Prologue: Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.

John woke up that day to an unfamiliar alarm and an even more unfamiliar place. It took him a moment to recall the events of the previous night, but there was no time to dwell on them. He quickly rushed out of the bed and attempted to collect his clothes which had been strewn about the room. The young man equipped them through his inventory as Alice began waking up. Still in a rush, he kissed her lightly on the lips and whispered a soft goodbye as she awoke. He went to exit the room as soon as she responded.

“Morning…” She whispered, not entirely awake yet. John, however, was already standing a few meters away. A few moments later, he exited the room and went down the stairs. He did not have any time to waste in getting to the Gateway, as he had no idea when exactly he was expected.

Life, on the other hand, had a different notion of how events would occur. Alice’s mother, Hanna Wright, soon interrupted him as he was heading for the door. She had spotted him as he rushed by the kitchen and went out to confront him. His interactions with her had always been positive, but he had not seen her even once in the last three years. When looking at her, it was obvious where Alice had inherited her beauty from. She had the same green eyes and long brown hair, and her face, which was similarly beautiful in appearance, was barely marred by age. Her build was also almost identical, though obviously more impacted by the hardship of her life. She seemed far more gaunt and lanky than her daughter’s thin but healthy body.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you here again…” She began, though a smile crossed her face. “If it had to be anybody, at least it was you,” she continued, a sigh of relief was heard as well. “I see you’re hurrying off somewhere, but there’s one thing you need to hear. Her father isn’t here anymore, but that doesn’t mean that if you hurt her again there will be no consequences, understood?” She shot him a look that could best be described as murderous in intent. Genuinely scared, John nodded quickly. “Good, I’ll let you go for now. We’ll see you at dinner?” The look returned.

“I’ll try my best.” Was all he could muster before rushing through the door.

The first thing he did as he went outside was text his parents that he was ok. He had already told them he needed to go back a day early due to a test he apparently didn’t pass, but that he would be in touch this time. For a moment he stood there, not knowing what to do now. Thankfully, he was given an answer soon afterwards. Once again, he was pulled into an alley by a familiar face.

“Hey Ember.” His tone was genuinely friendly. She was still one of the only people John knew from the council, and the only one he trusted further than he could throw her.

“Hey,” she said that and nothing more. Her face showed what was behind the mask, however. It passed between confusion at the start and a slight smile seconds later. Regardless, she seemed intent on not standing around there for too long. “I’m here to show you the other gate in the warehouse and give you a key for it. It will lead us to HQ. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, it does exist. I promise,” she said as if anticipating his surprise at the existence of that gate. She paused for a moment before continuing. “And, I’m sorry about the last time we met.” That seemed to be all she was going to say on the subject, as she soon began moving once again towards where the gate was located. She signaled him to follow her. This time, he did, without hesitation.

An hour or so later, they were once again at the abandoned warehouse. As they entered once more, John was handed a black keycard that he immediately put into his inventory. Unlike Ember’s card, however, it seemed to have a picture of him on it. For a moment, he wondered how they were able to get it, before his attention was drawn back to Ember. She headed further into the warehouse. When she reached the wall, John became confused but he was given his answer a moment later. With a wave, the black keycard opened another door. This time, one he only noticed now. It was hidden carefully inside the wall, clearly more important to whoever built this place.

“It’s in here,” she said, disappearing past the door a moment later. John soon followed her through the door. On the other side, he found himself in a smaller space that mostly contained another gate. It was just the same as the others, being made of white marble and containing some sort of purple material inside it. Now that he knew what to look for, however, he also saw runes on it. To his surprise, they were markedly different than the ones he had seen in the first plane. Regardless, he stepped through it as Ember did the same. Just as it had almost half a dozen times before, the world shattered around him.

As it reformed, he found himself once again in the industrial section of the Council’s HQ. Ember led him down a few unknown corridors that seemed to arrive at a completely different section of the huge complex. It was built in the same Victorian style as what he had previously seen, but was clearly made for a different purpose. Conference rooms and offices were spread all around, and eventually they entered a small classroom. In it were a collection of rather colorful characters.

