NOVEL WEB Chapter 1: The Eclipse
———?????———
<12: 49 pm>
“Heard there was going to be an eclipse coming up.” Jeff said as he finished looking through his stuff in the locker. “I got myself a glass for this, what about you?”
“Never interested in it, to be honest.” I said, not thinking it’s worth my time. “You can go look at it if you want, it'll only be in a few minutes, right?”
“At least you know that much.” He commented with a smirk.
“It’s everywhere on the net, of course I’ve heard.” Hopefully he doesn’t bug me for too long. I think I’ll go sleep in the classroom to be extra punctual.
“If you say so. I’ll show you a picture after school, dude.” He said before walking off to find a good place to see it. He should be feeling lucky there’s no assignments or tests in the afternoon, as far as we know.
…Right, where was I? Going to the classroom and just waiting there, maybe I can just check this from someone’s stream.
I can see people walking around in groups and chatting amongst themselves. Not exactly a social butterfly, so I don’t really feel like missing out. Probably something about the eclipse, or maybe about EX-VR going down for maintenance, which is unprecedented with its impossibly perfect track record of no downtime.
Anyway, I think it’s time for a quick nap… Really shouldn’t have stayed up for so long yesterday, didn’t expect that stream to go on for so long… Seriously, what was she thinking?
Here we are… No one is inside just yet, but all the better…
*Yawn*
My eyes are starting to get blurry, already ready to shut for maybe fifteen minutes…
*Trip* *Thud*
“Ow!” Sheesh. That hurts. Can’t believe some part of the floor is still wet.
Whatever, let’s get a quick nap on the desk…
…
*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*
…
…
*Drip* *Drip*
“Augh… Huh?” Got the worst headache of my life and… I think I passed out- Huh?
“Ah, you woke up quickly.” Suddenly as I raised my head that had been resting on the desk, I saw someone holding a glass cup above one of my arms dangling off the table.
The glass is full of red liquid that seems to be dripping from right above it. It’s a very deep red color that’s opaque…
“AAAHHH!!!” I screamed at the top of my lunge and jumped up after realizing what the hell was happening. Holding my wrist to stop the blee- “Huh?”
When I actually looked at the bleeding wound that should be there, I just saw a very faint smear of blood and nothing else… Wait, was all that just a prank? Huh? Eh?
“Seems like that part is working perfectly, at least.” This weirdo said as she drank the blood out of the glass… Is that actually blood? “Mhmm. Quite a delicacy.”
“...Just what are you doing?” I asked, unable to understand her weird behavior. I’ve seen her around the school, the infamous P.E. teacher. Her long flowing silver hair and the purple eyes hidden behind her sunglasses are striking, alongside her very mundane white and blue tracksuit.
“Nothing particularly malicious, I can assure you.” She said, lacking a lot of her usual zany antics. “By the way, is that your default state from now on?”
“Default sta… Wait…” Has my voice always sounded like that? My hair is also getting in the way and is white for some reason, and my chest feels… “What the hell!?”
“Now that’s a reaction.” She flatly remarked as I inspected my body.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that this isn’t a man’s body… Okay, I was never really that masculine, but I definitely wasn’t a girl last time I was awake!
“Here.” She suddenly gave me a hand mirror in the middle of my crisis.
“Ah thanks.” I mindlessly replied while checking my face… Definitely a girl, with bright blue eyes and white hair… This is not me when I woke up this morning, with my very drab black hair and brown eyes. Still, one question remains… “Why?”
“If you’re asking why this is happening right now. Maybe you can go check the hallways to see the full effect.” She ominously said as she took back the hand mirror, being the only voice I have heard since I had woken up. Everything is deadly silent…
“A-Alright.” I said, feeling more scared with each passing second.
We walked out of the classroom and once again, nothing but the sound of our footsteps could be heard… Is everyone…
“What happened to them?” I said as after seeing people collapsed on the floor, as if everyone just fell asleep suddenly. At least it doesn’t seem to be the worst case scenario…
“Fell unconscious, just like everyone else.” She said, walking around and looking down at them, before taking notice of something. “Ah, see this one?”
“What the…” I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but looking closely at the girl’s hair showed some snakes sticking out… No, is it part of her… head? “What is this?”
