Beatitudes

The twist.

" When is this class going to start?!, arghh "

" Our course instructor hasn't even come yet, I wonder who he or she is? "

" Who cares about that, what we should care about is the fact that the person meant to be here isn't here, if we waste a lot of time here, we're gonna be late for lunch damnit, my stomach's already grumbling for a bowl of soup, I can barely wait! "

Seating in their seats in the hall were Bloat, Ayo and Jaden while Bloat had been crying out injustice for a while now. Looking at Bloat helplessly they finally decided to ignore him as although they were also waiting impatiently for the class to begin, there was nothing they could do about it.

After getting tired of talking, Ayo looked at his other new friend who hadn't said a thing or held Bloat down. 'He's been staring at her for so long'. Looking at the direction of Jaden's eyes he saw the girl who they still hadn't heard her name, actually other than the time on those two days that they saw her, this was the third. The space between the time for the courses were irregular so this was already two days after their first course lesson. When they came in today and Jaden was able to lay his eyes on her, he had hardly removed it since, smiling faintly he elbowed him gently in the side

" Hey, why don't you just head over to talk "

Although he said it he knew it wasn't something he would be able to do, but he knew Jaden was different, he never came off as the shy type like him, he kept quiet usually but when he needed to talk he talked, he was even almost as mischievous as Bloat. For the past two days whenever they went to the arena, the usual thing they did was watch the matches being fought on the screens, whenever something happened to one of the combatants they were always the ones to yell the loudest and yell obscene words at that, the infamy they had gained in the arena was a lot by now, sometimes he had to distance himself to feel alright. That's why he asked him to go over and talk. Saying that he looked on as Jaden realized he had been caught as an embarrassed expression came onto his face, he looked on as he said,

" Now's not exactly the right time, I haven't found a good time yet "

" You sure? ", staring at him as he stared away, Ayo couldn't help smiling, until a voice cut in from his right side.

" Hey, what are you guys saying, why am I the only one who's worried about the class not starting yet. "

With a frowning face, Bloat looked at his two friends as they actually ignored him and talked to themselves, didn't they understand what was happening.

" More like you're worried about what food's going to remain by the time we get back. "

Ayo's reply was one that caused his heart to clench as he opened his mouth to say something. It was then that a booming voice echoed through the hall.

* Life as we know it isn't what it used to be, the changes it brought were unusually immense and hard to control....*

The voice rang out like thunder and even cause a little vibration to flow across their skin, yet as they heard it and swivelled their heads to the left and right, they couldn't catch a glimpse of who was talking, the voice seemed to come from everywhere.

* I'd like to take you on a journey through time, pardon me for not asking. *

And then as they looked all around them, brains running on full power and bodies tense, the world around them suddenly turned blank and dark, it was so dark they couldn't see the next person beside them, soon startled voices rang out among the students as they questioned what was going on but no reply came for them.

" Guys.... What the h-heck is g-going on?, can you tell? "

By his side came Bloat's voice with a slight shiver to it, Jaden could tell he was actually scared, but he wasn't in the mood to laugh, although he wouldn't say he was scared himself, he was very tense, this was as shocking to him as anyone else. Looking around with everyone unconsciously standing with taut nerves, the voice came again and then the scene changed as well

* Dating back to the earliest ages, man proposed the beginning of existence from the cause of a big bang somewhere deep in space. *

From the pitch black darkness, everyone's attention was drawn to a point in the darkness where they could see rapidly approaching light, looking at it some panicked as they tried to move away from it but with unbelievable speed it was right next to them the next moment and passed through their at the same instant, if it was meant to kill they'd all be dead at this point, as the light passed through they turned their heads as they watched it go past them glowing with a beautiful otherwordly light. Then after some time passed tiny dots of light began to appear around them as it grew bigger at an insane rate causing the whole place to look somewhat like a trip through the galactic space, it was a captivating sight. Whispers of admiration and dreamy sighs rang out from all around students the next instant.

* From the big bang, matter and life began to develop.. or should I say life especially began to develop. *

" Where the heck are we"

Bloat's voice rang out again, this time with a calm tone. Everything felt so real and Jaden could feel the pulsing heat from a seven feet globe that looked like a star that was floating in front of him.

