The Oasis

The everlasting droplet of sleep slowly dissipated as a man splashed a bucket of cold water on Earth. The water splashed onto him like the incoming tide from the ocean. Shocked with the random thrust of the freezing blizzard on him, Earth jumped up from his resting spot, anxious from the dream he had.

"Good morning, Newcomer." The man was slightly taller than Earth. His hair was in a wild format, it flowed in all sorts of directions finding the perfect style of messiness.

"Wait- What? Who are you?" Earth hadn't seen anyone other than Tiger, Zinu, Issa, and Hidden. This man was none of the four, he had a confused profile of the Oasis. He considered it as a place built of friendship like the other four were, but this man looked like he was a serial killer. Underneath his eyes were terrible bags, and he had a sword at his hip.

"The name's Ishi. Now get dressed. There's a mirror there." Ishi threw an attire at Earth. Earth would have preferred the clothes he had, but they were completely soaked. He took the attire and looked at the mirror. It's been years since Earth had seen himself in a mirror. He looked nothing like he remembered, his green eyes only grew brighter. His hair's color faded, the light blue turned into a dark blue. He looked rather scrawny, but still had muscle to his figure. Putting on the clothes, the black tight shirt outlined his abs and pecks. The gray pants he wore were tight on the waste, but loosened on the legs, getting tighter again at the ankles.

"Is this outfit necessary?" Earth fashion critiqued himself, he wasn't a fan of the nineteen-fifty look. If he had an afro, he could have been a disco diva.

"Yes, all Newcomers have to wear it. Now come on, follow me." Ishi walked on without a care. It seemed he was put in charge of a job he didn't deem worth it.

"So, what exactly is this place?" Earth looked around at all the houses, tripping over his feet trying to keep up with Ishi's fast pace. Each house had its own symbol on it, showing the special crest of the person living there.

"It's called the Oasis. A peaceful place in the stead of this prison. That's all." Ishi's voice was monotonous, he sounded like he came right out of a terrible movie. Ishi walked into a building that stood at the center of the village. In front of it, there was a huge deck that was formed like a stage. "Alright newcomer, this is as far as I can go. You can walk in." Ishi backed away from the door of the building like it was a curse.

"Will I ever see you again? Uh Ishi?" Earth looked at Ishi, he wasn't sure if he wanted to see him again because Ishi's appearance looked more frightening than the mechanical beast.

"Just get your a** in there already." Ishi started walking away with a slouched look, yawning as he made it ten steps away. "And no. If you see me again, you'll regret your existence." Ishi disappeared without a trace.

"OH HEY! YOU MUST BE ANOTHER NEWBIE!" A small girl around five feet tall peaked around the door. Her optimism was radiating off her.

"Yeah, I guess."

"WELL I'M A NEWBIE TOO! WE'RE ALREADY TWINSIES." She jumped up and down.

"Please, I'm not in the mood for this right now." Earth pushed past the girl and looked around for where he was supposed to be.

"UHM EXCUSE ME! DON'T BLOW ME OFF LIKE THAT! HEY, I'M TALKING TO YOU." Earth just ignored her, yawning from what felt like a lack of sleep. An older girl walked into the room from the stage.

"Hey, I'm uhh. I'm new here. What am I doing here?" The lady looked surprised for a moment that Earth approached her, but then realized today was that time of the month.

"Oh my. You must be a newcomer, and a handsome one at that. The name's Lynx!" She put a peace sign up next to her face smiling, avoiding the question Earth asked.

"Well okay Lynx, what am I doing here?" With a closer look, Lynx had clean gray hair, and matching gray eyes. They suited her white skin, making her look like the moon.

She stared at him and then shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just here to deliver these." She dropped four swords on the ground. They clanged on the floor. "Oops. Uhh." Behind her was a girl dressed like a nun, she emitted a fierce aura.

"Lynx… What are you doing?" The nun's expression held a nervously angry smile that looked fearful.

"I'm just delivering these swords here." The nun looked back and forth from the sword on the ground and Lynx.

"For every scratch, I want to see an hour more of training. Now get going." Lynx waved at Earth before leaving with a smile and putting her hand to her ear like it was a phone.

"I swear, you children really know how to get on my nerves." The nun mumbled underneath her breath as she picked up each sword.

Earth reached out to help her, picking up two of them himself. "Hey, I'm a 'Newcomer' I guess. Can you help me here? I don't know exactly what's going on." The nun matched eye level with Earth as they were bending over to grab the swords. Blushing, she stood straight up.

"Well, I'd be delighted to help you; I'm your supervisor this afternoon of course. And please, call me Sister Agnes." Her eyes were a light brown, her hair was hidden underneath her gown.

"Sister Agnes." Earth gave her a prayer bow, placing his hands together nodding his head. "You can call me Earth." Earth stood there not knowing what to do with the sword.