“Among the humans, some had undergone a drastic change. This is one of the more subtle ones, to put it bluntly.” She calmly explained as we walked towards the gymnasium. Seeing more people on the ground, completely unresponsive. “Anyway. All of that is unimportant.”
“Unimportant? How is all that unimportant!?” I can’t help but scream out in my new voice, now in the middle of the gymnasium where a few more people can be seen lying on the floor, not registering my scream at all. “I changed gender, everyone is suddenly in a coma, some turned into… fantasy creatures or something. How is it not important!?”
*STOMP* *Crack*
“Calm down, you haven’t become accustomed to your strength just yet.” She calmly said after I stomp hard on the ground, letting the nerves get to me.
The floor below me… doesn’t have all these cracks just earlier, right?
“W-What’s happening!?” Did I do this? Am I gonna get in trouble later?
“Like I said, calm down.” She firmly said, as if this kind of thing is normal for her!
“I’m trying!” I shouted out, having a hard time gathering my breath.
“What is important for you, is understanding what you were turned into. Your body having its sex changed is not the main concern, but rather what you’ve become.” She started to explain why I am still panicking. “This event has changed many people, including you… but the thing is, what you’ve become, is, to put it frankly, absurd.”
———Jeff———
<1: 42 pm>
“Ugh…” What just happened? It was like I got hit in the head. Thought I was gonna die, honestly… “Hey, dude, did you know what…”
“My head feels weird…” The guy next to me said, looking like he might have also been hit in the head as well, but what the hell is that sticking atop of his head?
“Dude. What’s that on your head?” I pointed at the horn sticking out of the top of his head. This guy is actually massive, like why? I would’ve remembered someone this big.
“What? Huh? What the fuck!?” He panicked the moment he touched the horns. “Hey! Do you-”
*Scream*
“What now!?” I can’t help but say as we both heard someone screaming. I think it was a lot of people, even! This is looking really dicey. “Can we drop this for now?”
“Okay fine!” He quickly agreed as we both ran towards the sound, only to see people running away from other people with odd changes happening to them like the guy next to me. Some were even looking to fight them! It seems like.
“Get away from me you freak!” A guy shouted after someone who had grown an extra pair of arms as well as a tail tried to approach him. He was not willing to listen, and clearly ready to throw hands. It’s kinda ridiculous to look at, but also isn’t good, he’s running in for a punch.
“Whoops! Can’t have that!” Suddenly a cheery voice interrupted the scene.
*Grab* *Slam*
“W-What are you-!” The guy was quickly pinned down. Is that the zany P.E. teacher? Her name was… Wana, Teacher Wana, or Coach Wana.
“No fighting in the school, now move along.” She casually said after letting him go, and he was definitely not willing to argue after getting pinned down so easily.
Sometimes I forget how tough she is, not since that orange-haired senior left. She’s like an actual athlete who also loves goofing around. She seems weirdly calm about this too.
“Anyway, it sounds like others are making a fuss downstairs too, the rest of you, go to your classroom and stay quiet for now, okay?” She instructed the rest of us before walking off.
Should we really be doing that? I’m… No, I’m more worried about if others are fine, like how are Malk, Karra, and Jass doing? I don’t even know where they are right now…
…Maybe Jass is in the classroom already? He usually defaults to that when he doesn’t join us in on something. I should go check right now!
“Jass!” I said as I opened the door. Thankfully my guess was right and he’s right there! I sure am smart, sometimes! “You okay, dude?”
“Yeah… Aside from whatever the hell that hit on the head was.” He replied, looking more awake than he was… Lemme check the phone… an hour ago. “Also, shouldn’t I be asking you that? I heard a lot of screams from… pretty much everywhere.”
“Yeah I’m fine, some people got changed to something out of… I don’t know… Comics? Yeah, comics.” I explained what happened. He is probably calm because he didn’t see it himself.
“...Sounds terrifying.” He flatly replied. Is he being sarcastic? I think he is.
“Wanna go see it?” I asked, since at least things are calming down on this floor.
“Nah. Also, what are we supposed to do?” He quickly changed the topic. “Go home or what?”
“Dunno. That one P.E. teacher is telling us to stay in the classroom, but like… I don’t know, dude.” I seriously have no idea what to do!
“Oh, look.” Jass suddenly showed me his phone… Huh?
