When I wake up in my bed, I look around for a quick second to see myself back in the dorm. I see that the room is even more of a mess than it was the other day. I try to sit up, feeling my head hurting really badly. I place my hands on my forehead as I struggle to get up.
As I look around more, I notice that Peter is in a chair, facing me. He looks extremely worried and confused, bewildered. I sit up, facing him, looking disheveled, my hair messy, my body emitting a horrible odor from not showering in a long few days.
“Floyd . . .” he starts speaking. His voice had a harsh tone. “I don't know what else you expect me to do for you. “
“Peter . . .” I say, without finishing the sentence immediately.
“I am not sure what is going on with you. First you stop eating food. Second, you just stop showering completely. Next thing I know the next time I see you, you're asleep with a very messy look and you can't explain what's going on,” he says, continuing to stare at me.
“I had the weirdest dream I was at this fortress and I was able to pick up the sword,” I say, ignoring everything he just said.
He doesn't respond when I tell him this, not really believing anything I just said. He looks away for a minute, before bringing his attention back to me. He tries to think about what else to do. When he does finally, he stands up and walks back over to his bed with the backpack on it.
“Floyd, I am trying to help you. If you don't tell me what's going on, I am going to find someone who can. Please . . .” he says, insisting that I tell him what's on my mind. Although, when I look up at him, ignoring what my instinct is saying, I shrug.
“Nothing's wrong . . . I am just having a large thinking crisis.” I look down to the floor after saying that.
Peter sighs in disappointment, then picks up my backpack against his bed and throws it over to me. I catch it, as my hands were in my lap. “Then get ready. A teacher of yours wants you to get back to class ASAP to speak to you.” He starts to prepare any contents that are needed for inside his backpack.
“I thought I was off for the week because I was sick or something?” I say, questioningly as I look back up at him.
“I didn't mean you were going back to class. Your teacher just wants to speak to you is all,” he says, grabbing his backpack and turning around to the door, opening it. “Now come on! He is waiting . . .”
I stand up as I grab my backpack, and I start to follow him out of the door. We begin to start heading toward Mr. Frank's class, who is seen outside the classroom speaking to another student. His eyes soon catch on to me as I walk closer. He seems a bit surprised to see me.
He looks to the student again and nods, before dismissing him. He looks back to me and says, “Floyd, nice to see you again. Look, the teachers and I have been thinking that . . . since you are sick, we don't want you to not have work to do. So . . .” He leads me inside the classroom with him. Peter stands outside the doorway to wait.
He leads me over to his desk. I see other students around their desks, standing up as they wait for class to start. Mr. Frank soon picks up a book and some sheets of paper from behind his desk. Handing it over to me, he says, “I want you to do work from your dorm until you feel like you can return back to the classroom.”
“Is this also from the other teachers?” I ask him.
He nods to confirm my question. “I'd expect my work to be finished by the end of the week. I already spoke to your other teachers,” he says to comfort me. I nod as an understanding. I look down at the school work in my hands for a minute or so, before turning around and heading back out.
Peter is waiting for me still. I come back over to him with not a smile, but a sad look. “Well, I should probably head to class. I'll be back at the dorm in a few hours, so see you then,” he tells me, turning around and beginning to head to his destination.
I take off my backpack and unzip an opening, placing the book inside it, while also placing the paperwork into my binder before putting the backpack onto my back and heading back to the dorm room. I am relieved that I can still do schoolwork while I am sick, or whatever is wrong with me.
When I get back to the dorm, I close the door behind me, and I place my backpack beside my bed. I sit down on my bed, and before I can lie back, I feel something touch my side. I look down to where I feel it and see a huge shape from where the blanket formed around the object.
The object seems to be long and a bit sharp on the side, so I use my hand to move the blanket off of it. My eyes latch on to what the object is as I do so, seeing what appears to be a sword . . . like what I saw in my dream. The sword has strange symbols scattered all around the edges and blade, glowing from the tip to the handle of it.
I decide to pick up it with my left hand, lifting it upward to look at the strange symbols closer. The symbols look to be exact matches to those of the ones I had written on paper that were all over the walls. When I notice this, it makes me start to think that the sword is related to the visions that I keep seeing.
