I shot up in an instant, instinct and years of training guiding my body as I quickly remove my combat knife hidden under my pillow. I swing at the presence beside my bed in a single fluid motion.

With a thump the other half of the knife sticks in the floor point first. I look up into the eyes of my greatest personal terror...my angry grandma.

I glanced up just in time to see the hidden blade being reconcealed in her cane.

You've started the morning bright and early with a healthy bit of accidental attempted murder of your Grandma!

+400xp

...sometimes I really wonder if the universe has a sense of humor.

"Now then if morning games are out of the way I believe your aunt would like to have breakfast together before you head off to your first day of school."

I hop out of bed and carefully try to pull the other half of my knife out of the floor.

"And this was a Christmas present from her too."

Eventually giving up as the knife was thoroughly embedded in the floor. I walk into my closet to begin changing.

Inside is a full length mirror on the far wall. I pause for a moment to look at the reflection. For just a shadow of a second I see a gaunt nine year old, eyes like dirtied emeralds looking at the world as if watching paint dry.

And just as quickly he was gone. Instead there stood a 6 foot 1 inch seventeen year old with black hair grown long enough to touch his shoulder, emerald eyes that saw right through you, and a lean, chiseled frame.

Scars big and small dot my torso and legs although the most prominent one ran along my right cheek.

Some came from a childhood best left forgotten, others from years of making sure that said childhood doesn't happen again.

Stretching I dismiss my lingering thoughts and pull on my favorite clothes which consist of a pair of combat boots, jeans, a white muscle shirt and a black jacket.

I rush down the hall before they start eating without me. I can tell I made it just in time as I see my uncle Raj with a piece of toast still in his mouth reaching for the plate in front of the only empty chair.

"Nice try uncle Raj why don't you try stealing from one of the ladies plates at least they have a fighting chance?"

Uncle Raj chomps down the rest of his toast before shaking his head pityingly at me.

"Oh my dear, sweet, naive nephew I do it to only you for that exact reason...that and you are the only one who won't literally take my hand off."

I smile as aunt Natalie with a kind smile on her place and eyes on her phone casually reach out and twists my uncles ear.

Almost immediately he falls off his chair, his skinny 6 foot 5 frame hitting the floor with what looks like exaggerated pain.

I know better. The only person scarier than aunt Natalie is Grandma. Who has been calmly eating her scrambled eggs this whole time.

"Oh don't be such a baby Rajesh Sturner, Natalie could easily heal a severed hand in a few minutes."

Unsurprisingly uncle Raj didn't exactly seem comforted by her words.

Sitting down I begin eating while uncle Raj gets back in his seat

After a few minutes aunt Natalie sets her phone down and meets my eyes with a sunny smile.

"So Dimitri let you off for the week since it's your first time going to school, how nice of him, I should go by and thank him."

I smile a bit forcefully as I pictured Aunt Natalie showing up at my construction job only to find the whole lot empty.

No one wanted to be near her after old Joey tried to take a swing at me as Aunt Natalie came walking around the corner...let's just say he has good health insurance.

"Really, it's okay Aunt Nat besides I'm pretty sure Dimitri is out of town for the week, he must have put Jeff in charge while he is gone."

Aunt Nat frowned a little but let it go after a moment.

We finished the rest of our breakfast in peace with only uncle Raj occasionally complaining about his ear although that stopped after aunt Nat gave him a kiss and whispered something in his ear.

After that he was all sunshine and rainbows for the rest of the meal.

You have consumed a hearty breakfast with your loving family

+200xp

"Thanks for the delicious food as always aunt Nat I should probably get going, I still need to talk to dean Rivers before I go to class."

I stand and begin making my way to the garage when Grandma reaches out a wrinkled hand and touches my arm.

I stop immediately and turn to look at her. I had made the mistake of ignoring that gentle hand when I was a little boy. Let's just say I learned my lesson.

Grandma looks up at me with a glowing smile on her face.

"Now you have a good first day Riley and if anyone gives you trouble..."

The temperature in the room suddenly drops, aunt Nat's smile grows a little wider and uncle Raj's eyes change for a brief moment.

"...well you just let us know okay?"

I smile reminding myself that I'm lucky to have such a great family.

"Sure thing Grandma just don't break a hip trying to get up the school stairs."

I bolted a second later, uncle Raj's laughter following me until the sound of something hitting the floor interrupted him, likely his butt.

With a smile on my face I pull my keys off the hook and plug them into the ignition of my baby.

With a loud pur I start up my Yamaha yzf r6 and roll out of the open garage door.

Man do I love having a wealthy family. I decide not to wear the helmet since I'm going slow enough that the wind won't really bother my eyes much.

I'm not worried about protecting my head either since I have a way to shield myself without the helmet.

