Chapter 2: Welcome

" How do you know it was Oni?" 

" I figured as much," the woman said, then she faced the gunmen

"I'm taking him away"

" But what about the food he stole?"

The man who punched Adam earlier asked.

" What about it?" The woman retorted immediately " I already gave you an order, do you want to risk offending me for that petty stuff"

No response was made.

" Good" turning back to Adam, " you better follow me if you don't want to be beaten to death" Then she walked away. 

Adam clenched his abdomen even harder and struggled to stand up, trailing behind the woman while staggering.

At the door, the one who gave him that punch stood there and their gazes met.

_ I will give you a twofold, no a tenfold for that punch .... Just pray I don't stay alive bastard_ his eyes filled with hatred but the gunman just looked at him with pity and looked away.

Gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain he followed behind the woman and they headed into the woods.

The whole building was surrounded by woods, bushes, and trees, right now Adam was heading deeper into the woods.

" Where are we going?" Adam asked but he got no reply in response.

After walking for a while, Adam's expression started changing from a pained expression to a horrified one cause of what he was seeing.

Around him, were clothes and bodies of kids dispersed around, all of them headless.

Adam tried not to look at them but he couldn't help it, and the more he looked the more scared and psychologically affected he got and worse till he saw a familiar body.

It looked like a female body, Adam saw a bangle on the girl's hand and he knew full well who owned it, .... Tabitha. He froze there, with trembling legs, his teeth clenching his lips, and a metallic taste sips into his mouth, 

_ She was such a beauty_ Adam thought, and then came tears, too thin to be noticed, it was all he could afford.

" You better start moving your legs, I don't have all day you know" 

A voice drew him out of his trance and Adam glanced at the owner in horror, with her face, neverending calmness

_ She could still be calm in the face of all this?_ Adam's view of the woman changed completely, and fear towards her started building up.

Finally, they got to their location.

A woman and a thin boy with wide-open eyes stood in front of a cursed tree, the base covered with blood, and endless heads of kids lay around it.

The heads were without eyes and their face screaming pain.

A circle made of blood surrounded the tree and Adam and the woman stood at the edge and the other side was an altar with an axe and dripping blood.

It all reeks of blood, Adam was terrified by it all and then his gaze turned to the woman who was now wearing a face mask and Adam pretty much knew the reason, it was because of the stench.

" Okay, we are here now, get into the circle?" The woman said with calmness, seemingly not affected by it all.

" Why?"

." Do you want me to push you in" 

Adam timidly stepped into the circle and the fear he had been feeling since immediately quadrupled, his body froze and all his body hair stood in fright and there was only one word in his head 'Run'

But Adam knew he couldn't run, not only because he could no longer move his legs but because he had nowhere else to run off to.

Just when things couldn't get any worse, a figure materialized out of thin air beside the tree, a breathtaking figure, - well It would have been a pretty face if not that the figure was dressed in a red dress, not a red dress, it was a dress covered in blood and her black Raven hair flowing majestically down her length, it was a sight to behold.

But not for Adam, cause every cell in his body was screaming horror, and a thought that Adam had never heard before popped up in his head

_ Red specter_.

" Uju, I thought the slaughter with begin on the date of the upcoming festival." The newcomer said in an ethereal voice, not of this world.

" Well, I bought you a surprise, there is a ghost lurking in the building that refuses to come to you but instead to this boy, I thought maybe he might be that special being you've been looking for."

The woman named Uju is technically the woman who bought Adam here.

After that was said, the newcomer's gaze met with Adam, who was as stiff as a statue. despair sipping from his eyes. Then suddenly a protruding vessel came from the newcomer made of blood extending towards Adam and then circulated him, suddenly strangling him at his waist.

Before Adam could process any thoughts, a word sipped out of the Red Specter's mouth.

' useless' before more blood vessels crawl towards Adam and start strangling him even harder and Adam's face becomes motionless. He was been strangled to death!

_This is the end, isn't it? At least the death isn't so painful_ all the figures Adam had known flashed across his mind, Oni, Tabitha, Mike, Oliver, Akira, and the one.... Kaira.

Then Adam's sight went out.

***************

Adam found himself in a dark abyss, his eyes blinded by the darkness, but his eyes got used to the darkness after a while and he could see again, only a little.

There was nothing around him except... 'water?' he was in the middle of an ocean and not drowning?

