Tower of Origin - Book 1 - Chapter 2 - Awakening Part II (Patreon)

                                                                         Blake Artorius
                                                     Year 6137 | Month 11 | Day 1

“Have you checked your HUD yet?” Diane asks, drawing my attention back towards her from the window.

I silently shake my head before mentally calling, ‘Open HUD.’

Unlike with whenever I opened my HUD before becoming a Chrono, where I felt a strange twitching in my brain itself, this time I instead feel a strange fluctuation in the energy at the center of my Chrono eye followed by the appearance of a different looking HUD.

                                                         {--|>----------------------<|--}

                                                               Name: Blake Artorius

                                                                               Tier: 1

                                                            Tower-given Title: Zero

                                                            Chrono Ability: Strings

                                   Sleep Passes: 0 Tier 1 Passes, 0 Tier 2 Passes

                                                                            Ark: 236

                                                         Top Ranked Games Won: 0

                                                         Mid Ranked Games Won: 0

                                                        Low Ranked Games Won: 0

                                                                    MVC Bonus: N/A

     Games till Monthly Requirement: 1 Top Ranked Game, 3 Mid Ranked Games

                                                                       Time Arcs: 10

                                                        {--|>----------------------<|--}

Diane begins speaking as I examine the new HUD, “You should already know quite a bit of this, but I’ll explain it anyways in case you forgot during your five year long nap.”

I briefly glance at her as I sense a hint of bitterness in that last part before focusing again on the HUD.

“I’ll begin with the Tiers. There are five Tiers of strength for Chrono, and each of them drastically increases both the physical and mental capabilities of the Chrono, while also sometimes upgrading their ability. To raise your Tier, you must have won a certain number of Top Ranked Games and have the required amount of Ark, which as you know is the currency for the Tower of Origin and not just our currency here on Arkea.” Diane begins before asking, “By the way, what’s your Tower-given Title?”

Without looking at her, I answer in my usual dry tone of voice, “Zero.”

My eyes focus on my current amount of Ark before I glance at the window.

I never did finish spending my monthly allowances, so it kind of built up a little.

Of course, it’s not an extravagant amount, but it’s about half of the amount needed to buy a barely livable house, so there’s that at least.

Meanwhile, as I’m thinking this, I briefly take note of the look of surprise on Diane’s face through the reflection of the window that she quickly covers up.

Hmm.

“The sleep passes, which are often called SP, allow a Chrono to skip nights and simply sleep instead of entering the tower,” Diane continues, simply skipping any other talk about the title that was given to me by the Tower. “A Tier 1 SP lets a Chrono skip entering the tower for seven entire nights, while a Tier 2 SP lets them skip it for a single night, and they are each given by winning Top Ranked Games and Mid Ranked Games respectively.”

I decide to simply ignore her obvious avoidance of that particular subject as I stand up a little wobbly and walk the half a meter or so between the bed and the window.

Once again, Diane flashes a brief look of surprise in the reflection of the window before she finishes going over the HUD, “Every Chrono must compete in at least one Top Ranked Game and three Mid Ranked Game every month, regardless of whether they win or not. Otherwise they will lose one Time Arc, which is something that can be thought of as similar to a life in a video game, where if you lose all ten while in the Tower through either dying in a game or not fulfilling the requirements for a month ten times, then you die both in the Tower and on Arkea.”

After she finishes speaking, she simply watches me in silence as I look out over the city streets below. It’s currently about mid-day, but since there are clouds covering the sky, there isn’t much sunlight out. The streets themselves have a lot of traffic, both on foot and in car, with everyone seemingly rushing to get wherever they’re trying to go.

I glance at Diane, only to see her still watching me before I focus on the window again while messing with another string.

I’m a little surprised that she didn’t go into the MVC – otherwise known as Most Valuable Chrono – part of the explanation, but it’s not like it really matters. She’s only going into detail for everything due to the CRD’s regulations, and not because I don’t already know it all.

After all, it would be weird if the child of two Chrono didn’t know this stuff. So that’s the only reason I can think of for her going to the trouble of explaining it all.

Either that or the fact that I was in a coma. But the coma didn’t seem to have any effects on my memory, so that wouldn’t matter. And the doctors should’ve already told her that.

It isn’t until several minutes later that Diane finally moves from her place and walks next to me before dragging me into a hug.

I tense up slightly at the physical contact before relaxing again.

Normally I hate physical contact, but despite how well she’s covering it up, I know my coma really affected her. Much more than it affected me.

After holding me for a couple of minutes, she mutters, “Thank you for waking up. I don’t know if I could have taken losing you as well…”

I hesitate for a moment due to the overflowing emotion in her voice that is by no means normal for her before raising one arm and patting her back awkwardly.

Fortunately, she quickly lets go after this and takes a step back with a faint smile on her face, giving me back my personal space in the process.

Diane looks me in the eyes with a specific focus on my Chrono eye before lifting her own eyebrow and handing me something.

It isn’t until I take it into my hands and unfold it that I realize it’s an eyepatch.

I look back up at her with my eyebrows raised slightly.

“Thank you,” I tell her before putting it on to cover my Chrono eye.

She smiles at me with a slight shrug and says, “As I was rushing over here, I realized that you’d probably want something to hide that you’re a Chrono so as to not attract attention while you’re out and about.”

For the first time since I woke up, I feel a very faint tug at the corner of my lips.

She really does know me well.

Amusingly enough, her eyes widen at the sight of me almost grinning, but it doesn’t last long before she conceals it at the sound of more voices from her earpiece.

After not even ten full seconds from when whoever it is on the other end of that call speaking, the light in Diane’s eyes begins to dim a little and she says, “I’ll be there soon.”

I look at her for a second after she says that before turning back to the window again.

In the reflection of the window, I see Diane looking at me with reluctance as she says, “I’m gonna have to go for now, but I’ll be back before the hour of Origin to tell you about the Tower of Origin.”

Once she sees me nod my head, she immediately begins to rush out the door, and not even fifteen seconds later, I spot a blur rushing through the streets down below.

I continue to look out the window for a few more minutes before glancing at the door to the room right as the first doctor I had seen after waking up from my coma walks in through the open door.

“Would you mind if we ran a few more tests to make sure your fine?” he asks very carefully, as if afraid that the Chrono in front of him might take what he says as an insult or something.

Without much care, I nod my head in agreement while walking back to the bed.

The faster I get this over with, the faster I can get out of this place.