There was supposed to be an image accompaning this, but I didn't have time to finish. I'll post it when I do finish, for now, enjoy!

I enjoyed this chapter, and already started the next. While I'm in San Fran I'll work on more Calamity plans, and GAME OVER plans, and other plans XD

~~~~~

GAME OVER

Chapter 7 [A Connection]

~~~~~

"Oh, Adam. Sorry if you had to wait long, here. I compressed all the bottle for you," Tyler poked his head out from inside room G04. He handed Adam the box with all the bottles compressed neatly inside.

"Thanks Tyler!" Adam stood up from sitting down on the ground. Thankfully in the time he's been waiting no one has needed to come down this far, so he hasn't needed to move.

"Alright, so I need to finish here, so see you later!" Tyler waved and disappeared back into the room. Adam was left with the box in his arms, so now all he needed to do was head to Jason. It's how his errands usually ended. Seto would have him do something, and then head straight to Jason afterwards. And since Seto didn't want him to return anytime soon, he would have to give the bottle back to him later. Unless someone else claimed them from him.

Hopefully with a lighter box, it would be easier to climb to level A.

~~~~~

"Whew!" Adam let out a sigh as he walked up to the grassy surface. It was still early morning, would Jason be awake?

He probably would, he never seemed to sleep.

Adam made his way over to Jason's lab. He set the box down outside; no one would take it. He knocked on the door to see if anyone would answer, probably not.

Adam decided to let himself in, he walked cautiously down the dark hallway. He could hear Jason's voice.

"I suppose if you're really serious about learning from me, than I guess I can teach you a few things. Though you'll never reach my level, you have a level head on your shoulders."

Yep, there he goes again. Adam while still fascinated by how brilliant Jason was, also realized how self centered he was too.

"Thank you sir." That was Ross, no doubt about it.

Adam came into view of the lab, and Ross who had his back turned to Adam didn't notice him until Jason saw him.

"Oh Adam! Perfect timing, I was wondering when you would show up. I have a few things to speak to you about--Ross grab me a coffee will you. This won't take long."

Ross opened his mouth to protest, then grumbled and walked away. He shoved past Adam and sent him a nasty glare. Maybe Adam should've waited, it seemed he kept coming at times that only caused Ross to hate him more.

"Come, come. I have a few things I neglected to mention about the necklace." Jason pulled out his chair from his desk and plopped down in it, "First, once you are deemed adequate for actual missions, you'll likely patrol areas and kill mobs to protect the villages. Since you're a Human, you can't naturally take in the experience gained through the killings, so that necklace with store it for you."

"You probably don't know much about experience, but with what I'm liable to tell you, experience is equal to the the life force of Rekrium. It may not provide actual life, but without it, Rekrium could not thrive and grow as it has now. So it is very important you work hard so you can actually be of use."

"Y-Yes sir!" Adam saluted.

"Oh, and one more thing, if you're going to keep coming here just to check in because you have nothing better to do, then at least bring some sweets."

Adam stuttered in his response, "R-right, will do!" Jason nodded to him just as Ross came back. Hardly 10 minutes had passed and Adam was already out the door.

Adam looked to the box of empty bottles he'd set down to find they were not there, he panicked thinking someone had mistakenly taken them before he could return them to Seto. Adam looked around in hopes of spotting anyone that had his box, but to no avail. The only thing he could do was start asking around.

"Excuse me," Adam walked up to a passing pair of Players both wielding swords, "sorry to bother you, but have you seen a box filled with bottle anywhere?"

"No, sorry," one of them answered. Adam thanked them and moved to the next people he saw, and the next, and the next.

In the end, Adam didn't find the box of bottles; it was later returned to Seto anonymously, but not before Adam had to sullenly report to Seto and have his ear chewed out.

~~~~~

"Aw, cheer up, there's no reason to look so glum," Jin patted Adam's back as he lay despondently on the spare bunk in their dorm. Adam fled here after getting in trouble with Seto, leaving just as the words 'Don't you dare come back you idiot, until you find those bottles!'

Adam felt pretty guilty, like it was his fault, he should've paid more attention, hid the box better, or just taken it inside with him. Though in all honesty, it wasn't his fault, of course Adam didn't know that. He also didn't know that it was Ross who took the box and hid it, and that it was also Ross who was currently returning the box to Seto, secretly. His revenge had been met.

Ross shouldn't be blamed however, well, not completely. He was at fault, yes, but as all young people, they make mistakes for stupid and petty reason.

