How To Become A Senior
"Welcome, Mortals - to DeviantART H.Q." the voice rang out clear and cut through the confused calls of those in the darkness. I had just managed to find my feet, but the sound seemed to surround me, envelop me, this voice... It was disorientating.
The lights flickered on, spitting an electric hum before settling into a dull glow. It seared my eyes so I covered them quickly with my arms. I must have been in the darkness for a long time, my eyes burnt with the exposure.
"It has been brought to my attention dear ones, that you have thoughts above your station"
I began to lower my arms slowly, gradually letting more and more light hit my tightly shut eyelids.
"we at DeviantART take this sort of thing, very, seriously." the commanding voice continued.
"OPEN YOUR EYES" it suddenly shouted. My body reacted on impulse and the searing pain hit again, The dizzying images in front of me told me it was not me being shouted at, I was relieved, the darkness and the casual threat in the voice of the Speaker had already convinced me that I was in danger. The weeping humans surrounding me that I could finally see, only added to that knowledge.
"Now," the Speaker continued, voice soaked in saturnine sweetness, "You should know by now that DeviantART will not tolerate Drama. Therefore it is... necessary for us to divide those of you who are going somewhere and those of you, who are not."
My eyes focused and took in the speaker. If it wasnt for the knot of confusion and terror I may have found her beautiful, in her black fashion militia style uniform with lace up boots to her knees, her black beret, her sparkling silver buttons and the shock of hot pink hair, cropped short under the hat.
She turned sharply and commanded someone to get off their knees. My eyes finally sent the signal to my brain that something was wrong, surely in real life people didn't have names floating above their heads?
But there it was, clear as day, contrasting starkly to the dark slate wall behind it, an almost glowing white, Drunken-Splice.
I recognised the name and to my horror things began to make an odd sort of sense. DeviantART? She had said DeviantART, more than once, and now this ? Someone I knew?
"Brett?" I whispered
He turned to look but the Speaker was close to him, he recieved a sharp slap to the face which made everyone jump.
"LISTEN TO ME WHEN I AM SPEAKING TO YOU" She screamed in his ear.
So it was Brett, I glanced around at other names around me, poisonedrose, ralfmaximus, tmunky, thornyenglishrose... oh God... what was going on?
"We cannot afford to make mistakes. The incident with the art theft cost us a lot." The speaker continued, walking along and indicating with a short polished rod that could be a whip for people to get to their feet.
"You have all been selected to be tested"
Tested??
"It is not optional, and if you complete the test you will be rewarded with DeviantART's highest honour..."
She walked up some steps onto a stage, now that I noticed it I could see some stone faced guards, Sting1, Morris88, Xerces I tried to remember them all, what did I know about them? Would it do me any good?
I saw a girl near the stage struggle to her feet and it momentarily distracted me, my feet took a step towards her before I could help myself... Flutterings
"...your survival."
The clear voice rang out as the speaker turned on the top step to face us all, a crowd now below her of frozen statues.
"You will begin with a written exam, if you do not answer every question you will be executed" the speaker said simply, pressing something on the railing which retracted the stairs too quickly for anyone even close to them to climb them behind her.
We were being sentenced to death?
I shut down my emotions, I could not think about it now, the terror pumped adrenaline through my body and I shut everything else out.
"Momentarily a door will open to a room with desks, pens, paper, the usual drivel. You will complete your written exam and those of you who pass may continue into the next room."
I looked up at the woman, her once beautiful face now a deadly sneer, I tried not to let my racing heart fail me.
"Good luck" she said, but with a tone of sarcasm and dissmissal. As she turned and walked across the stage into a door none of us could reach I caught a glimmer of her name and suddenly everything was real - chix0r.
The screaming started when the door closed behind her. The guards did not move but we could not reach them, people were clawing at the doors, the stink of sweat and fear and even blood was permeating the room, I looked around for the door that would supposedly soon open, I didnt want to be close to it, I would be killed in the rush of people when it opened.
I saw it and once again my body reacted before I did, sprinting across the room through the people running to hit the walls, my shoulder made painful contact with a man I didnt stop to apologise to, and it felt like only half a second before I pushed Flutterings forcibly away from the door, pulling her side ways to the side of it, just in time.
The door drew open slowly, but quickly enough that the quickest minds in the room were through it before it had even clicked into its open position. Only one of them fell, I tried not to listen to the sickening crunches as synith's floating name snuffed out. He was dead.
I held Kate still, she didnt seem to question this, she stayed still and I could only feel a slight tremor in her skin, we waited. I said nothing, I knew she had been friends with Jarred and supposed she was blocking everything out to survive, like me.
It took a few seconds for the rush to become less lethal and in an instant I was moving again, pulling Kate with me through the door, I was careful not to step on any part of my former friend, I would grieve for him later.