Before he could ponder further, some writing started materializing in thin air and a Strangely familiar voice resonated.

[ Welcome Adam to your first trial, as a long lost descendant of Harley Arlan of Nessitude, one of the most powerful Specters' Favoured back in the BCs, one of the very first to resurrect a man, in the process plaguing the world of powerful otherworldly demon. You've been called]

Name: Adam ???

Status: none

Blessings: The bloodline of Harley Arlan of Nessitude. 

Curses: [Harley hatreds] [???] [???]

Accomplishment: none.

Powers: ???

Specters owned -[ poor kid]

_ What up with the question marks?_

Then right beneath all those was something that scared and confused Adam even more.

Forum:

Specters' Favoured Luke - Here, you guys check out this pic, a slaughter room discovered by French police, evidence claimed not less than twenty people were slain there.

(An attached picture of a room full of horrific scenes was displayed.)

Specters' Favoured Aiko - oh my!... Such a cruel sight, poor souls though.

Someone should try giving those poor souls salvation, I am a long way from France.

Specters' Favoured Monica - thanks Luke, my appetite just vanished.

Specters's Favoured Krishan - send full location, I need to check that place out

Specters' favoured Death Stinger - is it me or is it just that the chair at the corner looks like someone is sitting there?

Specters' Favoured Sonia - and I thought France was safe, where were the police when all this shit was going on?

Specters' Favoured Silencer - (replying to specters' Favoured Death Stinger), you have a good eye, stinger, someone is indeed sitting there, a veil specter I think, this case will be interesting.

And hey, where is the location?

Specters' Favoured Jiang Liang - ( breaking news) Something big just has happened in East Asia.

........

Adam paused and his eyes opened dramatically, _ what is happening to me?_ 

_Is this what heaven looks like, no, wait, that can't be right, I've not been faithful so can't go to heaven .... This has a be hell right? But where is the fire? _

Suddenly he had a strange impulse, an intuition to touch the words in the air and he did, it felt like touching glass and then he scrolled up and he saw more comments all having the same subscript at the beginning" Specters' Favoured" 

_ What is a Specters' Favoured?_

Immediately after having that thought, Adam jumped in fright, cause another thing happened or rather a message appeared next to the current one.

Specters' Favoured - a title given to those who possess the bloodline or on natural occasions can manifest the ability to interact and gain affection from specters.

The strange text didn't help Adam's confusion at all.

_ Why am I here? I possess a bloodline of Specter's Favoured? since when? And what are those comments about? .... Why does it look like more of a social media app_ 

Adam quickly went back to the first message trying to confirm his suspicion and he did.

At the beginning of the Comments were different icons, the forum icon, the message icon, the notification icon, the profile icon, which Adam pressed and it showed him the messages he saw earlier, the ones about his blessings and curse.

Adam knows a thing or two about social media apps, infact he knew a lot, the seniors back at the orphanage have phones that connect to the internet which Adam has managed to operate sometimes.

This thing looked a lot like one, only that it didn't appear in a phone but right in front of him, and the more he scrolled down the taller the strange thing got.

Confusion and fright filled Adam's mind, he was going to be killed and now he was here in this strange world, who knew if this was a test and a little mistake he cause him misfortune or even worse death?

Maybe he was indeed dead, but it didn't feel like it, it was then that Adam saw his hands, he had gotten used to seeing his bony arms but now... Now they were full, more like normal.

Then Adam touched his face and the whole of his body, after confirming it was his, Adam was even more confused.

He looked no different from before he was captured. He didn't look starved.

_How is this even possible? Am I dead? But it doesn't feel like it, but then what is happening? _

_then again how will I know what being dead feels like?_

Adam stared at the writings again.

_ calm down, and take a deep breath ... Okay, if this is like an advanced way of accessing social media stuff then those comments are made by real people? Why do they have that title? Specters' Favoured .. wait it says that title means ... Means they are being favored by a ghost .. but, but ... How could I even know that is true .... Urghh, I'm so confused_

Adam was always a precocious child at the Orphanage, more smarter and refined than his mate and he took pride in that. That took some of his time reading novels and newspapers he could find, learning more, that while he could read so well.

But right now, he felt like a total dummy.

_ First need to start understanding things, I need help. 

Wait if all those people making those comments are real-life humans, does that mean I can message them?_

Adam proceeded to try it out, going back to the forum icon, he saw more comments rolling in, and clicking one, using almost his whole palm for that.

