THE SINGLE LIGHTNING ELEMENTAL MAGUS

Chapter 1: The All-Star competition commence…..

As the days towards the date for the competition gets closer and closer, my instincts to tell my parents have been getting stronger and stronger. I know I should tell my parents, but I know how they are going to react.

“What? You did what?” my mom would most likely say. “I am not letting you go anywhere near the All-Star competition. Over my dead body.”

My dad would probably say:

“My son, I love how you are taking what we told you since you were young, seriously, about the fact that you are always so serious and have no energy and you always look life-less and gloomy, but you didn’t have to take it that far. We don’t want you to think that the only way to make us happy is to go to your death, you do not have to sacrifice yourself for us, in fact, if those other countries decide to bombard us, let them, at least we’ll died together, instead of me watching you go to your death in front of the TV” my dad would probably say. “I will never allow such a thing, you are my one and only son”

Things would get really annoying if this happened, which is why I am using a messaging app I made that will automatically send a message to both of my parents’ phone, the moment I leave for the All-Star competition.

The All-Stars competition is well funded and will send transportation to take me there [or to be exact, the All-Star competition doesn’t like people getting cold feet, so they will send agents and military officer to make sure each participant shows up, of course they tell you when the transportation will be there, and they will come to your nearest location, and they give you 3 hours to show, or they’ll start looking for you.]

When the transportation arrived, I will sneak out of my house and go there, once I arrived at the meeting point, my computer [which is always connected to the internet and is always on] will send the message to my parents and other relatives as well as my acquaintances at school simultaneously [I am not sure my acquaintances would care much, since I only ever said hi and such to them, never really talked].

I made the app to send the message if I haven’t logged in my favorite website from directly my computer in 24 hours. Which mean, by the time I arrived at the meeting point, it would have been a good 24 hours before my parents realized what I have done, which will be enough time to leave the country and be on my way to the All-Star competition.

When I was signing up for the All-Star Competition, the application asked many questions such as your age, social-security, what country/island are you located in, the city, what your elemental Ability is, but since everyone can see those information except for your social security, for elemental ability I used the system’s: Surprise. Which is something the All-Star Competition system put for people that doesn’t want the other participants to know what their elementary magic is, it is a way to not get a disadvantage off the bat.

But there are many people that want others to know what their powers are and think with all their many different elemental magic, they are going to get famous and such, which is partly true, but that give the person a disadvantage.

I also know that some people just clearly lied about what their elementary abilities are, just so they don’t give anyone an advantage. But of course, at the start of the All-Star competition, every participant is tested to make sure they actually have elementary magic.

The administrators there at All-Star have a device that can detect magical energy that is radiated from anyone with elementary magic. Fortunately, the machine isn’t capable of knowing what elemental magic it is, it just detects whether you are a magician or not. I wouldn’t like to get special attention before I even start the competition. [I don’t like when people look at me, which is why I do not talk a lot, I also don’t like being in room full of people]

The All-Star competition have a wide variety of things I don’t like, being in a room full of people, all the attention from the media and so on. But even then, I am still going to do my best.

The next day:

I received a call from All-Star Competition, they said that my transportation will come three days from now, and to prepare any things I might need to go. They should arrive in three days and the meeting time is 10:30 am. They will bring a private magically imbue plane to pick me up. Back in the old days, when the All-Star competition just started, parents who love their kids so much and didn’t want them to participate so much, would go crazy and attack the plane that would pick up their child, because of that, the transportation planes are all magically imbue to strengthened its defense and offense.

My urge to tell my parents have become really strong, so strong, that one time at dinner, I almost brought it up, it took everything I have not to tell them, to give them a heads up. I know they will be worried about me, but what I am doing is for the greater good, sacrificing myself for the people I care about I have never been the caring for other people type, but if my life and those I care about are in danger, then, I’ll do what I can to save them.

Three days later:

It is the date of my transportation. I didn’t even need to marked the date on my calendar, since it was on TV. Every country’s participant is being transported. I know my parents, they are definitely going to use this time to check on the All-Star Championship website to check who is participating, I knew by 9 am, I would have already been caught by my parents, and they would do everything in their power to make sure that I don’t go.

So, the night before I told them I would be going to one of my friend’s house. It made my parents really happy since I never mentioned having friends before. I am not good at communicating my thoughts exactly, I am not a talker, so you might go a whole day without hearing me say a word. So, when I mentioned I would be having a sleep over, it made my parents happy. But the truth is, I am not going to any sleep over.

The moment you turned 14 you can reserve a room in a hotel, which is exactly what I did. So, last time, I packed a few of my stuff, and left home, with my parents being extremely happy. Little did they know by morning the next day, that smile will disappear completely.

