"We are here, sir," a hoarse voice with a hint of tiredness said to me from the front of the carriage. I stirred awake, paid the driver, then got out. I was greeted with warm sunlight.
Standing in front of a wide entrance, I took in the sight—me, a young black-haired boy with brown eyes, towering above my peers and even adults. I always stood out around normal people in my hometown because of my handsome face, but compared to where I currently was, I looked plain—even though I was dressed the best I ever had: a long black trench coat with a split front, black trousers, and boots. No crest or symbol to represent my family, because I had none. Most people here effortlessly outshone me.
This is the biggest academy in the realm—Lyceum. There are scores of academies scattered across the realm, but this is where all the students of each academy graduate from. An academy made for people like me: Rousers.
Rousers are beings with supernatural abilities. Each Rouser has a unique ability solely for them. And there is a rank for them. Those who graduate are called Rousers and are at the lowest rank, E.
Today is the day I graduate from the academy. I walked toward the entrance with a wide smile on my face.
"Custos!" a young boy with curly blonde hair and black eyes approached me. He is shorter than I am, but people might think he is stronger because of his bulky build. He wore a yellow linen top with an intricate design in front; his pants were blue. His bright smile showed how happy he was. He is my close friend from the academy we came from. His name is Charles. "You are awfully late. What happened on the way?"
"Well, nothing really happened." I said while scratching the back of my head. Nothing did happen; I was just so excited that I couldn't sleep well until morning, which made me late.
There was a roaring crowd up front, so I asked, "What is happening?"
Charles looked toward the crowd. "The princess of House Crimson is here, so they say."
"Oh really? I always wanted to see her up close!" I ran toward the crowd, squeezing through the people. I couldn't get to the front, but thanks to my height, I could still see her.
There on the pavement leading to the hall stood a stunning young girl with red eyes and hair. Her skin was smooth like the sculpture of a master artisan's finest masterpiece. Her hair was styled with two bangs at the back, though it was clearly long. She wasn't petite, yet not too big. She was almost my height. Her eyes were sharp and fiery, but her face was calm, and her smile soothing—even though it wasn't completely genuine. I've seen a lot of beautiful girls and women in my sixteen years of life, yet I could say this was the most beautiful I had ever seen. I even found it hard to breathe for a moment while mesmerized by her beauty. She was truly dazzling amidst the crowd. Most Rousers were always more beautiful or handsome than the typical human, but this girl was in a class of her own. She wore a plain red dress with the house Crimson crest on it.
Charles finally made it to my side.
"She's the definition of breath-taking. I found it hard to breathe for a couple of moments," I told him.
Charles snorted. "I can't see her." So I lifted him with one arm.
"I told you to stop lifting me like that!" he complained while struggling but I ignored him.
After seeing the princess, Charles calmed down. He too was in awe. "She's really beautiful. I see why people are going crazy."
"I wish I could get close to her," I said as I dropped him.
Charles seemed to drift into deep thought and asked, "Do you think a nobody like me can get close to her if I become her slave?"
I thought for a while then said "That doesn't sound like a bad idea, but we should wait."
"Why?" Charles asked, confused.
"Because there might be more exquisite girls to come. Some might already be inside." I grinned. 'I feel like today is about to become the best day of my life. Well, it already is, but it's going to get better.'
"You made a valid point."
A calm feminine voice came from behind us.
We both looked back with confusion on our faces. Then she said, "What? I also love beautiful girls. In fact, I'd like to become the slave of one."
Charles and I sized her up at the same time thinking she was some ordinary girl.
The girl was anything but ordinary—in fact, she was truly stunning. It was like the universe purposely brought her here to confirm my previous thought. 'This girl might even be competing with the princess of the house Crimson in beauty!'
She was as tall as Charles, with short black hair and emerald-green eyes. She wore glasses—Rousers didn't need those except in special cases. She had on a sleeveless plain black gown with a white belt, along with black gloves reaching all the way to her elbows. A choker with a gem-like stone rested at her neck.
Charles looked calm on the outside, but he was really flustered and tense. He doesn't have much experience with girls, despite loving them so much. A girl this pretty talking to him was a lot to handle.
I looked toward him and told him to compose himself. He whispered heavily, "Why is she talking to us? Wait—scratch that. Is she okay in the head?"
"Doesn't seem so."I replied calmly.
A slender hand touched Charles on the back. "What's wrong with him?"
Charles slowly turned back at her, then spoke softly, "You are so pretty I could die."
I snorted, and when she looked up, my face was already calm again.
She smiled at Charles. "Thanks for the compliment. You're not bad yourself."
