《Ascent of the King》


 Chapter 1 – Don’t fear the dark

    William stopped abruptly, staring down the seedy alleyway.


    Something definitely moved at the end of the alley. He saw it¡ªthe outline of a shadow flashed by quickly, with a strange silhouette, perhaps a tail, or even a gaping jaw with jagged teeth. It was hard to tell, and fear vividly filled in the gaps.


    Was it a monster? Shit. He quickly fumbled for his phone, barely noticing that his hands were trembling. Did he miss the emergency notification? Maybe his phone buzzed in his pocket and he missed it since he wasn¡¯t paying attention.


    If it really was a monster, then perhaps it had already seen him. In that case, worrying was a pointless affair that could neither prevent nor delay his impending death.


    Death. What a sobering thought. And yet he felt strangely calm in the face of it.


    He glanced at his phone, which he had finally managed to free from the tight confines of his jeans. Relief rushed into him when the home screen lit up and only the time stared back at him¨Cthere was no civilian alert. Thank god.


    The government issued monster outbreak alerts very promptly these days. Last time the notification came less than a minute after a break formed, giving him plenty of time to duck under the counter at Kicken Chicken until the military resolved the situation. That night he made sure to stay far out of sight of the glass paned walls that had somehow still not gone out of fashion despite their obvious design flaw. His mood soured remembering that manager Kim had locked himself into the back office and refused to let him in.


    Kim had always been a spineless coward. Later that night he told the reporters he saw a skulk or a devil hound¡ªa complete lie like usual, but he got on the headlines. ¡°Local fast-food manager witnesses terrifying rare beast stalking outside restaurant during tonight¡¯s category five gate break.¡± What a load of bullshit.


    He digressed.


    Over the last twelve years, the government had boiled down the tracking system to an exact science. There was little to no chance for a break to occur without an alert being promptly issued.


    Since there wasn¡¯t an alert, it was probably safe.


    Squinting into the darkness, William wondered if he¡¯d just imagined that shadow flitting by. The moonlight may have reflected off those broken glass shards, casting the shadow that played tricks on his eyes. Yes, that had to be it. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.


    This anxious state always settled in when he didn¡¯t get enough sleep, a reminder to pick up the pace. Mental clarity was important for the initiation ceremony tomorrow. It would be devastating if he performed poorly due to something as entirely preventable as lack of sleep, one of few things he could control in this world, unlike his family background¡ªhe was made an orphan at three due to his parents¡¯ untimely death¡ªor his rather unfortunate financial position.


    To ease his nerves, William turned on his phone¡¯s flashlight despite the low battery. Since the phone was an older model, it lacked a built-in flashlight and instead relied on turning the entire screen white. He had grown attached to the old piece of junk over the years, and at this point he doubted if he would be willing to trade it in for a newer model even with money to spare.


    The screen¡¯s white light filled the alleyway at once with its reassuring brightness, illuminating the dumpster and all the discarded litter and broken furniture that lined the inner alleyway. It was burning hot, but he paid no attention to that.


    From a ragged sofa with its coils hanging loose to a rusting bike rack, there was nothing visibly out of the ordinary in the alley, although that did little to calm his hyperactive imagination. Images of the mangled bodies from the last attack flashed through his mind. They rarely showed the monsters on the official broadcasts, only the aftermath.


    He had half a mind to just turn back, but Manager Kim, that fat bastard, wouldn¡¯t pay if he missed two deliveries in one night regardless of if he had good reason or not, and rent was already late.


    It was just paranoia, he told himself, although it was proving difficult to suppress the nagging feeling.


    Taking a tentative step forward, he pointed the phone screen to the left, illuminating the garbage bags, then to the right, illuminating the dumpster, before quickly swinging the beam of light back left. His movements were jerky and paranoid, scanning with a practiced eye until he noticed the slight wiggle of an old shoe that was previously stationary, peeking out from behind the dumpster.


    ¡°Eughhh¡­.. who¡¯s there?¡± mumbled the owner of the shoe in an intoxicated voice.


    It was just a homeless man. The first drops of rain fell from the sky. Damn, the bags could get wet if he didn¡¯t hurry.


    He sprinted past the man, who mumbled incoherently while slumped with his back against the wall, missing both his front teeth. The homeless were a common sight in the abandoned and avoided inner alleys of the city, but they didn¡¯t bother William too much. He¡¯d seen worse, and they were a reminder of how he could end up¡ªor more accurately end up again¡ªif he got evicted.


    He kept running, turning two corners as he heard the homeless man now hollering wildly, the sound harsh yet getting more distant as he turned more corners. It was the drugs, he thought.


    William had run too far, too fast, to notice that the homeless man¡¯s hollering eventually turned into frantic yelling, and then screams of pain, before fading into muffled silence as he was dragged away by the leg.


    Something was out there.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª


    Willliam lifted the first red and white paper bag, noting that its precious contents were intact despite the slightly damp exterior. He squinted at the receipt.


    ¡°Four piece meal with two sides for apartment 626.¡± He then checked the second bag. ¡°And this one¡¯s the nugget combo and lemon soda.¡±


    He found himself facing an intimidatingly luxurious gray apartment building. A doorman stood at the entrance, dressed in a crisp uniform adorned with gold buttons and a matching white cap. He greeted William with a polite nod as he approached, then extended a hand to open the polished glass door.


    ¡°Delivery?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± William replied, entering the building.


    As he stepped inside, an overwhelmingly luxurious scene unfolded, and he couldn''t help but feel like he was intruding. The scent of luxury brand perfume filled his nostrils, the kind where the nauseatingly high price of one bottle could probably keep him fed for a whole month. Plush, velvet-covered sofas were arranged neatly around several glass coffee tables, each topped with intricate floral stem sculptures carved by hand. A concierge desk made of dark, polished wood stood to the center, where an attractive female attendant sat.


    Several maids and butlers shuffled around the lobby holding clean towels, dusting the corners, and attending to all sorts of bits and ends.


    He couldn¡¯t tell if this was supposed to be a residential apartment or a seven star hotel.


    He approached the desk, feeling out of place in his wet red and white striped delivery uniform and matching saucepan hat. The beautiful attendant glanced at him briefly before smiling. "Good evening. Are you here for a delivery?"


    "Yep," William replied, holding up the bags of food. "Apartment 626."


    ¡°Oh?¡± the attendant replied in a surprised tone after hearing the apartment number, one of her eyebrows raised, as if she¡¯d forgotten her professional attitude. However, her original demeanor quickly returned. ¡°The elevator is to your left.¡±


    He wondered what that reaction was, although it was none of his business. Heading towards the direction the attendant pointed, he walked past a maid scurrying around with a silver tray of carefully prepared food and tried his best to ignore the fact that they had servants doing everything for them and that even the elevator itself was plated in gold. Whoever lived here was used to being treated like royalty.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Taking the elevator up to the sixth floor, he walked through a long hallway lined with portraits and fine porcelain vases dating back to the classical era. His classmates from elite families were classically trained in the history of the arts and would know the finer details of the paintings and porcelain, but that nuance was lost to him.


    Down the hall, a young maid with a ponytail stood in front of apartment 626 with a fancy hanger trolley of white towels.


    Knock, knock.


    ¡°I told you to just leave the fucking towels outside!¡± a young man yelled out from inside the room. ¡°Don¡¯t make me repeat myself!¡±


    The door burst open, and a muscular blond college student in a cashmere bathrobe gestured angrily at the maid, then at a nub to the side of the door.


    ¡°There¡¯s a hanger here for a reason!¡±


    The tenant slammed the door shut with a bang, startling the embarrassed maid into dropping one of the clean towels onto the floor.


    William bent down and picked up the towel, handing it to her with an understanding expression. He¡¯d suffered through enough of Manager Kim¡¯s tantrums over the years to how she was feeling.


    "Guess he¡¯s never heard of a ''please'' or ''thank you,'' huh?" he said quietly.


    The teary eyed maid stifled a laugh, her posture relaxing slightly as she took the towel from him gratefully.


    "Probably not," she replied, smiling faintly. She leaned in and whispered. ¡°But it¡¯s best to stay on the young master¡¯s good side.¡±


    The maid quickly put the towels on the nub and scurried away, nodding to William as she passed.


    William was left waiting in front of the door alone, not looking forward to knocking. The receptionist¡¯s reaction earlier made a lot more sense now. The guy on the other side of this door had a terrible attitude, which from experience meant he probably wouldn¡¯t tip and might even leave a complaint online.


    He exhaled. In the end, this was a job and he had to finish the delivery. He cleared his throat. ¡°Kicken Chicken delivery,¡± he replied in as enthusiastic of a voice as he could muster up. ¡°You ordered the four piece meal with two sides?¡±


    Upon hearing that, there was a flurry of foot movement, and William swore he could¡¯ve heard the customer mumble forgot I ordered. Then, the door swung open.


    An intimidating muscular blond college student stood in a bathrobe at the other side of the door. Behind him stood a finely worked grandfather clock and the portrait of an old industrialist with combed white hair, all glinting with gold. Now that William looked at the student directly, he realized who it was. Everything made sense now¡ªthe excessive wealth, the maids, the strong attitude.


    The square jawed young man with an arrogant face was Luke Brightsteel, the darling son of one of the top elite families and heir to the Brightsteel conglomerate. By a strange twist of fate, William happened to currently share classes with him.


    The Brightsteels were industrialists hailing from the beginning of the common era. William had read all about them in history books back at the orphanage. Back then, they were known to be cruel to their factory workers and heavily involved in political affairs. The family fortune had only grown since then, and they were still involved with the government and the new post-break guilds.


