The Kami Rising [Kami 1]

The hum of electrical charge, and the soft shifting of the facility structure were the only sounds to be heard. A room, dimly lit, and sparcly furnished sat deep within the bowels of the great mechanichal behemoth that was the arena. Five figures lay, held in a state of sleep.

The six beds lining the room were clean, spartan, and uniform. The people upon them were not. On one side, a boy in a striped hoodie, a girl with long black hair, and another girl with a blue flower, relieved of most of its stem, in her hair.

On the other side, a girl with a tatoo on her shoulder, and a boy with fire red hair. On the bed last in the row however, a figure did not lay, but instead sat, legs crossed, in the middle of the bed. His blue eyes reflected the light of the crimson orb before him, giving them a tinted purple hue in the half light. He chuckled softly. "Oh...I remember you..." He murmured. Then, he lay down casually, closing his eyes with a serene smile on his face. "Well, It's almost ime...to wake up."

Ten seconds later the orb whirred. The room brightened, and the orb spoke in a cool female voice. "Wake up Kami." It said shortly, and suddenly, each of the sleeping individuals found themselves jolted awake, as though shocked.

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Opus Balton sat up straight with a start, and felt his earings fall off, as though the sharp holders had been taken out of them. This was not going to be a good day. "What the F-" He noticed all his chains were gone too. "For the love of-" He noticed he was in a strange room in a strange bed with a bunch of people he didn't know. "Oh come on, Bloodly hell!"

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Ria Aramet sat up in her new bed shaking badly. The image of three bloody figures strewn across her living room floor as a dark shape advanced seemed to be burned into her mind. She looked around frantically for a few moments, before she realised with a sinking feeling that she knew absolutely no one in the room.

She looked around once more, eyes wide. She caught the eye of a boy with fiery red hair for a moment, before leting out a little noncommital sound of confusion and fear.

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Ferio velencia bolted upright. He seemed to remember it being rather uncomfortable, so he wore a rather pained expression, glancing about the room, his large blue eyes wide and confused looking. He silently surveyed the other occupants, his confused expression shifting to one of mild fear. After all...who wouldnt be afraid? After being snatched off the city streets... He had practiced the expression, though he wasn't sure it suited him.

"GAH!" Maurice sat up so fast and with so much force that he lifted himself about half of a foot off of the bed. A dull, throbbing ache was spreading through his head. He pinched the bridge of his nose and scrunched up his face. That had to have been a pretty wicked party; he didn't even remember passing out or getting that drunk. The last thing he remembered was the DJ looking horrified. Probably just bad E, he guessed.

It took him a moment to realize that he was not on his friend's couch and was, in fact, surrounded by complete strangers in a room with a glowing orb floating in the middle of it. He slowly lowered his hand from his nose, eyes darting from person to person and lingering on a boy with the reddest hair he'd ever seen. Then he froze.

"Oh my god. Oh my FUCKING god. Where the fuck is my belt?!"

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Alice's eyes flew open and she jumped a little. She sat up slowly and scanned the room around her. Clean. Pure. Blood red floating ball thingy in the middle of the room. She smiled faintly. To her it was an artfully decorated room. She didn't recognize anyone in it, however, and that took away from it's beauty a little. She stretched and lazily sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed.

"Morning, guys."

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What an odd sensation. Elizabeth lay there, eyes wide open, listening. Sounds of confusion and fear; quite comforting, really. It was a shame, though, that she had not gotten to finish her project. What had she been doing? Ah, yes. Rigging the gas tank in her older brother's car to explode upon braking. He would have been so surprised, too.

Elizabeth's hand fluttered to the flower in her hair. She straightened it out as she sat up and looked around the room, sizing up her competition. Which is what this was to be, she assumed. A competition.

Opus blinked a few times. Now that he had had a few moments, he was beggining to wonder what the hell was going on. He straightened his eyepatch, cleared his throat, and... "What the FUCK is going on here?!" He yelled.

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It was at this moment that the orb whirred once again. "Good job." It said. " you have all accomplished your first objective. Now that you are awake, remain seated and quiet untill the introduction is completed."

