Arrival - Chapter 5

“So, if you would consider me for your team, I’d be grateful.”

“Sure, I will,” Eric replied with a forced smile. “See you later.”

He locked the door before slamming his head against it.

“How many is that now?” Connor called.

“Seven today. About a hundred overall.” Eric dived on the sofa.

He let out a heavy sigh as Connor patted him on the back, saying, “There, there.”

After Eric had spoken with Kiara, she had followed him back to his room, saw where he was staying and then told everyone that she feasibly could which room he was in.

Since then, people had been knocking on his door for the past week at all times of the day.

“Why did Kiara have to go and tell everyone?”

“Because she discovered the gold mine that is teasing you,” Connor said, stifling a laugh. “And I’ve got to give it to her, it was a brilliant idea.”

“It’s tiring enough having one of you in my life.”

“I’ll bet. Anyway, it’s not like you have to keep answering the door, you know. Just pretend that you’re out, or I can say that you are instead.”

“But that would be rude, and what happens if someone we really wanted to be on our team came along and then we didn’t answer the door for them?”

Connor stared at Eric. “Has that happened once so far?”

“…No.”

“No. Still, we have a good foundation for a team already, don’t we?”

“Yeah.”

Including himself, Eric’s team had five members: Connor, Kaida, Ajax and Kiara, and they had until the end of the day to find four more. If they didn’t, then the rest of the slots on their team would be randomly filled by those who either hadn’t joined or been invited onto teams, which could end up being a disaster.

It wasn’t just a matter of if their personalities clashed; if their powers and abilities didn’t work well in a team then they wouldn’t stand a chance in a real fight. Worse, the team’s members were unchangeable for the next five years, meaning that they had to fill their team with good members, and fast.

Unfortunately, Eric didn’t have anyone else that he could think of who he wanted to join his team.

There had been a few standout people from the hundred or so people who had come up to him over the last week, but he could barely recall their faces, let alone their names. Kaida, unfortunately, didn’t have any friends at Ferris to ask to join their team, neither did Connor or Kiara. Ajax’s sister had also joined Ferris this year, but she had made herself a team a few days ago.

“I can’t believe that you let Kiara join our team though after what she’s put you through. Is it because she’s pretty?”

“No,” Eric denied.

“It’s part of the reason.”

“It really, really isn’t.”

“Then, why do you look so embarrassed?”

“Shut up. Kiara is beautiful, but that’s not the reason.”

“I’m convinced. Truly. Completely. Utterly. Convinced.”

Eric let out a weary sigh, causing Connor to laugh.

Then, someone knocked on their door.

“Ignore it,” Connor said. Another, much louder, knock came from the door. “Don’t open it.”

“Ya damn well will!” A deep, American voice shouted.

“Oh shit!”

Connor ran into the bedroom and Eric hurried over to the door. He opened it and found Spike, smiling, starring daggers at him and a thin black aura around his body.

“Yo, mornin’, kid,” Spike growled, pushing past Eric. “Where’s the other one?”

“Definitely not hiding in the bathroom.”

“He’s right, I’m not!” Connor’s voice broke.

“Blondie, get your ass out here,” Spike called, leaping onto the sofa and planting his boots on it.

“If you want, you can go and drag him out of there.”

“Screw you, Agrim!”

“I’m not mad and I’m not going to do anything either,” Spike reassured him. “Kas told me about your situation.”

“Even the Head Mistress knows what Kiara did?” Eric asked, defeated, slumping into the other sofa.

“Could’ve been a hell of a lot worse, kid.”

Connor poked his head out from the bedroom, an awkward look on his face and he waved at Spike. “How’s it hanging?”

“Mind getting me a soda while ya up?”

“Preference?”

“None.”

Connor grabbed a random can and tossed it over to Spike, before seating himself beside Eric.

“So, why are you here Spike?” Eric asked.

“Still on guard around me, not that I can blame you,” he muttered to himself. Spike popped open the can and took a big swig. “I stopped by ‘cause Kas said you guys were still short four members, right?”

“Yeah. I take it you have some people in mind then?”

Spike smiled, reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He tapped on it a few times and brought up a series of pictures.

The first was of a girl with long pink hair and violet eyes.

“Jasmine Delana, one of the best gunslingers in the year.”

The second photo was of another girl with silver hair tied in pig tails and white eyes.

“Laila Chaaya, a Necromancer assassin who teleports through shadows. An unusual, but very powerful skillset.”

The third was also a girl, with short blue hair and red eyes.

