Mason walked through a hallway full of students in black and white uniforms.
It was something he hated doing. All eyes turned to him and a few chuckled at him as he approached the cafeteria. The air in the atmosphere felt awry and stuffy, like the normal mixed with a tinge of unusual. At the door of the cafeteria, a boy taller than him stepped in front of him, followed by two others. “Where do you think you're going?” The boy bellowed. Mason looked up at the figure in front of him. It was Oliver O'Hara, the most famous, and brilliant student in school. He brushed his red hair and smirked at Mason, while the other two laughed. Mason hated him because he had stolen Alice from his hands with his money and fame. Alice was also dull for letting such a dummy take her hands. Mason exhaled and tried to evade him to continue to the cafeteria, but he was pushed. He crashed to the floor of the cafeteria, in front of everyone. The whole crowd of students in the cafeteria and the hallway bursted out in laughter, while Oliver chuckled. “You really thought you could escape me today huh, Xander? I can't miss my daily punching lessons,” he said as he grabbed Mason’s collar and pulled him up to his feet. He tossed him to the floor and the handle of Mason's backpack snapped as he made impact with the floor. Mason got up and clenched his fists in anger. “Oh, wanna make the game interesting. What are you going to do, Xander? Mutilate my face?” Oliver sneered. Mason relaxed his clenched fists and turned around to get his backpack. “Come here, you dumb ass!” Oliver tugged at his shirt, and yanked him back. The two boys grabbed Mason's arm, while Oliver held out his fist about to rain a punch. “What is going on here?” A male voice which belonged to the principal thundered across the hallway. The boys pushed Mason away and stood behind Oliver. The principal's presence was Mason's escape but it came with turbulence, which was shown on the principal's face. “You again,” the principal said with much disgust. “Sir, I…” Mason stuttered. “Keep shut! The both of you, to my office, immediately,” the principal retorted and marched back down the hallway. Oliver smirked at Mason and followed the man. At the principal’s office, the two boys sat in front of the principal, his table being the only division between them. On the table were piles of files, ledgers on either sides of the tables and at the centre of the table, a tag with the principal's name “Mr Stephen Fisk” inscribed on it in bold white prints. His focus rested on Mason, “Mason Xander,” he said and reached for a ledger. “I have scanned through the school records and it has your name all over it," the principal added. Mason sat up, he already had a feeling that things weren't going to end well. “It is not the record of good deeds I'm talking about. You have caused so much nuisance in this school and at this point, it can't be tolerated anymore,” the principal said, flipping through the ledger. “But, sir?” Mason said and glanced at Oliver who was smirking. “Causing other students to get in trouble, not paying your fees on time, yet still sneaking into the school premises. You've missed classes on several occasions and not to mention the number of times you've been caught in the hallways during classes. Do I need to count the number of times you've engaged other students in your shenanigans, especially Oliver O'Hara here. His father, who is a top sponsor of this school, has complained several times about this. To add to that you have caused damage to the school's facilities," the principal said without a beat. The principal took off his glasses after he highlighted these. He dropped the ledger and reached for his cabinet. He brought out a brown envelope. “You are hereby expelled from The Brain Stone Academy, Mason Xander,” the principal said as he slid the letter to Mason. He picked up the letter with a shocked look. “Please sir, don't expel me please. I will serve any other punishment but not this, please. All that happened wasn't entirely my fault." The principal didn't mind his pleas. "Sir, I… Oliver has always been attacking me with his friends," Mason tried to refute the claims. “Liar! How dare you lie against one of the school's best students? I believe your family is full of liars like you. Get out of my office now." The day moved so fast and although it was afternoon, the atmosphere was as cloudy as Mason's eyes. Beside him was a boy about his height, as they walked down the street discussing. “I didn't see you around during lunch break, bro,” the other boy said as they walked past a boutique. He looked younger than Mason, with gleaning eyes of an innocent 12year old. He was the only son of Mason's foster family, the Allens. Mason took out the brown envelope from his pocket and pointed it to him, “I was expelled today, Simon,” he said soberly. Simon gasped and snatched the letter from his hand. He split it open, and read through the contents. “What? How? This is not fair. It's always those bullies causing nuisance,” Simon exclaimed. “All I wanted to do was to make my late parents proud and your parents too since they have been sponsoring my education all this time.” “Hey, cheer up. I think my family wouldn't mind, Mason. We still