* Fast forward to billions of years into the future, the first beings that were thought to exist populated our lands.*

And then in a split second the scenery changed as everyone standing felt an increase in weight and dropped like they were falling down from Space to Earth in that moment. Those who couldn't control themselves properly fell to the floor beneath them with their butts as the others stumbled.

As they were still dazed, a massive roar brought them to the present as it shook them in and out, and then they raised their heads at almost the same time and a sight filled with greenery entered their sights.

It was somewhat reminiscent of a paradise, a paradise filled with really tall trees of varying heights that all dwarfed them hundreds of times over as they grew to meet with the vibrant blue sky, Gigantic bodies of moving mass peppered the surroundings as they raised their heads to roar and stop to chew off the tree tops, Jaden found the sight strangely peaceful and harmonious as he muttered to himself

" Hmm this place is nice, beautiful trees and grass, and even those dinosaurs.... "

'Wait... dinosaurs!!!"

He was someone who had a hobby where he browsed the advanced websites of Earth for anything that came to sight, he almost always stumbled on something new everytime, hence he had also stumbled on sights talking about these extinct creatures of old, he had an interest in them right away so he studied them more than he did others. It was because of this hobby that he was surprised at seeing for the first time the obscene sites that Bloat caught Ayo on on their first day of meeting, but that wasn't what was on his mind right now, was he really seeing dinosaurs right now. Shock and confusion ran amock in his head.

As everyone was stunned into staring blankly at what they were seeing, suddenly the sky turned dark, it would have been less odd if the lake far off into the distance wasn't glowing with reflected light from the sun in the clear sky. 'Is it a cloud' was the thought that passed through their minds as they turned backwards and raised their heads. When they saw the Creatures from afar, it was all to easy to see every part of them, but the biggest dinosaur they had seen at this point that was moving right towards them from a distance of about a hundred meters was so big they couldn't almost couldn't see it's head that was so high up in the sky, it's neck alone stretched to heights longer than it's own body.

it was then they could feel the tremors it caused as it walked ever so slowly with wide strides. They were all stunned in place as the ground beneath their feet shook with increasing intensity. It was at that hundred metres at one point and then it was almost in front of them the next, it was at the instant when it made to take another step forward with them ending at the end of the trajectory of it's feet that the expression of a select few of them changed, Jaden included as he snapped out of his daze and yelled to those beside him and made to escape, following those who moved first were the others who ran behind them screams filling the air. Ayo had just began running as well when he noticed Bloat still standing, he had a bewildered expression as he looked at the closely approaching foot not realizing what it meant, cursing under his breath he ran back as he kicked him rolling from his sitting position, pulling him along as he ran again, only that with the additional weight that Bloat was he was basically three times slower as he moved.

Jaden had moved out of the way of the successfully as he breathed out heavily and calmed himself down, he could only attribute it to his breakthrough the other night, he stared at the moving dinosaur of myth and then noticed that some people hadn't moved out, infact most hadn't moved out yet as some were approaching him quickly from underneath while some where still within the definite radius of it, he watched helplessly and then spotted two people who had only begun to pick up more speed as they ran, he gasped and his eyes widened, it was Ayo and Bloat who realized the need to run now and stopped being a dead weight for Ayo, but it was too late for them or Jaden to do anything as he watched the foot come crashing down on them. With a lurching he froze in place and was about to yell when the feet raised itself again and he saw his friends still running again not realizing that they had just been squashed under a foot at the moment.

Staring at them until they got to where he was, he looked at them and then looked at the dinosaur that had passed enough for it's shadow to move away from them.

'Was it fake?.... "

" Woah, I can't believe we made it.. "

His thoughts were cut off as Ayo and Bloat rested their hands on him almost at the same time, after which Bloat laid down on the floor as he felt all the adrenaline leave his body as swiftly as it came.

At this point everyone was feeling panicked, some where confused as well, they had seen just like Jaden when the feet of the dinosaur came down on those still under it and they still came out okay, but that wasn't the end of the attack. Someone raised his head from where he sat on the floor and his eyes widened, he fumbled out a word as his body refused to move even after his attempt

" U-Up there."

Everybody looked up as they saw the birds of ancient age swooping down like an Eagle, and then they ran, all except for Jaden who was still pondering the situation and didn't hear anything.

In the end, Ayo who was feeling exasperated ran as he pushed him away and dived right after him, "Watch out!!", just in time as as the claws passed right through the place where they previously were. They were not the only ones being attacked as other people were diving here and there to avoid the odd looking birds.

