One thing is undoubtedly true, and that is that all men are not created equal. Reality is sick and cruel. In this vast world, there exist extraordinary individuals with powers that transcend the boundaries of reality. These remarkable beings are commonly referred to as heroes, for they possess the capability to alter the course of the world. And then, there are individuals such as him, whose existence may seem ordinary in comparison. So ordinary in fact, one could call him powerless.
'This sucks.'
A small non-athletic looking boy with dirty looking clothes that though in nature seem quite proper seem to not have been washed in quite some time.
The boy sitting on a bench, his eyes gazing in the distance with a dull curtain over them as though he was deep in thought. His dark black hair swaying slightly in the wind.
"Hello, are you Ray?"
The boy regains his composure upon observing a man of considerable stature, attired in a well-fitted uniform, who appeared to be of a high social standing above him.
'I didn't even notice him walk over here'
"Who's asking?"
The man looks at him with a smile. From his expression, it was clear that he comprehended the boy's attitude, or at the very least, he acknowledged that the boy's predicament somewhat justified such conduct.
"No need to be so defensive."
He adjusts his tone to a more serious one.
"I've been sent to guide you to the academy, I know your family paid a lot of money to get you here."
He pauses for a moment.
"Try to be a bit positive."
The boy looks up at the man.
"How much do you know about me."
The man softens his gaze
"Only the basics of your predicament."
He pauses for a brief moment, as if he was trying to decide on the best way to deliver his next statement.
"I've heard that you are the first student in the school's history to apply for the hero course without having a directly combat-related ability, but I must say, your ability is truly intriguing."
He actually has multiple abilities. One of which is just a simple speed enhancing ability, it is only simple in concept, although he would like to keep this one a secret. The other ability is a self restorative ability which while in concept is a very strong ability to have it must be accompanied strong abilities with it, as a hero, The ability of self-regeneration can be a help just as much as it can be a curse. For one, it would make him much easier to be tortured for an indefinite amount of time, a reality he knew more than anyone else.
The man walks closer as though he wanted to make sure no one else heard what he was about to say.
"Furthermore, I've been told you have a reputation."
The boy's expression tensed.
"Trust me, if I got to choose the abilities I was granted, this wouldn't be it."
"If there is a god, he clearly has a sense of humor"
The man chuckles.
"I was told you were from the outskirts, but everyone on the planet knows that gods do exist."
Ray shrugged.
"I'll believe it when I see it."
The man smiles.
"You'll see soon enough."
The man checks his watch.
"Anyway, I think we should get going; orientation starts in half an hour."
The man stops in his tracks.
"oh, and I almost forgot, my name is Philip Gravesborne. Should you pass the entrance exams, I will be your primary instructor."
The boy seems surprised.
"Why would a professor from the most prestigious academy in the country be coming all the way out here to bring a kid from the outskirts."
Professor Gravesborne glanced back to Ray.
"As you should know your family has quite the history with our school, if one of their possible heirs were to get into trouble on the way to the capital we wouldn't hear the end of it."
Ray shrugged.
"Fair enough, although I'm not sure if they would care about my disappearance. That's the only reason they allowed me to go to the academy, they got tired of seeing me."
Ray stands up.
"But you're right, we should get going."
The man composes himself, then gestures his hand as to point towards the castle in the distance.
Ray looks at the direction the man is pointing in.
Even from such a far distance away, the castle is quite hard to ignore.
Professor Gravesborne looks at Ray.
"That shall be our destination, though I'm sure you already knew that."
Ray nods.
Some time passes and they find themselves approaching the academy, but as they approach the gates of the castle, Professor Gravesborne looks at Ray.
"Well this is as far as I go, I wish you luck."
Ray nods.
"Thank you, I'm told I'll need it."
Now alone, Ray opens the gate to find countless people standing in the courtyard. Most of the people standing in groups engaged in conversations.
The groups seem to be separated by class, closest to the gate you have the people that seem quite average these people don't come from very prestigious families, but It's not exactly cheap to go here, so they have to be somewhat well off.
The second group is in the middle of the courtyard around a beautifully constructed fountain. They are clearly the ones the most well off here with their designer clothes and fancy weapons, even then there are some of them that stand out even amongst them one in particular is a boy who despite his age seems quite sophisticated surrounded by people as though they all wanted to get as much time as possible with him.
The third and final group is small and to be honest you might not notice them if you weren't trying to. They are standing to the side of the courtyard under some trees, these people are the ones least well off, whether they are here because of scholarships or other reasons entirely they are quite lucky to be here.
Ray walks over to one of the trees, not wanting to draw any attention to himself as well as not wanting to converse with anyone at all.
Not doing anything, he finds himself drifting off and after some time he falls asleep.