The room was defined by the rows of bench-like desks covering most of the middle of it. They were of the same style as the rest of the area, made out of carved wood with various strange decorations. In the first row sat two of the five people in the room. A friendly seeming woman and a sharply dressed man. The woman had lightly tanned skin, eyes as blue as the sky and hair that was a little darker. On her face were tattoos under her eyes and a diamond on her forehead. Her hair was short, but had an elegant styling to it which complemented her face’s more round features. She wore a dark blue shirt that furrowed at the sleeves into threads that almost resembled feathers. That shirt barely hid the tattoos of birds on her shoulders and the white straps of her bra. Additionally, she wore a fabric belt that hung like a tail over her white jean shorts. She was looking out the window, unaware of John’s entrance. The man seemed quite the opposite. His hair and eyes were black, his skin pale, but his clothes seemed quite a bit more fancy, though obviously less practical. He wore a Victorian style suit, which suited his slender physique quite well. He had an air about him that was somewhere between arrogant and royal. His face’s sharp features and jaw lent him a general seriousness, but his expression seemed more fitting of mischievousness. Not only that, but he was looking directly at John with a grin on his face. One of obvious and malicious intent.

Behind them sat another woman in the middle row. She had black hair and fancy clothes as well, though her hair was long and tied in a ponytail. She wore a dress of black and red that stopped right before the knee and was followed soon after by entirely black stockings. Her palms were covered by smooth, black fingerless gloves that seemed to be made out of some kind of silk. It made John wonder whether they were meant to hide something or only compliment her aesthetic. All of her getup was decorated strangely. A cross was etched into the breast of the dress, and a skull was placed on a belt of sorts. She also had various other crosses. One on the choker on her neck, another around her wrist, and one hanging from her dress. It was strange, but not particularly noteworthy. She seemed distant. Her gaze was entirely on John, but he was sure she was just looking past him. There were two things of great note about her, however. Her eyes were as red as blood, and out of the two sides of her head appeared small red horns. Her eyes and horns were framed by her quite attractive round face, as well.

In the last row sat yet another woman. One with short neon pink hair and a sullen expression. The expression did nothing to distract from her quite attractive features, which appeared vaguely Asian. She wore a casual outfit as well, but one obviously colored more outrageously. The getup was made up of a black tank top and simple shorts that were of an insanely bright blue color. The coloring was even further shown in her eyes. John was sure he could see a blue star in the middle, surrounded by a pink circle and a blue halo, and they were complemented by mascara and eye shadow of the same colors. Additionally, floating around her head was another blue halo, it was almost entirely translucent but it was still obviously there. As she moved her head towards the door, it moved with her.

Ember instructed John to sit down briefly after they entered, and he chose to sit down in the right part of the front row, away from the black haired man in the middle of the row and the blue haired woman in the left part of it. At the front of the room stood a familiar face. Graham Black. Ember soon left the room, and the gruff looking man began.

“You’re all here for the same reason, so I’m not going to waste any time explaining things. I’ll be your instructor for the martial arts part of this course, you’ll meet your other instructors later. Now, follow me.” When he finished, he exited the room quickly. They all soon followed behind him. John thought it was an ideal time to try to get to know these people, as he still had no idea how long he would be spending there. He decided to leave his thoughts about Graham being his teacher for another time.

He approached the two people nearest to him first.

“Hey, I’m John,” he said to the fancily dressed young man that was now walking in his direction.

“And I’m not here to exchange pleasantries,” he responded, his tone caustic. He did not even stop to face John.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just a fucking dick. Nice to meet you, I’m Yennifer. Though most people call me Yan,” the blue haired woman said, in a significantly lighter tone, and reached out with her hand. John happily took it. Her shake was firm but somehow also light as well. “Guess we’ll be spending some time together... I’ll see you there,” she said, as she continued on and left him standing in the classroom. The woman with black hair approached him more cautiously.