“Evony Alma, a tech archer. One of the best shots and smartest girls in your year.”

“Hang on a second,” Connor interjected.

“What?”

“You just said that both of those girls were some of the ‘best’ in our year, right?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

Connor folded his arms. “How the hell do you know that?”

Spike shot him a look and leant back in his seat. “You don’t think they make an effort to figure this sort of stuff out? That test you guys did in the gym was closely monitored by all the teachers and some pro Guardians, and the entire event was recorded. Everyone made notes of things like your mana levels, magical ability, fighting prowess, equipment and all sorts of other things to build profiles of you lot.

“Also, the school gets access to all of your previous school’s records and achievements, and they use all of that to figure out what kinds of people you all are. Obviously, these test ain’t full proof and can be unreliable, but they make for a good base line. As you go on through the school, they’ll throw more tests at you guys and will update your profiles as they go but, for now, the information I’m going off is the rough data. Make sense?”e

“Sort of,” Eric replied.

“So, you’re saying they’re the best at the moment?” Connor asked and Spike nodded. “Sounds unreliable.”

“Deal with it, kid. Moving on.”

The fourth and final image was of a girl with green eyes and blonde hair.

“Elthia Soparta, one of the few healers in your year. Shouldn’t have to explain why you need her.”

Spike put it back in his pocket. “So, what do you think?”

“I had hoped that you’d have backups in case we can’t get all four of them,” Connor mumbled.

“You don’t need to worry about that. Each of them has their own reasons for not joining teams yet, kid.”

“So, what makes you think that they’ll join our team when we ask them?”

Spike grinned. “A hunch.”

“Well, I think these four sound great,” Eric said. “Spike, do you know which rooms that they’re staying in or where I could find them.”

Spike shook his head from side to side. “Sorry, kid, but asking for that kind of information invades privacy, but.” Spike reached into his jacket pocket. “I have their Student ID photos for reference.” He pulled out four printed photos of each of the girls. “That’s the best I got, I’m afraid.”

“Sounds like we’ll be camping out in the lobby all day then,” Connor said with a weary sigh. “What a pain.”

“I’ll head out and see if I can find them around the campus,” Eric said. “Connor, Spike, could I ask you two to wait in the lobby to look out for them please?”

“Why do I have to wait in the lobby with him?” Connor protested.

“Because I know you and you’d just get bored and walk off. And I imagine Spike’s no different.”

“Hey!”

“No, he’s right,” Spike admitted.

“I’d rather not,” Connor replied.

“Meh, I’ve got nothin’ else to do.” Spike stood up and grabbed Connor by the shoulder. “Come on, kid, let’s go.”

“Wait! At least let me grab my phone!”

Despite Connor’s protests, Spike successfully dragged him from the room and slammed the door behind him.

Eric couldn’t help but laugh at his friend’s desperate plea.

After checking that he had his phone, Student ID and room key, Eric left his room, locked it and made his way to the leisure area of the school.

***

The leisure area was much larger than Eric had anticipated.

Surrounding the busy centre courtyard were lines of small shops for everything and anything that Eric could think of and, directly in the centre, was a large shopping centre about the size of the Windsor in the city.

There were large supermarkets, game centres, and a cinema as well surrounding it.

“One of them has to be here.”

Even though he said that, Eric had no idea where best in the area to look for any of the girls. For all he knew, they could all be here but in separate buildings. Still, he had to start searching somewhere and the best area to begin, in his mind, was the shopping centre.

Once inside, he checked one of the maps in the centre and winced when he saw that there were eighteen floors of shops inside.

After an hour’s search, going into every single shop on every floor, Eric hadn’t even caught a glimpse of one of the girls. Defeated, he parked himself on a nearby bench and caught his breath.

Still, now that he was back on the ground floor, he could at least watch the entrances and exits for a sign of one of them.

All he had to do was be patient.

“What if I miss one of them while I’m waiting here?”

After a few minutes of observing, he spotted a girl leaving the centre with distinctive pink hair and Eric jumped into action.

He quickly walked after her, nearly losing her a few times in the crowded streets as she slipped between groups of people. Without warning, the girl suddenly vanished and Eric could no longer see her, not even when he caught up with the crowd she’d moved through.

“Damn.”

Then, without warning, he was forcefully grabbed from the side and thrown into the alley that he had been stood next to. Before Eric could get his bearings, a silver gun was aimed directly at his face and he felt his body tense up, paralysed by fear.

Normally, an eighteen-year-old in England owning a firearm would be unheard off. However, as Guardians in training, the school had permitted them to carry weapons on them at all times in case something happened and they needed to defend themselves.

