Beads of sweat fell from the forehead of a young man rounding the turn. #1 Ranked Freshman, Akira Oishi, were the words stretched across the chest of his air dynamic track suit in bold letters. Arms pumping and feet moving Akira was once again ahead of the pack closing in on the finish line. Behind him was only a handful of decent athletes trying their best to finish the race in good placing. Further back was the majority of the class just hoping to survive today's P.E session.
"Damn, it's hot. It's always hot," thought Akira quickly glancing up at the all too noticeable tower which was slightly blinding if you stared directly at it. Something of the same could be said about the sun, but that was so long ago Akira's generation wouldn't know anything about that. Pandora's famous Tower of Light stood as a testament to humanities ingenuity throughout the tough times. Refocusing, he could see instructor Farris watching him with an all too familiar grin while taking periodic glances at his stop watch. That usually meant Akira was closing in on yet another personal record as he drew closer to the finish. But without a thought Akira began to drastically lower his pace until he came to a slow jog. His attention was drawn by the moronic laughter of the local delinquents beyond the track. Three of them were no doubt ditching, but also inside the no trespassing zone. This was about a good 100 meters of stand off that separated the safe zone and where the light couldn't reach. They were laughing while throwing rocks into the dark beyond at something Akira couldn't make out from where he was standing. All of this must've been taking place between the guard's shift change or else they'd be in real trouble.
A sharp whistle cut through the air. "Disciplinary Instructor BRIGGS!" shouted the delinquents taking off in the opposite direction of a tall, tan, wrecking machine of a man chasing after them. "Idiots," Akira muttered before a second whistle blew. It was this that sent Akira's attention back to the race. The others had nearly caught up to Akira before he took off sprinting down the straight away and crossing the finish line no problem. Instructor Farris clicked the stop watch then frowned. Everyone else who crossed afterwards flailed their arms and doubled over from pain and exhaustion. A short blonde kid collapsed to the ground dramatically. "NOT FAIR......he stopped.....a-and still beat us. IT'S NOT FAIR!" the kid cried barely able to catch his breath. "That's our number one freshman Akira for ya. Besides it wasn't that bad David," smiled Yuna a skinny young lady with bowl cup shaped hair. "That's easy for you to say," whined David laying flat on the track's surface. She got second place. Yuna strolled over to Akira and pitched him on the ear. "What's been your problem? You haven't been concentrating lately," she scolded him while pulling on his earlobe making him wince in pain. "That's what I'd like to know," said an angry Instructor Farris with folded arms standing behind them.
It wasn't at all surprising that Akira found himself sitting before Instructor Farris who was giving him a good old fashion lecture about the importance of focusing and meeting the standards required for civilian level graduation. Once he was excused Akira wasted no time in grabbing his back pack and sprinting out the front door. "So how'd it go? Old man Farris really let you have it huh?" grinned Yuna waiting for him in the court yard along with David. The smirk on their faces really pissed Akira off since they enjoyed teasing him so much due to the fact that he's the one always in trouble. "Nothing like that. Just the usual graduation this, you have potential that. But the old man did call my sister though," said Akira waving off their accusations. "Then we know what that means. Kira-bears gonna to be locked up all weekend," teased David nudging Yuna with his elbow with a sly smile. "Ahhhh, how sad," she laughed continuing to poke fun at their fellow classmate. Akira just walked faster trying to distance himself from their taunting. "Haha, yeah sad that it wasn't serious enough for his HOT sister to come down here herself and pick him up," shouted David groping air-boobs with both hands and drooling. "Sonofah...," muttered Akira before taking off after David. "DON'T RUN. YOU ALREADY KNOW I'M FASTER THAN YOU," yelled Akira who just had about enough of the big mouth. With real fear in his eyes David sprinted for his life while hopping over fences and dodging campus trash cans. Yuna tagged along laughing the entire way. That was until the trio reached a large crowd who had gathered just outside the safe zone.
