Shackles Of Reality

"Then why did y-". I started to ask but he cut me off. "Got to have attention of every student in my class don't I?" he said with a smirk. "Don't tell me-". "Yeah, it was all bullshit" he said.

"You see if I didn't tell them that, the only other way I can get them to actually focus in the combat class is by increasing the conditioning which at that point will be too much for the body" he continued. "Though I'm sure those from a certain power like the clans and families already knew it was bullshit".

After our little talk with instructor Blake, I returned to the dorms. I took my bath and other things before wearing my uniform and setting out the door, yep that's right the door.

I'm using the portal from now on, though I'll still fly sometimes.

And yes I know I said the portals were point suckers but that was just a spur of the moment thing, it was just an excuse I gave myself to fly all the time just because I love the feeling of flying.

Every journey through the portal was a measly ten points, where as I could amass thousands of points in a single hunt. As soon as I arrived at the portal station "Adam, Adam, Adam", someone was calling my name, there was only one person who could do that, I gnored the person until he came behind me and tapped my shoulder. "What?" I questioned.

"Hey I've called your name like a hundred times but you didn't answer" said Owen. "I didn't hear you" I lied. "What's wrong with your face and voice?, It's like they're going back to how they were before" he said. 'Hmmm, that's weird, I didn't feel any different today' I thought.

"Really?" I asked. "Yeah when you talk your face barely twitches, it's like a cold emotionless stone and all your replies didn't exceed five words" he answered. 'Now that I think about it he's right, I thought the emotion numbing was almost gone but now it's getting back and the unnerving thing is it doesn't even allow me to get worried'.

"It's just your imagination" I said to him before walking towards the portal with him following after me. Soon we got to the class, it was still around fifteen minutes to eight so the instructor wasn't around yet. We took our sit with Owen continuing his ramblings about me going back to how I was before. Man this guy can talk non-stop, he talked for a whole fifteen minutes before the instructor arrived.

As the doors of the auditorium opened, "Hello class, come with me" it was the only thing instructor Sen said before walking out of the class. It didn't bother us though, we knew this was her normal attitude. We followed her to the same hanger we went last time.

"You know what this means, we're flying today" Owen exclaimed causing the other cadets to burst into chatter. "Technically it's a simulation" I said. "Who cares, simulation or not I'll be the one in control and that's all that really matters" he exclaimed. 'Well he was right the feeling of being in control is exhilarating, even though I've never been in a shuttle before, the though of me controlling it is almost making me jump in excitement.

"Silence, I will not tolerate noise in here" said instructor Sen in a cold voice, before she continued "If you want to chatter you're more than welcome to leave this class" she said. The surrounding grew quiet as the cadets silenced themselves after instructor Sen's warning.

We walked to the simulation room we went earlier with the black shuttle pods rooted to the ground. "Now everyone, look for the pod with your rank number and enter it, it will be your simulator throughout your first year" said instructor Sen. Owen said a quick goodbye while quirking in excitement as he went to look for his number. I found mine rather quickly as it was only a few meters away from where I was standing.

It's entrance was open giving me a good view of the inside. There was a single chair which was obviously the pilot seat, the front had what looked like half a wheel which I imagined was the steering wheel, and also screens and holograms. As soon as I entered the door smoothly closed behind me with not so much as a single sound.

The moment I sat on the seat, cross belt appeared on my torso binding me to the seat. Then I heard instructor Sen's voice saying; "I'm starting the simulation now" in which a robotic voice sounded; "initiating simulation in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.". The moment it finished counting down, the screen on my front changed from black to a dock with fleets of shuttle parked. No matter how I looked at it, it felt real and not like a simulation.

"Now start it just like we learned" instructor Sen's voice came in. I looked at one of the holograms that looked like a power button and double tapped on it. The 'space shuttle' slowly came online with a dull vibrating sound before the sound slowly died down.

"Now follow the steps yourselves" she said without another word. I looked at the holograms for a while before saying; "engage flight systems". "Affirmative" the robotic voice replied. "Check all systems for defects or damages and check the energy tank" I ordered. "Systems checked, no damaged systems or defects, and energy tank is also at one hundred percent" it replied.

" Commence flight" I said. After I said that I could feel as if the simulator was rising and even the view I had of my front started changing as if I was going up. Once one of the holograms we're showing thirty feets in ground level and thirty five feets in altitude, I spoke again "disengage landing gear". "Landing gears disengaged" the robotic voice spoke.

In the theory class, instructor Sen taught us specifically the necessary steps to take flight. First was starting the shuttle, then engage the flight systems, then check all systems to see if they're running well and also the energy tank, then commence flight, and last but not least once the ground level is at thirty feets, disengage landing gears.