As I begin to regain consciousness, I immediately recall my most recent memories and jolt upright. I'm currently in a narrow bed that has red and black blankets and pillows. A short and narrow foot locker is at the end of the bed, and has a folded piece of paper on top of it. Above me is an empty shelf that extends the entire length of the bed. Across from the footlocker is an open door with an almost-empty closet behind it; the only contents are some uniforms similar to the one I had earlier. On the opposite side of the room is a bed like mine, but with blue blankets instead. The shelf on top of this bed is filled with various photos and knick knacks. The foot locker at the end is open, and I can see random clothes and junk inside. There is a closet door across from all this, and in between that door and mine, there’s a small hallway with a third door.

I look down at my arms and chest, and sigh in relief to see that the lines and marks are now gone. I pause for a moment, then lift my blanket up, and... yup! I'm still naked. Fucking Bellum. I’m about to get up, when I realize two things: one, THIS BED IS THE MOST COMFY THING EVER! And two, towards the top of my upper arms are thin, grayish metal rings.

The rings fit snugly on my arms and are smooth to the touch. After a few moments of inspecting them, I decide to get dressed. As I get up to go to the closet across from me, the center door swings open, revealing a dark-skinned kid in a uniform, with a shaved head, brown eyes, and a toothbrush in his mouth. He takes one look at me and freezes. After an awkward moment of silence, he slowly backs out of the room, shutting the door after him. I really hate Bellum right now.

I get dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and pants, before opening the door to find the kid from earlier sitting there. He takes one look at me and cringes as he gets up. He then walks right past me into the room, and goes straight to his foot locker. I shut the door and stand at the end of the hallway.

"Sooo... Sorry about earlier." He looks at me, then cringes again as he goes back to rummage through his foot locker.

"I'm Miles, by the way." Silence. "So what’s your name?"

He looks at me again and stares for a bit, before asking, "Why are you here?"

"I, uh... I'm not completely sure, but I think I'm your roommate."

He stands up and looks me over for a bit, before shrugging and going to his bed. "If so, you've got a letter," he says as he lies down. I pick it up and open it - finding seven silver credits inside - and begin to look over the letter. Words... words... Hey, look! A number!... more words. "So what does it say?"

"How should I know? I can’t read," I say as I look back to him.

"You can't read?" I shake my head. "*sigh* Bring it here." I walk over and hand him the letter. He sits up and begins to read it over.

"So what’s your name?" I ask to end the awkward silence.

Once finished with the letter, he gets back out of bed and puts it in his pocket. He then looks back to me and says, "I’m Dolum Ostendere. Come on, I'll tell you about the letter over breakfast." I’m about to protest, but my stomach yells at me, so I pocket the money and follow Dolum out of our room.

We walk into a hallway; the walls here are a warm gold color, and the floor has red carpeting. Evenly throughout the hall are red doors with golden numbers on them, and lights on the walls between every other room. I shut the door behind me and take a look at it. ‘1’... ‘3’... ‘3’... ‘7’. OK, I have to remember this.

As we make our way down the left corridor, I turn to Dolum and ask, "So do you know how I got here? To our room, that is."

"No idea. But I never really notice anything about that side of the room. It’s usually empty."

"So you've never had a roommate?" He shakes his head. "How long have you been coming here?"

"Like, three years now," he says as he tightens his lips.

"And in three years you've never had a single roommate? Why?"

Dolum stops and gives me a confused look before asking, "Isn't it obvious?" he asks, as he points to his face. I turn to him and think it over. He doesn't seem weird or anything; so far he's been pretty nice, given the circumstances. I can’t really think of anything that would make me not want to be friends with him.

I look him in the eye and say, “Well, if it is obvious, I can’t see it. You seem like a cool guy, and I can’t think of anything wrong with sharing a room with you." Dolum looks stunned by my remark. He then chuckles lightly while shaking his head, and continues down the hall.

"So, I seem coo-"

"DOLUM!" From behind, some white girl in a white button-up shirt and blue skirt runs up to us and throws her arms around Dolum, squeezing him in a hug. Dolum is surprised at first, but quickly turns around and returns the hug. "I've missed you so much, Doly! Why didn't you come see me when I got back?" I want to ask who she is, but I’m a little distracted at the moment... Doly? Da fuck?

"Sorry, Auxy. I was actually on my way to see you, but when I got to my room..." He motions over to me, so she looks over and immediately lets go of Dolum.

