Gods Game chapter 5: Beginning

The landing was pleasant, a slight bump occurred as the plane touched the ground floor but apart from that everything was smooth sailing.

"We're finally here." I said.

"Yes we are." Jordan confirmed.

When the plane had finally stopped Jordan swiftly unbuckled his seatbelt and made his way to both the entrance and exit of the plane. Jordan pulled the handle of the planes door, pushing it in wards then soon shoving it towards the side revealing a bright and sunny outside.

"Let's go" Jordan smirked and to my surprise leaped from the plane and vanished into the bright light.

Curious, I walked towards the planes door and saw a wide open space with small little red lights along the sides; instantly I knew that we had landed on a runway which meant we were on an airstrip which surprised me slightly.

I looked down to see Jordan already waiting for me to do the same as him and jump off. The height from the door to the ground was only five meters, a feat which only had a low percentage of severely hurting myself. With that thought in my mind, I leaped off landing in a crouching position on the ground.

"This is it, this is Utopia." Jordan spoke with a huge smile on his face with both hands in the air welcoming me to this new foreign land.

Ignoring him I took a look at my surroundings to see a vast number of airplanes, most of the airplanes seemed to be inactive and currently not in use.

"Let's head out, I'll take you for a tour of the city." Jordan used a friendly tone, trying his best to warm up to me.

I nodded in reply and began to follow him. I noticed a huge building which seemed to be the main building for the airport and I had expected to go through there to get out, but to my surprise we casually walked towards a fence and made our way out, slowly leaving behind the airstrip in the distance. We walked along a wide field full of trimmed bright green grass which was accompanied by various types of flowers dotted all across the field.
Amongst the wide field and flowers was a black jeep. Jordan gestured for me to follow him as entered the jeep. We both seated ourselves at the back seat, surprisingly; the driver's seat was empty.

"Where's our driver?" I looked at Jordan with one eyebrow up.

"Our driver is technology. This car is driven automatically, just input an address and it'll take you there." Jordan said.

I was somewhat amazed by the technology that the other world has only ever slightly touched upon.

"Take us to the city." Jordan asked, as if he was talking to thin air.

And just like that, the car began to move, taking us towards our requested destination.

"Right now we're inside one of Utopia's twelve capital cities, Artemis. Artemis was the first city to be founded ever since Utopia was first created. Artemis is about the size of half of Australia. Everything here in Utopia is mostly shared, you'll be given a free apartment and around 2000$ dollars a month which is the equivalent of 2000$ used in the outside world" Jordan continued.

I couldn't care less about the amount of money I was given, but the aspect of everyone taking care of each other here in Utopia was something you would rarely ever see in the other world.

"So, what am I going to be doing? Some sort of labour job?" I asked, curious.

Jordan snickered, "of course not! Teenagers are forbidden to get a job here. Instead you're going to be attending school."

I stopped dead in my tracks, but only for a second.

"School?" I asked.

"Yes, school. You're going to be attending Innocence academy with me. It's one of the twelve most prestigious schools in all of Utopia."

"So, I'm going to get a normal education like normal person?" I asked further.

"Not really. You will be learning stuff like maths, science and English just like any other normal school, but you're also going to learn about your ability and how to control it." Jordan answered.

"I thought everyone's ability was different. How is anyone going to teach me how to control my ability?" I questioned.

"That's right, but controlling your ability is almost the same for everyone." Jordan replied.

"I see" I said, looking down towards the flooring of the jeep.

"You know, innocence academy as well as the other 11 prestigious academies is the only schools which teach you to control your ability. They also only accept those that can go any further than rank 2. These twelve academies are the dream goals for pretty much every single boy and girl here in Utopia. You should be happy, that you're getting enrolled." Jordan informed.

I didn't reply back, my eyes were continuously locked towards the black flooring of the jeep while my head was full of questions concerning my ability. Jordan abruptly tapped my shoulder, I turned to face him but my eyes were instead stuck on the view in front of us.

"Here we are the main city of Artemis, Archmendis, home to thirteen million people."

As I looked towards the many buildings engulfing the city I was astounded, I expected a mostly separated from the outside world to have such modern looking buildings. At the same time I felt disappointed, it seemed as if I wasn't in Utopia but instead in a different city from what I'm used to. Looking towards the countless people walking along the streets I noticed their clothes were also no different from the outside world, this was to be my new life. Right now, it didn't seem much different from my old one boring life.

The jeep stopped in front of a tall building, with hundreds of balconies, it was most likely an apartment complex. Jordan exited the jeep, which I followed up on. As we both exited the vehicle, it automatically turned its own engines off, impressive for an AI car.

"This is going to be your new home!" Jordan smiled.
I looked at him with an empty expression. This was to be my new so called home. From the outside it looked modern; each balcony was all the same length, around 5m wide and 3m in height. Jordan entered the entrance to the apartment complex through a see through automatic door. I entered as well.

