GENESIS

CHAPTER 3: ALEXA GEN'S OFFICE

'The door is open,' A robot voice said, 'Please walk in quietly'. As if you're quiet yourself. I rolled my eyes. A dark haired woman with alien skin was sitting behind a desk. She didn't notice me so I coughed. She just sat there, reading what seemed to be some kind of report. These clothes itched a lot. Mira gave me a new uniform, so now I had to wear it. Red boots, black collared bodysuit. I cut the sleeves because it was too hot. Everyone was wearing one, except they personalized it to their own liking. I walked closer to her. This time I coughed loudly. She was startled and jumped in her seat a little. Her glasses were low on her nose. She also had some kind of scales on her face, as if she just went for a swim and de-transformed from a mermaid.

'Aurora, dear! I was waiting for so long!' She opened then closed her arms, 'Have a seat.' She gestured towards a lavender colored chair, lined with metal that hurt my back. She opened a jar of honey suckles and pushed it towards me. I took one and she grabbed two. They tasted like sweet honey drops dipped in tea. Really nice. She had already eaten hers.

We sat in silence for a moment, then the phone rang and she fumbled over the cords then finally picked it up.

'Alexa Gen's Office. Oh, yes. Mhm. I thought so, too. No, that's a horrible idea. Get the orange ones. We need variety. I already- Really? Oh, she's right here,' she looked over at me then put the phone on speaker.

'Say hi, Aurora.' I looked at her with mutual disbelief.

'Oh, right. Oh, my god, I'm so sorry!' She lowered her voice and said to the phone, 'She's mute'. Now she was really getting on my nerves. The phone vibrated as a loud voice echoed from the speaker holes.

'Aurora, you say? You killed a lot of people. I don't know if I want you. Ah, well. Forgive and forget!' It was a woman's voice. 'Tell me, are you interested in coming to 'Rouge Region'? We have many things you can-' I growled loudly so she could hear. My voice turned into a snarl. Alexa Gen looked at me like I was crazy. She nervously tugged at her collar.

'I apologize for her, I mean, she did just come here. But... of course, we have to respect our people's opinions, so... No, she does not accept your offer-' Before she could finish, the phone box beeped and ended the call.

She sighed immensely, and I knew I messed up. But it didn't matter, because I actually had real live friends here, and I wasn't going to waste that opportunity to go to someplace I've never wanted to go to. It was a posh, ridiculously over-ruled school, and GENESIS was much better. I saluted her and walked out, taking one more of those honey suckles. She dropped her mouth and protested. I blocked her out and went to see people who were actually important.

☆

'Aurora! You're back!' Sasha bundled over to me when I entered our room. She must've been bored, especially with Mizuki away. Hold that thought...

'Where's Mira?' I spelled out with my hands, looking around. Sasha looked at me with a weird expression that suggested something I did NOT want to think about.

'She left a few minutes ago to look for Eden.' She said, going back to whatever she was doing. Who's Eden...? I thought with a twinge of jealousy that wasn't meant to be there. The sliding doors suddenly opened and smoke filled the room.

'Hey!' Said an unfamiliar voice. Mira was walking next to someone who looked like Noah. She went straight to him and squeezed him into a hug.

'Hey, Bee-bro!' She said, sounding more hyped than she actually was. He grumbled and asked why she was here. Instead of answering him, she finally spotted me and grinned. Skipping, she grabbed my arms and jumped up and down.

'Aurora! Oh, my god. Mira has told me so much about you!' She squealed.

Really? She has? A nervous energy floated through my brain, but I settled down. My eyes landed on her cheek, where a sun tattoo was taking up a small speck of it. I raised an eyebrow. She noticed that I was looking at it, then said, 'Oh, right. Yea. That is just a tattoo because my ex-boyfriend thought I was his ray of sunshine...' She trailed off. I clasped her hands tighter and smiled my brightest smile. She scoffed and returned one.

Mira handed me a tablet that I briefly read the title of: 'Combat Training: Level 300'. I stared in disbelief. 300?! That was a really high level for me to start on. Eden rushed off towards a table in the middle, and pulled out her lunch. She was about to take a bite but gestured for me to sit with her. Mira joined us.

'Ok, I'm going to explain most of everything you need to know here about GENESIS. Number one: Battle training,' She said, pointing at the tablet, 'There's a whole tribute going out to pay more towards battle training, because GENESIS has seen a lot. You have to be more than 15 years old and past Level 580. If you make it, you and your demon could win us some money so we could rack up the highest score for the best team here at GENESIS. Really important role,' She stopped a minute and adjusted her seat, 'Now, to get that kind of score, you really have to work on your performance skills. Energy levels, HP levels and strategy skills need to come up to incredibly high, and no stopping. No excuses either. This is real life, whether anyone likes it or not.'

She grinned and put out her hand. 'Ready?' She asked.I grabbed her hand and pulled her closer so that they were eye to eye. Nodding, I knew there was no way out of this.