Chapter 02: The Archways  

Volume 01: Start Again

Chapter 02: The Archways

*bzzt*

*bzzt*

'What the hell is that sound?'

*bzzt*

'An alarm? Shut up.' Reaching my hand out subconsciously I smacked at the direction of the sound.

*tah*

"Good morning, Mikael Walker! Have a nice day today Monday, September 19th, 2148! If the user would like to hear today's trending Ashen Eclipse news, please say "more news"." A robotic voice rang out from beside my head.

Slow to intake the information in my groggy state I stayed lying in bed for another couple of seconds merely mumbling the words of the robotic voice.

'Wait the year is 2148...wait wasn't I strapped to the chair about to be killed by those men?' Thinking about these points I immediately shot upwards and began to look around the room I was in. I quickly realized that I was looking around my old apartment where I had lived during my late teenage years and early twenties before earning enough money to live on the other side permanently.

'This must have something to do with that message I got before when my head began to burn, and my vision went dark. Wow. I had heard of some items having some special powers, but I have never heard of such things affecting the actual world.' Stretching out my limbs I stammered out of bed as my muscles still felt weak and could not place enough force to support me, I began to fall over.

*PAH*

Now laying on the floor I began to chuckle as everything that had just happened felt straight out of some kind of movie one of those large entertainment companies would create. Thinking about this point I laid on the floor just waiting for the strength in my body to come back to a decent level.

As I continued to lie on the floor, I heard a slight vibration from the alarm I had on my nightstand.

*bzzt*

Looking over at the screen I suddenly recalled what today was. 'Wait a second today is September 19th this is the first day I traveled to the other side. Finally awakening a class and race to try and change my life.' Thinking up to here I began to frown as I recalled how I ended up anyways as I would merely awaken an iron race and a copper class. This would end up being a huge blow to my future prospects as I would be classified as a copper-tiered player forcing me to pay back the loan by fighting in the arenas.

Finally gaining enough strength I got myself up off the floor. Sweeping my eyes over the time my brain suddenly erupted like lightning.

"HOLY SHIT! I am going to be late!" Looking back at the clock my eyes widened and I began to run toward the front door of my apartment. Grabbing ahold of my shoes I continued my way out the front door not stopping for anything.

As I ran down the stairs of the run-down apartment building, I hopped between legs alternating back and forth trying to force my shoes onto their feet as I did not stop moving. As I was running like a madman down the stairs I finally arrived at the base level of the building. Running through the main lobby area I could see a bunch of people of the lower class much like myself all heading out to work or to the archway.

Looking at these people I could not help but wince as I knew like the previous me, they all tried their hands at trying to awaken something special in the other world but as most people fail to awaken anything with a higher tier than silver it sends many people to suicide or working mundane jobs for the rest of their lives as they try to pay back the loans, they took out to try their luck on the other side.

Letting out a sigh I passed by these people and continued to run out of the building. Outside the building, I looked upwards and stared at the brightly lit sky with the hundreds of thousands of hanging lights that lit up the surroundings. Running on I made my way to a small bus station that was set right at the corner of the apartment community.

Slowing down I stepped towards the bus bench and sat down next to an older man who was dressed as a janitorial staff for a company that was rather large in my previous life for mineral sales. They had made a name for themselves by having a bunch of the top-tiered forging players as their clients supporting them with daily usage of minerals.

*ptshh*

After hearing the sound, I looked away from the old man to see the doors of a bus opening as it had just arrived. Stepping forward to get in line to enter the bus I lined up right behind the old man scanning my hand's microchip to pay the balance of the bus before stepping inside. After doing so I found a place to stand and allowed others to sit as I just waited for everyone to enter the bus.

After waiting two minutes for everyone to enter the bus we began to leave the stop. Holding onto the top railing I looked out at the passing scenery staring at all the high-rise buildings that lined the edges of the streets. Many run-down apartment communities much like my own were placed here on the lower-class part of the mega city away from the archway.

The bus stopped many times at other bus stops dropping people off and picking them up eventually the bus began to fill to the brim with people who were dressed in all sorts of uniforms and clothing. No one spoke on the bus other than an occasional cough that was quickly covered up. Everyone rode in silence as we all just waited to arrive at our own destinations.

| 45 Minutes |

"Stop 456 Ancestral Parkway. Central Archway division." The automated voice rang out from the intercoms of the bus.

'I am here.' Making my way off the bus I stepped onto the sidewalk and as I looked around, I chuckled to myself.

