Darium's feet were practically begging him to give up and sit down somewhere, but it would soon be his turn. He had been waiting in that infernal line for at least five hours.
'Did I really need to eat one extra sandwich?' thought Darium, as he believed that was the reason he had gotten there so late.
He had a gloomy look on his face. He had barely slept the previous night. Since he had turned sixteen a couple of weeks before, he had to be assigned a rank.
People above the age of sixteen had "ranks," which determined how powerful they were. The ranks ranged from "E," which was the weakest, to "SS," which was the strongest. Usually, people below B rank lived as regular civilians, and people with a higher rank were called "Pillars."
The "Pillars" fought and exterminated all sorts of mysterious magical creatures, keeping the rest of the world safe.
There were only four people left in front of Darium. He couldn't stay still, so he untied his long, black hair just so he could play with it.
After what seemed like an eternity, the guy in front of him came out of the big building in front of them, seemingly happy. Darium could hear the words "A rank" coming from him. He gulped. The higher his rank, the more powerful and rich he would be.
Suddenly, he heard his name. The guard was calling him in. Nervous, he entered the big building.
The inside was just a giant room, decorated with all sorts of statues and windows made out of colored glass. In the middle, there was a red carpet, and on both sides, there were a lot of chairs. It didn't look any different from a church, except at the end of the room, where there was an empty space with a blue orb in the middle of it.
A man stood next to it. He gestured for Darium to come closer. "Put your hand on the orb. It will be quick and painless," said the man, somewhat bored.
Darium did as instructed. He watched as the orb became brighter and brighter until it suddenly reverted back. He raised his hand to see a blue circle on his palm. It looked like a tattoo.
The man grunted. "An E rank... Alright, you can go."
The boy was stunned. 'An E rank?!'
"Didn't you hear me?" asked the man in a menacing tone. Darium had no choice. He held his head down in disappointment as he left the building. 'An E rank. That can't be!
There isn't a single E rank that has a good life!' thought the boy, ignoring everyone who was looking at him.
And he was right. Everyone was told as kids that an E rank is a disappointment to their whole bloodline, and E ranks were always seen as outcasts. Darium wondered what his parents would say.
It was getting dark. Darium lived in a small neighborhood, in a modest house. As he opened the door, the first thing he saw were his two younger brothers waiting for him.
He frowned. His brothers had always looked up to him, and there he was, an actual E rank. He rushed past them, completely ignoring them. He found his mom and dad in the kitchen, sitting at a table filled with delicious dishes, probably waiting for him.
He decided against hiding anything. "I am an E rank," he said before giving his parents time to say something.
The mood instantly darkened. His dad slowly stood up. His face didn't betray any emotion. "Go to your room. I give you a week before you disappear from here, so get ready," he said firmly. His mom didn't say anything, but Darium didn't wait for her to do so.
He immediately rushed to his room, which was on the second floor. He locked the door and started crying.
What had just happened? Was that stupid rank that important? What would he do next? Where could he go? All these questions were swirling in Darium's mind as he tried to hold himself from screaming and breaking something. 'This isn't fair!' He punched his desk as hard as he could.
That seemed to have slightly calmed him. He looked at his palm. The blue circle was emanating a faint light. He ran a finger across it, and suddenly, a projection appeared in front of him. It looked like a screen. It displayed some sort of stats.
Name: Darium
Age: 16
Rank: E
Subranks:
[Strength - E] 0/100
[Agility - E] 0/100
[Intelligence - C] 0/500
[Magic - N/A] 0/1
[Summoning - N/A] 0/1
Darium stared at the projection with a dumb look on his face. "What is this N/A nonsense? How low can it be to be unranked?" For some reason, he didn't have the energy to get angry, so he just continued studying his stats.
Skills: N/A
Innate Skills: Locked
True Ability: Locked
It seemed to Darium that he was no better than a pile of trash. 'Intelligence does not make up for strength or magic, does it?'
Usually, people would train for at least a decade just to rank up from E to D, and some would spend half their lives at best to ascend from D rank to C rank.
Darium felt hopeless.
He closed his eyes, hoping that it was all a dream.
The next day, Darium woke up later than usual. He checked his palm, and of course, the blue tattoo was still there. The boy sighed.
His parents were probably out with his brothers, since he couldn't hear anything from below. He went down to grab something to eat but noticed that the fridge was locked with a key.
"Seriously?!" yelled Darium as he punched the fridge, hurting his fist.
Out of nowhere, he heard a knock on the door. He quickly went to check who was outside, but he only found a letter.