Life is Strange Part 1
Eve had just started his plan and would perhaps defy his own fate and arrive at his awakening. Although such a process would force to undergo immeasurable hardships and a need to defy of the heavens. The first challenge would be….
"Where am I?" Again, Eve finds himself in an unfamiliar place although with different circumstances from before.
As one would guess based on the forest surrounding him and his confused expression. Eve was lost.
"My phone's dead… I left my mapping device at home… And I'm hungry as hell! Maybe Este could have made food for me in this situation… She does love camping."
He started salivating with a delusional expression on his face, clearly in some sort of strange illusion.
As you would have guessed, Eve had gone insane.
Actually, he wasn't, but still, he was teetering on the edge of insanity.
"Although I left all my location devices at home in order to fool my mom into thinking I'm staying at home, I thought I was still well prepared for this trip after memorizing the route to the dojo… Then how did I get lost?!"
Although Eve did manage to memorize the route to the dojo, how could a boy who hates going outside to understand how to navigate a forest?!
Perhaps he realized that his plan was flawed from the start, but he didn't have any intention of self-reflecting.
"So how do I get out of this forest and find the dojo? I don't really want to meet with William anymore, but it would be such a waste of time if I go home right now."
Eve surveyed his surroundings, as he sat down on a nearby log glancing at the environment surrounding him.
One could look up and they would see tree branches with squirrels and birds. On one of the branches, there were two squirrels, one slightly larger squirrel, and one smaller squirrel.
The taller squirrel patted her child, before running down the tree with the child attempting to follow her.
Eve was quite satisfied with the scene, ignoring how William was waiting for him in anticipation and was calling all his associates to meet with Eve as well.
Sometimes I wonder… How natural worlds like this exist peacefully when our civilization runs across the plains beyond our atmosphere to find new land.
We already ran out of space on this planet, yet we spared area for plants on this Earth while deciding to migrate away. Are people really so merciful that they care about others over themselves?
If I'm already lost and probably going to be late, then let me just rest for a moment …
Eve sat down on a wooden log that stood on the side of the rocky path. He bent his back a little to pick a leaf in front of him and started softly caressing it as if he was some sort of plant whisperer.
Perhaps if someone else came on this scene, they would be confused. Why would someone be caressing a leaf? Why were there beautiful lights falling through the bungalows? How can a boy look both creepy and holy at the same time? Who caresses a leaf?
These thoughts were the ones going through Malika's head, as she observed this strange boy in the middle of the forest.
"Um, Hello?" The girl nervously cried as she gestured toward the strange scholar like boy, who was holding a leaf in his palm.
Crunch!
Upon hearing her voice, the boy snapped, crushing the lead throwing out the crumpled remains to his right side.
"Hello." A pleasant voice came from the chubby boy, an impeccable imitation of a confident and proud young man contrasting his weird actions toward the leaf.
"Are you visiting Shaw's Dojo?" Malaika was feeling quite uncomfortable, although she had greeted the young man earlier out of instinct, she wasn't sure how to continue the conversation.
Malaika had just been out of the dojo to do some ascetic training, gaining experience with the natural world in order to, as her master said, "improve her mentality".
She wasn't sure how survival skills would help her improve her ability, but she was quite bored at the dojo and any excuse that could get her out of there would be fine for her.
Although she didn't expect to meet this weird young man in the middle of the forest.
Perhaps he's from another school who is here to scout us out before the tournament tomorrow?
Malaika tried to understand the boy in front of her, although her own conclusion wasn't very convincing to her.
"Oh yes, are you going there too? Can you point me in the right direction or bring me with you?"
The young man responded with a joyful expression.
He definitely seems strange…. But I don't think he is a bad person.
Perhaps if Eve got into the head of this innocent red-haired girl, he would understand exactly why every girl who meets him would be turned off by him. Whether romantically or platonically.
"Sure, I can bring you along, just give me a moment."
Master says I shouldn't use my ability to navigate the forest, but it's alright if I use it for someone else right?
Malaika has always been a sweet child, willing to compromise her own priorities if she can help someone else. Perhaps if Eve noticed this, and said something about it he would have a chance with her...
Instead, Eve just said "Thank you, uh…."
"Malaika. What is your name?"
"My name's Eve."
Malaika swung her red twin tails around a little before she began to stare intently at the space on the ground between her and Eve.
Eve revealed a confused expression, as he turned to look at the same spot on the stony path.
