Rend

Chapter 19: Guest Of Honor

  "Um, hello?!? What the fuck is going on?! Why is my armor green? Why do I have giant fucking wings sprouting from it??" I start to say in a panic.

  There is a moment of silence in a room full of terrified faces. These faces start to turn themselves around and look at each other in a fast, anxiety filled gaze. As if looking for an answer for my many questions.

  My fixation turns to Jake who seemed to be the only person calm in the room. Why? Everyone else was acting like they've just seen the destroyer of the world. How could he be so calm during all of this. The only thing different about his face that I noticed was a sense of slight realization. Or maybe something else. It's so hard to read him sometimes.

  Just then, a door at the far end of the room began to open.

  "Attention!" demanded a rather stern voice.

  All the soldiers snapped out of their panicked state and formed perfect lines on either side of me leading towards the door a few meters away from where I was suspended.

 "Well, then. I guess it's finally time that we met again," There was a pause, "Levi."

  It was the person with the stern voice. The one who was talking over the loud speaker. The one who directed me just moments ago with my armor. Their voice was still under some sort of modification. Strange, though. The voice wasn't the one I heard faintly yell 'Attention!' just moments ago. To even further the concealment of their identity, they wore a mask. A pure white mask with one opening for an eye on the left side.

  "Or, rather, I met you." A posh laugh followed. "You doing okay up there, champ?"

  'Champ'? What the fuck is this? 

  "Just tell me how the fuck to get down, asshole. You probably planned all of this. Like I was some sort of sick science experiment. I heard what you said. 'We can't lose this one!' or whatever. Don't fucking act like we're buddies, champ." I say accusingly.

  "I have no idea what you're talking about, my friend. Everyone in this facility undergoes the same test and examination. I'll admit, some of our more "promising" initiates don't..."

  There was a pause again. Not like the one before. This one was hinting that they were genuinely thinking.

  "... "Fit the mold" as others." Another posh laugh follows. "But, I digress. About you getting down from there, truth be told, I have no idea. That's something you have to figure out yourself. So have fun with that. Fall in everyone. We are leaving!"

  Wait, what?

  "No! You can't just leave me dangling here in the air! Help me down!" I screamed.

  "Nah, I have a meeting to get to in a few minutes. I'll see you..." Another pause. "Let's see, it's 3:43 in the afternoon right now. So, how does Noon tomorrow morning sound, champ?"

"Tomorrow?! Are you serious?! I'm just supposed to sit, I mean, hover here until tomorrow?" I questioned.

"Yes, sir! Have a great stay! You're our guest of honor now."

"Wait! Jake! What the hell is going on??" I asked desperately to my best friend.

"What do you mean 'going on'? Didn't you hear the Commander? You're our Guest of Honor. See you, pal." Jake answered. 

  Wasn't the answer I was looking for.

Another fucking stuck up, degrading, posh laugh followed as they vanished behind the door.