Chapter 19: Dorms
Grey ran across the campus, enjoying the exhilarating, freeing scent of the sea. He headed towards the male dormitory; he knew it was the male's as there was a map in front of the reception area.
A short 5 minutes of running later, and Grey stood in front of the dorms. Not a single drop of sweat could be seen on his handsome face, proof that his training had done its job.
'It's rather far, isn't it. Poor kids, the weaker ones must struggle with the distance.' Grey had travelled a few kilometres in those 5 minutes, so he was confused as to how people would get around. If he had looked a bit more, he would have noted the train line on the map, it was just round the corner of the reception area.
He entered the building, and saw a rather nice waiting area. There were white and orange couches, plants in white pots, and paintings on the wall. The decor brightened up the white room, and on the far side was an elevator. Next to the elevator was a large screen.
Grey tapped on the screen, awakening the AI.
//
Place bracelet on screen.
//
Grey followed the instructions, and the machine screen made a few whirring sounds.
SCAN! DING!
With a ding, the machine gave Grey a floor number, and another number, one he assumed was his dorm number.
'F20 R11.' Grey pictured the building from the outside, and counted the amount of floors it had. 'Wait, isn't that the top floor?! I guess I'm doing something right.'
Grey got into the elevator, and pressed the top floor button. As the door closed, Grey heard a voice.
"Wait! Stop the elevator!"
Grey pressed the open doors button on the dashboard, and waited for the man. He watched as the guy pressed his bracelet to the screen, and then got his room number.
"Hello, I'm Var. Var Havek, Elf. I have an affinity to fire and water." The elf introduced himself as he got onto the elevator. He was just a bit shorter than Grey, with ginger hair that matched the colour of his tips, so it wasn't too hard to guess his element. He had blue eyes, a dark blue, opposite to Lucas who had light blue. His face was slightly feminine, but it was obvious that he was male. The feminine features didn't take away from his rugged charm.
"Hello. I'm Grey, Grey Heart. I'm human, with an affinity to Light." Grey introduced himself, and they stood adjacent to each other as the elevator closed. "Are you also on floor 20?"
"Yeah, I got Rank 10! What about you?"
"Mm, I got Rank 0." The teen was a little shocked, so he asked.
"Rank 0? Is that a thing?" However, the answer was less than satisfactory.
"Apparently. By the way, a random question. Can we be friends?" Grey wasn't sure how to make friends, so he attempted a direct approach.
"Yeah, sure! I'd love a friend from the get-go." Var said.
Silence came back to the enclosed space, and soon Grey heard a rustling. He looked at Var, finding that he was looking at his ears.
"Are you OK? Do my ears weird you out?" He asked.
"No, no, not at all. I just... Do you have any elf blood?" Var quickly tried to sort the situation out, but couldn't hold back.
"No. Apparently, it's a mutation. Same with my canines, actually. They are long like a vampire, but I have no vampire blood. Obviously."
"Woah, how cool. You look sick like that." Var exclaimed. 'What one of a kind genes! And he's so handsome. I feel ashamed standing next to him.'
"Thank you." Just as Grey went to say more, the elevator opened.
DING!
As the doors slid open, Grey and Var left the elevator. The hallway had 11 doors, 5 on each side and 1 at the end.
"I guess the one over there is mine." Grey said.
"Probably. By the way, I'm here." Var pointed to the door just to the right of the elevator. "Lets hang out sometime, yeah?"
"Sure. Bye." Grey went down the corridor as Var entered his room. He arrived in front of the door, which had a circular scanner at hand height.
'I guess my bracelet goes there.' He put the bracelet to the scanner, and immediately, the door unlocked.
Click.
He pushed the door open, and was greeted by a majestic sight. On the other side of the door was a 5-room flat. Kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, gym and living room. Or so he was told, looking at the map just on the left of the door.
"Cool."
The door shut behind him, and he went to investigate.
Click.
Before that, he put his suitcase down. 'Fallen Star, I have Space Manipulation, right?'
- Yes. Why? -
'Is it possible to make a pocket dimension for storage? It sucks to carry stuff around.'
- Well, it's possible. But, can you do it? No. It will take you a lot of training to get there. -
'Nice, as long as I can.' Grey thought. As long as he was here, in a private setting with absolutely no-one else, then he could train his other manipulations. Grey had refrained from doing so in front of his family, and he would refrain from doing so in any setting that could get him caught.
His room, however, that was only accessible through his bracelet, was a different matter. He could freely train here.
'Lets look around.'