Although, what is strange at this point is that the visions stop right when I get the sword. As I continue to stare at it, I begin to ponder what the symbols mean and why I am able to hold the sword. I remember that when I saw it in the news, no one was able to get close enough to it without turning to ashes and leaving no remains.
I place the sword on my lap, looking around the room at the symbols all over the wall on sheets of paper. After a bit, I stand up and start to take down the sheets of paper from the walls. When I finish, I place them all on top of each other into a pile on the floor.
I look back to the sword with the symbols all over the edges of it, I then start to compare the symbols on paper with the ones on the sword, before beginning to put the symbols in order as they're shown across the floor. I match the symbols up with the same pattern as seen on the sword, with the same layout.
Eventually, when I finish, the sheets of paper on the floor look to represent the sword, in a way. But instead, the shape looks to be the blade without the handle. Nothing happens, but I fear that the reason why might be because of the missing handle.
I start to investigate the room for any possible thing that could represent or make up the blade. Failing to do so, I decide to look back down at the symbols on the floor once again. Though this time, I start to examine the symbols and the sword itself, before placing the sword over the symbols.
Lining the sword up with the sheets of paper with symbols on them causes the sword's symbols and the sheets of paper to start glowing and connecting together. The bright light of the symbols causes the dorm room's light to shut off, causing the only light left to be the sword itself.
Soon, a bright light from the symbols starts to outline the edges of the sword into a shape of the sword. Within seconds, a bright light forms around me from above. The light was so harsh on my eyes, that I decided to close them. I felt myself and my surroundings change. Before eventually the light disappears, letting me reopen my eyes. Instantly, I recognize that I am no longer in my dorm. Instead, I was within a large empty white room with bright lights shining from the ceiling.
I begin to examine my surroundings for a few minutes, before kneeling down and picking up the sword with my right hand. I look around for a few more minutes before calling out for anybody that might be here. “Hello?!” I say, which echoes throughout the walls of the room.
When no response is returned, I decide to start walking in a direction for any possible answers. I soon walk inside another room, but I see nothing out of the ordinary. I only get about three feet back before I hear noises around me.
I try to search for where the source of the noises is coming from, but I find nothing. I call out once more, “Hello? Who's there?” I soon hear a response.
“I see that you have achieved the sword . . . my great child,” someone says, but I still can't find the source of the voice.
“Who are you? And where are you?” I ask again.
“We are considered many names, but we are a highly advanced race called Robanian’s. However, you can call us whatever you like.” the voice says, but this time I see a tall, large creature in front of me, with a large robe and collar around it. It has no facial features, but it does have a hat floating on top of it. I can see no other physical features that could explain anything to me.
I look up to it, seeing that it is about one or two feet taller than I am. The entity walks a bit closer before stopping a few feet away from me. “Now that you are here, we can start the process,” it says, confusing me a bit after it says that.
“What process?” I ask it, as it begins to walk toward a large door that is behind me. I start to follow it, but I continue to have the feeling of confusion and worry. When I finally catch up to it at the doorway, it looks back at me.
“Battleworld,” it says as it opens the door forward, revealing a large dining room inside. This time, I see creatures nowhere close to that of the entity in the robe in front of me. Many with different shapes and sizes of their own, some even looking completely different than I do.
I stare, baffled at them all, with also so many questions that need to be answered. The entity in the robe begins to walk away, but I look back at it. “Wait . . . I am very confused. What do you mean by 'Battleworld?'“ I ask it.
“You'll see soon enough. In the meantime, however, why not rest a while and eat something. You are going to need it,” it says. The door closes finally, and I am left in a room filled with alien-like creatures.
I look around for a good few minutes before starting to make my way toward the kitchen that is serving food. When I get there, I see a long line queuing up, so I decide to get to the back of the line. As I do, I try not to look at the different creatures for too long to catch their attention.
Although I do get a good look at them. Each one has a different size and shape. Some have fur-like features all over them, and others have meat-like features. Some even look to be extremely disgusting that I almost want to barf. I finally get to the back of the line. I look for anything else that might be in line, but I see nothing.
