I found a place in the crowd as thousands of hunters-to-be waked through the entrance gates and into Excalibur Academy's campus for the first time. The Academy was grand in every way, It boasted a twenty story mansion style layout with side areas such as training fields, portals ranging from ranks H to E, and the colosseum.
The colosseum was the arena that held tournaments, guild battles, and of course Ability Acquirement and the subsequent rankings ceremony. Because of the sheer amount of new students, which measured in the thousands, the line for the Ability Orb moved pretty quickly. It took a few hours but I could finally see the orb as my turn neared with every passing moment.
I fantasized about the ability that I would be granted, images off myself commanding fire or flying through the air ran rampant through my mind. My sister Helena had been granted an S rank ability in this very arena two years prior, while both of my parents were granted C rank abilities. I was brooding with confidence as most people fall into E rank and above and only the few and truly unfortunate fell in the latter three rankings that were considered useless.
My turn was getting closer and my expectations became more grand with every step I took. Finally it was my turn. I outstretched my hand towards the Ability Orb and firmly placed it atop the glowing blue sphere. It was an odd sensation, the metal was cool to the touch but it also felt alive somehow. After just a few moments, my vision was flooded with an enormous amount of information regarding my new ability. I scanned my brain for the new information and quickly found the name of my new amazing ability…Mist? While the name may have sounded lame, maybe the skills my ability was capable of sounded cooler.
I currently had two skills at my disposal:
1.) Mist Blanket: summon a 'blanket' of mist to cover a ten foot radius.
2.) Mist Ball: create a ball of mist that can be thrown at enemies.
What?
I stared at the orb, wondering if this was some kind of a joke. The description of my ability sounded worthless. I stood there staring at the orb for a few more moments before I was pushed aside by a guard. This was not supposed to happen, I was supposed to get a rank S ability just like Helena.
While we waited for everyone else to get their abilities, I grabbed a spot on a wall and sat down. I decided that I would try out my mist ball skill, concentrating on the information in my head that told me how to activate it. After a few seconds, a thin sphere was barely noticeable as it floated just above my hand. I stared at it and thought that maybe my ability was not as weak as I thought it was. As I sat there gazing at my gift, I noticed a pair of black sneakers stop just in front of me.
"So Mutt, is that your all mighty ability," Aldin asked with more of a smug grin than earlier.
I didn't even bother looking up as I said, "Don't you have friends to get back to, or do you have that much of a hard on for me today"?
In the next second I found myself being gripped around the throat by what looked to be a giant black gauntlet with deadly spikes for fingers. This was obviously Aldin's newly acquired ability, and it was dangerous. The metallic black material stretched all the way up to his shoulders, creating a strong offensive and defensive weapon.
"As you can see, I am clearly superior to you. If you cross me, I will plunge my arm into your chest and pull out your still beating heart," Aldin said with a look that dared me to say another word.
He let me go after that and walked away as he deactivated his skill and his arms returned to normal. I knew that it would be a really rough year if I did not receive a rank above E, so I decided to familiarize myself with the facets of my ability. In terms of combat power I was a big fat zero. I tried to sneakily launch a mist ball at a someone nearby but upon impact they had no reaction to it at all. I also used the mist blanket, it made everything around me disappear into a thick cloud. I couldn't hold it for very long as it took a considerable amount of energy to keep activated.
It was all but confirmed that I would be receiving a low ranking at this point. There was no need to feel sorry for myself or try to change fate, all I could do was wait until the ranking ceremony.
I was still sitting on the wall when I heard a commotion going on in the direction of the Ability Orb.
"No, let me try again, I can't get stuck with an ability like this…PLEASE LET ME GO AGAIN," yelled a girl with blonde hair as she tried to push past the guards to access the orb again. It was useless though as they picked her up and tossed her into my direction, she landed next to me with a thud.
"You got a weak ability too huh," I said, and flashed her an understanding smile.
"Not just weak, it is totally useless," the girl said.
"I know the feeling, my name is Jake Miller and I received the ability to summon mist," I said to her in a mocking tone.
"Heh, that is infinitely more useful than what I got, I can…glow. To be specific, I can emit a glowing light from my body using the energy that I have," she explained.
"Wow, aren't we a couple of charity cases," I said to her, remaining friendly with this new stranger.
"It looks that way Jake, by the way my name is Dana Pierce," she said.
I knew I needed a comrade by my side so I tuurned to her and said "Well Dana, I am no psychic, but something tells me that we may have to look out for each other from now on, are you okay with that?"
There was no hesitation, no pause, just a resounding yes as I assumed she was grateful to have a new friend who could relate to being an unlucky soul.
"Abilities have now been given out, all enrollment students please prepare yourselves for the ranking ceremony," said a booming voice over a speaker.
I knew what was coming, I had seen my sister do all of this just two years ago. The next test was to use our new abilities against a real monster…alone.