Black Coin

IV

[Chapter 4: The Broken Gate, Room Núll 7]

The hyper-hover school bus screamed through the air, its engines making a high-pitched whirrr sound. Outside the windows, the skyscrapers of Hope City blurred into silver streaks. Cultivators flew past while standing on flying swords. Seven sat near the back, his thumb rapidly swiping across the holographic display of his cam-brace.

The Galactic news was a bit ugly. Huge headlines flickered in red: ALIEN SWARM BREACHES SECTOR 4 and CULTIVATOR PLANET K-9 FALLS TO THE HIVE. Seven stared at a grainy video of a massive insect-like ship swallowing a moon. He lived on Planet Hig17, a boring, and peaceful rock in the middle of human space overworld. It was considered one of the most safest places to live. No aliens, no war, just school, training and boring lives.

"Yo, Seven! Why are you even on the bus?"

Seven didn't bother to look up. He knew that voice. It was Brock, a guy who had just awakened a 'Stone Skin' divine essence. He was a bully that Seven had beaten a bunch of times. Heh. Heh. Brock and his friends were huddled in the back seat, their Divine Marks glowing through their shirts, like showing off.

"The Spirit Dimension is for real cultivators, man," Brock sneered, it was loud enough for the whole bus to hear. "You don't have a divine Essence. You’re basically just a tourist. Or a snack for the first beast that sees you. Why don't you get off at the next stop and go help your mom with the laundry?"

The group of boys laughed. They weren't whispering at Seven's back anymore. Now that they had powers, they weren't scared of Seven's fists. They now felt invincible.

Seven turned his head slowly. His eyes were cold and sharp. "That's a lot of talk from a guy whose Divine Essence makes him look like a lumpy potato," Seven said, with his voice calm and sarcastic. "Does 'Stone Skin' also make your brain rock-hard? Because I’m pretty sure you’re failing math for the third time."

The bus went silent for a heartbeat, then it suddenly erupted. Hahaha! Roasted! A girl in the front row doubled over laughing. Brock’s face turned a bright, angry red. He opened his mouth to shout, but the bus hissed as it came to a stop.

Pshhhhh.

They had arrived at the Teleporter Station. It was a massive building made of white ceramic and blue glass. Inside, the air was cold and smelled like electricity. Huge rings of metal sat on the floor. Those were the public portals to the Spirit Dimension.

The students gathered around a large circular platform. One by one, they stepped onto the glowing center. Vrummm—Zip! They vanished in a flash of blue light.

Seven stood at the very back. The teacher, Mr. Han, watched him with a pitying look. "Seven, you know the rules," Han said, while checking his digital clipboard. "The teleporter only reacts to the Divine Essence. If you step on it, nothing will happen. You’re just going to embarrass yourself."

Seven didn't answer. He felt the weight of the black coin against his chest. It felt unusually warm. He took a deep breath. Sigh. He was going to take a leap of fate.

He stepped forward. The other students who were waiting for their turn started pointing and giggling. "Look at him. He’s actually going to try it."

Seven stepped onto the circular platform. But

Nothing happened. The blue lights of the teleporter didn't even flicker. The machine stayed silent. The crowd started to jeer. "Told you! Get off the portal, loser!"

Suddenly, a jolt of ice-cold energy shot from the coin on his neck. It felt like a needle stabbing into his heart. Ugh! VREEEEE!

A violent, and purple-black energy exploded out from the necklace. Only he could see it through the neck of his shirt. It wasn't the clean blue light of the school’s machine. It was dark, jagged, and smelled like ozone. The shadow purple smoke swirled around Seven's legs, through his trousers, without anyone knowing, and devouring a bit of the light in the portal. The air began to crack like breaking glass. CRACK! SHATTER!

"What is that?!" Mr. Han shouted, dropping his clipboard. "Get away from there Seven!"

Seven looked down at the coin. The carvings were glowing so bright they looked like white-hot fire. The purple energy surged upward, while wrapping around his head. Whirr-vrummm! In a flash of darkness that felt like a punch to the gut, Seven instantly vanished.