Carrying on with the story Adam sniffled in response to Jin's comforts. "Barney, help me out here, Adam won't cheer up!" Jin panicked.

Barney looked down at Jin from the bunk above Adam, "Oks."

He climbed down the bunk and Jin moved aside. He watched as Barney grabbed the mattress and then yanked it from the bed with surprising strength. Adam screamed as he was pulled withthe matt as it fell to the floor. A little bit dazed, Adam didn't anticipate Barney taking a few steps back before running and jumping on Adam.

"Dirts piles!"

Adam wheezed and flailed his arms around, he couldn't breath and his screams were strangled.

"Barney! That's not what I meant!" Jin tried pulling Barney off, but he would not budge as he practically crushed Adam.

The door to the dorm opened and both Jin and Barney looked up and went silent. Adam, however; was still wiggling and punching and kicking in hopes of being freed.

Ross had walked in carrying a book, he stood at the door and looked at the three of them before his ear twitched in annoyance and he gave them a disgusted look, "What are you all doing? Pretending to be toddlers?" Ross muttered, the door closed behind him and he walked to the other set of bunk beds. He tossed his book on his bottom bunk. His tail bobbed up and down as if in thought before spinning around and facing Jin, Barney, and Adam.

"Quit staring, I can feel your eyes on me, I don't like it."

"Oh comes ons Ross, yous can'ts just walks in heres and bes an ass, at least treats us likes a friend."

"Well you aren't my friend, idiot. I don't need imbecile like you three as friends, not when you spend your days wasting time and playing games, at least do something worthwhile."

"It's not our fault training is a slow process!" Jin protested.

"Air!" Adam managed to wheeze, and Barney and Jin clambered off apologetically. Adam sat up and gasped for air.

"Oh quit your exaggerating," Ross had his hands on his hips; his tail swished from side to side, "Out of everyone here, you're the one who's the dumbest of all, and don't even belong here. You're weak, useless, and you don't even have a bone in you that is Player material. You must have realized that."

"Ross..., that's not very nice, you should apologize." Jin stood up in between Adam and Ross. He glanced at Adam worriedly.

"No, he needs to hear it. It's obvious that everyone here finds him a nuisance. His stupid obsession with Players, especially the famous ones annoys everyone here, he's constantly getting in the way or messing up in the simplest of things. He's not even physically fit to climb this ravine and holds everyone back. I'm surprised he hasn't fallen off and died 9 more times, so he can just get the nether out of here!" Ross spat out his insults.

Jin looked at Adam worried to see him in some sort of pain, but Adam's face had no expression. He watched as Adam stood up, Ross never deterring from his angered stance. And then Adam let out the biggest laugh, with the brightest smile, everyone in the room was taken aback by the notion.

It took a few moments before Adam's laughing slowed down, then it was silent.

"A-Adam? Are you ok?"

"Yeah," Adam grinned at Jin, "Sorry, that was a weird response."

He looked at Ross, "I agree with you Ross, I'm not Player fit, I do get in the way, I do annoy people...I always have, but I'm here and I will continue to be here. It's been my dream to come here, I want to help people. I want to make a difference in people's lives, but people have always told me that I couldn't. Only because I am a Human, not a Player, not an OP, not even an Exception. And despite what people say about me, believe about me, I won't ever stop believing in my dreams."

"I'm sorry if I annoy you, and I know I keep messing things up with Jason for you, but I don't mean to. I know you want to impress him, just as I want to prove people here wrong. I won't leave, not when there's still so much for me to do."

It was silent as Adam spoke, and when he was done. This calm peace had enveloped all four of them, even Ross didn't look angry or moody. His tail hung low to the ground and hardly moved

"Oh!" And Adam ruined that peace, "I just realized I still haven't found those bottles for Seto! Oh my Notch, he's going to kill me! Sorry guys I have to go!" Adam turned and hurried to the door, it opened and Adam ran out. He remained careful of the thin path, he heard a voice call out to him.

"I saw someone carry it down already, idiot!"

