THE MOMENT
"1,2,3,4,5," Ruin said. The bald, pale man held his node out before him. It pulsed with golden light, brilliant enough to make Barley and Oz flinch. Golden stars flashed in Astra's eyes to protect her from the light.
"That's boring," Astra giggled. Once Oz could focus again, he looked at Ruin. Instead of the towering vampire he expected, a giant wobbling slime creature sat on the ground. It was as tall as Astra and wide as three of them side by side. The slime was a pale, brown color like sand, and Ruin's bat tattoo sat atop the slime's head. The more Oz studied the creature, the more it mesmerized him. The slime's body not only resembled a blob of liquid sand; but, the exterior sand seemed to flow inward towards its core.
"You can change your password, you know?" Barley added once she recovered from the light.
"I know," Ruin nodded. "Haven't needed to," he said.
"Can you skate like that?" Oz asked. It was the first time he'd seen a non-humanoid character.
"Probably," Ruin said. Though, the slime did not have a mouth. It only had large, glowing red eyes.
"But, he won't have to," Astra added. A smoky translucent slate floated in front of her as she navigated through it with taps and swipes. Oz knew from experience that it was only smoky to him as an external viewer. Whenever he used his own slate, it was so clear the text appeared to float in the air. "Here it is," she said. She tapped a button. Another bright flash made Oz and Barley flinch. When Oz looked again, the bald, pale, human-ish Ruin stood with them again. The only difference Oz could spot was an orange deck box strapped to his left wrist.
"Okay, you're registered," Astra said. Then, she looked at Oz. "Next," she said. Oz pulled his node out, but hesitated.
"Should I expect to turn into a wind elemental?" he asked. Astra giggled, but shook her head.
"Nope. First of all, that's your soul, not your body. Second of all, I changed the server rules so everyone defaults to their humanoid form. So, you'll get pointy ears."
"Should you be making changes to Regal's server?" Oz asked. She nodded.
"He said I could do whatever I needed so we can practice. It's easy enough to change back, but since it's a school he probably won't. He's just not done setting it up yet."
"Okay," Oz nodded. He held his node out and spoke his password.
"Authority Access." A flash of emerald light gave Oz a green eye mask, and a tall jade staff. The rest of his usual dark green suit remained unchanged.
"You boys ain't even tryin' with your characters," Barley said. She pulled out her node and glanced at Astra. Astra nodded.
"I wish I knew magic!" A flash of golden light from the node revealed a very different Barley. Her blue jeans and plaid shirt were replaced with green-brown overalls and a lime-green silk shirt. A tan burlap scarf was wrapped around her neck with long tails behind her. And, a straw sunhat sat atop her bristly blond hair. The golden curls she had moments before were replaced with stringy, almost straw-like hair. And her complexion took on a slight green color that managed not to look sickly.
"Hey, it came true!" she giggled.
"But.... that's the password you set up..." Oz said. Barley shrugged and smiled at him.
"If'n yer choosy 'bout how things happen, the universe gets choosy 'bout how it helps you," she said.
"But you did...," Oz began to argue with her, but he was distracted by another thought. "Wait.. weren't you already logged in? You're here remotely, right?" he asked. Barley nodded.
"Game mode is different," she said.
"My turn," Astra said. She pulled out her node; but, the gym door swung open. All four heads swiveled towards it.
A tall, pale young woman with white hair walked in followed by a short girl with bright orange hair. The woman seemed surprised to see them there and headed straight for them.
"Hey," the woman said. "Who're you guys?"
"Dread!" Astra chirped with excitement. The woman smiled.
"That's not true, there's only one of me," she said. Astra nodded and stuck her hand out.
"I'm Astra!" she said.
"Barley," Barley waved while trying to contain her excitement. Oz was beginning to recognize her fangirl face. It wasn't much different from Astra's. The woman named Dread focused on Oz and he gave his own name. She nodded at Ruin but, instead of giving his name, Ruin returned the nod.
"Cool," she said. "But, what are you doing here?"
"Regal gave us early access so we can practice and test out the server."
"Nice,' she said. "This is Riot," Dread gestured at the orange-haired girl. "I was just showing her someplace quiet; so, we'll get out of your way."
"You coming to the Nexus Academy too?" Astra asked Riot. The girl tilted her head, then looked at Dread.
"She means Toku-high," Dread replied.
"Oh. Yeah," Riot nodded. Her reply came a little louder than a whisper.
"We're registering our characters, do you wanna log in?" Astra asked. "You don't have to," she added when Riot seemed to hesitate. But, she nodded.
"Sure," she said. The girl pulled her node out of thin air, then held it in front of her with her right hand. She raised her left hand and revealed a small silver horn with an orange ball at its end. Oz did not see where she pulled it from and guessed it was out of thin air like the node. Riot grinned and squeezed the orange ball. It sounded with a high-pitched honk-squeak then her node released a flash of golden light.