Ch-2 The Association

I was sitting on my medium sized creaking bed, glancing over my room. It was still dark. Alarm clock was showing 4:00 am. The old man was turning pages of some files he had with him. He was wearing a black long coat over a white shirt. I could not see his legs because of the coat. Behind him, there was a portrait of some shadowy figures, and there was something written on the left bottom side of the portrait. The old man finally stopped his hands and started looking on the screen.

"My name is Agbelo Martinez. I am one of the elders of the society which created your past and your present, The Association."

Speech is coming.. Speech is coming!!!...

"We have been noticing the progress you made since we gave you the knowledge to access greater resources. I even don't remember how many years have gone. I have to check it -- uhmm"

He again started turning the pages. He reminded me of myself when I once forgot the speech and I have to look into it again.

"It was around 30,000 years ago. So now, you all should be able to understand why I called myself one of your ancestors."

He silenced himself for a minute. I started to touch the screen as I thought the connection became weak.

He suddenly started to talk.

"But the progress you made, it made us sad. You started to destroy this world continuously, but you are still careless about the nature and the world. Crimes started to grow like oak trees. Someone murders someone, someone gives money to murder someone, someone knows about the culprit but still doesn't tell anyone because of the fear of losing someone. From endless pollution to endless corruption, this world is rotting. You all are just kids, I know it very well but we don't want to make your future as disgusting as your present is."

That's long, without taking a single breath.

"That's why, we want to make future elders, who will replace us and will rule the world actively, not like us who ruled rather passively. If you are thinking about the reason we are not interfering directly; we can't because of the oath we have taken."

Oath --- Sounds fishy -- but still I like that black coat he is wearing, suits my taste.

"The making of elders will simply be called, The Selection. It is going to be extremely hard and painful. We guarantee your lives. You won't die no matter what happens here. If you think you have the potential, then come with us and see it personally. We will take all the candidates from where we are which is very very far away from where you belong. You can always go back whenever you can but then you will be disqualified. We will give you some time to reason yourself as to participate or not. Just be sure, this announcement can be seen by all of the 16-20 aged boys and girls in the whole world. Confirm it if you want, maybe I think some people would have already confirmed it."

I was not in that some people. I was still summarizing every word he said. I already knew everything he said but I started feeling guilty suddenly as I listened his words. Maybe, I was feeling bad as I also live in this rotting world and just ignore the rotten spreading everywhere. The rotten, which sufficed my life too, made me suffer too. The only mistake I did was to trust, and that Bastard crap of a human destroyed my everything, including my own sanity.

I started looking at my own hands, those once all covered with blood of that bastard.

"Give your answers in yes or no. Your screen should be showing those two options now. Think carefully and give your answers."

He ended his speech and the screen now was showing yes and no options instead of him. I grabbed my phone from the side desk and saw 20 missed calls from friends and cousins.

I ignored every name except the call I expected the most, Nitin. He was my best friend aka brother aka pet monkey. He was freakin' excited about all of this as I also expected.

"Aj, we must participate. This is what we, the gamers always dreamt for."

"Nt, are you not a single percent concerned about what will happen here?"

"I am. Hey Aj. I tried to wake my parents up but they are still sleeping. Have you tried too?"

As I came to the outer room, my parents were asleep. I tried to wake them, but they were sleeping like they were in hibernation.

We found out that everyone were sleeping like this except us, the 16-20 aged guys.

"Aj, listen up. I can clearly see that concern and awareness on your face, and it's definitely upto you whether you want to come or not."

I knew how much he cared about me, and if this all would have happened 6 months ago, he would have wrapped me up by a chair. But, things changed. And he became the 'funny man' in front of me, just to keep my sanity in check.

"I am alright. Stop that so called informal-formal change. I know you want me to be happy, and you know right, I now have control on myself. So, you can be the strict devil you are in front of me, too."

He smiled a bit at first and then, grimmed like a demon, lurking to its prey.

I love this devil brother of mine!!

We hung up the call, to think about all of this clearly.

I washed my face and while wiping it, saw my nerdy face on the mirror. I had always been a boy with more than average height, not so muscular body, and the glasses were stuck in front of my eyes since I could remember. My sapphire blue eyes was the only feature of my face I was proud of. I always liked my hair short, shorter than what almost every boy and girl term as 'cool'.

Who cares what they think?!

I hate long hair..

It takes so much time to look good or it will just turn out into a mess!!

The old voice suddenly bursted from the screens.

"Oh I forgot to tell you one more thing. Your parents and all the other people except you, are sleeping because we don't want any kind of interference from the present in the decision for the future. They will eventually wake up after we will take the selected candidates with us,and don't worry, your parents will be informed about The Selection."

I still couldn't decide what I should do. Nt had already selected the yes option and was confused what to say to his brother.

What will happen here?..

Will my parents be proud of me?..

What if something happened here?..

Who will be here to take care of everything?..

My little sis, how much will she miss me?..

I was so damn confused....

I closed my eyes and started to remember my grandmother.

Arjuna, always remember one thing. Do as your inner voice says. You are your own master. Everything will be fine. God will always be with you.

I gained my confidence, thanked my grandmother for bringing me out from my confused mind, and after taking a deep breathe, I pressed 'Yes'.

I can always come back when I want anyways.

Then, the countdown starts..

10, 9, 8..

I should have said yes in the last second, that would be somewhat heroic or thrilling, but --- who cares? I am not a hero..

3, 2, 1.

The old man's face appeared again. He asked us to fill our details on a form which would appear on our screens. 78% of the total people said yes. I filled the form and kicked start my journey to The Selection

Name: Arjuna Agarwal

Age: 17

Study completed: 12th

Residing Country : India

Hobbies: Reading comics, watching animes, playing badminton etc..

Why do you want to participate in The Selection?: To have fun.. And also, to stop the rotten from spreading and to purify the world.

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