Into the room and there were desks left at the front, furthest from the door, I pulled Kate along with me but she kept my pace and I did not have to pull hard. In the back of my mind I knew that it would be painful to let go of her hand and risk never seeing her again. I was surrounded by friends, how many of them would survive?
I had to let go, however, when she ripped her hand from mine to drop down into a seat, her hand hit the pen before she'd even pulled her legs under the desk. She would be fine with this one, so would I, god willing.
As I hit the desk I stared at the paper in confusion, one question. Only one?
What is your DeviantART username?
I continued to stare, I turned the page over, and finally I looked up at Kate. She stood up and her piece of paper dissapeared. She was across the aisle and leaning over my paper before I could recognise what had happened, she picked up the pen and in clear writing she wrote
: d e v l e o r a i g a r a t h :
It clicked in my head, the :dev .. it was a test. She was gone before I could get out of my seat, I turned and saw her doing the same over another paper, as her other hand pulled a woman out from her seat.
evile33
"Kate" I called to Flutterings, she turned and I saw the despair in her eyes, she knew we didnt have time to save them all. I communicated with her with my eyes, begging her not to try, she pulled evile33 towards me and we ran to the next door, I felt Kates hand touch mine as I heard the sound of odd dry puffs, I turned my head as I backed through the door, I saw failingjune evaporate and despite the screaming I knew somehow that they had gotten off lightly.
"Let go Kate, let GO!" evile33 shouted, wrenching her hand from Kates.
Her eyes were wide and wild as she ran into the depths of the room, away from us, away from the others that had some how gotten through
"We're all doomed" she cried, and in an instant she was gone. We didn't see her again after that.
"KATHY" Kate screamed and went to follow her but I pulled her back and against the wall. We didn't know what was in this room, it wasn't safe.
"She'll be fine" I murmured, but I didnt believe that. Neither did she. Her eyes met mine for a mere instant and she muttered "Don't let go of my hand". I squeezed her hand in response and we edged into the room slowly.
The low rumbling began and I pulled Kate closer, my eyes searched the smothering darkness for its source, it was all around us, echoing, what WAS it?
The floor began to crackle and splinter, a fine fracture traced its way between my feet and Kates', as the two pieces began to pull away from each other I had to break my promise, I let go of her hand and pushed her away from me.
"Omri!" she shouted, trying to keep her balance as the floor crumbled beneath us, small squares left for us to dance on, I spied the exit.
"Behind you!"
She turned and I saw her almost lose her balance, my body jolted, I couldnt save her if she fell, if I jumped onto the piece of floor that was left for her to stand on, one of us would fall from it. I held my breath until she jumped and hit the next piece of flooring. I couldnt watch any more, I stared at my own feet and jumped from floor piece to floor piece, a crazed chess game, I didnt look into the dark pits below the open gorges.
Someone collided with me suddenly, trying to get onto the same square as me, I tripped and my hands somehow caught on the rock of flooring. Adrenaline alone pulled my leg to hook over the flooring and with my nails dragging and breaking against the tiles in my desperation I finally was back on my feet, but I knew that frozenpandaman's name light had gone out some where miles below them.
I finally made it to the door and sensed the people following my path, there was no screaming now, only fierce concentration.
A hand grabbed at my sweat soaked shirt as I walked through the door and I yelled out in suprise before my eyes recognised my friend.
"Fucking hell" I managed. She gave me a weak smile.
"What's in there?" I asked her.
She glanced into the room beside us
"Darkness again, could be anything, but theres a glass gallery all round the top, people staring. Seniors I think... so it can't be good."
"Should we wait for others?" I asked her, glancing behind me but I could not see the room we had escaped from clearly.
She shook her head "Some have already gone through, I couldnt stop them, Ive heard nothing".
Her eyes met mine and she looked away quickly "We cant just stay here, whatever it is we have to get past it" she said softly, I could hear the slight tremor in her voice and my hand found hers once more.
She smiled her crooked smile and said "This time don't let go"
She wasn't kidding, underneath the bravado. I nodded and we stepped into the room.
The room was dark, she hadn't been lying. It was as dim as if candlelight lit it, the only light seemed to be behind the rows of people above us. For their comfort not ours.
I caught her gazing up at the walls of glass, taking in the noses pressed against them, the ghoulish faces of the seniors that came before us, and I knew what she was looking for. I glanced up myself, scanning the rows of people. It only took a brief look to get my answer.
"I don't see gaioumonbatou" I said softly.
She shook her head, as my eyes caught the movement and my head turned towards her she whispered in a broken voice
"Nor feetpeet. Nor GeneratingHype. Nor love4art. Nor Dana. Nor Jade, Nor Jon, Nor Bobby - Nor James or Katie, or Charlotte, Jessica, John, Mel..."
