Chapter 2- The Bridge Opens

Lan's heart was in his mouth as he looked up at the sickly pale, white-haired person opposite him.

Now that he was getting a better look, he noticed their appearance was very androgynous, and they had tightly-cropped, white hair. Making it impossible to tell whether they were a boy or girl.

They were slender and wearing an ill-fitting, black blazer with a school crest stitched into the sleeve and chest.

Time stood still as they stared at each other. Lan searched their face, trying to figure out what they would do. Far away, a teacher shouted, "Roll Call!"

"Hi," The person said with a weak smile, looking even more nervous than Lan.

"H-hi," Lan croaked, his throat raw from the fumes he'd been breathing in beneath the bus.

"I'm Morgan, I don't have a second name since the academy took me right after I was born, so it's just Morgan,"

'Well, that name doesn't help me find out their gender,' Lan thought.

Covered in grease and sweat, he must have looked like a wreck, but he still reached out to shake Morgan's hand. "I have no name, but you can call me Lan if you want,"

Morgan looked down at Lan's hand covered in oil and hesitated for a moment before sticking out their own and shaking it.

"So…" Morgan trailed off. "What the hell are you doing?"

Lan grimaced, trying not to get angry at the other person. It was pretty fucking obvious what he was doing, "I'm trying to become a pathfinder," He grunted.

Morgan frowned like they simply couldn't understand that reasoning, "Why not just join an academy?" They asked like it was obviously the solution.

Lan shook his head, "I didn't get in. It's a long story. Anyway, that doesn't matter right now. I need to know if you're going to turn me in,"

Morgan shrugged, "I dunno. I don't think I'm going to turn you in or anything. I was just curious. I've never seen someone under a bus like that before and wanted to meet you,"

Lan couldn't believe it. Was this person stupid? "Well, I need to know! My life kinda hinges on you not exposing me,"

Nodding, Morgan looked thoughtful for a second and then snapped their fingers." I'll get you something that can help," They shouted as they ran around the bus disappearing into the futuristic vehicle.

They returned with a towel and a bundle of clothes a moment later. The uniform was identical to what Morgan was wearing, a black blazer, a white shirt, grey trousers and a striped tie with the school crest emblazoned.

"Where did you get these?" Lan asked as Morgan thrust them into his hands.

Morgan turned away as Lan got changed into the clothes, "Apparently, by the time we leave the tutorial, our uniforms will be destroyed, so the school brought loads of spare uniforms,"

Lan nodded, fumbling with the buttons on his shirt and the tie. He had never worn anything even remotely close to this, and it all seemed alien to him.

Turning around, Morgan noticed he was fiddling with the tie and walked over. They reached out a hand to fix it, but Lan flinched back, not letting their hands get close to his neck.

Lan took a deep, shaking breath, "Sorry, I just don't like anyone going near my neck. Personal stuff." He didn't feel any need to elaborate, and thankfully, Morgan didn't ask.

In the middle of getting dressed, Morgan disappeared to take roll and returned a moment later.

"If you want to be awakened, come with me," they said.

Time stopped for Lan as he tried to figure out his next move. Did he trust this stranger and hope they didn't screw him over? Or did he take this disguise and go it alone? What if they got angry that he didn't trust them and turned him in?

Hundreds of anxious thoughts flitted about in his head, each worry competing to gain supremacy.

But in the end, Morgan decided for him, grabbing his hand, which he had wiped clean with the towel, and dragging him out from behind the bus.

"Where are we going?" Lan hissed, too anxious to talk any louder than a whisper.

All around them, thousands of children their age milled about in huge groups around teachers. They were all dressed smartly and stood in orderly lines, but that didn't change the overflowing excitement Lan could feel almost bubbling off them.

The buses had parked at one end of a massive field. And when Lan looked to the other end, his poor heart almost stopped again.

He had to crane his neck back to get a fuller picture of it, but even that didn't do the bridge justice. It defied the words large, or even enormous. Some myths said that it was built by the titans, and perhaps titanic was the best word to describe it.

It was monumentally large, made from a strange purplish black stone with no cracks or cement. The whole bridge seemed to be carved out of a single piece of stone, which should have been impossible considering its immense size.

Stretching up into the sky, the bridge tore through the clouds and kept going, dwarfing the pathfinder headquarters. It was so tall that its far end simply disappeared into a single point in the sky above, but even then, Lan knew this was nothing.

The bridge was almost one hundred kilometres wide, its floor lying perpendicular to the ground in a shear cliff.

All around its base, thousands of pathfinders waited patiently for the student's arrival. They were sitting on folding chairs on the outskirts of a small city. That looked to have sprung up around the base of the bridge.

Although Lan noted that rather than coffee shops and restaurants, the city had stores that sold weapons and armour. Apothecaries, beast tamers, and huge stadiums were built in the style of the Colosseum.

The city itself gave off the vibe of a travelling market rather than a permanent domicile, although Lan supposed that almost all the shops here were temporary. Simply a place someone set up to sell their loot and then move on.

Morgan led him through the crowds of teenagers towards a group of students wearing the same clothing that he was.

Realising their intention, Lan grabbed their wrist, "Wait, won't they know I'm not from your school?" He whispered, trying not to draw attention to them.

Morgan shook their head, "They've already finished roll, and the head teacher is a researcher who couldn't care less,"

"While the teacher might not care, the other students will probably notice that I'm new," Lan pointed out.

