Academy I (Complete)

[Chris Robin]

On 10/19/2021 at 1:43 AM, Mia Moore said:

The baby blocks were similar to the ones in her room, the ones she always played with after eating that pink food. The same weird symbols...

Hi Mia, I’m a big fan of Academy I. You’ve created a really cool world, a bit scary to imagine this happening to you though. One thing I’ve been wondering about is what are the symbols on the blocks? I thought they could have been letters and numbers and Ai had just lost her ability to read, but it turns out she can read fine at the end of the story.

[Mia Moore]

On 11/9/2021 at 3:14 PM, Chris Robin said:

One thing I’ve been wondering about is what are the symbols on the blocks? I thought they could have been letters and numbers and Ai had just lost her ability to read, but it turns out she can read fine at the end of the story.

That's a really good question!  Umm... I don't know if this kind of thing will come up in the future stories, but yeah.  The symbols aren't letters or numbers.  They are more like... uhh... a test?  That's probably the best word I have to describe the blocks.

I'm so glad everyone liked the story!  I'm working on the second one right now. 

 

[Marcus23]

Just picked up reading the Academy stories off the recommendation of a close friend and I must say the first one dissappointed me. Academy I felt like one giant prologue and well I know its apart of a bigger series I was expecting just a little bit more from the first one. It was a bit of a tough read feeling so in the dark similar to Ai and with no real payoff at the end Im left scratching my head. World building was solid but it just felt like the story didnt really go anywhere. Not knowing Ai before she got picked up and not having any back story for "Nana" left me with no one to really get attacheted to. Curious to see how the 2nd one is and hoping it can give me something more to latch onto.

[Kif]

Amazing story!! ?

I love psychological horror-mystery stuff like this, and you've nailed it! Gave me a mix of LOST and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with the constant mystery told from the protagonist's perspective and the constant ego/existential terror of not understanding what is happening or why!

The way Ai's memory and perception of herself and the environment is slowly altered, and the use of those blocks! Are they intentionally obscure / made-up symbols? Or is she losing the ability to recognize once-familiar shapes? I suspect it doesn't matter in the end, I think it's brilliant. Same with the markers and such...are they really markers? Or do they perceive them as markers in their confinement, when instead they're these glowing orb devices? 

The world building was terrifying, and I *loved* it. Instead of just...describing a space and the mechanics of the world, you described it via first-hand experiences from Ai's perspective. It was riveting to read, as I was pulled along by morbid curiosity as much as terror, all hoping it'd turn out good in the end...

But oh gosh, I hope to see more of Ai! I'm a bit terrified of what "Memoriam" refers to! I doubt it means physical death, maybe it's like they wipe the slate clean and start over? Seems to be something that'd be possible; how could we possibly know that Ai hasn't already been through this before? I guess if they have the power to take away memories and change perceptions there is (horrifyingly) nothing preventing them from just rewriting a person from scratch aside from that little flame behind their eyes...At least in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest there is an end as gruesome as it is...But this, oh lord it's like a special kind of hell and it makes me the question of who and why they pick to be these "Candies" burn that much hotter.

Can't wait to unravel more of the mystery! Thank you so much for giving such a riveting read that I just couldn't put down!