"Do you want to give him a nosebleed?" I asked jokingly.
"What? He can handle himself perfectly. Right...?" She looked curiously toward him.
"Charles," he said, trying to act composed. "And yes, I can perfectly handle myself."
I whispered, "Your heart is pounding faster than how Serbia can beat his drum." Serbia was our academy drummer, but unfortunately he couldn't graduate with us.
Charles elbowed me, and I groaned slightly.
The girl looked up at me. "Do you think I am unattractive?"
"No. Why would I think that?" She looked doubtful, so I added, "I do find you undeniably attractive. You and the princess of the house Crimson are both up there."
"That is such a nice compliment—to be compared to my to-be master. Why did you snort when he called me pretty, then?"
"If you knew the context of that moment, you'd want to laugh too."
At that moment, a loud voice boomed around us: "Everyone can come in now! It's time to begin the event!"
I looked confused. "Have all the important guests come?"
"I said you were late, dimwit." Charles replied.
"Oh well, we'll get to see them inside."
I turned to the girl. "What is your name, milady?"
She smiled. "Chara. My name is Chara."
"Shall we go have some fun, Chara?"
"How much fun can you have?"
"More than you, I presume."
We walked toward the hall together.
Charles, still dazed, came to me and whispered, "She might be my soulmate."
I looked at him, perplexed, then realized what he meant. "No idiot, It's just a coincidence."
"Shall we do this?" I asked, looking at the elegant door in front of us.
"No, we shall not," Charles replied as he lifted a clenched fist. I met his fist with mine.
"Can I join in on that too?" Chara asked.
We both extended our fists, and she met ours with hers. Then we stepped inside the hall.
At the entrance of the hall stood two individuals encased in robes. We couldn't tell their feature, they looked really shady.
One of them pointed toward us. "I found another two. How many more to go?" It was a male voice.
A female voice answered, "Three more to go."
The male-voiced one looked at us. "See you guys later. Hopefully you won't break."
Then they left, leaving us confused and somewhat scared.
"Who are those?" Charles asked.
Chara answered calmly, "They are probably the recruiters."
"Recruiters are supposed to look shady like that?" I asked.
"Well, you don't need to worry. They can't do anything to us here. Let's just enjoy today." Chara said, trying to ease the tension.
"Can't let a bunch of suspicious people ruin the day now," I said, trying to act tough.
Then we moved inside.
The hall was incredibly big, there was a stairway on each side of the room each leading upwards to the same place. There was someone on each stairway guiding people up.
'I am guessing that's for the important guests, it sure looks fancy'
I couldn't go up there but after seeing the princess of house crimson going up there it wasn't hard to guess.
And the place for commoners like us was below. There's also a stairway that goes down. On each stairs is a row of chairs. There's around 15 stairs each row having at least fifty seats on each side.
"Where do we sit?" Charles asked.
"Let's sit at the top row." Chara replied
I looked at the top row and asked "Why is that?"
"So we can look down on the other students of course"
"I like that" Charles was the one who spoke this time.
And so we all approached the top row and sat the ending of the row on the left. The right one was almost filled.
Chara sat at the direct ending Charles sat next to her while I sat next to Charles.
In front of all the sits was a massive stage. It was big enough to fill all the graduates.
The three of us started talking about who might be the prettiest girl as we wait for the event to start.
After a few minutes of waiting, a man came on stage. I couldn't discern his appearance because of how far away we were.
'Charles could probably see him'
Charles ability is heightened senses. He is also able to reduce the sense of an opponent. It'll be a deadly power if he becomes a saint.
Rousers each had an hierarchy system the lowest being Rousers then nascent to exalter to hyper to paramount also known as saints after that are the outliers, demigods which are sacrosanct and seraph at the top of it is a god, celestial which only belongs to one person, the man I'm trying to surpass, the hero and god of this world, Alfred Elion. From Rousers to saint is rank E to A. So to make it easy to understand for non Rousers.
"Who is that?" Charles sensed I was taking to him.
He looked towards the man and said "He seems to be in his thirties, he's most likely a hyper."
The man's voice then resonated within the hall "Good day ladies and gentlemen, I am your host for tonight,oscric mournhald, I am here to congratulate our graduates on behalf of the realm. As you know your exams ended and each of you here are the only ones to graduate and we have ranked all of you. As some of you may know today is not only for you to graduate it's also where each representative from every squad comes to recruit you. Everyone here is guaranteed to join a squad but the higher your rank the higher the benefits. If you are approached by at least 2 squad you are free to choose whichever you want. And no one can't decide to choose neither."
'That is a way to confine us to the realm' I quickly guessed their intention.