Frowning, Morgan nodded, "You're right. Especially if you arrive with me. Fine, we'll wait until the groups start setting off towards the bridge and join the back,"

Lan bent down and pretended to tie his shoe, only now realising they were old, battered trainers that looked incredibly out of place in his smart uniform. He ignored Morgan's comment, already having seen them picked on earlier. That wasn't his problem.

"Anything I should know?" Lan asked to break the awkward silence that had formed between them.

"About the bridge… hm," Morgan mumbled, scratching their head with an ashen hand. "Not really… Our induction was mostly just them telling us we needed to 'Be strong!' and 'Believe in yourselves!' you know?"

"They kept all the essential information to themselves, is what I'm saying. From what I understand, going into the initial part of the bridge completely blind is a rite of passage that all pathfinders are supposed to go through. It lets them experience the dangers of the bridge early on when there's less chance of truly getting hurt,"

Lan nodded and was internally fist-pumping that he wasn't completely lacking in information. It wasn't nice to start incredibly far behind his competition.

"Although I can tell you this. While my teachers haven't explicitly stated it, from what I can gather, we will be taken into a place called the tutorial when we first step on the bridge. And only half of all participants leave the tutorial,"

Morgan shuddered when they said this, their eyes growing distant, "I think… I think all the people gathered here will be competing for something… and if you lose, you die,"

Looking around at the thousands of excited students gathered around the entrance to the bridge, Lan couldn't help but pity them. Even if he hated the arrogant tyrants they would become, that didn't change how cruel sending half of them to die was.

He supposed this was the sort of event that twisted your personality, making it darker and more vicious. Perhaps accrued trauma was why most pathfinders were quick to lash out in anger, even at helpless ordinary people.

Ultimately, the whats and the whys weren't really that important. Lan was preoccupied with the weapons most teenagers had attached to their hips or slung over their backs.

"Hey, Morgan," He whispered, "What's with all the weapons?"

Morgan frowned and then facepalmed suddenly, "Oh shit! How could I forget? When we step on the bridge or the path, as fancy people like to call it, we get whisked away to this tutorial and given access to the system.

The system starts everyone off at level 0 and Rank G, giving them a unique talent. Then, pathfinders attain a class at level 10, which most people reach in the tutorial. A class which is usually based on their Talent.

Now, people are bringing weapons with them in the hopes that their Talent will relate to those weapons."

Morgan grinned and brought their sleeve closer to Lan, allowing him to see a wide variety of hidden blades tucked away inside the sleeve.

"I'm looking for a talent related to assassination or maybe throwing knives. Anything that helps me use my preferred weapons better, really,"

"And that works? Bringing something with you affects your talents?" Lan asked glumly, realising he only had a rope and some venom.

"The weapons you bring are said to have an effect, but a big part of it is your personal experience. If you are someone who's fought with a sword since they were young, chances are, you'll get a sword talent,"

Lan thought about what his Talent might be then. Would he get improved Bellhop abilities since that had been his job? If his Talent were to wait tables faster, he might kill himself there and then.

Somewhere up ahead, a loud voice boomed out, "Advance!"

Like a cloud of locusts, the students descended on the city. Blowing past it, they headed straight for the base of the bridge. Along the way, Lan noticed how well-guarded the bridge was the closer he got to its base and was incredibly thankful that Morgan had offered to help when they did.

After roughly ten minutes of walking briskly, they passed the outer edge of the city, where the stalls looked ramshackle and hurriedly put together, entering the inner region. Here, the buildings were permanent, and instead of stalls and temporary shops, some massive armouries and forges belched clouds of smoke into the sky.

Hundreds of regular pathfinders wandered in and out of the shops in the city centre, glancing at the mass of students as they passed but not reacting much. Although, if Lan wasn't mistaken, there was pity in those glances.

He began to feel increasingly nervous about what was waiting for him in the tutorial, but the nerves did little to dampen his determination. Instead, he only grew more and more excited.

Finally, they arrived at the base of the bridge, a surreal experience for Lan, who had never expected to get so close to the thing he hated most.

While others gasped in awe and reverence towards the ancient structure, Lan only felt disgusted. This thing should not have existed.

Chaperones instructed the students to line up along the base of the bridge in a single file. Each of them was told to hold the hand of the people next to them and only step onto the bridge when instructed.

Thanks to its massive width, it was effortless for the almost ten thousand students to line up along the bridge, and in only five minutes, everything was ready.

Behind them, a deep voice began to call out a booming countdown.

[5…]

Lan's heart pounded wildly. To his left, Morgan gripped his hand, his expression a strange mix of anxiety and excitement,

[4…]

On his right, a girl with short black hair and a sword at her waist mumbled a prayer. 'I wish I had a better weapon,' Lan thought.

[3…]

The rope at his waist felt heavy. If he got a rope talent, he hoped it would be helpful.

[2…]

What fucking Talent could you even get with a rope? Scratch that. He better not get a rope talent.

[1…]

In unison, the students stepped forward and up simultaneously. The second their feet tapped the surface of the bridge perpendicular to the ground, they all disappeared, vanishing into nothing.

The second the students disappeared, their chaperones gathered around a large man wearing a pinstriped suit and carrying an ornate cane.

"Ladies, ladies, please calm down," He laughed as he spoke, "I will have time to take everyone's bets, so there's really no rush,"