"Excuse me, wake up," said the guard who saved Trevor. "I have a few things to say about your life and your death."
"What?" asked Trevor.
"You have reincarnated from planet Earth," continued the light-skinned woman. Her left eye was a double lid, and her right eye was a monolid. Your death was merely an accident, I heard."
"W-what are you talking about?"
"You're no longer on Earth," said the woman. You are on planet Gridom."
"Are you an alien?"
"Assuredly not."
"I'll take that as a no."
"What am I doing here?"
"You are in Mage's Tower, one of the holds of the Grihamlands."
"Isn't that the planet?"
"No, the Grihamlands is a country."
"Ok."
"Yes, the reason you're here today is to-"
He was outside the grey room where he woke up. The room was tiny, one where a 5'4 person couldn't stand up or lie down without bending his legs.
He heard a noise coming from a large crowd. Their attention was toward a large stall that was handing out pieces of paper and accepting cards. He walked over to there, pacing around at the back.
A platform moved above him in between the stall and the room where he woke up.
He saw red stains on the hallway's ground and walls. The hallway was below the platform that moved.
He went over to the card station, which looked like a rundown place for horses. He stepped onto the porch and knocked on the door, hearing a man and a woman groaning. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Hello?"
The moaning stopped abruptly, and footsteps headed toward the door. There was a brief silence after the footsteps stopped. Someone sniffed, and then the door opened.
A well-dressed man in his sixties greeted Trevor. "Hello, how may I help you?"
"I need a card." Trevor flinched at a sudden bang far above him.
The well-dressed man was staring the whole time and nodded. "Here you go." He handed him a card with the words "Trevor IIV."
"Identify yourself."
"Why?"
"Identify yourself, and you'll know."
[Human - LVL 3 / Trevor III]
"Thank you. I'll be leaving then to the stall." Trevor gulped upon hearing chains behind the older man.
"Good, a rookie that understands things first time is a good sign." The older man smiled and chuckled.
Trevor gulped, making a forced smile. He walked off the porch to the stall.
The stall bid farewell to most of their customers, but it didn't look close.
He arrived there, card in hand, and meekly asked, "May I have a job?"
"Sure, rookie," said the stallman, taking the card. You look like the understanding type. That's good."
"Why?"
"It's just good," said the stallman, grinning.
A minute later, he handed Trevor the card and a piece of paper.
Trevor hesitated to leave. Why did he take around a minute to give me the paper and my card? He was about to ask, but he's asked so many questions that he might get punished for it.
As Trevor left earshot, the stallman looked into the darkness and said, "He has a better brain than I did."
He read the two lines on the piece of paper:
Trevor IIV
"Acid Chicken"
When he saw no one in the hallway, he felt he needed to hurry. He looked at the signs above the doors. They read as follows: "Stone Chicken," "Bone Chicken," and "Giant Chicken." When he saw "Acid Chicken," he saw no doorknob and pushed it open.
What he saw was a white room with candles all around and chickens in cages. The rooms before used floating bright orbs, and this one used that too.
He saw people everywhere, tending to the chickens. Notably, most of them stayed close to the candles. Those who didn't stay close to the candles didn't hold a chicken and levitated.
"It's time for you to learn your levitations," said a bald man, wearing an apron over a tunic. He even had a coif over his head.
"What?" asked Trevor.
"Sit down and hold your breath. I'll give the word, and all you have to say is 'Nasaan ang mga diwata.'" The bald man waved his hands around as he spoke.
"Ok. I will." Trevor sat down, held his breath, and waited.
Ten seconds later, when Trevor's stomach began moving around, the bald man gave Trevor the whistle.
"Nasaan ang mga diwata."
Trevor's hands felt numb, but his body floated in midair five inches off the ground. Trevor closed his eyes. After a measly four seconds, he fell. The people around him whispered.
"Go on," said the bald man.
Trevor nodded. He saved his breath.
"Nasaan ang mga diwata."
He floated in midair only 2 inches off the ground, and after a few seconds, he fell.
The bald man did a long nod as if to repeat what he said earlier.
"Nasaan ang mga diwata." He floated in midair only 3 inches off the ground, lasting 3 seconds.
The bald man stared at him, his forehead wrinkling. "You can go take a rest now."
Trevor nodded, walking past the people who watched him. He knew he failed but by how much? He watched from the corner. One of the students looked very troubled, but that wasn't the case. She was levitating, and all her expressions were just her way of focusing. Her stability dropped every time her face relaxed.
"Maybe I should try that," Trevor said, resting his face on his hands.
He approached the bald man. "Excuse me. I want to try again."
The bald man nodded and then hesitated. "You may do it wherever you can."
"Nasaan ang mga diwata." He floated in midair 5 inches off the ground, and before he fell, he wrinkled his face. He stayed up for a good thirty seconds, and the bald man saw this. He came over and shook Trevor's hand, and then he returned to guiding another student.
He stared at those who levitated for a moment. Some of them twitched their body in other areas besides their face. He thought applying the face strategy to his whole body might help. "Nasaan ang mga diwata." He floated ten inches off the ground! He clenched his entire body, but he went higher instead. He was 3 feet off the ground. People saw, but he lasted too short and fell to the ground.
