Sebastian Doukas

  Without any warning, our feet is lifted off the ground, my clothing slowly floated as a light overtook us all. Carrying us high in the air as the sounds of panic and chaos echo throughout the courtyard. Most of the seniors were here, slowly levitating upwards as teachers and the younger kids watched on in horror.

  My body keeps on tumbling forward, unable to control myself as I hear a voice calling out to someone, within the screams and chaos of the seniors, “Sigurd!” His familiar voice echoed.

  I spot Einar trying to reach toward a blonde and skinny boy whom he had just shattered internally.

  Before anyone can say anything else, our bodies stops rising into the air, it kept us in our place for just a mere second, letting us realize what was to come. Before a powerful force pulled us deeper into the light, yanking us from where we floated and rapidly accelerating our bodies.

  The sounds of fear and panic filled my ears as I joined them. Unable to hold myself as I screamed at the top of my lungs, the sky around us rapidly left our sight as if we were pulled deeper into the unknown. Before any of us knew it, the familiar blue sky of our home planet had disappeared into the abyss. Drowning us in a deep shade of blue as we continued to fly.

  From the chaos and confusion, I spot dozens more groups of people joining the single stream that we inhabited. Sharing the same expression as everyone else, and amplifying the screams tenfold. There were middle-aged adults with us, elders who are suffering the most, and even unfortunate little kids.

  But to my horror, it just keeps getting worse. I watch as a man tries to maneuver himself around toward his wife and kids before a powerful pull yanks him away from his family. They watched on in terror and despair as their breadwinner disappeared into another stream, his body turning into a black dot the further away he went from us. The worst thing was that it was happening all around us.

  Different people were sucked away into separate streams at different speeds, some were slowly dragged away before being yanked into another stream, some fell into another, and others unexpectedly disappeared from our sight as they entered a new one.

  I enter some sort of equilibrium in the center of the stream, where I spot all of the other seniors trying to latch onto others in a panic. Only to find out neither of them was being dragged away. Albrecht and Einar appear next to me. Their faces were a mixture of panic and confusion as their eyes met mine, “Sebastian-! What is happening-?!” Einar cried out, “Where’s Sigurd-?!”

  “I don’t know! ” My eyes rapidly scanned the stream pulling us through space, finding a familiar face in the crowd, slowly drifting away from the mainstream, “There! I see him!”

  Without hesitation, Einar grabs onto Albrecht and me, and uses us as a sort of slingshot to fly towards his brother, “Sigurd!”

  “Wait! That’s dangerous! Bah fuck it-!” I try to mimic swimming motions—treating this sort of environment like I was submerged underwater—and it works!

  Enar manages to grab onto Sigurd’s leg as he tries to pull him back toward the center of the stream. But he was a bit too far from the center and is actively being pulled away from the center, “Agh-! Piece of shit-!” He cursed.

  Taking a dangerous gamble, I reach out for Einar’s leg in time, my hands finding his ankle as I tighten my hand into an iron grip, “Gotcha-!” Behind me, I can feel Albrecht grab onto my leg, forming a human chain that was long enough for Albrecht to remain near the center, “Pull damn it!”

  He yanks me by the leg with all the force he could muster, pulling us back into the center as I perform the same action with Einar.

  I can feel the tug weakening as we approach the center, allowing me to pull Sigurd closer to me. In the end, we managed to stabilize him in the center with us, "Einar! You’re okay!” A girl’s voice spoke from behind.

  Recognizing who it was, I turn to find Helena Brown, barely managing to keep herself steady as she remained in the center. Seeing her face causes the recent events to flash in my mind. But I had to suppress the instinct to just go off on her right there and then.

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  “Damn it… what the hell is happening-?!” My eyes scan through the whole area. There was probbaly around sixty people here. All of the seniors of Oak summet high are present with other random people with us as well. None of our teachers for some random reason.

