His eyes slowly opened, adjusting to his new surroundings. He was slouched over on a plastic chair. The crimson wallpaper and beautiful decorations are what drew his eyes immediately — a moody amber light illuminated the room. Art, decorum, and a sense of dread filled the space.
It was quiet. The thing he feared the most.
He held his breath for a moment, leaning back on the chair.
"My mouth's dry as rocks… Must be from all that shouting, ahh…" He exhaled, slouching forwards, his arms felt heavy and drooped on his knees.
There was a clock on the wall that seemed to be ticking in reverse.
The hell is that? Must be broken…
In the center of the room there was a receptionist's desk, although the room was very small, no more than 8 m². For some reason there was one here. He glanced to his left and right — many similar plastic chairs were lined up, two doors on opposite sides of the room, one on the left and one on the right. Despite the lack of an entrance or any sort of notable natural features, this was a waiting room.
"Ack—" His right hand flew up to cover his heart. His body felt weak, as if a tremor had hit him. The weight of all that happened yesterday and today hit him like a ton of bricks.
"C-crap… I can't move my legs…" His head shifted from shoulder to shoulder, his eyes kept fluttering.
Suddenly, the door to the right swung open and Obadiah Ariston stepped through.
"Good day. I hope you haven't been waiting long..." The chubby man, dressed in a sleek black suit, took off his fedora, setting it on the front desk.
"Hey? Hey! Are you alright?!" Obadiah stepped closer, grabbing his shoulders and gently shaking him.
Is this it? I only lasted a few hours without you, sis… How pathetic, Jack thought to himself as he started losing consciousness, his eyes fluttered shut.
"Oi! Damn it… Hold on." Obadiah stepped back, rubbing his chin in frustration and looking around the room impatiently. "What do I… Aha! Don't fall asleep just yet, kid. I've got something for you."
He walked over to the front desk, snapping his fingers. A pristine mahogany door — matching the look of the ones on either side of the room — materialized flat on the floor.
"We've been meaning to get one of these here anyway. Someone must've gotten lazy…" He knelt down, opening the door and reaching inside with both hands. He struggled, and after a while, pulled out a vending machine, setting it next to the door.
"Ah, crap. The Boss was right, I should work out more…" He reached into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief and using it to wipe his forehead —
"Wait, what am I doing?!" Realizing Jack was losing consciousness, he threw the handkerchief onto the floor, standing up and reaching into his pocket. He grabbed the vending machine once again with both hands, moving it to the right side of the receptionist desk, right next to a large potted plant. The moment he set it down on the floor, the door on the floor disappeared.
"Phew… Alright, let's see here…" He pulled out a small quarter, although it looked different from any currency Jack was familiar with. He slid it into the vending machine and hit a button. After a few seconds, a small bottle was dispensed from its slot.
"Hey, if you're not dead yet, kid, let me tell you something…" He grabbed the drink, chuckling as he walked over to Jack. "This was the result of our lead scientist's first task that The Boss gave him when he first joined."
He cracked the bottle open, grabbing Jack's chin and forcing his mouth open.
"You won't spit this in my face and try to run, will you…?"
Jack's eyes fluttered open the moment the liquid hit his tongue, a glowing white aura flared up around him. Ruach had been activated, healing him of his injuries.
"What the hell?!" Jack yelled, jumping from the chair, knocking the drink out of Obadiah's hand and pushing him backwards onto the floor.
"This is…"
"That's liquid Flow! Haha, it's always nice to see a first reaction… It took him over a month to make the first batch, then we began manufacturing them. We've gone public, of course, but with incredibly small doses. Not enough to awaken anyone… You should recognize it."
Jack's gaze dropped to the bottle of whiskey on the floor.
Erika Daniels.
The drink that their parents created because they loved their daughter. The drink to celebrate their ten-year anniversary.
"You're kidding me… This must be a joke!" He felt a droplet of anger within the ever-growing abyss inside of him at the revelation.