“I’m Charlotte… Charlotte Reid.” She seemed nervous as she approached John. Her hands were kept to herself, and with a slight nod she went off in the same direction as the others. Her behaviour was just as strange as her looks, and he was sure he had spotted slight fangs in her mouth as she spoke.

Unlike her previously sullen expression, the woman who sat in the last row seemed excited as she approached John as well.

“Hey! I’m Susan Hollmey. Though I prefer “Bass”.” That threw John back, to another Hollmey, with a similarly catchy nickname.

“Are you related to Rave?” he asked before he could think further on it. She gave him an utterly surprised look for a moment.

“Yeah, I am. How do you know her, though?” Her look changed from surprise to a mixture of curiosity and fear.

“I go to the same school,” John quickly lied, there was nothing to be gained by revealing his powers, yet.

“Huh, ok,” she shrugged. “Anyways, yeah, I am. Nice to meet you, I guess. If you know her, I’m sure you’re an ok guy.” Bass paused for a moment “So, you coming?” she said as she moved to the door. The rest had already disappeared into the corridor.

“Yeah.” John soon followed her and attempted to strike up a conversation. It was safer to obtain information this way until he had more of an idea of how Observe could be detected. After all, the last two times he had used it sneakily, it had failed or revealed his hand too early. “So, I’m kinda lost, they haven’t told me too much yet. Do you have any idea why we’re here?” She gave him a strange look.

"We're here for our final course as trainees. Still don't know why you're here." She shrugged, her tone wasn't accusatory, but definitely confused.

“Well then, I might be able to tell you something.” John paused for a moment as they continued walking, unsure of whether to continue. Nonetheless, he eventually did. “I’m the new explorer. Obviously, I don’t know exactly why they sent me here, but maybe that’ll give you some idea of that?”

“You’re joking, right?” She was obviously flabbergasted. When John didn’t respond, she continued. “Wait… You’re serious? Welp, guess my boss is even fucking younger than I am.” She laughed.

“What do you mean?” It was now John’s turn to be confused.

“They sent you here to finish your final training and recruit us, dumbass.” Her tone was so vague that John couldn’t tell if she was serious.

“Honestly, I’m not really sure whether you’re joking or not. I’m kind of new to this whole Abyss thing. And ever since I came here, I’ve barely been told anything.”

“And a late bloomer too. For Gaia’s sake, where do they get you people…” This time, she was obviously laughing about it. Whether at him or with him, John was less sure. “Anyways, guess it’s my job to do the introductions then.” She shook her head in an annoyed fashion. “Everyone you met are the ones who made it through training. A lot of weak people try coming here to escape the rest of the Abyss. They all think it’s some grand new idea no one’s tried before, only to find a hundred more of them are already here. The ones who make it through are those of us who have any actual talent. And I guess if you’re an explorer, you must have some too, even if you’re fucking hillarious.” She chuckled again. “Anyways, we’ll get to know each other later, we need to get there before they start without us.” They both began moving somewhat more quickly after the others, as they had already disappeared from their sight behind a set of large doors. About a minute later, they passed through them as well. Behind those doors John found a large courtyard of sorts.

It reminded him of his own school’s gym, as various objects that were obviously some sort of training implements were placed around or stuffed into the sides of the courtyard. Graham Black was standing in the middle of it. He was attempting to instruct Charlotte and Yan with the help of the black haired young man in how to disarm an opponent. John and Bass joined them, and a few minutes later they split into three groups. Apparently, even if this was their final course, they had only barely started basic martial arts training now. That seemed somewhat strange to John, but he did not have any time to think on it. He was paired up with Bass, who seemed a natural at this kind of activity. Unlike her, it seemed that even with his boosted stats, he was still the scrawny nerd, and he only began to grasp how to disarm her much later. John was quite enthusiastic about it, however, as he was sure that this was a skill he would need.

They continued practicing a few other basics of the martial art that Graham was teaching until almost two hours later. It was an interesting combination of a few martial arts that seemed to focus much more on the ability to apply damage through magic after disarming or disabling the opponent. Eventually, Graham announced that they were done for now and instructed them all to return to the classroom for their exploration lesson.