RED 🔞 (Tracker #1)

5

Sasha knew something went wrong when he was asked to stay inside the chamber for a long time, and he saw that a few technicians were whispering to each other while pointing at him and the monitor in front of him.

When a tall, handsome man with tanned skin and long black hair that looked like Sinbad the King of Pirates appeared, he knew that something was definitely wrong since he recognized him.

Dante Dahrk.

One of the owners of the ARK Group and also the Director of the ARK Academy.

He – and the other upper echelons – rarely showed himself if there was nothing wrong with anything. So, if he was here…

“Is there something wrong with me?”

His voice was calm and steady, although his heart was not. And he knew that it would show up in the scan.

But as a normal human, who would not get panicked when everyone was literally breezing through the scan while it took him a lot of time – and the appearance of the Director himself – and they still did not tell him anything.

Dante Dahrk seemed to sense his uneasiness because he smiled and spoke with his lilting voice that made him calm – almost like he was being tranced by it.

“There’s no need to be worried since there’s nothing wrong… Sasha.” Dante patted his back to reassure him. “It’s just we need to confirm something, and this machine is not suitable to do so. Would you mind if I take you somewhere else where the machine is more accurate? This machine is only for the general public, so the sensitivity is probably not too good.”

Of course Sasha knew that it was bullshit, but he was curious too, so he agreed to it.

“Sure, lead the way.”

They walked toward the inner sanctum of the building where there was a special teleportation device that would lead them to Dante’s workspace – where he had more advanced technology and equipment.

The device was like another chamber with runes inscribed all over the floor and Dante asked Sasha to step into the middle of the magic circle, and they were immediately transported to Dante’s workspace – which Sasha assumed that the location was a secret since it should have a lot of sensitive information in it.

But when they stepped off the teleportation platform, Sasha could not help but gasp at the incredible sight of the futuristic looking pod that was lying down in the middle of the huge workspace.

“Is that the newest ARK Pod?”

He was very excited to see the Pod – which was mostly used for training for the ARK Academy’s students, but it was also sold for gaming purposes for normal humans.

And he owned the newest commercialized one.

But this one was different since it was specially made for the Gifted, so the synchronization between the pod and the Gifted was cranked up to 100% – although most new students were only able to withstand around 50% max since the pain perception was too much for the newbies. But they would gradually adjust until they could do 100%.

“Yes, it’s the ARK-X5, the newest training model for ARK students.” Dante smiled when he saw the enthusiasm on Sasha’s otherwise stoic face.

Ever since he saw him, Dante had a tingly feeling that this young man was a very special being. Call it his intuition, but as a half Siren, his instinct was never wrong before. And that was the reason why he wanted to do some tests.

“Sasha, would you mind stepping into this chamber please?” He pointed at the capsule-like chamber with intricate runes around the floor and high tech buttons and monitors that looked like they came out straight out of the sci fi movie.

Sasha was not really keen on being prodded like an alien, but he had no choice if he wanted to go into the academy.

Besides, maybe they could probably find out about him that he did not manage to find out after all these years?

Like why he had extra speedy regeneration that made him sort of an immortal?

He had been living for thousands of years with no sign of getting old at all, and he did not get sick or hurt. And he was not some kind of a mythical beast like Miri.

So yeah, he was a little bit curious.

But was this really the best place to find out about his true identity?

Well, he should see how this went first before he decided to do anything. Hopefully they did not find something strange with him since this place was full of really strong people and he preferred to stay low on their radar.

“Yes, Director Dahrk.” He moved toward the chamber.

“Well, Director Dahrk is actually my father, you can just call me Dante. I have a feeling that we will see each other often in the future.” He chuckled as he typed into the tablet that he held – and suddenly the chamber was lit and there was a low humming sound coming out of the now glowing runes.

Sasha was trying to keep calm and maintain his heartbeat up until the humming sound was over and the glowing runed died down – which actually took longer than he anticipated.

“You can come out now, Sasha.”

Sasha could hear Dante’s voice and he quickly walked out of the chamber to find Dante was talking with 2 other men – one exuded danger like the devil himself with all that long and beautiful black hair and the other one had short silver hair.

“Hey Sasha, let me introduce you to my colleague.” Dante pointed at the dark haired man. “This is Akito, and this is Kai. Guys, this is Sasha.”

“Hi there, Sasha, nice to meet you.”

Kai offered his hand and he smiled sweetly, making Sasha feel a little bit relieved as he reached for his hand.

The next second though, he felt a slight jolt like static electricity when their hands touched, and he pulled his hand away.

“Ah, I’m sorry.” Sasha apologized but Kai only patted his shoulder to reassure him.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to be worried since we will be here for you anytime you need us.”

“Just relax, Sasha.” Akito shook his hand too but this time, no electric sensation.

“By the way, please wear this bracelet. It’s the newest ARK System that will connect to the ARK mainframe, and you can use it to access the training pod and to keep points to exchange with gears or if you hunt inside the dungeon, you can exchange the monsters’ byproduct with points too.”

Kai gave Sasha the ARK bracelet that looked transparent, and Sasha knew that the bracelet would sync with him and camouflage itself so that no one could see it.

It was very convenient to use – if you don’t have a secret, like the other humans. But he would figure out a way to hack it, just like he did to the suit, so that he did not expose himself as a Tracker.

“Thank you, Kai, Akito, Dante. I appreciate this.” Sasha put the bracelet on and he felt a pinch on his wrist that let him know that his DNA was being taken for the ARK database.

“No problem. If anything should happen, you can contact any one of us through the bracelet. I’ve put our contact there only for you.” Kai informed Sasha. “And by anything, I mean anything. Any uncomfortable feeling, any wound, any grievance, anything.”

Now Sasha was confused.

Those men were not low in the rank, especially if they talked casually with Dante Dahrk, but he never heard about them.

So why did they seem very interested in him?

What exactly was the anomaly that they found in the rune chamber to make them like this?

Sasha knew that something must have caught their eyes for the higher position to catch an interest in him. He just didn’t know why, but he would find out sooner or later since it could be the clue that he was looking for to find out about his own origin.