He knew fairly about this but his ambition is beyond this realm so he was going to decline joining any squad but looks like he doesn't have much of a choice here. 'Maybe it isn't so bad, if I become a saint then maybe I can leave. Moreover the squad comes with benefits. The best one will be experience and incentives they give for missions, there will also be limitations.'
Oscric words kept resonating through the enchanted speakers "Before I announce the rankings let me tell you guys a common story about the beginning of us Rousers. All of you would know the common one. Ten thousand years ago a meteor crashed on our planet killing millions but the meteor didn't come alone it came with monster and a blessing to Humans who became Rousers, the monsters attacked and killed humans. Humans resisted naturally but it wasn't enough. Rousers couldn't fight the monsters openly because they were labelled as monsters too. So they were fighting two battles. At least some of them were. Some rousers got drunk on power and started killing humans too. Akashic then made a proposal to the government to allow him round up the good rousers to fight against the monsters and those who are truly monsters. With cooperation between humans and akashic as the leader of Rousers we finally subdued the monsters and those who are truly monsters. I am sure most of you have heard about those who are truly monsters. The reason I am telling you this is to warn not to become a monster just because you are fighting against monsters. It is not so uncommon to lose oneself in our world. You only not need to be strong physically but also mentally and emotionally. The strongest people are not those who are able to kill any monsters or anyone but those who remained themselves no matter the challenges they faced, someone who could not be bent by the world could someday bend the world. I do hope and pray to lord elion that you all become great Rousers someday."
A round of applause resounded through the hall to appreciate oscric speech and advice. After the applause died down, some type of paper appeared in oscric hands. Then he addressed us again "Shall we begin the rankings. The top 10 students will come on stage here."
Of course the story about akashic deeds didn't stop there it went on to how he united the world making it so humans and Rousers could live happily together. Some even got married. Akashic started being revered to as a god even though he wasn't one. One day akashic disappeared, no one knew where he went, he was just gone. And so ended the deeds of akashic, the god who of humans and Rousers.
'Someone who could not be bent by the world could someday bend the world...wonder if I could bend the world someday'
The rankings are about to start. I paid utmost attention to it.
"I am going to Start at the top of the rankings. At the top we have kairi...uhm....there seems to be no last name."
At that moment the front door burst opened with 3 people rolling down the stairs. Everyone shifted their attention to them. They finally came to stop at the middle of the stairway. A boy stood up while the guards were still on the ground "I am Kairi without a last name." A skinny boy whose hair is a long blue hair which was really rough came forward. He was looking haggard which was weird considering what today was. His clothes were really tattered and dirty. But he's Very handsome. The type of guy girls will die for. "They didn't want me to come in cause of how I looked and I apologize to them that this is the best cloth I had at the moment." The boy has an innocent smile on his face "I heard my name, am I going to be rich?"
"Oh, he's actually that strong." Chara said beside me.
I looked at her "You know him?"
"Sure do, he came to my academy few years back saying he's an hermit in need of money, Our instructor allowed him to enrol in the school that he will be rich soon. Though I rarely met him."
"Why?"
"Personal reasons."
I looked back at Kairi with confusion. 'I am sure everyone here is also confused. This is so weird. There is a lot of prominent student here from different houses and yet a tattered boy like this was at the top?'
One of the guards stood up and said "We are sorry for interrupting the event, we'll kick him out now."
The guards were mortal. No one really need guards here but it was just for show.
"No it's alright you can both return to your post." Oscric told the guards. They both went back
Then oscric looked back at kairi with confusion "How can we be sure that you are not lying?"
"Each ability is unique to its owner, why not check my ability? I am sure some people here knows what my ability is. If I display it then I'll be telling the truth" The boy said calmly.
"You are right, then show that ability of yours" oscric told him.
There are some people who knows everyone ability but it's not something they tell anyone. Moreover it's going to be hard for a rouser to imitate another person's ability except if their ability is imitation itself.
The boy raised his hand towards oscric and fired a lightning bolt at oscric. The lightning dispersed before hitting oscric.
"Were you trying to attack me?" Oscric looked at kairi without a hint of annoyance.
"I was just showing you my ability." The boy while looking around as if looking for something "I am hungry when do we eat?"
"A banquet will be made for you shortly if you can wait here for some moment" oscric replied while pointing to beside him gesturing the boy to come.
"Ah right, I can wait. Thank you so much mister." The boy said happily then moved towards the stage.
"Wait at my back while I continue my rankings." Oscric ordered the boy.
There were murmurs spreading throughout the hall.
