Chapter 2

# Year 2108, September 24th.

Heartbeat slow, he could hear it pumping. Pitch black all around, with nothing but a rhythmic beat of the chest. The darkness soon faded, he was seeing bright colors now. Bright Orange's, Magenta's, White's, Yellow's, Green's, and Blue's. The dark had faded, he was seeing stars now. His heartbeat was barely audible over a conversation that arises from the brightness. All of those colors were chatting and seemed to have a good time. There was so many to keep track of, some of them was flying around and picking at each other while others would remain still and dormant. However, soon enough, the colors would fade back into blots in his space. The darkness had returned afterwards, but it wasn't a true dark. Somewhere, a piercing line of light had gradually marched through it's center vertically. It marched and marched, moving forward without a second thought. It would never halt for anything, always keeping at it's own pace that seemed fit. The one thing that could eventually stop it, was only itself. The line had been marching for so long, it went around the darkness and came back to it's origin point. However, instead of stopping, the line had gone straight through itself, almost in a fusion. It's intensity had become much more harsh, not completely blinding but hard to see through. The line seemed to twitch and shutter outwards, almost in response to something. The more this light would open up, the more he would want it to close again. Eventually, he understood the position he was in. The light wouldn't stop expanding unless he intervened, so there was only one thing he could really do against an inevitable force like this. Kala had opened his eyes.
Kala was in his bedroom, fully awake. His body was hot and close to sweating from being under all those layers of fabric. He pulled himself out of his sheets, and fixed it back up into a tidy fold. The temperature hadn't changed, he was seemingly under the heat of a desert. Kala looked around to find a closed window, preventing new air from entering. He came up to it, seeing the sunrise and an evening sky. It had layers of orange and lavender, without clouds to obstruct the view. The window slid open, allowing the morning to pour into Kala's room. The breeze had almost blew him away with a mellow scent. Only now had Kala realized that he wasn't in his sleeping clothes. It didn't matter much to him, a quick wash was all it needed. Kala left his room to start the day fresh. He changed into his next set of formal clothing and threw his current in the washer. Kala came into the bathroom to greet the same person from the morning before. His face was more recent than it was from yesterday, perhaps Kala saw him somewhere but couldn't remember when. Faucet on, water splashed against his face in an attempt to rid any un-wanted visitors on his face. Drowsiness rid of his Kala's body. Brushing his teeth and cleaning his hair, Kala quietly reflected on his recent dream. So many colors, so many events. There was a calmed beach, with children playing and dancing while their parents observed and remarked on their behaviors. Meya, a friend of his had woke him up in that dream, and encountered an entity after a terribly timed late-night trip to the mall. Only being saved by a heroic person named Greyson, detaining the monster and keeping them safe. He asked if they were alright, to which both of them answered positively, and put them to sleep after gathering enough information. Afterwards, the flares and dances of colors had ensued in his final dream sequence. The colors sparking out as a dark force covered them, to be struck through by a piercing light that finally let him open his eyes and see the world left for him. So much to happen in one magnificent and long dream sporting colors and flashes to entertain the mind. Kala turned off the faucet and put back his brush, cleaning up before heading downstairs and waiting for the others.
Kala entered in the living room to a bewildering sight. On the living room couch was Harthy, and she was reading a book titled "2552 Notes". She hadn't noticed Kala right away, but soon saw him observing from the staircase.

H. "Gosh, fancy seeing you so late. Heheh."
K. "Late? David hasn't even woke up yet."
H. "Nope, he's actually-"
David emerged from the door that led to the garage with a wrench and screwdriver in hand, and walked past the two into his room.

H. "How ironic.."
K. "I'm assuming Meya is also awake, right?"
H. "Wrong again, she's still snoozing away in her room. Surprised she hasn't gotten up either, considering how much energy she has."
K. "I swear, It must be opposite day"
H. "You gonna eat? There's some extra breakfast burritos that David brought home with him."
K. "Sounds like breakfast to me."
Kala got his burritos and waited for Meya to awaken.

