Tower of Origin - Book 1 - Chapter 3 - Apathetic (Patreon)

                    Several hours later in the Official Meeting Hall of the CRD HQ
                                                      Year 6137 | Month 11 | Day 1

“-and that concludes today’s meeting,” the Star Executor states, prompting over a dozen of the Chrono within the room to get up from their seats. Meanwhile, Diane continues typing on the laptop in front of her for several minutes.

On the other side of the long table, a Chrono with a pink Chrono eye named Jarod begins whispering to the man next to him, “So is it true? Did the director’s brother really get Zero as his Tower-given Title?”

The man he had spoken to, whose name is Arthur, glances at him and nods before beginning to get up from his seat with his laptop held under his arm.

Jarod looks surprised as he leans back in his chair and mutters, “Wow.”

He then turns to look at Arthur again and asks, “Do you think it’s because of his mental disor-”

Before he can finish his question, Arthur hurriedly moves to cover his mouth while sending a nervous glance towards Diane, who is currently glaring directly at Jarod from her seat despite the distance between them and the quiet volume at which he was speaking.

Jarod looks confused for a second before he begins sweating and turns towards the director. He then bows his head and apologizes without a hint of hesitation.

After that, both he and Arthur hurriedly leave the room under the director’s gaze. It isn’t until after they reach the stairs at the opposite end of the building that they let out a sigh of relief.

“What the hell, Jarod?” Arthur exclaims with a glare at his big-mouthed friend, “You should know not to call her brother’s mentality a mental disorder around her!”

Before the man can defend himself, one of the other Star Ranked Officers – a much more serious one by the name of Julie – who had been walking by when they said this stops and turns before frowning at Jarod and asking, “You did it again?”

Jarod just hangs his head slightly at her words, prompting her to continue, “You of all people should know that he doesn’t actually have a mental disorder. Considering how many times you’ve been corrected by now.”

“Yes, I know, he’s just completely apathetic to anyone who isn’t his sister and doesn’t display any emotions he does have outwardly,” he says before looking at Arthur and saying, “but that’s basically like a mental disorder, right?”

A complicated look crosses Arthur’s face as he starts, “I mean, I wouldn’t-”

Before he can finish, a cold voice echoes in all of their ears and the Star Executor appears behind them, “If none of you want to get on the director’s bad side, then I would drop this subject.”

As soon as the gathered Chrono see the Tier 3 Chrono standing behind them, they immediately begin to mutter apologies and leave the area. Meanwhile, the Star Executor himself just stands there watching them all leave for a few seconds before glancing at the meeting hall, where the director is still finishing up dealing with a few last minute issues.

‘Those poor kids,’ he thinks to himself with a frown, ‘one of them became completely apathetic towards other people, while the other became overly driven to both get revenge and make sure nothing like what killed their parents would ever happen again.’

The man continues standing there for several seconds before shaking his head lightly and walking down the hall of the eighth floor towards his office.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                       Blake Artorius
                                                   Year 6137 | Month 11 | Day 1

I ignore the strange look the doctor is sending me as I put the eyepatch back on over my eye.

“Are you sure you want to wear that?” he asks with a frown.

Without bothering to give him an answer, I get up from my seat before walking out of the doctor’s office.

The man hurriedly gets up to follow me out while saying, “Hey, wait! Your sister is coming to pick you up!”

I pause for a second at that before continuing anyways towards the stairs of the hospital. As I’m walking, I pull my cell phone out of my pocket and hold it up for him to see, only to put it back again as I hear him stop chasing after me.

If she wants to contact me, then she can just call. Or text, seeing as she knows I hate calls.

Anyways, it was kind of surprising how quickly my phone’s service was set back up, but I guess Diane has some pretty strong pull right now thanks to her position as director.

The phone aside though, I’m glad all of my clothes still fit me without any trouble, even if that’s mostly because I didn’t grow much if at all since falling into a coma. And while I’d like to say that I did actually grow but just shrunk again when I reverted to my prime, that is not how awakening works.

Not to mention that I’m only one-point-seven meters tall in the first place, which is pretty short for a guy.

Although I’d care more about that if Diane was taller than me, but she’s just about the same height as me, so it’s not the end of the world.

I glance down at my black and white coat while making my way through the hospital towards the entrance, only to pause for a second as I notice the wounds on the palms of my hands from the string already scabbing over and continuing on through the hospital.

It’s so bizarre. Five entire years have passed, but I only feel like I woke up from a short nap.

I raise my head once I enter the lobby before taking note of a couple of odd looks focused on my eyepatch.

Hmm, guess the eyepatch is going to be drawing some attention from now on, but at least it’s better than drawing attention due to being a Chrono.

That sort of attention is much worse than just people sending me glances due to the eyepatch.

Especially once I begin to become known on the Tower of Origin livestreams.

My eyes widen slightly at that thought before I reopen my HUD again.

Hmm, looks like I didn’t imagine it.

It looks like Chrono can’t access the livestreams through their HUDs.

I close out of it again right as I get close enough to the automatic doors of the hospital for them to open up, letting in a strong gust of cold wind. The wind makes pause for a second before I continue through the doors into the cold winter air outside

Okay, that’s also strange. Because it was summer when I entered that coma, and now it’s winter.

With that thought in mind, I look around the street before spotting an arcade that just happens to be near the hospital.

I let out a small breath that comes out as a puff of warm air in the cold as I stick my hands into my pockets and begin making my way towards the arcade.

Might as well take advantage of this opportunity.

After all, It’s possible that I won’t have the time to go much after tonight’s first trek into the Tower of Origin.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those of you who can't see the image:

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

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

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