Soul Synchronizers Vol. 1

Chapter 1: The Beginning

As we walk, I notice how the sunlight is coming through the trees. I've always loved how the shadows of the leaves dance across the ground as the wind blows. However, we aren't here to sightsee. Just as we enter a small clearing, I raise my hand up, stopping my group and the sound of our footsteps. Normally, the forest is quiet and peaceful, but right now, there are no sounds. It's easy to see how someone can confuse the two, but there is a distinct difference. On an ordinary day, there are still very subtle sounds. Birds chirping, insects buzzing, frogs croaking, and many other little things all add up to give the forest life. The absolute silence is unsettling and fills me with dread. I can feel the goosebumps forming all across my arm. My teammates must sense the same thing I do as we all prepare our weapons. Mere moments after this, several animal-like creatures jump out and attack.

About eight of these monsters appear at once and splits up our group of six. Somehow, I end up only having to deal with one of them while some of my other teammates have two. I raise my sword and swing it through the air as a warning to create some distance between it and myself. The creature I'm fighting appears to be a large fox, but its characteristic white eyes would alert anyone that this is one of the Soulless. These monstrosities appeared around twenty years ago and their origin is still being researched to this day. As their name implies, they have no soul and follow animalistic instincts. They lash out and attack anything that comes their way. They look almost like normal animals except for their eyes, and in some instances, their size. The reason why we're here today is to fight them. The Soulless leaps at me and I barely dodge while counterattacking with a slice at its side. They're much more resilient than normal animals, and this will do little more than annoy it. Recovering with speed I didn't think possible, the Soulless attempts another leap at me. I can't dodge in time like the last one, so I hold my sword up, trying to block it. The impact when it collides with my sword causes me to stumble back and I almost fall over.

    "Come on Eric, you had better focus if you don't want to end up dead!" I hear a blonde girl shout as she fires arrows at several of the Soulless that have surrounded our group.

    "Right!" I call back as I try to recover my footing and then charge back at the Soulless that had just stuck me. I notice that even more Soulless are coming into the clearing. I can't help but think to myself, "Well, no one ever said that this would be easy."

I take a deep breath to calm myself. Today is the grand opening of the Soul Research Academy, and I'm right outside its gates. I see many other people entering, but I just can't seem to take the first step past the gate. It's been my dream to become a Knight and fight the Soulless. With the opening of the academy, I finally have a chance to make that dream come true. I should be sprinting to the door unable to contain myself, but I'm stuck in this spot. As I contemplate this dilemma, I feel something hit me from the back.

"Ow, oh sorry about that, I wasn't watching where I was going," a guy apologizes as he keeps heading farther past the gate.

"Don't worry about it," I reply back even though it looks like what I say doesn't matter as he keeps going. I notice that when he bumped into me, it caused me to stumble a few steps forward and I'm past the gate now. It's not how I intended to do it, but now I'm in and decide to keep going. I climb the set of stairs after the gate and follow the bricked pathway which leads to a large central plaza with a fountain. Since this academy was just built, it makes sense that everything looks luxurious, but I am still awestruck. The fountain has a very ornate flower pattern around the base and stone benches set up around it also have a similar design on them. The sun glistens on the water, making it look truly beautiful. Including the path that has the entrance, the central area splits off into four directions. There are three very modern buildings down the three remaining paths with glass windows polished so well they may as well be mirrors. I'm not sure which way I should be going, but in situations like this, it's usually best to follow the flow of the crowd. I merge into the sea of people as we head into the center building.