At the center between the two of them, a blinding pink square-like object began to form, growing out from the center until it touched Eve's and Malalika's toes.
The sides of the square were trimmed to look like waves on a beach, rising and then sloping down as it circled the square. A red border appeared inside the square, with enough space to allow two people to comfortably sit inside.
Malaika stepped into the bordered area, and sat down before gesturing to Eve, "Come sit down."
At that moment the young boy clearly hesitated, with a bitter expression on his face as if his heart was restraining him from stepping onto the carpet.
Yet he still walked forward onto the carpet and sat beside the girl.
Malaika seemed to not have noticed his hesitation, as she slapped the area outside of the borders of the box, causing the carpet to suddenly levitate.
A bit of surprise appeared on the scholar-like boy's face, before his face went back to normal, yet much more tired than before.
"So, your ability is to produce a magical carpet?" The boy asked Malaika.
"Well…. It's hard to explain. I never really understood my ability other than that it's a free-moving projection.
"That's…. I don't really know how to comment on that." Eve was confused as his knowledge of blood abilities lacks information about abilities themselves, perhaps due to their almost limitless variation.
"I never really cared though, after all, I would rather depend on my body in a straight up fight." The projection suddenly started accelerating upwards, jumping the two passengers far above the trees in an instant.
Eve screamed as Malaika laughed cutely towards him, clearly used to people getting surprised by her ability.
"You should have warned me-" Eve was screaming out loud, when the carpet dashed forward, leaving blurry images of the forest beneath them.
Stopping mid-sentence, he latched onto Malaika, hugging her intensely.
This action stopped Malaika's incessant laughing, causing her to reveal an embarrassed expression before calming down.
Perhaps I shouldn't play a joke like this on a stranger next time… He's holding me too tightly….
And the two rode off into the sunset, with Eve on the peak of throwing up and Malaika questioning if she should get a carpet that doesn't jump in speed…
In another location, there are two dead people lying in front of a gigantic building, one which spread as far as the eye could see, and had glass pane walls, like the roof of a church.
Oh, one of the corpses woke up.
Where- where am I?...
If Eve's life was a novel, and a reader had seen this scene, they would have probably notice that the author has done this same scripted scene multiple times already.
Does the author have any creativity left?! Well, naturally he does.
The two bodies were naturally Eve and Malaika, with Eve waking up just a moment ago.
Eve blinked a few times, before focusing on the large glass pane walls towering over him.
"Wah?!"
Eve pushed himself backward in an attempt to escape before bumping into the Malaika's unconscious self.
His gaze turned towards her, and this time Eve's eyes wandered a bit.
Malaika's long dyed red hair gave her a seductive feeling, although contrasting with her lack of makeup. She looked extraordinarily peaceful in her sleep as if she hadn't fallen unconscious due to motion sickness.
She was clearly taller than Eve, with a muscular physique that didn't interfere with her looks. She was wearing a vest that revealed her upper body's curves, with leggings and gym shorts showing her long legs.
Any other boy would have touched her hair a little, and then woke her up. Yet Eve was such a gentleman he-
Oi!
Is it wrong if I poked those fine peaks a little?
Eve poked Malaika's breasts a few times, acting like a creep.
Um… Maybe I shouldn't.
Damn, right you shouldn't!
Eve poked Malaika's forehead a few times, causing her eyebrows to flicker.
"Ugh…. I forgot about my car sickness…" Malaika groaned as she woke up, with a slit opening up in her eyes.
Eve pushed himself away from her, standing up before Malaika could push herself up to sit upright.
He was quite uncomfortable, perhaps Eve wasn't shameless enough to continue resting his back on a woman he acted perversely towards.
No one noticed I did that right? Am I really so perverted I would have dirty thoughts towards someone I just met?
While the boy questioned his morality, Malaika finally got off the ground with a nervous expression on her face as if she had just remembered that she left the food her parents gave her on the dinner table overnight.
"I'm sorry for the sudden burst of speed Eve, I just normally don't test it out on my own perhaps because I have motion sickness." In their first exchange after awakening, both of them had concerned expressions, although with a distinct difference between their meanings.
Suddenly, the carpet-like projection appeared beneath Malaika's feet clearly vibrating, reflecting Malaika's worried mind.
"I-I'm sorry I just realized I have other places to go to, so if you want to enter then-"Malaika started shaking as if she found herself in some type of crisis.
Eve turned towards her with a clearly confused expression, which could be interpreted in a multitude of ways as numerous as the clouds.
Or his thoughts could simply be curious about why Malaika was in such a hurry.