    Luke¡¯s eyebrows raised in surprise, his eyes darting in disbelief between William¡¯s red and white Kickin Chicken uniform and his face.


    ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me,¡± he started to laugh, his fist pounding the door frame. ¡°You¡¯re a delivery boy?¡±


    William¡¯s grip on the delivery bags tightened, but he didn¡¯t say anything. He knew exactly why Luke was acting this way¡ªhe and Luke had a bit of a history from two semesters ago.


    The elite families had always valued physical education, now even more so in the post-break era. Those values clearly showed in Luke¡¯s impressive and conventionally attractive physique. He had well defined collar bones and broad muscular shoulders, and unlike William, he looked well-fed from childhood to adolescence. Luke Brightsteel prided himself as one of the best athletes at Trinity Academy, undefeated in pole vaulting, javelin toss, and the dash.


    That was, until William beat him in the dash. Luke was furious, unable to comprehend how an unknown student lacking any formal training managed to beat him in a televised athletics event¡ªshaming him in a televised event.


    It was because William spent many of his early years at the orphanage sneaking into the library in the dead of the night to pick out books, which taught him to be light on his feet. Then in middle school, he began running deliveries through the alleys, which taught him to be fast and alert.


    Luke didn¡¯t know this, however, and even if he did he couldn¡¯t care less.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that a student at Trinity could be struggling this badly.¡± His tone was unmistakably mocking. ¡°Tell you what, why don¡¯t I arrange a higher paying job for you at my father¡¯s company. Maybe cleaning toilets or something. Surely even that will pay more than being a delivery boy.¡±


    William did his best to ignore the provocation, lifting the bag containing Luke¡¯s order. ¡°Here¡¯s your food.¡±


    There was only one day left until the initiation, and he didn¡¯t want to cause any new problems now.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Luke laughed and roughly grabbed the bag from William, before looking down with a sour expression. ¡°Why is my bag wet?¡±


    ¡°All deliveries are double wrapped. Your food is dry..¡±


    ¡°As my grandfather would say, a worker with no eye for detail will soon have no eye at all,¡± Luke sneered, pointing at the other bag in William¡¯s hand. ¡°Give me that one too to make up for this one being wet.¡±


    William noticed a faint heat-like steam aura began to rise from Luke¡¯s arm as if it was evaporating as Luke reached out to grab the bag.


    But that was impossible. He couldn¡¯t have awakened before the initiation. His eyes were playing tricks on him again.


    At that moment, years of reflexes kicked in and he pulled back the bag quickly, much to Luke¡¯s and his own surprise.


    ¡°That¡¯s someone else¡¯s order,¡± he said defiantly. He wasn¡¯t about to have a delivery go missing and risk being late on his rent again.


    Luke paused for a moment as if he was contemplating something, before a smirk returned to his face.


    ¡°Suit yourself. See you tomorrow at the initiation,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll get a power that helps you deliver chicken even faster.¡±


    With a derisive snicker, the bathrobed heir nudged the door shut with his foot.


    William cursed under his breath as he turned back down the hallway towards the elevator.


    Luke¡¯s attitude angered him, but on a deeper level he envied Luke. William didn¡¯t care as much about his modern chateau lifestyle or the countless attendants caring for his every wish¡ªanother butler just passed by him with a bottle of fine champagne¡ªbut what he truly envied was the formal education, the storied richness of history and culture, the strong sense of dignity that came with being a member of an old elite family.


    Dignity of class was something beyond the superficiality of being a good or a bad person. Class was not something that could be emulated by simply reading books¡ªit was inherited, nurtured, and it commanded a degree of respect that could never be emulated by an outsider.


    For instance, no matter how bad of a person Nero from the imperial era was, his name still graced modern history books with a gravitas reserved only for truly great men.


    The dungeon break twelve years ago may have introduced many new forces to the world, such as strange new materials that scientists were still learning to harness, but was this transformation all that different from the transformation wrought to the world by industrialization centuries ago? Or the agricultural revolution? Or the end of the imperial era and destruction of the natural world during the volcanic era?


    Unchallenged recency bias led modern academics to arrogantly claim that they lived in the era of greatest change, the post-break era, the other world era, the dungeon era, but William disagreed. This era was no different from the last.


    As things changed, so too things stayed the same. Old military traditions of the elite families fell easily in line with the new need for organized armed forces on anti-monster duty. Guilds that arose in the post-break era were simply corporations taking on an expansion of duties and a new name.


    Even the other world itself was quickly falling into line¡ªmost breaks were resolved within hours. Monthly civilian casualties in the city had fallen to less than ten. Things were becoming assimilated into normal.


    Just like before.


    But he digressed yet again.


    William''s fundamental dissatisfaction with his existence arose from his inability to change the fact that his own existence was a mere footnote in the books he pored over so dearly, that he was a side character in the recorded history of the likes of Luke Brightsteel, to be forgotten regardless of what he chose to eat or say or do on any given day, simply by right of his birth and upbringing.


    He was deeply envious of those who had the means to become somebody. But to become somebody when he lacked both societal and familial means, he needed power.


    The initiation ceremony tomorrow had to go well.


    Lost in thought, he realized that he was back in the alleyway from before. Most people¡ªeven delivery workers¡ªavoided the inner city alleys, but he was used to them. He¡¯d grown up on the streets, and they were fine shortcuts that enabled him to spend less of his evenings delivering and more of his free time exploring and understanding the world.


    The sight of a familiar shoe brought him back to his senses.


    It was up ahead, abandoned, sitting upright in front of the dumpster with the lace untied. There was no sign of the owner.


    Did the homeless man leave and forget his shoe?


    William peeked cautiously around the other side of the dumpster with his phone flashlight in hand, and there was nothing there, but when he turned back he noticed a few torn scraps of clothing on the floor that he hadn¡¯t noticed earlier, and his mind and his imagination and his ears picking up the slow dripping sound from behind him all quickly converged to the same conclusion¡ªrun.


    And so he ran.

 Chapter 2 - Run

    Chapter 2 ¡ª Run


    He scrambled forward as fast as he possibly could, the delivery bag abandoned, desperately darting between corners as he could now clearly hear the footsteps of something chasing him.


    Whatever was chasing him could move eerily silently, although if he listened closely he could hear the unsteady gait, the unmistakable breathing, its body moving fast and stealthily with the exception of that awful dripping sound. He dared not look back and risk losing momentum.


    All those years of experience navigating the alleys since middle school came to save his life at this very moment. He hurtled around several corners and ran over furniture with the rapidity of a monkey, knowing that with each turn he drew closer to the main streets where there would be police patrols, where he could call for help.


    But that was ages away, and no help could be found in the alleyways. The government had given up on them long before the break. He turned another corner where a rusted rake had fallen to the ground. Not seeing it in time, his foot got caught by the long wooden handle, knocking him off balance. Falling to the ground with a tumble, the creature gained in distance behind him, and he knew that it was all over.


    But the impact never came, and William dared to glance back as he got up on his feet, but only for a moment. Nothing stood behind him. In a brief moment of vulnerability, he wondered if it had stopped chasing. Just as he was about to turn and continue running, a rustle came from above.


    A pair of yellow eyes emerged from the corner of the second floor of the building behind. It moved slowly, the rest of its body imperceptible in the darkness. Horrifying realization dawned upon him that this creature could climb.


    William ran without looking back, not stopping to catch his breath even as his lungs burned and his feet were heavy as lead. His heart thumped like it was about to burst from pressure, but there was no force in the universe that could make him stop running now. The street lights were just up ahead¡ªthat meant a main street was there! Sprinting forward with both arms pumping, he ran into the open and nearly crashed into a parked car.


    Looking around wildly, he recognized the place. This was the old docking district. There was a police station down the right between the convenience store and the warehouse. He¡¯d be safe if he could get there.


    ¡ª¡ª


    The officer looked on at William with a bored expression.


    ¡°So you¡¯re saying that it chased you down to the docking district.¡±


    William nodded, but he could tell that the officer was not buying his story.


    Four soldiers with assault rifles idled about outside the conference room. One picked his nose.


    ¡°Where is it now?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°What did it look like?¡±


    ¡°I told you, it had yellow eyes and it could climb¡ª¡°


    ¡°I mean the body, so we can identify it.¡±


    ¡°It was dark, I couldn¡¯t¡ª¡°


    ¡°Essentially you didn¡¯t see what it looked like.¡± He sighed, jotting down another note onto his notepad.


    The overweight officer with a mustache put one elbow on the table, his metal rings glowing under the harsh fluorescent interrogation light. He sat across from William. ¡°Listen, kid. Tell me what this is really about. Were you smoking in the alleyway?¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m telling you¡ª¡°


    ¡°If you need an alibi for the school, just let me know. This wouldn¡¯t be the first time a Trinity kid needed a coverup.¡±


    ¡°Officer, this isn¡¯t a coverup and I am being entirely serious. You need to send a patrol to find this monster.¡±


    The police officer shook his head. ¡°No can do, kid. We¡¯re short staffed at the moment and need to be on alert for an emergency.¡±


    ¡°This is an emergency.¡±


    The officer snorted. ¡°Fat chance of that. I¡¯ve never heard of a monster that stops chasing someone after seeing them. At least, not on this side of the gate.¡±


    It was clear that he¡¯d made up his mind.


    William slumped back down on his chair. What the officer said was true. Over the last twelve years, scientists from around the world had done extensive behavioral testing on captured monsters. A foreign paper first called it the madness principle, the phenomenon where exposure to the human world caused monsters to lose their intelligence and indiscriminately attack humans.


