One: The Exams
Jacob's feet hit the steel ground.
He lived in a standard-issue apartment in Alocanalani, as a middle-class civilian. An empty wine bottle was on his iron table. It had three rooms: a kitchen and dining area, a bathroom and a bedroom. Everything other than the bed, which was wood and polyester, was metal to be resistant to the constant bomb testing nearby and in the possibility of a riot (which were quite frequent in Eidel). The bed was scratchy and uncomfortable, and often left Jacob with scratches on himself when he woke up. He had a few on his shoulder blades this morning, which he washed down with cold water while he showered.
The wood-scented soap was stingy against the cuts across his back, but he was used to it by now. It had been the life he had lived for eighteen years, after all, to the day. He washed the oily grime out of his coffee hair, the soapy water hot against his copper skin. He was considered handsome by his peers, although he had no interest in such, with his captivating hazel eyes and smooth complexion. He stepped out of the steamy shower, grabbing a towel from the rack nearby.
His Pre-Age Occupation was in an oil factory, under some of the worst working conditions of the bunch. He picked up the wine bottle from his side table and threw out from his balcony, which was right above the dumpster. As every year, he got his small birthday note from his aunt, the last of his remaining family, with enough Holo-Chips for a nice dinner downtown and a new sirt from some designer in her city, Bogatyye, a very wealthy city farther away from Alocanalani. This year it was a minimalist style cashmere, which was a shiny silver with gold embroidery.
Opening his wallet to put the Holo-Chips away, he got out his last meal ticket, making a mental note that he would need to buy more if he didn't pass the Exams. After all, Creators got automatic high-class as Katy Schlau's right-hands. He knew he wouldn't pass, however, as only high-class members ever seem to be Creators. The last time a middle-class was one was in the first years of Eidel, before he was even born. Jacob put on the new top for the occasion of his Exams, as that would be what his mother and father would want if they were still alive, and headed out toward the Meal Hall for what might of been the last time.
"A porridge and an apple, please," Jacob requested, handing the chef (a brutish man with choppy side burns and a handful of missing teeth) his meal ticket.
The chef simply grunted and gave him the meal, snatching up the meal ticket. Jacob shrugged and grabbed the tray. His childhood, Chris, friend waved over for him to sit together. He sat down next to Chris and taking a bite of the green and yellow apple. Chris noticed the top right away. "Your Aunt Georgia send you that?" he asked. Chris was also a middle-class, with golden hair and blue eyes. His skin had so little pigment it was was almost white as snow.
"Yeah. I'm only wearing it for the Exams, though. My mom and dad would want me to wear it."
"True. Oh, I got you a gift this year!" Chris rummaged about his pockets until he found a small box.
"Chris, you shouldn't be wasting your money!" Jacob sighed.
"C'mon, you sound like my mom! 'Christopher Fisher, you shouldn't be wasting your money like that!' Man, just open it. It's good, I swear." He stuffed the box in Jacob's hands, who ripped the paper delicately and opened the box.
He stared. "Is that..."
Chris grinned. "It's the new Communicator you've been eyeing. I've been saving up for months to get you that."
Jacob grinned. "Thank you." He put the Communicator on his wrist, scrolling through the options. He took another bite of apple, and before long he finished the meal. He reclined in his seat and waited for the announcement. And it came.
"All Newly-Of-Age citizens must report to the Exams Hall for the Exams. I repeat, all Newly-Of-Age citizens must report to the Exams Hall for the Exams. All citizens that have newly reached the age of ten must report to the Job Center for first employment. I repeat, all citizens that have newly reached age of ten must report to the Job Center for first employment. Thank you."
Chris and Jacob hurried to the Exams Hall, as their futures depended on it.
Katy Schlau herself was there to announce the Exams. Jacob watched as she walked up to the microphone.
"Welcome to the Exams!" This was followed by cheers from everyone except Jacob, who didn't see a reason to applaud for such a short statement. He brushed the dust off his shirt as she continued: "As many of you know, the Exams is a tradition to find Creators amongst people such as yourselves. I, myself, am a Creator, which I used to create the cities and towns of Eidel. I believe that there shall be-" she seemed to look straight at Jacob, but he figured it was his imagination- "someone very special among you this year."
He snorted and pulled on the bottom of Chris's shirt, but he was entranced. He had seemed to lose control of himself, along with the others, once again. Jacob sighed before returning his gaze toward her. He reached in his pocket to grab his wallet to double-check how many meal tickets he would need to buy after this, feeling rather stressed, when he felt an alien object. He reached for it to find a rubber ball filled with bean-like objects. He squeezed it, remembering a textbook entry he had read when he was in school, years ago. It was about these pre-Eidel artifacts called stress balls. This must've been one.
He gripped it once more when Schlau announced the beginning of the Exams. Stuffing it back his pocket, he followed the guards down the corridor toward the Exams Room. The first Exam was to create an object under pressure, he had read. He was well-read, unlike most, so he had an advantage of sorts. He was seated next to a woman with umber skin and braided aqua hair. Her eyes were intense, an icy blue, and she seemed different than the others in the room. More free-willed. She looked him up and down, her basic issue clothes brushing against the wall. He looked back at her, as if to say "I'm different".
She moved a little closer to Jacob, her hand now brushing his. She whispered to him, "Are you like me?"
His heart skipped a beat to know that there was someone else like him, then whispered back, "Yes." His hand brushed hers once more, the grooves of her knuckles rough against the top of his hand. "What's your name?"
"Alicia. You?"
"Jacob." After basic introductions, they remained silent. They were dispatched into teams to look through the forests.
Jacob's team was Alicia, Chris and a boy he didn't know (although he though he saw him helping the chef last weekend). They had a section of the eastern forest. Jacob squeezed (what he assumed was) the stress ball. But in the first five minutes, they found nothing.
"Aren't we supposed to find something? Anything except trees?" Jacob muttered. He put his hand on the cypress next to him, bark rough against his palms. Alicia chuckled at this. All the sudden, he saw the silhouette of a creature a few feet away.
It crept closer and closer. "Holy shit!" Chris yelled. It was a brown bear, about eight feet in height. It sprung at Chris, aiming for his neck. Jacob, in panic, ran in front of him and put up his hands. He felt a warmth come to his hands. Chris looks like he might wet his pants, and the other boy looks surprised.
"Y-you're..." he stuttered.
Jacob looked up to see a shield being held up by his hands, which were glowing blue, and the brown bear dead on the ground.
Alicia grinned. "So you are like me."
Jacob brought his hands down, a look of shock on his face. "What the hell?"
After that Exam, everyone who showed signs of extreme fear or were injured were taken off the premises. Jacob, Alicia and a woman (he believed her name was Gloria) were escorted with Schlau to some sort of chamber. Schlau put her hands on the table and sighed.
"You three are something special."
Jacob saw her hand go towards the Pen. The Pen that she used, according to something he read, to Create the Eidel they knew. The one that she used to give Markings to new Creators.
"You mean we're..." he began.
"Yes," she said. "You three are Creators." She took the Pen and first went toward Jacob to give him his Marking. The only way to tell if one was a Creator.
He looked down after she was done. A symbol of a bow and arrow was etched in glowing blue. And he knew this was only the first step to avenge those who he had lost to this woman.
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