Awakened

CHAPTER TWO

"Glen told me that he caught you staring at the trash bin again, is that true?" A 19 year old looking Ralph asked in a low voice as he passed a nylon containing steamed buns to Ivan before taking a seat on the old bench, Ivan was sitting quietly in the middle while Glen sat on the other side of the bench.

The three of them were the only ones who could be seen on the abandoned looking playground with damaged slides, broken swings, and other equipment that kids used to play. They were all equally damaged leaving only the bench intact; the place looked like where beasts fought.

Ivan only grunted in response as he picked a steamed bun and placed it in his mouth and quickly devoured it before picking another one, he had eaten more than three steamed buns within ten seconds and he showed no sign of slowing down.

Ralph did not mind Ivan's eating manner, he knew very well about Ivan's condition so he could understand why the boy was eating like he had been starving for days.

"You are missing the point here, Ivan has Nexus energy! I swear I saw it" Glen clamoured from the side seeing as Ralph wasn't bringing up the matter he had reported.

Ralph raised his sight above Ivan's head and stared at Glen while shifting his glasses with his fingers.

" I heard you the first time," he responded.

" Then why aren't you talking about it?" Glen blurted out again, his voice thundering.

" What's there to talk about?" Ralph asked as he shot Glen a sharp glare.

" It's Nexus energy!" Glen spat once more.

Ralph "...."

While the two of them bickered, Ivan was already down to the last steamed bun before he finally slowed down, suddenly realising that he had been too much in a rush just now and was feeling stuffy in his neck.

Ralph noticed this and quickly passed a bottle of water that was beside him to Ivan.

Ivan drank the water greedily and wiped the side of his lips with the back of his hand . A satisfied sigh escaped his lips after finally filling his empty stomach.

Only after letting Ivan rest for a few seconds did Ralph continue to speak.

"They took everything again?" He asked.

Ivan knew who the "they" in Ralph's words were referring to and simply nodded in response.

Ralph had always been smart and assertive of situations, after all, his family had once lived in San Pluto before moving down here. When he saw Ivan's expressionless face, he decided not to mention the people who beat Ivan last night. After all, this was not the first time that such was happening.

"Glen said you were looking at the trash bin again" Ralph went back to his first question.

" I was hungry," Ivan said shortly without looking at Ralph.

" Then why didn't you look for us?" Ralph asked back and Ivan fell silent. 

It wasn't that he didn't know what to answer with, he just couldn't say it. After all, they had been friends for over five years but he still was not comfortable with asking them for help even though they would voluntarily do it every time.

Seeing Ivan become quiet again, a frown formed on Ralph's face.

"I don't really get you at times, why do you like keeping things to yourself? Although there are not a lot of things we can help you with, at least let us know about the ones we can help with. Even though we live in the outskirts of the city with a lot of bad people we should try to look after each other" Ralph said as he placed one hand on Ivan's shoulder, his action caused Ivan to flinch. Ralph quickly withdrew his hand upon realising his mistake.

"Sorry" he said.

" Those bastards! I'll deal with them one day for touching my friend!" Glen stomped on the ground and roared into the air, he was pissed by what those Nexulytes were doing to Ivan but neither of them could do anything, for now.

Glen was from a family of normal people, his parents did menial jobs to feed him and his little sister so they dared not go against the Nexulytes who were tasked with protecting this side of the outskirts. Ralph,on the other hand, had a better background but experienced setbacks.

His mother was a Nexulyte  who earned thousands while his father was an ordinary person, they used to live in San Pluto which was a capital city that was filled with a lot of wonders and people. But things quickly changed after his mother got seriously injured during one of her missions to the dreamscape and wasn't able to move anymore.

They had to move down to the outskirts when Ralph was just 13 since they could no longer afford the lifestyle in the city, Ralph's father had been struggling to take care of his injured wife and their only son. This was why they could not go against the Nexulytes for maltreating Ivan neither could they take him in for fear of angering them either.

