Chapter 1: Where the heck am I?

Whitewashed walls coupled with a single vase that rested on a nightstand by the side of my plain white bed and a singular doorway that reached far to my right.

This was the scene I woke up to.

"Heaven must have run out of furniture or something."

Placing a hand to my cheek, I immediately felt a jolt of pain confirming that I was still alive. The bruise from that ungodly punch was still there, and now I am trapped inside an unknown location, being held for God knows what reason.

I want to scream for all the wrong intents and purposes… But if those actions would keep me trapped inside, then maybe I need to think about this for a second.

"To sum it up… I got stabbed by a hobo last night, almost died, and got whisked away by a bat lady with anger management issues… Not to mention the part where I almost bled out… Wait, I should be bleeding out, right?!"

Realizing what had just happened, I pulled up the torn-up fabric from last night's excursion, only to see nothing, just a scar that reminded me of the pain from last evening. My eyes widened like saucers from the thought of having healed that fast, although I could probably guess that it was something from that lady.

"Then… how could I escape? I-If there were monsters like her around here, surely she isn't one of the best. Maybe it was my fate that I should die like cattle?"

Cold sweat lined my brow when I thought of the scenario, even my hands felt like freezing up as they shuddered at the thought of being killed for sport or game. My heart couldn't stop beating at that point, and so as I feared for my life, a cinder appeared from my hand.

Huh?

The cinder quickly burst into a large flame, engulfing my palm as the fire lapped against my skin.

"IT HURTS! G-GET THIS FIRE AWAY FROM ME!!"

I flailed my hand in the air, slammed it against the wall. I even attempted to dip it in the flower vase that had some water in it but to no avail. The fire simply crackled when I splashed it with the liquid, and from it burst a blue flame, hotter than the one before it.

However, at the worst moment of my life, the door to my room slid open like an elevator hatch, revealing the bat lady from yesterday and a new lady who wore a rainbow-colored hoodie.

"P-Please… save me, but don't come near me! I will hurt anyone who tries to kill me!"

I huddled close to a wall, backing off as I put my blazing hand forward. It quickly became an asset despite the pain I felt when I was using it. After all, it was kill or be killed in this type of scenario.

The girl with rainbow-colored hoodie let out a sigh, shrugging her shoulders as she entered.

"Hey, didn't I just say don't come near me! I will burn you!"

The lady never replied, instead, she opened up her mouth, releasing what sounded to be a lullaby. Small particles of light danced around the room, and soon my eyes felt heavy, my body felt limp and just like that, the flame on my hands dissipated without a hitch.

"Quit panicking, Cora and I aren't here to hurt you."

"C-Cora?"

The lady in the hoodie shot a glance at the bat lady who simply looked away. It was as if she avoided my gaze for some odd reason that even I don't know the answer to.

"W-Where is this? Why did your friend punch me? M-My hand, it should have third-degree burns by now!"

"Look at your hand first, you moron. After that, calm down and maybe we can talk."

Following her advice, I raised my hands to eye level, and soon enough, my body was shaking as I slowly moved my hands away from me.

There was no burn, not even a trace of singed skin, just the fresh pain of fire engraved in my head.

"How?"

"If you are interested, you can always come with us, seeing that you are already awake."

"But… how can I be sure you wouldn't kill me?"

The two women shared a glance with one another which ultimately ended up with the hoodie girl letting out a long-winded sigh.

"Look, I don't know what she did, but you can take my word for it. I mean, did she even try to attack you?"

"You know I would have hurt him if he attacked you."

Hearing the words of the black-haired hell-raised anime bat girl, I decided to raise my hands in the air and surrender myself, walking over to the exit.

"Seeing the pinch that I am in, I need no better threat than that of physical violence. Take me where you want to take me!"

The woman, who I presumed was named Cora, cocked her head to the side. A stark contrast to her appearance yesterday, she wore a black sweater and a pair of black leggings.

Her black eyes glossed over me, letting her shoulder-length black hair fall gently to her right as she cocked her head to the side, brows slightly raised.

"Come on, come on, lighten up a bit my dude. The name is Adria by the way, and what's yours, your name I mean?"

The woman who wore the hoodie named Adria had brown-colored hair that spanned up to her shoulders. The two were similar to each other, with one being abrasive and silent while the other stayed pure, innocent, and outgoing. Typical anime, wait…

Does this mean I'm the comic relief character?!

"P-Pyre… the name is Pyre."

I sheepishly scratched the back of my head as Adria giggled. The woman held my wrist pulling me out of the room alongside her as the door closed behind us much like a leaving train.

This was how my journey as a potential ransom victim started.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come on Cora, aren't you excited to visit the training areas?"

"I am. You just couldn't see it."

Unbeknownst to her friend, Cora who was walking beside me rolled her eyes when she heard her statement. So I decided to play along with poor Adria who had a huge smile on her face that reached both her ears.

"Y-Yeah… sounds good Adria. What are we going to do there anyway?"

Adria jumped a bit when I addressed her and a visible blush spread across her face.

"Well, we are visiting one of the greatest fighters and assets our company has!"

A drop of cold sweat rolled down from my forehead.

