The wind whipped through Pent’s clothes, ruffling his jacket and his short, unkempt hair. He shivered.

Winter was already blowing in from the barren lands further north, and Pent hardly had the wardrobe necessary to shield himself. All of his outfits consisted of the same dark green t-shirts and grey sweatpants. He refused to wear anything black and too many of the other colors reminded him of various degrees of illness, so he’d always kept it simple this way.

This habit was a bit childish, he knew, but his mother had always liked to dress him up in dark, formal clothes, which meant he absolutely couldn’t wear anything like that now. He would always do whatever possible to spite her whether she was around now or not.

Thinking of that woman, Pent gripped the folder in his lap tightly. His cloudy eyes wandered across the vehicles pulling up in front of the hospital to collect their friends or relatives.

Joyful. Pained. Relieved. Grieving… A wide range of emotions appeared on the faces of those disappearing into the back seats of the cars. But no matter their expression or condition, Pent felt they were lucky. So many never had the chance to leave this place.

Would his turn finally come?

His meager breakfast nearly resurfaced as anxiety churned his stomach. He’d already been waiting outside for nearly an hour, and each minute felt like a lifetime.

Jonathan’s text had told him very clearly that his ride wouldn’t arrive until 11:30 am, yet it was impossible for Pent to resist the temptation of waiting. He checked his phone again.

11:24

Would they be early? Late? What kind of car would they be driving?

“What’s wrong, Penthus? Still waiting? Who’s the imaginary friend coming to pick you up this time?”

Startled, Pent swiveled his head. Dr. Jiang stood outside of the Weyland Medical Center’s sliding glass doors with his hands stuffed in his coat pockets. Mockery danced in the man’s eyes and in his smile.

“What’s the use of sitting out here? You know as well as I do that no one is coming. The only thing that’s going to take you is a cold.” A few heads turned their way as Dr. Jiang jeered loudly.

“It’s not time yet,” Pent replied in a low voice. Another chilling gust bore through his body. He wrapped his flimsy jacket tighter around his shoulders as he turned his gaze back to the cars lining up in neat order.

“Whatever you say…” Dr. Jiang laughed. “Just know that when you’re hungry and freezing and you come back inside, I’ll be waiting in my office for an apology. The board has already been made aware of the complaints against you, but if you’re willing to admit your mistakes—I can still vouch for you.”

“...There’s no need.” Pent’s heart thumped erratically as he watched a long black Escalade with tinted windows pull in behind a minivan.

Dr. Jiang too, couldn’t help but have his eyes drawn to the striking vehicle.

Everyone in the vicinity stopped and stared as two men in tight-fitting suits stepped out. They wore dark sunglasses and earpieces, looking very much like members of the famous Secret Service of old. And if Pent had to venture a guess, they were likely both Contractors to boot.

Approaching with confidence and an air of intimidation, the men briefly scanned the sparse crowd until they seemed to land on their target—a conspicuous wheelchair stopped near a bench.

Pent’s blood was roaring in his ears, leaving him in somewhat of a daze as a question floated leisurely through the air.

“Are you Pent Argyris?”

It wasn’t until the Suit on the right repeated himself that Pent nodded.

“Then follow us, please.”

Spinning on their heels, the men wasted no time, marching directly back to the Escalade. One popped open the trunk while the other swung open the back door.

Numerous eyes burned into Pent’s back as he rolled across the sidewalk, chasing after them. Without a chance to speak, he was lifted into the car by one of the Suits while the other stuffed his wheelchair into the back.

All that had just happened felt like a dream.

It was but a passing moment to the many spectators—all of whom quickly returned to their activities, but for Pent, it meant so much more.

Staring out the window, his head was buzzing, his thoughts stagnant. Pent's mind was enveloped in a haze, blocking out everything else aside from one fleeting scene: two nameless and faceless men calling out to him. They were strangers, strangers who were just doing their job, but they were already firmly etched into his memory.

Tears flowed unbidden down his cheeks as the engine revved to life. Through the glass, he saw Dr. Jiang’s brow furrow, looking confused, absent.

Pent had the urge to lower his window and wave goodbye, revel in his victory, but he couldn’t let the doctor see his tears. Because he’d never let anyone see them… Well, until today.

Embarrassed, Pent glanced into the rear-view mirror as the car pulled out of the lane and onto the thoroughfare, exiting toward the street. The suits didn’t seem to be paying him or his apparent distress any mind, but he still lowered his head just in case.

To distract himself, Pent opened the folder he’d brought along. He’d already read through the thin information packet thrice the previous night; however, he figured one more time couldn’t hurt.