Her voice got higher and shakier as she continued her list, her eyes seemed to be searching the crowd desperately as the tears began to slide down her cheeks.
I pulled her towards me, an impulsive action, and felt her shaking with her sobs.
"None of them Omri, not one"
I swallowed and closed my eyes for just a second, opening them quickly again, still suspicious of any danger. I wondered at her tears and whispered weakly
"What does that mean?"
She pushed me away and looked at me, her wet eyes suddenly hard and dead. She looked resigned and tired all of a sudden, the energy I knew her for was gone.
An ironic smiled played on her lips as she replied simply "It means they know we're going to die, and they don't want to watch"
The sickening part was, I knew she was right.
I hugged her tightly and for a moment considered praying to whatever Gods there were for our safety. I wondered if her friend Kathy would survive, and then, because I had reminded myself, my stomach turned and I wondered if we would.
The light burnt my eyes once more, perhaps it was a method in the test, to singe our retinas, but the sudden bright light made me cower away from it.
As it dimmed and went back into blackness the information my body was recieving became coherant, it wasn't light. It was fire.
and then the sounds my ears had been tuning out, blocked by the rushing of blood in my heart, joined in, the gravelly breathing, a fiery beast.
A dragon.
With the next fiery exhale my eyes were better adjusted, and I could make out the forms of two giant nostrils behind the flames. The flames caught on one of the walls near us, which provided us with a constant light source, shedding its soft glow over the huge beasts body.
The heaving purple scales were thick and impenetrable, the tail was long and spiked, I could not bring myself to look into the beasts eyes and see my own death. There was no way to defeat it, I knew that. No human could fight a dragon.
There was screaming again, people had come into the room and made the same realisation I had, stood against this wall, paralysed in place holding on to the last person in the world I would probably ever hold onto.
I felt the tears in my eyes, tried not to let my mind race with all the things I had wanted to do, things I would never do now. I tried to think of a logical solution, there must be some way of surviving, some way...
I saw the door behind the swooping dragons tail but I knew we would not make it to it, I couldnt help my vision becoming fuzzy with the tears. Kates finger tips brushed over my eyelids, taking the moisture with them, she avoided looking up into my eyes as she kept her shaking chin up
"None of that mister" she said, resolving herself "we have things to do."
I tried to catch her mood, tried to steal her strength for myself. I joked weakly "What, like send Trevor our DailyDeviants features?" but the joke was lost in another fiery breath.
"BITCH"
My head snapped up at the outrageous scream. I saw a woman running towards the dragon, its mouth open as the fire receeded into its throat, it was inhaling, she jumped and was in its mouth before any of us could move. The light words BehindHerLens dissapeared behind a wall of teeth, the dragons mouth set in a fearsome grimace. Triumphant.
All hope was lost, I glanced up at the galleries to see any sign of hope, a familiar face, a clue, anything, but there was nothing. Impassive curious faces watched. Some were paling from the recent death, but others showed no sign of worry.
A shuddering groan filled the room, my eyes came back down to the dragon. I pulled Kate closer, my heart racing, now what was going on?
A flash of silver caught my attention and instantly it was swallowed in a flood of crimson, a sword piercing through the dragons belly from inside, what was this, some kind of movie?
The dragon moaned and roared, distracted, and suddenly it occured to me that we had an opening, I pulled Kates hand and we ran, we ran for the door and my lungs burnt with the effort in the already stifling heat of the room.
We hit the door and it opened without hesitation to release us from the hell fire into an almost icy slap of air. We were back in the first room, I let out a sob, it was a trick, we were to go through each room time and time again until one of them killed us. We were doomed.
What had I done to deserve this?
"Congratulations"
That voice again, that voice...
I collapsed in tears, I felt Kates hands on me, trying to pull me up, trying to rouse me, but the grief swallowed me. Even her voice could not stop the darkness - we were going to die. I was going to die.
chix0r eyed her list thoughtfully and found the relevant names. Her pen traced lightly to the 'Survivors' column, and she ticked.
`BrazenPhotography
`AquaSixio
`Shy-Too-Shy
`PerryGallagher
`melocopter
`TheTragicTruth-Of-Me
`jussta
`FallisPhoto
`cybergranny
`smoking-mirrors
`BerylAlexandros
`budgie
`hibbary
`alexds1
`diablo2003
`in-art-we-trust
`DreamingMyth
`Flutterings
`ssilence
`leoraigarath
`vayabobo
`mom-the-bomb
`IBinsanity
`-kron
`silvanderwoerd
`kealanorourke
`sideshowmonkey
`cryptorchid
`whoisnot
`jerryhazard
`neither-field
you are the best!
`
eli PANDAMAN™
~rawr 
!
Spankin'! 
I love it!
Who you are today will be who you are tomorrow. 
Awesome story!!! Now my name will forever live in infamy. 
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