In this unnamed world we live in, it's hard to find someone who isn't isolated to their kin. Elves sit with the elves, dwarves sit with the dwarves, so on and so forth.
But, I do not fit with any of these races, I am a whisper.
One of the last remaining dragons, maybe even the last one. We were hunted to extinction, but I don't blame the other races. The dragons were a malevolent people who left nothing but destruction and homlessness in their wake. No one knows my true nature except the doctor which I go to, and he has sworn he will not tell a soul,knowing how devastating it would be to my safety.
It's the first day at the Scotland Arcane College for gifted and studied. Most people are jumping around in excitement for all the social opportunities, I'm terrified. On top of having social anxiety, I have ADHD, which means I have trouble focusing and holding myself back because of my impulsiveness. I sluggishly walked to my first class, but before I could get there a couple of tall looking boys stopped me. Tall from my perspective, being about four foot five myself. On closer inspection they were of different ages, but the same race. All of them were veriant humans, seeming to take more of a brawns over brain approach.
I knew what they were about to do. "Well, well, well. If it isn't one of the newbies. What do you guys think? Is she worth shaking down?" The one in the middle said, speaking in a cocky tone. They had obviously been doing this for a while, and taking from multiple kids too.
I keep my head down and try to walk through, but they grab me before I could get past them.
"Where do you thin-" a voice from behind them spoke up and interrupted them "Put her down and no one gets hurt" the voice was loud but calm.
The bullies laughed as if that was a joke to them. "Says who?" they spun around, and dragged me along with them.
I saw nothing of the person, as I had begun playing dead as a reflex of being grabbed. All I heard was grunts, the two other bodies hitting the floor, and the bully who grabbed me letting go of me, which left me with a bloody nose, which I barely felt. He got punched in the face pretty hard, I could sense the mana in people, which is normally only produced when awake, excluding god touched and those who have mastered the mystic arts.
The three had been knocked out, and the one who had done it was over me. Still calm, they said "are you okay?" I wish I could answer them, but I couldn't as I was so overwhelmed with fear. "Shit. Alright, I'm taking you to the nurse, lets go."
After what seemed like seconds to me, I woke up in the clinic. The person who had saved me was standing among me. I sprung up out of panic, thinking she would attack me
"Woah woah woah, calm down chief, you were passed out, I took you to the nurse, and she told me to look after you. I have no intention of harming you."
A couple minutes later we were walking to my dorm. She took a breath, seemingly subduing something. "Look, this school runs on a hierarchy of power, the weaker you are, the worse off you are for your social status. you being new, you haven't made a name for yourself which means that you are a prime target for the rats who want to have a power trip. In order to increase your reputation you have to make your way up the ranks and defeat each person who holds a title. I can tell that there's something special about you, I'll tell the info broker to add your name to the list. What's your name chief?" my stutter chose to show itself at this time. "H…h…h…Herea…" my voice was rough… unused, and soft.
She seemed to giggle at this fact "how's the title 'Herea, the Unproven' sound?" I gave her a puzzled look "it's what you will be called within fights that you get caught up with, and as you build up a reputation your title will change, once word gets out, everyone will know to look out for you, some will come after you to show their strength, some of higher level will do it to make a point to the rats. Once I put out the notice to Charles you'll be on some people's list who get frequent updates from him, but you won't be seen as a threat. But, the more you prove yourself the more danger you'll be in. it's a trade off when ranking up. Rats, who are most of the people here, will leave you alone. But, the higher ups will notice you, the closer you get the more they will try to put you back at the bottom or at least stop you from taking their spot."
My head was spinning, It was a lot of information to take in. I knew most schools were like this, but I thought I could have gotten away with being at the bottom of the food chain. But I was targeted right off the bat so that route is out the window, now to go to plan B: become such a high rank in the social circle that no one messes with me.
"Oh and you'll need this." she hands me a blank card "it's an indicator for how strong you are, give it a second" it turned black in my hand, she gave me a shocked look. "W...what's w...wrong?" I asked in