"Shouldn't we find the boss first or something? I mean, I'm even registered or anything yet… "

"That can wait for later. Xion is busy at this time anyway!"

Hmm, Xion, I am keeping note of that. It seems like that is the name of their leader. Although Cora didn't seem too happy about her chirpy friend's remark.

"Adria… Stop bugging Pyre with this. He is right you know. A new member should be examined by Xion before anything else."

"But we can visit Robert first, right?! Please, pretty please?"

Cora just looked away as Adria let out a loud cheer. The hoodie extrovert bounced around like a ball that overdosed on sugar as we continued our walk… or should I say run?

The crazed rainbow woman grabbed both me and Cora by the wrists before yanking us through the hallway at a breakneck pace. We carried on, never stopping until we reached the entrance of the training area. Adria had a dumb grin on her face, Cora had a huge frown on hers, while me? I felt like I was a fish pulled out of the water as I gasped for air. It has been years since I seriously ran and so my lungs felt like they were being punctured by a thousand needles.

"Slow… Down… Fricking heck…"

I leaned against a wall, still sucking in all the oxygen I could. Cora on the other hand just rolled her eyes before slapping Adria on the wrist.

"You made me sweaty…"

Adria just raised a brow

"Eh? Is there something you had to do?"

"It's a special occasion today… s-so just shut up and don't make me run anymore…"

Cora replied, looking away with a beet-red face. The hoodie girl on the other hand had a huge grin when she saw how her friend acted. It seems like I found my resident jerk. Hope we get along well.

"Sure~ well, let's get inside shall we?"

Adria pushed the doors open as the light flooded our eyes. That woman just stared at the scenery inside, Cora looked to the floor, and I burnt my fricking eyeballs. With a loud yell, I made myself known to everyone in the room.

"AGH! It bloody hurts!"

I stood there nursing my eyes as numerous murmurs echoed around me. A soft hand gripped my wrist and just like that, we walked to god knows where. After a few moments, I managed to open my eyes, finally seeing the scene around me.

What I expected to be steel walls with dirt turned out to be so much more. It was a huge landscape. There were trees, grass, dirt, waterbeds, and small lakes. There was even space to fly up past the canopy that gave the trainees shade, being coupled with a glass roof that protected them from the rain. The sun served as the stadium lighting, bathing the entire scene in a luminous glow.

I was currently standing on what appeared to be high-rise bleachers that were at least higher than the trees found inside. Glancing at my hand, I was surprised to see Cora holding my wrist despite her small stature. Although, I do wonder how she managed to yank me despite our obvious height and weight differences.

"Thanks for dragging me, Cora."

"It was nothing… It's part of my responsibility as a member of this institution to keep you safe."

"I see… but thanks anyway! I'm really glad that I got to go on this tour with you!"

Cora let go of my hand, scooting further away from me and closer to where Adria was. I just shot a smile to the bat girl, but somehow, I felt some of my facial muscles twitch ever so slightly. Maybe it's the prospect of setting flags like a video game. Perhaps it's the thrill of at least feeling appreciated by someone. Ah! I don't know anymore, all I know is that something feels off.

I let out a sigh and shook my head from side to side before moving closer to the bleacher, about three to four seats away from Adria's group. From that distance, I heard some snippets of their conversation.

"Hey, Robert! Had your meal yet?!"

"Adria, I already told you not to worry about my meals…"

"Hmph, but I insist!"

Wait, meals, What hour is it! How long was i out?!

"Tone down your voice Adria…"

I took a few seconds to see Robert who had hazel hair, black eyes, and a slightly tan complexion. He seemed to be wearing something along the lines of a construction student but instead of tools, he had rocks. Since I didn't know him, I really didn't care for him. So I opted to stare at someone who did interest me.

Little Cora sat beside the three, fidgeting for some reason? Oh well, not my problem! I learned that the hard way by being approachable! After that, I kind of zoned out as a guy with bird-like wings emerged from the canopy, complete with a sword and some light armor. He flew close to the roof with widened eyes and a grimace on his face.

Then from the canopy emerged tons of different attacks ranging from flames that easily pierced the leaves to blades of water that cut through the foliage as if they were paper. The man weaved, dodged, and ran from the said attacks and when he did end up surviving, he let out a loud cheer.

"I did it, you can't catch me now punk!"

But like a major red flag, a figure emerged from the canopy almost obliterating it in the process with numerous leaves, rocks, and branches being carried into the air as she took flight.

The new player was a girl sporting a bright blue school uniform. She had long flowing hair that reached up to her back and soft fluffy animal ears that adorned the top of her head. The man let out a loud shriek when she saw her, and the woman answered in kind to his terror.

With a simple flick of a wrist, the woman knocked the guy out with a tornado that emerged from her palm. The man fell to the undergrowth and with a huff, the woman moved closer to the bleachers

"Wha… V-Video game! That thing should only be possible in a video game!"

The girl's ears twitched and before I knew it, her blue eyes were already glued to me. She moved closer and sat on a vacant seat beside me. No one really talked, but a lot of people certainly looked on, Cora, Adria, and Robert included.

Did I already mess up without even being introduced to their head?