Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Plan of survival
"Welcome to this new, unfamiliar world…."
"You pathetic bunch….."
The voice was timid and low, yet it was anything but soft. Behind it was a malicious intent, the tone that wants to kill, the kind that takes pleasure in other people's suffering.
My gaze followed it to its source, my eyes drifted off and I marveled at the beauty of this holy place, we were on a room covered white tiles and marble like pillars filled to the brim with patterns lined upon by precious gold, on top of all that, the roof was open, exposing the vast, and beautiful, fairytale-like blue sky.
There, on the very top of a pillar, stood an enticing beauty; the aura of captivation she emitted signified that of a divine being.
Even Eiji was entranced, but he is not stupid, he knows as well as I do, that anything beautiful….
Especially at that level, is equally dangerous…
Eyeing each and every one of us as she gazed into our faces, she smiled as she gained her desired reactions.
"You all may think that this is some sort of rebirth because you were chosen-" she started, delivering a tone full of arrogance and spite.
"Second chance at life? Well you're not wrong, feel free to think however you like, struggle as you please, that makes it all the better, but…"
I bit my lip as I had a hint of what's going to happen next, so I followed my instincts and pulled Eiji far away from her while staying under the radar.
Surprised and confused at my sudden descision, he gave me a look of "Where are we going?"
"Away from here, run when I give the signal" I gestured.
"What about the others? Are we going to leave them behind!? Don't mess with me Haku! You know as-well as I do that-"
"I know how you feel, but if we all get captured, then who will save the rest? Think about it? Why did she revive us if she wanted to kill us, she can't directly interfere with our lives otherwise she'd had eradicated us on the spot"
I stared into his expression with a firm complexion, signifying that I have no intention of backing down.
"Alright…, take the lead!"
Sighing in defeat, he agreed to follow my plan and we waited patiently, this was all a big gamble, because minor mistakes could kill us and doom the rest of the group.
"We don't need trash like you! Hero? Don't make me laugh, your powers aren't even worth mentioning"
Her loud voice echoed across the room, filling everyone with fear.
I was prepared to run with Eiji when the moment comes, so we waited patiently for an opening.
"Now then, let's get rid of you pollutants, begone you filthy worms!"
She glared at us and a bright light started swallowing our classmates, taking this as a signal to run, Eiji and I made it far, but the door to the exit was locked and we got swallowed in as well.
Our gamble failed, the worst case scenario is about to unfold, what awaits us in this cruel animosity?
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The next thing we knew, we were in a forest, everything looked normal and fine, except the trees seemed unfamiliar.
Everyone groaned as they fell, face planted on the floor, sighing heavily and grumbling at their current situation.
As I stood up, a shot of pain went through my body and nearly caused me to lose my balance, it was only then I heard the group's mumbles and realized how dire our situation truly is.
"Why is this happening to us?" a guy questioned
"It's always been like this, why won't they give us a break!" a girl yelled in anger.
"What do we do now!" someone yelled in fear.
"We're done for! We're gonna be monster fodder!" someone else followed.
"Hey, if any of you find a way back to earth, tell my family I love them okay?" a girl wept.
"If worst come to worst, I'll be a decoy" a guy volunteered.
His peers hugged him. "Don't say that man! We won't leave you!"
"Hey… don't say stuff like that okay? don't set up any flags man" a girl consoled him.
'This isn't good, the situation right now is out of my control, this is insane!'
I panicked, for the first time in ages, this was one of the few where I genuinely felt distraught.
'If it were only me, or Eiji, this would be a whole lot easier'
I clutched my fists, it disgusted me that I even made the thought of that idea….
'But what can I do?'
I let out my voice to talk to the group: "Guys! Calm down…. No one is getting left behind, remember our camping punishment? We've known worse"
We've lost count of the many times our teachers abandoned us on our outings, in our school we were often left behind because our class was the lowest section, after being through those horrible situations, we've gotten so used to it that we've become a pack, attached to one another, we couldn't leave the other behind.
