Although he could persevere through and intently focus on the class, he was just as relieved as everyone else when the bell finally rang. The sound of that bell was an echo of freedom severing the students from their eternal torment. The droning monotony of the teacher was a viscous weapon almost perfectly tuned for the purpose of boring one to death, but the protective spell of the bell drowned out the teaching voice allowing everyone to escape. Everyone grabbed their notebooks and textbooks and rushed out of the room with unimaginable speed. The long purgatory was finally over, and he could finally start living. He was excited to exit the cramped and oppressive halls into the refreshing open city. Before he could obtain his freedom, he first had to stop by his locker so that he could collect his belongings. The small green locker was confidently sealed shut by a small little numlock; like all the other locks, it rested powerfully as a deterrent for all those curious and brave enough to test it. He never updated the password from its default value of one, two, three, four though. He actually enjoyed it that way, the security theatre always gave him a chuckle. The true security of the locker was the complicated puzzle barred within, the impossible dilemma of how to fit any textbook in and out. He was in the process of deciphering the puzzle of how to fit each textbook in his bookbag when a familiar friend approached.

“Yo Dixy, you’re not going to chicken out on us, are you?”

He stopped his decoding when he heard his annoying nickname. He couldn’t help but grow a faint smirk at the teasing.

“Nah man, I’m down. Just got a bring my pack.”

He gave a final shove of a particularly large math textbook with as much force as he could into his bookbag.

“Seriously? Do you ever not study.”

His friend couldn’t look less disinterested in the books he was holding. He had an exaggerated grimace corrupting his face as he looked towards the bookbag as if he were witnessing a freshly mangled corpse.

“Unlike you I actually plan on being useful to society after school.”

“Whatever, your loss. Outside, west gate, ten minutes.”

“Got it.”

His friend ran off to interrogate the rest of his victims into showing up. Once his friend left, he could finally return his focus onto the bookbag dilemma. After an embarrassingly long amount of shoving and tossing he finally managed to get all his books inside; he hurriedly zipped the bulging bag closed before its contents could escape. The bag was heavy with the weight of knowledge, or at least of things which believed they were knowledge, regardless of the truth he was convinced they were, and knowledge was the key to true freedom. He slumped the bookbag over his shoulders, a temporary burden for now. Down the hall he could see a group of younger girls laughing. Among them he spotted the victim who could alleviate his load. He made his way to the group.

“Hey Nubnub, I’m not going home right away so can you take my bag for me.”

The group of girls stopped briefly to look at the intruder to their little circle. The girls then broke the silence bursting to a roar of giggles again. His sister reddened in embarrassment.

“I told you not to call me that. And since when did I become your pack mule? What makes you think I’m going home right away anyway? I’m a busy person you know.”

He raised an eyebrow to his unconvincing sister and then looked around to the rest of her friends.

“Are you going home now?”

“No, I’m going over to Edifice’s house.”

“Our house is practically on the way over. Barely a detour.”

His sister deflated slightly as she tried to battle against her brother’s stubbornness.

“Your bookbag always weighs like a million pounds.”

“It’s good exercise. Put some muscles on that skeleton.”

Luckily for his sister, a heavenly savior spoke from behind.

“Don’t worry Nubnub, I can take it.”

Nubnub immediately filled with energy and glee.

“Thank god, I’m so grateful I’ll even forgive the fact that you called me that.”

The girl let out a delicate chuckle.

“Thank you for forgiving me.”

He turned to the girl who reached for his bag.

“Thanks Kith.”

He handed his bookbag over to the girl who then slumped it over her shoulder.

“No problem.”

An awkward silence managed to sneak itself into the conversation while the two looked at each other. The circle of girls was gleefully observing the show before them. Upon noticing the piercing gazes, he realized what was occurring and unshackled the group from their silence.

“Well I got to go, but we’ll be having steak for supper tonight since it’s my mom’s birthday. You should join us.”

The girl quickly straightened her posture, her body was more animated with her rushed response.

“I couldn’t”

“It’s thanks for dropping my bag off. I’ll come pick you up for the supper at 5 kay?”

An undeniable grin filled Kith's reddening face. His sister’s friends chorused suppressed giggles as they watched.

“Alright.”

“Perfect see you then.”

He shot a glance down to his wrist. A simple watch peacefully ticking the seconds; sadly, the hour hand was broken but it was still useful for determining smaller intervals like how there have certainly been ten minutes since he spoke with his friend. He waved to the girls and started making his way towards the west gate.

“Hey Radix.”

Kith spoke up from behind him. He turned around to face her.

“Yeah?”

Words seemed to be trapped behind Kith’s tongue, something wanting to be said but unable to.

“Never mind, I’ll tell you when you pick me up.”

“Sure thing.”

