I woke up on the floor of my room, the worst of headaches splitting into my head at a painfully slow gate. I lightly touched the ornate chair sitting directly next to my head. The wood felt real on my fingers and I grabbed the seat to sit up. I put my hand to my head and winced from the pain. "God! I could of sworn I stopped drinking." I looked around and saw the most beautiful rays of sunlight highlighting the rug on my floor. I reached to touch the light and felt the warmth of the rays. If only I could be perpetually frozen in this moment forever. The sheer peace and serenity of the moment were comforting and worthwhile, but then the headache pulsed again and I was drawn back into reality.
A loud shout echoed through the doorway, "Yo! Rin, you in there dude?" The door opened and there stood Sty. I slowly stood up and stumbled into his arms, hugging him. "Woah, Rin, I love you too bro, but that's a little too close."
I nodded and patted his shoulder. "Yeah man, that's too close." I looked around the room, well here I am, my best friend in the world here for me, the beautiful room overwhelming the senses. I deserve this moment, just by being alive. I turned back and hugged Sty again.
Sty sighed and patted me on the back. "Ok man, I get it, I'm irresistible." I slowly pulled away from him and sat on my bed, my hair covering my face and my hands crossed over my legs. Sty hesitated to sit down, "Ok, now that we got that out of the way, I'm going to ignore the fact that I have no idea why the hell your here and ask if you want to go to a party with me and some of the other school members? We got a week before the initiation meeting and I am not going to be sitting here with your sorry ass the whole time. Sorry, but that's the truth, you want to come with me I will be waiting in my Corvette." He winked at me and turned, waving as he shut the door.
My headache had surprisingly subsided in the seconds since my awakening. "We have a week..." I sighed and laid down on my bed. I reached toward the ceiling like I was going to touch it. I let my arm fall and hang off the bed. "I can't wait that long." I grabbed my jacket and swept my legs off the bed and opened the door, while lastly looking back to the single chair in my room. Something in my mind found this room so hard to leave. I can't remember anything that happened after I was teleported. I don't even remember how I got there. I walked down a flight of stairs and exited the apartment. Loud bass filled my ears as I saw Sty's car waiting at the end of the driveway. Sty motioned for me to get into the front seat. I let a long breath exit my mouth as I opened the door and had loud rap music fill my head. Sty handed me a can of beer, but I shook my head.
"Suit yourself dude, more for me."
I shook my head, "More headache for you."
He sighed, "All part of the experience." He turned to me and mockingly wiped my cheek with his finger, "Is little Rin sad. Tsk tsk tsk. Let the wind wipe those tears away little boy." He pressed the gas pedal and we sped away at a speed likely much higher than the limit. The wind blew my long hair out of my face as I watched the buildings whiz past my face. Arkologia, the prize jewel of the Stem Kingdom, my home town for years and the place where I met Sty. Also known as "The Capital of Murder" as more than half of all certified killers graduated lived, and killed in Arkologia. This capital is most likely the most dangerous and safest city in the world. While only a small population of CK's (certified killers) live in this area, hundreds of thousands of CK fans live here as this is the housing city of the National Killers Tournament which determines who will achieve the highest rating of an assassin, "Instrument of Death" (more commonly referred to as rank one hundred or R100). Many assassins strive to increase their rank to achieve the rare possibility of participating in the NKT (National Killers Tournament), or the near-impossible feat of placing in the tournament. I am training at the largest and most elite school in all of Arkologia, Kangast Academy, where dozens of R100 assassins have graduated. I will for my mother and father, graduate from this academy and reach the top because R70 and above get classified information on regional murderers and the most deadly criminals. Not counting the hundred million dollar prize to whoever places first in the tournament. I will be first in that tournament. I will get the specialized information. Lastly, I will hunt down my parents' killers and send them straight to hell.
"Rin, Woah man, I'm sorry I can't help the smell, I had a carton of chocolate milk before we left and you know how it makes me." He punched me in the arm.
I put my hand to my cheek, felt the dampness, and rolled my eyes at Sty. "While I couldn't agree more that your farts smell absolutely revolting, that isn't the problem."
He kept his eyes on the road, "Yeah well man, everyone that goes to this academy has seen some pretty screwed up shit and if you show up crying it could hurt my rep, you know?"267Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7YOFuP37WP
I shook my head, "You couldn't have even seen the other academy members but once or twice. You don't even have a rep yet."
He smirked at me, "I'm the friend of the guy who slew a monster." He winked and patted the steering wheel to the beat.
I have never felt emotion before. I don't understand why I am feeling this way. It's as if all I know is pain and I finally felt somewhat happy and it got ripped out of me. I looked out the window and watched the skyscrapers whiz past. Life is so fleeting, it's a wonder we even find time to be happy, or sad. So much pain in the world, so much happiness. None of it found a place in me and for that I am grateful. I don't have to waste time on things I cannot change. All of a sudden we came to a stop in the gravel near a large warehouse. Sty rolled up the windows and turned down the music.
"Ok Rin, this is an important party and I wouldn't have invited you if I didn't watch you slay a demon. Everyone here is an R20 or higher and I don't want you to ruin this for me. I know you are the best fighter I know and I know you will do well. He popped open the door and slowly stood up stretching. He reached back into the car and gave me a thumbs-up as he slammed the door and sauntered towards the warehouse. I looked out the window, like hell I am here to party. The journey hasn't even begun and these idiots are already celebrating. I'm here simply to assess my competition and then leave. I tapped on the window and muttered to myself, “Let's not screw this up, shall we?” and opened the door. Hundreds of cars lined the field of gravel and loud music could be heard coming from the warehouse. I took about three steps before I saw a familiar face in a red velvet shirt get out of a car. I raised my eyebrows and turned to avoid the apprehension growing inside me.