"Hi. I'm Miles; I'm Dolum's new roommate." I say as she tries to compose herself.

"I-I'm Auxilium; I'm Dolum's betrothed." she says timidly.

I look between the two in slight confusion, before asking, "What's a ‘betrothed’?"

"It means that when we’re old enough, we’re going to be married," Dolum says as he puts an arm around Auxilium, making her blush.

"Oh, OK, so—wh-dij-duh-wha! Married! But you’re-! And she's-! What!?" Dolum only smiles at my confusion, while Auxilium buries her face in his chest from embarrassment. "B-but you’re, like, eight!"

"We're not married yet, but when we can, we will be. Our families had an arrangement before we were born, so we've been together ever since," he says as he looks down at Auxilium, who’s still hiding her face.

"O-OK... I guess..." I don't really know what to make of this, but my stomach’s yelling at me again, so we all continue on to get breakfast.

The hall leads us us to a large, open room. Large red cushioned seats fill the center of the room, divided into four seating areas. To our left and right are more hallways, while the wall across from us has five of those platforms from the other day.

We continue to the center platform, which has a fork and knife etched into the the wall behind it. Auxilium goes onto the platform first, then Dolum, and I follow afterward. I re-appear in a large, open room that has light grey walls, white linoleum flooring, and a single-level chandelier hanging in the center of the room. Most of the room is filled with rows of metal tables and benches, and there’s a metal rail forming a path that runs from my right to the opposite side of the room, moving along the wall. The wall on the other side is mostly open, showing a fairly large kitchen.

Dolum and Auxilium have already made it most of the way to the kitchen, so I follow them down the path. As I walk, I gaze at all the students in the room. There are enough to fill the line up about halfway, or enough to fill around three-fifths of the seats. Most are in the green uniforms, but there are a good number in the white ones as well. I soon notice that many of the students are giving me weird looks and then turning to their friends and whispering things.

As I catch up to Dolum and Auxilium, I ask, "So what's the deal with the white and blue uniforms?"

Auxilium turns to me and says, "They're the uniforms for students not in the military."

As we move forward with the line, I ask, "So you’re not-"

"Miles!" I turn around to see Inficiunt and Eximius running up to me, along with some guy I don't know.

"Hey guys! What's going on?" I ask casually.

"I thought you could tell us," says Eximius as they come to a stop before me. "What happened to you? Like, no more than twenty minutes-"

"Nineteen minutes, twenty-six seconds," interjects Inficiunt.

"Whatever! After you left, there was this huge power surge, and then the lights went out for, like, ten floors!" Wow! I remember the lights in the room going out, but ten floors!?

"Yeah, it was fun being in the dark and all, but the power surge was pretty freaky," says Inficiunt with a worried look.

"Did you have something to do with that, Miles?" asks Auxilium. Before I can answer, I hear my name being called again. I look back to see Fidus, Tenera, and another guy I don’t know running up to us.

"Miles! Were you streaking yesterday?!" screams Fidus as she approaches us. My cheeks instantly begin to burn as I look around the room - everyone is looking at me. I've never seen so many eyes in my life, and they're all looking straight at me.

"Is that why you were naked in my room?" asks Dolum with an evil smile.

"HA! I told you it was him!" says the stranger next to Fidus - who is, along with Inficiunt, now dying from laughter.

"HAHAHAHA! Oh... I knew you were a perv, but - ooh, this is too much!" laughs Fidus.

"So, why were you naked? That is, if you don't mind telling us," asks Tenera. I’m about to answer, when I see that we’re next in line. With another growl from my stomach, I grab a plate and begin to get some food. It’s being served in metal trays that are held over hot water, and above it is a long windowpane. The food itself varies from green gooey paste to small red pellets.

As I fill my plate, I see that the person who came with Fidus is next to me; he's a bit shorter than I am, but is... hefty. He has bright blonde hair, light blue eyes, and chubby cheeks. "So, who are you, and how did you know about my... ‘little incident’?" I ask.

"I'm Sine Lacet, and I saw that captain and the dean carrying you down the hall. I wanted to know what was going on, but I didn't really see your face; so I started asking around to see if anyone knew. That's when Fidus told me about you, and how you were ‘the only perv she knew who would end up like that’. So we tried to find you, but couldn't until just now."

I make it to the registers and look down at my plate. I must have taken something from every tray, because there’s no room left there. Once everyone else has their food, we make our way to the nearest table that can seat all of us.