    This was a proven fact, with countless studies backing it.


    If this monster stopped chasing, then it broke everything that humanity knew about monster behavior. It seemed implausible. Only monsters still on the other side displayed any form of intelligence or organized behavior.


    Even he was starting to second guess himself. He was tired, the initiation was tomorrow, and maybe he just imagined the whole thing.


    ¡°Second,¡± the officer continued. ¡°We¡¯ve had breaks under control for months now. It¡¯s sort of confidential, but our radar guys at the government have figured out a way to immediately find new breaks using electromagnetic tracking. That¡¯s why casualties have been so low lately.¡±


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    William nodded weakly. That¡¯s what he suspected as well. The officer made sense, too much sense.


    ¡°You probably saw some kind of animal, or just the light moving in a funny way.¡± He paused in thought. ¡°Could be a homeless guy using an ability, too.¡±


    ¡°Either way, I doubt it was a monster. Have confidence in the systems we have, kid. They haven¡¯t failed us yet. And isn¡¯t Trinity having its initiation tomorrow? You better head home and get some sleep.¡±


    ¡°Mind if I charge my phone a bit before I go?¡± His battery was completely dry.


    ¡°Be my guest. You should always keep your phone charged to receive emergency alerts, you know that right?¡±


    William nodded.


    The overweight officer got up from his chair and left the interrogation room, leaving him alone.


    He plugged in his phone to the socket and checked the time. It was already two in the morning. A few texts floated on the lock screen from Manager Kim, no doubt asking about why he missed his last delivery. If Manager Kim docked his pay, he was going to miss his rent payment again. It hurt his head just thinking about it.


    Best just not think about it for now. If everything went well at the initiation, he¡¯d be able to awaken a decent ability, join a guild, and make a solid part time living going on raids. At least enough to keep a roof over his head until he graduated college.


    The officer swung by the interrogation room and rapped on the door.


    ¡°We¡¯re closing soon, kid. You should head back.¡±


    ¡ª


    William arrived at his apartment defeated and tired. He had stuck to the main streets after that questionable experience in the alleys, and arrived at home safely.


    He was greeted by a rat scurrying past the staircase that led up to his dingy place, and after a quick shuffle with his keys the creaky door whined open. His place was small in a way that was reminiscent of a coffin, with peeling wallpaper, a sagging bed, and a tiny kitchen that had seen better days.


    A cracked mirror showed his reflection, blond with dark brown eyes, slightly malnourished, tall, with bookish looks and messy hair.


    He was filthy after everything that happened today, and immediately headed to the shower, trying to forget the whole episode altogether as he wetted his face. Perhaps the officer was right, and he had imagined the whole thing. It was too dark to tell for sure.


    Tomorrow was the big day. William dried himself, changed into night clothes, then went to sit at his laptop, pushing aside his old forged workpapers and the rosary artifact his parents left him. He cracked it open and navigated to the discussion forums.


    This was actually a useless practice. He already read all that there was to read about abilities. Out of the common four elements, he already knew that he preferred to awaken a fire ability, because knowing his luck, he¡¯d awaken at a power level of 1 or 2, and at least fire was still viable at those levels compared to something like clairvoyance which was quite bad at lower levels.


    He just needed to nudge the awakening towards fire. Hence the little setup he had next to his bed, with the candles, newspapers, fire-proof tiles that he scavenged from a nearby junkyard, and matches. It almost looked like an altar for witchcraft. He built it over the last few months to ¡®manifest¡¯ a fire ability.


    If the forums were to be believed, then a person¡¯s wishes, experiences, family background, and a slew of other non quantifiable factors were taken into account when ability was being determined. For instance, individuals from families that had deep ancestral roots to the forest were likely to awaken earth or plant based abilities. Doctors and nurses were more likely to awaken healing abilities. So on and so forth.


    The problem was that he had no clue what his family did. All that the government told him was that his parents died in a bus accident, that his surname was Blackwood, and that they left him a college fund and an old trinket but otherwise no money to use on day to day expenses.


    The trinket he inherited was an old rosary, by the looks of it dating back to before the volcanic era. He had the trinket appraised a few years ago, discovering that it had a small amount of silver in it, but not enough to make much of a difference if he sold it. Besides, he had absolutely no intention of selling the only reminder of his parents. Back at the orphanage he hid it in between the cracks of his bed because he was afraid the caretakers or other kids would take it from him just because it was shiny. These days he left it on his desk as a reminder that a long time ago, someone did care about him.


    He appreciated the college fund, which in addition to a scholarship program were the reasons why he could attend Trinity Academy, but the mystery around his family dug at his soul. He felt like he was missing a part of his identity. In the absence of concrete knowledge of them, he could imagine that his family was storied and respectable, perhaps even nobility or maybe even royalty, but deep down he knew that that was just his fantasy, wishful thinking. Logically speaking, it was most likely that he belonged to an ordinary or less than ordinary family, despite his delusions of grandeur. After all, why else would they be riding on a bus on the day of their death if they were rich?


    He half smiled, knowing that all the fantasies he had in his head of his family were truly just that¨Cfantasies¨Cand yet he didn¡¯t wish to fully discredit them and subscribe to reality. After all, sometimes it was just this little bit of fanciful thinking that kept him going day by day, giving him hope that maybe he was more than met the eye after all.


    To the right of his laptop were several dusty books from the city library, the kind that the government never bothered to scan into the internet archives. William had scoured them for any mention of Blackwoods in the past, but aside from some offhand mentions of a mayor here or a tax evasion arrest warrant there, he couldn¡¯t find any conclusive details of his family, or even confirmation if those other Blackwoods were related to him at all.


    He tried accessing the government census records, but many files were destroyed during the break, and his request was of too low priority to get processed by the bureaucratic machine.


    The whole endeavor left him completely in the dark. For purposes of his ability he had to just stick with his gut and awaken something practical.


    Taking a match out from the box, he lit the candles and prayed.


    He paused at the sight of his reflection in the mirror. Staring into his own eyes, which gave off an unmistakable appearance of weariness beyond his age, he wondered¨C¨Cwhat did his parents look like? Did his mom also have brown eyes like himself? Who did he inherit his nose from, with its ever so subtle tilt? Did he look more like his mom or his dad? Feeling suddenly sentimental, he spoke softly. ¡°Mom, dad, if you¡¯re out there¡­ I¡¯m all grown up now. I¡¯m still alive. I hope that you¡¯re proud of me, since it hasn¡¯t been easy. Sometimes I don¡¯t know if I want to keep going on.¡±


    As usual, there was no response. The apartment felt empty as usual, unbearably lonely, and it only reminded him of the harsh reality of life more than anyone¨Cif he didn¡¯t make himself valuable, he was as good as a discarded piece of furniture. Nobody really cared about him. He could have died today and nobody would have even noticed, besides maybe Finn. Oh, and Evelyn would probably feel minorly annoyed that her pet project she invested so much time and effort in went missing, but that was the extent of his impact on the world. He sighed.


    He completed his little ceremony, then blew out the candles and went to bed. This was the most he could do, and the rest was up to fate. Sleep would do him well right now¨C¨Che was having dangerous thoughts, as he truly didn¡¯t know if he wanted to keep going on.


    No.


    If death wanted to visit, it should have the courtesy of coming to him first rather than the other way around, please and thank you very much.

 Chapter 3 – Trinity Academy

    Chapter 3 ¨C Trinity Academy


    The next day started suspiciously normally. No alert had been issued overnight, and William felt tempted to accept the convenient explanation that he must have imagined the whole episode yesterday. Things would be so simple that way¡ªhe could pretend he hallucinated it all and go on about his college life like usual. And yet he couldn¡¯t shake off the little nagging feeling saying otherwise. He hated to admit it, but his gut sense was right more often than not.


    ¡°How are you not nervous?¡± Finn asked, his hands visibly trembling on the lecture hall desk. He wore glasses, and could easily be mistaken as fifteen or younger due to his short and scrawny appearance.


    Finn Mutton was one of the first friends William made in college, and although he sometimes lacked a spine, William appreciated his normal upbringing and family situation. As the second son from a regular middle class family, his older brother died during the initial dungeon break twelve years ago.


    That was actually a common story among many families, so William still considered him as normal as you could get. As only Finn survived among their two children, his parents doted over him like no tomorrow.


    Unlike his hard-working brother, Finn spent most of his time laying on his dorm room sofa grinding mobile games while neglecting everything else.


    ¡°It¡¯ll be just like any other exam,¡± William replied. ¡°No big deal.¡±


    He hadn¡¯t shared with Finn anything about the events last night. Finn had a tendency to panic, and that was the last thing William wanted to deal with right now.


    ¡°But the initiation isn¡¯t just any school test. Our future gets decided in a span of two minutes. How is that even fair? What if I don¡¯t even get a power level of two?¡± Finn moped with his hands over his face, lost in his own world. ¡°I can already imagine my mom¡¯s face, she¡¯s going to be so disappointed.¡±


    ¡°Life has never been fair,¡± he said, biting down what he really wanted to say. ¡°Might as well get used to it.¡±


    As much as he liked to rag on Finn for getting nervous at the smallest things, he had to admit that he hadn¡¯t slept well last night either. The initiation was just too important. Unlike Finn, he didn¡¯t have a family to fall back on if things went poorly, and he couldn¡¯t stomach delivering fast food for the rest of his life.


    Right on the hour, the door to the classroom burst open and Luke Brightsteel walked in with a group of students. He wore a tailored dark navy blazer, with meticulously combed blond hair and an appearance of unmistakable media-readiness for the initiation today, where there would be plenty of cameras flashing on all the new prospects. Luke scanned the classroom angrily before locking eyes on William.


