Eidolon Earth: Candidate Author

[COME ON SOLDIER, PUSH THROUGH!] the Archive motivated me

“Twelve” I calmly said while rising, though my trembling arms betrayed me.

Enough!The meaning arrived in my mind.

I sat up straight. The snow white girl handed me my water bottle.

I chugged it down like energy drinks from my previous life.

[Day of Torture: 40, Total Cellular transformation Completed: 56.7%] the archive noted

[Evaluation of the Updated Training Regimen: Extremely Effective]

I looked at the snow white girl who was now training in the middle of the ground, the displaced air flowed like a cooler I hadn’t paid for.

She still looked unreachable. Whenever she moved, her image blurred and instantaneously appeared somewhere else creating a torrent of wind.

[Stop staring or keep doing if you want more ‘GUIDANCE’]

The word guidance made a chill go down my spine.

For the past two weeks what I have been going through is definitely not training.

“But come to think of it, only because of her strictness I could make such a progress” I said while eyeing the numbers.

While I talked to the Archive, I saw her coming towards me. One second she was at the other end of the stadium and other second in front of me.

[Definitely ‘Must have been the wind’] the Archive commented in pure disbelief.

You haven’t left yet? She meant to ask.

“Tomorrow is a weekend, so I thought of stretching the session a bit longer today” I said.

Children should go to bed early. She meant.

“Look who’s preaching” I said with a smirk.

She glared at me.

You are a general admission candidate right?

“Yes” I said

She sat on the edge of the long wall separating ring and spectator seats.

Why did you apply to come here? There must have been several other good options to live a good life. She looked at me.

“Well most of the credit goes to the fact that I didn’t had long to live if I hadn’t come here” I said.

She kept quiet letting me speak.

“And a part of me was greedy” I admitted shyly.

Greedy?

“I wanted to explore the world” I said while looking at the stars.

“But never knew it could be so beautiful” I added.

Beautiful? Say that after you survive a Fog event She seemed to say.

“Will see about that” I countered.

Tell me about your preparation days She asked

“About my preparation huh?”

We talked for quiet sometime, mostly me reciting the story of my library days that how Rao would appear always at the exact time I needed his guidance like a coincidence.

How Megha would sometime order extra tea to assist a tiny young boy to study more.

How the spirits of surplus stationary would bless me whenever I would be in a turmoil.

I didn’t mention my home only that I lived with my mother who was a daily wage worker in a dye factory.

Then how I had gone to the written exam center with nothing but expectations and a tiffin.

What about the interview? She asked

“The interview was the most memorable part, as far as I remember, the panel were Mrs. Diksha Sen representing academy, Mr. Kenzo Hayato as External Observer and Mr. Mikhail Orlov Volkonskaya of the Zarya Consortium.” I said.

Her expression changed, first time as of what I have seen.

Did he do something? She asked.

“He showered me with his killing intent” I continued “Asking if the others tried to take advantage of me what would I do? If others thought that I was a bug they can take advantage of, then what I would do?” I recounted.

What did you do?

“I said that if they tried to take advantage of me or my fellow humans” I stared in her eyes and declared in the same way as I had done on the interview room “ I’d teach them that I didn’t come to beg”.

[Her POV]

I saw the boy packing up and go, but I decided to stay.

I gazed up at the sky and some old memories of December resurfaced.

Moscow was covered in thick snow, but nevertheless looked as energetic as ever. The sky was dark with clouds threatening of downpour at any moment.

The houses and streets were adorned with colorful lights and happiness.

In the center stood the Royal castle, a mix of grey and red narrating it’s own myth.

In one of its rooms, there stood a dining table set up with delicacies common people would never even see in a life time.

Servants stood behind chairs each.

The sounds of glasses and plates along with chitter and chatter filled the room with liveliness.

“And do you know after that- “ said one of my cousins.

“Oh my, Is that so?” my mother curiously asked auntie who was sitting beside her.

“Big sister tell me more stories” my younger brother tugged at my friend’s sleeve.

But everyone quietened down the moment he stepped inside the dining hall.

Mikhail Orlov Volkonskaya, my grandfather, the chairman to one of the top guilds of the world. The Zarya Consortium and also someone from whom anyone would want words of recognition.

He was a man of sheer discipline and tradition.

A man of no shortcuts and someone who hated nonsense to the core.

He sat at the head of the table. Servants set up his plate, filled his glass. My younger brother who was very young didn’t know much etiquette so he asked.

“Grandpa, I want to hear a story” my younger brother said with expectations. Everyone stopped, my mother glared at my younger brother and reprimanded him.

“Grandpa is very busy I will get you a story book later” She silenced him.

“No, I want to hear it from grandpa!” my little brother pouted.

At that innocent display of disobedience my grandfather smiled. He set his fork and knife aside and said.

“I may not be able to tell you a good fantasy story, However I can tell you about my experience while interviewing candidates for Institute of Inter World in India. Do you want to hear?” He asked.

“Yes” my little brother descended from his chair and ran towards grandfather’s chair.

Grandfather took him in his arms and told him lots of stories about interviews and his travels.

We all listened together, for half an hour and in between that somewhere, my brother fell asleep.

A servant came forward and carefully carried him back to his room.

Other servants replaced our food with warm food that had cooled off.

“Were there no candidates that caught your eye?, your holiness” my cousin asked.

“No” a straight answer.

We were about to start our meal

“But there was one-” he continued

“Who glared back” he calmly recalled his eyes in a trance.

My father choked on a piece of food and my big brother accidently lost the hold of his fork.

“Who dared to-“ my cousin was about to stand but grandfather’s next words came as a greater shock to all of us.

“He came from a nameless district from an insignificant city, his mother was a daily worker. He didn’t even attend a middle school, yet he sat with confidence in an oversized coat with such a small stature.” He kept going.

“His left lung was almost destroyed, medical reports said he had almost an year to live. At first he made a lot of mistakes but corrected them in the first attempt when pointed out.”

Grandfather looked up, everyone was listening to him with full concentration

“I-…let out my killing intent on him to see his true nature underneath all of his wordplay.”

We all held our breaths, even those old battle hardened commanders trembled under grandfather’s killing intent.

“W-what did you get?” my big brother asked, scared but curious.

Grandfather said in a simple unceremonious tone “A dragon in lizard’s skin”.

I hit my fork two times on the plate that made everyone turn their faces to me. Then I made some handsigns.

What was his name?

Grandfather opened his mouth “Arin Valen”

“Achoo, Present Sir” I shouted at my name being called out for attendance while running in a mandatory physical fitness drill.

[Someone’s missing you? Cause you have been sneezing a lot today] Archive suggested.

“Maybe mother? I will call her later in the evening”

[Karmic Coins Obtained: 550] Notification popped up.

“What was that for?”

[No Idea Sherlock]