Eric, however, had completely forgotten that rule when he decided to stalk this Guardian in training.

“Why have you been following me?” The girl demanded.

She was dressed in a casual shirt and shorts, and her long pink hair was tied in a ponytail down her back, leaving her violet eyes on full display.

Even with the scowl on her face, Eric could tell that she was a natural beauty.

“Um, are you Jasmine Dalena?” Eric nervously asked.

“And what if I am?”

“Well, I was looking for you because I wanted to talk with you.”

Jasmine let out an irritated sigh and holstered her pistol at her lower back. “Not interested,” she said, beginning to walk away.

“Um, are you on anyone’s team?”

She stopped. “No.”

“Would you-?”

“Why would I want to?”

“Well, that’s-”

“If you don’t have anything, then I’ll be off.”

“My name’s Eric Agrim.” Jasmine stopped again.

She spun on her heel to face him. “Who?”

I guess my name isn’t as famous as I thought, Eric noted.

“I’m a God Armour user and I heard-”

“Which God?”

“Lucifer.” Jasmine looked at him in disbelief. “No, really, it’s Lucifer. Anyway, I heard you were a skilled gunslinger and I was wondering if you wanted to join my team.”

“Lucifer? Really?” She sighed. “Why would anyone with that much power want to join up with me?”

“I’ll prove it to you.”

“Prove it then.”

Eric collected himself and stood with his legs slightly apart, slowly breathing in and out. While he hadn’t ever transformed again ever since the first day, he could still remember how he did it.

The command that he gave his own body, the power that answered and how to call and control it.

Eric body began to glow with a soft black aura and moments later his body was encased from head to toe in his Armour.

“Wow,” Jasmine said, smiling. “I didn’t expect you to be for real.” Her smile faded. “Did you really mean that you wanted me to join your team?”

“Yeah.” Eric dismissed his Armour. “Do you not want to?”

“Well, let me ask you this: why did you pick me?”

Eric looked confused. “Why? I told you why.”

“Tell me again.”

Eric didn’t understand why, but Jasmine had a deadly serious expression on her face and Eric couldn’t help but tense a little under her stare.

“Because I heard that you were a skilled gunslinger,” Eric repeated.

Jasmine looked over his face, then his body, whilst in deep thought for a few moments, before nodding to herself and smiling a little.

“I get it. Fine, I’ll join your team, Eric.”

“Thank you, Jasmine.”

“On one condition. You have to let someone else join the team too.”

Ah, this might be bad.

“Who might that be?”

“Elthia Soparta,” Jasmine said to which Eric let out a sigh of relief. “What?”

“Well, it’s just, I had already planned on asking her to join the team.”

“Oh really?” Jasmine smiled again. “It seems that you’ve done your research, Leader.”

“Leader, huh?”

“Should I not call you that?”

“It’s not that. It’s just that I’m not used to it. Do you know where Elthia is at all?”

“At the campus library next to the main school building. Do you need me to show you where it is?”

“No, that’s fine. Well, I look forward to working with you, Jasmine. Could we exchange contact information please?”

“Yeah, sure.”

The two of them pulled out their phones and swapped phone numbers.

“Right, well, I’ll see you later then.”

“See you later, Eric.”

***

“Two hours of searching and I’ve only found one,” Eric mumbled, stumbling through the park.

Even though it was almost autumn, the temperature was unexpectedly hot, causing him to build up a bit of a sweat. On his way through the park, he spotted a vending machine and bought a cooled fizzy drink from it. He quickly scanned the area for a free space to sit but there didn’t seem to be any space anywhere.

Without a better option, Eric walked over to a lone tree near the lake and sat against it. He felt refreshed as he sipped from his drink.

Eric tilted his head back and let out a small scream.

A black shadow was hovering over him, hidden between the tree branches.

“Wh-What? Who are you?”

The figure titled its head. “Did I scare you?” It was a girl’s voice.

“A bit.”

The girl nodded before pouncing out of the tree, rolling as she hit the ground and pivoting to stare directly at him. She had silver coloured hair tied in pig tails, leaving her face and hauntingly beautiful white eyes on full view. She was wearing casual clothes which, despite the weather, were all black from head to toe, including a silk scarf that hung loosely around her neck.

Eric also couldn’t help but notice a dagger held in a sheath strapped to her lower back and he wondered if she would be as quick on the draw with it as Jasmine had been with her pistol.

Is everyone on this island paranoid, or is that a sign of someone who’s been in this world longer than I have?