I walked a few steps before hearing a familiar voice call my name out to me, “Hey Rin, come and check this party out!” Henry looked my way at the sound of the shout. The demigod from the lowest reaches of hell lowered his eyebrows the second we locked eyes and then winked and turned away. I looked back towards Sty and rubbed my forehead, “Sure, why not.”
Sty smiled and pulled my arm, “That's the spirit.”
Sty led me into two large doors inside a warehouse only to see hundreds of students talking with one another, dancing, and eating. I gaped at the immensity of the warehouse and the number of people who attended the party. I walked into the door and a bunch of people greeted me with excited expressions.
"Hey! You're the guy who killed that thing!"
A bunch of people looked toward me and then raised their eyebrows. Some came and patted me on the back.
"Dude, you not only killed it, you somehow ripped it into pieces."
I looked at Sty with an annoyed expression. He shrugged at me and motioned with his hand for me to go talk with the students. I mouthed the words "I will remember this" and shuffled towards the back of the warehouse. The music was so loud I couldn't focus completely on my surroundings. Before I knew it a small group of tall boys surrounded me on the wall. I leaned my head back on the wall in drew in a breath sharply. This is exactly what I needed.
"Hello, Rin, remember me?" Henry walked up to me and stood next to me with his hand on the wall.
"Huh? Who are you?"
Henry slammed his fist next to my head and leaned into my ear. "I would suggest you come outside if you don't want to be embarrassed in here."
I shrugged, "Lead the way prince charming."
Henry and his group walked outside and I followed them.
Once we got far enough outside Henry turned and shoved me."Before we start this I want to know what you used to kill that ugly white thing."
I tilted my head at him, "Honestly I just tried to protect that girl the best I could."
Henry scoffed at me, "Cut the shit Rin, we both know you couldn't have killed that by yourself so what did you do."
I slowly shook my head, "Henry as much as I would like to lay you out again, frankly it is against the law to harm demigods and I cut it close the last time we met."
Henry looked at me, smiled, and turned as a large man in a black suit walked from behind a car. "Rin, I want you to think long and hard about what you did to me at the school. I will not be made a fool in front of people, but maybe if you got on your knees and begged he won't completely beat you up. Only a punch or two so you learn your place in the food chain." I looked at my shoes mocking a quizzical expression and then sighed. "I think I'll pass on the begging."
Henry whistled and motioned for the large man to attack me. I stood there and looked at him with anticipation.
The man circled towards me and spoke in a heavy accent, "Kid, this dude paid me a lot to beat you up and I plan to uphold my part of the deal. However, if you were to somehow cough up around five hundred dollars, I think I might ignore this whole ordeal."
I stood there and looked around, "Oh, were you talking to me."
The man took off his suit to reveal his muscular physique. He popped his neck and frowned, "Suit yourself, but before you get beat into a bloody pulp, I might want to warn you that I am an R53, way above your league kid."
I shifted my weight to another leg and put a hand on my hip, "Fair enough." I watched his every movement with ferocity. I watched every muscle on his arm and every slight movement in his eye. This man was dangerous, but he was slow, so If I could plan a perfect strike to the throat I might be able to wrap around him and put him into a chokehold. He circled me and threw a few playful jabs to warm up. I looked back towards Henry with my eyebrows raised and he had a devilish grin on his face.
“Say, isn’t this kind of work illegal dude?” He flicked his eye towards Henry for a split second and I took advantage of it, moving my leg to behind me for a quick burst of speed and coming up quickly under his defenses and giving him a hard jab in the neck with my elbow. The man gasped and grabbed his neck and I twisted my abdomen around his body and got on his back. I felt around his neck and shoved my fingers right below his jaw. His entire body went slack and fell on the ground. I wiped a single drop of sweat from my head and looked up at Henry with a smile on my face. “Ranks don’t define anyone as far as I’m concerned. Now I’m always going to be one step ahead of you so stay the hell out of my way or get hurt. My heart is in this game and there is no room for you.” Henry nodded his head in defeat and wiped his tongue on his teeth. He moved his mouth to say something and stared at me with a cold expression. He then walked away turning back to give me stares a few more times. I took off my shirt to reveal a long slash across my torso. In moving too fast, I scraped my own body against his hands and left my guard open. I winced and tied my shirt around my stomach. I looked at the stars above me and drew in a long breath. I learned very little about some of the students here and I got hurt in the process, but this certainly beats sitting in a bed all evening. I looked back towards the warehouse and saw the bright lights bouncing through the crack in the door and the loud music radiating from the entire building. I looked down at the guy on the ground and picked up his suit. I looked through the pockets and found his ID. Ray Collinger, R53, Graduate of Kangast Academy. I scoffed and laid his suit down over Ray’s limp body on the ground. “Sleep tight big guy.” I put my hands over my head and gave one last look towards the warehouse, “Sorry Sty, you will forgive me eventually. Good luck on your rep.” I turned back around and slowly walked down the highway in no general direction humming to myself a song my mom used to sing when I was a child. The world is certainly full of interesting people.
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