The murmuring stopped when someone from above, in the VIP lounge stood up then said angrily "Sir Oscric, are you joking with us, how could you readily allow that boy at the top without proper testing. Are you saying a trash like that is better than all of us?"
"I myself confirmed that he is the Kairi, no need to worry Julian. If you still doubt my judgement, you are not strong enough to go against it." Oscric looked at the list in front of him then said "Oh by the way, you are number two, Julian the prince of house Francis."
The boy jumped down from the VIP lounge. He was looking muscular even more than Charles, wearing a black embroidered tailcoat with gold patterns. He had a brooch representing his house. He has brown hair and fierce brown eyes. He had a sheathed sword around his waist. He came to the stage with an annoyed look on his face but you could tell by his elegant appearance and demeanour that he's of blue blood. He walked past oscric and looked at Kairi with a look of disgust.
Kairi tried acting friendly towards him but he angrily looked at Kairi which made him to stop.
"Next on the list is custos stark."
I stood up in complete shock "You mean me?!"
"Is there anyone else bearing custos stark among everyone here?"
Charles stood up to hug me "You did well, but you are still weak. Imagine being topped by a tattered boy." I laughed and his joke when chara also congratulated me too. I walked up to the stage with a lot of eyes on me wondering which commoner is this. Another murmur erupted. I greeted oscric whose aura was really strong. 'Charles was right he's a hyper, I probably wouldn't hold a candle against him.' I stood beside Julian.
I was so shocked. 'I was initially aiming for top 100 but guess I did better than expected.'
Kairi was the one who broke my thoughts "Congratulations, Also what are we being ranked for?"
Julian heard his question and was about to punch him then I stopped him then told him "He wasn't here during the announcement, be calm." He slow lowered his his hand and said to me "Don't you dare touch me you commoner." I was about to retort him then Kairi came in front of me
"I am sorry for my ignorance, I am sorry on his behalf too or is it on my behalf, doesn't really matter I'm truly sorry."
"I am sorry though," I said looking at Julian. "The heir of a prominent house being topped by a tattered boy." I repeated Charles joke but it wasn't so funny to Julian.
Julian looked really pissed now "Let all this be done, I will kill both of you."
"What is it you are trying to say, custos stark?" that question came from behind me.
'what is with girls talking from behind me today?'
At my back is the princess of house crimson. I quickly kneeled with a knee and bow my head towards her "I am sorry princess, that insult was only meant for him."
Kairi looking confused at my back did the same gesture I did too. "Who is she?"he whispered.
'This guy is really clueless'
I whispered back "I am just joking around you don't need to do what I do too, also the ranking is about the strongest graduates and you are the number 1 act like it."
"Oh..." He seems surprised himself.
The princess of house crimson looked at me with a hint of....creepiness? "What are you doing?"
I stood up and dusted my knee "Sorry I was just joking around, I didn't know they called up the next person."
"Is that why you knelt down?" she asked with the same look of creepiness.
"It is kind of a joke, you see me and two of my friends will like to be your sla- friend." I replied
"I am not allowed to have friends sorry." Then she looked away as if saying I shouldn't bother her.
'What does that even mean?' I let her be for the time being. Another person already came in. After a while 10 people including oscric making it 11 were on stage. The princess of house crimson is the only girl on the podium. I and Kairi were the only commoners. I could tell the rest was from different houses from their outfits and crest, brooch or whatever they use to represent their house.
Oscric then raised his hands towards us and looked up to the crowd "Behold people, these are our future," he then looked at us "A new generation begins with you. Be sure to lead it well. You can go have fun."
We all smiled at the people. Some of us waved.
"Finally, where do we go to eat?" Kairi asked.
"Go back there, they are waiting for you." Oscric replied then looked towards the students up front "The rest of the list will the pasted on the screen for you lot to see where you rank. You guys will be rewarded accordingly."
'Who's they?' I wanted to asked but Kairi asked again "Is our reward going to be lots of money?"
"You'll receive a lot more than money." Oscric smiled at him.
We all moved towards the back stage there was a big table in front filled with different kinds of food and there were 5 seats on each side of the table numbered from one to ten. There was also an occupied seat at the top of the table, it was being occupied by a red haired woman with black eyes, she was in an elegant black dress, she wore an expensive necklace with a gem hanging down, she welcomed us. She was emanating a strong aura that pressed down on all of us. She wasn't hostile towards us and we were already dripping with cold sweats. When I say 'we' I mean me and Kairi the rest of them were feeling the pressure but it seems like they were already used to it they didn't show much discomfort. Then she smiled at us "Welcome, I'm Isabella. Seat according to your number."
"I think this meal might be my last." Kairi whispered to me.