We didn't care as long as all of us work together, but this time…..
We were faced against a bigger hurdle, one quite possibly the most dangerous of any kind.
"Yeah…. Hey, if Mr. Collins put us through hell, this should be no problem, right?" a guy tried to ease the mood.
"Everyone, follow me, bring out your knives just in case, our main priority is finding a safe area, we can hunt for food later once we become more accustomed to our surroundings" Eiji encouraged us to move forward, taking the first steps cautiously.
"Just like the usual huh? Like always, it's us who gets the bad luck" a girl sighed.
"Hey what's this?" a guy went near a bright orange plant that garnered his interest, and went near it without any thought…
"No! Stop! We don't know what it-" I yelled as flames sprouted from its petals…
Making it in time, eiji and I barely managed to pull him away just before the fire caught his clothes.
We managed to avoid getting hit, but that awakened the rest of the sleeping plants of the same kind, they started sprouting fire one after the other towards our direction…
Driving us off deeper into the forest...
Barely able to catch our breath after a mile of running, we laid down and sat on the flat grass, it was safe to stand on at-least…
"I'm never touching a blazing peashooter ever again" he winced.
"Yah, no shit Sherlock, if this was a horror movie you'd be the first to die, haven't heard of curiosity killed the cat?" I mocked while making a laugh of desperation and relief.
"But hey! At least we get free camp fire amirite?" he joked and we all laughed…
Then my smile vanished when a sudden nerve hit me.
This was bad! Out of all the places, the forests are the most dangerous right now, because where there is a forest, there is an ecosystem, and where there is an ecosystem…
Especially in a place where all sorts of dangerous creatures exist…
"Roar!!!!!!!!" Just as my worst fears indicated, a loud screech was heard in one of the trees.
There are predators!
"Everyone run!" I yelled., loud and desperate.
Like our lives depended on it, we sprinted as fast as our legs can take us.
The moment the sound was made, we ran full throttle, however, luck wasn't on our side.
The mysterious plant life got in our way, vines came out from the trees and restrained us, but we easily got out with our knives, that however... was just the beginning as several mishaps followed…
A flower that would release a huge blow of air when startled blasted us, a flower that froze the ground once trampled on made us slip like clumsy people on skates…
There were traps everywhere, it was like we triggered the entire forest alarm system., it was then that I realized, whatever hunts in this forest is intelligent, it uses the natural plants as its alarm system to catch and trap its prey, meaning we were in big trouble.
In less than a minute because of everything slowing us down and the deadly traps almost ending us, we were instantly surrounded, if we tried to run, we'd be dead, if we stay put we'd be dead, there was no option left for us.
Big horns, red skin, buff bodies, the face of a bull and the body of a man... it haunted us with its weapons, cutting off our escape route, worst of all... it wasn't alone.
The Minotaur like creatures began their formation; they wielded their blades and rotated in a circle to begin their hunt.
There was no turning back, we were about to become fodder!
In a split second, one launched at me, I tried to dodge but it was too fast, yet as fearsome as it was, it suddenly stopped in its tracks.
I took a look closer and noticed that its feet were frozen in ice, then I glanced at Eiji who was pointing his hands at the creature, baffled, confused and amazed at the same time.
"Haku- what did I just do? Is this my power?"
"Probably" I mumbled, too nervous to reply, I stumbled backwards and moved away from the creature.
"Awesome! urgh!" Eiji suddenly started losing his balance and found it hard to stand.
The sound of breaking glass was heard when eiji became weak.
Realizing he could be a threat, the creatures backed away from their frozen companion and created distance from eiji.
As the ice started to crack, Eiji yelled at the creature. "Freeze!" and it stopped again.
Yet, try as he may, nothing is sure to last...
As the ice melted, it let out a cold mist, it caused confusion amongst the Minotaur and broke their formation, using this as an opportunity, we escaped, I carried Eiji over my shoulders since he was weakened from using it.
