The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 46: Identity

Part 1/2

It was the day of graduation. Soon Loki and all his peers of Terran High would be graduating and becoming true adults. They’d create their own identity, their own destiny. And Mr. Mo and Aurora were standing on the stage ahead, Aurora already had finished her speech. Now a countdown had begun, signaling the end of their schoolhood.

“TEN! NINE! EIGHT!”

The soon-to-be adults began to chant the countdown along with Mr. Mo. Loki joined along too, a smile growing on his face as he pumped his fist in the air and grabbed his graduation cap with his other hand.

“SEVEN! SIX! FIVE!”

The screaming grew louder and louder to the point that Loki’s ears began to hurt.

“FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE-”

Suddenly Mr. Mo let out a loud gasp of pain, as he fell to his knees, clutching his wrist. Everyone stopped the countdown, and whispers began to radiate throughout the crowd.

“Uh oh. What happened to him?” someone asked. Loki’s eyes turned to the mysterious boy. He was wearing a hiker’s outfit and a straw hat, and had a worried look on his face. With him were three other people with different outfits. One wore a black leather jacket and blue jeans, another was wearing an apron and black dress shirt with tan khakis, and the last wore a white sleeveless jacket with a red shirt underneath and blue shorts. For some reason these four didn’t have graduation robes on.

“That doesn’t matter! We need to find Ben so we can surprise him! He’s gotta be somewhere in this crowd,” the one with the white jacket exclaimed while having his eyes dart around the crowd.

That didn’t matter to Loki. Mr. Mo had become hurt. Loki began to rush past the crowd and to the stage.

“Mr. Mo!” Loki cried out. With no warning a jolt of pain began to reverberate throughout his left wrist. Loki let out a cry of pain, and soon the rest of his peers began to follow.

The sky above them suddenly began to generate clouds, and the Sun began to move around the sky at an alarming rate. The sky seemed to be generating streaks of red, blue, and green, spinning around in a triangle and aiming right down at them.

Loki could feel his mind slip away and his consciousness fade, as everything turned to black.

And then he woke up on the cold, cold snow…

“Woah,” Loki whispered as his eyes shot open. He was back in his bunk bed, and light poured in from the open doorway into the living quarters. Everyone was gone from bed, presumably outside doing menial tasks for the settlement. He rubbed his green eyes a bit, and sighed. Once again that haunting memory of graduation had come to his dreams. He hated that memory.

“Too much was going on then,” Loki whispered. He clenched his fist, “And why did Mr. Mo fall first? What did any of that mean? Why are we here? Who were those guys without the graduation robes?”

Just then someone walked into the home. Loki turned to see someone unfamiliar to him standing at the doorway. He had a muscular build, and seemed at least six feet tall. He had a deep tan and bronze hair that shined under the light of the torch.

“Loki, you’re finally awake,” he said. It was Maddox, “Breakfast is being served. Mr. Mo’s found quite the hunt today.”

Loki sat up and looked at Maddox.

“So you’re Maddox?”

“Yep. That’s me.”

Loki stretched his arms and let out a yawn, throwing the blanket off him and climbing down the bunk bed’s ladder. He walked up to Maddox, and the two began to walk off to the pavilion.

“So what’s for breakfast today?” Loki asked as he began to fix his long, black hair.

“Carnotaurus,” Maddox responded with a grin, “A pack of three were spotted in the area before you had woken up. And you aren’t gonna believe what happened next; Mr. Mo just walked out the gates, and a few moments later he walked right back in tugging them along like they were dead dogs!”

“What?! Seriously? So you’re saying he killed them all by himself and just dragged it in like it was nothing?”

“That’s right. Y’know he’s stronger than he lets on. And I managed to catch a glimpse of how he did it… He seems to really know his stuff. Not a single one managed to maim him. It was as if he’d done this many times.”

“Well that is surprising,” Loki added, “But what’s weird is the Carnotaurus. You said they were in a pack of three?”