    Finn was lost in his own worries as usual and hadn¡¯t noticed the dagger staring contest, and continued to talk. ¡°Well, you know my grades are bad, and my mom¡¯s gonna kill me if I can¡¯t at least be a healer¨C¡± he stopped, finally noticing the approaching problem.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t think you had the balls to come in today,¡± Luke Brightsteel sneered, planting his palm on William¡¯s desk rudely. William¡¯s eyebrow twitched with irritation. Don¡¯t show weakness, he thought. Luke was flanked by a group of three male and two female students that frequently hung out with him. Needless to say, they were all from elite families.


    The male upperclassman called Jared Pain added with a smug grin, "You should probably know that Luke is going to one of the big seven, and I already have a sponsorship from Blue Mountain. What about you two? Anyone bother to sponsor you two yet? Maybe Kicken Chicken?¡±


    The two girls of the group giggled as the upperclassman started to mime a cashier.


    The mockery was annoying, but they had a point. Sponsorships were the reason why all the students were dressed to impress today. For the average guild aspirant, getting the attention of a recruiter from one of the top guilds could be the golden ticket to a life of fame and luxury. But like all things in this world, nepotism played a major role. The Brightsteels, the Pains, the Mardurs, and all the other elite families shoed-in their heirs for those positions.


    Somehow, unlike on any other day, today William felt a bit more confrontational than usual. He noticed a shiny tint on Luke¡¯s face, quickly realized its true nature, and let the poisonous words simply slip out of his mouth without caring about the consequences.


    ¡°Nice makeup.¡±


    The laughter from their group instantly ceased.


    Finn shrank in his seat, as was typical of him.


    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t piss them off, those guys can cause us a lot of trouble,¡± Finn whispered anxiously to him.


    Jared and the others looked at their leader for his reaction. There was a brief pause, and Luke looked angrier than ever.


    ¡°You better not let me catch you on your first expedition,¡± he finally said.


    It was a thinly veiled threat. What happened on expeditions into the gates was beyond the control of the government. And with that, the crew turned and left.


    More people were beginning to enter the lecture hall, including a rather gorgeous girl with long black hair who squeezed past Luke¡¯s crew before quickly darting over to William and Finn. She wore similar elite family attire to the two girls from Luke¡¯s group, except her blouse appeared to be just a bit more properly tucked in. Her appearance gave the vibe typical of a brand ambassador to a skincare company. Clean, elegant, and captivating¡ªthat is, if she fixed her attitude.


    ¡°What did you do this time?¡± she asked, her eyes accusatorially landing on William.


    ¡°Mind your own business, Evelyn,¡± he replied, not in a mood to explain himself.


    Evelyn¡¯s eyes then switched over to Finn, who buckled under their intense gaze. ¡°William pissed off Luke and his gang,¡± he blurted out.


    ¡°Great. The school board just told me that they¡¯re canceling all of our final exams, and now I come here and find out that you¡¯ve pissed off the darling son of one of the great families, whose mother, if you didn¡¯t know, also sits on the school board. As if this day couldn¡¯t get any more wonderful.¡±


    Finn nearly fell out of his chair, and even William looked up in surprise. ¡°They¡¯re canceling our exams?¡±


    Back before the dungeon break, year-end college final exams were considered a sacred rite, a path to a good career. Even now in the post dungeon break era, exams were still a defining moment in a university student¡¯s life. Regular jobs still had their place in the world, and so did final exams.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Evelyn crossed her arms. ¡°Yeah. Which means all of our studying is going to be flat out useless. Apparently the government is pressuring all university students to join combat training. I think they¡¯re expecting more breaks to happen, so we¡¯re being trained to fight. My mom said that it¡¯s going to be mandatory for everyone our age.¡±


    William recalled that Evelyn¡¯s mom worked in some kind of important government-adjacent position, although he wasn¡¯t sure of the specifics.


    Evelyn Moon belonged to the renowned Moon family, considered one of the minor elite families and known for producing skilled blade users. She was also the current vice president of the college¡¯s Charitable Aid Society. When William first joined the school, she self-nominated to look out for him due to his vulnerable background as an orphanage child who went through government subsidized schooling for delinquent children¡ªthe only schooling available to unclaimed orphans. She definitely helped him acclimate to the school¡¯s culture, which William appreciated as he was mostly self-taught through grade twelve, but sometimes it felt like she was patronizing and treating him like a sickly abandoned cat, like a pet that she had the responsibility of taking care of.


    It was also clear that her main purpose for joining the Charitable Aid Society lay in padding her resume and advancing her future career. That¡¯s why whenever William caused any trouble, Evelyn would be the first to appear to chastise him. His success at school was an extension of her own perfect image to the professors who would write her recommendation letters in the future.


    He doubted that she¡¯d bother talking to him at all if he wasn¡¯t useful to her in this way. After all, she was still a minor elite family¡¯s daughter, and he and Finn were nobodies. They were acquaintances by circumstance and nothing more.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t aiming for a career as an awakener, but if the government is this keen on making it part of our curriculum, it¡¯ll be something I need to take seriously from now on,¡± she said with her arms crossed. ¡°If I¡¯d known this beforehand I would¡¯ve taken more elixirs.¡±


    ¡°But aren¡¯t elixirs like a fortune each?¡± Finn replied.


    ¡°Yeah. My family saw some on the market, but I only had one. They¡¯re even more expensive than usual lately. I heard that the Brightsteels have been buying them in bulk for Luke, just like they did with Cassius.¡±


    That name rang a bell for William. Cassius Brightsteel was the older cousin of Luke and one of the strongest fighters in humanity¡¯s arsenal. He was the first to clear a crisis level gate seven years ago.


    ¡°Elixirs huh¡­ so even here, it¡¯s pay to win,¡± Finn said in a dejected voice.


    ¡°Pay to win?¡± Evelyn asked with a confused look on her face.


    ¡°It¡¯s a gaming term.¡±


    Evelyn scrunched her nose at the mention of gaming term as though she¡¯d smelled something foul, right as the loudspeaker in the room crackled to life.


    All students are required to report to the auditorium to prepare for initiation. Attendance is mandatory.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get going,¡± Evelyn said. ¡°I¡¯ll see you there, and don¡¯t you cause any more trouble William.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± William replied.


    Watching Evelyn rush past the students and disappear through the door again, William rose from his chair and took a much needed stretch. Today was one of the only occasions that he wore a formal collared shirt, and he wasn¡¯t used to how it squeezed around his neck uncomfortably even after unbuttoning the first button. He looked at Finn, whose blazer was a size too large for his small stature and fit awkwardly over his shoulders.


    He mentally reviewed his preparations¡ªbreathing exercises, fire ability specific techniques, energy circulation, and anything else to distract himself from thinking of last night¡¯s strange occurrences¡ªas he descended the stairs with Finn.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to be sick,¡± Finn said, his face pale with nervousness.


    William put a hand on Finn''s shoulder and straightened it. ¡°Try to breathe through your nose for two counts, then exhale through your mouth,¡± he said. ¡°The forums said that that helps with nerves when casting.¡±


    Finn tried to follow along as William explained the basic breathing technique to him. They quickly made their way to the auditorium hall, sliding down the center aisle as the dean of Trinity Academy and several older tenured professors sat on the stage near the podium. Some of the newer professors sat below the stage facing the students in the front row.


    ¡°Professor, where¡¯s the orb?¡± a male student sitting in the front row asked Professor Usha, who taught abstract calculus, which William did not look forward to taking next semester.


    ¡°They¡¯re running a bit late because of an accident on the intercity highway. City news says that traffic is at a standstill,¡± Professor Usha sighed, adjusting her glasses. ¡°But the initiation will happen today, you have my word on that.¡±


    ¡°So we just have to wait here until they arrive?¡±


    ¡°That is correct, Mr. Sicon,¡± Professor Usha replied. ¡°Patience is a virtue.¡±


    William felt a nudge on his left from Finn, who held his phone out to an image of a capsized truck burning on the intercity highway with a slew of crashed vehicles behind it.


    ¡°It¡¯s bad,¡± Finn said. ¡°We might be stuck here for a while.¡±


    An accident¡­ it really is a strange day, William mused. Maybe that thing from yesterday caused the accident. He tried hard not to think of those yellow eyes flickering in the darkness, that dark form climbing ever so slowly across the second story of the abandoned apartment building.


    The university dean¡ªa clumsy older man wearing a violet cap and gown¡ªappeared to have just finished a heated conversation with some organizers as he rose to his feet and stepped onto the podium, adjusting the microphone before beginning his speech.


    ¡°Students of Trinity Academy,¡± he said, his amplified voice carrying effortlessly across the auditorium. ¡°As you may have heard, due to a major traffic accident there will be a delay in the initiation ceremony today. Unfortunately, the initiation process falls under military jurisdiction as a matter of international security and is therefore dictated by the government. It cannot be rescheduled, so we will stay in place until the caravan arrives, however long that takes.¡±


    He paused for effect, his gaze steady as he continued. ¡°As always, we ask for your patience and¡ª¡±


    A distant rumble like a thunderstorm interrupted his words. The lights flickering ominously, and the microphone screeched. Concerned whispers erupted from the audience. William felt a chill run down his spine involuntarily. He suddenly had a horrible sense of deja vu.


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°What was that!¡±


    ¡°Did you feel that?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I did!¡±


    ¡°Was that thunder?¡±


    Students looked around at each other in confusion as the dean frowned and tapped the microphone.