'The difference is always shocking. People always looked so happy here.' Looking around I saw a few people walking up and down the streets laughing and talking to each other as they went into different buildings scattered around the large district.

Shaking my head, I stopped looking around and began to head toward a large tower. This tower was situated in the middle of a man-made park in which it towered over standing tall in the middle of all the trees.

Stepping through the park I passed a couple of people who were walking in the opposite direction of me dressed rather lavishly but the one thing that would draw anyone's attention was the small colorful crest all players kept on their chests to show their tiers. Observing these people, I noticed a shiny gold crest on their chests as they walked uniformly down the large walkway passing me in their matching white uniforms. This small group of people drew attention from everyone who could see them as they were just too eye-catching here on this side of the archways.

'What are gold-tiered players doing here? I don't recall running into them when I first came.' Scrunching my face, I felt a bit confused but continued forward as I was already running late.

Continuing my way down the walkway I finally could see the entrance of the large tower and as I got closer to it, I could see the security checkpoint around the outside of it.

As I closed in on the checkpoint, I funneled into one of the many gates where people were being checked by the men in white army uniforms much like the people who had just passed me out of the park. Stepping into line I waited for my turn.

"NEXT!"

Now at the front of the line, I stepped forward to stand before the large set soldier who was wearing a silver crest on his uniform. As I walked up to him, he looked me up and down showing a rather puzzled expression as I closed in on him.

Looking down at the clothes I was wearing I finally realized why he was looking at me weirdly I was still in my sweats and a plain t-shirt that I had woken up in.

"Young man, what did you come for today?" The soldier asked rather politely keeping his professional pretense as he walked up to me and began scanning my body with a handheld machine.

"I have an appointment to step onto the other side for the first time," I responded with a small smile as I stood with my hands out allowing my body to be scanned.

Hearing my response, the soldier's demeanor completely changed, and a large smile fell flat onto his face as he pulled the small machine back and then began patting my shoulder with his other hand. "Congratulations young man. I wish you all the luck in your choices. Before I can allow you to pass, I just need to check your microchip." Smiling the soldier waited patiently for me.

Clicking a couple of times on his small silver device a small laser shot out into my wrist and then began to display all my relevant information.

"You are all cleared to go. I wish you luck." The soldier said one last time as he waved me goodbye.

'Were people always this happy-go-lucky the last time I came? Why do I not remember such a warm welcome the first time I came the last time?' Thinking about this as I passed the waving soldier I nodded back before heading straight for one of the many sets of doors into the tower.

As I stepped through the doorway, I could not help but stop right on the other side.

'No matter how many times I see it, it will always be amazing.' I stared off into the distance stuck on the large archway that was made of various metals that held hundreds of thousands of etchings in it, but this was not the most beautiful part as the most beautiful part was the inside. Many called it a portal, but more people called it a door. It was a mirror-like water substance that ran along the inside of the archway that allowed people to move to the other side.

"Can you move?" A sharp voice came out from behind me waking me up from my slight daze.

Turning around a little embarrassed I bowed my head and quickly gave a quick nod. Without seeing who the person was I quickly moved away from the place and moved towards the rightmost part of the tower where people were lined up waiting before manned booths that the government ran for the archway's newbies.

Walking into line I checked the time that was displayed over the booths and noticed I still had twenty more minutes before my appointment. Noticing this I nodded my head to myself as I knew I had plenty of time to get to the front of the line now. As time passed and more and more people were moving out of the lines, I slowly made my way to the front.

"Next person in line three please move to window five." A loud automated voice sounded out for everyone in the area to hear.

Checking the line number one more time I confirmed that it was me who was next, so I began moving up to the numbered window. As I walked up to the window, I noticed that inside the window was a young woman dressed in her army uniform staring at me with a rather cold expression.

Seeing this I could not help but internally chuckle as this was how I remembered things being here. Pushing this comparison to the side of my mind I arrived right before the window and threw on a rather small smile.

"What are you here for?" The young woman got straight to the point as she lightly tapped away on the holographic keyboard that was below her.

"I have an appointment to step over today." I gave a quick response.

"Time and name." The woman asked without even a second of hesitation.

Seeing this I could not help but roll my eyes a bit.

Taking a step back to look at the hanging digital clock I responded no longer smiling. "Ten minutes from now and Mikael Walker."

Clicking away on her keyboard the woman responded without even bothering to look up from her screen. "Okay, you will be joining crossover team seven. Here take this it will activate when your instructor confirms your identity." Pulling out a small gold token the woman slid it across the windows only opening towards me.

Seeing this I immediately took the token then exited away from the area to try and find my group as soon as possible.