H. "Hippo"
K. "What?"
H. "Hippo."
K. "Are you calling me a hippo?"
H. "Think about it, Hippo."
K. "Hippo, alright."
H. "Did you hear it?"
K. "Hear what?"
H. "There's two p's in hippo, but you only hear one p."
K. "That's because the p is silent."
H. "But it doesn't have to be silent, right? Silent letters exist to distinguish different homophones, and there isn't a Hippo with one p, but there's a Hippo with two p's in the dictionary."
K. "You're a weirdo, you know that right?"
M. "I think she does.."
H. "Ah, look who's late."
M. "Late? David hasn't even woken up yet."
K. "That's exactly what I said when I woke up."
Their car horn honked loudly, with David in the driver's seat.

H. "Man, he's on a roll with the timing today isn't he?"
M. "Let me get dressed real quick, I'll meet you two in the car."
K. "You're not going to eat?"
M. "There was a plate of food on my desk when I woke up, I ate that before coming down."
H. "Must've been David, we'll see you in the car."
Kala and Harthy both exited into the car, Harthy taking up the passenger seat. David was listening to a police radio, detailing some reported vandalism. David sighed before turning to the both of them

D. "Who left the car at the mall last night?"
H. "Huh? Someone did?"
K. "That's strange, I don't remember the car wanting to go shopping."
D. "So, none of you?"
K. "Probably not. I don't think any of us could've drove the car to the mall, get past the gate, leave it there, and walk all the way back here on purpose."
D. "Is that so? Nobody hotwired the car's ignition, I just checked this morning."
K. "Harthy? Are you here or just staring into space?"
H. "Of course I'm here. I'm only going to listen because if I say something then you two will just come at me."
D. "So you didn't take it out either?"
H. "Nope, you know I couldn't make it half-way to the gate without losing control."
K. "I think this is best left un-explained before someone starts pointing fingers."
D. "Alright, we wont mention this ever again."
K. "Yep."
The house door flew open with Meya running out dressed and with her bag. She hopped in before the car had taken off to the city.
M. "Lordy, I'm so sorry about that. My alarm didn't go off when I woke up."
H. "You're fine, If we get good traffic then we'll be there in no time."
M. "I know but I still want to apologize even if we're early."
H. "We already know you're sorry, you apologize about everything."
M. "That's just because I make plenty mistakes"
H. "Mhm, Sure sure."
K. "Hey, isn't today orientation?"
M. "It sure is, everything we'll need to know about university life is going to be explained today."
K. "It may be the last time university is explained too, no falling asleep."
David snapped his fingers and pointed forwards, the city gate was coming up
M. "That fast? We're here already?"
H. "Here we go, don't get arrested somehow."
Kala, Meya, and Harthy all gave their wristbands to David with the gate coming near. David stopped next to the reception and handed the receptionist their wristbands. The gate opened and David began to move forward, before it came back down with a slam. The receptionist called them back with an ambiguous tone.

K. "What's going on, huh?"
S. "I should be asking you folks the same thing. Are any of you using someone else's wristband?"
M. "I sure hope not, why do you ask?"
S. "Apparently, a "Kala" and "Meya" had already entered the city last night, they didn't exit through this gate or a different one."

David straightened up and glared at the two.

H. "Oh really? The two in the back are actually Kala and Meya themselves."
S. "Alright, got any proof of that?"
K. "I have my driver's license, here."
S. "One down, what about the other one?"
M. "Oh, I don't have one actually-"
S. "Look, you're legally required to show me evidence of your citizenship. If that's not available then there's nothing I can do."
H. "Meya cmon, you need to have SOMETHING in that bag right?"
K. "We might need to drive back home, but that runs the risk of not making it to orientation in time-"
M. "Here here here, my student id should be enough proof right?"
S. "Give me a second here. Yup that's the one. Sorry about that, we had a rookie running this gate last night, must've done the scan wrong or somethin.."
H. "You're fine, now could you open that gate?"
S. "Yes of course, here you are."
The gate opened up after a quick event of peril. David finally pressed on the gas and into the city. Kala sighed of relief and looked at Meya. She was more confused then worried about what just happened. She looked at Kala and shrugged with a baffled expression. It seemed like Meya was thinking the same thing, what's going on? After about a minute of driving, the group was facing a big metal gate leading down a path that almost sectioned itself off from the city. The gate was black and metallic. It's entrance was wide enough to fit two people in and through to other side. The gate and it's walls was wireframed in a way, with gaps in between the support big enough to fit your arm through. There was trees surrounding the area, tall enough to obscure people walking down but short enough to see the buildings ahead. There was a parking lot in front of it with very little cars parked within. Most people in the city lived close enough to the university that they could walk there instead of drive. The concrete and paving remained the same, with leaves flying around small cracks in the pavements. David parked into the closest stall, and gestured to the rest of the group to head out. All 4 of them got opened the gate door with a slight creak, and began walking down the path.