    He adjusted his cap and continued in a somewhat frazzled tone, trying to take back control of the situation. ¡°Ahem, settle down students. No need to be startled by a bit of thunder. Now as I was saying¡­ We ask for your patience during this time and will provide accommodations for those who require lodging overnight¡ª¡±


    A second, more intense boom rang through the auditorium, knocking out the electric lights overhead, sending vibrations through the seats, leaving behind only the overcast light from the side windows to illuminate the auditorium. William leapt up from his seat, fully alert. His body reacted instinctively¡ªthis was no thunder.


    At that moment, a low foghorn sounded from far away, a deep, vibrating monotone note that persisted unbearably long.


    Something began to click in his mind. A foghorn. Now where did he read about that before? An article from half a year ago appeared in his mind. Scientists have speculated that an unusual gate break could conduct a strong enough force to generate an¡­


    To generate what? He couldn¡¯t remember the rest.


    Warning. Alert confirmed. Lockdown commencing.


    A robotic female announcer, unlike anything William or any of the students at Trinity Academy had ever heard, spoke from the intercom above. Metal sheets fell in an avalanche of steel from the windows above, then locked shut, completely sealing off the windows in walls reminiscent of a prison, plunging the auditorium into darkness.


    A female student let out a high pitched scream.


    All one thousand of Trinity Academy¡¯s staff, students, and faculty were now locked in and sealed off from the outside world.


    Backup generator activated.

 Chapter 4 – Lockdown

    Chapter 4 ¨C Lockdown


    The backup generator hummed into existence, dim emergency lighting sputtering to life, illuminating the walkways in an orange glow reminiscent of the interior of a submarine. Students attempted to climb over their seats, casting hectic shadows onto the walls. Chaotic shouts and screams continued, although more subdued than before.


    A few seconds later, the ceiling fans came back online, then the door signs, then finally the auditorium lights groaned back into operation, restoring the auditorium to full capacity. Power had been fully restored.


    The hysteria in the auditorium that had quickly built up in that brief moment of madness began to subside with power returning, although most people still looked on edge.


    William took shallow breaths, his heart still beating rapidly as he tried to make sense of what the hell just happened. The adrenaline from yesterday was back. He had instinctively grabbed the nearest object he could find to defend himself with, which turned out to be his water bottle, although now that the lights were back and his senses had returned he looked a bit silly wielding a flimsy plastic bottle like a bat.


    Were they really safe?


    His eyes darted to the metal sealing of the windows. Three layers of thick reinforced steel now stood between the inside of the auditorium and the outside world, their durable presence prompted by what appeared to be an automatic defense system. He hadn¡¯t seen so much steel in an eternity, and of such high quality as well¡ªwasn¡¯t it in short supply lately? In the post-break era, steel was worth more than gold, as steel was sorely needed in the production of tanks, artillery shells, and other instruments of war. Such an amount must have cost a fortune. No monster could break or ram through that thickness of reinforced steel.


    And yet, what was this uneasy feeling? His heart continued to beat uncomfortably fast.


    ¡°Students, stay calm,¡± the undisturbed dean said through the microphone, looking around the hall at the panicked students. ¡°As you all know, Trinity Academy offers nothing but the best for our elite student body, and that includes emergency countermeasures. Our newly installed lockdown system is state-of-the-art, military grade, and is working as intended to keep us safe during these troubling times.¡±


    ¡°I personally negotiated and won the contract bid with Gammon Corporation¡ªthey are the best, as you know¡ªand can assure you that they built us an impenetrable fortress, nothing but the finest. Trinity Academy educates the future leaders of our world, and you deserve every protection in this world. No monster or security threat will ever interfere with a student¡¯s Trinity education!¡± he finished confidently, the pride palpable in his voice.


    Cheers and applause broke out from the audience, particularly from the elites. In times like this, Trinity Academy¡¯s massive endowment showed its colors. No wonder so many tycoons and moguls sent their children here. Few other private institutions could muster the sheer industrial-level scale and complexity of such a defensive structure. It was certainly reassuring, William thought.


    Residing in an automated iron fortress during a monster outbreak sure beat hiding under the counter because Manager Kim barricaded him out of the office. Every time William thought of him a bit of hatred welled up inside.


    ¡°As we are in a state of emergency, we will follow our Emergency Protocol Guidelines. The document has been transferred to your portal inbox.¡±


    A student¡¯s hand called out from the front row. ¡°Sir, we don¡¯t seem to have phone signal.¡±


    ¡°Is that so? Then this break must be more serious than usual. Nevertheless, as long as we conduct ourselves in an orderly fashion, we will endure this crisis with dignity befitting our institution.¡±


    An aide walked over and respectfully handed the dean some papers, which he set onto the podium.


    ¡°Ahem,¡± the dean cleared his throat, lifting a pair of reading glasses to his eyes as he squinted at the papers on the podium lectern. ¡°The Emergency Protocol Guidelines are as follows¡ª¡±


    ¡°In the event of a monster break within active distance of Trinity Academy, the university will lockdown for a maximum expected duration of a week. In the case of an unusual unresolved break, the lockdown will persist until disabled by a government issued clear or manual override.¡±


    ¡°The lockdown process seals all indoor school grounds from the outside. Students and faculty can move continuously from the west end to the east end of the facility uninhibited, but will not be able to leave the premises of the Trinity Academy until the lockdown is lifted.¡±


    As the dean continued to outline the emergency procedures, a soft creaking sound, barely audible over his voice, drew William¡¯s attention upward. His eyes scanned the ceiling fans, now spinning steadily, their mechanical hum blending into the background. But there it was again¡ªa faint grinding sound.


    ¡°Did you hear that?¡± he whispered to Finn.


    ¡°Hear what?¡± Finn whispered back, his voice cracking slightly.


    ¡°Never mind.¡±


    William had heard this sound before, coming from the rusty old fan in Kicken Chicken, its rotor mechanism ground down over the years. The mechanical wear and tear was especially evident every morning when he turned the fan back on.


    ¡°There is enough food, water, and electricity stored to last a full year at maximum capacity. The canteen will remain open during lockdown, with chefs operating the breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffets as usual, free of charge.¡±


    William still hadn¡¯t visited the school canteen yet. He mostly cooked his own meals or ate leftover sides from work to save money. He wondered what the canteen looked like.


    ¡°Classes will resume the day after lockdown is initiated. All students are expected to attend class as per usual. Students are expected to abide by reasonable standards of behavior during emergency times as determined by faculty at their discretion. This forbids the following: Disobedience, improper conduct, running in the halls, banging on or otherwise interfering with erected walls, and other such behaviors that may disrupt order or endanger students and faculty.


    ¡°Students without dorms will be provided sleeping bags in the gymnasium. To conserve energy, lecture halls will be unpowered and unheated at 8 PM. Students are encouraged to head to bed by 12 AM, although you are all adults here and should behave yourselves accordingly in line with our Academy¡¯s discipline.¡±


    The dean looked up from the papers, concluding his reading. ¡°That sums up the main points of the Emergency Protocol Guidelines. If you have specific issues such as a medical emergency, seek out your primary subject professor for further guidance. All essential facilities such as the infirmary will remain open to attend to students and staff.¡±


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Students will now report to their primary subject professor, who has standing authority to maintain order. Classes will resume tomorrow. Dismissed!¡±


    The speech appeared to have a sobering effect on the student body which just a few minutes ago was on the verge of breaking down into chaos.


    William found the dean¡¯s speech inspiring and admirable, as well as mostly convincing. Through body language and tone alone, the dean appeared to have full confidence in the system.


    Perhaps he was being too paranoid. William sighed, deep in thought, when Finn nudged him.


    ¡°We better get going,¡± Finn said, shaking his head. ¡°Dude, this lockdown is going to suck. We don¡¯t have any internet. What do they expect us to do, play cards for three days straight?¡±


    Finn never changed, still worrying about his games during a monster outbreak. But somehow, his words nudged William towards the answer to a lingering curiosity.


    ¡°Hey, Finn,¡± William said as they searched for the personable Professor Millet, their history professor and primary subject professor. ¡°Why do you think there¡¯s no phone signal?¡±


    Finn shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t know. Why?¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s due to an EMP effect.¡±


    The missing words from that article he read a year and a half ago had resurfaced in his mind.


    Scientists have speculated that an abnormal gate break could conduct a strong enough force to generate an electromagnetic pulse, otherwise known as an EMP, knocking out all active electronics in a radius from the activation zone.


    In the event of an EMP, the government has constructed a mechanical failsafe. A low frequency foghorn similar to those used by vessels at sea can transmit the alert status with a single worker¡¯s manual input.


    William quickly explained what he read to Finn, who looked impressed.


    ¡°How do you remember all of that?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°I have a good memory.¡± It was true, he did seem to have an uncannily good memory. Perhaps all those late nights in the orphanage library without any screens to distract him helped him to develop better concentration.


    ¡°You know,¡± Finn said. ¡°It¡¯s kind of crazy that the Gammon Corporation knew to build a backup generator and everything. My dad always complains how thorough they are whenever they order caulk from us. If our impurity ppm is more than 50 they reject it outright.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like they have high standards for materials?¡± William asked.


    ¡°Stupidly high standards, especially for some of the stuff that goes into expedition-ready equipment.¡±


    ¡°Everything they make is new?¡± William asked.