David and Akira stopped in their tracks trying to see what was going on. "What's happening?" asked David speaking with another student. "Some seniors are making trouble again, but this time they've gone too far," said someone in the crowd. Akira squirmed his way through the commotion until he reached the front of the group. "Hahaha, you underclassmen are pathetic," laughed a guy at the center of attention. Wouldn't you know it the same delinquents from earlier were picking on a couple of freshmen. This was an ordinary occurrence, that of campus life and all, except this time there was a young lady with ripped clothes crying on the ground while who must've been her boyfriend was being dragged beyond the protection of the safe zone toward the darkness. The guards were no where to be found and everyone else were too afraid of the danger area to even cross the line. Without a second thought Akira took a step forward but not before Yuna grabbed his arm. "Are you crazy? That's #1 ranked senior, Omar Okami of the martial arts and track team . I don't think I need to tell you what your face is going to look like in the morning. Not to mention the guards can come back at any moment. What if they catch you in there? You'll be expelled," she whispered to him trying to pull Akira back into the safe zone. "So just watch while they throw the kid into the darkness?" asked Akira with a pissed off expression. "It's ah raw deal man I know but this ain't our fight," warned David grabbing Akira's other arm. Akira shrugged them both off and began marching into the no trespassing zone towards the delinquents.
"Get up c'mon. Just go out there, play the game, and it's over. Don't want that fine little girlfriend of yours seeing you cry do you?" asked Omar kicking the boy on the ground. He must have gotten beaten up pretty bad since his uniform was covered in blood. "Hey! The hell are you doing out here?" asked one of the delinquents noticing Akira walking up. "Having fun? Messing around with freshmen get you off?" retorted Akira approaching one of them with fists clinched. Kicking up a cloud of dirt into the eyes of the closest senior Akira reared back and fired a punch landing flesh on a surprised delinquent's jaw sending him to the ground. Before the second senior could advance Omar waved him off with a curious smile. "HA! You sure got ah pair on you," said Omar releasing his grip on the bleeding freshman. Omar was a 6'5'', 225lbs all muscle a**hole with a chip on his shoulder. He made his name by beating up opponents both in and outside the ring. Omar and his remaining henchman began circling Akira. "Calm down Akira Oishi. I got no beef with you," smiled Omar looking the brave underclassman up and down. "Surprised? Yeah I know who you are. The #1 ranked freshman track runner. The fastest in his class. Said to be this years top Runner and the kid who broke my old underclassmen record," said Omar but this time without the joking tone. Akira had managed to maneuver his way over to the bloodied kid and helped him to his feet. "Tell you what HERO you take that loser's spot. What about a game of chicken...........in the darkness?" proposed Omar with an evil grin while pointing to the lifeless dark vial behind him. Just then a cold wind blew in giving them all a bit of an ominous shiver. It was silent for a few seconds and didn't need to be said by anyone that this was a stupid idea.
"Why not?" replied Akira with an air of confidence to himself like he had already won. "You don't have to do this. Not for me," said the kid looking up at Akira with a broken nose and a black eye. For Akira that said it all. He was tired of dealing with their crap everyday. Tired of living on this boring piece of inhabitance called Pandora. But most of all he was just tired of being afraid of the dark like everyone else was. Akira motioned for the kid to go back to the crowd where it was safe. "Hey, you two. Make sure no one else comes out here and if you hear the guards keep your mouths shut," ordered Omar as his two henchmen nervously headed back as well. Akira's mind drifted off for a second as he stared into the abyss in front of him. He'd never been beyond the safe zone before. Hell, he'd never even been this close to the edge before. Akira was only a month or so away from graduation before he could be considered a Citizen and finally join a scavenger team. Then he could travel out there beyond the protection of the city all he wanted. But here he was about to rush into something stupid all because he couldn't leave well enough alone. "HERO! You coming?" asked Omar already with one foot on the other side. Akira stepped up to the imaginary line where both light and darkness meet. He waved his hand through the vial like it was something he'd never experienced before. After taking in a deep breath Akira looked over at Omar and finally gave his answer. "Ladies first."
The two young men seemed to vanish as they both crossed over into the unknown. Neither of them had any idea what they would encounter from that moment on. But one thing was certain that whatever it was it would change their lives forever.