Yo, wassup Infinity. Welp, this is a prequel for my bro Dawningfang's fanfic The New World, make sure you check it out. This won't be the first fanfic I upload having to do with it actually, but this is the first one I'm uploading. Anyway, welcome to Breaking Ties guys, enjoy.

Chapter 1: There's a New Land

The screaming was the first thing he noticed after the attack. Evidence that what had happened to him wasn't isolated. Solomon ran out of the class, and scaled the first flight of stairs in a few seconds. He checcks each floor before moving on to the next. He had to search through mobs of students, rushing to get outside, which was the better idea then the one he has-there were too many to fight all here and now and too many new Players this year for someone not to get hurt-but he couldn't leave yet.

No one was ready when they attacked the first time. The ones that could fight back when the Viruses came to earth were gathered to be trained at the Academy to fight against them, became Players. It's been a while, and it seems like what had hapened to him was a repeat of that day, but this time they weren't defensless.

When he reached the fourth floor, he heard another explosion, which made him run faster, looking faster, checking each room faster, but as thorough as possible without getting run over.

"Jess!" He calls out over the panic of the fresh Players. "Jess, are you?!"

He stops to cach his breath against a wall, looking at the ground, but still watching to see if Jess ran by every once in a while. What is going on?

Wouldn't you like to know. An almost toneless voice speaks in his thoughts.

"What the fuck?" He asks, looking to see if someone had just said something, but seeing no one stopped. How was he hearing this voice? Who was it?

There is no poing in trying. No amount of practice will make you ready. You won't succeed. The voice was definitely female, he noticed, even though it was unfamiliar. However... you're stronger than the others. But not involnerable... could be useful.

"Solo!" A light voice calls out followed by footsteps running towards him. He picks his head up, forgetting about the weird voice in his head, and looks at the girl he had been searching for-who had called him. He takes a deep breath. Finally.

"Jess." He greets, smiling at her.

"Yo, are you ok?" she asks, hugging him after finally reaching him. He closes his eyes and nods as she hugs him tightly. "Listen, I think everything that's happening right now is a Sim," she whispers.

"What?" he ask, not attempting to separate from the hug, but glances around at everything around them. He frowns.

"Look closely at everyone. Their movements are too calculated, like they're following comands," she tells him. She gives him a few seconds to look. He notices what she's saying immediately. It was similar to his own illusions. But why? Did that mean the voice was a sim too? "I think this might be a drill, but why, I don't know."

"So what do we do?"

"We play along," she answers, a smile in her voice. "But what's the point without the playing part?"

His face lights up with a smile, and he almost laughs. "Window?"

"Hell yea," she answers and let's him go. Without another word, they both take off back down the way Jess came from, Solomon slightly faster than her, and they both jump out of one of the open windows at the end of the cooridor.

They both land on their feet, lightening the fall with giant bushes that they knew were outside that window at ground level. They continue to the front of the building where-as expected-a group of teachers, along with members of their class, and the Headmaster, were waiting. She was right, it was a drill. The drills were different everytime they happened, and this was no exception. The other classes should still be sleeping, unaffected by the magic that created the Sim.

The duo look at eachother, smiling, then Jess puts her hands behind her head, smiling more. They turn from eachother and continue towards them.

"Yo!" Solo greets the group, and one of the teachers clicks what looks like a stopwatch. "What's happening?"

He knew that the teachers would have taken into account that they both would have recognised the Sim, so he figured that it would be no shock that the two of them were smiling when they arrived.

"Another drill. It will be one of the last ones before your class go on their final missions in a year," the Headmaster explains. "Congradulations on your final year here."

welp, before you say anything, there's a reason why in this chapter it was only in the point of view of two people. Not all chapters will be like this, so just keep that in mind.

Well, until next time, Ciao.