"Well then, since you've taken the…" Sister Agnes' words were cut short by the little runt behind Earth.

"HEY DON'T FORGET ME! HEY! HEY!" Jumping up and down. Earth usually didn't get annoyed, but she just gave Earth the temptation to kick her across the room.

"Don't worry Moxxy, no one is forgetting about you. Follow us, but please keep your mouth closed. This is not a place to yell." Sister Agnes respectfully dealt with the nuisance. She led both of the newcomers into a new room that had a sliding door leading to the stage. Two other people were sitting along both sides of the room, staring each other down. "Now please, wait here. High Priest Neko will greet you when he is ready." Sister Agnes walked away leaving Earth alone with three random psychos.

The awkward air between the four of them, kept the room silent. The sound of a crowd gathering outside was evident as the chatter was heard from within the walls. Even with the broken silence, the four of them remained quiet; even Moxxy who seemed all jubilant.

The crowd lost its voice, then a single voice called out for attention. " Welcome everyone. Today, we have made history within this prison. Since last year, we haven't known our situation as well as we wanted, but now we can predict the movement of the Chimera. With our new leader of the scouts, we were able to construct a map showing the routes that the Chimera take. With great respect, he and his organization were able to successfully apprehend four new inmates; And what was the cost you may say, the cost was nothing. We have lost no lives for the first time in two years since visiting the city. Now, Newcomers, please join us out here on this wondrous day." The High Priest opened the door, shedding the bountiful light from the sun into the room.

All four of the Newcomers stood up, knowing that it was their queue. They walked out onto the platform that overlooked the entire crowd of people. The High Priest stepped forward once again.

"My people, these four new souls shall be welcomed in the name of Arcana. May the Holy Spirit bless their souls, and give retreat to cutting their strings of fate. Would our talented commanders please take their place on the stage?" Four men stepped on the stage, they entered with fashion. Appearing out of nowhere, or doing a cool stunt from the sky.

"Today, we try something new, a new system to reward everyone. Instead of continuing in our past failures, we have created a new system that makes it easier for the children of tomorrow to focus on one subject. This month marks the new life within these walls. Safer, coming one more step to escaping." Everyone cheered for the High Priest's speech. He immersed himself in the praise.

The four captains stood on the stage, with capes over their head. They all stared at us, peering into our souls. "Hey you, come here." The guy beside Earth was called to stand. "What's your name?"

With no hesitation, he said "Touren."

"Well, Touren. What can you do?" The captain with a green cloak dropped a sword at Touren's feet. "I'm waiting to see your conviction." The green hooded captain held a sword, skinnier than a normal sword. It looked quite special, and didn't seem to be any type of sword that would be made for combat.

Stomping the ground, Touren flicked the sword right into his hand. "You'll regret giving me this choice." Touren held the sword like he understood how to fight. Earth was glad he wasn't chosen to be up there, the only skills he could manage would be with a dagger.

Upon the stage, Touren was the first to attack. Lunging with his sword, but equally playing on the defensive. The captain had no problem dodging it, and trading blows with Tourens sword. "Do you know why I'm the leader of the Infantry unit?" The power struggle against the small sword and the normal sword broke as Touren's sword started to rust causing him to retreat.

"What the hell was that." Touren examined his blade. The bottom was in perfect condition as well as the top, but the middle, where the captain striked, was beginning to rust.

"It is something you'll learn very soon. I mean maybe not that move, but you will have your own. Now at ease. I like you. You're capable and can retreat when you need to. Join the infantry?" The captain seemed rather considerate of Touren's feelings, Touren looked like he didn't give a damn in the first place.

"Infantry, count me in. Especially if I get a cool ability like that." Touren and the green hooded captain seemed to already get along.

"You." Earth was approached by a captain in a dark gown. "Join me." He reached out his hand, his awkwardness corrupted Earth.

"Me?" Earth was shackled in place, the captain in the dark gown stood in front of him like a gorgon, stopping him in his place. Earth managed to budge his hand to meet the captains. A slight flare of pain erected in his hand that he had just moved, but it was then Earth realized his entire body was paralyzed.

"Good. Welcome to the Covert." He reached in his cloak pulling out another cloak. "Put it on." He threw the cloak at Earth, covering his face.

Moxxy and the other female of the group were talking to their instructors. Moxxy was talking to the red captain, who later claimed to be the police force. The last claimed to be the Bishopry, which signed the last female who would be named, Lego. All four were claimed by the three major organizations of the Village, resting the meeting at a close.

"My good citizens of the Oasis, do not fret anymore, for I have prophesied these four's success. The outside world will soon be obtainable, so work harder than ever before. Work for the name of Arcana!" Everyone gave a final cheer before scattering off; the four captains grabbed their new disciples and headed to their headquarters. .