for the extra 5 minutes of rest.
The school did have a cafeteria, but it was mostly loud and crowded, so we always ate on the rooftop, where nobody disturbed anyone.
I wanted to do something different today and asked Faith to follow me into the cafeteria.
He looked at me with a puzzled expression, but he didn't question it and simply nodded.
"I'm going to call you "Nod Man" from now on"
"Oh yeah? Well, you are Mr. Locked In."
He meant my disciplined lifestyle, I worked out to keep my body in shape and regularly studied to keep my mind in shape.
"That's a compliment, you know."
"Ahh, I don't know anymore. My brain is fried from that bastard's lecture."
"Well, let's just eat, man. I'm hungry.
As we stroll to the cafeteria, we do get a few stares from students.
Well, what can I say? This body is 10 times more attractive than my old one.
The cafeteria had a short line.
We waited for our turn, then grabbed 2 toasts and water.
There was hardly any place to sit down, but after looking around, we eventually found one.
We sat down and conversed about what had happened in the past week.
Faith and I were almost created to be best friends, but he was always a lazy person.
He told me that yesterday, he had argued with his mom over a single fork. Yes, a single fork, How funny is that?
. . .
Coming back from the cafeteria, we saw a crowd of people, seemingly looking at the activity board in the hallway.
Faith and I walk closer, trying to read a poster with a red background.
Then it hit us.
The poster had a giant title written on top; 'Ascenders Camp Trip'.
Faith repeatedly looked between the poster and me.
"Holy shit! You see this!?"
Faith said with an uncontrollable smile.
"Finally, we will get to observe all of their fighting techniques. How amazing is that?"
I said nonchalantly.
"You don't seem so excited, dude?"
"I am excited, but don't show it!! Look around us. Everybody is scared of attending this event, but us? We look like psychos, looking forward to death."
I whispered in Faith's ear.
Faith wore off his smile, nodded, and said:
"Right, thanks for saving my ass again."
"No problem, partner."
I said with one-half of my lips curled up.
. . .
After the lunch break, the period started as usual. We were sitting at our desks when our biology teacher made an announcement:
"I'm sure you all are aware that the trip will begin in one week."
The class nodded
"They wanted me to add one more thing; participation is mandatory, thank you."
The class fell silent, and their faces looked like they would never see their family again.
Then I glanced to my right; Faith had his forehead on top of the desk to not be seen when giggling excitedly.
*What a weird kid, I thought.
The teacher spoke again:
"Don't falter! All of you will get to see the only reason this kingdom hasn't fallen yet."
The students' faces were slowly coming back to normal after hearing this, but deep inside, the fear of death lingered.
After finishing all the classes, Faith looked dead.
I poked him in his oblique, and he jumped up from his deep sleep.
"Haaaa? Five more minutes, please.."
He said with drool sliding down his mouth.
After poking him several times, he eventually got up, and we headed back home.
"See you."
"See you."
After splitting to our homes, I was finally free for the day.
I first told my family about our ascenders camp trip, and they were worried out of their minds for me. When I explained that it was mandatory to join, my dad made a puzzled face and said:
"It wasn't mandatory to participate when I was in school. Nor for your older brother Ajax."
"Well, Dad, I am very interested in the ascending just like Ajax, so it's not an issue for me."
"Hahaha! Another army leader for the Alberon family it is!"
My dad said with visible joy.
Ajax was reading newspapers when he heard this; he glanced at me and gave me a thumbs up, side with a smile.
. . .
Night had fallen, and I was excited about what was coming up
I was hoping I could skip time, but that's for another day.
I was writing down knowledge from my previous life to not forget anything; I had a few notebooks filled out already.
The one I was writing about now was my history notebook; I remember small topics every once in a while.
I was writing in basic English, making this language unsolvable to anyone other than me.
The Mirmaras tongue was very complicated; it had mixed words and grammar from my previous world.
So I already had some vocabulary from the moment I was born here. But being a baby, I couldn't comprehend language like a machine. Still, my intelligence was way above my peers.
After finishing my self-study, I started preparing for bed.
I brushed my teeth, put on my pajamas, and took a glance at the mirror.
"Mr Locked In!"
I jumped on my sizy bed and drifted off to sleep.
. . .
?
Then, I gained consciousness in what I presumed was a dream.
I looked around, but there was nothing. Now even my limbs were visible, all consumed by the lack of light.
In the dark, I tried moving, and seemingly, there was no gravity. It could be compared to floating in space.
I was always interested in the space but this had caught me off guard.
Nevertheless, I used this dream to wiggle around with no gravity.
It was weird. I felt like my organs were floating inside me, causing me to have a stomachache.
Still, no light at all? What is this, a black hole?
I was starting to get nervous. In a dream where nothing happens, how was I supposed to wake up?
But my worries were meaningless.
I started seeing rays of light, and my body became visible.
This is my previous body!