They had walked into pandemonium.Like most parties, it was loud, the deafening beat of the music shaking the entire basement, which was as wide and long as a supermarket. The goers were already at it, dancing, drinking, and making a fool of themselves without a care in the world. It was madness under the colorful strobe lights.However, the most outrageous thing that entrapped the first-years wasn’t the sheer chaos, but the blatant debauchery happening right in front of them. On one side, a lizard girl lay on a table with only two legs, kept balanced by a shirtless, massively built gray-skinned guy as he leaned close and snorted some purple, grainy substance from her stomach. On another end, a couple of humanoid female twins knelt before a groaning tiger shifter, lapping and bobbing at his naked, striped crotch. Some ways past that were several chimeras sharing a gravity bong while watching hardcore porn on a dusty flat screen.“What the hell did we just walk into?” Joe gaped, his ja
If Rafe had the ability to use his eye lasers at will, he’d totally smite that scraggly, maroon wild-haired boy in front of him and vertically slice him in half. Chestnut eyes glared heatedly back at him as they circled each other. Rafe, despite his body feeling heavier than usual and his mind sort of muddled, was brimming with the need to punch something, and the uppity, second-rate barbarian was the perfect target.The partygoers gathered around them as the two first-years stared each other down like lions preparing to maul down their prey, howling and hollering for bloodshed like an audience in a colosseum.“You wanna throw down, stick fig?” Rafe’s voice slurred as he sneered. “I’ll shove that bat of yours up your ass! Make you as tall as your boys over there.”Whatever was in that blue drink did quite the number on him. Superhumans couldn’t get drunk by normal means, so whatever he had drunk might be lethal to regular johns. But right now, he felt like he could do anything, such a
There was something… cold hovering nearby. A pair of menacing, black orbs – he could not see, but he could just tell – stared down at him with all the hunger and malevolence that could only be mustered from such an otherworldly creature. The freezing, ghastly wisps of power whipped across his face, and its icepick fingers trailed down like a razor across his cheek.His skin crawled, and he struggled to move, but it was as if he was a block of ice himself. A trail of frost slowly traced a path down from his cheek to a vein in his neck. The tiniest prick made him squirm before-Rafe’s eyes shot open before he darted up in a cold sweat. “Huh? What the f-”His shaky breathing was the only thing he heard within his dorm room as he frantically searched through the darkness, looking for what he thought was an intruder. Another worrisome thought entered his head and made his face drain of color, then nearly gave himself whiplash when he snapped to the right to inspect the bed several feet awa
First on the list: World Formation.The WardNav described it as a class where they’ll “learn about the beginnings of Earth and other planets associated with it.”Whatever the hell that meant…Rafe, Andre, Joe, and Daeran marched down a wide corridor, followed by a group of several other first-years who trailed behind them like a bunch of toadies, which might have had a lot to do with Rafe’s fight with a certain barbarian last night. Rafe should have felt like a celebrity but, having been the cream of the crop at his old Coat school, it left him feeling a bit jaded.Their GPSs led them to a five-panel door, and upon opening it, their ears were met with the sound of music, a pop song that made Rafe cringe blasting throughout the classroom. The area wasn’t as amazing as the Crystal Grotto, but there was something impressive about coating your room entirely in world maps. Talk about dedication to the cause and all that.And sitting on the desk in the front of the class was, surprisingly,
The next class was back in indoors, though, it wasn’t located in the main building this time. The first-years traveled to a greenhouse dome, not too far from the gardens.Rafe grinned down at Andre. “You owe me a hundred bucks if I fall asl-l”Before he could finish that statement, however, the room began to distort the second they took a step in. The colors of the real world evaporated into darkness before orbs of light dotted the blacked-out canvas. Three-dimensional spheres of different sizes zipped into existence.Planets and stars.The group of first-years gasped, heads twirling about as panic began to arise among them.“The fuck’s happening?” the blond superhuman spun around, fists tensed as if waiting for something for someone to suddenly attack them.“W-We’re in space!” Joe yelled, and somehow despite being in a vacuum, his voice echoed.Daeran flinched as he gazed nervously out into the void. “Something’s coming.”As if on cue, a bright light flashed before them. The illumina
It was quiet for a moment before Rafe marched up in front of Daeran, standing tall a couple of feet away from the imposing, angry wolf as he glowered back.“What the hell are you talking about?”“Did those leeches put you up to this?” Zoel pointed an accusatory finger at the blond superhuman’s face. “They’ve already got you puny squirts on your knees sucking their little dicks!?”Behind Rafe, Daeran sputtered, his trembling arms clutching the satchel tighter. “What…? I-I-”Joe raised his arms in a surrendering motion, hoping to placate the raging ninth-year. “We’re just passing through, man. Some girl just popped up here and-”“Don’t lie to me!” Zoel spat. “Those filthy bloodsuckers put you up to this, didn’t they? Stealing all our shit!”“It’s true. We haven’t even checked inside it, yet,” Andre spoke up softly, but the gamma wasn’t having it.“Yet? So, you were going to anyway!”The others protested, but Rafe rolled his eyes.Narrowed eyes threw daggers at each of the first-years. “
The intensity of the beatdown with Zoel seemed to have simmered considerably as the four first-years sat at a round table in Dalhia Diner and stuffed themselves with their most exquisite meals. Just a couple of taps and swipes on their WardNav and they had all kinds of strange-looking food on plates before them brought by a waiter or waitress, but the oddity of it all didn’t matter when the first bite made them chow down for more.“I had no idea wolves were strong like that, man!” Joe wondered aloud. “I thought they had to transform into their big, scary beast forms first.”He turned to Andre for confirmation, who just shrugged while he ate.“Really, it’s just bonus power.”“Makes me wonder how strong the rest of the Argo guys are.”Rafe had the same daunting thought circling inside his head as well. Instead of speculating on such stress, he asked, “The hell was in that bag that jackass needed to beat the shit out of us so bad for? Makes me wish I lasered the thing instead.”“It smell
“In a story, there is always the main character,” Hallsworth spoke as the class ran circles around the huge gymnasium. “An individual whose survival is vital to the narrative. They get all the luck, plot armor, and the privilege of a happy ever after as their ending. Unfortunately, this is real life, and there are no such thing as main characters in the real world. All of you are fodder, and the next time you even blink could be your last millisecond on this plane of existence. No heartfelt speeches, tearful goodbyes, or dying wishes.”Arrows – wooden ones – randomly shot from parts unknown, occasionally disrupting the pace of most of the students. Andre slightly tilted his head forward to avoid an arrow aimed at his temple as he ran, and his peers behind him stumbled back at the object whizzing by.Even though he was an omega, what he lacked in strength, his enhanced senses made up for. Sure, it didn’t stop him from getting slapped by bigger and stronger wolves, but it was excused by