“Hm? What is even this?” Approaching the parking lot, Arthur examined one of the sonic boards with his eyes. The boards looked like a mix between a scooter and a hoverboard with no wheels. It had a sleek metallic finish with a glass screen at the top that looked very advanced.
“Is this… The means of transport they were talking about?” Arthur raised an eyebrow. “How is it even floating?”
Looking down, Arthur slid his hand under the sonic board and yet he didn’t feel anything beneath. The board was indeed floating.
“Yes, technology! Yes, science!” Arthur clapped his hands with an impressed look on his face. “I don’t know how they pulled it off, but my compliments to the ones who invented this.”
At this point, the technological advancement of this place was something he had seen everywhere he went. This was not that huge of a surprise as hoverboards had existed in some way for a while in the real world so he wasn’t really that shocked.
As Arthur’s eyes wandered to the side, he noticed a number written on the slot where the hoverboard was standing. Then, his eyes moved to another slot and he eventually realized what was happening.
“Each one indicates a student’s room. I guess mine should be somewhere around- There!” Finding his number, he quickly approached the slot with his room’s number on it.
“Ok, so, how does this thing work?” Jumping on top of it. He balanced himself easily on the board and then tapped on the screen. Immediately, the screen activated, showing him a small square with a few words written on top of it. ‘Swipe your device on the square.’ it said.
“Device? Oh, they mean this.” Pulling his phone out, Arthur put it against the screen and swiped. Almost immediately, the hoverboard made a ringing sound as the screen activated. Then, a strip of neon light lit up across the frame of the hoverboard while the engine slowly activated.
Arthur stared down with pure excitement. He never expected a day would come when he would ride one of these things. ‘I’m living the dream!’
His eyes then shifted to the screen. There, he saw two new options appear on the screen.
“‘Please choose the travel mode: Automatic/ Manual.’ Hmm, automatic sounds better than manual. But, who cares about what’s best? I want to drive one of these things! Manual it is!”
Without hesitation, Arthur tapped the manual. Then, he put his hands on the handles.
“Ok, so… If I’m not wrong, I should twist this and it should wor- WOAAAAAH!!”
The monster Arthur twisted the handle, the hoverboard suddenly launched forward at a horrifying speed.
“Holy shit!!” Arthur panicked as he quickly steered to the side to avoid smashing into other hoverboards. But, he couldn’t control it at all.
“The brakes! The brakes!”
With no other choice, he quickly pressed the brakes when the sonic board finally stopped before hitting the wall.
“Hah… Hah… Ok, goddamit! I’m not using manual mode!” Arthur clenched his teeth as he tapped on the corner option and then chose Automatic.
When he chose that option, a map of the city appeared on his screen with several cursors indicating many of the main areas one would want to go to. Arthur searched for the location he was going to.
“Hmm, Academy Elevator? That should be it.” Arthur muttered as he tapped that option. A second later, the hoverboard suddenly activated again and then started moving. However, this time, it didn’t fly at top speed like before.
Arthur grabbed the handles and looked ahead.
“This is pretty nice, actually.”
Flying through the parking lot and into the street, the sonic board picked up pace a little. The streets were still empty since students didn’t leave yet.
“Hm, the screen says we will arrive in a few minutes.”
As the wind rustled his hair, Arthur enjoyed the cold weather and the fresh air. Passing countless buildings, the giant mountain in the distance grew closer and closer, as it started looming over Arthur. The academy structure built into the mountain cast its reflection everywhere, showing the true insanity of its design.
“Wow…” Arthur muttered with a frozen expression. “This looks far more ridiculous up close. Where am I even?”
The Middle Island felt more like a fantasy land than a real place in the world. Then, his eyes went down to the foot of the mountain. There, he saw a massive gate that separated the dormitories from the academy’s main areas.
A group of guards held their position around the gate and the walls. When they saw Arthur approaching, they stopped him immediately. Arthur tapped the brakes and waited for the guards to approach him. He was surprisingly not as nervous as he expected himself to be.
‘Did my confidence increase along with my power? I’m not worried at all.’ He mused to himself as he calmly stared at the man with the weapon.
“Good morning, your device please.” The man said as he pulled out his own device.
Arthur nodded and handed his phone to the man. The latter swiped it over his own device and stared at the screen for a few seconds. Then, he nodded and handed it back to Arthur.
“You can proceed.” The man said as he signaled for the gates to open. “Have a good day, Mr Arthur.”
“… You too.” The boy replied as the board started moving again on its own. Passing through the gates, Arthur found himself in a massive open area that looked like a parking lot. On the other side of it, he saw a majestic set of stairs that led somewhere up to the higher parts of the mountain.
Arthur’s sonic board moved till it found its slot and stopped.
“Ok, that wasn’t too bad. Hmm, the parking lot is almost completely empty. There are a few other sonic boards, though. Some students must’ve arrived before me.” He muttered as he jumped off the sonic board and started walking through the parking lot toward the set of stairs.
They were surprisingly long so it took him almost a minute to reach the end. Up there, Arthur was welcomed with another majestic sight. Near the foot of the mountain, a platform was built that was big enough to contain thousands of people with ease. The platform was made out of hard sleek rock and paved with beautiful tiles that stretched far and wide.
At the end of this platform, there were two massive glass tubes that rose from the ground and into the sky and beyond, reaching the giant structures hanging up in the air.
“Holy shit…” Arthur muttered. “Are those elevators?”
Although the design was unfamiliar at first, Arthur eventually recognized what that was. ‘So that’s how we reach the main areas. Makes a lot of sense.’
Arthur had been wondering how it was possible to climb such a mountain to reach the institution. After all, climbing stairs was simply not an option and so was climbing the mountain. There had to be alternatives that could contain the large number of students and staff that live on the island. So, massive elevators were the answer.
Then, Arthur looked down and he saw a few students standing here and there. There were no more than a dozen students seemingly idling around waiting for something.
“I guess it’s not time yet.” Arthur checked his time. There were at least 35 minutes left.
“What should I do for the rest of the time now? Tsk, I should’ve probably spared some more time before arriving here. I don’t know anybody around he-”
“Arthur?”
At that moment, Arthur heard a very familiar voice behind him. Turning around slowly, he saw her face. For a second, he was surprised before his eyes instantly brightened up as he smiled widely.
“Isla! Is that you?” He asked.
Isla stared at Arthur with an equally surprised look. The boy looked different from how he looked yesterday. He was taller and more good-looking. When she saw him, she almost didn’t recognize him which is why she asked uncertainly.
“Yes, it’s me. I wasn’t sure if that was indeed you. It seems the serum had truly changed you a lot.” She said.
“Hahaha, yeah, I’m still not that familiar with it. Though, you don’t look that far off from how you usually look.”
“Hm? Do you think so? I think the serum didn’t have any effect on me.”
Hearing that, Arthur’s expression froze for a moment. ‘Ehem, I don’t think so. The serum probably tried to change some things, but with how you look… There was really not that much room for improvement.’ He coughed inwardly.
Isla was already the most beautiful girl he had ever met. She was also tall and slender. She looked like a world-class model or even better. She didn’t seem to lack anything appearance-wise.
“In any case, thank god you’re here! I really didn’t know what I was going to do for the next 35 minutes. I’m glad I met someone I know.” He said.
“Mm, me too.” She nodded. “What a sudden and quick reunion that is.”
“… Yeah, we aren’t that far away from each other, are we?” Arthur laughed.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