“Hold on, how big is this?” I said before searching on social media to see what’s actually going on.
‘Everyone is getting hit in the head!?’, ‘People are turning into monsters!’, ‘What caused the incident?’, ‘How large is this incident!??/?’, ‘Government conspiracy!?’, ‘I blame the elicapse!’. What the hell is all this?
“There are even pictures from other countries…” Jass pointed out, showing me posts from other languages with these mutant people panicking. Seriously, how widespread is this?
“What in the world is happening?” How am I supposed to keep my cool when it feels like the apocalypse just started. Is anything else even happening outside of some people changing?
“At least the internet is still up and lets people complain to each other.” He remarked, probably keeping any fear he has from showing just like me. “...It’s kinda scary, not knowing how or why…”
“Yeah…” I said, feeling the same way. “Have you changed in any way? I’m still the same.”
“Me? I’m fine.” He dismissively said. He doesn’t look any different, so that sounds about right. “Hm? Hey, what the hell is Karra doing? Check her channel.”
“What?” Is she seriously streaming right now!?
“<Chat this is nuts! Look at these ears!>” She is streaming on her phone, showing her… are those horse ears on her head? Her hair looked the same otherwise, reddish in color, but her eye color changed to a more pinkish color.
“Well. Glad someone is having fun.” I said with a chuckle.
“At least she’s not out of the school right now. The streets are probably way more chaotic.” Jass remarked.
“I don’t even wanna imagine it.” I said, just thinking about people starting brawling or even using weapons. Everyone is panicking with guns blazing.
“<’Does magic exist now’? I don’t know. Chat, what do you think?>” Now that would be quite… magical.
“What do you think, Jass?” I asked, since he does like games and stories with those.
“It would be nice, but… how?” He pointed out. Yeah, how do we cast spells if they exist?
“Don’t know, but it would be cool. Magic means superpower, right? I would like those.” I said. Flying, lazer beams, stuff like that.
“Superpowers…” Jass muttered to himself.
*Ding*
“<Attention, students. Due to the unprecedented incident, please leave the campus immediately and go home. We cannot ensure your safety due to everyone being blindsided by this unknown attack on our school. We repeat, please go home and stay safe. School will be suspended for the foreseeable future.>” …Awesome!
———?????———
<2: 24 pm>
“I’m back!” I said out loud hoping someone would respond.
“Jass! You’re alright!” Mom said, running over and hugging me. She must’ve been worried sick.
“Ah. Uh. Sorry for making you worried, Mom.” I said, not really sure what else to say. Maybe I should’ve called her before getting back…
“It’s good that you’re safe…” She said, her voice still shaking.
“What about Dad?” I asked, since he isn’t here to welcome me right now.
“He’s managing something right now. I think he said he was going to pull out stocks from everything.” Damn, that’s both extreme and probably makes some sense. Right now the world is in turmoil and I don’t think business is gonna be booming anytime soon.
“Sure is quick on his feet.” I said with a chuckle as we moved to the living room.
“I hope you didn’t get into any incidents. Heard there were scary people about!” She said, having no idea how much of an understatement that is.
“I’m plenty fine, Mom. If anything, I’m feeling pretty good.” I said to give her some reassurance.
“That’s good to hear. Have you eaten yet?” She asked, just in case.
“Got enough cafeteria slop for the day, Mom… Maybe I’ll chow down on some leftovers, if you’re worried I didn’t eat enough.”
<3: 17 pm>
“Haaah…” I take a long sigh and look at myself in the mirror…
White hair, blue eyes, definitely a girl… Inspecting myself, making sure it truly is all real…
“Superhuman, she said.” I muttered to myself, looking at my hand and recalling all the information she gave me in that timeframe.
*Knock* *Knock*
“Jass! Sorry I didn’t realize you came back earlier!” Dad quickly said after I opened the door.
“It’s okay, Dad.” I said, changing back very quickly.
“Heard the school won’t start for a while, or most places, really.” He mentioned.
“Sounds about right.” I said, wondering if he has much to say. I want to test some stuff out.
“Sorry, if I interrupt anything. Just wanna say find a friend if you go outside from now on, alright?” He suggested. I guess that’s fair, there’s probably some dangerous people out there now, way more deadly than ever.
