After getting down from PTV looking smug Ray walked towards the academy gate with his bag, being full of himself for making connections with a ascended by just calling him uncle Ray felt like a social manupilator and that his social life would be great here.
Stopping infront of the gate Ray looked at it trying to gauging out it's durability while doing so he noticed a N mark on the gate.
As he wondered what to do next he heard a voice
"Awakened state your I'd and purpose of visit"
Looking around Ray noticed a speaker and replied politely
"Sir I'm a sleeper I was dropped here by my contractor"
Their was a brief silence Ray even wondered was this some kind of test of persistance sleepers had to go through
Disproving Ray's assumption the voice responded
"You have been dropped in wrong area the area for the sleepers is in the southern part of the academy please go to the southern gates"
Hearing this sent Ray into panic he looked back but till then Andrew was gone so he responded as if he was in a crisis
"But sir I'm just a mere sleeper I didn't knew where I was being dropped and I don't my way around here it would be much better and safer if you let me pass through here"
Ray did not get a response for a while in meantime Ray contemplated what to say if his request was rejected again but then without any warning the door of academy opened.
Seeing the opportunity Ray walked in while he crossed the door it felt if he was scanned and sanitized 'must be the protocol ' Ray thought to himself
Coming to the other side Ray looked around to see if the person he talked to was here if that voice was of a person , hearing the familiar voice coming from a screen on the door frame Ray went towards it.
Their Ray saw a person with dark circles wearing a white coat and a white mask waiting for Ray.
The person sluggishly said " Welcome to Awakened association I wish I could take you to your dorm myself but we are short on staff so you'll have to do with directions"
The whole persona of the person reeked of exhaustion from overwork so Ray made due with directions
After following the given direction for a while Ray was not sure about his current location but one thing he was sure of was that if you pretend to be confident most of the times no one will say anything that's how he had travelled from northern side of academy without being even questioned once given he never entered confidential zones but he still was a sleeper who wasn't supposed to be anywhere other then the southern part
Looking around Ray spotted a hospital
' This was mentioned by that security officer I should go there maybe I'll figure out something ' with this concluy Ray went in the hospital.
Wandering in the hospital aimlessly Ray considered to ask someone for directions he should have done this before but his pride and urge to explore the academy on his own wouldn't allow it.
While looking around to find someone approachable to ask for directions Ray had reached in deeper parts of hospital which he thought could be for people of higher authority since he had not seen anyone around for past five mins so Ray again sought to find someone for directions.
As Ray was looking around he felt as numerous gazes were upon him as he looked in that direction he saw uncountable lit candles infront of a well guarded thick steel door it felt as if flames of those numerous candles were stars in night waiting for their sun to come back .
As Ray looked towards the gate he felt for a moment that his vision had gazed past the metallic door and saw something.
Ray briefly stood there thinking what he saw but because he hadn't seen it for more than split second Ray was tempted to go and see for himself after not being able to stand his curiosity Ray started to walk confidently towards the gate.
"Sir I'm sorry the visiting hours are closed please come after the lunch time"
Ray continued to walk towards the door reaching halfway through
"Sir if you any further I'll have to call security"
Without stopping Ray continued walking until he reached the steps where numerous candles were kept as Ray was about the take a step his hand was grabbed
"Mister I'll have t" before the sentence could be completed Ray had pushed him back to ground to free his hand and continued his march towards the door
As Ray took another step towards the door he was suddenly pulled back and pinned against the ground with immense force
Just as Ray's face touched against ground he felt as if he was out of a trance he could clearly hear the alarms ringing and remember what he did how he had ignored the warnings of the security personnel he knew he was screwed unless he used silver tongue of his as he prepared himself to scream as hard as he could Ray felt jolting pain throughout his body and blanked out
******
Sitting in a dim lit room Ray still couldn't come to terms with the fact that how close he came to death , not by the electric shock he had received but more so by being cremated alive in a plastic bag.
When Ray woke up he was surrounded by darkness , for a moment Ray had assumed he was still in his nightmare and was currently surrounded by true darkness and all stuff leading upto this was illusion but this belief was broken quickly as he could see light coming in from a hole in the plastic bag and in his nightmare light never passed through true darkness.
Thanks to his quick wits Ray didn't panic and waste much time instead he made movements and was discovered by a worker and that's how he was transferred back for interrogation.
As Ray was thinking all this the door opened and a blue haired man with eyes that shone in darkness came in and sat across the table and said
"Well aren't you a lucky one the shock we gave you is usually potent enough to kill an awakened but this time the device malfunctioned and gave less voltage but still even for a sleeper that should have been fatal yet you survived it "
Ray tried to fake a genuine smile but one couldn't smile when he was told his life was spared by chance
The man continued
" Well I'm Navi, thanks to you were able to check so many loopholes in our security especially during the off hours"
' He seems easy going I hope I'll be spared '
Ray thought to himself
" I've seen your files they are fine I even checked the person who let you in for being affected by mind hex they were alright "
Listening this Ray was worried to what was he supposed to say when asked about about his actions of not following the instructions and punching the door
Navi continued but this time his tone turned grim
"But their are still many questions one of them being who's your contractor"
Ray was shocked and a bit scared by Navi's question
'Isn't name of the contractor in the files ' Ray thought to himself but did not speak it. He didn't want the investigation to go south because he was trying to be a smart ass so he replied politely
"His name is Mr Andrew "
Seemingly amused Navi got up and came behind Ray and kept his hands on Ray's shoulders and asked nicely
"You said Andrew , did I hear right "
Noticing the change in Navi's tone Ray felt relieved and said instantly
"Yes it's Mr Andrew he's like my uncle " just as Ray was about to say these words his head collided with table infront of him breaking it.
Drops of blood poured from Ray's face
Navi furiously said
"Oh so you're going to lie you scum bastard since he refused you guys once you'll use such underhanded tactics to defame him you guys are the real lowlifes "
Ray couldn't make much of what Navi was saying not because of context but because of collision insides his head was in a mess leaving him dizzy
" You know if it was someone other than me they would have believed you and thought of as a die hard fan of changing star and let you go but it's me i know lion and I know you're lying , because he hasn't taken a contract since he became a awakened why would he do now"
Ray could not understand anything so he just stuttered what came to his mind at that moment
" Pride.. of the ... Lion"
Storming out of the interrogation room Navi said to the attending Awakened
" Lock up this bastard and bring me a god damn communicator "