He quickly turned his back to her and continued on his way through the now mostly empty halls. He went through the pair of doors which led to the outside and was happily welcomed with the busy ruckus of the world. The cacophonic sound of countless people speaking over one another and the faint sound of flicking traffic lights in the distance. He could hear the humming of many cars driving and breaking on the streets, the sound of their heavy multi ton metal carelessly being pushed ahead by rapturous engines bellowing away. He felt a vibration gently shake his leg. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. He had received a message from his friend.

’10m smh’

The phone had fallen to two percent life, so he quickly turned it off and placed it back into his pocket. He made his way to the west gate where a group of boys were waiting for him. When he approached the group, they were too busy bantering amongst one another to notice him, except for his very punctually inclined friend.

“Finally, you’re here. Took you long enough.”

“I got caught up.”

“Do you know how worried I was. You promised me that you would be here in ten minutes so when ten minutes passed, and you weren’t here. I was so worried that you died or were kidnapped or something. Since obviously there’s no way you would betray my trust and not show up when you said you would?”

His friend pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and pretended to dab away tears from his eyes.

“Why on earth do you have a handkerchief? Did you carry that all day just for this bit?”

The tallest boy of the group questioned.

“Dixy never shows up on time!”

“Well I’m here now.”

The group started making their way towards their destination while sharing jokes and talking about their plans for the weekend. They were waiting at an intersection for a traffic light to welcome them across when one of the boys aimlessly flailed his hands towards the group.

“Check out that girl.”

The boy made a not so subtle gesture towards a girl a few years older than them walking down the crosswalk. She had long blond hair that flowed down to her shoulders and her bangs were held back by a large yellow headband which reached across her forehead.

“Yo, she’s a dime.”

The boys were all caught gawking at the girl. She stared back at them and gave a wry grin. Her gaze then turned towards Radix and she grew a confused squint as she tried to discern him. She hurried her pace and walked towards the group and approached Radix.

“Hi there, this may be a little forward, but I think were both in a hurry to get somewhere. I saw you across the street and just wanted to say that I want to see you again when we’re both more available, can I have your number?”

The traffic lights all turned red heralding the vehicles not to pass and the pedestrian light glowed a welcoming green. Radix’s friends quickly understood to get out of the way and not hinder this legend, so they started making their way across the street. It was just Radix and this beautiful girl with the yellow headband alone on the curb. Radix found himself overwhelmed with a strange bound of anxiety and nervousness at the turn of events.

“I’m not in a hurry to go anywhere.”

The girl gave out a soft and warm laugh at his eager response.

“Sadly, I am right now but I’d love to meet up another time.”

“Uh yeah sure.”

He pulled out his phone and brought up his number. The girl moved beside him and with her soft dainty hands tilted the phone towards her. The battery life of his phone fell to one percent at this point. She turned her head up to face Radix who was significantly taller than her. She had a large bright smile and perfectly white teeth. She was so close to him that he could smell the faint aroma of her perfume. He couldn’t help but redden like a tomato.

“Thanks, I’ll text when I can. Hopefully we’ll be able to talk more then.”

She spoke chipperly.

“Can I just ask why you came to me?”

He didn’t think it was possible, but her smile grew even wider. He finally noticed her sparkling blue eyes that seemed deep like the ocean. She adjusted her headband a little bit before responding.

“I just really want to observe you… the lights are about to change by the way.”

He personally wouldn’t have minded missing the light, but the girl seemed to be waiting for him to go before she herself went off to do whatever her day entailed her to do. At about the halfway point across the intersection his friends’ eagerness could not wait any longer. They shouted out over to him.

“Yoooo, what was that!?”

“How do you always get the hot ones?”

Radix quickly looked over his shoulder to make sure that she wasn’t still their hearing all of this; thankfully, she had already left.

“Did you get her number?”

His punctual friend excitedly questioned just as he approached the end of the crosswalk.

“No I gave her-“

He could feel a heavy cold metal press against his body, like a soft clay his body simply compressed onto itself, molding into a new shape smoothly like fluid. He could feel his muscles move and swim around his bones which in turn under the immense torque would snap out their insides such as the blooming of a visceral flower. A brief lapse of tranquility led to no longer feeling that cold metal, in its place a light breeze, strangely enough he couldn’t hear the bustle of the city anymore. He just now realized that he was no longer looking at his friends; he just now realized that he was not speaking about the girl he gave his number to. He just now realized that he was staring at rushing pavement quickly approaching. In some ill thought defense, his left arm outstretched to brace for impact, but his momentum did not stop once he touched the ground. He immediately came to terms that against the brutal power of velocity his arm had the strength of paper which predictably crumpled into a small stump as his body rapidly embraced the pavement. With a quick set of tumbles along the road the arm had leapt off in protest neglecting to join the rest of his body as it continued rolling across the street.

