Young Writers Society

Lola stared at the back of the Raiden's head. She couldn't really figure out if he was talking to her or if he was just rambling nonsensically. Either way, he had a point. Lola was hungry. She quietly looked over Raiden's shoulder, trying to see what he was looking for.

"You're probably right about food. I kinda forgot about it in the commotion."

He was talking to her. He just didn't know if she was standing there or not.
"Yeah. Hey do you see a kitchen anywhere?" he asked, pointing to the map as he shuffled to the side to give her a better view.

Lucy had started heading towards where the library should have been, if the map was anything to go off of. She could only hope that its records had been preserved. She needed some idea of why they had been brought here. Or, at the very least, a nagging question of hers needed to be answered.

What happened to the people who lived here?



Oliver stared down at his hand. Magic or science? They had never been able to tell back home; they put the neat little label of science on it so there wouldn't be a fuss. A mutation in the genes. One that seemed harmless as it was passed down from generation to generation, finally manifesting in the ability he now possessed. But his time in his new home had made him start to think that there was some extraordinary about what he could do, and hearing Aegeas speak of magic only made him wonder more about his hidden ability.

Or not so hidden, as he was using it right now.

He tried to think of something else. Anything would work. And, as he glanced around the hallway they were walking down, a question suddenly came to him. He turned to look at his two companions with wide eyes. "I just thought of something," he said. "Where did all the people who lived here go?"

"What makes you think people were living here before?" Bo asked. "Not to say you're wrong but uh, if there were people here before, you think there'd be more of a trace? Or that at least, this place wouldn't be so... tidy, considering they've been gone for so long? Or it looks it I guess? Or maybe we just haven't come across the living quarters and stuff? Or maybe they cleaned it out and moved out?" Bo stopped himself, realizing he was merely thinking out loud, and that his trail of questions didn't particularly lead anywhere.

"But uh..." he continued, more hesitantly. "No. I haven't thought about it 'til just now. Was still kind of hung up on the 'stuck in the middle of the ocean' thing 'til just recently."

Those were some good questions - at least, they made sense to Aegeas. They were also extremely eerie, because he hadn't quite realized until now how unnaturally clean this place was. "They could've been taken out when we were brought here?" he said, jogging to catch up with Bo and Oliver. "Then again, I don't know how it's possible. But, there's no way this place could be abandoned and still look this nice, even if they cleaned it up and left. Unless it happened a short while ago."

He stopped and squinted, feeling his heart skip a beat. "I can't see that well," he said, pointing to a blur in the distance, "but I think that's our last person."

The library was vast, filled with long arrays of panels in tall rows, with ample windows and seating lining the back wall. It was screens, mainly, but right near the back, there was a small shelf dedicated to proper books.
With the intention of learning how to use this places' technology eventually, I erred toward familiarity and headed toward the books.

'I'll see what I can learn over here,' I said to young Lucy, 'And then I might see about learning how to use the new-fangled phones over there.'
I briefly gestured toward the rows of large screens, before setting again toward the bookshelf.

Lola peered at the map in front of her.

"There!" She said, and pointed to the bottom right corner.

"Hmmmmmm," Raiden hmmm-ed. The two dots showing their own position was quite a bit away from that. He saw three other dots get real close to a fourth, and the other two dots had just stopped in a library.
"Do you wanna hop over there now? Or would you rather we wait to meet up with the others first?" he asked, rubbing his stomach gently.

Lucy stifled a laugh at the word he chose to use - he apparently seemed to think that every piece of technology with a screen was a phone. Technological inadequacy should have been offensive to a robot, but she couldn't help but get a kick out of it every time someone was completely wrong.

Lucy chose to go towards the screens. Books were always good, but she was at home when among wires and circuits. The monitor jumped to life as her hand touched the screen; a long list of books and records appeared before her. It looked like she was going to be here for awhile.



They quietly approached the final person, Oliver's heart beating frantically in his chest the entire time they did so. Then the man spun around, and he found himself looking at a complete stranger - a man with a dark braid that was interwoven with platinum strands of hair, and eyes that were unlike any blue he had ever seen before. He was dressed in a casual hoodie and jeans. That should have been comforting, but something about him made Oliver desperately want to run away.

"Well," the man said, "I admit I'm a little disappointed. I go through all of this work to bring you here, and we meet in a hallway of all places."

Bo found himself disappointed as well. One, because the person seemed rather ordinary, and two, because they immediately admitted to being the one who'd brought them all there. He had been hoping it was someone else in their same boat. Because this - well - was just awkward. And weird. And though he wasn't even fully aware of it, he was glaring at the man with the braid.

"Well if you didn't want it to happen in a hallway you should've just talked to us by gathering us all in one place instead of leaving us wandering and confused."

"But it's part of the fun!" the man protested, looking aghast at the suggestion. He glanced at Oliver and Aegeas, almost as if he was hoping they would take his side on the matter.

Oliver didn't say anything; he was still trying to wrap his head around what had happened. The person who had brought them here was a human? Not an alien or a robot, but a run-of-the-mill human? The man's appearance was only a little bit bizarre, but he had seen stranger before.

"Anyways," the man said with a dismissive wave of the hand, "you're not the main show. You're just the test run. A prologue of sorts, if we're considering my little projects 'stories'. I meant for you to meet me a little later on at the climax, but that girl - Lucy, was it? - figured out how to read the map faster than I guessed she would."

When the stranger glanced at the group, Aegeas felt a sensation of intense rage. He was disappointed that he didn't recognize the strange-looking man at all. However, a greater part of him was fuming. This man had brought him here, as well as several others. How dare he treat their wandering around like it was a joke.

"Is this a game to you?" Aegeas said, gritting his teeth. He reached for his swords. "You brought us here for you to yank us around like we're puppets. Why?"

Lola shrugged. She wasn't that hungry, but Raiden seemed like he was, and food seemed pretty important.

"Maybe we should at least go look for it."

"More like an entertaining tv show," the man corrected. "Though you wouldn't know what that is, would you? The problems with not having everyone come from Earth."

He looked the three over and, for just a moment, his eyes lingered on Oliver - who was still too confused to even wonder why his attention had been drawn to him. It would only be later that he realized it was because he hadn't just been referring to Aegeas when he had spoken; he had been referring to Oliver, too.

"And to answer your second question? It's because I can. That's how things work in every single reality. Things happen because it's possible, and then we deal with whatever comes afterwards. And I enjoy it, too. Everyone loves a good story, right? Consider this a story, and you can see why I like it so much. And it has actual people, making real decisions."

"Except that you didn't extend us the courtesy of choice and autonomy when you dragged or transported us here by whatever means. Because you know none of us wants to be here." And doing so was just straight up unethical, but clearly he operated by a very twisted set of motives and a very different moral compass so arguing ethics and morals would've been fruitless. The reality was, that they had already been brought there, and despite how much he hated it, this guy seemed to be the only person between him and getting back to his home, and his reality.

"But that can't be the only reason why you brought us here," Bo demanded. "Because just because and just for entertainment doesn't hold water. Unless you're legitimately not mentally stable or something. To do something like this anyway. But like, man, I don't know much about psychology and stuff, but there's gotta be more motive than that. We're here for a reason. Not just to be here. So tell us what it is. And do us one better and tell us who you are too."