Ethereal

Chapter 1: When it began

The day the world changed, I was at school. Real cliche, right?

It was like any normal day. Just mugging and more mugging and sometimes using logic. If all we had to do was follow the curriculum, then what was so special about schools. We could do it anywhere. I was almost tempted to ask my Professor once why confine ourselves within four walls to understand some formula when we could use real experiences.

But the world didn't work that way. We were supposed to follow certain rules and stick to them. People called it law and order. I called it complete bullshit. We were no better than herds of sheep, always going in the same direction. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't meant to be here. What was I doing here? What was the purpose of my life? I didn't even have money.

"Vita, I can't understand this problem," a voice stirred my thoughts. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion followed by a scowl. I never liked people disturbing my inner monologue. It was like disturbing someone when they were in the middle of yoga. Procrastination was an art and I loved everything about it.

But exceptions could be made. Exceptions for people like Anika who sat next to me. Bit dumb, awfully pretty. She had the bod of a God (yes, I have seen it). And for some reason had warmed up to me in spite of my nature, which most people described as 'cold' and 'difficult', even 'bitchy'.

We were polar opposites. She was the popular girl of our school. I was a social outcast. Yet we had some weird understanding between us. "Which one didn't you understand?" I asked, obviously bored but still pretending to be interested. She pointed to an algebra problem that we did last grade. Currently the Professor was on geometry.

I wanted to ask if she was confusing geometry with algebra but didn't. It was a waste of breath. And energy. And time. Knowing her, she probably thought geometry was not Maths. Plus she didn't have a talent for the subject. Given her looks and slow wit, she looked like someone who would choose Arts in the latter part of their lives. Science really wasn't her forte.

Like a pro, I explained the entire problem like I would teach rabbits. Her raven locks fell around her round face making her grey eyes shine like stars. She tugged one of the loose locks behind her ear when her grey orbs met my black ones. "So you are saying if I substitute the value of x, I will be able to find y," she asked with full concentration.

I nodded. That was fast. Part of me was relieved that I didn't have to repeat myself. Normally it took three to four times of explaining before she grasped anything.

"Then what about x. It probably has no value." she said innocently. It was more of a question on her part. She was waiting for me to fill in the answer.

"I don't think so," I sighed , going back to the basics.

Like I said, she required more than three times to understand something. This wasn't my first time watching her bird brain work and I was sure it wasn't going to be the last time. It was amusing in fact. Her mind worked differently. She somehow always managed to come up with the dumbest explanations.

When I was halfway explaining a similar explanation, her eyes drifted towards the front, looking faraway into the distance. Spacing out was her inherent reaction to any complex problem, especially when it went over her head. "Concentrate," I reminded her but she didn't seem to hear. She was looking ardently at something, more like someone.

My eyes followed her line of direction only to end up on the back of another student. No idea what was so fancy about his hair. It looked like a bowl cut. "Don't you see it?" she asked.

As if trying to catch an invisible insect, her hands clasped forward only to grab at nothing but air. I slumped back to my seat. Obviously it was her new excuse to escape homework. "Let me know when you are back." I went back to my earlier task. Where was I again? Yes, I was mad at the system for making schools. System that -

A hand latched on to my arm. Anika's hand in fact, her nails digging holes into my skin. "Vita, it moved," she shrieked, pointing forward. I was about to shake her off when another student gasped.

"There is something glowing in the air."

"Where?" another student whispered.

Soon more whispers poured into the class making the teacher reprimand us. That's when I noticed for the first time. The shape was subtle, the outlines barely visible. But it was there. Transparent like air, it was hovering in front of everyone. It looked like a crystal, more like a diamond shaped crystal. Or was it a rock?

I had no idea.

And guess what. I had one too. My very own crystal.

What the heck! The crystal bobbed up and down like a bait in the river, calling out to me. I inched closer, curious now. Was it a hologram? Was someone playing a prank? It looked too high tech to be made by one of the students. Only someone genius could pull this off.

"There is a timer on it," Anika gasped, "Is it a time bomb?"

I stayed silent. Sure enough there was something etched on our crystals but it didn't feel like it was going to blast anytime soon. It read 00:00:30 counting down. Looking at it, I had some inkling what it was. I pulled out my phone to check the time. There was one minute left till twelve. Exactly thirty seconds, to be exact, till afternoon.

Something feels odd.

I stared as the numbers turned into single digits.

5

4

3

2

1

Something crackled like a speaker close to my ears. And then there was a voice.

                                          [Welcome Initiates. You have been given a second chance.]