Jaden was brought back to present as he fell and hit something that felt so soft he almost mistook it for his pillow back home. Until he felt strands of something long scatter over as did he realize it was a person he bumped into, he immediately turned to apologise

" Sorry, I'm so... sorry...."

A head turned at exactly the same as he did and he opened his mouth to speak albeit only a few words came out with a pause at the end, light brown skin, green eyes and a head full of white hair was the vision that filled his sight, at an extremely close point he could see the pink lips that were parted slightly and a flash of frustration that passed through the eyes that resembled a beautiful piece of jade.

Never in his mind did he imagine getting close to her this way, did he think of their next meeting being this close to each other, and yet here he was facing her speechless, facing the only princess Snow he knew, close enough to look into her eyes and see his face being reflected in them. Immediately he tried to stand as he remembered the position he was in but a feeling of regretted at having moving away from her passed through his mind, he stared at her as she also got up slower than he did, behind him, Ayo also stood as he mumbled to himself while dusting himself reflexively

" They both zone out at this point and I'm the one who has to save them... ", he turned to look at Jaden and landed his eyes on the girl that they spent the first night of their meeting talking about, his mouth formed an 'O' shape as he looked to Jaden who was standing there like he was frozen, an amused light flashed through his eyes.

She was standing at looking at him without saying anything yet Jaden couldn't find any words to say, was he supposed to apologise or...

At that point, another person stumbled as he hit the girl on her back thereby pushing her into Jaden's arms. At that moment, everywhere and everything drained out of existence as the only thing that existed in his mind was the girl in his arms in an awkward position, he could feel her soft skin and even smell her flowery scent, if this was heaven Jaden wasn't sure he wanted it to end at all, but sadly a second after the girl registered her position she pushed on his chest with slightly more force than needed and raised her head to look at him, the frustration within her eyes stronger than before as she turned away to move in the other direction. It was then that Jaden saw another person coming over as he lost his balance, he was headed in the girl's direction. Jaden was about to move and do something but paused instead, the girl had seen the guy stumbling over and a glint streaked through her beautiful eyes, as he was about to tumbling into her he raised his head to look forward, his eyes brightened as he saw who he was going to crash into, he wouldn't have expected what happened next.

" Ooff....."

As he was close enough and unstable, he saw a shadow whip out from below the girl's dress and then he froze in his spot as he felt a jolt that he would never forget in his life come from below, the pain was so much that his eyes twitched and shrunk into two pinpoints as he fell slowly to the ground clutching his manhood dearly.

The eyes of Jaden and Ayo behind him widened to their limits as their legs tightened unconsciously, a shiver passed through Ayo as he dragged his feet backwards, moving away from the demon of a girl who had no care for moral and unspoken rules, the beauty of the girl was barely able to quench the instinctive fear he felt. Jaden could only stare blankly as he hissed between his teeth, trying as much as possible not to hold his own tightly with his hands. Like the girl heard the faint sounds from behind her, she turned around and her gaze swept over the two she saw looking at her with varying degrees of fears in their eyes, amused and not in the mood to talk, she turned around again and walked away like nothing happened, leaving the poor guy on the floor twitching imperceptibly, strangely as she walked none of the stumbling people actually touched her again, even some who came within a meter of her would feel a sharp pain course through their balls and they would hurriedly hold their ground or force the direction of their movement away from her.

" That... girl's crazy"

Behind him he heard Ayo whisper those words that he felt agreement with deep down.

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He was standing within their midst from a higher point actually, he was there yet no one took notice of him, from time to time he would open his mouth to speak with the voice that echoed across the whole space as the scenes the students faced changed after they experienced a little of it. A chuckle escaped his lips as he saw the disorderly scene become even worse. His vision roamed over all student present in the place, all their reactions and movements in his sight as they reflected on the vintage glass on his face.

_______________________________________________________________

Bloat could swear he felt the heatwave and heavy force come upon him as the star that was shot blew up right in their fronts, yet he didn't feel a thing as his vision darkened again or should he say the world around him darkened, after two hours of running and stumbling with that damn voice talking like nothing was wrong, he finally saw the darkness that came first before the nightmarish scenes began to appear, this had all ended right. To answer him, the darkness cleared like it was chased away and what came into their sights was a large space, it looked like they were a warehouse or something,

' Is this another scene... what now.. "

As he was prepared to dodge or run or jump behind someone for cover like he had been doing for the past two hours, a voice came from somewhere around them, a normal voice but he could swear it was the voice he had been hearing and had grown frustrated hearing.

