Chapter 3 Part 1

About 2 weeks later.

At the entrance of Loco’s restaurant Cris sluggishly open the door as he dragged his feet in. He took a quick glance at the tables and saw a few customers but they were all being taken care of and none of them required no immediate attention. Breathing a sigh of relief he managed to make his way to the waiting longue and plop himself down on one of the leather sofas.

His mind was blank not just from his recent delivery but from the fatigue that built up after the last couple of weeks. Every day was a hellish nightmare from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. he was the first in and the last out. He became so engross with his work that days went by and soon he forgot his true purpose. Now he was sitting on the couch drooling as he stared at the ceiling with a blank expression.

Why does work suuuuuuuuuuux so much…Why am I even doing this again?

He was replaying the conversation with his parents he had a week ago. They finally contacted him and they got into a huge argument about him leaving. Since he turn eighteen he was legally in his right to go on his own.

There was a loud slam someone push open the front door and quickly shown themselves in breaking Cris train of thought. Cris rolled his eyes to the podium it was unmanned, which meant the role to seat the customer fell to him. Loco drill the bare minimum etiquette for dealing with customers which sum up to smiling more and talking less. His crazy ass boss always put the restaurant first and treated everyone else as a cog in the machine.

If you didn’t do your part efficiently you were yaaa…

As Cris was about to get up to attend to the customer who did not approach the podium but the front of the bar and took a firm stance. Cris was so focus on doing his job he fail to realize what the customer was wearing. It was a black rob with gold sash with a lot of gold chains around the neck. The word “H.E.X” was branded in large gold letters on the chest but what stood out the most was the black sack on the head with the cut out holes for the eyes and mouth. Cris slouch back on the sofa as he turn his head to see what will happen next. This sort of sight was now normal to him after dealing with so much worse every day.

A person wearing a black bath robe with lots gold and a bedsheet as a mask. Let see where this goes.

“Attention. Attention. HEY LISTEN UP! Hex community is looking for brave souls who dare to look for adventure, glory and fame.”

Cris felt a rush of excitement sweep through his body. The preacher words rang through his head over and over again. The rest of the customer took notice of the sudden outburst as well.

Adventure…Glory… FAME?!

“We are given the prestigious honor of being hired to protect the supply lines in the worlds. Our escorts and security are the best of the best. As you may already know logistics win wars more than soldiers. It is our job to make sure that the bullets, weapons and much much more reach the front lines.”

Cris looked around a few of the customers were whispering among themselves. They were all fixated on this guy waiting to hear what he would say next.

“Only the ELITE…The BEST…The CHOSEN are welcomed. However we are willing to take anyone willing who wants to come. We are devout followers of the Art of PvP. Our holy book that gives us strength and wisdom. We will support our own give you accommodation suitable for your status and…”

BEST…CHOSEN…ELITE!!!

“If you’re not TAGGED that doesn’t matter. That doesn’t matter as long as you join our fight. We will wait until you pass the GLT the GLT THE G.L.T. And welcome you as fellow brother in arms as a resident of Axis. Sign up can be done with me or on one of our sites. Use Terminal search key word H.E.X or axisterminalhex.com. Accepting registrations now!”

Glt…GLT…GLLLLLLTTTTTTTT of course I remember now! I am elite gamer. Why the hell am I still here? This guy can get me out of this hellhole.

Before Cris could get up and approach the guy Bruno came out of nowhere and grab the H.E.X recruiter by the arm

“Hey, let’s talk outside.”

Bruno with incredible force was dragging a man twice his size by the arm to the front door. The H.E.X. recruiter was squirming around and yelling as he was being forced outside.

“I WILL NOT BE SILENCED! THE VISITORS HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW.”

“Ya, ya, tell me bout it outside.”

Bruno and the H.E.X recruiter left leaving Cris and the rest of the customers to continue in peace.

It was all coming back to Cris his true reason for coming to Axis. Who he was, the bet and his ambition to be the number one in Gamer Central.

Aggggggggggggggggggggh… I been so busy with not getting caught and work. I lost it.

Cris quickly pulled out his phone and check the date.

SHIT! One day before the damn test. Welp, too late to get ready now. Let me go take that freak’s offer. Sounds a lot more appealing than this shit hole.

As Cris got up, Bruno open the door and came back inside. This time he was alone and was wiping his hands clean. He saw Cris and came over to him.

“Turns out he wasn much of a talker. Wouldn have guessed.”

“Wha…What did you do? I was going to accept…”

“Kid still didn’t learn. Shouldn’t trust sweet words all the time?”

“Huh?”

“If accept. Become indenture servant. Slave to debt. They don’t care bout you. Only tool to them”

“But, I am suree…”

“Won’t stop kid if he wants to go. Only stay until tomorrow then free. No matter result.”

Bruno panted Cris on the back and went to go to attend to a customer who was flagging him down.

Damnit, if that is true then I going to pass tomorrow. Shit, I have to go ask… NO! Demand for the rest of the day off. Going to cram everything about the GLT today. I WILL PASS, AN ELITE LIKE ME CAN’T FAIL.