care about you and my parents might just send you to another school if we just explained what happened. Do you want a candy?” Simon took him into a grocery store and they came out minutes later with chocolate bars. Two feet from the entrance of the store, a car drove up to them. A familiar figure hopped out of the car and two others followed. It was Oliver and his goons. His mischievous smirk appeared on his face as he approached the duo. Walking up to them, he smacked Mason's snack to the ground. “Come here, Xander,” he said as he grabbed Mason's collar and pulled him closer. “You tried to spoil my image and you think you would leave without a farewell?” He pushed him to the car and smacked his face. The other two attacked poor Mason with punches, kicks and slaps, while he struggled to escape. “Hey!” Simon intervened as he pushed in between the two boys and stood in front of Mason. “Stop hurting my brother,” Simon glared at them. Oliver approached, his eyes glowed bright red and his hair was as if it was flaming. “And what are you? A saviour?” Oliver grabbed his neck and it began to burn. He tossed Simon over to the floor and smiled at Mason. “Teach him some manners,” he said to his goons and they approached Simon. “Leave him alone,” Mason yelled. “Shut up and watch,” Oliver said as the other two boys attacked his brother. Mason jabbed at Oliver's face and rushed for the boys. He attacked one of them, but the other defended his colleague with a punch to his gut that almost made him throw up. Oliver grabbed him from behind and hauled him to car. He pressed Mason's arms to the car with his palms and it began burning, like his skin was being pressed with a hot rod. Mason struggled to wriggle free, but to no avail, he was too weak against him. Simon struggled to stand up, again but one of the boys gestured at the ground with his palm, and it gave up a ball of rock. The rock levitated for seconds before he directed it to Simon's back, just below his neck, with his fist. Simon collapsed to the ground. Mason gasped, he tried to fight but he was held back by Oliver's fiery palms that burnt every part of his body it touched. “Hey Gus, do that with him too.” The boy raised a rock and smacked Mason's face with it and they continued beating him up till he bled from his nose, mouth and head. His clothes were torn and he had burns and bruises all over his exposed body parts. He let Mason's weak and wounded body drop to the floor. His silver necklace that had the shape of an infinity sign popped out of his shirt when he fell. The skies had gone from grey and cloudy to black and doom spelling. Blue streaks of lightning spread across the dark sky, a powerful thunder rumbled, the whole city shivered in response. “Damn, let's get out of here now. I don't want to get drenched,” Oliver said to his goons. They stared up at the sky before they hopped into the car and zoomed off. Mason's eyelids slowed kissed each other as he laid weak. Simon had not moved an inch since he was struck, and Mason couldn't move either. He stretched his arm towards Simon's direction, but his body failed him. His breathing rate decreased and soon, he laid as lifeless as a deformed mannequin. Blood dripped — it ran from his head, down to his cheeks and rolled over to his chin and dropped. A drop touched the necklace, followed by two more, and it glowed. "Host restored." "Welcome Master Xander, it has been a decade!" Mason gasped as he heard the automated sound echo. He blinked his eyes several times. “What… who is there?” "Host has just been respawned." “Huh?”Mason grunted as he pushed him self off the ground. He scanned his body, all the burns, bruises and wounds had disappeared. There was no blood on any part of his body, they had all vanished; even his torn uniform looked like it had just been sewn and ironed. His mouth hung open in shock.He glanced around the area to see who must've done such good deed, but he couldn't spot out anyone, neither could he decipher where the voice must've originated from.He raised his brows in disbelief when he caught a view of the sky. Everywhere was covered in total darkness, except glows from lights in shops and houses. Murmurs filled the air as people emerged from their shops, offices and houses to watch the eclipse that had befallen the city.The day had turned into night, the sun was no longer visible. Thunder rumbled every minute and streaks of lightning decorated the dark background.“Simon,” Mason gasped as he spotted Simon laying on his back.He rushed to him, “Simon! Get up, we have to go now,
The memory struck a sad chord in Mason's heart. He remembered that day, ten years ago, when the first Anomaly Storm struck. He was only eight years old. The evening had suddenly turned dark. He heard screams outside, but his mother held him back from going to the window. She and his father rushed him to his room. His father handed over his silver necklace to him and hugged him. “Stay here and don't make any noise, Mason. Do you hear me?” his mother said before she rushed out again and locked the door. The next thing he heard was the wall of their house crashing, followed by his mother's scream, and then a loud roar. He peeped through a slit by the door frame. He gasped as he watched his father trying to defend his mother from three vicious human-like creatures, while a shadowed manly figure with a hood stood around the corner watching. His father fought strong, but couldn't protect his mother from an attack from the man in hood. He strained to see who it must've been, but a devi
