"What are the three of you doing out here?!" the young man asks as several other bolts of lightning leave the cloud and head in their direction. "You could get hurt by stray bolts of lightning, don't you know better?"
Before anyone can answer the guy, the other bolts of lightning land on the ground behind him, and four more people wearing academy uniforms walk out of them. Although the people have different charestics, they do all share one similarity, and that would be the fact that they have lightning swirling around them.
"Hey, why did you leave the group, Jason?" a boy with red hair asks as he steps forward, "You know we won't be able to pass the test without you,"
"Sorry, Indra. I just saw these three approaching the Nest, and was worried that if they got any closer they might get hurt," Jason says.
"Sorry, are we not supposed to approach the Nest?" Sydra asks, "We're not from around here, so we wouldn't know,"
"Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, if you guys get close to the Nest right now, you might attract a bolt of lightning in your direction, and I can promise that it wouldn't feel good," Jason says, several bolts slamming against the Nest all at once as if to prove his point.
"Jason, we should really get back now," A girl says, "We might not be able to pass Prof. Curtis's test if we don't,"
"My sister is right, why don't you come back to these people after the test is over," the boy next to the girl says.
Nodding his head, Jackson looks apologetically back at Sydra and the others, "If you guys wait here, I'll be right back. Then I can explain some things to you, and show you around the nest,"
"Alright, we'll wait here. Plus, it would be nice to have a guide," Sydra says.
Smiling, Jason turns back to the others, "Tila and Tio, the two of you go first, followed by Indra and Cho, and finally me,"
Following his directions, the five students turn into bolts of lightning one by one before shooting back into the storm clouds, the air crackling behind them.
"Did you notice Jason's bolt? It was at least the same size as all the others combined," Lucas says, his eyes gleaming as the clouds shook with thunder, "I wish I had a power as cool as lightning,"
"Oh, and what is your power?" Sydra asks, "Is it light, like your father's?"
"No, I can't do anything cool like that," Lucas says, looking embarrassed, "I have the ability to control sound within a certain area around me,"
Laughing, Sydra pats Lucas on the shoulder, "And what is wrong with that? I think that is a great power, and there is a lot you could do with it if you train it up,"
"Really?" Lucas asks, looking a bit happier at Sydra's encouragement, "Could you give me an example?"
As Sydra thinks about it, the clouds above them rumble louder than before, and a man's voice can be heard, "Alright, this is the last chance all of you have to prove you deserve to stay in the advanced class. I want the members of each group to work together to release the largest bolt of lightning you can and direct it towards your target areas. The group with the biggest bolt will receive a prize,"
As the man stopped speaking, everything went silent, and a foreboding aura filled the air around Thunder Nest. Looking up, the group noticed the clouds becoming darker as ten spots of lightning formed around the Nest.
"Looks like this will be the deciding factor for those students we met earlier," Sydra says, "We should probably cover our ears,"
Placing their hands over their ears, the group watched as ten pillars of lightning slammed into the Nest, with enough force generated to shake the ground miles around it. As the tremors come to a stop, loud cheers could be heard coming from within Thunder Nest, and the metal nest glowed with particles of lightning racing through them.
"That was amazing!" Lucas shouts, his heart thumping loudly from the impressive display of power.
"Haha, you should have seen what the graduates of last year's advanced class did. Now that was amazing,"
Turning around, the group finds Jason floating in the air behind them, his body still fizzling with sparks of lightning. As he lands on the ground, Sydra makes his way over to him and holds out his hand.
"My name is Sydra, and these are my two companions, Luke and Katrina," Sydra says as Lucas and Kayla bow behind him.
"It's nice to meet you all, my name is Jason, and I'm part of the advanced class at Thunder Nest Academy," Jason says, "And my teacher would like to meet you all if you have the time,"
"Meet us?" Sydra asks, "Why would he want to meet us?"
"Well, when he asked me why I left the testing area, I pointed you guys out to him, and for some reason, he got super excited," Jason says, "Then he asked me if I knew you, and if I would be willing to introduce him to you,"
"Although it is odd, I have no reason to say no, what about the two of you?" Sydra asks as Lucas and Kayla simply nod.
"Great, follow me then," Jason says, "I'll lead you all to Prof. Curtis before showing you around the Nest,"
The area around Thunder Nest was surprisingly full of plant life, most of which had something to do with lightning. Sending out his Root Echo, Sydra discovered a semi-rare plant hiding within some bushes.
"Hold on a second," Sydra says as he dives into the bush. A few seconds later he comes back out with the plant, carefully carrying it to make sure the roots stay completely intact. "This is a Sparkle Root, and it is useful to those who have Lightning auras,"
"What does it do?" Jason asks, intrigued by the idea of increasing his powers, "And are there any more around here?"
"I can't sense anymore, but if you create some tea using the leaves and roots of this plant you can raise your aura by ten percent," Sydra says as he hands the plant over to Jason. "But it only works once,"
Putting the plant away carefully, Jason continues leading them to the from gates of the Nest. Standing there are two guards, both with yellow wings on their backs. Seeing Jason, the guards smile and open the gates.
"Man, Jason, you're really giving us commoners something to look forward too," a guard says, "You're just as powerful as some of those novels,"
"Are these your friends? Feel free to enter the Nest, free of charge," the other guards says, allowing the group to pass through.
"Thanks, guys, I'll keep doing my best," Jason says as he leads Sydra and the others further in.
Although the outside of the kingdom is in the shape of a gigantic metal nest, the inside resembled more common scene places. Of course, there was one difference, at that was the entire place had wires running back and forth, providing electricity to the entire place.
'So they use the electricity generated by the lightning strikes to provide this place with power, instead of using runes,' Sydra thinks.
Heading down the street, the group approaches a large building in the center of the Nest. Just like the student's uniforms, the building is a mix between navy blue and black colors, and a lot of students are going in and out of it.
"This is Thunder Nest Academy, one of the top academy's, and very well known for training students that have lightning-based auras," Jason says proudly, "Being one of the advanced students, I live on the third floor, which is also where Prof. Curtis is waiting,"
As they head into the Academy, Sydra overhears many of the other students whispering to one another, most of which was about Jason. However, just because most of the whispers were praising Jason, some were not, and these comments came from students who had noble blood.
"As I'm sure you have heard, I'm not well liked among the nobles, and it's mostly because I'm of common birth. They don't like being shown up by someone they consider lesser," Jason says as he leads the others to the third floor.
"Hey, do you guys smell that? I think someone brought some crap up to the third floor again," a snarky voice says, coming from a boy with slicked-back hair, "Oh wait, it's just Jason,"
The guys surrounding the boy begin laughing, and a short one steps forward, "You shouldn't say things like that, Micheal. Jason can't help it if he smells like crap, you know that,"
Before they can make any more remarks, a door swings open and a fat, bald man walks out. Looking around, the man glares at the group as he releases a bit of his aura, causing them to go silent before noticing Jason.
"Ah, Jason, there you are. Did you manage to find...," As the man speaks he glances past Jason and notices Sydra, "You... You have the Divine Lightning?!"