He didn’t think he was rolling anymore. His cheek was pressed firmly against the pavement but for some reason the pavement was sprinkled with skin and covered in red, he thought pavement was supposed to be grey. Somewhere off in the distance he could see rushing feet and hear shouting people, some of the shoes looked like those of his friends. Why were they so far away, why were their voices so quiet? It seemed like they were on a completely different planet, what were they doing on that planet? Radix thought to himself that it was amazing how so many organs could fit in your body and you don’t really ever feel them in everyday life; miraculously, he seemed to be able to feel every organ, every single one, he quickly realized he didn’t like the feeling of organs. It was really rather strange, he had had such a great sleep last night but now in the middle of the day he found himself terribly tired, he realized that he was already laying down. He wasn’t quite sure when exactly that happened but perhaps no one would mind if he just took a short nap, if he just closed his eyes for a second. His friends were calling out to him from their planet so far away.

‘It’s okay, you guys go on ahead of me. I’m just going to have a quick nap.’

It seemed his voice couldn’t reach their planet but he was sure that they understood and so he closed his eyes.

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Voices, he could hear voices sprout from the nothingness. They would suddenly start and stop speaking in random intervals sometimes interrupting each other with totally different conversations.

“Soon, we will be able to get him soon.”

The first coherent voice seemed to be totally inhuman and strange. All the voices eventually stopped and instead he was left alone in the emptiness with nothing but a chorus of tears. He felt a hand hold on to him, it was his sister's hand. He could feel it, it was small and rough; it was probably rough from all the badminton she played. He wasn’t sure exactly where they were, but it seemed to be raining just over their hands since he could feel water droplets fall onto them. He had the sense that she was trying to speak to him, but she was on a different planet, he couldn’t quite hear what she said.

“I will see what can be done.”

There was another voice on that planet that his sister seemed so attached to, but he could hear that voice perfectly clear. The voice seemed to puncture through the emptiness, and he could almost see the doctor before him. It was the girl who he gave his number to.

“I’m sorry but you will have to leave while we perform the operation.”

He just realized that his sister wasn’t alone, his whole family seemed to be there and also Kith, he totally forgot to pick her up at five. He was glad that his mom was here though, he almost forgot that he had something important to say to her before taking his nap.

‘Happy birthday mom.’

He wasn’t sure if she could hear him from that planet, but he thought he would say it anyway. His sister tried saying something to him, he couldn’t quite make out what she was saying but he tried his best to squeeze her hand with his to comfort her from whatever seemed to be so distressing. He never wanted to see his little sister as sad as she was now, he only wished he could do something to make her feel more relieved. Having her hand squeezed seemed to make her feel a little better but their father still had to pry her out of the room. She was flailing around trying to run back towards him through the arms of their father. He felt bad that he couldn’t comfort her more, but he really needed this nap.

‘Can you take care of Nubnub while I nap dad?’

His dad didn’t answer but he felt that he could trust him. Finally, it was just him and the girl no longer wearing her yellow headband. The two of them on opposite planets, she gave him her beautiful smile.

“When I wanted to observe you, I didn’t realize it would be so soon.”

‘Couldn’t stay away from me, could you?’

He didn’t seem nervous with her anymore, maybe it was thanks to this strange liquid he just realized was being pumped into him. It didn’t seem to matter much though; it would seem her ears weren’t as good as his since he could hear her, but she couldn’t hear him.

“I’m not going to save you. Sorry about that, but if it makes you feel better, for some reason my eye looks at you and I just can’t help but feel like I’ll see you again.”

‘You’re a weird doctor. What doctor starts off by saying they won’t save the patient?’

“We got him.”

A room. He could suddenly see again, it felt like his mind had disappeared for eons, but he was finally back with all of his senses. In the room before him were five beings. The five beings were humanoid but just not fully human in some hard to explain sense. They each wore long flowing white gowns except for one of the beings at the back of the group which wore a faintly glowing gold gown. Many of the beings had many arms and large feathered wings. The beings had all reflexively repulsed from Radix when he appeared and they noticed his disgusting green eyes. The being at the center of the group quickly recovered and spoke up.

“O great one, we have pulled your soul from time and space in its moment of greatest weakness. We have summoned you here to humbly ask of you to defeat the evil white witch which plagues our world with unforgivable evil.”

The end of the being’s sentence was followed by the chime of a bell. In front of Radix their seemed to be a small pink rhombus, or it was a rhombus, but its body would reject any stable state. It would shift and transform, shrink and grow, continuously morphing into other shapes. While the ever-changing pink shape continuously morphed the being spoke again.

“To accomplish this task, we have blessed you with our divine devadoot blood to reinforce your soul with god-like power and have granted you an invitation.”

The pink shape finally locked into a form resembling that of a featureless human with two limbs. One arm was outstretched towards the being with the golden robe and the other towards Radix. Each arm held onto a glowing parchment. Radix looked at the parchment facing him: It read.

You have been invited to The Tournament You are The Antecedent

He reached out to grab the parchment with his left arm but when no arm moved to do any such thing his mind finally processed everything that had happened. He emptied his stomach, vomiting all over the pink organism and its invitation.