Running and climbing, tired as we are, we still managed to make it far into the higher grounds, but we werent quite lucky as one managed to follow us.
And as if fate was toying with me, I tripped, and the creature took this opportunity to jump at me.
I yelled out every magic word that came to mind in order to save my sorry ass, but nothing happened.
"Why is nothing working, is it because even in this world, I'm still a weakling?! I'm gonna die at this rate! This is so not fair!"
"Freeze!" Eiji used it again and fell to his knees.
"Stop you dumbass, if you keep using it you'll collapse!"
"Go! Use this to escape! I can't hold it for long!"
My eyes caught the glance of a small tree; grabbing my neck tie, I pulled out a vine from the tree and started tying it to the ledge of its root.
"Hey sucker! Come at me bullhead!" I threw a rock and provoked it. Instantly it charged towards me, at the last moment, I jumped out of the way and narrowly avoided the tackle, its foot got caught in my trap and the vine got released which caused the tree to flung the monster into the sky.
"Eiji! Freeze him!" I yelled.
At my signal he froze the Minotaur and it fell to the ground and shattered.
Light enveloped Eiji and a bell klink sound was heard. The light remained for a while on the tip of Eiji's left toes before it vanished.
"We did it! Hah! We survived!" everyone cheered as there was no monster in sight; we finally managed to escape to a safer section of the forest.
"How do you feel dude?" I asked.
"I feel…. Better somehow" he replied.
"Maybe you leveled up?"
"But I don't see messages, nor stats, much less an inventory"
'You wish... that'd be too good to be true" I bickered and laughed with him.
I looked around and everyone was tinkering with their abilities, while I was the only one helplessly left without any, so I took my space and put a little distance between me and the group.
Without warning, three guys came up towards me. I recognized them, they were notorious bullies at my school, our class was the lowest and we often get picked on, the three of them was put on our bus by pure coincidence since the higher class occupied the other ones, so they ran out of space and had to share with us.
"Hey there shut-in, why aren't you using any magic?"
"Maybe he doesn't have any? Like the loser he is"
"Even in a different world you're weak! Pathetic haha"
I smirked at them.
"Heh, now I know the sole reason the goddess abandoned us, it's because of trash people like you who can't do anything but be an egoistic jerk, a shame I can't refute her for calling our group filth since it's partially true"( I know that isn't the case, but seeing their reactions were priceless, it was well worth the effort*smirk*).
Why was I stupid to provoke them you ask? Well because the rules have changed, we're not the powerless ones now!
They tried to throw magic at me but Eiji stopped them, like the quick witted and reliable friend he is...
"Freeze! If you try anything funny, especially to my friend, then be prepared to be a nice Popsicle."
"Word of advice, don't touch my classmates, don't think that we've forgotten how you treated us back in school, we're willing to work with you until we get out of here, but don't push your luck, and specially my buttons"
That's right! Even if we were cruelly thrown into this unnerving farce, we were finally given the choice to fight back, and we weren't gonna waste it.
"Hey, hey, we're cool right ice guy? we'll leave you alone now"
Sensing the threat, the three backed off and my classmates surrounded Eiji while they thanked him, as always, he's the popular guy, but I didn't mind as long as he's my friend, and that everyone is safe…
"Okay everyone! I'll tell you about my ability, I expect you to do the same guys, same old stick together plan like always"
One by one they started to elaborate their skills…
"My skill allows me to cast explosions, but as I try to make them bigger, my heart rate goes up and it gets harder to breathe" one guy said.
"Mine makes a barrier, but it takes a huge amount of concentration to cast one, also the wider I spread it over an area the thinner it becomes" -another guy.
Simply put, I remember every single one of my classmates face and their names, but I'll stick to classifying their abilities with genders for now in retrospect for easy tallying.
