The Advanced

Chapter 2- The Whispering Scorpion

I could see a little girl with short black hair, she was petting a small cat, humming gently as she set it down onto the cold forest floor. The cat hesitated, them walked into the grass.
A taller woman behind her hugged her, and the girl smiled, touching the woman's light brown hair.
The woman held out a small box, which was wrapped in a black paper. The girl stared patiently at it, and took it and ripped away the paper.
Inside the box, a shiny silver heart gripping a thin chain sat. The girl smiled widely, hugging her mother and pulling it out and wrapping it around her neck. Her mother reached over and clicked it together. It held calmly and fragile, onto her neck.

I reached for the silver heart trapped under my white button up shirt. That girl had been me.
Finally, the man instructed me to stand up. Twenty seconds had seemed much longer than it actually was. I had regained enough strength to restart in those twenty seconds, and prepared myself for another simulation.

The next simulation appeared and a golden maze surrounded me. I paused. 'Hug the left wall.' I said to myself. I followed along the left for a few moments, my pace quickening as I went along. Finally, I could see an expansion where it ended.
But it was never that easy.
The shadow of a creature crept upon me. I saw the knife-like barb of a scorpion as it seemed to descend over me. I moves swiftly, sliding away from it and watching as it plummeted into the hard earth. It struggled to get free, but I knew well what it was for.
I grabbed a rock off the ground, a little bigger than my hand and plunged it into the creature's tail. It screeched loudly, hissing and pulling away. I stared at it emotionlessly, using the little muscle I had in my arms to push the rock deeper in before the barb broke away from his tail. The scorpion screeched loudly, piercing my eardrums, while it fell over withering up and dying on the dirty, and now bloody road.
I pulled the barb away from the ground, walking over to the big silver gate. I stood there for a moment, then looked at the barb. 'The key.' I walked over grabbing a giant rock and pounded it into the barb, busting it open. The poison leaked out the sides of it, a greenish-purple color. I winced in disgust, reaching into the cupped opening and pulling out the silver key.
I walked over to the lock, carefully inserting the key and opening the gate. I walked through, and the world became white.
The brightness lasted a little while, giving me time to think back. I was always wondering, I would never say these things out loud, but I would often wonder why something like that would happen. The attacking, I mean. I would wonder if the lion had cubs and it was protecting them, and I just destroyed its jaw. How would it catch food for its cubs? Or the scorpion, what if it was just defending itself? And I killed it?
I snapped myself away from my thoughts. 'It's just a mirage.' I told myself.
'Just a mirage.'
As the brightness finally dimmed away, I could see the grey walls around me, and I walked in front of the pristine glass that separated me from one of the Fraction. I got close enough to see his golden brown face, he wore shades so I didn't see his eyes. His bald head shimmered in the brighter room overhead.
"Well done. Broive. Willing to kill. Murdiestra."
Three, I counted, was a good amount to be in. They seperate the Combolithians depending on how many categories they get. It wasn't unlikely to be a Combolithian. About 25 percent of the population in the BlackHouse was in this ninth category. What was rare was to see a person with all nine of these traits, but I've never met one.
They stood and retired me to my room, which was just behind the large garage-like door. I walked inside, the darkness enveloping me and pulling me into my white sheeted bed.