Welcome to the Magic Metaverse

"Hah!" Kamari gasped, leaning up to find himself wearing a black tracksuit as he sat up on the top bunk of a bunk bed that he did not recognize.

He looked around to find himself inside an unrecognizable, cyberpunk-styled room filled with technology and neon lights. His eyebrows furrowed, he couldn't remember how he ended up in that place. He just remembered looking at the sunset and being assaulted by some officers in his sleep. 'Right...' He thought to himself. 'I was kidnapped or something... Is this...' Before he could get too far into his own thoughts, he heard the sound of a voice from the bottom bunk.

"Oh, you're up." The young voice spoke in an English accent. Kamari looked down from his bunk, noticing a boy around the same age as him looking back up at him. The boy had short blonde hair, brown eyes, and a young freckled face. The English boy smiled up at him, though Kamari did not return the favor.

"I'm Tom. Tom Bale of New Chelmsford! What's your name, lad?" The boy oddly spoke with enthusiasm, despite being in an unknown place.

"Kamari Yelekal." The African responded as he removed the bed sheets from his body, revealing that he was wearing a black tracksuit with the number '126' on it. He then began climbing down from the bunk bed and Tom continued to speak.

"Where you from?" Tom asked, watching Kamari climb down the bunk bed's ladder before walking over to the large, rain-filled window of the bedroom.

"Eswaria..." Kamari paused, placing his hand on the window and feeling that it was oddly warm for a window that was supposed to be covered in rainwater. "This window isn't real." He stated, inspecting it closely and seeing that it was obviously a simulation of sorts.

"Nothing 'round us is real, mate." Tom chuckled as he propped his hand on his chin. "Welcome to the Magic Metaverse. Our real selves are somewhere hooked up to computers and such."

Kamari turned around rather quickly upon hearing those words leave Tom's mouth. He didn't feel any different, nor did anything in the room seem unrealistic. Sure, the window was fake, as were the plants around him, but that type of technology was commonplace for underground homes in the real world. "How do you know?" Kamari asked the boy plainly as he continued checking around the room.

"My brother was in this competition last year. You get one call to the outside world per day so he told me loads about this place." Tom spoke as if what he was saying didn't bother him, the fact that his brother was in this competition, and the fact that he lost.

Immediately, Kamari was able to recall who exactly Tom's brother was. "Your brother was that guy who got second place, yeah?" He asked the blonde young man.

Tom let out a slight smile, hiding the agonizing pain within him. "Yeah. That's him. Joshua Bale."

Kamari said nothing, knowing that death is all just part of life. 'He didn't stand a chance against the Tsundora kid. He did put up a good fight though.' Kamari said internally, not wanting to say what was truly on his mind to avoid offending his roommate.

There was a brief silence between the two, only being interrupted by a voice speaking into the room from a speaker in the ceiling.

"Participants 125 and 126, please make your way to the Chamber of Awakening."

With a smirk plastered on his face, Tom shot up from his bed, showing the number 125 on his black tracksuit, and looked over toward Kamari. His sharp, piercing gaze of determination locked with Kamari's blank expression as Tom spoke to the Eswarian. "Come on, then."

Without any hesitation, Tom and Kamari made their way to the supposed Chamber of Awakening, walking past the many other dorm rooms as they strolled through the metallic corridors. As they walked, two young men walked side by side past them, one appearing to be Eastern with a black comb-over and the other appearing to be of Latin descent.

As they passed, Tom stared at the Asian boy, making eye contact for just a brief moment before going their separate ways. Kamari saw the whole thing. He looked over at Tom with his eyebrows furrowed, studying his roommate intensely. 'The hell was that?' He thought to himself as he inspected Tom's face, which was now back to his happy-go-lucky expression.

"What, mate?" Tom responded, noticing Kamari's glare.

Kamari wanted to say something and question the boy, but in the end, it didn't really matter so he refrained. "Nothing." Kamari said plainly as the two continued to walk through the corridor together.