A few moments later, Ray is woken up in a panic, the sound of trumpets echoing throughout the courtyard. His eyes wander for a few seconds before he notices a man standing in front of the castle, his mere presence silencing any and all conversations that were or would have been going on.
Or maybe it was the trumpets.
The man looks around.
"Come closer, children."
The masses gathering around the tall wooden doors focusing their eyes on the three men standing on the steps.
"I am the headmaster of this academy, my name is Vincent Silver, and the two people next to me are professors at this academy. To my left is professor Blackwell and to my right is professor Gravesborne."
This is the man who brought ray to the academy.
The Headmaster's gaze drifts.
"Quite the turnout we have this year, as you may know not all of you will pass, in fact most of you will most likely not, but don't let that discourage you."
Some of the students seemed to have been uneasy for a brief second, but that final comment was enough to keep them focused.
"Follow me, we don't have much time to waste."
The doors open.
"Inside you will find a woman with a clipboard, she is there to gauge your abilities before the exam, Think of this as the preliminary phase of the exam."
Ray, now standing at the front of the group, walks inside with the rest of the applicants, he stops to look around, the room is quite large, the walls decorated with paintings as well as several trophy cases.
Not caring about the scenery, Ray focuses his eye on the other side of the room at a woman dress in formal clothes, a dark blue skirt and a gray button-up shirt with a tie hanging down as she leans over to fix her shoes which are neat looking black heels.
Ray walks toward her.
"Are you the proctor that the Headmaster mentioned?"
She looks down at the young man.
"I am."
She looks behind Ray at the rest of the applicants and then claps her hand.
"Listen up because I won't be repeating myself. In the room behind me is a practice dummy designed to gauge your abilities. This test doesn't determine whether you will be allowed to take the rest of the exams, it is only to gauge the abilities of the applicants as a means to make a ranking of physical strength."
Ray tenses up, he feared something like this would happen.
She looks back at Ray.
"I suppose you will be the first."
'Oh shit.'
"What is your name."
Ray looks at the woman, his expression clearly holding some serious resolve.
"I am Ray Valric."
Her face becomes pale.
"I see."
Murmurs resound behind the young man.
Ray turns around to see many of the applicants whispering as if they were already gossiping about him.
'I suppose this was bound to happen.'
He turns back to the woman.
"Are you alright?"
She tries to regain her composure.
"Yes, I'm fine, I just didn't expect to see someone from your family this year. I'm sure you know your family's reputation."
Ray sighed.
"Fortunately, I am not like the rest of them."
He pauses for a moment.
"They made sure of it."
The woman's expression darkens.
"Shall we begin."
Ray nods.
She leads him into the room, then closes the door.
"You can begin whenever you are ready, the dummy is very durable so don't worry about breaking it just use your strongest attack."
Ray looks at her with an uneasy expression.
"Can I borrow a weapon?"
She smiles at him.
"Of course you can."
She then walks over to the side of the room where there seemed to be a keypad. She presses some buttons on the keypad, and then the wall opens.
The woman looks back at Ray.
"This is our school armory, you may borrow any weapon in here you desire. Furthermore, if you succeed in passing the exam, you can apply to have a weapon handcrafted for you."
Ray walks into the armory, not looking for anything specifically.
In the room is a variety of different weapons, from long swords to spears.
He walks around for a few moments, trying out some weapons to see how they feel, until he stumbles upon something that stands out, All the weapons in this room seem very expensive with golden hilts and gemstones imprinted in them, but this sword didn't even come with a scabbard, it was just wrapped in dirty white bandages. In general, it seemed very undesirable, but for some reason Ray was drawn to it.
Ray picks up the sword.
'What the hell'
As he picks it up the sword slightly glows, the light not bright enough for anyone else to see, not that anyone else would be in this room right?
Ray's eyes focus on the part that is glowing as he unwraps the bandages.
The sword itself, while not necessarily dirty, seemed obviously used with scratches all along the blade as if it was used in countless battles, and at the bottom of the blade where it meets the hilt there are two words glowing in what seems like a runic language but as he focuses his eyes the words change as if translating themselves to his language
Ray Gasps.
Where the two runic words just were it now says, in complete English, Ray Valric.
'What the hell.'
Before Ray could even be confused, his arm starts burning, and he drops the sword. But to his surprise it doesn't touch the floor, instead it just floats there in front of him and as the searing pain in his arm stops he looks at his arm at the words that were now imprinted on his arm as if they were a tattoo the words reading, "Blessed by he who wills it."
'This is just too confusing.'
Before he can regain his composure, a woman approaches him.
"What's taking you so long."
Ray looks at the woman.
"Oh sorry I found a weapon."
She looks at the sword in his hand.
"Are you sure you want that, it looks quite old."
Ray shrugged.
"I don't know, there's something charming about it."
She gives him a very confused look.
"Suit yourself."
Ray follows her out of the armory, and after she enters a code into the keypad, the wall closes.