PING PONG!

The bell rings so I run to class. I was out of breath before I knew it but our teacher hadn't shown up yet which was typical. He hated us as much as we hated him, which is probably why he always came late. I sit at my desk which was near the window. Staring outside I can only see the reflection of the four stooges in their little pity corner of love just behind me. They had everything I didn't...

Within the reflection I see three girls walk toward me with their low miniskirts. The three skanks of our class, the bad bitches of room twenty-two. No one dared go against them since the head bitch is the dean's daughter. Inevitably, of course, they surround me.

One of them, Chasidy Ng'ona, puts her arms around my neck with her breasts pushing against my head, which was nice, "Indie, let us barrow some money, we're hungry."

The head, Yennefer Glasnost, drops to her knees, not in the way I would like, but she makes eye contact with me, "You don't want us to go hungry, do you? I mean, look at your figure, you're clearly loaded," She rubs my belly and laughs, "Will I get good luck for doing that?"

"Honestly, the only thing I'm really loaded on is bad genes." I respond.

Diana Fritz, the third skank, displays a lecherous shit eating grin. She shits (sits) on my desk with her stupid bowl cut hair like she owns the goddamn place, "Too bad your jeans don't fit," What does that even mean? I'm wearing track pants for God's sake.

Yennefer places a hand under my shirt and squeezes my fat, "Come on, Indie," she begs with puppy dog eyes, "that can't be true, what would you call this then?" My fat from lack of exercising my demons.

"Why did it have to come to this, Yenn...?" Yennefer is taken back by my statement. I look around and people seem to pay attention to what was happening but pay no mind to it. After all, what was I to them? I glance to Lucius and he shakes his head. Fayn creates a fist under the table and glares at me. Durian scorns me without speaking, and Momo yawns. They always knew what was happening to me but refused to do anything about. They wanted me to fight my own battles, which I couldn't do...

This was the kind of ridicule I couldn't handle. I wanted, more than anything, to protect my ego. The one thing I feared most was public humiliation and disgrace. I tried doing everything I could to avoid it. I don't want to be disgraced. I lean toward Yennefer and whisper, "Yenn, listen, does it have to be in the middle of class? Can't it wait till break at the usual spot? Please—just don't do it here. Don't embarrass me like this... Please..."

She glares at me with a glassy stare, "We're hungry right now, Indie. Just give us some money and we'll be on our way..."

"Or do we have to make you cooperate?" Chasidy eggs.

I gaze at Lucius again and he mouths at me, "Don't do it."

Yennefer kisses my cheek, "that's sexual harassment, Indie," she says, "that'll be extra, you know?" Chasidy and Diana giggle. I don't want to be ridiculed here, not like this.

My heart hurts and I could hear people whisper around me, "Geez, is this really happening?", "Sort of makes you feel bad for the retard, don't it?", "At least it's that creepy mentally handicapped kid being taken advantage of instead of us."

I'm not retarded... I'm not...

I'm not creepy... I'm not...

Why isn't anyone willing to help? I get it's the deans daughter but people can't just idlily watch... Can they? I'll never forgive any of you...

Yennefer holds me down while Diana pries off my jacket and shirt. I'm half naked and everything's in full view, hell, I'd pay for something like this but not in front of everyone. Cassidy snorts, "just like Buddha. Maybe if you rub his belly even more he'll give us more money!" Some people in the class snicker and laugh to themselves.

Diana takes out a marker and writes retard on my chest. I feel so defeated I can't move. Why here? Why now? We had an arrangement not to do this here... I clench my fist and suck it up. They wrote pig on my belly, "Oink for us, Indie," Yennefer demands, "come on, just one oink," She winks.

I take out my wallet and pull out a bill. Cassidy takes my wallet and gave me back the single bill, "tax collection."

Fayn froths at the mouth, Lucius holds him back. Durian covers his face, disgraced, and Momo grinds her teeth.

The girls throw my clothes toward the back of the room and sit down in their seat laughing as I ramble toward my clothes. They didn't even leave the classroom to buy food, they did this on purpose... Yennefer looks away with pursed lips.

I get down on my knees and hold my shirt and jacket. I put them on and hide my feelings. I crawl to my seat, destroyed.

Momo points outside toward the sky, "Woah, is that the eclipse? It's happening right now?" Everyone in class rushes toward the window to watch while I was on my knees looking up beneath everyone. To be fair, I selectively picked the people who I was listening to, other people had their own conversations during this time but I didn't care to listen to them because quite frankly, I hate them all.