So I get behind one of the creatures in front of me, and I sigh quietly to myself, a bit nervous and still extremely confused as to what is going on. I begin to wait patiently, looking around more at the other creatures around the dining place. My eyes soon catch on to a pair of aliens that look to have similar proportions to myself.
I stare at them for a while, but continue to pay attention to the line in front of me. I decide to take a look at how long the line is at this point. I see that the line has about 20 or so ahead, which makes me grunt in annoyance.
After a while, though, soon I feel another alien walking up to me from behind. Although, I feel a finger of it tapping my shoulder, I decide to turn around and look up at it. The creature looks humanoid as well, although it seems to have two heads instead of one.
“Hey, you're the newbie, right?” it asks me.
“Yeah?” I say, not sure what else to say.
“Nice to meet ya, name's Hank and my Siamese twin is named Hoy. We are from a planet known as Glerko, where, trust me, they aren't all like me, they look more like you, actually,” Hank says.
“Yeah, we just happened to be picked while also being Siamese twins.” Hoy says.
“Pretty much . . . how about you?” Hank asks me.
I look back up at them. “My name's Floyd, came from a planet that we call Earth,” I tell them.
Hank lifts out his hand to shake in a greeting, in which I oblige him. I kind of smile, but not fully. “Nice to meet you, Floyd,” Hank says, looking ahead once again before looking back down to me.
“How were you chosen, if I may ask?” Hoy asks a minute later.
I look up at him, then I lift out the sword to let them see. I don't show any sign of happiness or a look of gratefulness for being here, though. I just go with it.
“The AzLean Sword, wonderful choice for Earth,” Hoy says, holding out their weapon. Though Hoy is controlling the right arm and Hank is controlling the left arm, they both hold out their weapons. Hank's seems to be a knife, while Hoy's is more of a hatchet.
“Together, they form what is known as the double-knife hatchet,” Hanks says a minute later.
I nod as I look at them for a few more minutes, lowering my sword down to my side. I then look back up to them. “Say, can I ask you guys what exactly is going on?”
“Didn't the floating robe guy tell you?” Hank asks.
“Yes, but I am not entirely sure what he means by a Battleworld,” I admit.
“Well, technically his species is known to host an event called Battleworld. They choose one person per planet that they visit to essentially make them battle to the death with weapons they have been given,” Hoy tells me.
Hank continues after he finishes. “Each sword is random on what abilities it offers, and if someone wins, they are considered the crown and winner.”
“What if one loses?” I ask them both.
“It’s a bit complicated, but you only lose if you die. However, you can surrender to be considered inconclusive. Everyone is given a white flag just in case they decide to. And if you do decide to, you'll get sent back to your designated home planet without the weapon you've been given,” Hoy tells me.
“Wait, so . . . if I don't want to fight, I can just leave?” I ask.
“There's a lot more to that than you think, but yeah,” Hank responds.
I get a weird feeling about this, feeling as though there is more here than meets the eye. I decide to look forward once again, sighing a bit as I see that I am next to get some food. Time passes very quickly when you talk to someone, I think to myself.
I walk forward, grab a tray from the counter, and place it onto the counter underneath the window. This time, it seems to be another one of those robe aliens that I met who lead me in here. Although, this one seems to be a different person with a more white-colored version of the robe, and a hair net.
“Why, hello there, Floyd, nice to see you. I think I know exactly what you would like to eat today,” they say, turning around and searching in the kitchen for a bit. Before turning back around and placing fries onto the tray, and a cheeseburger with all the toppings beside them, he also places a bottle of water onto the tray.
I keep both of my hands holding on to the tray tightly, trying to not let go despite the weight on it from the water bottle. “Will that be all?” the robed creature asks.
I get a bit surprised, seeing that the creature knew about my most favorite food, and the thing I always drink with it. “Yes . . . thank you, I guess?” I say, beginning to walk toward the cafeteria tables.
They nod, and call for the next person to come up. I can see Hank and Hoy grabbing a tray, and I am kind of excited to see what the robed creature will offer them. I decide to wait for Hank and Hoy first instead of sitting down. When they are finished, I can see that Hank and Hoy both have different foods on the tray.