Lost in descriptions of the virtual world and the advanced AI that Pinnacle was building, the scenery outside transformed into a blur as they sped off down the highway and into the horizon.

~~~

The drive eventually took them to the city limits. The buildings grew shorter and the architecture more rustic and quaint.

Vibrant trees and colorful flowers lined the roads as the mountains in the distance loomed closer. With the bright sun reaching its zenith overhead, they pulled off into a modest shopping outlet near some residential neighborhoods.

There, the suit who was driving parked next to an identical vehicle and helped Pent disembark alongside his partner.

Aside from the imposing Escalades, there were almost no other cars present in the parking lot. It wasn’t all that surprising, but as Pent looked around, he couldn’t help but wonder how these retailers and small businesses managed to stay afloat. He was already performing rough estimations in his head as the men led him to a cafe at the eastern end of the strip.

Now is not the time, Pent roused himself and made an effort to clear out all distracting thoughts from his mind as the bronze bell announcing their entrance jingled above the doorway.

When the large bodies in front of him turned to the side, clearing the way, his eyes landed on Jonathan and another young man seated at a cluster of tables that were pushed together against the wall.

“Pent! Welcome!” Jonathan exclaimed, standing up. He moved one of the chairs to the side to allow the wheelchair to pull up. “Everything went well?” there was a hint of worry in his eyes as he asked this.

“Yeah…” Pent glanced back over his shoulder at the Suits that had picked him up. He smiled. “They were right on time—no problems.”

“Good… That’s good.” Jonathan nodded to the two men who returned the gesture before they departed. He waited until the bell sounded once more before he turned his attention back to the matter at hand, gesturing to the other guest who was present. “Well, Pent… Let me introduce you to one of the other candidates. This is Jack Murray: the youngest detective in the Weyland Police Department. Jack, this is my cousin, Pent.”

“Nice to meet you, Jack.” Pent proffered a hand as he eyed the other boy. Jack looked to be around his own age.

He was tall and lean, with shaggy brown hair and dark, playful eyes. Jack cracked a grin, revealing sharp canines as he accepted the handshake. “Pleasure to meet you as well, Pent.” His voice was deeper than his youthful face betrayed. “Your scent is very weak, it’s interesting.”

Pent’s friendly smile froze. He was at a loss for words as Jack chuckled and rubbed his nose. “I don’t mean it in a bad way,” the boy continued, “but it's like your smell is fading in and out of existence. I almost couldn’t pick up on your presence at first because I rely almost entirely on my nose to track people.”

Clearing his throat, Jonathan chuckled dryly as he interrupted: “Sorry, I’ll have to stop your introductions there, for now, we’ve another guest arriving.”

The three of them turned to the door. An athletic-looking girl with dark skin, and who was likely even taller than Jack, was sauntering down the sidewalk outside. The two Suits following behind were hurrying after her, struggling to keep up with her long strides.

She barged through the door and paused for a breath, wiping some loose strands of her hair from her face as her sharp hazel eyes pierced into everyone present—not even sparing the timid barista who’d been hiding behind the counter in the back.

“You give me the creeps,” she announced as she finally stopped her inspection on Jack.

In response, he only shrugged and tweaked his nose a bit.

“You must be Elise,” Jonathan’s smile was strained to the limit, his helplessness drawn clearly through the crease in his brow. “Please, pull up a seat. The last two should be joining us shortly. We can handle all the introductions and pleasantries then.”

Seemingly carefree, Elise nodded and dragged over a chair from another table, plopping down next to Pent. She pulled her ponytail over her shoulder, twisting and brushing her long dark hair while everyone avoided making eye-contact with her.

Pent was still somewhat shaken by the boldness of both these other candidates, but he could make conjectures that both of them were probably Contractors with physical abilities. Those people tended to have these types of personality ‘quirks’.

The stronger the body, the more unstable the mind—and vice versa. It was the sad truth of the Deep Sleep, and the reason it became known as the Devil’s Contract. Too many people developed strange and uncontrollable urges after gaining their abilities.

In fact, from what he’d seen so far, these two were fairly mild and well-controlled compared to some of the cases he’d read about. They were just… very different from the people Pent was used to interacting with.

But their frankness was also refreshing. They didn’t look upon him with pity or a sense of superiority like many of the doctors he’d met. They saw him as a peer, and that was all he could ask for.

Pent nodded slightly to himself, feeling more confident as the final candidates arrived in tandem. A male and a female.

The boy was pale, distinctly so. He was well-dressed and groomed, and probably the youngest of them all. His brown hair was slicked back without a strand out of place, and he frowned as he pulled a square of cloth from his navy blue peacoat, using it to wipe down the outer door handle.

Patiently waiting behind him was the girl—or maybe, the woman would be more apt. She was of Asian descent and sat in an old manual wheelchair that was being pushed by a female caretaker. The two of them looked like sisters, if not twins. Both were in their early to mid-twenties, with silky black hair reaching down to their waists. Their beauty was of a more classical kind than the fidgety, long-legged girl who sat at Pent’s side.

After a thorough cleaning, the boy finally decided that the handle was safe enough to use, so all were able to enter. He didn’t pay anyone else a glance as he walked to the chair next to Jonathan and wiped it down before sitting.

The two women, on the other hand, maintained some distance from the table. The blankets that were covering the body of the one in the wheelchair were carefully adjusted by her caretaker as the room settled back into an anticipatory silence.

It wasn’t until he made sure that the pair was fully settled that Jonathan stood up to address the gathering.

“Thank you all for coming today.” He spoke clearly and with poise. “I know that the timing of our meeting is rather inconvenient, so would anyone like some food or drink before we begin?”

Everyone shook their head, after which, Jonathan signaled to one of the Suits who had accompanied the most recent arrivals. The man grunted an acknowledgment and marched toward the cowering barista. He promptly revealed a shiny badge before escorting the employee off the premises.

Pent found the situation somewhat alarming, but none of the others around him reacted much to the disturbance, so he temporarily placed his doubts to the side and listened.

“Then let’s get right into it, shall we? Allow me to start with the introductions. As you all know, my name is Jonathan Chambers and I am the acting junior director for the Weyland Cell of Project Integration.” Jonathan’s gaze turned to each face seated around him one by one, eventually landing on Pent. “Admittedly, I’ve some bias for seeking out the position at this Cell in particular. When I learned that my cousin Pent was one of the eligible candidates in this area, I had to make arrangements to come.”

“Ohh...” Elise exclaimed, arching back to get a better look at Pent. “So that’s how it is…”

The others around the table also measured Pent with newfound curiosity, causing his cheeks to flush red. Jack snickered under his breath whereas the neat-freak’s lips curled into a sneer. Only the girl in the wheelchair remained unmoved, her striking blue eyes devoid of any emotion: frozen like her body.

“All right, I’ve got my obligatory teasing in,” Jonathan laughed to lighten the mood, “Now we can move on with the rest. Starting from my right, we have Alexander Wallace, followed by Elise Adams, and as you all already know—Pent Argyris.” He paused for a few seconds, allowing everyone to pass along their customary greetings and nods. “Over there is Miss Lixue Ren, accompanied by her sister Ninghong.”

“Hello, all. A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Lixue spoke, her voice crisp and pleasing to the ear. The smiles of the two young ladies sent Pent’s heart aflutter, even if they were forced.

For the first time, he wished he was a few years older. He felt like there was a lot he potentially had in common with Miss Lixue...

Lost in the stirrings of daydreams, Pent missed Jack’s introduction. His mind only came back into focus when Jonathan pried open the manilla envelope that had been resting atop the table in front of him.

From within, he pulled out six sets of documents and some pens which were then passed to each of the candidates, and Ninghong as well. When it came to Pent’s turn, he received a reassuring smile and nod from his cousin.

“...These are simple Non-disclosure Agreements or NDAs. By signing them, you’re promising to keep any and all of what we discuss here today private. This even extends to immediate family members.”

Pent scanned the pages while Jonathan continued talking. The only penalty listed for a breach of contract was a hefty fine; however, the length of the agreement was for three years which seemed a little long...

While he was reading and hesitating, everyone aside from Lixue signed their own copy without much thought, making him almost certain now that everyone else was privy to a piece of critical information that he was lacking.

It could just be that these people had previous experience working with the government and this was all just standard procedure... But why would Jonathan mention none of this earlier?

Even so, he didn’t see any obvious traps in the clauses and he wouldn’t lose anything from agreeing, so Pent scrawled his name on the dotted line. His curiosity had been roused as well. Why the need for all the Suits and secrecy, even if it was a government-sponsored program?

He looked back up when he was finished, only to be suddenly stunned by a flash of light that originated from Lixue.

It was bright but not blinding, and it quickly condensed into a thin, bluish-red cylindrical shape — like a piece of chalk — that hovered over her NDA. Everyone shrank back as it moved gracefully across the paper. There was an aura emanating from the beam that was overbearing, almost oppressive.

“Apologies,” Lixue said airily after burning her signature onto the door page and dissipating the strand of her power. “I wanted to do it myself.”

“N-No worries, Miss Lixue,” Jonathan croaked out as he adjusted the collar of his dress shirt. “Maybe just give us a warning next time…”

Evidently, the others shared his sentiment as they shifted in their chairs, murmuring agreement.

It took another few moments for Jonathan to regain his confidence and continue on, “Well, with that all resolved, we can proceed on to the heart of the issue: why you all were specifically selected for this trial and why we’ve gathered here to discuss… I take it everyone has looked through the packet?”

“Yeah…”

“Of course.”

“I glanced through it…”

The responses varied, but everyone appeared to be on the same page, that is until Elise added her voice to the mix.

“I don’t get it,” she started, “what’s the use of us knowing all this crap about the factions, races, populations, and so on... Aren’t we just joining this game to test out the abilities and help train some soldiers?”

At her words, Jonathan, and Alexander beside him, both revealed wide, knowing smiles. “Well, Elise…” Pent watched with mounting anticipation as his cousin’s eyes shone with fervor and his words dripped with wonder. “What if I told you that all of that information is very real. That what your consciousness will be initially entering is not a game, but instead, a civilization well beyond our years of development. One that has already spread its wings all throughout the Milky Way Galaxy…”

The cafe fell into complete silence and Pent once more felt that sensation of foggy disconnect, like his mind was leaving his body. Blood rushed to his head and his breathing grew ragged as his vision narrowed in on his cousin.

“What if I told you that you are not candidates chosen to enter a game, but rather, Pioneers selected to lead all of humanity into the vast cosmos beyond…”