The lobby was boxed in with blue walls covered with hanging lights, paintings, calendars and the flooring was clothed with blood red. There wasn't anything furniture to be seen only a desk with a brown hair lady which was most likely the receptionist. Jordan walked towards the front desk.

"Hi, my name is Jordan and this is the newcomer, Marcus. You should of already gotten word of our arrival." Jordan announced.

"Yes I have Mr.Elden. Here is the key to the apartment. It's on floor 5 rooms 33." She spoke in a matter polite.

After she had handed the keys to Jordan, she turned her head towards me, and then smiled,

"Welcome Marcus. It's great to have another one of us. As long as you're living here we'll be seeing a lot more of each other. My name's Emily Dash."

I thought of replying for a second, but before I got the chance to reply, Jordan had already entered an elevator and was gesturing for me to get in. Quickly I paced towards the elevator then looked towards Emily,

"Thanks." I said.

When I had entered, Jordan clicked on the number 5 button on panel. The doors closed and soon we were moving up just like any old elevator. In a matter of seconds the elevator pinged announcing our arrival. The doors slide opened and we both walked out. There was a blank grey wall in front of us and a long hallways stretching from both the left and right of us. There seemed to be only seven rooms on this floor. Jordan looked towards the right then began to walk right. We had found the room labelled "34" which was near the end of the hall. Jordan grabbed a hold of the keys he had received from Emily and handed them to me,

"Here you go, time for you to see your new home." Jordan smiled handing me the keys.

"Whatever." I replied.
I plugged the key into the keyhole then turned it to the right side. The door made a click sound signifying the door being unlocked, I pulled the key out, grabbed the doorknob, turned it right and pushed forward. The room was mostly dark with furniture hailed in darkness which made it hard to see what it was. The only source of light was from the far back window which was hidden behind a curtain which only allowed rays of sunshine to peak through.

"There should be a light switch somewhere, go find it." Jordan ordered.

I looked towards the right side of the wall which was generally where light switches were located and I was right, there was a light switch there. I flicked the switch up which instantly turned on six bright lights inside of the roof of the apartment. The room had a small kitchen to the right with a white fridge and to the left was a small see through table with four seats. There was a brown couch big enough to fit four people in the back of the room with a coffee table In front of it and a plasma TV hanging from the wall.

"Pretty neat" Jordan smirked.

Ignoring him, I walked towards an unopened door near the back of the room only a meter away from the couch. I turned the door knob peaking inside to see a room filled with pitch black. With the little bits of light shining through the living room into this new room I noticed a light switch on the right side of the wall. Flicking it up four lights shined down upon the room. It was a bedroom with one double bed with a small table next to it, a large mirror on the back wall of the room which looked to be able to open which meant it was a closet, and a desk on the left side. The room was fairly small. I also noticed another door on the left side next to the desk. As I opened that door it showed a medium sized bathroom with a shower, toilet, and sink.

"Well, this is your new home. What do you think?" Jordan questioned.

"It's good enough." I replied.

Jordan looked at me for a second and seemed as if he was going to say something about my attitude. He opened his mouth and said,

"You want to come over to my place?"

I looked at him with emotionless eyes,

"Why?" I asked.

"Since you've just arrived it might be good to explore. We can go out and take a look at the city then go to my house to eat." He replied.

I thought of declining his offer but decided not to. A stroll around town wouldn't hurt.

"Sure, let's go." I answered.

I shut off the lights in each room then left it, locking the door on my way out. We entered the elevator and descended down. Entering the lobby, Emily looked towards us saying,

"Leaving?" with a smile.

"Yeah, we're gonna go around." Jordan responded.

Emily waved us goodbye as we exited the building. The fresh air was cool; at best it was 19c, a little bit chilly. The streets were crowded, with families and friends all whom seem to be enjoying their time, it was a sight you'd expect from a normal city, but this wasn't a normal city.

"First, let's go to low point, one of the many malls here in Artemis." Jordan spoke.

"It's a five minute walk from here, see down there?" Jordan announced.

Jordan pointed his finger behind me, raising his eyebrows at the direction of his finger to make me look behind. Turning around I saw a huge sign announcing "low point" it was half the size of the apartment complex but seemed to much wider. We set off towards low point.

"So, what do you think so far?" Jordan asked.

"It's different from how I expected." I replied.

"How so" Jordan asked further
"I didn't expect Utopia to be so modern, considering it's been cut off from the rest of the world. This place even has higher levels of technology like that automatic car that just drove us. This city looks like any other city you'd find, its normal." I responded.

Jordan laughed, "It might seem normal, but everyone here is an Eleusis, even if they just seem like above average people."

"But you know, our kind is responsible for a lot of the technology in the outside world." Jordan smirked.

"What?" I questioned, curious.

"For years, our kind has been developing technology. We also share that technology with the outside world. We were the ones who created light bulbs, trains and even phones. In fact the head of one of the seven royal families, Quentin Coldwater is the true brains behind stuff like smartphones, tablets and many other things. He's also the true president of companies like SAMSUNG and APPLE " Jordan lectured.