Eventually, they ended up inside the Chamber of Awakening, a circular library with a podium in the center. The walls were completely covered with a circular bookshelf that was filled with see-through books and connected in a full circle, only having a gap where the entrance was. Both Kamari and Tom looked around in astonishment due to the sheer size of the library, glancing up to see that it appeared to be an endless cylinder with no visible ceiling.

On each side of the podium, there was a man sporting a black suit and a woman wearing an elegant black dress. Behind their black masks that covered the entirety of their faces, the two waited for the boys to approach them.

"Welcome to the Chamber of Awakening." The man spoke with what sounded like an American accent, bowing to the two boys along with the woman beside him.

Gesturing toward the room's one circular wall, the woman took her turn to speak. Her accent was that of a citizen of Cascade, the nation that was once known as France. "Here, you will awaken your Chronicle."

"Now, 125, place your hands on the podium, palms facing the sky."

Tom, with a determined expression, approached the podium and hovered his hands above it. He looked over at the masked woman and she nodded before encouraging him to proceed. "Go on."

And so, Tom placed his hands on the podium, immediately influencing what looked to be hundreds, thousands, or maybe even an infinite amount of colorless books to fly off of the shelves and begin spiraling around the room. As this occurred, the Cascadian began to speak once more.

"Out of the infinite sky of Chronicles above you, only one will choose you. There are five possible elements, or what we call Natures: Wind, Ice, Fire, Electricity, and Light. These elements are represented in the color of one's chronicle: Green, blue, red, yellow, and white." As she lectured the boys the Chronicles began to return to their slots, leaving only one to slowly open up and delicately drop down like a feather toward Tom's palms.

"Ah, it has chosen you!" The woman exclaimed. "Now, as it touches your palms, it will transform based on your Nature!"

Gracefully, the Chronicle landed in the boy's palms. As soon as his hands made contact, a delicate breeze emanated from the book, gently blowing his hair backward as he looked down at it in wonderment. Slowly, the book began to gain its color, becoming a bright, grassy green pigment, though it was still somewhat see-through as all Chronicles were.

Immediately, both of the masked adults gave him a small round of applause before the man congratulated him with his words. "Congratulations, 125. It appears that your Nature is Wind." With a bittersweet smile on his face, due to him being the exact Nature as his brother, Tom stepped away from the podium before standing next to Kamari once again.

Kamari looked over at his roommate with a blank gaze, though he didn't say a word.

"126. It is time for your Awakening." The man instructed him.

Kamari nodded before walking over to the podium with his hands in his pockets, only to remove them once he was close enough to place his hands on the podium. He repeated what Tom did, compelling the seemingly infinite amount of Chronicles to begin twirling gracefully in the air.

"Just like 125, your Chronicle shall choose you, and your Nature shall be revealed. What will it be? Fire? Wind-" As the woman spoke, a Chronicle had finally chosen the boy and began its delicate descent into the palms of his hands. The woman continued. "Ice? Electricity? Or Light?"

Just as those words left her mouth the Chronicle landed in the palms of his hands, generating a fierce wind pressure to erupt outward from it. Both the man and the woman had to hold on to the podium to avoid getting blown back by the intense pressure, whereas Tom had completely lost his balance and began sliding away from the room's center.

Kamari, standing unaffected by the powerful pressure with his arms still extended, looked down at his Chronicle in astonishment as it began to transform into the color of his Nature. Starting from top to bottom, the Chronicle became shrouded in darkness until the entire book was enveloped in black. The black color was so deep, that it seemed blacker than any black that any of them had ever seen in their lifetimes.

Both the man and woman looked at each other, and though they were wearing masks, it was clear that they were astounded. The rumored secret Nature, the one that had never been seen throughout the Magic Metaverse's five-hundred-year history, was right before them.

"Unbelievable..." The man whispered breathlessly.

"Dark Nature..." The woman muttered in a hushed tone.

The powerful wind pressure ceased and the Chronicle rested calmly in Kamari's hands. The book closed, showing Kemari the half-moon that presented itself on the cover.

Just as how all Chronicles waited centuries for their counterpart to appear, this unique Chronicle had been shelving itself for Kamari since the Chamber of Awakening's conception.

It was his fate.

Their long-awaited encounter had finally come.