Code Alpha: Book Two

Chapter Two: The Neighbors

When I came round, Caesar Filerman was wearing his lab uniform. It was a royal blue with a green badge with the Elysium Labs logo, and he said, in his thick Erudite accent, "Your EcoSystems Kanji crashed. You blew the power source and it lost power and all regulation functions ceased. The Kanji is developmental so it does that, and TASOS doesn't. Marcus, your grandfather, designed the EcoSystems Tasos so it can be only edited by him. It can't adapt." You told him you'd adapted it to your schedule and he didn't believe you. He told you to talk to Finn Ryan Marcus Garcia.

Walking to Unit 2, you knocked on the door, and a butler asked me who I was. I told her, and I saw Ryan. We hugged, and he yelled,"Hi, Alex! You're here too? Awesome!" You quizzed him about the other neighbor and the floor plans. It seemed to be a human research plant. But there was a large bit just named: Eden. That bit of the map was majorly blank apart from a large circle intitled Apus Major. Confusing.

Finn, or Ryan, went swimming and I headed back for food, when  a butler told me, "You can head out, Master Castellan. The Kanji implants are recognized by the EcoSphere. I have to go as well." I decided to go to VADA Verizon Academy of Dance and Art. The academy had classes and parties for any graduate of one of the five schools. I chose to go to VADA Midnight Duel, where you went to Lazer Tag using your EcoSystem's Self Protection Robot. It was called a Custom Robo. Kanji was strong and speedy. He never backed down. You fought the fourteen rivals to become the 2075 Verizon July Champion. It was a successful day.

Getting ridiculously drunk on expensive alcohol, a luxury amongst even the HighCaste, you kept drinking the sacred drink of the students of VADA, Schuester Beer, named after William Schuester, hero to EcoSphere founders. You had sixteen and then switched to Paragon, a super strong alcohol which was 59 credits (1 credit is about 75 cents or a UK pound) per 10 ml. I had like 500ml of it with my all money chip. A guy who thought I was hitting on his girlfriend, and he punched me. Feeling bones crack, Kanji kicked in to high gear, flooding my body with Ceratophine, a drug that makes you lose thought and emotions and just focus on killing and running.

GUY'S POV
He was hitting on Bella, and I kicked into high gear and punched him. He morphed into... Something else... His eyes turned black, his neck scars became fresh with black blood. He beat me dead.

Alex POV
I woke up strapped to a chair. There was black blood on my white shirt, along with alcohol stains. Caesar told me, "Your system thought overloading Ceratophine into your system would be good for you. Evidently, not." He handed me a VADA Academic Year leaflet, but only billionaires and Erudites. But, there was a school named Our Lord Nykorev School, a finishing Candor society, is where rich other school grads went. There was of course the Santoro High Schools in every city, but.

They don't take gay kids.

I am gay, quite gay. It's VADA for me, then. All paid for by Elysium.

It was then I bumped into him. My new love.

He was about six foot three, broad shoulders, an expensive vest was over his Forter shirt. Forter is the most expensive designer firm beside Elysium. He dropped his university folders, and looked into my eyes. His eyes were a bright, vibrant gold with red flecks, instead of the regular EcoSphere EcoSystems eyes, which are a dull, constant blue-grey. My own eyes were a kaleidoscope mirage of colours that reminded people of earth, or so they say. His eyes gave off a Phoenix glow and looked like old Legion eyes. The Legion were the old rulers of the EcoSphere. They were ruthless and bankrupt earth. They were all killed by the current rulers. He picked up his equipment. I helped, and our hands touched. He told me, in a deep Candor breathless accent, "Thank you so much, I'm Phoenix. Do you want to go to the restaurant, Zyphon? They got new food flavours. Let's go, on me."

Again, another drunk night. We all drank tons of Schuester Beer and fine apple nectar.

I woke up in the pod I sleep in, Phoenix next to me, alarms blaring. Phoenix said, "They found me, got to go, bye Alexander! See you Saturday in the VADA Academic First Year ceremony. You are going, right?" Before I could answer he left. I wanted to see him again. His eyes, those natural bioluminescent eyes... They were to die for. Caesar told me to meet another. He opened the door to find Phoenix in a red suit. He said, "Good morning, Master Jaxus." And he said, "It's Phoenix Apollo Algor." You hugged him.

Next Saturday:
Walking up the artificial plastic steps, which lit up when you stepped on them, Phoenix wore a white shirt and a black blazer. You wore the VADA red edged blazer and tie. You nailed your performance of Kid Icarus, the earth's death story. How Icarus Algor, a twelve year old, saved humanity in 2030, creating the regal EcoSphere. At least that's what the majority think. It was the Castellan family who truly built the world. At VADA, after your audition, you headed to the subway with Phoenix. You went back, and drank pear nectar and pre-fail vodka. Also, a gratuitous amount of aged whiskey. They passed out in Phoenix's apartment.

The next day:
At midday, we were taken to Eden. It was a magical paradise. It had the only tree even grown, named Apus Major. It was amazing, the smell of pine, the sharp contrast of wood. Nobody had seen a tree before. Phoenix got one one knee, pulled out a box, grasped the dirt with one hand and offered me the ring with the others, it looked a billion credits. You took it, and it signified the end of normality. War had began. Algor vs Castellan. Creators pitted to the death. It was then, the spike ruptured through Apus' last root, severing humanity.

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