You know how sometimes you do something that totally changes your life, like you get an implant, or accept an ancient inheritance, and then you come home and realize that despite everything nothing's really changed. That's how I felt as I ran down the stairs, once again trying to figure out how to buckle my belt as my dad yelled from the couch, "You're gonna be late!"
Throwing some bread in the toaster, 'Man, this is just surreal.' I thought to myself remembering last Friday. Of course, this time around I really was going to be late. Rick couldn't pick me up on his to school for at least another week, apparently taking a 20 year old beat up truck and then submerging it in frozen water for a few days does bad things.
The news blared from the living room as I put on my shoes. "Damage estimates from the storm of the century exceed 2 billion dollars, meanwhile at least 200 people died during the massive storm. A school bus full of kids from Academy School District 20 has gone missing, and many are pointing at Gifted Academy's decision to keep students at school during the storm and asking why D20 didn't..."
Rushing out the door, my dad yelled after me, "Your mom gets home tonight, so don't stay out late!"
"Got it!" I yelled, making use of my newfound strength to move far faster than normal in my sprint to the bus stop. Barely making it, I grinned when I saw Rick sulking in the back.
"Feel's bad doesn't it?" I said, sitting next to him.
"What does?"
"Rejoining the broke loser squad with no car riding the bus to school."
"Screw you." He said, though he started smiling a bit. "I'm just pissed we have to go to school, I almost made it to the monastery last night. I mean, what's the point? Can't we just use the implants to take all the tests and move on with life already?"
I just looked at him like he was crazy, "Are you kidding me? School's way better than the alternative. I guarantee you that unless I find a way to make some cash in MSE, my dad would have me working overtime for minimum wage."
Rick snorted at that, "I wouldn't be too sure about that, didn't you say your mom was actually a cultivator? I bet she'd understand."
"We'll see." I said when someone new got on the bus. A girl was standing in the aisle looking around shyly. She had long, red hair which was currently falling over her face, with jeans and a jacket on, I probably would've have ignored her if she hadn't been staring at me.
Looking back, something about her seemed familiar. I knew her from somewhere, but I just couldn't remember from where. She jumped in surprise when the bus driver yelled at her to sit down. With a final look at me, she sat down in the only free spot several places in front of us.
"Who is that?" Rick asked, just as surprised as me.
"I have no idea, but for some reason I think I know her." I responded, spending the rest of the ride to school trying to figure out where I knew her from.
Not long later, we'd walked into the school and the girl from earlier had disappeared somewhere. An announcement came from the speakers, "Senior Advanced Class Students, please report to the auditorium within 10 minutes."
Beth and Connor had just shown up in his car, usually they come together since she lives close to him. "New car?" I asked, looking at the luxury BMW SUV. Normally, he drives a Subaru. His dad offered to get him anything he wanted, but he wanted to stay low key so he got a fairly normal, if nice, car for a teenager.
"Yeah, the old one got wrecked and this is what we had that worked."
"Oh poor baby, forced to drive the BMW to school." Rick was being a dick, probably thinking about his truck.
Beth just snorted, "Cool it Holy Hulk, you might turn white and start breaking things." Then she looked at him and said, "Well, whiter. Maybe you should get a tan, make it easier to figure out when you've hulked out."
"Nah, you're just looking in the wrong place." Connor said, pointing at Rick's temple, where his veins were standing out, "When he's really pissed these pop out."
Rick smacked Connor's hand away and stalked towards the auditorium while we followed along laughing and joking at his expense.
A couple minutes later, he'd cooled off as we found seats as far from the stage of the auditorium as we could get. "So there was this redhead on the bus we'd never seen before, she seemed quite taken with Sam."
"Really?" Beth seemed interested at that, "You know, Sam really does need to go on a date." She looked at me with a mischievous look, she's scheming something...
"It's not like that" I said, thinking about the redhead, "I know her from somewhere, I just can't put my finger on it."
Suddenly, the entire auditorium went silent as a familiar cough echoed throughout the room. 'I've gotta learn how to do that.' I thought to myself, turning to the stage to see Principal Hubert surrounded by several new people.
"Welcome back, thankfully none of you got into trouble with the storm, well at least not too much trouble anyway." He said, looking pointedly at Beth.
"What'd you do?" I whispered to her.
"Got arrested for destroying property, thankfully they couldn't prove it was me."
*Cough* My questions were suddenly caught in my throat as Principal Hubert glared at us.
