DECK Prologue

Chapter 1 - Nocturne

Lind spun around in his office chair. I hate taking the night shift, it always messes with my sleep schedule. Why did I even sign up for this job at this museum anyway? He checked the cameras again. Suddenly, he heard his phone buzz. He felt the table vibrate as his phone shook dramatically like some kind of earthquake was going on. Thunder roared outside as flashes of lightning flew past the window. Lind immediately picked up his phone and turned it on. He saw a text message and a missed call notification from his manager.

"Ugh, what now," complained Lind out loud as he opened the text message. Attached was a short video and a message reading "Test 5 Terror Prototype Preview." Lind clicked on the video without a second thought. He nonchalantly propped up his phone against a nearby security monitor and waited for the video to play. The screen remained pitch black for several seconds.

"Is the stupid internet broken again?" groaned Lind as he reached for his phone before suddenly- the face of a statue flashed onto the screen. Lind flinched, instantly kicking back on reflex. His phone fell off the table and shattered, smashing into the ground, erupting into sparks as a stone statue burst out of the flash of light, grabbing onto him. Everything went dark.

A flash of light blinded Lind for a split second before he was teleported into another room. Waves of cold air hit Lind as the space around him loaded in. Lind stood there quietly in pure shock, silently waiting for his sense of vision to recalibrate. Ten seconds had passed, yet Lind still couldn't see anything. All of a sudden, Lind felt the ground start to vibrate. A high-pitched ringing sound began to echo throughout the room. Another flash of light erupted from below him, revealing itself to be a circle of light around Lind's feet.
"Hey, anyone else here?" shouted a feminine voice from across the room. The echo gave the impression that this new room was much larger than the one earlier.
"Yes!" shouted Lind, startling a person who was standing in front of him.

"Damn, I got more shocked than I should have." said the person in front of Lind with a laugh as he turned around.
"My name's Ajax, nice to meet you," said Ajax as he extended his hand for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you, my name's Lind," introduced Lind before looking down at Ajax's jacket.

"By the way, are you from Ethra HS? I recognize that uniform," said Lind as he shook Ajax's hand.

"Wait, you're Lind, the top ranker from Despa HS?" asked Ajax in a surprised tone.
"Yeah, aren't you also a top ranker?" asked Lind.

"Yeah," admitted Ajax with a sheepish laugh, slightly embarrassed about being recognized so easily.

"Anyway, shouldn't we go find whoever shouted earlier?" Ajax turned around just to run face-first into an unamused girl staring needles into him.

"Took you two long enough," said the girl, rolling her eyes. She tapped her foot impatiently waiting for a response.

"Which high school do you go to?"

Ajax awkwardly turned around and offered his hand for a handshake. The girl ignored his hand and rolled her eyes again.

"I don't have the luxury of going to a T1 feeder like you two," she sighed.

"I go to K-modiad HS, and just for your information, I'm also a high ranker," she said defensively, as if she needed to rely on her words to prove her strength. Suddenly, a stone hand appeared on her shoulder as an angel statue suddenly appeared behind her. She immediately started screaming, but something in the air seemed to have muted her. The statue then blinked in front of them, emitting a wave of pure light for a solid two seconds before slamming into Ajax and launching him back six feet.

"What the hell!?" yelled Ajax as the statue flashed in bright light again before teleporting towards Lind. Lind activated his ability and created a beam of black energy in the statue's pathway toward him. He then raised a barrier out of the same energy and hid behind it. The statue went straight through the energy like a hot knife through butter, crashing straight into Lind.