There was a slight pause.

"Welcome to the arena, you are no longer normal humans, but augmented humans created through interaction with a dimentional "Medium Layer" You are designated as "Kami". You are the second group of this designation."

The orb seemed to pause again, and a laser grid suddenly swept the room. The orb whirred again.

"It has been determined that this group contains several fangerous types. You will be monitered. We look foreward to your participation in the arena."

The orb whirred a third time.

"A selection of your clothes and personal effects have been transported in order to provide you with a constructive environment. You will be fed periodically throughout the day. You will be allowed to practice your abilaties in the periodic training blocks. You will be allowed to exercise and communicate, under supervision, in the free blocks. These times will be announced as they occur and are subject to unnanounced change. Please stand by."

The orb pulsed red.

"Questions are now open."

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Opus blinked. "Like I said What the FUCK?!"

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Ria Looked thuroghly panicked now, but raised a shaky hand. "Uh...Why are we here? Where are we? And, I would Like to go home now."

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Ferio sat silently untill the former two had finished. A slight smile crossed his face before it was replaced with a look of mild concern. He decided that his "question could wait untill the rest had asked their share.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MY BELT?! And for that matter, my earrings? Or my nose ring? How about my tongue ring? and my CHAINS! AND WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU FUCKERS DO WITH MY FUCKING SAFETY PINS AND BUTTONS?! And my shades?! Where are those? WHERE IS ALL OF MY SHIT?!"

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Alice stared wide-eyed at the orb. Then she stared wide-eyed at the boy with the red hair. Then she stared wide-eyed at the shouty scene kid. Her eyes were starting to water from all of this wide-eyed staring. She opened her mouth to speak, but then thought better of it. Her questions could wait.

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Elizabeth's eyes flashed as the orb spoke and then flicked quickly over each and every person in the room. Dangerous types? Augmented humans? A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. This was promising.

The orb whirred. "Question one. Narrow your question perameters. Explicatives are not questions. Questions Two through Four; You are here to participate in the arena program. You are in your sleeping quarters. That is not a question." There was a slight pause. "Questions five through Ten. These items were deemed unsafe and confiscated. Now if all-"

"Remember the first, beyond the veil." Ferio said softly. Suddenly, the orb stopped talking, and the cool female voice was replaced by a more mechanichal male one.

"Records on G Tier and Quest Provension protocall acessed, shortcut recognised. Known locations of the slabs, and currently active Tier 2's include-" Suddenly, an alarm began to go off and for a moment the room was plunged into darkness. After about five seconds, the orb's glow returned along with the brighter lights.

The female voice had returned. "Resume questions. Higher access funtion, removed."

Ferio Looked innocently at the orb. "I guess it doesn't like lovecraft." He murmured amusedly.

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Opus was about to ask some more pertinant questions before the room suddenly went dark. He blinked a few times, then winced as the light came back on full force. "Uh...What are you on about with this Kami stuff?" He asked, sheilding his eyes.

"You're unsafe." Maurice muttered, crossing his arms and pouting slightly. He felt naked without his extras. For Christ's sake he didn't even jingle when he moved. As the orb began spinning off various technical-sounding words that meant absolutely nothing to him however, he forgot about that for a moment. He cast a sideways glance over at the kid who seemed to have prompted it with that weird quote.

What's his deal? What's their deal? What's anyone's deal?

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Alice titled her head, her bangs falling into her eyes. Her hat was gone, which didn't upset her nearly as much as it seemed to upset the colorful boy one bed over.

"Hey kid, what did you just do? It's like you've got some secret code book in your head, man."

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Elizabeth stared at the boy. Lovecraft. I like him already. He had power, she could feel it. Untapped, for the most part, but he knew it was there. He had the posture, the grin, the eyes of a man who knew too much. In that moment she decided they would be friends. Well, assuming he was as interested in causing agony as she was.

"Yes, what are you going on about?" Her voice was deceptively small and soft. "You say we've been modified in some way, and that you look forward to our participation in the 'arena'. We're here to fight then?"

She wanted to ask why they were here to fight, but it really didn't matter to her in the end.