The bald man was taking peeks at him, and when Trevor made eye contact, the bald man gave him a thumbs up. His shoulders relaxing, Trevor lifted his head and sighed, nodding his head.
He knew what he had to do.
"Nasaan ang mga diwata." He floated 3 feet off the ground. He toned down the clenching, which made him fall to 2 feet, but he stayed up. After a minute, he slowly fell to the ground. It was inconsistent, and Trevor's bald teacher didn't give him any affirmation this time.
Trevor exhaled and took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and he exhaled slowly. "Nasaan ang mga diwata." He exhaled, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and he exhaled slowly.
He clenched his muscles, but he knew the balance. He flew up to 4 feet! He dropped by a foot when he gasped. He went back up when he exhaled, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and exhaled slowly again. It was his new technique! Instead of waiting for a minute or more, he let himself fall.
Eyes were still on him, and this time, he would make this work.
He repeated incantation, levitated at 4 feet, and lasted 20 minutes. He was competing with the top six, who levitated at around 5 feet and lasted 6 minutes.
Unable to accept this standing, he repeated for the final time, his hands shaking. He took deep breaths, and when he finished, he started.
He levitated at 10 feet and lasted for a minute; nevertheless, he got top 1.
"What the heck is going on?" As soon as he asked, he levitated even higher. "Hello- why am I not going down?" He kept floating upwards until he was 15 feet from the ground. "Are you kidding me?" He floated a foot higher.
"Please don't worry about yourself," said the bald man, laughing joyfully. "I will catch you." He wasn't alone in this. Everyone else who had been levitating went down and came to watch or help.
Trevor became the highest man in this room, figuratively or otherwise. His life turned around three times already. Isn't that enough to go wild?
Why am I Trevor IIV? he thought, looking at his card and paper. Are there more Trevors like me?
"Why am I here?" he asked himself, many hours later, his breath growing ragged. "Why am I here?" he whispered loudly.
"Hey, shut up, will you?" said a voice next door.
"My... bad."
After a few moments, he identified himself.
[Human - LVL 3 / Trevor III]
He had a feeling he wasn't going to be ok. He suppressed his emotions for tonight. He just needed to think.
Back on Earth, in the past, one of the things his father told him was never to forget to brush his teeth. He liked brushing his teeth, but one day, he got sick. He lost his appetite for anything else but sugar. Simultaneously, he found it so hard not to get out of bed. He spent a whole week drinking sugar, eating sugar, and not brushing his teeth once. When he got better, and his sickness went away, he gave his teeth one look, and he knew something was wrong.
It was morning.
"Oh, gosh, I had a strange dream about something. I forgot."
"Better having strange dreams than no dreams at all," said the voice next door.
"I mean, the dreams when you sleep, not the- you know what, no."
He got up, opened the door, and stood outside. He smelled. I need a good, golden shower, he thought.
"You have to pay," said the man in his sixties who gave him a card.
"What kind?"
"Just show me your damn card."
He took his card out of his pocket and showed it to him.
"That's it. I can see it. You have 50 loyalty. Good job!"
"Why are you so nice all of a sudden?"
"What? I like you, that's why. You're a good kid!"
"Uhuh." No chain sounds.
"The shower is right here." The older man pointed at the stall.
"That's where I got my assignment."
"It's at the back. Behind it."
"Ok... should I pay it there?"
"No, pay it right here!"
"Are you lying?"
"No."
"I can't tell."
"You just need to trust me. I keep people in chains because they don't."
"Sorry, no."
"Good job!"
"What-"
"Forget about it." He went inside and slammed the door shut.
The crowd was about the same as yesterday when he went to get his assignment.
His new assignment's location was past the door with the sign "Stone Chicken."
The chickens looked the same as the ones he saw yesterday. They didn't look stony or anything. What? Stone chickens wouldn't be that surprising because there was levitation. I was kidding. I had an anxiety attack. If I'm in a world where levitation exists, I wouldn't want to live in a world where immortality exists! That'd be horrible!
The teacher of the facility asked him to do something else. He had to carry weights, but he had to do it with his mind.
"I can't do this," he said to his bald teacher, who was different this time.
"I will leave you in the hallway if that's what you want."
"I want to learn, but I learned levitation yesterday. I need a break."
"Oh, you're that new achiever?"
"Huh? Y-yes, I think so."
"You can skip this one."
"Thank you. I'll skip it."
The bald teacher left for a moment and came back with a bottle of black ink. He poured all over Trevor. "There."
"Why?"
"You will need it. Now go out into the hallway."
"I'm so wet, though," Trevor mumbled.
He opened double doors, walked through it, and let it close. When it closed, the sound from the room stopped coming. He opened the second double door, and when he did, he heard groaning and the sound of beating.
He peeked his head, and what he saw made him stay back inside.
A moment ago, he saw people who wore a purple and yellow tunic beating multiple bodies in the hallway.
He cried and shivered, his breath so laborious and focused you'd think someone would have joined in on these hi-hats. "I can't do this anymore. Please, someone, help me!"
