Yet another day in the boring white cubicle of a room, though it should have been the last one. Sevyn was already up doing exercises before the alarm went off for her and every other subject in the dorm. The doors opened automatically, as the enchantments that held them shut were released. She walked out of her room, into the hall watching others do the same in various states of neatness. The Ehror enhanced Echo’s in the corners of the halls blared out.

“Please make your way to the main hall, your graduation would begin in two hours.” That was right they were finally graduating from this stuffy facility and making their way into the real world after their entire life had them stuck here to the whims of some unknown country. At least that was the little Akuuna had been able to glean from his “wanderings”.

This message repeated another 4 times before it cut out, anyone that wasn’t in the hall fifteen minutes before the designated time was subject to punishment. An hour and forty-five minutes was more than enough time however to eat breakfast and get to the main hall. Akuuna walked out of a room to her right just as she was passing it, as always he had weirdly perfect timing. He yawned into his right hand as he walked with her. His dark skin shone under the glow of the sunlight through the windows. He wore a white long-sleeved shirt that bulged under his considerably muscled arms and dark jeans he towered even over her considerable height. His red eyes, a feature they shared, came into view as he brush aside the long curly hair covering his handsomely roguish face. He looked directly into her eyes as a wide grin split his face showing long and sharp fangs.

“Ready for the big day?”

He was one of the few that was able to look directly into her eyes without flinching, something she respected. That being said his were unsettling in their own way.

“Yeah, we go from being stuck here for eighteen years to being forced into specific lives that they have planned out for us.” She huffed. “Sounds amazing.”

“Hahaha, you aint wrong.” He replied humorously.

Gael fell in line on Akuna’s right. His face as blank as ever as he nodded to them both without a word. Angelo was the last to follow the group, fist bumping with Akuuna before joining Sevyn on her left. They made their way to the cafeteria. There were forty-two other subjects including them, they had started with over two-hundred. They were one of the first in the room, so after receiving food from the cooks whose faces they never saw as they were always behind a wall of stone and metal with a slit which the food was slid through, they chose an empty table to sit down at. Angelo opted to get four sets of meals, one for each person. As they started eating with Angelo excitedly chatting to Akuuna, who answered back his excitement like an adult talking to a kid despite them being the same age, Hector walked into the room.

He led fourteen other people nearly as if it was a procession. If Akuuna was big Hector was nigh gigantic. The boy had to be at least seven feet in height and his broad muscled form definitely needed some custom clothing to fit into. It didn’t help issues that he had large horns growing out of either sides of his short shock of blonde hair. He glanced around before his gold eyes landed on hers and they stared for a good minute. The sounds in the cafeteria came to a stop as the tension rose. Everyone knew that neither of them were on good terms. Rumour had it that Hector had his eyes on her as part of his group, but she had refused, however he was not one to be denied what he wanted. It did not help that her three other companions were also people he had his eyes on and he perceived their group as if she had stolen things from himself, this had led to bad blood and various fights between them over the years. In combat training they tended to pick each other as opponents and the fights got intense. They generally ended up even. Hector was physically stronger, which was impressive considering even Akuuna could barely keep up with her in pure physical strength. Her agility and overall speed on top of her control over gravity compared to his affinity to creating constructs out of a gold-coloured metal like material meant she could match him quite easily. They were even in wins between all their bouts.

It was clear that Hector wanted to start something maybe a final fight before they graduated, who knew where they were going from here. However he eventually glanced away, walking towards a free table. He didn’t bother getting his food himself. A girl in his group, a white-haired beauty with her eyes closed grabbed two sets, one for Hector who sat arms crossed on a seat that threatened to collapse on the weight. The rest of the group made their way to nearby tables with his table in the centre.

Sevyn had to stop herself from scoffing, she knew that would start a fight and while she didn’t mind doing so she was being considerate of her companions. A girl she barely recognized was walking past their table before she stopped by Akuuna’s large hand.

“Eva, why not sit with us?” He said looking up.

“I-I don’t know about that.” She stammered out looking to the side.

Oh, Eva, that was her name. Sevyn’s memory was jogged. If Sevyn was honest she struggled to remember people. People she felt either were weak or did not leave an impression on her. Eva was essentially both, she hung out with them at times but that was due to Akuuna inviting her over and the fact she had no one to be with. Sevyn could barely recall that she had an interesting ability but it was very weak at the moment and so it was promptly forgotten.

“Don’t say that, you need to make an impression on Sev here else she would continue to forget you.” He stated in an amicable way. It sounded like a joke but there was something about that statement and the look in his eyes that suggested there was much more to it than was apparent.

Either way he had caught her, Sevyn managed to almost look apologetic however based on Eva’s nigh terrified expression she might have preferred to stay forgotten from Sevyn. She sat down next to Akuuna regardless, Eva was secretly happy to not be sitting on her own on the last day. She fixed her long black hair into a ponytail with a band she had been carrying around, her smooth skin had a red tinge to it and her black eyes wandered around before settling on Angelo and Gael giving them a nod each. She nodded at Sevyn too but looking into those eyes was impossible for her.

The food was decent as always at least they attempted to have different meals on a non-predictable pattern. Well it was predictable for anyone but Akuuna, something to do with his ability to see probability, Sevyn hadn’t asked if she did he would have elaborated she was sure but it was a deliberate act of hers to be kept in the dark. Sevyn was amused enough by Angelo’s antics during the meal. After breakfast was over they made their way to the main hall.

A large platform was raised in from of rows of seats, enough to fit hundreds of people, so everyone was separated from each other in their groups. The chatter came to an end when the Director walked in with the four head teachers and the other trainers and examiners. These were the only people they had seen in their entire time in the facility, not counting the fully covered up guards in their black robes and full helmets. The Director especially was a large man. He wore a red monk-like robe adorned with golden swirling images hiding his huge frame, he rivalled Hector in height and his deep-set eyes and bald head combined with his bushy beard gave him an extremely serious look. His scarred face gave him the look of a seasoned veteran, although Sevyn wasn’t exactly too sure what that should look like, her sample size of people besides fellow subjects was very small after all.

“Greetings my students.” He said with a booming sound, without the use of Ehror to enhance his voice it carried across the room louder than the Echo’s did.

“Today you graduate from mere students in this facility to full fledged adults, where you a guaranteed a life of incredible power. To have taken the gruelling training for the last three years and survived proves your superiority to other humans.” He continued.

Their first fifteen years of life had been inside giant vats being experimented on and watching others around them die without ever even coming out. Just over two hundred of them had managed to survive. Akuuna had said that there were thousands of them originally underneath the facility. She found that mind boggling, but he had never been wrong before so she took his word for it. The last three years had been filled with combat training and tests as well as tests of their intelligence. They of course also went through more experimentation which led to the majority of them not making it to this day. She had gotten bored of the routine about two years in and vowed to make her way out of the clutches of whoever was the ultimate mastermind of this whole thing. Not out of fear or even anger. She was merely interested in the outside world and knew that if they got out of here the way that was intended, they of course would be taught of the world but it would be curated specially to mold them. She did not like that.

“The Red Sun would welcome you with open arms and you would be known as Novas.” He continued

The Director droned on about making the sacrifices of the others mean something and she was starting to get tired of the display. When the enchanted lights went out.