For a moment my mind turns back to the day that I hit Level Two, probably one of the proudest moments of my life.

Unfortunately I now had lost time to make up for which means that while everyone else my age had hit Level Five I was stuck at Level Four and therefore I was unable to summon my Avatar.

Nobody knows what their Avatar is before Level Five but at every level you gain new abilities that hint at it.

For example my ability to create a layer of bone armor over my body. It is very tough but I can't cover my whole body with it either.

My guess is that will change when I hit Level Five. I also gained two more abilities when I hit Levels Three and Four. On top of my overall abilities increasing.

Lost in my thoughts I almost didn't notice as I turned the next corner and caught sight of my new school, or should I say my first school.

The place was massive and well organized the three story main building and all the others around it were surrounded by a high wall on all sides.

The only entrance lay in the front of the building next to the schools parking lot. To be honest I wonder why they didn't include the parking lot inside of the building.

But then again I was just a part time laborer at a construction site so I wasn't exactly an expert on building planning.

Slowing down to school zone speeds I got in line behind all the other nice insanely expensive cars moving in and out of the parking lot.

Oh yeah I kinda forgot this was a super rich or famous people only kind of private school.

While thinking about pretty pointless things I finally manage to make it into the parking lot where a surprising number of parking spots remain open.

Choosing one at random I turn into it before cutting the ignition. I hop off the bike and begin to make my way into the school.

Suddenly an unnecessarily loud horn blared out right behind me. A voice quickly followed it.

"GET YOUR STUPID LITTLE BICYCLE OUTTA MY FUCKING PARKING SPOT YOU STUPID FRESHMEN!"

I turn around to see some dumbass poking his out the window of a nice looking Mercedes Benz.

I hold the idiots eye for a long moment before turning around and walking in the direction of the school entrance.

For a moment I almost thought he would just back down. I was proven wrong when a second later the sound of squealing tires filled my ears.

My head snapped around just as the front of his Mercedes entered the parking space. An inch away from my baby.

The world slowed to a crawl. No one.Fucked.With.My.Baby.

The sound of glass breaking and metal bending filled the parking lot attracting the attention of all the passing students in the area that weren't already watching the spectacle.

What they saw was the crumpled hood of a Mercedes benz folded around a REALLY pissed off Riley Sturner.

Black armor covered my right arm up to my shoulder and a pair of black greaves also covered my legs to absorb the impact.

Purple-black miasma drifted of my body like steam. And I know my eyes were glowing like emerald fire. (aunt Nats words not mine)

The idiots expensive sunglasses fell right off his face. To his credit though he recovered in a second and hopped out of the ruined car.

Marble seemingly replaced his skin up to his neck and his body seemed to get a few inches taller.

He opened his mouth probably about to say something else stupid when a dull thud interrupted him.

Like a tree his body crashed to the ground. Behind him stood a decrepit skeleton. In its hands clutched a decrepit sword and tattered leather shield.

The skeleton looked at me with its hollow eyes before bowing and turning into that purple black miasma.

You've taught a stupid punk the valuable lesson of not running over the guy with armor

+670xp

"Idiot should learn to cover his damn head."

A slow clap began right behind me. So close I could smell the cologne of whoever it belonged to. It smelled pretty nice real high quality stuff.

My fist whipped around held tight to my body. Whoever they were I couldn't kick from such a short distance so a tight left uppercut would do.

I completed my turn my fist whipping out without any wasted movement. A moment last my fist impacted an immovable wall.

In other words the mans hand. A very well dressed man with combed back blue tinged hair smiled at me charmingly while casually holding my fist with one hand.

"My apologies Mr.Sturner I was so impressed by that display of skill that I forgot myself for a moment."

The man stepped back while letting go of my fist. I only just now noticed that it was really starting to hurt.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself, I am the dean of this modest institute of learning Alfred Rivers."

I froze. Great not even my first day and I knocked somebody out and tried to do the same to the dean.

Rivers apparently noticed my apprehension as a calming smile graced his features. Before I even knew it I was already calming down. The apprehension a distant memory.

"There is no need to worry we understand and even encourage your right to use your Avatar abilities especially to settle your own differences the cost to repair anything broken always falls to the school so long as it's done on school grounds."

I breath a sigh of relief. I can't believe Grandma didn't tell me this, its's probably her idea of a prank.

Dean Rivers upon seeing that I have calmed down gestures toward the school for me.

"No need to worry about young Oliver here some nurses are already on their way, both his head and his car will be as good as new by second period, now I believe I should tell you a bit about your classes before I let you go start your first day here at broad river academy."

I follow him as we walk towards the school entrance. I wonder for probably not the last time if going to this school is really such a good idea.