Chapter 2 Awakening
- Ethan became frantic, his mind drifted to think he was becoming insane and with surmises of one who is dreaming and needs to wake up, his inquisitiveness drove him mad the more,
- "What task exactly are you talking about and I think you should leave me alone right now, I'm already having a bad week, you adding a death sentence to it is making it worse! Gosh! I need to wake up, I feel this isn't real." Ethan stormed not minding the fact that his voice was going to disturb the neighborhood. He grabbed his head and stepped backwards to sit on his bed frustratingly.
- KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
- "Ethan, open up. Is everything okay? Are you alright?" Sissy asked audibly as she knocked on his door and waited for a response from him.
- Ethan sighed his frustrations out,
- "I'm fine Sissy, what time is it?" He asked still seated on his bed.
- "It's 8:27 a.m. Ethan. Come on, open up. Don't tell me you are fine because we all heard your voice out loud and you also repeated having a bad time like you did last night before I left you. Open up, Ethan." Sissy kept talking to persuade him to open up, but he was still reluctant and at the same time, he understood he wide awake, until,
- Terranova: "I know you said I should leave you alone, but I need to know you are alright, Ethan. I'm here to help if you need me and you don't have to yell for me to hear you. I believe the lady outside cares a lot about you, you should open the door now, Ethan. Three people are standing behind her as well."
- The moment the resurgent System was done talking, Ethan was numb and was beginning to accept the fact that Terranova was real though he could only hear its voice in his head.
- "Can anyone else hear your voice except me, Terranova?" Ethan asked quietly because he wanted to start ignoring it.
- Terranova: "No, no one can. I think you should open that door, they are beginning to worry about your sudden silence."
- "Good!" His voice went back to normal which was somewhat relaxed and bored. He was quite satisfied with the answer Terranova gave and so he went to open the door. His eyes dilated the minute he saw three persons standing behind Sissy, he recalled what the resurgent system had said to him prior... All four of them were facially bored stiff when they saw him, including Sissy who had her arms wrapped a little below her breast while staring at him with a wondering eye.
- "F*ck that was accurate!" Ethan exclaimed believing that Terranova would understand why he was surprised but the system never a word to him.
- Sissy who was fed up with his sudden awkward behavior asked immediately,
- "Have you gone crazy, Ethan? What exactly is the matter with you?"
- "Uhmm, I'm sorry guys, is there any problem? Why y'all staring at me like I loco? Can't I have my privacy anymore?" Ethan murmured, disregarding Sissy's questions because he was not comfortable with the way all eyes were on him.
- "There's definitely a problem, Ethan. Of course you sound like you've gone crazy. Quit disturbing the neighborhood. If you're going to run mad, leave the apartment." One of the guys behind Sissy rumbled and turned his back to leave.
- "Yes, men. Get the hell out of Sharon apartment, leave GREENWAY like your friend Arnold did. We're fed up with worthless neighbors." Another guy added as they left leaving only Sissy who kept staring at him like she was set for quarrel.
- "C'mon Sissy, what now?" He sighed and threw his face away to avoid eye contact with her.
- "When should I be expecting my money your friend made away with? And don't tell me you are planning on leaving too because I'm going to find you." Sissy rumbled.
- "Why not use that energy to find Arnold? Who says am leaving?" He asked shrugging...
- "You having a bad week is enough proof, at least that's close to what Arnold uttered before he left. Plus I care about you, Ethan. Try not to go crazy." She mumbled and mildly chuckled.
- "Okay, look I'm not Arnold, and I'm never going to go crazy. Thanks for caring. Can you go away now, it's too early to argue with you." He muttered and was about shutting his door when she replied,
- "Whatever!"
- Ethan was glad she was gone without a fight, unlike her. He rested his back at first on his door after shutting it, but moved away from it at the sound of Terranovas voice.
- "I told you she cares about you, didn't I?"
- Ethan stroke his forehead the moment he heard that. "Keep quiet Terra. Are you this much of a talkative? Damnit, they thought I was crazy. Who wouldn't think that?" He murmured and whined at the same time he questioned the system.
- After a while of silence and sudden tranquility in Ethan's mind as he sat back down on his bed, he wondered why he wasn't hearing a word from the system and should have thought that the system was gone or it was all the working of his imagination all the while, but nope. It spoke again the second he asked after pondering over the usefulness of the system...
- "Terra, are you there? Why aren't you talking?" Ethan asked because he wanted to know more about it, considering the fact that it had accurately foretold the number of people outside his door previously.
- Terranova: "of course I am. You said I should be quiet so I had to respect your decision. I wonder what is troubling you at the moment."
- Struck with astonishment, Ethan asked, "wait, you mean you don't know what I am thinking? You can not read my mind except for the things I say?"
- "Yes, Ethan. The human makeup is complex and it is beyond my jurisdiction to know what you think but I can only predict based on your facial expressions and body reactions. I would appreciate if you share your thoughts with me, that way I may try to help." Terranova explained.
- Ethan partly smiled, being delightful to hear it because he has been assuming it could tell everything he was thinking. "Interesting. So, you do respect my decisions huh?"
- "That's right, Ethan." Terranova assured with a feminine piercing voice.
- "Oh, I see. Why did you not let me decide whether or not to accept you before you installed inside me!"
- "Do we have to go over this again? I told you it was not in your power to decide that. Just as it was not in the power of those residing in the capitol hill who awakened to a special power to do so. Your decision is considered after installation based on the fact that the state of your planet now needs humans gifted with external strength to survive in it."
- "This is getting complicated. So, does it mean I have awakened to the same virtue as people in the capitol hill? Why don't I feel powerful? What are my abilities? Where do you even come from? If I'm not mistaking, you described your person as external. So?"
- "Your awakening is different because I am the last of my kind as I earlier mentioned. If you go into the Capitol Hill without leveling up, they are going to consider you same as the populace still. You must pass every task to qualify. I'm loading one right now..."
- "Wait, what? I didn't ask you to load anything yet." Ethan interrupted with somewhat sullen angered eyebrows.
- "...You don't have to. You can only decide which task to accomplish in order of priority. You ask too many questions, Ethan. As for my origin, I'm from the dimension of virtue. I mentioned that earlier. You've asked to know your abilities, I'm bringing it all up at once. You are going to feel powerful after you are done with the tasks before you."
- — Status Table —
- Full Name: Ethan Hills
- Tenacity: 3
- Speed: 5
- Intelligence: 15
- Skill: closed
- Responsiveness: 3
- Strength: 3
- Funds: $5
- Inventory: empty
- Virtue: unassigned