One of my main goals is to give a first person view on what someone would imagine being thrown into Psyren is actually like, but this is my first time writing something more heavy, so I hope you guys can bear with me. This story will not include most of the main characters, and will follow the general plot of the manga. Don't worry, the same exact events won't happen with just different characters. This story will also not end up being your generic "Some random teenager now has amazing superpowers because they're actually a genius and can fight and win against any enemy" kinda thing. It's been a while since I've written a story, but I hope you guys can enjoy.
Strong language.
A barren, desert landscape had appeared right before my eyes. Clouds of dust rose up every time the wind blew, and decrepit buildings were scattered along various sand dunes. My brain had only just started to comprehend what was happening due to the instantaneous shift in scenery. I started breathing heavily, panic slowly creeping up my body and causing my muscles to seize.
"Oh god… what the fuck is happening?" I muttered. There was no way that I had been drugged or knocked out, because I was standing in the exact same position I was in before being transported to this place. I scratched my neck nervously, trying my hardest to come up with any reason as to how this happened. I only wanted the money, not a certain death in some place that was definitely nowhere near where I lived. I could feel my anxiety rising, making my hands shake and causing me to hug myself to stop trembling. Stumbling down onto the ground, I gazed at the landscape once more to make sure that this was completely real. That I was alone in a foreign place with nothing but my clothes and a useless cellphone.
I was currently located in a crumbling building with nothing but some tables and an old payphone sitting on top of one of them. Afraid to leave the safety of the walls, I combed over every inch of the place in hopes of finding any water or food, but I was unsurprisingly disappointed. My hands were still shaking, and adrenaline continued to keep my senses on high alert. Yelling brought my attention back to the outside, where I could see eight people making their way across the sand to the building. There were others! Breathing a sigh of relief, I leaned over the ledge and waved at them, shouting, "Over here!" The group looked up, noticing my shouts. They nodded briefly at me and started to quickly make their way into the building. Soon enough, the door opened, presenting me with a strange mixture of men and women, ranging from teenagers to full-grown adults.
"You just get here?" One of the adults asked. "We gathered everyone we could find before coming here, it looked like it was the safest place to enter." I nodded, examining each person that walked into the room. Most of them had a grim and determined expression on their face, meaning that they were most likely doing this for the prize money. One kid, I realized, went to my school. Was it… Mark? Matt? I was pulled out of my thoughts by a guy whose ears were covered in piercings and had an eternally pissed off look on his face.
"I think we can skip the fucking names and introductions, right? I'll say it loud and clear: I want the five-hundred million. Y'all can do whatever the hell you want but if you try to take this shit from me I'll fucking kill you." The group fell silent as they heard his threat, either looking annoyed or fearful. I immediately started to regret meeting up with this group. I should have known that there would be crazies, especially when it came to Psyren and the money prize. The man who threatened us casually walked over to one of the open chairs and sat down, crossing his arms with a confident smirk on his face. My hands started shaking again, going unnoticed by the schoolmate I recognized earlier as we made eye contact. He began to make his way over to me, but was stopped by the sound of payphone ringing.
No one dared to pick up until Gangster Guy strolled over to the payphone, muttering, "Pussies," along the way. The moment he picked up the phone, vibrant colors filled my vision, leaving me vaguely wondering if this was how tripping on acid felt.
THOSE SEEKING PSYREN SHALL TASTE POWER AND DESPAIR!
THOSE WHO REACH PSYREN SHALL BE GRANTED THE WORLD!
THOSE SEEKING THE EXIT FROM THIS WORLD… FIND THE GATE!
The robotic voice faded away, leaving behind an image of a lone payphone resting on the top of a sand dune.
"What the fuck!" I gasped, staggering slightly. I glanced around the room and saw that no one else was looking much better when the colors faded away. "It's easy," Gangster Guy sneered. "I just have to find that phone and win the game!" Everyone looked nervously around the room, and we could all feel the growing sense of urgency and competition that caused the tension in the room to skyrocket. "I-I'll leave first then!" stuttered a man with glasses. Others followed suit, shoving and pushing each other out of the way so that they would be able to find the gate first. Selfish assholes. After all the commotion died down, the only people left in the building were me and the guy I knew from school.
He scratched his head and with an embarrassed smile, said, "Hey, I know you're from my school, so I thought we could just help each other out? I'm not really in it for the money, I'm just focused on getting my ass out of here alive." Agreeing with him, I snorted, "Yeah, I'm pretty much in the same boat. I'm Keon." Mystery student's name ended up being Matt. Go me. I went back to the payphone, praying that it would either work or provide some kind of help. Of course, the stupid phone didn't work, but pressing the memo button made something pop up the cracked screen of the payphone: It was a map. I thanked the lord and all that was holy before studying it.
"There's an S symbol, which I'm guessing is us, and a weird door symbol, which is most likely the gate." Matt peered over my shoulder, pointing out, "What's with the tower and the red circle though?" I shrugged, "Red is almost never a good thing, so chances are, we need to avoid it." The tower intrigued me though, because that could mean that there are other people here… But our safety was our first priority. We stood up, brushing the dust off our shorts and set off with at least some feeling of hope. Silence was the norm for us, mainly because we both didn't have much to say. But the muggy weather and constantly blowing sand was starting to take a toll on us. We ate sand whenever we opened our mouths, and the humidity was making us sweat like crazy, and we both knew that water or food was not an available option.
"Fuck," Matt groaned, "I'm probably going to collapse from dehydration soon." I wordlessly nodded as we continued to trudge over the sand. We didn't expect the distance to be so large, but it was draining my energy pretty quickly. Stopping for a break, we plopped down onto the sand and sat there, gazing at our surroundings. "Any idea of where this is?" I asked. Matt shrugged, because our guesses would probably be useless. We could be in Saudi Arabia, or some desert in Africa for all we know. Reluctantly, we set off again despite our fatigue. Turns out, Matt and I are pretty similar in the way that we like complaining. The weather was unbearable, the sand was hard to walk on, we had already walked so much, and we were both at our limits. Man, the idea of five-hundred million dollars did seem attractive though. Until Gangster Guy popped into my head, and I threw that notion aside.
More and more problems started to present themselves to me as we walked on. We were literally surrounded by sand dunes, so would we even be able to find the gate before we lose our energy? Should we even bother helping those guys out? The thoughts just kept whirling around in my mind, causing my hand to instinctively scratch at the scars on my left arm. "Keon?" Matt tentatively asked. I was jolted out of my thoughts, and the black pit that was threatening to pull me in. "Sorry," I said with an air of faked normalcy. "Just slowing down 'cause of the heat." Matt glanced at me again but said nothing. A scream rang out, along with sounds of people yelling that we could barely make out. We looked at each other, and Matt had to ask me, "Should we help them out?"
Fuck.
Hope you guys enjoyed it despite the rushed-ness of it. Make sure to review and leave any criticism, suggestions, or compliments!