    ¡°For the most part, yeah. Made-to-order, that¡¯s why they¡¯re so expensive.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re in good hands, then?¡±


    ¡°Yep, definitely.¡±


    The two of them quickly noticed that Professor Millet was nowhere to be found, and reluctantly joined in with a larger crowd surrounding the rather stern Professor Ghoulstein, who had a widow¡¯s peak receding hairline, and noticeably large protruding lips. Bad rumors constantly circulated around him, although William hadn¡¯t personally seen him before to confirm them. His skin complexion had an odd touch of gray, giving him an unhealthy look.


    ¡°Professor Millet is absent due to illness, so I have been placed in charge of his primary subject class,¡± said Professor Ghoulstein. ¡°I hope that none of you have any objections.¡±


    ¡°As I was saying, this isn¡¯t a vacation¡ªin addition to attending classes, all of you are expected to fulfill your civic duties so that the university can remain operational. And yes, that includes cleaning duty, transport, hauling, the works.¡±


    Several students moaned in protest.


    ¡°Do we really have to do manual labor?¡± asked Vanessa Lullaby in a rather bitchy tone, her arms crossed. Despite her demeanor, she was quite pretty and had a glamorous figure, her chrome blonde hair curling in waves ever so slightly above her large chest.


    Needless to say, she was quite possibly one of the most stared at girls at Trinity Academy as well as a semi-famous online influencer, and her bikini photos had tens of thousands of likes on Yube¡ªWilliam preferred not to elaborate on how he knew that.


    ¡°Tone, Vanessa,¡± replied Professor Ghoulstein, his gaze darting between her eyes and her body, before lingering uncomfortably on her hips.


    ¡°There is a method to everything. As such, I will not allow complaints in these circumstances,¡± he continued, as Vanessa crossed her arms.


    The faintest hint of discontent showed on Professor Ghoulstein¡¯s face, his lips curling ever so slightly. ¡°Very well,¡± he said, his voice low. ¡°You and Abby can start with mopping the floor of the girl¡¯s bathroom in the east wing. Mops are in the janitor¡¯s closet by the water fountain. Make sure that it¡¯s polished clean, and I mean after every use. I¡¯m going to send someone to check when it¡¯s done.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s go, Abby,¡± Vanessa said, storming off with the shorter girl called Abby who William had a theoretical physics class with two semesters ago.


    The greasy professor quickly dished out duties to everyone.


    ¡°You two, what are your names again?¡± Professor Ghoulstein said to him and Finn, before waving his hand. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. You will be in charge of hauling flour bags from stability storage to the cafeteria. You¡¯ll find rollers in the janitorial closet in the east wing by the water fountain.¡±


    ¡°How many bags should we bring to the cafeteria?¡± William asked.


    ¡°As many as you can, and don¡¯t ask any more useless questions,¡± Ghoulstein replied. ¡°You¡¯re on an eight hour shift until dinner.¡±


    Finn looked a bit annoyed. They left the auditorium and headed into the east wing, or simply ¡®east wing¡¯ as people liked to call it.


    ¡°Why couldn¡¯t they just automate all of this?¡± Finn said. ¡°Is there really a reason we have to do all of this ourselves?¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s partly to save power, and also partly because automation is way too expensive. Trinity has a big budget, but even military outposts don¡¯t have automatic conveyor belts.¡±


    ¡°Eh, fine.¡±


    ¡°By the way, what do you think about Professor Ghoulstein?¡± asked William.


    Finn looked back to check if the professor was there before replying. ¡°He¡¯s a little annoying ordering us around. Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°I get a bad feeling from him.¡±


    ¡°At least we don¡¯t have any classes with him,¡± replied Finn absentmindedly, as he arranged the offline apps on his phone into a folder.


    They walked down the hallway in east wing, which looked incredibly strange with all of the windows sealed off in between the rows of artifacts and trophies displayed in cabinets lining the sides of the hallway. Most of Trinity Academy had to be renovated after being destroyed in the break twelve years ago, which was why the university had a strange aesthetic clash between thousand year old priceless artifacts from the volcanic era displayed in modern tin can furniture.


    After quite the trek, they finally reached the large sanitation closet, the door left slightly open.


    ¡°Are the girls still in there?¡± Finn asked, his inquiry immediately answered by a yelp from inside.


    William peeked in and saw a strained Vanessa trying her best to hoist Abby up as the smaller girl reached in vain for a second unused mop above the shelf.


    ¡°Finally, someone¡¯s here. Hey, tall guy, can you get that mop for us?¡± Vanessa asked, pointing at the mop hanging above the shelf.

 Chapter 5 – Seeds of Doubt

    Chapter 5 ¨C Seeds of Doubt


    Vanessa Lullaby looked expectantly at William, then at the mop teetering on the edge of the shelves, then back at William.


    ¡°Well, are you gonna help or not? We can¡¯t reach it,¡± she said, slightly out of breath as she set down Abby. In the process of lifting Abby her skirt had somehow ridden up to her upper thigh, and she pulled down on it hastily.


    William blinked blankly, his mind a mess for the first time in quite a while. Part of him felt like a fan meeting someone he only ever saw before online, who he¡¯d already forgotten went to the same school as him. Vanessa had three and a half million fans on Yube for a reason; she possessed the envy-inducing body shape that other girls would edit their photos to look like. And yet another part of him felt a bit of disgust thinking back to Professor Ghoulstein¡¯s lustful gaze directed at her.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll get that for you,¡± said William in as flat of a tone as he could muster. He didn¡¯t want to stutter or anything¡ªhe¡¯d rather not lose face like that¡ªso he tried his best to act normal. Act cool. As he settled into a meditative state, he felt his heartbeat slow down.


    In fact, it wasn¡¯t really Vanessa¡¯s presence that had him on edge. Something about this whole situation felt a bit off to him, like a boiling kettle waiting to explode. Best if he remained alert and vigilant.


    He reached up to the top of the shelf and knocked the plastic mop off of it with his fingertips, the mop hitting Abby on the head as it came down.


    ¡°Ow!¡± the short girl yelped. ¡°What the hell, William?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, sorry.¡± He picked up the mop and uprighted it, sending a few more apologies Abby¡¯s way. Vanessa took it, nodding in acknowledgement.


    Her grateful voice sounded like soft butter. ¡°Thanks. You¡¯re the guy who¡¯s always with Evelyn Moon, right? What was your name again?¡±


    She actually remembered seeing him around before? That was news to him. Although now that he thought about it, valedictorian-in-the-making Evelyn Moon definitely drew eyes wherever she went, and since he tagged along behind her blazing trail he must¡¯ve garnered some attention here and there.


    ¡°William Blackwood, and he¡¯s Finn Mutton.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Vanessa Lullaby. It¡¯s spelled lullaby but you can pronounce it lu-la-bee or lu-la-bye, either way works. Even my own family can¡¯t agree which is correct. And this is¡ª¡±


    ¡°They know me,¡± Abby Fate answered, rubbing her head. ¡°We were lab partners in theoretical physics. Finn here still managed to get the lowest grade in the class for the midterms even though I shared my notes with him.¡±


    ¡°What grade did you end up getting for that class?¡± William asked out of curiosity.


    ¡°A minus,¡± she said proudly. ¡°How about you?¡±


    ¡°B minus,¡± William answered, thoroughly impressed. He had to live in the library for weeks just to barely scrape together a B minus for that class. Anyone who could score an A minus was a genius in his book.


    ¡°Not bad,¡± Abby said. ¡°And how about you, Finn?¡±


    Finn looked ashamed. ¡°I bombed that class, it was too hard. Got an F.¡±


    Abby scoffed. ¡°Well, you should actually try to study next time¡ª¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Vanessa called while leaning on the closet door. She tugged at her sleeve while a bead of sweat rolled down her neck. ¡°It¡¯s kind of hot in this room. Why don¡¯t we talk outside instead?¡±


    William and Finn quickly wheeled out the cart they originally came for and left the janitor¡¯s closet, closing the door behind them to join Abby and Vanessa who were waiting for them outside. It did seem to be quite hot in the closet now that Vanessa had mentioned it, although the girls were probably a bit more sensitive to temperature.


    In other circumstances he might¡¯ve felt a bit more self-conscious in this situation, but there was something sobering about being forced to perform menial chores together that made him feel more comfortable.


    Finn on the other hand was clearly a bumbling mess, knocking into shelves when retrieving the roller cart and deliberately avoiding eye contact with Vanessa.


    Abby Fate and Vanessa Lullaby seemed quite familiar and friendly with each other. The Fate and Lullaby families were both wealthy but not quite considered elite or minor elite families. William came across the Fate last name a few times when he searched the city records for traces of his own family, along with the last names of many other Trinity Academy students.


    Since they only found one set of rolling carts in the janitor¡¯s closet, they agreed to help the girls wheel over the heavy cleaner solution and buckets, and wheel them back later when they finished. William and Finn were bound to pass the girls¡¯ bathroom several times during their eight-hour shift as it was in east wing, between stability storage and the cafeteria. Despite Vanessa and Finn¡¯s protests about the chores, William was secretly glad that they had something to do. He wasn¡¯t sure how his nerves would hold up simply waiting around for something to happen.


    The four of them walked down east wing, rolling past students who were performing all sorts of miscellaneous tasks. A few male students looked shocked seeing two unknown students in the company of one of the top beauties in college, but since they were clearly helping her and Abby move supplies, they looked more like helpers than anything else.


    William mentally reviewed the internal layout of the school. Stability storage was through east wing and up past the gymnasium, right before the generators. The girls¡¯ bathroom was at the end of east wing by the observation tower staircase.