"Well, you learn something new every day." I spoke, uninterested.

Jordan looked at me with a somewhat hurt look. We had reached the entrance of Low Point, which was as an automatic glass door. As we walked through, the temperature inside Low Point was bit water than outside, around 23c.

The inside of Low Point was filled with shops selling all sorts of items, clothes, food, accessories and many others. The area was wide with much more to explore, but one look at this place and I knew exactly what was awaiting me.

"I shouldn't have expected anything. I'm leaving" I spoke.

"You know, you may have been expecting a completely different life filled with adventure and joy, but this place is a lot like the outside world. After all we share almost everything with humans. Aside from the fact that we have kick ass powers, we're not much different from humans." Jordan said, in a sorrowful voice.

"You're right, I expected a new life with twists and turns at every corner, but stuff like that only live in people's imaginations. This whole world is the same, no matter where you go. Only this place is just a very, very small acceptation to this." I confessed.

Jordan looked at me with pitiful eyes, "You're probably hungry right? Let's visit my house. My sister is the best cook ever" he announced, trying to cheer me up.

As much as I didn't want to, his eyes were much like puppies, perhaps I had gotten soft,

"Sure, lead the way." I said.

A full half an hour of walking had passed until we had finally reached our destination, Jordan's house. It seemed to be a two story house, 9m in height and 13m wide. The entrance door to his house was chestnut brown with two small triangular windows on it. Jordan reached into his pocket pulling out a key. He unlocked the door and opened it, rising up a hand for me to come in,

"After you" Jordan smiled.

Taking him up on his offer, I followed through entering his house. It was a little warm, maybe due to a heater. As Jordan slammed the door shut, I heard footsteps approaching us from the hallway,

"Jordan, are you finally home? How was giving a tour the new guy" The voice was that of a girl perhaps one below the age of 10 due to it being somewhat high pitched.

"Yeah, his name is Marcus Halse, and he's here now" Jordan shouted back.

She appeared in the hallway, stunned. She had short jet black hair, with brown eyes much like her brother, wearing chestnut glasses, standing around 5ft2 and had pale white skin.

"Uhh... ummm.... hi" She began to stutter, her loud high pitched voice one second ago had instantly vanished into thin air.

"This is Ellie, she's really, really shy so bear with her, okay?" Jordan introduced.

I looked at her with emotionless eyes,

"hi." I spoke.

This seemed to have frightened her, she began to shiver and wobble. Jordan sighed, and then walked up to her patting her on the head, instantly calming her down. This was sibling love, something I had shown a lot towards my brother.

"That smell, is it fried rice?" Jordan asked happily.

"Yes..." Ellie responded in a calm but still frightened voice.

Jordan moved down inwards the hallway, Ellie following. I looked at my surroundings seeing a white wall with photos of a young Jordan and Ellie cheerfully enjoying themselves in each picture. There were also pictures of adults who seemed to be the pair's parents. I then too, followed the pair.

I entered what looked to be a dining room which had one very long table around ten chairs accompanying the table and a very large bowl filled with fried rice. The smell was satisfying, I felt my stomach begin to grumble I remembered that I hadn't eaten in a while and realised my hunger.

"Sit down" Jordan smiled.

I sat on one of the many chairs which were next to the bowl of fried rice. Jordan handed me a medium sized bowl along with a spoon. He then sat on the chair opposite of me, Ellie sitting alongside him. Jordan began to fill his bowl with fried rice,

"Don't hold back" Jordan welcomed.

Following his example I began to pour fried rice into my bowl. As I tasted the food, it was nice, nice enough to be found in a restraint served by professional chefs. Jordan wasn't lying Ellie was good at cooking.

After almost half an hour of eating, the pair began to get ready to sleep. The sky was already pitch black with countless shining stars filling it.

"We're gonna go to sleep now, we have school tomorrow. You can stay the night and leave tomorrow" Jordan spoke.

"Take me with you tomorrow, to Innocence Academy" I said.

"I can't. You have to wait a few weeks to get use to Utopia and then start school" Jordan told.

"I don't care; I'm not going to be exploring this place much. I already know what to expect." I responded.

Jordan sighed, "fine, I'll take you there, but you have to talk to the director of the school first thing you get there, he might not even allow you to stay and tell you to buzz off" Jordan groaned.

"I'm fine with that" I acknowledged.

"Well, for now you can use the spare room, follow me."

As I lay in bed, I thought of all the moments that had occurred that lead me to this point, beginning with my first encounter with Jordan to the Violet, the monster who killed everyone I knew. This was to be my new life, a life where I can use some kind of power and there are 100million other people who use a power very much like my own. Somehow, I felt a little sad, I had gotten what I wanted, a life that is no longer dull and grey instead a life full with mystery and fulfilment. But I had to sacrifice a lot in order to get here. I wondered, if I had to choose to sacrifice everyone for this life, would I? I felt my heart begin to tighten, it hurt. Slowly I closed my eyes, drifting away into the void of darkness.