" Hmm, you all looked spooked but not as much as I expected, you probably all guessed it was a simulation, am I right.. well most of you did anyways.... So anyways, congratulations on not passing out during the introductory class, welcome to one of your important courses in the academy, at least for this first year of yours you'll all be taking on this course namely "Real Science", I know you weren't expecting an introductory class, but unlike the other courses, I'd follow in the footsteps of my predecessors and say that this course is the most important of them all. Before the war and the change that did a lot of things to this Earth, science in it's false state was still a wonderful course and the essence of life, and now that it has been redefined and properly studied in this new environment it has been even better... "

Jaden looked on as the man who walked down from stairs talked on and on, he was surprisingly calm, he had been calm for a while in the two hours they spent, so he was able to realize that everything was fake, irregardless of the extreme reality that each scene brought with it, what he was surprised about was the fact that the man had stated that they were in one of his test sites, weren't they supposed to be in class, in the hall, how did they reach a test site instead.. perhaps the simulation had started from when they left their dorms. Jaden was a little bewildered at that but he kept his face calm to the best of his ability,

" Ok so thank you for your time and I'd love it if you don't report all this to the academy authorities.. who am I kidding, there's nothing they could do anyways since they're already aware, so I'd like you all who had such ideas to quell it before you get disappointed. This is the end of the class, I'd see you all of but I have an experiment to run back to, follow the directions on your bands and you should get out of here safely, at least if you don't touch anything that is. "

Still confused, Jaden looked on until he was shaken by the two friends he knew, they had separated as much as they had come back together today in the so called 'introductory class', he lost track of them at the ending so he was standing alone until now.

As he turned around to walk off with them a voice rang out in the air, it was the scientist guy, one peculiar thing that Jaden had noticed was that none of the course instructors had actually given their names, he hadn't given it much thought but it still struck him as odd, who wouldn't want to have their names known anyways. But that was not the question now as the guy's voice rang out with surprising words.

" Oh I almost forgot, throughout the simulation I'm sure you could guess already that you had been watched by me. Watching you all I was able to see a few of you that showed a commendable performance. By commendable performance I mean you showed a commendable amount of psyche in the way you were able to quickly adapt and discern the truths and the lies in the simulation. Apparently the academy urges us to reward those who are able to stand out, I don't see the essence of giving out rewards all the time, but i guess I'll do it as such once in a while as well.... I'll have to hand out a hundred academy points to those I mentioned previously, a notification should have been sent to those of you who received it, so check your interfaces and thank me by getting stronger, see you all later. "

The feeling that Jaden was getting kept on becoming more and more surreal as everywhere around him became increasing my blurry, suddenly he felt like he was flipping through an album, like he was watching a movie but suddenly everything he was seeing became blurry as he couldn't make heads or tails of anything. This feeling continued on as the scene around him moved quicker and quicker all of them a blur to him, confusion wasn't the only feeling he was getting at the moment, he felt confusion, pain, anger, emptiness, sadness and a deep despondency, yet he couldn't understand where all these feelings were coming from or how he was feeling it. The faces of the two people he could now call friends appeared amidst all the dizziness and blur and on seeing their faces he felt endless pain and madness, the face of the girl who he still didn't know her name appeared in his sight and he felt an intense longing that he had never felt before accompanied with a sad feeling deep in his heart.

' What... is happening... to me.. "

Other faces appeared in his head as he was forced to see them yet these ones were all blurry, at this point he could only look on helplessly. He looked on and on as the scene in front was a mass of swirling disordered colors, in the background sometimes sounds of pain would ring out, sometimes an explosion would sound out, and sometimes a tremors would pass through to shake him until finally all what he could see was a growing scene of darkness... and then he fainted and darkness engulfed his vision completely.

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His face held loads of emotions even as his eyes were closed, squeezing his face with sweat dripping down this continued on for the good part of an hour, finally his features began to calm down as it turned a peaceful shade.

He was calm now, he could see he was asleep... ' what's happening, when did I fall asleep... "

As those questions popped into his head he couldn't afford to sleep anymore,

And then he opened his eyes.