    Sometimes, small details could make all the difference in the world. A single misplaced rake could make him see something he never would have seen otherwise¡­ a slight nudge to the course of history¡­ although now was not the time to get too philosophical.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Vanessa sighing, clearly irritated. ¡°I just can¡¯t believe he¡¯s having us mop the bathroom floor. What are my parents paying this stupidly expensive tuition for anyway?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind doing a few chores, as long as we¡¯re not going to be gruesomely killed,¡± Abby replied. She suddenly smirked. ¡°Speaking of gruesome deaths¡­did you guys ever hear about the stalking beast or the night terror?¡±


    ¡°Is that a type of monster?¡± Vanessa asked.


    William decided to speak up, as he¡¯d searched this up before. ¡°It¡¯s a monster, and a pretty nasty one too. Not many written records of it, since it¡¯s encountered so rarely, but its official name is the skulkus furtivis. Skulk for short,¡± he added. ¡°Skulks were assessed to have a mid to high threat level to human life by the Threat Assessment Bureau. They¡¯ve never been seen on this side, thankfully. Only beyond the gate.¡±


    It was the same monster that Manager Kim claimed to have seen that night to the reporter, he thought. It was painful to listen to Manager Kim trying to push the angle to the reporter that even monsters couldn¡¯t resist the smell of his store¡¯s fried chicken.


    Abby continued to speak animatedly. ¡°Right, the skulk. The night terror from rumors. It¡¯s the stuff of legends. I heard a particularly nasty first hand story about them from my sources.¡±


    ¡°So, imagine you¡¯re just a regular soldier shipped off through a newly opened gate in a military convoy. You arrive and everything seems fine, it looks like a quiet world, so you set up an expedition camp and gamble a bit with your bunk mate. You guys drink a bit too much and fall asleep.¡±


    ¡°But later that night, you hear screams from your room, and when you turn on the lights you find blood everywhere. There¡¯s pieces of intestines spattered on the sheets, bloody mucus on the wall, and your bunk mate is missing an arm and his stomach is torn open!¡±


    ¡°Ugh, I never understood why you liked gory tv shows and these kinds of stories,¡± Vanessa groaned.


    Abby Fate¡¯s eyes sparkled with interest as she continued. ¡°Because they¡¯re exciting!¡±


    William and Finn exchanged concerned looks. Neither of them knew this side of Abby. To them, she had just been a hard working project group member who cared a lot about her grades.


    ¡°Anyway, as I was saying¡ªso your dead bunk mate¡¯s body is splattered all over the place, which obviously causes quite a commotion, particularly because nobody saw a monster anywhere near camp. Your camp leader sets up watch patrols and infrared sensors, even though those sensors rarely work on the other side with the interference and all, but the next night it happened again! Another soldier dead, this time missing half his face!¡±


    ¡°As hard as your team members try, nobody can seem to find the monster responsible. It¡¯s as if the monster is invisible and makes no sound, and only seems to attack at night, which makes no sense to anyone. Suspicious, right? Your leader decides to withdraw the expedition team back to base, and that¡¯s when rumors start spreading and the legend of the night terror is born. The monster that kills at night that no one has ever seen.¡±


    ¡°Where did you hear this?¡± asked William, highly curious now. He spent most of his free time reading about all sorts of topics, and even he hadn¡¯t ever heard this story before.


    ¡°On the Occultorium forum, of course,¡± Abby said innocently. ¡°I¡¯m one of the original subscribers so I have access to the VIP locked threads. It¡¯s the best place to get all the juicy details that get censored out of the news.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    Occultorium was an underground online forum that had quite a bit of notoriety. Topics on there included anything from celebrity gossip to satanic summoning rituals. Sometimes a big story broke from there, like the high schooler who slashed his entire family with a knife was found to be a frequent user on those forums. The forum actually gained more traction after that slashing.


    ¡°That story could just be someone¡¯s imagination running wild then,¡± William said.


    ¡°It could, but who knows?¡± Abby replied. ¡°Strange things happen in this world.¡±


    A heavy collision against the window to their side made the four of them jump in their place.


    ¡°What the hell?¡± Vanessa yelped, stepping back.


    ¡°They can probably hear us talking,¡± William said matter of factly. ¡°Some monsters are sensitive to sound.¡±


    Seeing Vanessa flustering, Abby laughed. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be such a big baby. There¡¯s no way any monster can get through that much metal,¡± she said with a smirk, cupping her hands in front of her mouth. ¡±Come get us!¡± Her shout drew the attention of a few passing students.


    Her shout was answered by another collision, and frantic clawing sounds against the steel fortifications covering the window as the passing students walked away nervously and Finn took a backstep, nearly colliding into Vanessa.


    ¡°Y-you probably shouldn¡¯t do that or we''ll get in trouble,¡± Finn said nervously. ¡°The rules said we¡¯re not supposed to do anything to endanger fellow students.¡±


    Abby put her hand on the steel wall. ¡°Come on Finn. You¡¯re even more scared than a girl? Can you even call yourself a man?¡±


    William reached over and touched the steel. Logically, he wasn¡¯t too worried either about a monster breaking through such thickness of reinforced high quality steel. He had to admit that listening to the monster on the other side actively trying to scratch through the wall was disconcerting though. Imagination was a fickle thing, and he could still see those yellow eyes, those long limbs clinging to the second story of the building. He shuddered. At the very least whatever monster was trying to ram its way through the steel had stopped after a few attempts.


    ¡°Let¡¯s not joke about it too much Abby,¡± William said, roughly patting her shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s bad luck.¡±


    ¡°Bad luck huh? I didn¡¯t think you were superstitious. Maybe you should check out the occult forum. You might like it. If you use my invitation I¡¯ll get a referral bonus,¡± Abby said teasingly. ¡°Anyway, we¡¯re not going to have much to do while we¡¯re trapped here at school.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, without any internet it¡¯s so boring,¡± Finn said.


    And another few days of not being able to work, William thought bitterly. I¡¯m going to have to ask for a rent extension.


    ¡°Wait, I have an idea¡ªwhy don¡¯t we tell some ghost stories tonight?¡± Abby said. ¡°How about at midnight, for the vibe? Let¡¯s meet in front of the girl¡¯s bathroom at midnight.¡±


    ¡°And don¡¯t even think about saying no, Vanessa,¡± she added, her hands on her hips. ¡°I know you have nothing better to do, you can¡¯t even post anything tonight.¡±


    They had already arrived in front of the girls¡¯ bathroom, and after much insistence from Abby, Vanessa was the first to cave in.


    Vanessa sighed. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll come.¡±


    Finn looked at William strangely, and without words William could already understand what he was trying to say. If they backed out now, they would look even more pathetic.


    ¡°We¡¯ll be there as well,¡± Finn said enthusiastically.


    Let¡¯s hope nothing goes wrong tonight, William thought soberly.


    They helped the two girls unload their cleaning supplies, trying not to dwell on Abby¡¯s occult forum monster story, when a commotion came from down the hallway.


    Luke Brightsteel and the group of friends that always surrounded him walked down the hallway with a new addition, an awkward looking freshman.

 Chapter 6 – A Fragile Equilibrium

    Chapter 6 ¨C A Fragile Equilibrium


    The much taller and larger blond put a heavy hand on the awkward student¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We¡¯re going to be good friends, Ebby. You know that, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±


    The smaller, awkward student with glasses looked out of place with the rest of Luke¡¯s entourage of rich and popular students.


    ¡°You did me a big favor, Ebenezer. I¡¯ll get your brother the best recommendation, as thanks from my family to yours.¡±


    ¡°You mean it?¡± Ebenezer asked, looking hopefully at Luke.


    ¡°Of course I do,¡± Luke replied. ¡°The Brightsteel family never forgets those who help them.¡±


    The group continued down the hall, passing them, as Luke appeared to be too preoccupied with his new acquaintance to care about anything else.


    What was that all about? William¡¯s curiosity was mildly peaked, but he had other things to worry about.


    Perhaps this was the right time to leave for them as well, before Professor Ghoulstein gave them an earful for taking too long. William motioned for Finn. ¡°Let¡¯s go grab that flour.¡±


    The two of them unloaded the cleaning supplies and prepared to leave for stability storage to retrieve the heavy bags of flour. Vanessa and Abby thanked them for the help and William promised that they¡¯d help wheel back the cleaning supplies at the end of their shifts.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget, we¡¯re going to meet here at midnight, okay?¡± Abby reminded them enthusiastically. ¡°No backing out. We can play some midnight truth-or-dare as well.¡±


    The four of them all agreed.


    A group of students meeting in the middle of the night at school in order to tell ghost stories and play truth-or-dare out of boredom sounded like a plot lifted directly out of a cliche horror movie. What could possibly go wrong?


    ¡ª¡ª


    ¡°This is¡­ so¡­ heavy,¡± Finn said, struggling to move a bag of flour onto the cart.


    ¡°It¡¯s flour, of course it¡¯s heavy,¡± William replied, patting the bags already on the cart so that they didn¡¯t shift when in motion.


    They were in stability storage, a cold basement storage sector right before the generator room that students normally did not see, since the only thing stored here was food, stupidly large amounts of food. The entire room was a dull metallic bluish gray reminiscent of a submarine¡¯s interior. Here, emergency lights were the only lights available.


    The emergency pamphlet did not lie. Hunger would not be an issue here. Between stacks of shelf stable rice and flour to freshly procured seafood and frozen meats in the deep freezer, the storage area had enough ingredients to host a year¡¯s worth of banquets fit for a king.


    Besides two other male students who quickly came and left with frozen vegetables, they were alone. The overhead ventilation hummed vigorously, bringing in cold dry air. The monotony of their task at hand and their relative isolation gave room for William¡¯s mind to spin.


    ¡°Finn,¡± William said suddenly, stopping.