Grey traversed the apartment, going in and out of each room. The bedroom was spacious, with a king-sized white bed. The kitchen was full of modern tech that fascinated him. The bathroom had both a bath and a shower, and a sauna.
'That will be good for after training.' He thought.
The gym was full of different equipment, all of which Grey knew how to use. He only needed a little common sense to figure it out. The living room was confusing, however. There was a couch that faced the window, with a rug and coffee table accompanying it.
'Why is the couch facing the window.' He sat down, before jumping up in shock.
"AAH! What the fuck!" A massive holographic screen had come out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of Grey. Calming himself down with steady breaths, Grey realised why the couch faced the window. 'So, holograms do exist. They must be expensive. Where did it pop out from, though?'
Grey looked left, right, down and up, before spotting the projector. 'In the ceiling! I see.'
Grey went to his room to lie down. 'Too much shock for one day.' As he slumped on the bed, he remembered something important. 'Oh yeah, let's check out the bracelet.'
Grey lifted his right hand, staring at the bracelet. Tapping on it with his left, a voice suddenly appeared.
"Place the bracelet in front of your eyes." The monotone, female AI voice spoke.
'So cool.' Grey thought as he followed the instructions.
He looked at the bracelet, when a bright white light came out.
"Argh!" The light burned his retinas slightly, but the pain was fleeting, and the wound would heal in an hour or two. He clawed at his eyes, keeping them closed shut. The pain disappeared after a couple seconds, but he still couldn't see. He was blind for a minute or two, but after blinking to recover his vision, his eyes moistened enough, and his sight came back. Except, there was something in the corner of his vision.
"What's this?" He thought out loud, waving his hand in front of the hologram he could now see. It didn't react, and it wasn't until Fallen Star spoke up that he stopped.
- Grey. The machine, it messed with your soul. That's why you can't remove the hologram. This is preposterous though, I haven't heard of any breakthrough in souls research, ever. On any planet, in any galaxy. For this to exist, is... impossible. - Fallen Star's gender-neutral voice came out rather high-pitched, evidence of Its shock.
"We'll have to find out who made it, then. Can you do anything with it?"
- Grey, if you want, I can merge with the piece. - Fallen Star suddenly suggested something outlandish. Merging with the technology that was in his soul seemed far more impossible than planting technology in his soul.
"What benefits would that provide?" The idea intrigued Grey, so he wanted to know the ins and outs of it.
- Well, I would gain access to the AI here, so we could control it remotely. I wouldn't be traced either. -
"That sounds awesome and really useful, but why would I need it... Wait! That's genius! Do it, Fallen Star." Grey realised the potential of the opportunity, both for quality of life and for his training.
- Alright, I'll merge it into me. -
The room fell silent, Grey's exhales clashed loudly with the peace. He was really excited, for the possible uses of this were endless.
- Done! -
"Well then, let's see what the tech does." Grey hadn't forgotten the hologram in the corner of his vision, but the momentary excitement had brought his attention elsewhere.
"Now, how do I control this?" Grey spoke aloud as tried to learn how to use the machine.
Skimming through the words of the hologram Grey realised what it was. "A manual, huh. But it's 500 pages. Yeah, no. Fallen Star, can you sum it up for me. I'll read it later."
- Of course. I'll go through the uses, you can read the 'what to-dos' and 'what not to-dos'.
The holographic screen gives you access to the full functionality of the bracelet, be it your status, timetable, or social applications. To utilise the hologram, just think about it. To go to the home screen, just think about it. To remove the hologram, just think about it disappearing. To make it appear, just think about it. -
Grey thought about removing the hologram, and it faded. "Sick!" He opened it back up, and went through the home screen. Upon seeing a messenger app, he opened it up and put his parent's contacts in. He added Khan's and Sheila's too. He saw another app, one for banking, so he put his details in. 'That's neat.'
"I'll have to get Var's ID, so we can chat." He remembered how he made his first friend, and his heart beat a bit louder. "Man, coming here was the right idea."
"If I recall, school starts on Monday, and today's Thursday. So, I've got 4 days to train and to relax. I also have to go all over the campus. So much to do." Grey dozed off on the bed, excited for tomorrow.
---
An hour later, a knock on the door woke Grey from his slumber. He slunk off the bed, and trudged to the door. Upon opening it, Grey was greeted by a myriad of faces, but one stuck out more than the rest.
An elf with ginger hair and blue eyes. "Yo! Grey!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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forener Uhm, hope you like the chapter. Please enjoy :) And remember.
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