Chapter 1

He didn’t want to leave the warmth of his mother's embrace that started to fade little by little as he was handed to the soldier, his mom with teary eyes made him promise to take care of his sister, crying uncontrollably on his lap as the tumult of their surroundings bustled stronger and deafening. He didn’t want that, he wanted to stay cozy in bed, to watch movies all day while eating the leftovers from the week but his mom had that glance that surfaced just in those moments. “I promise,” Oliver replied.

“And take care of yourself too, Oliver. Be a happy man” she said as their hands detached.

“Mr. Greenwood!” Yelled Mrs. Armstrong. “Are you in the room with us?”

Oliver almost fell to the ground from the startle. Even though drifting away in old memories was common for him, doing it in class wasn’t something he did regularly.

“Of course Mrs. Armstrong, I am” He replied.

“Then you won’t mind answering the question I just asked”

Mike started to laugh at how lost his friend looked, but he laughed a little louder than he expected.

“If you find it so funny mr González then you won’t mind answering the question right.” Demanded Armstrong.

“Mmm, eighty degrees.” Mumbled mike.

Armstrong sighed as she turned her eyes to Alana Smith, who eagerly raised her hand.

“Yes, Ms Smith.”

“The answer is the 13 of December of 2024,” Alana said. “Day in which…”

The bells rang and the whole class, except for Alana, darted out of the classroom. History in the last period was draining.

“If I stayed a minute longer, I would’ve gone into a historical comma,” Mike said as he and Oliver giggled.

Oliver quickly turned back on his GoMindfull and was relieved as the air screens displayed before his eyes. It was beyond his comprehension why despite all of the technological advances they still had to have classes with Mrs. Armstrong in a classroom with zero tolerance to electronic devices.

“Oliver, Mike,” Nina said as she paced with them. “We really need to fix Athena’s arm for today.”

“Yep! I’ll meet you there at 5” Oliver split from the pair and slid down a tube to the lower lever as several ads displayed as he went down.

“Oliii!” Alin shouted as she ran to hug her brother.

Oliver checked if there weren't any classmates around, his sister was the only living being allowed to call him like that and he was totally okay with that but if one of his classmates witnessed that scene he would be scolded for it for life.

“How was school today?” They walked together to the closest vending machine.

“Cool!” Alin jumped as she took a peek at the snacks in the vending before an ad of idol star singer Mayra started promoting her next stage. “It was mostly history today, but it was fun.”

“I also had a whole day of history. Like. Is it crew’s history day or something?!” They giggled before Alin purchased two bags of ranch-spiced pop chips.

Oliver couldn’t help but smile, she always looked at all the options just to pick the same thing every day, it was so cute.

“But. How is Athena going Oli? Almost done?” They went sitting at the Mr.P statue as they did every day.

“Yep! Almost,” Oliver bragged as he knew that Alin loved to hear about it. “I’ll have to go check some details with Nina and Mike at five.”

“Can I go with you, please!”

“Remember what Mr. Zhou is like about unauthorized people in his lab, I don’t want to stain your perfect conduct record”

“Alright, I’ll wait until your demonstration.” Alin said e hizo un puchero.

“That’s my sis!” Oliver replied and hugged her.

Alin was brilliant, he couldn’t allow it to stain her spot at the top of her class. He still felt Alin a little down so he thought of a way to cheer her up.

“Hey. And. What if after I’m done, we have dinner at Zondue?”

Despite the fact that eating dinner outside the common dining hall was considered a big luxury he wanted to treat Alin before he left.

“Really?!” Alin joyfully replied before a sudden stump shivered the floors.

The alarms started ringing.

“WE ARE UNDER IMMINENT ATTACK, PLEASE HEAD TO THE SPINNING ROOM RIGHT AWAY”

“LET’S GOOOOO!!!” Everyone around them started screaming in jubilo. It has been a while since the last attack, the people needed some emotion.

Alin smiled eye-to-eye at Oliver.

“Let’s go!” He said.

People started running towards the tubes heading down to the spinning room, everybody wanted to get the best spot possible since it was quite likely that idol star Mayra was going to host this evening's raid. But the siblings knew a shortcut. As everyone headed down, they climbed the stairs to the mayor’s office.

“Hey, kids! You should hurry if we don’t want to miss our special spots!” Said a tall soldier who was waiting at the front doors of the main administration offices.

“Kazuu!” Alin shouted as she ran to hug the man.

“Long time no see!” Oliver exclaimed as he and Kazu made their special handshake.

“Come on! We’ll be late!” Kazu urged as they sprinted down an empty alley next to the building.

Once they got to the end of the alley, Kazu opened the lid of an old and rusty garbage bin.

Kazu went in first, completely disappearing once inside.

“Alin! Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you,” Oliver reassured her as she stepped back and forth from the bin. “And you’re not going to leave idol star Mayra waiting for you right?”

“Absolutely not!” Alin stated as her brother helped her up the bin.

“It’s just a minute” They both repeated before Oliver let go of her and she disappeared down the ominous hole. Oliver quickly followed but he made sure to put the lid back on the bin before sliding down a ventilation duct as lights from the floors beneath streaked through the joints of the metal.

Once he landed he crouched next to Kazu and Alin, who were waiting behind a panel that opened to a massive room filled with stationary bikes.

They waited until the first attendees reached the frontmost row to sneak into the third row. That was the best spot in the whole room, in Oliver’s opinion, as it allowed them to be close to the performer while giving the best overview of the scenario.

Alin let out a squeal of excitement before the lights went out.

A moment later the room bathed in lights of all colors and holograms started hovering around the crowd.

“WHO’S READY FOR TONIGHT’S ATTACK!!! The presenter voiced as the crowd roared in excitement. “AND WHO’S READY FOR THE GREAT IDOL STAR MAYRA!!!”

The multitude went even crazier, it was such a lucky thing having that year’s raising artist hosting a raid, the youngest to ever hold the title of idol star.

“HEY AMELIA, MAKE SOME NOISE!!!” Shouted a tiny woman who jumped from under the floor of the stage. The people went frantic once they witnessed the one and only idol star Mayra. “And who’s ready to kick a zkwish’s ass?”

“WE ARE!!!” The crowd replied.