The other people in the outskirts were not any better than the families of these two, they could be said to be worse even as a lot of them even slept on the streets and sold scraps to feed. This was what Ivan and his friends also did to support themselves and their families, though most of the money was given to Ivan which would sometimes get taken from him by those despicable Nexulytes.

"Lower your voice you idiot! What if they hear you or someone reports you to them?!" Ralph shushed Glen seeing the boy was spewing things out of his mouth without thinking.

"So what? Can they do more than they are already doing?" Glen clicked his tongue stubbornly but still followed Ralph's words and kept quiet. He really did not want to know if those wicked people could do even worse things.

"Sigh! If only my mom was still fine, she could have dealt with them" Ralph said with a sigh.

" Hmm, true. She would have thrown them out long ago. These pigs only hide here and bully others instead of going to conquer the dreamscape" Glen blurted out in anger.

" Anyway, when did you awaken your Nexus energy? Why didn't you say so earlier? Things would have changed a lot if you said something about it earlier" Ralph turned to look at Ivan with confused eyes. Had he revealed his Nexus energy sooner, those people would not have had the chance to bully him. 

Ivan raised his hands and stared at his palm for a few seconds, still finding it difficult to believe. He now had Nexus energy, he could awaken his talent anytime and become a Nexulyte!

" Yes, why didn't you tell us earlier? Ralph had awakened his Nexus energy two weeks ago and told us about it, I awakened last week and told you guys too. Why did you hide yours when we have been purposely holding back from awakening even when our parents keep pressuring us. You can even manifest your energy, that means you have awakened longer then why did you hide it?

I know you hate Nexulytes because of those three bastards but you can stop their bullying if you awaken your talent. Don't you want to get recruited by a Tower and start making money? You can leave the outskirts, go wherever you want, do anything you want, and get anything you want. Don't you want that?" Glen ranted nonstop and Ralph had to tell him to shut up so Ivan could get the chance to speak.

"I think I awakened…last night? This is my first time using Nexus energy" Ivan said truthfully after Glen finally kept quiet.

Ralph "..." 

Glen "...."

You awakened last night and can already manifest Nexus energy? Ivan, when did you learn to joke like that?

Feeling the stare of his friends on his face, Ivan looked up at the two of them with an honest look on his face.

"I'm telling the truth," he muttered.

Ralph "...."

Glen "...."

"What! Are you serious?! Just last night and you can already materialise it?" Glen shouted in disbelief.

Ralph only continued to stare at Ivan in silence but his glance showed that he was finding it difficult to believe as well.

Ivan only shrugged, it was their choice to believe him or not.

Ralph finally spoke after a short moment of silence.

"It doesn't matter, what matter is that you are now ready to awaken. We will inform our parents and decide when to leave for San pluto"

Ralph had just finished speaking when…

Swoosh!!!

A strong gust of wind blew past the playground, the sky darkened as loud thunder claps echoed through the air. It was as if chaos had suddenly descended and the world was about to end.

The sudden change of the weather startled Ivan so much that he jumped off the old bench in fright, the broken swings and pieces of other playing equipment were being swept around in the air and could hit someone at anytime; the entire place was a mess that Ivan could not even see properly due to the sand and other things that blocked his vision.

"Hey, you guys should go home now. This place isn't safe" Ivan hurriedly warned Glen and Ralph as he was about to run and look for a place to take cover but he got no response which prompted him to look back.

His eyes widened when he looked back and saw Glen and Ralph still sitting on the old bench, seemingly frozen and unaware of what was happening around them. They did not even bulge when logs of wood flew right past their faces.

"What the…" Ivan's mouth hung open as he stumbled back while still looking at his only friends who had been frozen while sitting in the middle of what seemed like a thunderstorm, only that it wasn't raining yet.

Ivan was still racking his mind, trying to decide between fleeing or saving these two when another shocking thing finally made Ivan's mind fall into despair.

Right in the middle of the ruined playground, space cracked and twisted as a ten metre tall grey portal with edges made from broken golden mirrors came into existence.

It…was a mirror gate! A link to the dreamscape had appeared!