_ hand phones are so much better, which idiot made such a design? _

An option popped up at the side of the screen.

Send private text to.

Reply to text.

React to text

Form a trial with Lucas

....

A lot of other options, but Adam didn't care about the rest options because the first two options caught his full attention.

He clicks the [ reply text] function.

_ If I send the person a private text, the fool might take ages to reply, it's better I send a public text, so I can get a fast and wide range of responses_ 

But what he saw next made his face fell

A displayed text showed

[ You have not gained the Specters' Favoured title as recognized by the system.

Complete your first trial and get access to Specters' Favoured privileges.]

_ what?_ 

When he was finally getting to understand, things got more complicated.

_ This isn't how the phone works? Is it? 

Stupid advancement_

Adam then clicked on the message and everywhere went dark again before an eerie cold shrouded Adam who flinched in fright.

Then blue light shone and new sets of writings were shown in front of Adam, but he had a feeling of dread and horror about these new writings

Trials completed: none

Skills: none.

As a beginner, you are assigned your first trial, complete it and you'll be recognized by the system. Humanity needs you.

First Assignment: One-star difficulty, First-grade boarding school.

Description: ["The walls are too tall, you'll have to stay on the roof to see the endless night, this is a prison isn't it?

More people go missing every time, most of the boys are corrupted by the horror, no one is saying anything, there are voices every way but no answer.

"Am I the only one who recognized that we are in a nightmare"

She looked up, a face full of pain, hopelessness, and despair.

"Everything feels so wrong... The nightmare has to end."

..... I need you, Mom"]

Requirements: 

Survive the night at First-grade boarding school. ____50%

Figure out why the students can't leave the school ---- 20%

What is their fate? ____20%

Change the storyline ____ 10% plus a new random spin at the Bonger's wheel

[Get at least a 50% completion rate to pass the trial]

Hints : [* my real hope and light is in that phone call

* Despair only exits in the possessor, not in the world]

Time: 00:14:26

(Once the time ends, the trail closes forever and all is lost)

Tools: [the poor kid]

[The poor kid]- nothing good ever happens, but just stay positive, and maybe in this unfriendly world.... something good might happen.

And at the point of death, something good did happen, a friend gave him two pieces of yam when he wasn't even sure his request would be granted

And the poor kid neglected all his life sufferings and mustered a few words before death

" At last... Someone nice...."]

Powers: [possession of inanimate object] [undying loyalty] [mild helper]

[Mild helper]- just a poor servant at the master's mercy.

[Dread]- warmth, daylight

[START TRIAL]

After reading all the messages, Adam froze for a couple of seconds, his eyes glued to the last text, before kneeling and tears trickling down his cheeks.

The message about the poor kid was Oni, his dead friend. It took seconds for Adam to understand what those words meant and he did.

_ That poor kid must have suffered before getting captured, yet he still smiled, not because he was a fool but because he had been through worse, who knew what he had been through._

Yet everyone regarded him as an idiot on the first day of their capture, cause when some were crying, feeling bitter about the whole thing, Oni went about making friends there.

He was just two years younger than Adam, he was just twelve.

Adam rubbed his eyes on his face and made a mental command for Oni to appear and a dark figure walked towards Adam.

A pale-looking kid with his head down, standing right in front of Adam.

Adam felt fear at first by the sight, but then it turned to pity, then resolution.

Gritting his teeth, he said

" Don't worry Oni, I will get revenge for us"

Adam didn't know how but he knew he will.

Looking back at the writing, recognition appeared on his face.

_ So to be a Specter's Favoured, I need to perform a trial, but I don't know how or anything about the trial_

Looking at the description, Adam was even more confused, but if he didn't decide in the next thirteen minutes... All will be lost.

Adam has a feeling that he would be missing out a lot if he didn't choose to start and most importantly, he didn't want to know what would happen if the timer ran down.

Adam read through all the descriptions again, he felt like he was going to need them for whatever will happen.

_ well my life is already the worst it can be, what could be more dire_

After sighing, Adam's eyes lingered on the writings and clicked start, he wanted an adventure.

Immediately his finger touched the button, a split second passed before his vision went dark and when the light came into his view again, he was standing in front of a receptionist's desk, and behind the desk was a gloomy man.

"Welcome to first-grade boarding school"