"I can put pressure into anything I hold or touch, but the stronger I make it the more my limbs ache"-girl
"I can manipulate plants, but I can't use them as senses, also the bigger the plant the more my stomach hurts"- girl
There was too many to tally so I won't go into further details, let's just say majority of my classmates had skills that were only good for minor damage, most were maneuvering skills, like double jump, far dash etc, basically our team were fit only for distractions and support, not combat.
The only ones with offensive abilities was eiji, to my surprise those three douchebags also had combat related ones.
As for the 4 that first announced their abilities, they're in between the two.
"Haku are you-" Eiji came by looking worried, I tapped his shoulder and went to sit down on a tree after making my list.
"I don't know 'bout you, but I'm beat, what'd yah say we set up camp here for the night, ey leader?"
We went through the trouble of intentionally provoking the fire plant and made use of its natural fire, though it was quite the stupid idea even though it worked.
"Leader?" he smirked and brushed it off as he told everyone to set up camp. He had people take turns taking watch while I tried to think of what to do next morning.
I put down the list of our necessities and went to sleep.
[Plans For Survival]
-Hunt for Food tomorrow
-Prepare portable storage
-Pick up firewood
-Make weapons
-Transport
-Find possible civil places
-Make everyone's magic stronger
-Navigate our location
-Have everyone's cooperation
-Make do with what we have.
Thinking about it, the goddess took everything we had except for our bags, clothes, ropes, pens, kitchen knives and flashlights.
Everything else including our phones, headsets, food, pocket Wi-Fi, money, necessities, weapons(tiny firearms for defense cause our parents are paranoid due to the frequent abandonment play)
Maps and navigation tools were also taken away.
'She had no intention of letting us live from the beginning huh? wait a minute! What about the teachers? Then again if they weren't with us they were probably taken by that bitch goddess'
We could care less about them!
It's our life now, and our rules!
I decided not to overthink and went to sleep.
*In his dream*
"Quickly! Go to the police while you still have a chance Haku"
"But Tsukagi nee-san!"
"I know what you're thinking, we've been family for only a year, there are things that I wished I could've shown you, places we could've been, thinking about it now, we might've had a bright future, but mine ends here, and yours would be unclear…."
"If it's like that, then wouldn't it be better to die here? Together? What's the use if everything has to be by chance? It might not even be worth it, besi-"
"But please listen to me, even if it isn't favorable, I know that you're not the type to bet on chances, but please have a little faith okay? The future you'll have will only end if you no longer decide to move forward, if you keep on going, then you're bound to have your desired one, Now go!"
As I ran away with tears filled in my eyes, I heard a distant gunshot, but I didn't stop, I ran as fast as my 10 year old body could take me.
The shoes I wore tightened on my foot, it squished so hard that I thought I would bleed, my left side hurt like hell but I could care less, it didn't matter if I had to crawl my way, the only thing that mattered was to survive.
I made it to the police station and the men were arrested, Tsukagi nee was found dead in the alley later on, her funeral was held the day after.
Feeling empty, I locked myself in my room where I loathed myself, "If only I was stronger back then! If only I decided to do something! If Only!-"
I went out of my room to see my parents having a casual dinner, sitting there unfazed like nothing happened. Anger filled me with so much hatred that I let out my voice.
"You! Tsukagi nee was killed and you both act like nothing happened! Tell me! Did she mean nothing to you?! Answer me!"
They put their hands on their mouths to cover their face and hide their laughter.
They may look like dignified people from the outside, but don't let their disguise fool you…
They're devils that wore a mask to blend in, making sure their target doesn't know a thing as they make use of them through manipulation.
"Well, she's not an heir to our company, so she's nothing important" They both said in unison.
I glared at them with all my hatred; I didn't utter a word, without saying anything, I went to my room.
"I'll make you both pay! I'll let you know what it's like having your life toyed with!".
At that night, I've set my goal for the first time, out of hatred and despair, I would complete it without fail!
"You'll pay for killing someone I love!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone