"So as we were saying..."

We both turned to face each other. A rather obvious droll hanging down the student's face, the lust for certain information showed on his face.

"That Official that sent you here. I want names and context."

The pink-eyed shithead ordered authoritatively, his finger poking the table, a hint of excitement showing on his face. It seemed Elgan's information had far more leverage than expected. Though, using it was out of the question, unless he was ready and willing to lose his information tap.

"Classified."

Elgan answered nonchalantly.

...

"HAHHhh?"

His hands pushed against the table, his eyes open in deceit, only now realizing he had been tricked into talking. The only thing keeping him at bay was the fact that Elgan's mask stood intact not allowing him to distinguish whether he was lying or not.

"How come you don't know, you ape!?"

The poor students shouted once more, calling the attention of the whole hall. The three people inside it at least.

In this place, people like them didn't simply interact with an Official and get to live past it...

He himself hadn't heard it, but high command chains, especially Officials and Inquisitors were portrayed as evil, cold-blooded creatures. Although as with all things, there were exceptions, most of them showed slight if no interest in anything but climbing the ranks, no matter the cost. Sacrificing subordinates for their own sake, commanding suicide raids, stabbing each other in the back... Anything that could potentially allow them to rise was useful.

For people like them, it was better to just look somewhere else and mind their own business.

Knowing the teen wouldn't be satisfied with just that, Elgan elaborated on his answer.

"I am not allowed to tell you the full context. However."

Elgan decided to hold back a part of the truth. His external demeanor faked a bit of annoyment, just enough to aid his cause.

Though Elgan didn't mind sharing his personal story, he could guess doing so without properly understanding its true value could prove to be a headache. Inventing something was out of question too, taking into account his limited knowledge, it wouldn't be difficult for others to pinpoint the lie.

Of course, the main objective of this operation was none other than to leave an open door for the conversation to continue. Given his very limited sources of information, Elgan couldn't get humble now.

"I can tell you his name."

Elgan cut the bothersome part of the question out. The young man's eyes narrowed as his agitated expression calmed down, he sat back on the table and nodded his head, indicating him to speak.

"Armstrong. Is his name."

...

Elgan frowned for a second. Both of the teenager's wide eyes set on him, a painfully obvious hint of incredulity and surprise respectively splattered over their faces.

"Officia-. Official Armstrong?"

The girl asked interrupting their conversation, her tired, quiet tone completely gone. A half-eaten peach hanging in her hand.

"Yes..."

Elgan answers, a bit confused by her sudden, anticlimatic change of attitude. She too seems to realize the oddity of her behavior as their eyes meet. The girl turns her eyes back to her hand and resumes eating the fruit as if nothing happened. Though her acting sucks for real, a clear tint of shame shows on her thin, unhealthily pale face.

"Hmm. I heard a thing or two about him, but nothing too impressing."

The guy said to himself, before glancing at peach girl with clear confusion in his eyes.

"Nieve, that reaction. Do you know the guy?"

...

She munched peaches.

As if talking to a wall, the girl doesn't even bother to answer. Perhaps too ashamed to the point of refusing to acknowledge their existence, her gaze lost somewhere at the wall up front.

'Weirdo.'

Elgan thought for himself. A distant echo coming from the hallway caught his attention, three students entered the room all dressed in the same grey uniform. Inevitably both of the group's gazes collide in a quick clash, the new arrivals sat at a neighboring table.

"Hmm, waking up early today aren't we?"

Needless to say, no one laughed at the imbecile's joke. One of the guys simply scoffed before locking his gaze on his wristwatch, the three newcomers masterfully ignored each other as they centered their whole attention on messing with their holograms. What exactly do they seem to find so entertaining about such a limited device?

Don't know.

"Th-"

Elgan was about to say something when he noticed another movement, this time at his side. Nieve stood up from the bench, her bowl which previously contained about seven peaches now completely empty. Not even the pits remained.

After a long sigh, she decided to turn towards the pair.

"I'll be going to the Training Hall now."

She said, her head slightly lowered as she excused herself.

"See you Liam, and..."

She stopped mid-sentence, the hint so subtle Elgan took several seconds to catch it.

"Elgan."

She nodded.

"I see. What an unoriginal name... Anyways, bye."

The second part of the sentence was muttered just loud enough for Elgan to hear. As quickly as she appeared in the first place, peach girl was gone. Though her last contribution was a sweet detail on her part.

'I should go visit the Training Hall too, having a look around will prove useful. But right now...'

His eye darted to Liam.

"I want to ask one last thing."

Seated with his legs resting on the table, Liam gestured him to ask.

"How does this academy work exactly, I really can't manage to under-"

...

Expecting that question to come from him, Liam rolled his eyes exaggeratedly as he stood up from the bench.

"See, you could have asked something like that, to begin with, it would have made things much easier."

Walking past the other group, he gestured for me to follow.

"It was time to go grind anyways... Just follow me."

Liam said in his usual too-loud voice. Both of them left the canteen, soon those same hallways surrounded them in every direction as they walked through yet another wide section inside the net of tunnels. Guided by Liam, the two of them arrived at the Training ha-.

Library. We were in the library.

"Is it here where we are going to grind..."

Liam looked at me, one of his eyebrows raised as if I didn't have a point.

"Of course man. The crazy ones are getting ready to go rampant at this hour, better to hang with the nerds than to get beaten to a pulp."

I chuckled, a little stunned by the implications.

Still, my hypothesis was taking strength. This Academy's training programs didn't seem to follow any schedule whatsoever, from waking up to training, eating, resting, and learning, students could do as they pleased. It was a solid theory, an enigmatic one too. Why would The Coalition invest resources in a bunch of teenagers without a solid training plan for all of them? Were they eager to throw away resources?

'Too strange.'

We approached the entrance at a moderate pace, just like outside the canteen, a holo sign hung from the top of the fully open gate. Before we opened an equally big hall, full of bland white chairs and round tables. This time though, it wasn't empty.

"What..."

Dressing in identical grey clothes, in the corner of the almost empty room was the population nuclei. Several tables were full to the brim with people, all of their gazes lost in the holograms manifesting from their wrists. Studying?

A sudden chill ran down my spine, the trauma of high school and memorization returning as we approached a table with just enough seats so we could fill them up.

"What are they studying?"

I said in a soft voice, low enough Liam was the only one who heard.

"How would I know?"

His undoubtedly helpful answer sent a couple of gazes toward us, examining from top to bottom, then back to their holograms. It seemed his loud voice wasn't meant for stealth.

Picking a seat at a free table nearby, Elgan took a seat. Imitating the rest of the students, Liam and Elgan both activated their holo-wrists. A bluish shine flooded the nearby air, the interface manifested before him, A notification popped up.

Notifications [1]:

You are currently located within the library. Winternet will be unlocked for as long as you are within its confines. Mind all necessary information has been packed for you on the main page, you are free to research your own data.

Elgan's eye ran through the information, his eye lit up in understanding.

'Information can be accessed from the library.'

Certain applications blocked inside the wrist could be accessed freely in certain areas, which could explain the number of restrictions placed on their Holo-Watches.

Not paying any business to all the new faces around him, Elgan opened the Winternet application. A brand new menu appeared.

Winternet:

[Search Bar]

|NAT - Manual|

Survival [<]

World History [<]

Anomaly's Biology [<]

Weapons Engineering [<]

Coordination and Management [<]

[Access Level]-1

A search bar, together with the manual.

A big grin appeared on Elgan's face. It seems he had just unlocked a nice source of knowledge. Even though he didn't expect the search bar to answer all his questions, he did hope it could allow him to expand his two-dimensional knowledge.

Elgan ignored the manual for now. He cracked his fingers ready to navigate the broad sea of the Internet, or Winternet. Whatever.

[Search Bar: ____________ ◯]

He activated the search bar summoning a keyboard in the process. Elgan had already thought about what to search first.

It had been running around his head for a while now. Armstrong mentioned something of a human bubble or human haven after The Decimation. Elgan made it its first search. He pressed enter.

|Search Bar: Human Bubble ◯ |

|Results|

[Human Territories]

[Human Bubble Anomaly Detroit]

[Human Safe Zones]

[Human Bases and Outposts]

[Bubble Anomaly Miami]

...

A large list of results popped up, though Elgan was slightly surprised by the speed and accuracy of the search. All of them catching his attention immediately, but he decided to investigate them in order. A large Mapa Mundi replaced the list showing a familiar image. Few parts of the map are outlined in a brighter blue color, others in transparent color.

'Is that all.'

There are very few...

Elgan's expectations smashed under the weight of reality.

Humanity had been forced to bend down its knees, and now he was able to grasp the extent of the damage himself. Elgan gulped heavily. Examining the very few bright spots showing on the map, the biggest is situated near Alaska and spanned across Canada and north of the States in a big shinning cacoon. And even they weren't impenetrable, instead, the sight seemed to assimilate the texture of cheddar cheese. Plagued with hostile areas, some as big as entire countries, others too small to be considered important.

Elgan's gaze descended along the south, traveling the noise of brights and vacuum. Only now did he start to get a sense of what the term Frontier truly meant. Bright dots floating over oceans of grey, desolate, unconquered lands. Submerged in the hostility of foreign territories, only a few significant zones found themselves established on the eastern coast before eventually submitting to the pressure emanating from the unchartered territories.

Nothing outside North America shone.