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❝Our world doesn't play out like a fantasy. We aren't some carefree princesses getting handed happy endings on a silver platter-you make one wrong move, and it's game over.❞
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In a world where all control over their lives is illusory, a grou...
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—Part 7.1— Alias
"If you're gonna pick a new name, you better make it good." —Katsumi—
The ruins of the city whisked by the foggy windows of The L. What once used to be a diverse, bustling metropolis, was now, from the rumbling cabin doors of the train, an endless and bleak landscape composed of jagged contours. Off in the distance, amidst the clusters of identical buildings, the gleaming white edge of Erudite's main building emerged between spires and towers.
The place where I'd successfully altered my fate.
I gazed out the window as the scenery faded off, sifting through the recent memories of last night. As the train ride dragged on, nearing the 30-minute mark, leaving behind my old life began to feel all the more real. And with each second I spent glued to my seat, the possibility of my choice being permanent sank in even deeper.
It wasn't unusual for me to disappear for days, sometimes weeks on end. But, this was uncharted territory for me. To me, the factions were untouched.
I didn't know when the train ride or my faction-dilemma would come to a close, but as the machinery beneath me seemed to buckle, signalling an abating speed, I could only rise from the wall in question.
A group of faction transfers, most of them dressed in blue attire(Erudite), gathered by the centre doors. Some of them looked slightly worried, and the intensity of their confusion only seemed to worsen the longer they stared outside.
"Hey..are they," a boy with dark chocolate hair spoke, his arm hooked around a pole, "..jumping?"
The girl beside him, with a muscular frame and auburn hair cut to her shoulders, peered out the cabin doors. Her eyes instantly went wide, the brisk autumn wind roaring past them as they gawked outside. She stepped back into the cart, giving the man before her an incredulous look.
"No..no way," she laughed nervously, "That's a literal death wish."
He bit his lip, taking a final glance outside before releasing a huff, "Well look at their clothing, Cheng!" he motioned out the doors, "They're Dauntless, we gotta follow them!"
"I'm not jumping out of a moving train, Somun," Chengcheng stubbornly replied.
"Alright, and what do you think will happen if you don't?" Somun raised a finger as the girl's mouth opened, "Don't-I'll answer that for you. You'll be factionless."
The faction transfers around him all gasped in response. But, it was true.
I stood up, instantly walking towards the nearest window and getting a glimpse of whatever "jumping" they were talking about. After a moment of waiting, and voices speaking through howling winds, my suspicions were confirmed.
