Strange Normalcy

Azure stared at Balvin, then back at the card. He opened his mouth as if he was about to talk then closed it again.

His gaze lingered on Balvin. He sighed then looked at the card then sighed again.

'So I'm fighting this monster and he's asking me to go easy on him?!'

If Balvin wasn't messing with him, Azure wasn't sure what exactly was happening.

"That seemed to have come as a shock". Balvin said, preventing Azure from falling further into his depressing fit.

"No, it's… em…" Azure stuttered. "I knew it's just that I didn't expect you to be um.." Azure gestured at the magnitude of his body muscles.

"Don't let these fool you". Balvin flexed his muscles. "I'm just an average Joe is all".

"Alright". Azure was disinterested in continuing the conversation. He was beginning to get annoyed by Balvin. 'Average Joe', who the hell did he think he was fooling? "I have some training to do". Azure said the first thing that he could think of to get out of his precarious situation.

"Alright, train well". Balvin said. "Good luck tomorrow man".

"Thanks, you too". Azure said. He left the room to find Alex. That thin motherfucker had some explaining to do.

He was halfway through his journey towards the exterior of the headquarters, by halfway it meant that he had walked into five rooms already so sixth time was the charm. He was halfway when he realized that he had no idea how he was going to get to Alex.

'Fuck it, he'll probably come and find me tomorrow'. Azure thought.

With that in mind, he walked towards his room. By walking towards his room, I meant that he just opened random doors and hoped that he would end up lucky.

He did, though. The first door he opened turned out to be the one that led to his room. He lay on his bed, ignoring Balvin who had called out to him.

***

The following morning, Azure was woken up by the sound of a loud buzzer. He was about to start cursing at the person who woke him up when he realized that the member's exhibition was today.

He found his way outside after a few unfortunate mistakes.

Already waiting were about three hundred and fifteen members. There were chairs places on which most of them sat. Some of them, like Balvin, stood and started to scout competition.

Azure noticed that the members waiting were not only from the Lucifer squad. Did that mean that…

He started looking around, with the hopes that he would find Sticks. He was filled with so much hope that he was almost happy, that was until someone came along.

"Who are you looking for?" Tamra asked from behind Azure. As she spoke, he felt the warmth of her breath caress his ear. His nose inhaled womanly fragrance. The combination of the two sensations made him jolt.

'Too close'.

He took a step forward then turned around to face Tamra.

"What's your business?" Azure asked.

"Nothing, I'm just asking to see if I can help". Tamra replied.

Azure was about to send her away when he realized that he could actually use her help.

"Is the member's exhibition for members of all three squads?"

"Yes". She replied.

Azure looked around and felt slightly disappointed. It was common knowledge that the number of workers would definitely be less than that if members and the numbers would decease as the rank increased.

It disappointed him to know that the angels weren't that many in numbers yet they were given so much hype.

"So this is everybody?" Azure asked.

"No, this is everyone that registered. Over half of the members don't register, they prefer to be given difficult opponents so that they can improve faster". Tamra said.

Her explanation made sense to Azure. He thought nothing much of that fact until he realized that this was the most normal conversation that he had with Tamra.

"That's strange…" Azure muttered absentmindedly.

"What's strange?" Tamra asked.

"Uh…" Azure found himself in a pinch. He couldn't tell her that he found it strange that she was normal. Those were one of the things that should never be said by a guy to a girl.

He brain was racking in order to produce a believable lie to Tamra. Fortunately, he was saved the stress of having to think of one by a loud voice.

"Okay! Could everyone please step into the transformation booth". A chubby middle aged man said. He hair was already thinning at the front. He wore a fitted, black suit which highlighted his abundance at the stomach area.

He gestured towards a small booth that suddenly appeared behind him. It was either that or it was invisible because Azure was fairly certain that it wasn't there a few moments ago.

Azure wondered how everyone was going to fit within that small booth. He was saved the mental strain when he saw that almost everyone had already entered inside.

In the end, he shrugged and followed the crowd.

Inside the booth was nothing like one would've guessed from the exterior. One would've thought that it would be very small and cramped but it was actually very spacious.

Asides from the three hundred and fifteen members, there were also a bunch of other people that seemed to be twice as much inside.

Even with that, there was enough space for everyone to have their own chair and table with food and water placed on it.

"The fuck is this possible?" Azure said to himself as he sat down on his chair.

"Enhancement crystal". Tamra said from in front of him. She had her face positioned directly in front of him. He was instantly assaulted by her bodily fragrance and the scent of her breath.

'Too close'

He made a motion to step back only to be reminded that he was in a chair.

Tamra must've gotten the hint though, because she stepped back.

"Enhancement crystal". She repeated. "They probably used an enhancement crystal inside the booth". She added.

Azure had a couple of questions that he wanted to ask about the 'enhancement crystal'. He looked at Tamra again and decided not to ask.

"Alright we're here!". The chubby middle aged man said from quite a distance.

"Where are we supposed to be?" Azure asked. It was at that moment that he realized that he had no idea where they were teleported to.

"The chaos abyss". Tamra said.