There is a salad on one side, and on the other side is a large piece of steak. No drink on the tray, but there is silverware in plastic packaging in between the two foods. I get a bit confused at the sight, but I shake it off after a while.
“You can sit with me and my friends,” Hoy tells me, so I start to follow him toward a table in the back. When we get there, I can see that the two other creatures sitting at the table aren't like me or Hank and Hoy. Instead one of them is just shapes in a 2D plane with stickman-like arms.
The other creature that sits beside the 2D figure is a more muscular and large person eating a slab of meat. Though, apparently Hank and Hoy look at him. “Dune Layor, what are you doing here? Go sit over there,” he insists, pointing to the other side of the table.
The large, muscular guy, who apparently is Dune stands up, taking his tray and walking to the other side of the table. Although this time, apparently that isn't Hank's so-called friend. The person he is talking about is beside what looked like a smaller, cuter creature that has a lot of fur.
The creature doesn't look at me for a few minutes, before waving its hand. “Hi,” I say, a bit nervous and weirded out. Hank and Hoy sit down, leaving space beside him, and I decide to follow his lead. I look at the two creatures for a few minutes before Hank decides to introduce them to me.
“Floyd, meet Ethan and Sparkles,” Hank says, and I decide to look at the both of them for a few minutes.
“So, guys, we got a new member of our group. I am going to make sure Floyd doesn't feel left out, how about that?” Hank says. Sparkles, the fluffy and furry creature nods and starts digging in again. Meanwhile, Ethan starts to examine me by grabbing my hand to look at it.
Hoy looks over to Ethan as he does so. “Yes, I know, Ethan, he is 3D.”
Ethan lets go of my hand and places his hands onto the table. “You are helping this person feel less scared, yet you can't find another creature of my form.” Ethan's voice is very off, sounding to be robotic or a radio of some sorts.
“Now Ethan, we talked about this,” Hank steps in. “I told you I have been trying. It's hard finding another 2D object on here. Despite there being a lot of species.”
Ethan sighs and starts to continue eating from his tray. I can see that the food he is eating isn't 3D, telling me that each species is eating whatever the creature itself is capable of eating, or something that it favors a lot. It gives me a weird feeling, almost like they've been observing us for a long period of time.
My eyes decide to wander off toward the robbed creature in the kitchen, examining it more. It's almost like the details of the creature itself are invisible, and I am able to look through it. It is very weird—either that or my eyes are not capable of seeing its real details.
I soon get another tap on my shoulder from Hank and Hoy, looking at me. “You better eat. You're going to need it for tomorrow since none of us is going to be able to eat afterward,” he says, starting to dig into their food. I can see that Hoy and Hank use their own arms to start feasting on it.
I look down to my cheeseburger and fries, despite the fact that I haven't eaten for several days and it doesn’t even feel wrong. When I finally finish eating, I feel as though I am full from eating so much. I look over to Hank and Hoy, feeling ready to go.
“Hey, Hank and Hoy?” I ask, and they both look at me when I say their names.
“Yes?” Hank asks.
“What's up?” I take a minute to think of the question I am considering asking.
“How long have you all been here exactly?” I ask, a bit curious.
“Well, not long, actually. Only for a week,” Hanks says. “Though, I've been here before, so . . .“
“This is our third time so far coming back,” Hoy says a minute later.
“A week?! I don't think I can stay here for that long,” I say to myself as my attention comes back to my food in front of me.
“You don't have to worry about that, though, because after tomorrow you'll go back to your planet all fine and dandy,” Hoy tells me.
“Well, yeah, but you said it was fight to the death. How haven't you died?” I ask them.
“Because they usually surrender, like me and Sparkles over here,” Ethan points out.
“Exactly. We are more volunteers than we are chosen ones at this point. We were chosen by our weapons, and when we surrendered and could leave—” Hank says.
“They had this program where you could return when the next set of fights were ready to keep fighting,” Hoy finishes the sentence.
“Me and Hoy, as well as Ethan and Sparkles decided to join in as well,” Hank says, looking over to Ethan and Sparkles.
“Why would you want to do that?” I ask, a bit confused.
