Chapter Text
The day started off like any other. Some invigilators traveled to exam centers to oversee examinees while others stayed back at the Invigilator’s district, relaxing a bit in between exam rounds.
The day before had ended in a shouting match between the moderates and the hardliners. One would think Gin or A stirred things up or played an important role in the fight, but both remained silent the whole time, only making eye contact at especially heated moments. Even during these charged moments, the few peacemakers were more concerned with keeping those two apart than with calming everyone else down. Such was the nature of the relationship between the two leaders of the two factions.
The shouting match would have gone on for as long as the last invigilator’s voice would have lasted, but A had gotten up abruptly and left just about an hour in. Z followed him out soon after and when it became clear Gin wasn’t going to push anything else either, the meeting gradually died down.
The day after was more calm. Tensions were still high between the moderates and the hardliners, but they always were. It was just another day for the invigilators, and no one thought anything of it.
Then the sky turned black and the world was plunged into darkness.
~~~~~
[System malfunction. Exam centers rerouted. All invigilators report to the Red Harbor Wharf. All invigilators report to Rest Stop 3. All invigilators — ]
The system’s scattered commands echoed through the streets of the confused Invigilator’s district. They were left in darkness, only navigating by touch and the sounds of those around them calling out.
Then abruptly, the world was flooded with light again and everyone present found themselves in a large space with white floors, white walls, and a white ceiling. Invigilators found their allies as fast as they could and discussed in hushed tones about what was going on.
Standing in one corner of the room, A and Z looked out at the milling crowd.
“What the hell is going on,” Z muttered. A just shook his head, conveying his confusion.
On the opposite side of the room, Gin stood alone, eyes scanning the crowd and the room for any clues. He couldn’t find anything, but just then a hardliner spotted him and called out.
“Gin! Over here!” Heads turned and more invigilators called out. As Gin sighed and started walking towards the group, another cry came up from a short distance away.
“A! Z! Thank god you’re here too!” More voices took up this cry and soon the room was flooded with cries for these three saviors. A and Z made their way to the center of the room where Gin was already waiting. He met A’s eyes and held his gaze for a second, but before he could say anything, Invigilator D ran up to A.
“A, thank god you’re here too. Do you know what’s going on?” A looked around him, surrounded by hopeful gazes. He shook his head and watched all their faces fall. Almost immediately, though, they turned to Gin, who shook his head before any of them could ask.
“Sorry,” he said, voice carrying to the edges of the room. “I have no idea. Maybe—”
But whatever he said was lost as the system crackled back to life.
[Current system disabled. System online. Welcome back.]
Muttering went around. Some braver souls tried speaking out upon hearing that the system was disabled. More joined in once they realized they could curse out the system as they wished without any repercussions. Even some moderates joined in.
Gin looked around, noticing the absence of cameras and realizing he didn’t feel watched anymore.
A realized the same thing and frowned slightly, brows furrowing. “System, what’s going on?” As expected, it replied immediately.
[Hello, Invigilator A. I am System 303. Nice to meet you.]
Confused exclamations went up as A exchanged looks with Z. A new system? It went on before any of them voiced their questions.
[I am here on a mission from 3 years in the future. The future is a difficult and complicated time full of problems and difficulties. It will be beneficial for you to pay attention.]
This system definitely sounded different but it made about as much sense as the current one. Even so, no one dared speak out against the system except, of course, A.
“What mission?” His cold voice cut across the suffocating silence that had descended on the crowd. “What future? How is that possible?”
The system issued a flurry of rapid technical terms and the most anyone could catch was “system coordination,” “joint effort,” and “elimination.” Needless to say, this response did not answer any questions. But they didn’t get a chance to ask any more questions as the light in the room dimmed once more.
Among the surprised and worried shouts, one of the walls started to dissolve. Everyone surged away from that wall and the others, but they had nothing to worry about, as the pieces of the wall disappeared and the other 3 remained sturdy.
Slowly, a piece of black film seemed to flow down across the gaping chasm left by the wall’s collapse. Some stepped forward to place a hand against what looked like nothing sturdier than thin silk, but they were met with a hard wall. More people tried patting it too, hitting and punching it to see if it would give way.
[Please step away from the projecting center.]
Everyone jumped back as the system spoke up again. The wall flickered, changing from black to white to gray and back to black, before settling on an image of a cabin on a desolate mountain. Snow was falling and the world was silent.
Some invigilators immediately knew what the projection was showing. Murmurs started going around as those who had seen this cabin before whispered in hushed tones.
“That’s the physics exam.”
“What a death exam.”
“Last time I oversaw it, only three got out.”
“Three? Only one got out in mine.”
The image suddenly shifted, showing the inside of the cabin. Those present shouted, and exclamations got louder and louder.
“I knew it was physics!”
“What is this, TV?”
“Why is it showing us this?”
A and Z, on the other hand, were busy discussing the system’s words amongst themselves. They had noticed the small details, like how the system was from three years in the future and how it was on a mission, with an actual objective they didn’t know yet, showing an examination three years later. They had been planning to attack the system’s core but looking at the current circumstances, either they hadn’t carried the plan out at all, or they had failed. Both were equally frustrating and painful to imagine, but no other possibilities seemed viable. Before they could say anything out loud, however, hidden speakers crackled to life, sound seeming to come from all around them.
A string of words ran across the projection: The Last Supper.
The image of the inside of the cabin cleared to show people sitting around a table in the center.
“Why are we watching this?”
“Shut up!”
“It’s starting!”