“The nearest portal is in Whitehall Street. Portals can only be penetrated a minute after they open.” Mason shoved a whole slice of bread into his mouth and munched as he walked on. He walked out the alley while drinking water from the bottle, he had gobbled down all the five slices of bread. He secured the half-filled bottle in his bag and darted down the road. Whitehall Street was a thirty minutes walk. It laid bare with destroyed houses. It was the administrative area of Griffin City and was home to the city hall that now laid in ruins right in front of Mason. A faint glow of purple shimmered behind a slanted pillar amongst the ruins. Mason gasped as he recognized what it was, it was his only chance to complete his mission. He charged at the pillar. It could've been mere luck or he had a good timing, there was no monster around. He took sharp breaths, “Here goes nothing,” he said before leaping through the portal. The travel was too quick, he landed face first on soft soil. I
“System, what's a portal pass?” Mason asked as he cornered into a bustling street. It looked like the catastrophe that struck the city had subsided or like monsters were not on the run — businesses were open, stores and malls were stocked with customers and cars zoomed on both lanes of most of the streets of Griffin City. “A special card that grants free passage to any person going through the portals without restrictions or consequences. Every portal traveller must have a copy of the pass, either virtual or a hard copy, when they intend to officially go through a portal,” the system replied with its automated voice which he was getting accustomed to. “You never said anything about this.” “You never asked,” the system's reply came in a neutral tone. “How do I get one?” “Portal passes are gotten from the Protectors' Guild, an authorized association that was established to protect the city from the effect of the Anomaly Storm since its first occurrence a decade ago. They onl
Mason strolled through a doorway with the word “Café” inscribed with bold ink above the entrance. The place was filled with protectors and adventurers seated at tables eating or having discussions. His stomach rumbled as he caught a whiff of the aroma of foods. “I forgot to swap this eye thing for money at the counter,” he threw his head back and sighed. He was on his way out when he heard a familiar tune — it was the sound that announced the Griffin City Daily News. “It’s quite another stormy evening here in Griffin City. Rumours have been flying up and down and through the internet claiming that the appearance of these portals and these monsters might worsen in a matter of days. And this is based on the analysis of the similar occurrence of this storm that caused a great deal of damage on our city ten years ago, as confirmed by our own sources. Today, we have here in the studio, Jeffrey Aleman, the special adviser to the mayor on security.” “What do you have to say to this? Are
Mr. Raymond paced from one part of their tight kitchen to the other. He stopped, and stared at Simon through the open doorway that led to the sitting room. Simon was seated on his wheelchair, gazing out of the window. He had taken to the comfort of the window side, a place that mirrored what he yearned to have once more. Yet, the scenery outside was far from what he could imagine – several purplish circles emerging out of thin air and hovering over a wreckage of buildings and structures, with mysterious creatures creeping out of them like they had just walked into the interior of their abode. The image of Mason trying to save him from one of those hit his mind and a tear dropped. “Look at him, darling,” Mr. Raymond gestured to Simon in his spot. Lucia turned to stare and clasped her lips together. “We can’t stay here any longer, it’s not safe. Two days ago they tore down his room and the backdoor, who knows where they attack next. I don’t want any more losses, we have to move out.”
The skin of this monster was hard and scaly. It could be mistaken for a dinosaur if it appeared in one of the animal encyclopedias. “What monster is this?” he asked, curious to know the monstrosity that he awakened. “You do not have the ability to identify and analyze monsters. Host must acquire the ability to unlock system analysis.” “How am I supposed to kill what I don't know?” Mason barked. He backed away gently, while trying to breathe. The monster’s claws appeared and it pulled itself up. “I shouldn't have moved,” Mason thought. As he made a run, the monster swallowed him in one leap, crushing his whole body with its sharp grinders. * A blue shield materialized in the middle of one of the well-made cobblestone paths of Spring Brook. It shattered into bits to reveal Ryan, the older man, six other protectors. They were obviously the other members of the Shield he had asked Ryan to alert. “Lin, did you put a dispatch the Code Voilet through to other protector teams