The platform was empty. The teacher and the students stood there, mouths open, staring at the spot where the "markless" kid had just broken the laws of the world.

---

......

*****

The dizzy feeling in Seven’s head was like being rapidly spun around in a washing machine. Whoosh! When his feet finally hit solid ground, he nearly fell over. He gasped for air, his lungs feeling the change in pressure. He wasn't at the gate station anymore.

He immediately grabbed the black coin that was hanging from his neck. It was still hot, and pulsing with a fading purple light. Sizzle. It felt more like it was breathing metaphorically.

"I actually went through," Seven whispered, his voice echoing off the walls. "The gate said no, but the coin altered it. What the hell are you, Dad?" He turned the coin over, while looking at the weird carvings. It was definitely the reason he was standing here. The Spirit Dimension was supposed to be impossible for him without a divine essence.

He looked around. He was in a small, square room. The walls weren't made of bricks or dry-wall; but instead they were made of a strange, dark ore that sparkled like crushed diamonds. Ting. He tapped the wall with his knuckle. It was harder than steel.

Ding!

A sound like a golden bell rang in his ears. Suddenly, a screen appeared in front of his face. It wasn't like the status system screen during the awakening, the blue hologram screen. This was gold. It looked like it was made of liquid sunshine and ancient dust. The text was sharp, stylish and beautiful.

[Welcome, Cultivator, to the First Floor of the Spirit Dimension.]

[This is your Private Sanctuary. No one may enter without your explicit permission.]

[Please input a Name for your Room:]

Seven blinked twice. Wow. He remembered his teacher's lessons about all this. His teacher had thought them that The Spirit Dimension teleportation was random. It didn't matter where you started on planet K-9 or Hig17; you got dumped into a random human settlement. There were thousands of them. And everyone got a room.

He reached out and typed "Seven" into the golden air.

[Name already taken. Please try again.]

"Figures," he muttered. He tried "John."

[Name already taken. Please try again.]

"Man, there are a lot of Johns in the universe." He thought for a second, while looking at the black coin. He remembered what the being in the reincarnation hall had called him. A zero. And A null. Then He smirked. He typed in: Núll 7.

[Name Accepted: Room Núll 7 is now registered.]

The golden screen vanished into sparkles. Seven walked toward the only door in the room. He pushed it open and stepped out into a long corridor. It looked more like a high-tech hotel for warriors. Doors lined both sides of the hallway, each with a different name glowing on the plate. Clack, clack, clack. Other people were walking by, wearing armor-type spirit armament and carrying glowing swords. None of them were his classmates.

He walked to the end of the hall where the ceiling opened up. He stepped out and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Whoa. It was a massive plaza. The "sky" wasn't blue; it was a swirling vortex of frost and grey clouds. The air smelled like cold iron and roasting meat. Huge stalls were set up everywhere.

"Fresh Iron-Boar meat! Get your Spirit Points of the normal class here!" a man with a giant scar on his face yelled. Chop! Chop! He was hacking at a piece of monster flesh with a glowing meat cleaver.

"Spirit Daggers! Sharp enough to cut a ghost! Of the normal class Only 500 credits!" another woman shouted, while holding up a blade that hummed with a low vibration. Hummm.

People were just everywhere—warriors, traders, and scouts. It was sensory overload. The sound of shouting, and the clanking of armor, and the weird, filled his ears.

Seven felt a surge of excitement. He had actually made it. He wasn't supposed to be here, but here he was. He unzipped his bag and pulled out a simple steel dagger he had hidden. It wasn't a "Spirit Armament," but it was sharp.

He turned back, opened the door to Room Núll 7, and tossed his heavy bag inside. Thud. He closed the door with a satisfying click.

"No more school. And No more bullies," he whispered to himself. He gripped the handle of his dagger, his eyes turning toward the settlement gate. he could see past the settlement gates. "Time to hunt. I’ll soon be coming for you, you arrogant Gods. Just you wait, once I'm strong enough."

[End of Chapter]