Renascence

Chapter 1: Free?

I woke up earlier in an unfamiliar room after being unconscious for I don’t know how many hours or days. The last thing I only remember was I’m in the middle of nowhere while running away from those people who want to catch me, under the heavy rain. And now, I am currently walking in the long hallway of the university with an unknown guy while surrounded by the astonished stare of the students that are making me feel so uncomfortable, but I remained calm to prevent a mess even though I wanted to pull out their eyeballs so they couldn’t stare at me anymore.

I don’t know how I got here. When I wake up from an unfamiliar place that is almost all white, I have bandages almost all over my body, and I know I got it from escaping that place and that’s all that I know. I don’t know how they found me or how I got to this place. I guess I’m still lucky that I’m still alive after all those shits happen to me.

After a long walk, we finally stopped in front of a big door. We just stood in front of it until it automatically opened after the security system scanned us. That’s no longer surprising to me because I lived in a house that wasn’t normal. My mom is an inventor of advanced technologies that's why it's not new to me anymore.

My male companion entered the room first when the door opened. He quietly bowed to the old man when he suddenly faced us. The old man just gave him a genuine smile before he sat down on the chair in front of the old man's table. I also just gave the old man a small nod before sitting down next to the guy I was with earlier.

The old guy I was referring to doesn't look really old, I suppose he’s in his thirties? He also looks friendly and approachable than this guy who’s next to me with a seemingly dark aura enveloping him but that didn’t bother me at all. His gaze immediately went to me before giving me a sweet smile.

He turned to the guy next to me. “Is she the one you recruit, Tycho?” he asked. The guy named Tycho just nodded in response.

My forehead creased. Recruit?

“If I’m not mistaken, you’re Aristotle, aren’t you? The one that our system can't detect is its personal information and where you came from,” he bluntly uttered with no hesitation.

I facepalmed because of his sarcasm. Is he trying to insult me or something like that? It is not my fault why their system can’t detect who I am and am I not the one who got me here so what is he trying to say here, huh?

“Kidding aside. Anyway, he is Tycho Erns Sagan, and he will be the one who’ll answer all your questions in your mind while you’re heading to the interrogation room for your test to become an official peculiar student here at the Peculiar University,” he said while smiling. Student? I don’t remember enrolling in a university.

“Wait a minute. What are you saying? I’m not going to be a student here. And I don’t remember enrolling here, so, how come I’m going to be a student here?” I query.

His expression changed. From being jolly to serious. “It is still your choice if you want to stay here for a while and be a student. But I suggest you to stay here because as we can see, they are after you too. Here is the safest place for all of you, peculiars. If you are just scattered in the city, there is a large chance that the government will find out that you are peculiar and they can catch you in no time. If that happens, we can’t help you.”

I became silent and fell into deep thought. If that happens, there is really a large chance that they’ll catch me and return to that place that I’ve been running for, and I don’t want that to happen. That thought scared me. I don’t want to go back to that place ever again. I am willing to do everything so as not to just go back there ever again. The people there are even worse than a demon. That place is like hell, even worse than hell.

“Makes you think, huh?” he spoke, obviously teasing me.

I glared at him. “But you still don’t have the right to enroll me in this university without my permission.”

He chuckled and shrugged. “Well, I know you’ll just end up being here anyway, so I just enrolled you since you’ve been unconscious for a week.”

“A week?!”

“Yes, one week, your body was so weak when Tycho's team found you on the road, I even thought that you’ll never wake up again because of the damage you incurred.”

A week? How is that possible? I remember, I tried to escape a few times there and ran away from that hell, but they always caught me. They didn't also give us a proper meal. We just only eat a little and sometimes we don’t eat anymore. Maybe that’s the reason why my body is so weak at that time.

“I still have a lot of things to do, if you have a further question, just ask Tycho. I'll be ahead of you. Good luck with your test.” He turned around to Tycho. “I believe you already know what to do, right?”

Tycho just nodded again in response. Doesn't he have a mouth? Or he can’t really speak? Never mind. I don’t care anyway. Tycho got up and left the room, so I quietly followed him.

While walking down the hallway towards the interrogation room there were eyes around again, looking at me like they’re examining my whole existence which annoyed me. What is their problem and why are they kept looking at me?

“When you are already an official student here at a peculiar university, your vision will be automatically unlocked. Only those people who have an ability can see this university and only official students see things you can’t see right now,” Sagan suddenly said, making me look at him before nodding.

That explains why the surrounding is too simple. It's a bit tricky. Maybe this university is really made for peculiars like me. They can’t find us here since this university isn’t visible to the human eye. But what if there's a technology that can see this university? Dodger people are good. I’m pretty sure they will find a way just to get what they want so I won't be surprised if one day they will find this place.

“What should I call you?” he asked.

My eyebrow rose. “Just call me Clare or Aris. Anything will do, just don’t call me Clarence.”

“Well, Clare. Welcome to Peculiar University where everyone is free.”