"It's not how I would've told you, but it was necessary. The Syndicate owns Daniels-Richardson Co."
Jack's eyes widened even further. His hand shot up to cover his mouth, he snarled into it.
This is one messed-up fever dream… I've gotta wake up.
Jack didn't hesitate. He turned to his left, spotting a window by a potted fern in the corner. He ran to it, hoping to jump out.
"No.... What is this?!" He slammed the glass weakly as he looked outwards.
There was no outside. It was a pitch-black void. The only things within it seemed to be small rocks and pebbles floating about. This didn't feel like space, even — there were no stars, no visible light. Utter isolation.
No wonder the room feels so oppressive, there's literally nowhere to go…
"Calm down, kid, nobody's here to hurt you." Obadiah said as he got up off the floor. He looked down at his suit, noting the splashes of alcohol. "Now I've got to give it to you, you're really tough. Dealing with a dead family member isn't easy, trust me."
He locked eyes with Jack, waving a hand over his suit as a bunch of tiny doors appeared over the blazer, sucking in the patches of liquid into them and then disappearing.
The aura around Jack's body seemed to fizzle out, sputtering and turning off.
"It turned off… That can't happen, I have Flow — had it activated, this isn't how it works…"
Obadiah laughed, putting his hands in his pockets and stepping closer.
"That's because Erika Daniels only gives you a tiny amount of Flow but sends it directly to your spiritual core, causing a burst of what we call Overflow within the body, enough to instinctively activate Ruach and cause the body to heal. This only happens to people who have already had their Flow awakened and can use it freely. See? It's incredibly engineered! A normal person will feel this just like a cup of coffee, but an Ultra-Human? That's the equivalent of 20,000 volts of electricity. Your cells would be in… hyper-overtime. Which is how you can instantly heal! Of course, it isn't without side-effects—"
"Cut the crap." Jack pushed him backwards. He didn't budge.
"Why am I here, fatso?"
"You chose to be here. You accepted his offer, didn't you?"
Jack felt speechless. He chose to be here, abandoning his friends, his home, his life.
All of that, for nothing? All those years — what am I doing here…?
He burst out laughing, feeling goosebumps all over his skin.
"Man, that's seriously terrifying when you put it like that…"
"Oh, so you're scared of responsibility? Maybe you're not cut out for this job." Obadiah turned, walking back towards the right-side door.
Jack felt a surge of panic and reached out, grabbing his right arm.
"Don't…" he muttered, his voice very quiet.
"Don't what?"
"Don't go… I… I need this."
His tongue felt bitter as the words tumbled out, tears pricked at the corners of his eyes.
Geez, this kid's got issues, and now what, I'm supposed to babysit him? Hah… Obadiah couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
"Alright, fine, I get it. You're not getting fired… Just don't cry. We don't have tissues here."
Jack wiped away his tears quickly, matching Obadiah's posture and putting his hands in his jacket's pockets.
"So… what now?"
"Obie, Obie… Come in." A familiar voice echoed through Obadiah's mind. It was The Boss.
"Hold that thought, kid!" He reached up, putting his right hand on the center of his stomach. "Yes?"
"Jack Daniels is in the waiting room, correct?"
"Yes, sir. I gave him an Erika Daniels. He almost passed out."
"Did not! Hey, who are you talking to?" Jack said as he looked intensely into the potted plant on the receptionist's desk.
"I see… That's fine, he would've found out sooner or later. Bring him into the council room, everyone is here. He'll join us for our first meeting as an official member."
Obadiah looked at Jack as he began pacing around the room, admiring the strange beauty of it.
"You know… He reminds me of Normand," Obadiah answered back in his mind.
The Boss sighed, sounding exasperated on the other end. "Yes, Obie, I know. Now come on, we don't have time to waste. I have news about Iris."
"Right, we'll be right over, sir. Over." He put his hand down, ending the communication.
"Alright kid, this doesn't usually happen on the first day — let alone the first week — you're going to join us for a meeting. It's your lucky day!"