"Indeed, it's really early. Like really, really early, did the astronomers get it wrong?" Durian pushes up his glasses that were still too goddamn big for his head.

"It's tremendous," Fayn spouts.

Lucius stands above me, "Come on, Indie. Get up and look at it with us..." What about your status? Does that mean nothing now?

Most are mesmerized while some sit in their chairs and don't bother. The sheer power the eclipse holds is stunning. I'd never seen a sight like it before.

It wasn't until the eclipse reaches its zenith that everything changes. A blackness shrouds the skies and the room darkens.

SHOOOOOOOOO!

Everything fades to black. All the light in the room escapes yet every single one of us is visible in this abyss. All the air escapes, it was like breathing in a vacuum, heavy laden with immeasurable force. The floor ceases to exist. It feels as if we are floating in nothingness, light like a breeze but pressured as if in a gas tank.

We are all suspended in the abyss, time feels as if it had stopped existing. People panic, their eyes open wide and bewildered by the sudden change of events. We try to speak but no words escape our mouths. Sound doesn't seem to travel where we are now.

We are frozen in our current positions within this darkness. It's the same feeling of being drowned but the water keeps you levitating. An awe familiar feeling that never leaves you when you're in the water, that feel of longing is what this place is. The return to a primordial cesspool of a bygone era long forgot. It feels like death, it could be worse. It was a blackness that, in the end, no man can escape from.

PIP PIP PIP!

Footsteps emerge in front of us piercing through the darkness. A cloaked figure whose face is hidden carries an otherworldly and godly glow about it. Its skin pale like ash and eyes gold like the sun glare. Its voice is ominous and commanding, "I bid thee welcome to this abstract setting within this transcendental time, ye' apostles of the undying god, lambs of swain, children born of men. You've been chosen for this sacred onset for which ye' were consecrated by the laws of causality, at this time, at this place."

The figure tours around the room and looks each of us in the eyes as it levitates by with a fine pace. "You were chosen and you shall choose by superiority whether you venture forth or not," The cloaked figure halts just before me to postulate, "You who all seek direction, what say you to my offer? If the lion's share agrees, then all shall go to this realm," The veiled figure opens a doorway that displays a cityscape with tall walls and buildings that reach the skies, "This is a land of magic, fascination and illusion. Everything you have all longed for since childhood are present here. A time of innovation with despot creatures and monsters that walk these lands, and you have been chosen for this calling. Will you be the conquerors and exemplars of this world gallant of all realms? Or will you perish, returning to what is known as this reality knowing not of what you could have accomplished?"

It floats back to the front of the class, "You have all lost something dear, so why would any of you choose to stay in this godforsaken realm of darkness? Why not start over in another time, in another place? Why not become Heroes of another with otherworldly powers and abilities? This is the offer I present."

The clandestine character raises its hand. Suddenly a holographic screen appears in front of us asking 'Yes' or 'No' with a question above the choice stating, 'Go to the New World?' A translucent tally board split down the middle materializes next to the being, with a 'Yes' printed on the left side and a 'No' printed on the right, "For the sake of transparency so you do not feel I am wronging any of you, your votes will be displayed with your names and choices in either column. You are free to choose." Our arms could move again.

Around the room kids smile as if a dream they'd longed for yet forgotten came true. Others are horrified by the prospect because they were seemingly satisfied with their current lives.

Slowly each of us in the room selects yes or no. I couldn't decide what to vote for, so I wait till the end while I debated myself. I wanted to make sure I had been making the right decision. After all, it seemed to be an easy decision but I knew it was a hard one. Did I really have anything to gain or lose here?

After several minutes, it was split perfectly between those who wanted to stay and those who wanted to leave. The final tally had come down to 20 'Yes' and 20 'No'. Some people are sold by the idea of magic while others are bought by the appearances of mythical creatures and monsters, while others are terrified by it. My vote was to be the deciding factor, or so I thought. Another vote appears randomly under the 'Yes' side from some name none of us had ever seen before, Jace Faurescu, whoever the hell that is. The updated tally marks 21-20 with only me left to decide. Either way, my vote is to be the definitive factor.

I want to vote no but seeing the skanks vote no along with Lucius and his crew doing the same, it only meant one thing for me. I had to vote yes to spite them all.

Final tally, 22-20.

And so, we were to be summoned to a new world by majority vote.

"You have chosen wisely. The wheels of fate turn once more..."

A bleached luminescence engulfs the room, the groping gloss blinds us as we're beamed to this new realm of wonder.

End of Prologue