After spending an hour and a half crying and screaming, he lay down and fell asleep.
I need to get out of here and quick. If I need to do this to get out of here, I will. Trevor's fear stumped his sadness, and his fear carried with it self-preservation and passion.
He walked outside and saw those who had beat the bodies drag them away. He went and walked toward them. "What are you doing?"
Dragging a body, one of them, a woman in her forties, half-smiled. "I don't need to answer that."
"Tell me!" he exclaimed, grabbing the woman by her purple, yellow tunic.
"Since you've passed, Gritch will tell you," she said, turning her head to another one of them.
Grinch removed his mask, and Trevor saw a man as young as he was. Those with Grinch left, one of them dragging Grinch's share.
"I'm Grinch. We punish people who loiter around the hallway during work hours, and by 'punish' I mean 'beat up.'"
[Human - LVL 20 / Grinch I]
"Since you are," he continued, "a passer. You are free to go back to your cell."
"'Cell'?"
"Another word for 'room.'"
"How do you get levels around here?" Trevor asked, leaning against the wall.
"You can join us. You're a passer, after all."
"I can do that now?"
"You need to be top 1 in all the facilities first, but a newbie getting top 1 on their first day is guaranteed to become like us. That's how we all started, after all."
"You all got top 1?"
"Yes, some on our second day, some on the third day, but most of us on the first day. It's a talent thing, for better or worse."
"W-what if they don't like me getting top 1?"
"They won't. When someone passes all the facilities, each of them receives a level. Have you identified them yet?"
"Not yet."
"They're level 10, tops. It gets harder to level past 10, after all."
The next day, Trevor woke up, hearing the faint murmurings of his talkative neighbor. "What are you doing?" he asked.
His neighbor's voice sounded weak at first. "That's-" He cleared his throat. His voice turned clear and confident. "That's a good way of reminding me I'm in the seventh-place now."
"I see. I don't intend on removing myself from the leaderboard. I'll be getting top 1 in the other facilities as well."
"G-good on you."
Trevor walked out, went to the back of the stall, and took a shower. He had fifty of this currency called "loyalty." He spent two loyalty to buy a cleansing potion that he poured all over himself and rubbed it around. He spent one loyalty to shower. He paid by placing his card on a block of stone.
He went back to the stall, took his piece of paper, and went to the "Giant Chicken" facility. What he saw inside was a human-sized chicken. His eyebrows raised and his shoulders tense, he walked to the facility's teacher and asked him what he should do here.
"You have to feed meat to the giant chicken as many times as you can," said the bald teacher.
Are all teachers bald? Trevor thought, heading to the meats were and taking a lump from a basket. He held it up, and it was heavy. When he tried to go within three meters of one of the giant chickens, he stopped.
He looked at the other students who were "dancing." So that's what they were doing, he thought.
He threw his meat at the giant chicken, but some kind of force prevented it.
He turned back to the bald teacher of the room, who was smiling, nodding, and gesturing for him to go ahead.
He pushed through the force zone of the giant chicken, but he felt like a wall blocked him. He punched the wall, and his fist entered by a foot. He tried again, but his hands hurt.
He looked around, his eye hovering over the exit. His fists clenched, his jaw stiffened, he punched the giant chicken's force zone every 3 seconds.
He noticed that for every punch, he reached an inch further.
He identified himself.
[Human - LVL 3 / Trevor III]
He identified someone else.
[Human - LVL 6 / Alyssa VI]
It must be that!
"How do I level up?" he asked the bald teacher.
"You wait until someone reaches top 1 in all five facilities."
"Five?"
"The last one is for leveling up. It's dangerous."
"I passed the 'Acid Chicken'- I got top 1. May I leave to go there now?"
A few minutes later, Trevor arrived at the "Leveling Up" facility.
The facility was ten times bigger than the other facilities. He looked down. Roars and animals echoed. He put his card over a familiar stone that had the words written: "10 loyalty for 300 XP (LVL 1 TO LVL 2)"
He purchased it repeatedly when he realized three purchases weren't enough. At the fourth, he leveled up from LVL 3 to LVL 4. He went back to the facility, his eyes furrowed.
"Did you know this would happen?" he asked his third bald teacher after returning to the "Giant Chicken" facility. He looked at everyone in the room, remembering he never approached anyone. No one looked approachable, and he was more comfortable around authority.
"Yes. Now, punch this person," he said, grabbing a sickly man in his thirties.
"What?"
"If you don't, we'll all suffer as a collective."
"W-what?"
"Go, do it now."
"Now? Why?"
"Hmm. You'll do it later. You may punch me in the meantime. Don't worry. I'm level 10."
"Sure." He clenched his fist, remembering when he punched an aggressive wild dog before he got here. He meditated on the feeling and extended his arm, hitting the bald teacher on the chest.
The bald teacher fell, his eyes wide.
"You have a strong punch, huh?" said the teacher, his eyes flickering.
"My bad."
"It's ok."
Trevor saw hate, sadness, and happiness in those flickering eyes.
I have to do what I have to do, he thought as soon as he left the facility later that day.