Jack stopped pacing, skidding his foot on the carpet before snorting.
"Luck's for losers… My sister taught me to work hard, wouldn't trade sweat for livin' easy any day."
Obadiah narrowed his eyes, feeling a smirk creep up on his face.
"That mindset doesn't last long here, kid… But I admire it. Though I wouldn't have expected it from someone as spoiled as you."
"You're judgemental, I don't really like you."
"And you're honest, that's admirable… Huh, alright, let's go." Obadiah turned, motioning for Jack to follow.
They went out of the right-side door of the room. It opened up to reveal a large stone hallway. It was so different from the previous room it felt jarring. The stone was sleek and cold, no traces of dust or anything, all except for a few cracks here and there that seemed to peek out directly into the outer void beyond the walls. Jack felt a nervous sweat covering his forehead. Every step felt wrong, but he couldn't turn back.
"M'hey, gramps?"
Obadiah glanced over his shoulder at him.
"I'm only thirty-five! Wow, you're rude."
"Gramps… Hey?"
"What?"
"Why's this place so messed up? Why is it… weird?"
"I'm not sure I'm the right person you should ask."
"What…? Isn't that kind of backwards?"
"Well, then you get it! That's the whole shebang!" He chuckled.
They reached the end of the hallway, coming up to a grandiose set of wooden doors with golden markings and stained glass on the edges connecting them to the hallway.
"Here we are!"
Jack felt the feeling of dread increase alongside a rise of awe as they stepped into the chamber. It was a large room. The floor seemed to be made out of dark wood, the walls out of marble, pillars lining the room, torches on the walls with electronic lights humming from above. It was as mismatched and eerie as the waiting room, with a larger, imposing vibe. There were large windows looking out into the void, with crimson curtains draping down like blood.
The thing that was most strange, however, was a giant circular table in the middle of the room, with what looked like fifty-five black swivel chairs surrounding it. They were all mostly filled except for four of them. The chairs had numbered golden plates on the back with different kinds of symbols.
"What is this…?" He glanced over to his left at Obadiah, who smiled at him.
"This is the council room, where every special ranked member of The Syndicate meets for meetings… There's a smaller one that The Boss uses more rarely to discuss really important matters with The Ten Laws, the highest ranking members in The Syndicate."
Jack looked back at the round table. Everyone seemed to look at him, all bickering and gossiping about him.
"This scrawny kid? Seriously? Maaaan, your standards sure have fallen, Boss…" A girl with dual-tone hair, dark on top and light on the bottom, leaned forwards onto the table, pressing her chest firmly against it as she looked intensely at Jack. She seemed to have some kind of bow on her back made of what looked like flowers or vines.
"Shithead looks like a wimp, can't wait to see what he's made of! Oi!" A loud boy with messy orange hair piped up, slamming his fist on the table.
"Ah… How exhausting… You're bickering like a bunch of old maids, why don't you ever shut up?" A man with golden hair with white streaks and amber eyes, wearing a long golden robe around himself, with a black blouse underneath, with a golden necklace and strange talisman around his neck spoke up.
"Easy for you to say, Midas, you've got it easy up there in your little temple while the rest of us are stuck down here doing the dirty work!" A man with buzzcut yellow hair and sparkling eyes, wearing a white robe with golden markings with a gray sweater with green dots underneath and jeans, shouted across the table.
At the head of the table, Jack saw The Boss, and they locked eyes with each other.
Then, The Boss moved. He put his pointer finger up to his mask in a shushing gesture. Everyone seemed to quiet down. The Boss then slowly put his finger down. They all started facing him. Obadiah silently made his way to the empty seat on his right.
The Boss looked at all of the members, slowly, calculatingly, before locking eyes with Jack. Jack felt scared at that moment, but also empty, as if he stopped caring. He didn't have a choice anymore, or so it seemed.
"I'd like to begin by saying, welcome… Welcome to The Syndicate!"