"Anyway, as most of you should know by now MSE is actually an alternate dimension created long ago as a place to train cultivators. In the past, entering that dimension was extremely difficult requiring either an insanely high level of cultivation or luck. The implants were created to make cultivation easier as well as allow any of you to access that dimension. Can any of you tell me why this was released to the public for basically free, instead of being hoarded by the rich and powerful?"
You could've heard a pin drop, the silence was so deep. Of course, I knew why, but I'd already been told that the real truth was to be kept secret from most of the population. I hadn't even told Beth, Rick, and Connor everything. Although, from the looks they gave me when I'd brought it up they'd learned most if not all of it on their own.
Someone from the back of the room yelled out, "Something bad is about to happen and they needed a lot of cultivators?"
"Exactly, Mr. Pierce!" Principal Hubert seemed happy that someone had finally answered, "Some of you already know this, but a long time ago the Earth was hit by an an asteroid seriously damaging it along with destroying the dinosaurs. The reason the dinosaurs really died wasn't that the asteroid wiped out all life, but rather that they depended on Energy Cultivation to fuel their massive bodies and after the asteroid cultivation was destroyed on Earth for millennia."
Now, cultivation is obviously possible now. So, Mr. Hughes what do you suppose will happen as Earth recovers?"
"I'm just guessing, but I'd say that the recently insane weather has been driven by Elemental Energy, so Earth recovering would make that worse."
"Yes, the most recent blizzard that has killed several hundred people in the Springs is a perfect example of one consequence of the return of Elemental energy on a massive level. Another would be the zombie outbreak taking place in South Africa right now."
"WHAT?!?!?!" Everyone in the auditorium freaked out.
"Don't worry, it's being dealt with." Principal Hubert waved it off as if Zombies were an everyday thing. "While the Zombie virus is annoying, it doesn't affect high level cultivators. This is a great example of what the return of Elemental Energy will bring to Earth. Beasts will begin cultivating again, virus' and bacteria will become more powerful as they mutate. A new era is upon us!"
Principal Hubert took a deep breath, observing everyone's reaction to the news. "Anyways with the release of the implants, several people with the potential to be incredibly powerful cultivators have been found. Gifted Academy has made scholarship offers to students with a certain level of potential. Also some of you," I got the distinct impression Principal Hubert was glaring at me, "have impressed some powerful people while in MSE, so several sects and family clans have decided to send teachers and students to Gifted. They see this as an opportunity for the next generation of powerhouses to bond and get used to working together."
Then, he waved to the people standing on the stage with him, "This is Master Nguyen, A sword master from the Pure Sword Sect." Pointing at an Asian man wearing a robe with a sword hilt sticking up over his shoulder. At the name Connor went stiff, his jaw dropping in shock. "He's here to teach the sword to any interested as well as look after some new members of the sect."
The principal kept going, "This is Elder Carlos of Storm's Refuge." He pointed to a familiar man standing to his right, "He's a master of the water element, and he's here to teach about the various professions, as well as keep an eye on some troublemakers."
'Yup, he's definitely glaring at me this time.' I thought, wondering when I'd pissed off the Principal.
"This," He pointed to a gorgeous red head who looked very familiar, "is Cynthia Demitrov, she's a Fire Elementalist and she's here to make my life hell."
The woman went from smiling happily to glaring at the Principal in a way that promised retribution. Meanwhile, I was remembering my conversation with my mom. "Cynthia, that bitch, she'll be so jealous..." 'So this is my aunt?' I thought, surprised I'd meet her like this.
Shocked, the room went silent for a moment as Principal Hubert realized what he'd said. "Excuse me, I meant she's here to teach aspiring Elementalists."
"Moving on," he said, obviously trying to hide his embarrassment while a mountain of a man walked onto the stage, "This is Alaric, a Viking warrior who specializes in Battle Axes, and he's here to teach body refining."
"Lastly, we have Sir Harmon, Mrs. Harmon's husband. He's a Holy Knight, and he's here to teach you how to take a hit."
"Also, as you should've figured out by now, several of our teachers are powerful cultivators. Mrs. Harmon is one of the most powerful Healers in the world, Ms. Johanson is skilled at poisons and curses, I'm a dual Elementalist, etc... If you need advice, someone here will be able to help you. Finally, after the full impact of the implant's takes affect most schools will begin graduating students who turn 17 and receive an implant. Gifted Academy is different, instead of graduating all of you will be spending the next several years here receiving training. If you don't feel like staying here is worth it, feel free to leave. Several people would love to take your places, I can assure you."