Ranking

Arlo's eyes intensely stared at the white screen, it was placed quite high up and seemed to be jammed inside a wall.

The food hall was silent for the first time since Arlo had been here, just like him everyone else was staring up at the white screen as it slowly scrolled down displaying the names of each student in the Institution, from the best to the worst.

The awkward silence continued on for a while longer, till it was abruptly interrupted by the voice of mr Blair who was standing right beneath the white screen

"No one should be discouraged or disheartened by this list, it's just a hunch from us. Nothing more"

"If you aren't at the top then you should continue to work harder and harder so you can rise up, and if you are already at the top then you should also continue to work harder so that you don't fall down"

It was a small speech to lighten up the mood, and to encourage people to work harder.

After mr Blair finished speaking, he leisurely made his way out of the food hall, as soon as he did the food hall abrupted in noise and chaos.

"What! Why am I so low?"

"I guess my ranking isn't too bad"

"I was hoping I would be higher"

"Nooo, im so low. I'm definitely going to die"

"I though I'd atleast be in the top 300"

The voices grew louder each second, some were even tearing up.

Arlo, Seer and Luna sat quite far away, neither of them spoke.

Seer was the first one out the three to look away from the screen and at his food, Luna followed a couple moments after.

Arlo continued to blankly stare at the screen until Seer shook him

"Snap out of it Arlo. It barely means anything"

Arlo looked at Seer for a couple moments

"I know, but I'm so close to the bottom"

He shaked his head, sighed and picked up his spoon from the tray. His fingers wrapped around the plastic spoon with a bit more pressure than usual.

"Don't worry Arlo, I'm sure you will survive"

With bloated cheeks, Arlo quickly glanced at Seer with a perplexed looked. He then chewed his food at a slow pace, so that he could savour every bit of.

"How are you so sure I'll survive"

A smirk appeared on Seer's face

"Just a gut feeling"

Arlo shaked his head, then rolled his eyes

"It's always a gut feeling"

Luna giggled a bit

"Dont worry about the ranking Arlo"

"We have one month left, so make the most of it"

Arlo nodded

"The Fallen world is drawing near, so their isn't any point of feeling down about something so small as this"

Later in the day, Arlo was sitting on a chair listening to his teacher talk about the Fallen world

"Lots of different people used to live in the Fallen world. They built such monumental and extraordinary structures and buildings. Each part of the this unknown world carries many thousand years of history"

"It's so unfortunate of us, that we weren't able to meet these people and talk with them. Their cultures, history's and languages would have been very important knowledge to us. It would have answered lots of questions that we don't know the answer to"

He sighed, then intensely glared at his students

"You guys have a month left untill you finally go to the Fallen world. If you were to discover something we don't know, then please do tell me because"

A smile appeared on his face

"I love learning new things about the Fallen world"

His voice suddenly became a bit ominous

"However, do be careful. Their are somethings in the Fallen world that humans should never learn about"

From what Arlo had gathered by being in the institution for a month was that the Fallen world was shrouded in mystery.

All that humanity knew about it, was that it was created by strong mysterious beings a long time ago. People or things used to live on the Fallen world and they made it prosper, but unfortunately they disappeared just like the forgotten beings.

It was all just too bizarre for Arlo. Just disappeared? Made no sense to him. He was sure the institution, tribes and families knew much more than what was publicly available.

'The forgotten beings and the people co-existed with each another. Which meant they were on good terms, so how did they both just disappear?'

'Did they have an all out war? Or some sort of conflict?'

He let out a soft sigh and got up, the class had ended so he made his way out of the building

"Arlo, come this way"

Seer said whilst waving his hand

"Why?"

Arlo replied

"Their is a big commotion going on not to far from here let's go check it out"

Said Seer with excitement

Without hesitation they both quickly made their way to the commotion.

Their was already a crowd of people watching, Seer and Arlo slowly made their way to the front of the crowd by pushing and showing others away.

In the centre of the circle, stood a boy and a girl facing off each another. The girls face was tense and showed a bit of anger whilst the boy seemed to be enjoying himself, a grin covered his face.

Arlo actually recognised the girl in the centre of the circle. It was the same girl who he saw staring at the sky when he had first arrived in the institution.

"Don't say you're from a tribe, it's disrespectful to people who actually are. You are not one of us"

Said the boy with a mocking tone

Most people would have reacted angrily, they would have said something back, but the girl just stood their. She didn't move or react in any way, all she did was continue staring at the boy.

Before the whole situation could escalate even further to maybe a brawl or a fight, some of the teachers swiftly intervened the two students and told everyone to go away.

"What was that about?"

Arlo asked in confusion

Seer shrugged

"From what the boy was saying, it probably has something to do with the families and tribes"

"There is a lot conflict between the two, they don't want the other to get too powerful, so it's quite a tense situation"

"And people from stronger families and tribes are quite arrogant and stuck up to people who come from weaker families and tribes."

"So that could be the reason for the commotion between the two but I'm not entirely sure. Just a guess"

Arlo found the whole ordeal quite amusing. Even though the whole world was in chaos and panick, humanity still wasn't united as one.

Humans were in a dire situation because of the fog and Makutu, but people's arrogance still towered over everything else. They wanted control, power and to be above others, it felt like humans had lost their humanity.

Later that day Arlo, Seer and Luna were sitting in the food hall eating their dinner.

"Did you guys see the argument"

Luna asked curiously

Arlo and Seer both nodded

"We're going to the Fallen world soon and all they care about is their Families and Tribes honor"

Seer said in a agitated tone

"Roughly a month left of all this,then our lives will be changed forever. It sounds so surreal, sometimes I can't believe this is actually happening"

Luna said a bit excitedly

The day's of peace and quietness were soon going to be over for everyone in the Institution. On the surface, most people looked to be enjoying themselves and having a good time.

Even though they didn't want to acknowledg or think about it, everyone knew that this would all come to an end.

Their lives would completely change when they enter the Fallen world, either for the best or worst.

The fate of the students from the institution was completely unknown.

Some would face monster way out of their league and unfortunately die, or be stranded in an unknown location of the Fallen world which would also most certainly mean death.

In some cases the death of a person wouldn't be a monster or the location they were at. Their death would be at the hand of another human being.

"It isn't something to get excited over Luna"

"Look around you, I'm sure that most of these people will die in the Fallen world. And those, who do survive will live with a great deal of trauma for the rest of their lives"

Seer said

Hours later, Arlo was on his bed sleeping peacefully. His mind was clear of any thoughts, his body was relaxed and he himself was quite happy.

Arlo was content with how his life was going, he didn't want these days to end. Going to lessons and talking with friends was great, but time didn't wait for anyone.

The days felt shorter and the weeks went by faster and faster.

The rankings were posted one month before Arlo was meant to go to the Fallen world, but now he had only one day left.

In 24 hours he and everyone in the institution would be transported to the Fallen world.