“Short answer is . . . we love fighting, it's kind of fun. Especially since this is the only opportunity to meet real-life aliens all in one place,” Ethan tells me. “The meeting of other aliens is probably the best reason.”
“Yep, they usually let us come here earlier than most tributes too,” Hank mentions as he looks over at me.
“Usually the rest of the newer tributes come here on the second and last days. You, Floyd, were probably the last one in fact,” Ethan says, making me look down at the sword in my hands.
“I see.” I grow silent when I hear that, still a bit confused about what to say next. Soon, the door of the cafeteria opens, revealing three of the robed creatures. Two of them have staffs, while the one between them has a very lovely robe with a crown over its head.
When the others see this, they decide to stand up from their seats. I follow suit, making sure to not do something wrong or get in trouble. Hank looks over to the robed creatures, looking at the entire room. “That is the headmaster, he usually just makes announcements and is in control of the spaceship. Though, he isn't particularly the one in charge,” Hank mentions as he stands up.
“What do you mean he isn't in charge?” I ask him.
“Because I met the one in charge when I was signing up as a volunteer. He isn't like any of the other guys, though,” he replies.
“We can't exactly tell you who he is or why he didn't look like any of the others,” Ethan says shortly afterward. I glance at Ethan for a second before my attention comes to the headmaster and the other robed entities.
“By this time, you know what time it is. Volunteers, you guys are excused to head back to your dorm rooms to get ready for tomorrow. We are also opening the training room if any one of you want to train for the night,” the headmaster mentions, and his attention comes over to where Hank and Hoy are.
Hank gets around me, and dismisses himself. Hoy looks back at me. “When the announcement is finished, meet us out there. You can bunk with us for the night,” he says before he and Hank, along with Ethan and Sparkles, head out of the cafeteria.
Although, as they walk out, they aren't the only ones who leave. About six to ten others follow them out of the room, telling me that there might even be a small army of volunteers on this spaceship. When all of the volunteers leave, the headmaster looks over the rest of the creatures in the room, including me, remaining where I am.
“Attention to all of you newcomers. Tomorrow is considered to be the day that decides whether or not you come to victory, die, or leave. With this in mind, I expect that every single one of you uses the weapons you have in your possession to train for the fight,” the headmaster says.
“The training room is kept open as I just said for the volunteers, so not only sleep well, but train the best that you can. I am expecting big things tomorrow . . . so good luck to all of you. You are all dismissed and free for the rest of the day,” the headmaster tells all of us before starting to head out where they just came from.
Once they leave, I look down to my tray and pick it up with my hands, taking it over to the nearest trash bin and throwing it away. Shortly afterward, I leave the cafeteria and head over to Hank and Hoy, who are waiting for me. “So, where are we heading?” I ask them.
“It's up to you, but I am probably going to train tonight. I can show you where my dorm is so if you want to sleep before training, you can,” Hank tells me, starting to lead me forward. We soon come to a basic room with a bunk bed and several things that I don't recognize at first.
“You can sleep on the top bunk, nobody sleeps up there anyway,” Hoy tells me, going over to his cabinets and taking out a box of weapons from it.
“Does nobody else stay here?” I ask him, double-checking to be sure.
“The only other person that used it was this one friend of mine I met who died on the battlefield. I constantly told him to surrender, but he was always into the idea of winning and thought that surrendering was a cowardly thing to do,” Hank says.
“Oh, I am sorry to hear that,” I tell him..
“Thanks . . . though you don't have to worry about us. That was about a year ago since it happened anyway,” Hoy tells me, as he and Hank look through the box of weapons for a bit.
I climb the ladder and get onto the top bunk, seeing that the bed was done. I smile slightly, and I decide to lie back onto it, feeling that it is very soft and comfortable. I sigh in relief and some happiness.
Hank and Hoy soon turn around and look up to me on the bed. “Anyway, we best be off. I'll see you tomorrow,” Hank tells me before waving his hand as he heads out. I wave as well, and I roll fully onto my back, looking up at the ceiling. I notice the sword beside me once more, making me sit up and grab it.
I look down at the sword for a minute, then I place the sword beneath the pillow and under my head. Then, I look up toward the ceiling and begin to feel myself dozing off. Before I know it, I passed out to dreamland.