Silence the Hunger

***

"Mother... I didn't mean to kill him." Alphonse stood rooted to the spot in a blank dark room. The abyss like walls loomed all around him, as if swallowing him whole. He clasped a knife within his hands, his knuckles turned white as he looked at the puddle of blood laying on the floor. The stench of a metallic rust stained the fine hairs within his nostrils. The smell continued until it festered within his mind.

Alphonse's pleading fell into deaf ears. No one was within the rooms. He stood alone in a puddle of someone's blood.

***

The sounds of sirens shocked Alphonse and the others awake. Alphonse’s heart was racing at the abruptness of the ear piercing sound. Soldiers slammed through the barracks doors as their screams filled the people with anxiousness and fear. These fucking memories. The thought tormented him as his fingernails dug into his scalp.

“Fucking get up, you sack of shit!” The soldiers all had the same badge as Lance Corporal Alex. The shouting woke Alphonse up from his stupor as he quickly hid his cold eyes.

Everyone scrambled up onto their feet, still disoriented from their sleep.

“Time to shower. Your stench is filling up this damned room!”

Alphonse and his group were the first to hurry into the showers. Ellena had no problem stripping all of her clothes off as she stood underneath the frigid cold shower.

Dillan’s eyes were threatening to leave his skull as he avoided Ellena's body.

“Got a problem, Dillan? Could it be… are you a virgin?” Ellena laughed. Her eyes jumped up as she looked at him.

“Of… of course I’m a virgin!” He peeled his eyes away and jumped under the shower, naked.

Alphonse shook his head as he took his clothes off and threw them onto the bench. He felt eyes digging into his back as he turned his head. Ellena, Dillan, Isobelle and Marcel were looking at him, their eyes resting on many scars that marred his body. They looked like whip marks and small round burns dotted around his body. Alphonse’s head turned, and they quickly averted their eyes.

“You all better hurry.” Alphonse motioned towards the soldiers and quickly started washing his body. He finished in record time. Mostly because of how damned cold the water was.

As Alphonse finished his shower, he noticed a lot of the girls were still struggling to take their clothes off and their limbs trembled as their eyes nervously looked around. Many were crying and trembling as they were being yelled at by the soldiers to hurry.

Isobelle built up the courage and stripped into her underwear. She ran under the shower. The cold made her jump in fright, goosebumps covering her body as she shivered uncontrollably.

Alphonse fought the urge to plug his eardrums from the screams of the soldiers as he shot off to the changing rooms and quickly got into the new uniform they were given. A plain green tee, cargo’s and black boots was the uniform for the new recruits.

There was no room to wait for anyone as they were quickly urged out of the barracks and into the canteen area for breakfast. Alphonse gobbled down three plates of food like a hungry ghost. He felt himself once again becoming slightly stronger as a screen popped up in his mind.

[ Goblin consumed | 0.1 Dexterity added. ]

[ Giant Badger consumed | 0.2 Constitution added. ]

His eyes twitched at the mention of the goblin. They had mixed the meat with other things. No one could tell what it was on the plate. His shoulders shrugged as he continued to eat. ‘It tastes good, at least.’ He wasn’t a picky eater, although he should probably refrain from letting the others know what they were eating.

By the time he was finished, the others had also finished their meals as they set off to class together.

Alphonse held out his device in front of him as the gps guided them to the hall where they had their first class.

“This must be it.” Marcel pointed towards a hall that had two large doors that were already open.

Alphonse walked in and the others followed. It was a large hall with a lot of stairs, gradually getting higher. On each step was a long table that spanned the width of the room, just like a normal conference room.

An elderly man stood up on a podium as he nodded towards them with a kind smile. “Please take a seat.”

“Let's sit at the front!” Isobelle took her seat right in the middle of the front row.

“Uhh, do you think she was a teacher's pet back on earth?” Ellena shook her head as everyone smiled, seeing Isobelle's excited expression.

The others joined her as they waited for the older man to talk. As the hall filled up with recruits, he finally cleared his throat and began talking.

“Welcome to your first day as the official soldiers of the Garden of Eden. My name is Alfred Parsons and I will be your professor for theory and everything involving the system you have been given.” Alfred smiled again. The wrinkles at the corner of his eyes revealed his age.

Isobelle's hand shot up as she asked a question. “Admiral Kaiser said that we have been brought here to protect various planets. Why?”

Alfred laughed and clapped his hands. “Well, I was just getting to that.” he placed his hand on his chin and continued. “Humanity is failing because of our own hand or demons that fill the Myriad Solar System. Because of that, we were given the opportunity to become strong and tasked with helping other planets with those very powers. We then perform missions for rewards for the galaxy. Although it’s brief and you still have questions, I'll ask you to refer to the history of the D.S.D in your own time.” Alfred took a sip of water as he smiled.

“After all, these classes are all about how to become stronger and prepare for your missions.” Alfred said. Alphonse noticed the stern look in his eyes and took his words to heart.

“People have been given different systems in order to become stronger. Some gather the energy from the universe to strengthen their body and meditate. In your case, it’s as a game system from your world. You become stronger by completing quests and missions, fighting monsters or finishing training tasks to strengthen yourself.”

Marcel raised his hand, his eyes trembled as he noticed everyone was looking at him.

“Yes?” Professor Alfred patiently asked.

“Why don’t we have levels, health or mana?” Marcel asked.

That makes sense. If it was a game system from our world, surely it would have these important stats. Alphonse thought.

“Yes, well, your system might have been moulded from a game, however, life is anything but. If you are beheaded, shot through the heart by an arrow or erased by a stray fireball. It makes little sense for it to be calculated as ‘Damage’. This is real life, after all.” Alfred continued. “And about levels, it just doesn’t work that way. The system rewards you for your hard work, from your own experiences. Not by gaining superficial 'levels'.” Alfred patiently answered the question. His kind nature meant that it was easy to talk to him about these things.

At the thought of becoming stronger, everyone's eyes lit up as they looked at each other. After all, it was something straight out of their fantasies. Who wouldn’t want to be strong, holding magical abilities? Under the table, Alphonse clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.

If I become strong enough, no one will tell me what to do. His eyes burned as he looked at his stats, threatening to pierce through the page.

Marcel noticed Alphonse’s reaction. He had never seen those kinds of eyes before. It sent a slight shiver down his spine.