  After double-checking the numbers, I spot Sigurd looking down, his dirty blonde hair covering his face as I feel something brewing inside him. I remember what had happened earlier and immediately know what he was feeling. He lashes out, grabbing Einar by the collar, “Agh-! Sigurd-”

  “YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE EINAR! HOW DARE YOU!” He spits in his face.

  Einar’s bewildered expression focused on him, “I didn’t initiate it, Sigurd-”

  “BUT YOU STILL DID IT! YOU BLOODY WANKER!” He’s unable to hold himself back, Albrecht and I try to reahc out to him, trying to break the two of them off. While Helena stood there, watching in shock from the sight.

  “Sigurd! Now’s not the time-” I try to restrain him, I’m definitely able to do so since he’s a twig compared to Einar.

  “YOU DON’T GET IT! NONE OF YOU DO! GET OFF OF ME-”

  His grip on Einar is surprisingly strong, “Damn it, Sigurd! Control yourself!”

  “OF COURSE YOU’RE TAKING HIS SIDE-! His words are messy as ugly tears flow down his face, and he yanks his hands out of our grip, “WHY HIM?! WHY-”

  Before I can finish my sentence, I realize that they had drifted a bit too far from the center. I watch as an invisible and insidious force latches onto Einar and Sigurd, slowly pulling them away from the center as everyone watches in horror. “AK-! GAAAH-!”

  “Not again-!” I dash towards Einar, since he was the farthest away from us. My hands latch onto his massive arms, as I feel another set of hands grab onto him and me.

  This time around, we aren't too far from the center, so I manage to pull Einar back with the help of everyone else supporting me. We take a strained breath of relief as I turn to the side, just to meet a familiar pair of green eyes.

  “Gotcha!” Albrecht breathed a sigh of relief, “Wait…you held onto Einar-?”

  My face dropped in an instant, “I thought you were going for…”

  We had forgotten about one person. And the three of us realized just too late, Einar’s face crumbles into one of pure horror as he spins his head around, “Wait-! SIGURD!”

  I watch as Einar dashes in again for the second time, risking his life for a third. I grab onto his arm and do my best to extend the human chain as Albrecht grabs my arm and links his other with another adult.

  But it was too late.

  Sigurd was far too gone for any of us to save him.

  “Gamó…” My hand shakes with the realization.

  Albrecht seems to share the same despair, “Schei?e…”

  “NOOOOO!” Einar tries to reach out to him, hoping for the miracle that he can extend his hand just long enough to save him. Though… all we can see is Sigurd’s body slowly sinking deeper into the void. His body devolves into a small black dot that soon disappears from our sight.

  “SIGURD!!!”

  ***

  The panels on the rifts that has kidnapped over five-hundred thousand humans begin to write out a whole introductory paragraph:

  [Ladies and gentlemen of this wonderful world. Bonjour. Gutentag. Whatever language you speak, this broadcast should be translated for you.

  You may be asking what is happening. But do not fret, all of your questions will soon be answered in due time. However, there is one thing that must be explained to you today. During this momentous occasion.

  There had been a randomly selected group of Five-hundred thousand humans from all over the world to be volunteers. Age, gender, it does not matter. Was your son, daughter, sibling, mother, or father lucky enough to be one of the volunteers chosen by the streams of fate? Well, you’re in luck.

  You can go on Utube, Tweet, Delayedgram, Bluedit, and even THE hub. You will find the most prominent livestreams of those you, yes, YOU, the audience, find interesting. And if you’re looking for someone in particular, you will be able to find a unique livestream about them.

  All you will need to do would be to type in their full names in any website, and follow it up with ‘The livestream’. And you will find them. However, There are two things that need to be known.

  Yes. Wilhelm Weaver, the protagonist, exists. Somewhere. And second, the most important thing to note, if ANY of them die in their new transmigrated world:

  THEY WILL DIE.

  No resurrection, no transporting back here. No. Death is permanent with no second chances. So have fun. They only live once, and let’s watch what they would do.

  Enjoy the show.]