As we walk, I look to the other stranger in the group. He's roughly my height, with elbow-length hair that’s braided back, grey eyes, and a narrow face. As I examine him, I ask, "And you are?"

"Oh, right, how rude of me. I am Dare Libere; I'm an acquaintance of Inficiunt here."

I notice that the way he speaks sounds a little more refined than the others, but ignore it and ask, "So what happened to the power?"

"Well, I was down in the library, reading up on Ancient Terradisian history, when out of nowhere the lights just go out. I tried to take one of the Mico platforms, but they were out as well - which now strikes me as odd, because Inficiunt told me that every Mico platform has its own power source, in case of fire. So anyways, I had to take the stairs, and after I’d made it up a few flights I ran into Inficiunt; that’s when he told me about the fire code. After that, I made it a point to find out what had happened. So... if you don't mind, what did happen?" As he asks, we reach the table and take our seats. On my side it goes: Sine, Inficiunt, me, and Tenera; on the other side it goes: Auxilium, Dolum, Dare, Eximius, and Fidus.

I’m about to start eating, when I notice that no one else is doing so - they’re all watching me, waiting for an answer. I let out a small sigh, before asking, "Do I have to?"

"Yes!" replies Fidus.

"If you want to, that is," Tenera adds.

"Well, basically, it went down like this: I went into the office and found Captain Bellum waiting for me-"

"Is he your dad or something?" asks Inficiunt.

"I'm an orphan," I reply flatly.

"Soo... he's not your dad?"

"Anyway! I started signing up for classes, and then he told me we had to check something. He pulled out this thing-"

"A potestatum reader?" asks Eximius.

"I guess... So, I did the test, and the box exploded. The smoke must have set off the fire alarm, and then the... metal men-"

"Wait, wait, wait - hold on there...! It just exploded?" Dolum asks, to which I nod. "That's impossible! They use those things to check power lines - how could you blow it up?!"

"I don't know; I grabbed the thing, he turned it on, and it exploded. So that's what happened in that room." Everyone is looking at me with shocked expressions. As I look from face to face, I begin to feel a little... awkward; so I start digging into my food, filling my mouth ‘till I can barely chew.

"What happened in the other room?" Auxilium asks while scooting a little closer. At this point, everyone seems to be at the edge of their seats. I look around and notice that every table around us has filled with students trying to hear our conversation. My mouth is still full of food, so I don't answer right away. But once I’ve finished, I look everyone in the eye and take a deep breath.

"Well, then Altum, Captain Bellum, and I went to another one of the offices, blew up another one of those boxes, and-" I look around the room and see that almost everyone is waiting for my answer. Shifting my gaze to my acquaintances at the table, I see they’re just as eager as everyone else, but I don't want half the school knowing what I went through...

"Oh! Before I forget, let’s go over that letter of yours real quick," Dolum says, pulling out the letter. "Miles, sorry about last night. We didn't expect you to react the way you did. Attached is your schedule, your weekly allowance, and some directions for the person reading this. Also, do not remove the rings from your arms under any circumstances; only with an instructor may you take them off. Good luck in your studies, and remember what I told you before orientation. Signed: Captain Susurrans Bellum." Dolum looks over the remaining pages, before folding them up and returning them to his pocket. As he does this, Tenera lifts my sleeve, revealing the ring.

"That’s a potestatum annul!" Eximius exclaims as he reaches over to reveal the other ring. "WHOA! Those are supposed to hold back a ton of energy, and you have two!"

"Does this mean you've got your marks?" asks Sine. I nod in response.

"When I got them... it was the most painful thing I’ve ever been through," I say with a shudder.

"Really? ‘Cause when I got my marks, it only stung for, like, ten minutes," Eximius says as he brings his hands to the table and ignites them. Familiar black rings and strange text appear in his palms. From the center comes a white flame, about the size you would get from a lighter. I bring my hands up and look at them, but there don't seem to be any signs from last night. "Just feel the energy from within, and channel it out," says Eximius as he shakes his hands, ending the small flame and making the rings disappear. I close my eyes and try to feel for anything that could be an ‘energy within’. I open my eyes, but see that nothing happened.

"Doesn't there have to be some movement to bring out the energy?" asks Dare, which Eximius nods to.