H. "The design here isn't very coventional, but it's a neat cinematic."
M. "Ehh, it gives off a creepy vibe. Reminds me of that one killer from 2012 that lived in a forest like this."
H. "Oh! You mean the tall guy dressed in black, with multiple arms and pale skin?"
M. "Yeah you heard of him, what was his name again, Stabbing man or something?"
H. "I think it was called the, "Slainder" man, right?"
M. "Yeah the Slainder man! He would leave 8 pages for their victim to find before he kills them."
K. "Thank god that was dealt with, wouldn't want to run into a giant in the middle of the forest."
H. "How about Giant buildings, huh?"
K. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Harthy pointed towards the University they had just arrived in. The trees opened up to reveal the mass amounts of buildings, students, pathways, and much more. To the left of them was the cafeteria, decked out with two floors, a set of tables for open eating, and a mini bar equipped with fancy but appropriate liquids. The inside had room for about 300 students to eat in, and even more room on the second floor. The buildings in the middle all appeared to be classrooms of sorts, all bunched up together to make for convenient travel. The walls were painted white and roofs painted bright orange, to fit in with the logo of the university. Each room distinguishable from the rest, having a unique shape and height for each type of subject. Behind the classrooms rested the dormitory. The dormitory consisted of 4 floors with a monstrous amount of dorm rooms, practically one for each student. The elevator was oddly outside the building to the left side, with big glass walls and iron framing. The same color scheme from the classrooms could be seen on the dormitory. Far behind the dorms seemed to be a faculty section. Rooms back there were more simple and compact, with some rooms having multiple floors to boot. It was no bigger than the dorms in the case of rooms, but made up for it in size. To the right side was the auditorium. Most students were found gathering up at the entrance waiting for orientation to start. The auditorium easily dwarfed the other buildings. Almost the size of every building combined, it was designed to hold tons of students with room to spare. It had a dome shaped body and roof with the white-orange color scheme present. There was about 20 steps leading into the auditorium's entrance all sectioned off into thirds. These entrances was twice the size of a normal human fitted with a double door setup. The place had seemed almost, ancient, in a way.

H. "Hello? You there? We're going now."

K. "Huh-huh, what?"

M. "You're just standing there, David's already left for the auditorium."

K. "Then let's catch up cmon."

H. "You was just sleeping why are you so-"

K. "Oops?"

The three caught up with David who was leaning on a wall waiting for them. He was right next to the end of two massive lines that manifested while Kala was daydreaming. Students one after the other would present their id to a scanner on the side of the entrance door and make their way to a seat they saw fit. The two lines took up space on the staircases leading up to the auditorium.

K. "David, you left us behind?"

David nodded his head and pointed to the third-unused section of stairs, then signaled the three to follow him.

H. "Whateva you say, anything to skip that line."

M. "Are you two blind? That door isn't even open!"

A person waiting behind the pillar, supposedly staff, held their hand out to David and received his wristband. They then scanned his wristband with the door opening afterwards, granting David access to the auditorium. Before heading in though, David stopped at the door and gave a small wave to the three. A signal to come with him.

K. "That sells it. Meya it's probably a part of the program, don't worry."

M. "Sheesh, didn't know we could just skip this and let the other people eat our dust."

Kala began walking up.

K. "Think of it this way, if we skip the line now then people who would be behind us don't have to wait as long."

M. "That's not entirely true but whatever then, fine."

Meya followed.

H. "Thank you sir! Sorry about the two down there, they stayed up a little too late last night."

M. "Lordy we get it, don't have to tell the whole world about it."

Kala turned over his wristband for the scan, a little bit of time passed before it was handed back to him. The man looked at Kala in the eyes with a smile.

G. "Have a nice orientation, next?"

Kala stumbled back slightly, shocked, and waited with the others for Meya. The man said the same thing after scanning Meya's wristband, and turned away from the four to wait for new students approaching.