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking¡­¡± he continued softly. ¡°What if something¡ªa logical axiom, let¡¯s say¡ªthat you never thought could be wrong, turned out to be wrong? What would you do?¡±


    Finn frowned. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°Remember during our first lesson in theoretical physics last semester, we were taught about the axioms that govern the behavior of all bodies of mass?¡±


    ¡°Vaguely, yeah.¡±


    ¡°The law of attraction, the law of conservation of mass¡­ those. Hypothetically speaking, what if they were wrong?¡± William said.


    ¡°Well, that doesn¡¯t make any sense. We know that those are true.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m well aware,¡± William snapped. ¡°But hypothetically speaking¡ª¡°


    ¡°It¡¯s not possible. That doesn¡¯t make any sense,¡± Finn replied.


    ¡°How do you know that the axioms are true?¡±


    ¡°Because they are, because so many people tested them and they always hold true. We built rockets and cars and used telescopes to track how planets move with those axioms. How could we do all that if the laws of physics didn¡¯t make sense?¡± Finn said in an exasperated voice.


    William shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to figure out. Well, not specifically about the laws of physics.¡±


    Finn looked at William blankly.


    ¡°I think that we should be careful when going around the school,¡± William said.


    ¡°Careful of what?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly. But let¡¯s just be careful.¡±


    A hiss of cold air issued into the deep freezer, causing a bout of condensation droplets to form on the deep freezer window before they stabilized into ice crystals.


    William gestured at the ice crystals forming on the window. ¡°That¡¯s a cycle. Every time the ice on this side of the window starts to melt a bit, the freezer senses that the temperature is too low and pumps in more cold air, which causes the condensation on this side to freeze, before it starts to melt again. Forming a delicate system of artificial equilibrium.¡±


    ¡°I mean, that¡¯s just how a freezer works. By the way, isn¡¯t it time for us to bring this to the kitchen? We have enough flour for one trip.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Finn looked at him strangely as he hit the elevator button, almost squinting through his glasses as if to judge him.


    ¡°William, you¡¯re nervous,¡± he said quietly. ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve ever seen you nervous. What¡¯s bothering you?¡±


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Your hands are shaking,¡± Finn said. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you shake before.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just cold down here. Forget it, Finn.¡±


    Finn dropped the subject, but his look was strange.


    ¡ª¡ª


    The kitchen bustled with activity. Professor Ghoulstein busily chatted with one of the chefs at the corner before spotting William and Finn burst in with the cart loaded with flour.


    ¡°Took you two long enough. A few more trips and we¡¯ll have enough for tonight¡¯s menu. The chef¡¯s serving cherry pie for dessert,¡± Professor Ghoulstein said. ¡°Which means we¡¯ll need cherries and sugar from stability storage. That¡¯ll be your job to fetch. I already sent the others ahead for sweet cooking wine.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll get that for you, professor,¡± Finn replied in a strained voice that he probably thought sounded enthusiastic.


    ¡°And try to be faster this time.¡±


    ¡ª¡ª


    When they entered stability storage again, they were greeted by a commotion. The awkward freshman called Ebenezer was fighting over a bottle of cooking wine with the two male students sent by Professor Ghoulstein.


    ¡°The chefs need this, why are you fighting us?¡± said the taller male student, exasperated.


    ¡°It¡¯s mine, I was here first!¡± Ebenezer replied.


    ¡°Just move the stacks over there, there¡¯s plenty!¡± the taller male student shouted, pointing behind the rack at an unopened set of wine bottles.


    ¡°I can¡¯t move all that by myself. You do it, you¡¯re two people!¡± Ebenezer shouted back.


    However, the two male students overpowered him and took the loose bottle of sweet sherry wine, giving him a bad look as they left.


    After all, the two male students technically had the right to the bottle since that was a cooking ingredient for their dinner tonight. Why did Ebenezer want cooking wine so bad in the first place?


    William decided to ask. ¡°Why do you need cooking wine?¡±


    Ebenezer frowned, grabbing the side of the stack. ¡°That¡¯s none of your business.¡± He pulled at the stack, trying to move it aside to access the box of wine behind it.


    ¡°Do you want help with that?¡± Finn asked.


    ¡°No. I¡¯m fine, just leave me alone,¡± Ebenezer said, not even looking back at them.


    Finn shrugged at William. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll just get what we came here for. Er, what did Professor Ghoulstein need us to get again?¡±


    ¡°Cherries and sugar,¡± said William. ¡°I think he meant frozen cherries, which should be in the deep freezer. I¡¯ll get them, I think I saw them earlier.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll look for the sugar then.¡±


    They split up to grab the ingredients. They could still hear Ebenezer cursing under his breath. He had given up his original plan of moving the stacks and now was trying to squeeze in between the two stacks.


    William unhatched the deep freezer¡¯s handle, wishing he had gloves or a jacket at this point. He¡¯d better be quick. He entered and began closing the door behind him, before the rather morbid thought of getting stuck in the freezer flitted through his mind. Grabbing an ice scraper hanging from the wall, he wedged it in between the door so that it¡¯d leave a slight gap. Phew, that felt better. He didn¡¯t want to end up banging on the freezer door with no one to hear him like in that one movie. The low hum of the compressor filled his ears as he looked quickly for what he was here for. Scanning the layout quickly, it became obvious that ingredients were organized by type, with fruit and vegetables in the very back.


    He cupped his hands around his mouth and blew some hot air into them, shivering as he walked to the back of this massive freezer room. The frozen cherries were buried between bags of other fruit, so he started to move them aside.


    He just wanted to get this over with faster. It was so cold in the freezer that he could feel his eyes start to tear up. As he moved aside the last bag of unrelated produce to grab the cherries, the compressor above issued a low hiss.


    He looked up. Listening carefully, he felt like he could hear a faint rattling or knocking sound coming from the temperature regulator. That tended to happen when the system was old. Maybe a broken piston, or a loose mounting bracket.


    But strangely, if he listened very closely, the rattling noise seemed to be moving.


    William frowned. A theory had been building up in his mind for a while now, nagging at him and goading him like a jaded housewife that he chose to keep ignoring, because it was a theory that he could not dare imagine being true.


    He listened intently, even the cold biting into his fingers forgotten for that brief moment, as he turned his gaze toward the vent near the corner of the ceiling. It was an unremarkable rectangle of metal slats, frosted slightly at the edges from the freezing air it exhaled. But now, under the pale, sterile light of the freezer, something seemed off. The slats were faintly trembling, vibrating in a way that could be caused by a broken compressor, or perhaps something else entirely¡­


    William narrowed his eyes, his breath clouding faintly in the cold air. He focused on the rattling sound itself. The sound was subtle, almost imperceptible, but the more he focused on it, the more it seemed like something was shifting behind the vent.


    And then it stopped. The low hum of the condenser returned.


    His head stayed perfectly still, his eyes still glued to the vent. The sound he thought he¡¯d heard had disappeared. How curious.


    Didn¡¯t he leave the freezer door slightly open? The hot air flowing from outside must have forced the temperature regulator into overdrive. That explained this entire situation, a far more rational explanation than the nonsensical theory in his head.


    Grabbing the bag of cherries, he left the freezer and closed the door behind him, where Finn was waiting with several packets of sugar.


    ¡°Nice timing,¡± said Finn. ¡°Let¡¯s head back to the kitchen.¡±


    They left stability storage with the ingredients, leaving an increasingly frustrated Ebenezer behind.


    ¡ª¡ª


    The next time they came back to stability storage, Ebenezer was already gone. It appeared that he¡¯d gotten frustrated and given up trying to get the sherry wine at some point, judging by all the knocked over dry ingredients. He couldn¡¯t understand why Ebenezer was so desperate for it. Maybe Luke asked him for it.


    Time went by quickly, and before long their shift was coming to an end. William and Finn helped Vanessa and Abby bring back the cleaning supplies, agreeing to do the same the next day, before heading to the cafeteria to grab dinner.


    William had never seen so much delicious food in his life. It took all his effort not to faint on sight. He inhaled roasted beef and cherry pie like a hurricane before getting a little self-conscious about the fact that he was starting to attract a few sideways glances due to his lack of table manners. This was still Trinity Academy after all.


    It took all of his self control to eat slightly slower. He noticed last night that his ribs were becoming a little visible.


    ¡°Five more hours until midnight,¡± Finn said, glancing at the clock on the wall. ¡°What do you want to do until then?¡±


    ¡°I need to do my daily power manifestation.¡±


    ¡°Yeesh, you actually believe in that pseudoscientific stuff?¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t hurt to try.¡±


    Finn did not object. The five hours passed by quickly, and before long the time had arrived to go down to the east wing girls¡¯ bathroom.


    The hallways were quiet. Only a few students were still moving about at this hour. To conserve electricity, the lights in the halls had been dimmed to such an extent that they could barely see down the hall.


    The two of them walked down into the dark hallway as William continued to wrestle with that nagging thought in his mind. Doubt and reason, haziness and truth clashed against each other like raging waves slamming into the stern of the ship, but throughout the chaos, one thing remained as clear as the stars above.


    If that ever so small chance that his theory had merit proved to be true, the world could never be the same again.


    He wished with all his soul that this was not the case. Because if it was, that little seed of madness would take root and soon engulf the entire world into the flames of chaos, and all of humanity would have to face consequences previously unimaginable.


    But for now, until he was proven otherwise beyond reasonable doubt, he decided to tuck away his paranoia and try to simply enjoy the night.


    If all went well, today would be a peaceful night of college memories and he¡¯d have nothing to worry about.