I look back to my hands and think. An idea of what to do forms in my head; I tightly close my hands and quickly open them again. Once my hands open, the same black rings from before appear, with a small plume of white energy coming out. The flame of energy takes up my entire palm and flows up roughly twelve centimeters. From around the table - as well as most of the room - I hear a collection of “Wow!”s and gasps. I quickly shake my hands and snuff out the energy.

"Wow... just... wow," says Eximius as he looks back to his own hands. Looking around the room, I can see that the number of people watching has nearly doubled. I lower my head and try to avoid as many of the staring eyes as possible; I hate it when people stare at me. After a few minutes of silence and continuous stares, my nerves get the best of me and I quickly leave the room. As I go, I hear everyone calling my name, but ignore them and continue on. I make my way back to the platforms and take the one that goes to my floor. As soon as I appear, I storm down the hall until I suddenly realize something - I can’t remember my room number!

"1...7...3... aaugh, fuck! I can’t remember!" I hear several pops from the platforms. I turn to see three older guys walking towards me. They all wear green and black uniforms, and are easily twice my size. The one on the left has short, blonde hair and is wearing glasses; the one to the right is the shortest one in the group, with short, black hair; and the one in the center is the tallest, with a shaved head, light skin, and a thin burn mark on the left side of his face that goes from the end of his mouth to the top of his ear. As they walk down the hall, I turn to the wall and try to remember my room number. When I turn back around, I find myself surrounded by the group.

"Hmm, look what we got here - the freak," says the burned one, getting small chuckles from the others. I look up at him and his friends, but say nothing.

"Aaww, I think you hurt the little guy’s fee—ARGH!" begins the black-haired one, but is stopped when I knee him in the testicles, dropping him to the ground. The moment he falls, I take off as quickly as my legs will carry me. As I run, I can hear the other two giving chase, yelling about my eventual fate. A few moments later, I feel my legs go out from under me and I drop to the floor. Before I can recover, my chasers quickly surround me and begin kicking me in the stomach. I curl into a ball and try to let my arms take the brunt, but they stop kicking and begin punching my head and body.

"GET THE FUCK OFF HIM!" yells a familiar voice. Moments later, the punching assault ends and I hear some tumbling beside me. I look up, and see that Fidus has tackled the bald guy and is now on top of him, punching the crap out of his face. The blonde guy has been pulled off by Dolum, Eximius, and Sine, and is being kicked from all sides. Tenera and Auxilium quickly come to me and help me to my feet. By the time I’m up, the blonde guy has escaped and is running down the hall to get his other friend. Fidus gives one final punch, before getting off the other guy and walking back to me. "Miles, are you OK?! What’s going on?"

I see that everyone is around me, looking at me with concern in their eyes. "I'm fine. I don't know what they wanted-" I stop when I feel something running down my face. I wipe it away, and see that my hand is covered in blood. Dare sees this and pulls out a handkerchief, then squeezes my nose with it.

"Hold it tight, and-"

"Why are you doing this?!" I shout at him, making him back away.

"What do you-"

"I don't understand! We only met a day ago, and you've done nothing but worry and save my ass! Why?! What did I do to earn this?!" I drop to the floor and lean against the wall. All my life, the only person to ever watch out for me was myself, and now... now I don't know what I'd do without these people. Without them, I wouldn't be able to find or do anything! Without them, I would have been pulverized by those three assholes! I'm not sure what I should be feeling, nor what I am feeling, but all these new emotions have come to a head and are bursting out. None of them say a word; they just continue to stare at me with those worried eyes. Dolum finally breaks the silence by walking over, squatting down, taking a long look at me, and then slapping me across the face!

"Oww! What was tha-"

SLAP

"What th-"

SLAP

"Why are y-"

SLAP

"STOP HITTING ME!" He finally stops and takes a seat next to me.

"If you really can't figure out why we care, then you’re dumber than you look."

"Yeah man! We'll always have your back -" says Fidus;

"- and we'll always care -" says Tenera;

"- whether we're laughing or crying -" says Inficiunt;

"- you can always count on us to help -" says Dare;

"- because we are your friends," says Sine.

I look from one face to another, and slowly get back up. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but as I look from one person to the next, I begin to feel a small grin etch across my face - these are my friends. Before I can say anything, Tenera quickly wraps me in another hug, followed by Inficiunt, then Auxilium, Dolum, Sine, Dare, Fidus, and finally Eximius.

So… ‘make some friends’ - I guess I can check that off of Bellum’s list.

Next Chapter: Chapter 6 Fall of Topaz Falls Estimated time remaining: 87 Hours, 16 Minutes