Her feet started to float above the ground, with the projection carrying her upwards, before turning her body in a direction opposite to the white wall shielding the Dojo.
If someone pulled a slingshot out to shoot out 45 degrees shot, it would match the angle her carpet was in.
Eve didn't have any time to react, as her movements were so practiced that it seemed it was like an instinct for Malaika.
Although Eve no longer had any reason to react, as there was nothing left to react to.
Like a phantom, Malaika had disappeared as quickly as came, leaving Eve heartbroken and sobbing-
"MALAIKA!" A shout suddenly reverberated out of the large glass wall, as a brown figure shot out of the shield only appearing before Eve's eyes for a mere moment.
Of course, Eve wasn't actually crying, but perhaps he would be in the next few moments as his expression showed he was confused whether to laugh or cry.
Suddenly the figure with the black robe landed right in front of Eve, causing Eve to make a small hop off the ground and land smack on his behind as if he fell from jumping too high in a bouncy castle.
Eve groaned a little as he rubbed his bottom, clearly frustrated due to physic-defying events that happened one after another.
Can anyone fly now? Even some random man jumping out of nowhere can fly, I thought it was something unique to people with abilities like Malaika… Did S*perman make children or something?!
Eve pushed himself off the ground with a façade of confidence, as if the previous incident never happened at all. He looked back towards the man with the black robe and a wild look, who seemed to be in harmony with the forests behind him.
That wild look concealed a proud chiseled face, one with wild golden hair, as if he was a young man in his prime. If one were to just look at him, they would assume him to be the Son of Heaven.
So naturally….
"Let go of me old man!"
He was holding Malaika in his left arm, stopping her attempts to escape with merely his muscles. Now if someone were to look again…
"Brat, you always leave before practicing any martial arts, and you always use the ascetic training excuse. Do you really think you can escape this time?"
The man scolded Malaika before turning back towards Eve, who vaguely understood what was happening which was actually quite impressive for an average person to understand anything about the series of events that took only a few seconds to transpire.
The adult male revealed a fawning smile toward Eve, bending his back to match Eve's height as if he was a peddler trying to sell his goods.
Is this… William? He does look like the respectable in his bio, but….
Eve glanced at the woman still struggling in the muscular man's arms, before turning back to the fawning expression William had on his face.
Although Eve still had his unchanging expression, it was only due to his lack of time to change his expression that his façade of confidence hadn't collapsed.
"Nice to meet you,, Eve, I wanted to thank you for coming today to my humble abode. I know I inconvenienced you by asking you to come directly to the dojo, so how about you come in and we can chat over a drink about that evidence you found?" William shamelessly said, holding his left arm out, directing Eve towards the white wall.
Eve was still dumbfounded as he instinctually let out a sound of agreement to William's shameless and confident demeanor.
Please do not forget that at this moment Malaika had an expression of pure betrayal as she looked at Eve, clearly misunderstanding something.
William ignored the feelings of the two young adults besides him, as he walked passed Eve, and laid his left hand on the white wall causing Eve to turn around.
The young man thought he saw a flash of green light around William's hand in the midst of turning around although he was unable to exactly what was under William's hand.
William turned his head towards his right still holding his palm in the air, and looked at Eve.
"Follow me, Eve," William said, before walking through the white covering, causing his and Malaika's body to disappear under the curtain of white.
Eve's mind had calmed down by now, although he was still confused by the series of events that occurred he was more intrigued by the curtain of light in front of him.
I definitely recognize this shield, the ability to cloak and protect a specific area with a multitude of other functions, this one is probably the Nero Shield S+, a cheap product that can be easily refueled by Blood Energy although with the demerit that it must be refueled every 2 to 3 days.
Although Eve wasn't any sort of genius, his research his publicly known information could be said to be the best, besides in the archives of Sinful Knowledge released nearly 70 years ago.
He walked towards the shield, like the foolish fictional bear youth who kept running into trees in his own academy. Naturally, Eve closed his eyes, avoiding the blinding white visage one would see while passing through the barrier.
Perhaps if someone was able to hack into the barrier and tried to fly through it, they would be blinded by the light and crash into one of the facilities.
Of course, a dojo for those who don't have abilities, "Unknowns" would need a multitude of facilities, even more than the average ability user.
Eve would soon experience this first hand, As his eyes opened, noticing that he walked right in front of William, somehow not crashing into him or falling once more.
Why would Eve fall over again? Well, it's actually stranger he didn't fall again.