“Loud and clear, Dad.” I replied. I would’ve done that anyway, at least in this state.
“Good! Want to make sure you’re safe.” He said with a smile. “I’m sure you have hobbies to go back to, see you later, son!”
He then walked away with a smile on him.
Alright, back to girl form… Which is ironically slightly taller than how I was before… It also just feels quite a bit nicer too. Don’t know what that’s about, but who doesn’t like improvement. It feels very easy to get used to.
“Now then, what to call you…” I said to myself in the mirror. Jass is… not a particularly feminine name. Maybe Jessie? No, it’s not quite right… Maybe something that sounds a bit less mundane… Hmm…
*Ring* *Ring*
Oh, someone is calling me.
———Karra———
<5: 41 pm>
“Okay, chat. Let’s recap what’s happening today, alright?” I said, keeping my cool seeing so many people. There’s like five times the people I usually have on my stream!
{people gone crazy!}
{Magic real trust}
{got me a claw arm}
{So what happened?}
{Is new who dis}
{r those horse ears}
{Y u wearing headphone?}
“‘Why headphone’... For some reason I still have my human ears, so I can still use it and be fine.” I said, knowing full well how weird it is to have two sets of ears.
{Oh but when i have cat ears mine are gone!?}
{thats crazy}
{kinda cursed?}
“Anyway! For anyone new here, I’m Karra or KaraLai. Small time streamer, do random streams sometimes, or short clips! Looks like people are here since I’m one of the few people still streamer after… Chat, what do we call this event?” I don’t think we even quite know why it even happened?
{Mutantpocalypse!}
{Magicisreal?!}
{Mythicpiracy}
{EcpliseHate!}
{Comicbook ahh event}
{merp}
“...Right. We’re gonna workshop that later. Anyway, I got some tabs open for us to look through…” This is gonna be another long stream ain’t it… “First off, from some recordings and testimony, it looks like this happened the very moment the eclipse is said to happen. Everyone fainted at the exact same time, no one knows why, and people woke up at about the same time, with some turning into different things but still humanoid.”
{I will hate eclipse and rainbow for the rest of my life}
{Eclipse never did this shit before}
{does not make science sense}
{is the Ec even the cause?}
“We don’t really know if the event actually has anything to do with it, but from what we know, it does happen at that specific time.” I said before showing some pictures of these new kinds of humans on the screen. “Anyway, as you can see, some people got bigger, new limbs, animal characteristics, color change, stuff like that.”
{some of these are cool}
{Sucks to be them?}
{any superpowers?}
{what about you?}
{supernatural stuff…}
{I wonder if ghost are real now}
“I think as it stands now everyone is gonna have a lot of free time. My school certainly won’t be open for a while. What about you guys?” I asked just to get the chat moving.
{popping off for no school bby}
{im so free rn}
{dunno}
{I LOVE UNEMPLOYMENT}
{what’s a job}
“Looks like you guys don’t really worry about doing your shifts. Good for you!” I said with a small smile on me, before something caught my eyes as I scrolled on multiple social media looking for more scoops. “Look at this, chat.”
{aint that a cave?}
{hole in the ground?}
“Here are more pics, what do you think?” I said, scrolling down this one specific post which has more pictures taken from inside. Showing some sort of monsters which from the picture makes it clear they are pretty aggressive, running towards the camera. “Whoever dared venture inside to take these, I salute you.”
{Are those slimes!?}
{Look like some rpg monsters}
{legit?}
{is this fr}
{we’re so dead}
{Like a fantasy dungeon?}
{eh, saw similar thing in ex-vr, not impressed}
“So… We add monsters to things that suddenly happened. Anyone have any theories?” I said with a long sigh. I don’t think we’re gonna get much info, but at least my stream is doing pretty well right now, so that’s good.
{ghost!}
{I BLAME THE GOVENMNRT}
{What if it was aliens?}
{whoever made that vr game?}
{science gone wrong}
{super magic}
{I wonder if vampires exist}
{maybe the older conspiracy are true actually}
“Yeah I did hear some old conspiracy about supernatural stuff. Anyone got those on their tab?” I asked just in case there’s any lead, and to get more audience retention, of course.
———?????———
<6: 22 pm>
…Is she becoming a conspiracy theorist now?
