Chapter 22: The Outsider
"What's your name?"
Alex asked, his voice getting closer.
"I'm Kaiden, Kaiden Lain."
Alex seemed happy to learn more about Kaiden, but Kaiden felt a bit overwhelmed and reserved. Still, he knew he had to respond to get to know each other.
Alex, dressed simply in light blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and regular white sneakers, had brown hair and eyes.
He was about the same height as Kaiden, just over 1.80 meters. He asked basic questions about Kaiden's birthday and interests, to which Kaiden responded normally. Kaiden mentioned he was born on November 5th and interested in a bit of everything.
Alex, excited about this news, shared with great enthusiasm that he also had his birthday on the same day.
"What a coincidence, don't you think?"
"Yes, surely,"
Kaiden said, still somewhat reserved. But over time, the mood lightened as Alex showed a friendly demeanor, and Kaiden began to feel more comfortable.
After a few minutes, however, Kaiden seemed to waver more and more until he collapsed slightly and staggered along the edge of the ship. With a concerned look, Alex asked if he should bring him something, like a bottle of water, but Kaiden declined.
"So, you're seasick?"
another voice from the crowd seemed to call out to Kaiden, but he ignored it.
The redhead who asked him the question blushed a little. He had only wanted to be nice, but when he saw Kaiden's appearance, he seemed to label him as a spoiled brat. He remained calm, not wanting to be thrown off the ship, and then turned away to try his luck with others.
"Come on, let's go somewhere else for a moment,"
Kaiden suggested, a bit sweaty. Alex agreed and supported the slightly weakened Kaiden with his slimmer arms. Arriving at a more relaxed spot in the shade, Alex asked if Kaiden was seasick.
Kaiden denied it and openly explained that he had Glioblastoma, a brain tumor.
Alex looked at him somewhat surprised and asked what that was. But when Kaiden saw Alex's serious expression, his face changed from curiosity to pity.
Kaiden apologized with a little laugh, saying that Alex didn't need to feel sorry because, firstly, he couldn't do anything about it, and secondly, it wasn't so bad.
In doing so, he masked his own lie so as not to dampen the mood.
After a few minutes of silence between them, Kaiden finally asked a question to break the ice.
"How did you manage to lift the barrier when it closed?"
A bit embarrassed, the still proud Alex explained that he could move certain objects without touching them. He called this ability telekinesis. It wasn't very powerful, but extremely useful.
Kaiden's face showed even more curiosity when he heard about this power.
"And then what? How did you get it?"
Alex looked at him somewhat puzzled and said through his awakening. When Kaiden asked what he meant, Alex suddenly reacted defensively and turned away from Kaiden.
"Damn, why did I waste my time with a regular guy? No offense, you're probably nice and all, but I have to set priorities, you know?"
That's what Alex said as he walked away.
He left the now confused Kaiden standing in the shade with a dizzy feeling. What did he mean? Why did he suddenly leave?
Kaiden's cheerfulness faded, and he took on a normal expression. The relationship wasn't so close yet that he needed to mourn, but he still thought it was a shame, as Alex had actually been quite nice.
Kaiden now stood alone in the shade at the edge of the boat, his hands resting on the railing and his eyes rolled back, clearly not feeling well. With his gaze lowered towards the wavy sea, he saw seagulls and jellyfish.
There was a clear swarm of white jellyfish with a few orange ones appearing now and then.
Suddenly, he was startled by a loud, strong roar and jerked up briefly. It came from the Sergeant, who informed everyone that they had now arrived at their short rest stop, the Eternal Dam.
As everyone started walking down the corridor together, Kaiden felt lonely and was bumped into partly, since he was in the way.
The Sergeant noticed that one more person was still there and shouted to him:
"Hey! If you don't come right now, you'll stay here and starve and thirst to death! So come on, and do it quickly!"
Despite the threatening words, Kaiden pulled himself together, even though his body disagreed. His previously effortless steps felt agonizing, not because of pain, but because the sensations of nausea were intensified.
Shortly after trying to leave the ship, he ran quickly back to the edge and vomited again, brown liquid pouring from his mouth.
The sturdy and stern Sergeant turned somewhat disgusted, but before he continued, he demanded that all valuables be confiscated, which needed to be stored, and he handed Kaiden a badge, white with his name, which he should fasten to his chest.
After doing this and his nausea gradually subsiding, he ran down the stairs of the boat towards the stony Dam.
Arriving there, he saw many soldiers stationed and patrolling to make sure no one could easily come in or out. He also noticed that everyone his age was in different groups.
Both Alex and the redhead who asked if he was seasick were separated in groups of about five people each. It seemed that a hierarchy had already formed in a short time.
But Kaiden didn't quite understand what it was about. After all, he, like everyone else here, was an Awakened. But then he remembered that there were some who were awakened but had no special abilities and therefore had to fight as mercenaries or in huge robots.
Kaiden didn't want to accept that.
He now felt alone and without any connection to other people. He felt especially bad because he thought he had no special ability. He didn't want to accept that, after all, he had hoped to earn money quickly and give it to his brother to help him.
But this line of thought disappeared as the crowd walked in one direction, led by Sergeant Ken.
****
Hardly had they reached the long stairs down to the depth of a few dozen meters, when the previously visible barrier seemed to glow extremely bright.
Everyone had to hold their hands to their faces just to keep their eyes slightly open. Looking up, they could now see the seemingly endless barrier, stopped by a torn sky.
The lilac flashes stored up there adorned the galaxy-like torn sky. The steps, still led by Sergeant Ken, seemed to lead directly to the barrier.
The touch of It made everyone marvel and open their mouths. It was a warming tingle that grew warmer and warmer, seeming to carry them to a seemingly new place.
The bright light that had just been in front of them seemed to move behind them, and they seemed to have already traveled through the apparent portal.
When they looked forward, they saw a huge area full of strange things.
Huge rocks seemed to float in the air or water seemed to rise upwards. An apparent sea floated in the air, and huge colorful trees, kilometers wide and high, seemed to fill the distance.
With this view of several planets in the seemingly colorful sky behind the thin sea in the distance, several planets, some large and small, also seemed to adorn the star-studded colorful sky.
He knew he was in a different world.
****
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