In front of Eve was a vast courtyard, with a series of building at the center of these plains. There were also black boxes, and teens with robed bodies scattered all over the plains, with an area a bit smaller than the average wood cabin. He also noticed far off there was a boy frantically running in his direction.
He could see a white cloak-like mirage surrounding the plains, with the forest visible on the outside, surprising the young boy who had never gotten to touch such high-tech items.
The skies and the sun were there up in the sky, so perhaps it could be the morning of a new day for this young man?
"Are you surprised by how much land space our dojo owns?" William gave a proud look towards Eve, clearly satisfied by Eve's reaction.
Eve didn't respond, as he was trying to see even further, focusing on the buildings at the center of the plains.
They had large grey glass walls, with frames of white at the top and on the sides. The buildings were vaguely roundish or squarish, but Eve couldn't see far enough to exactly tell.
"Why are you proud! You didn't even pay for any of this, land prices are practically rock bottom, and you are trying to escape this place anyway!" Malaika scolded the man carrying her in his arms.
Eve turned towards her, with a stunned expression while William revealed a dark look causing his muscle to puff up, trapping the girl even further, and giving her a panicked look.
"Did you know Malaika?... Your mother came to visit you…. Perhaps we can a nice little discussion with her about situational judgment…" William said grimly, giving Malaika an expression equivalent to seeing a ghost.
Then he revealed a kind smile toward Eve while saying, "Actually Eve, I have a meeting to attend but it won't last too long so can you wait for a little while in front of my office?"
"You can ask any disciple to give you directions as they're all quite honest. See you later Eve!" The man spoke rapidly, before dashing off into the distance, following the border of the blurry wall.
Eve's poor vision and hearing made him unable to tell at that moment, but far away a girl was screaming… "NOOOO"
Going back to Eve, he turned back towards the buildings to suddenly see a boy panting in front of him, with a floating screen beside him.
Eve just looked at the man blankly, clearly numb to the quick movements all these ability users have.
The young boy showed a hint of complicated frustration as he looked directly at Eve as if he had something on his face.
Is everyone around here abnormal? Eve thought to himself, as he looked at the young man.
Maybe William asked this man to bring me to his office?
"Uh, hello nice to meet you. My name is Eve Terrance and I came to visit William. Are you William's disciple?"
The young man had a delayed reaction, before turning his gaze away from Eve, looking towards the buildings in the far distance.
"Yes, I am William's disciple, and my name is Eric. Nice to meet you." Although the young man seemed to be bitter, he still talked politely which showed his kind and honest attitude.
Well, I want to ask him where William's office is but…. He doesn't seem to be feeling well, what could have happened?
"Are you alright? You seem to be a bit distracted." Eve asked the young man he just met, forgetting how they just met and he was intruding on the other person's privacy.
"Nothing really just…"
"He lost his chance to gain an ability." Suddenly the screen floating beside the young man turned towards Eve, with a female standing on the screen, talking to Eve.
He lost his chance to gain an ability?!
"I'm really sorry to hear that… Hey at least you got the opportunity to awaken, so you're already a step to being a Level 1 Cultivator, maybe you will completely break through soon."
Eve was quite sympathetic, seeing as he himself has wished for an ability his entire life, forcing him to go to crazy lengths just to try to reach the first awakening.
"Maybe because you didn't break through, your ability would have more potential when you break through next time. Just Armstrong's Theory of Refine-
"The reason he didn't break through is because of you!" Suddenly the AI's volume increased, shocking Eve into silence.
What?
"Your call from earlier interfered in his training, forcibly-"
"Sarah, stop." The young man said forcefully to the floating screen, clearly annoyed by the attitude of the AI.
"I won't blame him for causing my breakthrough to fail, as he had no intentions of harming me. Although he did it by accident, the consequences aren't really that-"
Suddenly a large crowd of people surrounded Eve and Eric, with a girl in front of the crowd saying, "Eric, I heard someone interfered during your training?"
Other people in the crowd started voicing out.
"Yeah, Sarah called us here, who interfered with your training?"
"Was it this brat"
"The nerve of some people…"
"He doesn't even seem very strong, did he really come to mess with us?"
Eve and Eric looked blankly at each other, before simultaneously staring at Sarah.
"I…. Didn't think many people would respond… Ha.. ha" Sarah just gave off an awkward laugh as the crowd grew more aggressive, clearly bent on getting revenge for Eric.
At this moment Eve thought, "How did I even get into this situation?"