“Am I that scary?”

“No, but it’s scary to see a black figure staring down at you from above.”

“I wasn’t staring. I was observing.”

“How is that any different?”

“Staring involves suspicion. Observing involves interest.”

“I-Is that right?”

Another weird person.

“Anyway, I didn’t expect anyone at Ferris to like climbing trees.”

“I do.”

“Um, why?”

“It’s quiet,” she said, and Eric couldn’t help but smile. She titled her head again. “What is it?”

“It’s just nice to meet someone else who likes some quiet time to relax,” Eric said. “What’s your name?”

“Laila. You?”

“Eric. Wait--”

Before Eric continued, he reached into his pocket and pulled up the picture of Laila which Spike had given him.

She looked exactly the same as the girl in the photograph.

“Is your name Laila Chaaya?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Um, Laila, are you part of a team yet?”

She shook her head.

“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to join my team?”

She nodded.

“Really?”

She nodded again.

“Please stop nodding and say something.”

“Okay,” Laila said, with a nod.

Eric sighed. “So, you’re okay with joining my team just like that?”

“Yes.”

“Right, well.” He stood up and brushed down his back. “I look forward to being on your team, Laila.”

Eric held out his hand which Laila lightly shook, nodding.

Before Eric could walk away, Laila lightly grabbed his shirt and tugged on it a little.

“What is it?”

“Are you using photographs to find people you’re interested in joining your team?” Laila asked. This time, he nodded. “Show me them.”

Eric handed her the other girl’s photographs and Laila quickly looked over them. She stopped on Evony’s and held it up to Eric.

“I saw her this morning heading to the training area,” she said, handing back the photographs.

“Really? Thank you so much, Laila,” Eric replied, lightly jogging away. He stopped and turned back to her. “Sorry, almost forgot, but could we exchange contact information?”

She nodded.

***

When Eric entered the training grounds, there was only one student at the archery range and dozens of arrows planted into the distant targets.

He couldn’t help but notice that most of the arrows had landed within the 8 and 10-point regions of the targets.

Another arrow soared through the air and landed perfectly in the centre of the bullseye, causing the girl who shot the arrow to fist pump the air. She had short blue hair, red eyes and was dressed in a smart white shirt and black skirt, a quiver filled with arrows strapped to her back and a leather brace on her left arm.

“Nice shot.”

The girl faced him and smiled. “Thanks.”

She walked towards a table with her bag on it and rested her bow against it. “Have you come to practice yourself?”

“No, I’m looking for someone.”

The girl took out a sports drink from her bag and took a small sip of it. “Need any help finding them?”

“Actually, I was looking for you, I think.” The girl cocked her head a little. “Evony Alma, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Evony answered, offering out her hand. “And you are?”

“Eric Agrim,” he replied, shaking her hand briefly. “I was-”

“Agrim, as in the kid with the Lucifer God Armour?”

“Yes.” He rolled up his shirt sleeve, presenting his scar to her. “I can transform if you don’t believe me.”

“No need,” Evony said dismissively with a wave of her hand. She put her drink down and picked back up her bow. “I made sure to pay close attention to everyone of significance at the induction. You really stood out like a sore thumb.”

“That was mainly because of Kasmine,” Eric mumbled under his breath. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you were a member of a team yet?”

“I’m not.” She pulled out an arrow from the quiver on her back and knocked it against her bow. “I take it you want me to join your team?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm.” Evony drew back on her bow and took careful aim at a distant target. “Why?”

“Why?”

Evony loosed the arrow and it landed right in the centre of the target. “Why do you want me on your team?”

“I’ve heard, and now seen, how skilled with a bow you are, and I think that you would be a good member of my team.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him, looking at his profile, before turning back to the range. “A God needing the power of an archer, huh?” Evony laughed a little.

“Is that not a good enough reason?”

“It’s not that.” Evony spun around on her heels to look at him, smiling. “Just, unexpected is all.” Evony looked into his eyes once more and nodded slightly. “I think I will join your team, Eric.” She held out her hand again. “Good to be working with you, Leader.”

Eric smiled. “Thanks for joining, Evony.”

He held out his hand and they shook hands.

“As you’re here, do you want to spend some time training together? I know some CQC if you want a quick one on one without using our weapons.”

“Maybe another time. I’ve got one more person that I need to ask to join our team, and I don’t want any broken bones, so I’ll see you later.”

“Okay but, first, let’s exchange phone numbers.”

The two quickly shared their contact details with one another, before Eric dashed off and Evony resumed her practice.

