Chapter 1: The Smell of Blood.
...
It was a peaceful morning in the city of Misth. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and... someone was getting beat to a pulp!?
Punch!
A massive punch landed on a boy's face.
"Try fighting back huh Thalor! You good for nothing trash!" A boy shouted.
Thalor just stared at the boy with indifferent eyes. He was already used to the constant bullying from these guys.
The reason for the constant bullying was the fact that Thalor Flamefeather was the weakest student in their academy.
Fifty years ago, the leaders of the five great kingdoms gave a decree that every child of fourteen years of age should be enrolled in the rookie academy before entering the hero academy at age 16, provided they pass the color test.
The color test is used to determine whether a child has spiritual energy or not.
The color test is performed with the aid of a magical orb which can measure the amount of spiritual energy a person has and represent it in colors.
These colors help to determine the rank you are in the rookie academy or anywhere in the world.
The colors and their ranks:
Green - F Rank - 50-100SE
Yellow - D rank - 100-150SE
Orange - C Rank - 150-200SE
Red - B Rank- 200-250SE
Silver - A Rank - 250-300SE
Gold - S Rank - 300SE - 500SE
Black – SS Rank - 500SE-800SE
White - SSS Rank - 800SE - infinity.
Every child who has awakened their spiritual energy should at least be F rank. But Thalor had a famous nickname. He was known as the rank F9 rookie.
He was called that because of his spiritual energy level. His spiritual energy was a mere 10. Even the magical orb ridiculed him by giving off a very faint color every time they did the color test.
Hence, he was subjected to bullying since he entered the Academy.
At first, he tried fighting back, but due to his low physical capabilities and lack of spiritual energy, he was just preventing the inevitable.
Soon after, he stopped fighting back and just took it in.
'What does it matter? They'll still come back to bully me.' Thalor thought.
"Are you done? I have to get to my village today. So if you could get off me that would be nice." Thalor said nonchalantly.
"Why you!" The boy punched Thalor again.
"You! How dare you disrespect the future, Duke Pierrew Larson!?" Another boy shouted.
"Trash like you shouldn't be living." Another boy shouted.
Thalor grinned. "That's rich coming from you." Thalor teased.
'Did he just insult me." The boy thought.
"Why you! I'm gonna make sure you can never walk to your worthless village." The boy said as he approached Thalor intending to make him pay.
Until...
"It's okay boys, he's had enough." A girl shouted in the distance.
"Huh? Who dares...!" Pierrew shouted but immediately shut his mouth.
'Why the heck is she here?' Pierrew lamented.
"Miss Ravenswood, what brings you here?" Pierrew said with a fake smile.
Claire Ravenswood, the only daughter of the governor of the city of Misth. She is one of the elites of the rookie academy so she's often given respect.
"Thalor, I was so worried about you." Claire just ignored Pierrew and ran straight to the injured Thalor.
"Ugh, look at your face. It's all bruises." Claire then turned her attention to Pierrew and his goons. "How many times have I told you three to stay away from him!?" Claire said in a cold tone.
The three of them shivered when they heard her tone.
So scary!
"Emm, I think it's time for us to take our leave." Pierrew said as he tried to escape.
"Leave!?" Claire shouted.
"After what you've done, you think you can just leave like that?! Not possible!" After Claire finished her statement, an aura of superiority started to emanate from her.
Suddenly, the clouds that were hovering above the Academy instantly turned black.
When Pierrew and his goons saw this, they were very frightened.
Even the people around the school shook their heads.
Which madman angered Miss Ravenswood?
"Please, Miss Ravenwood. We beg you, don't punish us." Pierrew panicked.
"Too late!" Claire said in a cold tone. "Lightning style: Lightning blitz!" Claire shouted.
At that instance, multiple lightning bolts flew from the sky toward Pierrew's direction.
Thud!
"Ahhhhhhh!" The boys screamed in pain as the lightning projected them far away from the academy.
After the attack, the clouds turned back to normal and everyone continued with what they were doing.
"Those guys." Claire said.
POV:
Miss Claire Ravenswood's power is the ability to control the weather but mostly the ability to control lightning
"Thanks, Claire, I owe you one." Thalor said with a smile.
Badump!
'Hey! Don't smile like that!' Claire thought with flushed cheeks.
"Huh? Claire, are you alright? Your face is red." Thalor said.
"I-It's n-nothing. Anyway, let's get you fixed up." said Claire.
Miss Claire took Thalor back to the academy to get healed up.
"This is the third time this week you are coming here Thalor!" Shouted Mrs Blaine. Mrs. Blaine is the highest-ranked healer in the academy who works at the Healing Bay.
"It's not my fault I'm so weak" said Thalor with a swollen face and a disappointed low tone.
"It's fine let's get you healed up." said Mrs. Blaine.
Mrs Blaine placed her hands close to Thalor's bruises, then a green light shone from her hand which caused Thalor's wound to start healing at an incredible speed.
"Wow Mrs Blaine, your healing ability is really convenient, It's just so wonderful and fast" Thalor praised Mrs Blaine.
"She won't have to use her ability if you'd just waited for me here like I told you." Claire chastised.
"I saw them picking on D-rank rookie so I tried to help." Thalor explained.
"You tried to help?! With your power level?! What do you think could have happened if I hadn't come on time?! You could have been seriously injured." Claire reprimanded.
"I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention for it to turn out like this. I'll return the favor." Thalor said solemnly.
"Whatever. Anyway, I am going to follow you back to your village." Claire said.
"Huh?"
"You said you'll return the favor. I want to follow you to your village." Claire requested.
"Okay, but are you sure you want to follow me? My village isn't anything special. You might be disappointed"
"I don't care about that. I just want to see where you grew up. And probably meet your parents." Claire said with slightly red cheeks.
"Well okay. If you say so. Come on, it's getting dark. " Thalor said as he walked away. By this time, Mrs. Blaine had already healed his body.
"H-Hey! Wait up!"
...
Ahead of a muddy pathway, a village could be seen in the distance.
"That's my village. We're almost there." Thalor said as he pointed to his village.
"Huh? Are the villagers celebrating something?" Claire asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Look, there's smoke coming from the village."
"What?"
Thalor looked closely and noticed that there was smoke coming from different parts of the village.
Then, Thalor realized something.
Something was wrong.
"Claire! Come on!" Thalor increased his pace and started running.
"Wait what!?" Claire followed suit.
As they got closer to the village, Thalor could smell a strong scent. A strong scent that shouldn't be malodorous around here.
The smell of Blood.
Thalor quickened pace in fear. He hoped that it was just animal blood and that nothing was wrong with the village.
But that wasn't the case.
When Thalot got to the village entrance, his pupils constricted in shock as he stared at his surroundings.
'Why is there a human head at the gate?'