Adam stopped just as he saw Ross' tail vanish from sight back into the room. He smiled before making his way down.

~~~~~

Ross didn't lie, the box was down here. Hard to see in this darkness, but it was there. Adam let out a relieved sigh and carried the box in.

"So you've returned, and with the box. Good. Just set it over there by my desk. I'll need them later."

Adam nodded and did as Seto directed. Seto was standing by one of his book shelves flipping through the pages of one book. A notepad and pen floated in the air and as he read. His wooden staff was in the hand not holding the book, and it directed the floating pen to write in the floating notebook. Seto also had that weird floating, white band around his head again.

"Hey Seto."

"Hmm?"

"I just wanted to ask, since I'm curious, why do you have that white thingy that floats around your head?"

Seto stopped writing. His eyes skimmed a few more pages before closing the book and placing it back on his shelf.

"A human mind can only hold so much information, as someone who's lived longer than anyone here. There is much I will forget. This device helps me contain the information I won't be able to recall."

"Oh, is it magic?"

"Both science and magic. Around the first time I met Jason, bright kid. He created this, I've used it ever since."

Adam watched as Seto walked over to his desk. He'd written a lot down on his notepad. The melting candle on his desk illuminated the paper, very neat loopy handwriting was the first thing he noticed besides the amount of notes. The stone tablet remained propped against the wall, and the mysterious book written in a language he didn't recognize was closed.

"Are you trying to decipher that book?"

Seto glanced at him, "You sure have a mouthful of questions today, don't you?"

"I'm just curious, I've never seen anything like it, and well the first time I saw it...you kind of snapped."

"I do that," Seto glanced at the book and opened up to a page he'd marked.

"See this image," Adam noticed Seto pointing to a page inside the book. It was probably painted, but it looked quite old and worn. The image was divided in half horizontally, in the center was a young boy, and on either side of him was a man and a woman. One who wielded a sword, and another who wielded magic. At the top of the image was a woman with a golden crown and at the bottom was a man with a crown of ivory. The atmosphere of the image was dark and painful, like something was going on during that time.

The young boy in the center was on the verge of tears, it was like he was calling out for help. He almost felt like he could hear the boy. Without realizing it, Adam reached out to the image, his hand got closer, there was this feeling of a connection forming.

However Seto slapped his hand away, "Don't touch it, this book is old and fragile. I don't need a clumsy idiot messing anything up!"

"S-sorry. I just felt drawn to it. Like I should know something about it."

"Pfft! Know something? This book itself is older than I can comprehend. And this particular passage in relation to this image is approximately 10,000 years old. For you to have any sort of connection to it, is about just as likely as there being a friendly monster."

Seto snarked in a sassy way, "Right..., sorry, it was stupid of me. Anyways, what were you going to say?"

Seto turned his attention back to the book, "I was going to say that this image seems to be involved directly with Rekrium," Seto flipped through the pages, the unreadable words blurring by. Seto's finger pointed at a word, well, a few words. The only words written in a language Adam could read. The first word Seto pointed to was the word Rekrium, the next was False Origin, "It's only a theory, but since this chapter in this book is so long, and includes the picture. Whatever event depicted in the image has something to do with Rekrium, and I'm trying to figure out what."

Adam was amazed, this book held a key, a key to understanding something lost to this poor kingdom and to the world itself. Only the gods, myself, and a lost race knew the truth, we were the only ones with the knowledge to read this book.

Now, you're probably wondering, why make the book so hard to read? One, it's the language I created, so it seemed only fit for me, the author, to record the history of this world in the most historic language in existence, and two...some things are better left hidden in a tangle of words long forgotten.

"I want to help, please let me help you Seto, sir!" Adam was overcome by this feeling something here was important, something he could really help with. And he wasn't just saying that because he was a nerd and lover for books."

"No, out of the question. The only reason you are here is to get stronger so you can fulfill Player duties, not decode an ancient text."

"But--"

"I'm in charge Adam, don't forget. I don't want you in my way, I've worked too long for all my progress to be destroyed by a clumsy, forgetful idiot."

Seto closed the book, "Now, I answered your question, leave me to my research. Go do something useful."

Adam nodded sullenly and left.  

~~~~~~

How was that? 

NEXT chapter SETO will give a little hint about what he's learned about the Runic language. The first step in deciphering it. :D

Theories? Last chapter I got a whole bunch, even some insta posts on them. I'd leve to see them, whether they are short and simple, or long and complex. <3

Thank you for all the support on this book, I can't wait for mysteries to be introduced and then solved by you guys and the book.

Also, that narrator tho, he's an interesting fellow. (I'm not the narrator. Yes the narrator says they created the runic language and call themselves the author, yes I created the runic language and am the author. But this is fiction, just pretend the story is being told by someone else and they created the language)