***

The Ferris Library was gigantic, to put it lightly.

The building itself was just as large and grand as the shopping centre, only with less students roaming around it. Hundreds of rows stretched across over ten floors encompassing all genres and areas of study, all with bookshelves that nearly touched the ceiling. There were many people in the library studying at tables alone or in small groups, a lot were reading by themselves throughout the building, and both students and staff walked up and down the rows.

It’s amazing how quickly I’ve gotten used to the feeling over being overwhelmed by everything at Ferris.

As much as Eric loved to read, even he thought that a library of this size was ridiculous.

Even if I came here every day for twenty-four hours, I wouldn’t be able to read half of these books.

Now, the question became where would he be able to find Elthia?

He texted Jasmine, asking what genres or types of books Elthia read, but even Jasmine herself admitted that she didn’t know.

Elthia likes reading anything and everything, Jasmine’s text said. As long as it catches her interest, she’ll read it. Oh, she also doesn’t have a mobile phone, so I can’t reach her from my end.

Then, she sent a much shorter text afterwards: Good luck.

Eric laughed quietly and put his phone away.

Knowing that his best bet was to just look for a small blonde girl, Eric began his long trek through the library’s rows, searching for her.

It only took him ten minutes to find her.

Sat at a rectangular table by herself, Elthia Soparta was reading a heavy book and had a small smile on her face.

She was dressed in a short jade dress that was cut off above her elbows and just above her knees, with a silver tiara sitting on top of her head, making her eyes look like sapphires beneath it. The exposed parts of her arms and legs were decorated in beautifully woven black tattoos in the shapes of various plants and wildlife.

I’ve never seen someone with natural tattoos before.

Unlike the tattoos that were intentionally drawn onto people’s skin, natural tattoos were those that people had been born with that granted them unique magical abilities which varied greatly. Usually, you wouldn’t necessarily be able to tell what someone’s tattoos were capable off until they used them but, given how Spike had mentioned Elthia was a healer, Eric could guess what she was capable of.

Eric walked over to one of the nearby bookshelves and picked up a book that he had already read before, The Mahabharata, before walking over to her and sitting near her.

Elthia reflexively jumped, shifting nervously in her seat as Eric shot her a small smile.

He began reading the book and Elthia anxiously returned to reading her own book. Eric had a look at the cover which read The Age of Demons - The Rise and Fall of Darkness. Elthia noticed him looking and slowly brought the book up to cover her face.

“Sorry, I was just looking at what book you were reading. I haven’t read that one before.” Elthia gradually lowered the book from her face. “Is it fiction or non-fiction?”

“…non-fiction,”

“Is there anything on the Waste Walker in there?” She titled her head to one side. “Have you not heard of him?”

“…no.”

That’s…surprising.

The Waste Walker was commonly taught in history lessons at schools; Eric first learnt about him in primary school.

Thousands of years ago, during the Age of Demons, the Waste Walker had been one of the Great Demon Kings of the world, a powerful, blood thirsty and merciless Demon who burnt and conquered most of Europe and Asia. Eventually, he was killed by an army of a thousand Demon Hunters, almost all of whom lost their lives during the fight.

For someone their age to not know about him was rather strange.

“Would you like me to tell you about him?” He offered.

“…no thank you.”

Eric held up his own book to her. “Have you ever read this?” Elthia shook her head. “It’s a very good book about a war which claimed over a billion lives in a battle that lasted less than a month.” Elthia’s interest piqued and Eric smiled a little. “A war of Gods and men and, at its centre, warriors of great power. Would you like me to tell you more about it?”

Elthia looked at him shyly, and suspiciously. “…why are you talking to me so much?”

“Well, I had come here originally hoping that you would join my team, but I didn’t think that you would just join a stranger’s team,” Eric confessed. “Your friend Jasmine asked me to join, but I wanted to make sure that you were comfortable talking to me first. Sorry, if it seemed like I was lying to you.”

“Jasmine asked you?”

“Yeah.” Eric took out his phone and showed her Jasmine’s text. “You can call her if you want to make sure.”

“…that’s okay. If Jasmine says that she’ll join your team, that’s enough for me.”

“Okay then. Thank you, Elthia, and I look forward to working with you from now on.”

He offered her his hand, but she held her book in front of her face in defence.

Eric let out a small laugh and smiled. “See you later, Elthia.” He put his book next to her. “When you’re done with that, this will definitely interest you.”

He then took his leave, leaving a slightly confused and embarrassed Elthia to her reading.