Cris march himself to the back of the restaurant where he found himself in front of a door. Loco uses this room as her business office and if she wasn’t in the front she was here.

Cris stood in front of the door staring at it. He was mentally preparing himself for the battle to come ahead, asking his boss for the day off. His boss Loco was a witch who uses logic and her brutish charm to get things done. It would not be easy. Chris knock on the door he heard a voice to enter.

The office was very cramp fill with boxes, a desk in the back with a computer on it and behind it was Loco. Cris took a deep breath as he knew it had to make the first move and finish it in one strike.

“Loco, I want the rest of the day off.”

“Ok, that’s fine. Have a seat.”

“I know this is your business but this is unfair…wait huh? I can get off then?”

“Yes, but first have a seat we have things to talk about.”

Cris took the solo chair by the door and moved it up closer to the desk.

“It’s about time you came to me. I was starting to think you might like your job.”

“No, I hate it. An elite like me needs to prepare for the GLT. I may be an honor student but I need to study.”

“Yes, I agree if you ask sooner I would have gave you more time.”

“Huh? I was working my ass off and if I said something sooner I would have gotten off? Why didn’t you say something?”

“Well, because you owe me money. If you want to know where you stand here.”

Loco slid over an envelope, Cris pick it up and open it. He peak inside and saw money inside.

“Fifty bucks? But how I thought?”

“All the work you did you paid off your debt and made some. Since this is your last day here, this is where you stand. Should consider yourself lucky.”

“Yeah I guess… but wait I work for two weeks and only made fifty? I didn’t owe that much, Blue said he would take half so I should have a lot…”

“Expenses and unseen expenses; Rent, food, Blue renovations, debt and the biggest one my time.”

“Your time?”

“Yes my time, you think I didn’t know you were leaving orders in front of the door without confirming payments.”

“But I thought we have online payment…”

“We do but they need to sign off dumb ass. I didn’t think an honor student would be that stupid to not know how take out works. I had to personally go and retrieve payment. They were oddly happy about it and said they will continue to order.”

Cris broke out in a cold sweat as he took another look at the envelope. He breathe a sigh of relief knowing that his mistakes didn’t cost him dearly.

“So if I don’t owe anything the bet…”

“It’s still on. I ask Blue about it and he said it doesn’t matter a deal is a deal, I don’t know what he sees in you but you should get going. What you do now it’s on you.”

Loco shoo Cris out of the room and told him to get going time was wasting. Cris quickly departed the office and made his way downstairs to his basement room. With half a day left and all night he had to cram everything possible about this test. Getting comfy and taking out his phone he started to study.

GLT Axis

As he finished punching in the letters and hit enter a large number of hits were found. The first hit was the official government website which explain what the purpose of the test. The following hits were blogs and forums about the test. Former residents, who took the test claim it changes all the time and that it could be written or a practical test. However, they all share a common theme which is how to use Terminal.

After going through the first page and trying different words for the search Cris finally reach an impasse. Most of the residents agree on what the theme was but the actually test was all over the place. Cris spent the last few hours reading every post, forum and blog but none of them made any sense.

Written test, building a house, a game show…

All of the residents mentioned that the test falls to the discretion of the proctor or the person in charge. Cris slump his head forward as he did not know what to do. In school the teacher or the book will tell him what to study but this had no such thing.

Maybe… I’ll try this. The Art of PvP.

After putting it in Cris didn’t get as many hits compare to the GLT but a fair amount. After checking out the first few links he got some idea of what it was, it was some sort of cheat code walkthrough book to help bad players become great. Discovering the purpose for it Cris couldn’t help but dig deeper. The book actually belonged to Sovereign and was leaked out a few years ago. However, only parts of the book were revealed leaving the vast majority of its content a mystery. Staring at the screen for a few moments he finally decided to view a few of the leak chapters.

Alright, let’s take a look. Heh, like I need this but it’s always good to know.

Math is important or how else can we keep track of who is the best. Learning to do something and getting good at it is life changing. Have a song in your head. Try dancing to the beat and then off the beat. Then dance however you want. While driving it’s important to pay attention to detail. Make sure to check your mirrors, speed and where you are going. But do not forget to enjoy and take in the view it is just as important. When going through a large crowd with a group it is best to hold hands so no one gets lost or separated. Throw something at someone see how they react. Then have something thrown at you see how you react.

What…the…hell. This is nothing but a bunch bullshit and junk. How the hell is this going to make me better? Who wrote this…author unknown? Heh, this is some sort of joke.

Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. A moment later Blue came down waving at Cris. Cris a pissed off and annoyed from what he read wanted to try out the last saying. Using the small trash bag that he was using as a pillow he threw it at Blue. The trash bag fell way short of its intended target. Blue stood there watching as the bag did not come close to him.

“I see studying is going well. How about a break?”

“A break? But I have to learn more about…”

“Nah, your fine. An elite like you should be able to pass no problem.”

“Heh, well that’s true but I can’t…”

“It’s only for a little bit. Grab your visor we are going to a fun place. Only the best are there.”

“The best? Well, I guess I do deserve a break.”

Blue gave off his signature gloating smile the one he uses whenever things go his way. When Cris was ready Blue led the way.