Stands Within [Stories of Kawali Series 1]

Chapter 4: Nightmare Zai Heaven (1)

Few minutes after discovering the Stands of some of his friends, except for Vanetta, he went for Morning Assembly, a daily school assembly that takes place by half past 7. He saw most of his schoolmates there, including his friends from lower and higher grades. He sat down on the floor, crossing his legs, and waited for the assembly to start.

First was Indonesia's national anthem. It sounded just like the usual anthem they played at school. Then came the school anthem. However, there was no school anthem.

"Weird," Keith thought, "why isn't there a school anthem? It should be going on by now."

The school prayer was totally different. It read,

"May God protect us, in times of good and bad. May He bless us with survival and strength, for we all want to survive another day. Amen."

"Survival. Strength." Keith said quietly as he read the words. It all made sense. Someone, seemingly one of the teachers, had already adapted to this new Stand reality. But who, and most importantly, why? Everyone sat down, and Lei Lao Shi, the school's vice principal, sat on the front edge of the stage, which was made up of table-tall platforms at a leg's length. It was black on top, with a red curtain on the sides and stairs leading up to it. On the front corners were 2 projector sheets, allowing convenient viewing of the screen during a video or presentation.

"Students," Lei began, "as of recently, an incident called Meteor Rain has occurred in Indonesia. These small meteorites that fell onto our streets and roofs of homes is Mother Nature's call that we have to take good care of our planet Earth. I would like to ask, who here has touched the meteorites?"

Multiple hands, including Keith's went up. Once Lei said, "I see there are some of our brothers and sisters who have touched the meteorites. Please take your hands down." everyone put down their hands. She then said, "Alright, students, for those who raised their hands earlier, please stay. We will skip Silent Sitting (light meditation). Everyone else, you may leave silently."

As the room was mostly emptied, Keith looked around, and saw not only some of his classmates, but surprisingly, his friends, and more so, some kids whom he didn't know. Lei said, "Alright, students. I've called you all here because now is the time I will reveal my secret."

Keith felt a dark atmosphere form around him, making him break into a cold sweat. He counted 30 Stand users, including a few teachers who stayed.

"I will introduce you to my ability I obtained once I touched the meteorite. Nightmare Zai*  Heaven, consume them all!"

*means 'at' in Chinese, written as 在