The morning of my appointment, I woke up at 6 am and took a bath [I don’t know how long it could be before I can enjoy myself with a long bath and completely relax, for in the All-Star competition, there is no such thing as letting your guard down]. Afterwards, I quickly got myself dressed, and ate a well breakfast consisting of fried eggs, bread, bacon, strawberries, apple, and orange juice. Then the moment the time reached 8:50, I casually started making my way to the appointment building.

By now my parents have already started to check the list of participants who will be participating, since the deadline to apply is today at 8:15. Knowing my parents, they will be checking the list of top 10 most likely winners, and checking the data statistics of anyone who already participated on the last All-Star championship. My parents won’t check for participants for this island yet. [How do I know this? That’s because my parents are always doing the same thing every All-Stars. I have great observational skills, since I don’t talk much, I am always observing and watching everything]

So, it took an extra 30 minutes than I expected to arrive at the place, but it was still in my margin of error, so, it’s fine. I arrived early. It is now 10:00 am. I still have 30 minutes to spare. I arrived at the building, for the All-Stars. I push the front door open, and a lady receptionist started talking to me, and showing me around, and point me to the waiting area.

The building was mostly vacated except for the military personnel that are there. Since my island used to be part of a country, there was almost never anyone coming to the All-Star office in this city, since there would be other All-Stars offices across the country and all the people in the country could go to one of them, so, my island never really had that many people that participated in the All-Stars, we never needed to, we always relied on our main land country to do the dirty work.

After waiting for 15 minutes, a different woman came in, and started explaining where they were going to take me. They also check my I.D., my name, and check to make sure I have elemental magic, all in order to verify that I am the person I say I am, and that I am actually eligible to participate. This whole task was similar to what you would see in an airport, or when you enter a government office.

The woman was dressed in a professional attire, she had a big smile.

“But of course she has a big smile and she is even trying to get me to laugh” I thought sarcastically. “She is trying to ease the tension, to make it look like everything is going to be fine and that I am not going to have to kill people or even get kill. That it’s going to be a fun walk in the park”

The woman, still unsuccessfully trying to make me smile/laugh/ease the pressure, continue to explain the rules of what she calls the “fun game”, as if it was a sport and not a survival game.

“When you are fighting in the forest, make sure to look out for the lions, gorillas, apes, cheetah, we had a lot of causalities on the last All-Stars, I am sure you were watching the game last All-Stars. So, just make sure to pay attention.” Said the woman. “Also, when you are in the forest, it would be better to form a team, then as a group you can make a tent and one of you can keep guard, since after all, the forest competition doesn’t have a time limit, sometimes it takes two-three days, for everyone else to be defeated so that only 20 can move to the next challenge.”

“I understand, thank you for telling me” I said with a nervous tone.

“Ah, no reason to thank me, just doing my job, sweetie” said the woman with a kind sweet tone. “I hope the All-Star competition will give you what you want, money and status. Also, since you happen to be the only person in all of the three islands participating, the government (Well, what became of them anyway, since Ever since we became separated haven’t elected a president or anything, everyone was just confused and since our population in all three islands is just 10 thousand, no one wanted to rule it and everyone was scared and didn’t want to be hated to forced people to go to All-Stars) so, they decided whoever volunteer to participate in All-Stars would become the emperor of all three islands, well, of course if you survived.”

“What? They can do that?” I asked with a shocked expression. “I mean did they just take a vote on it, and why didn’t they tell everyone in the island about it?”

“because if they told people, then a lot of people would sing up for All-Star which would further bring our tiny population down. We couldn’t risk it, so we kept that information to ourselves. So, you have to survive, we need an emperor, someone to guide us, and by volunteering, you just happened to be that guy”

“What if I refused?” I asked. “I can just refuse, right, I mean, have you ever seen a fifteen-year-old kid ruling a country?”

“In ancient times, it wasn’t that uncommon” said the woman with a smile. “Also, you can’t refuse the offer, whether you like it or not, you will be the emperor and you will have to deal with all the messed up situations that this country is. In fact, it’s a miracle that we even lasted about 5 years without a King/Emperor or a president. Our economy is already broken, we have no national figure to speak of, all our mayors don’t show themselves anymore. If people in this whole island just didn’t show up for work, it wouldn’t have surprise me. It’s only a miracle all hell didn’t break loose, and everyone is pretending that everything is fine, even though, it’s not. So, yeah, you got to do this, and thank you for volunteering.”

“No, I am not sure that’s a good idea” I started to say, but it was too late, while we were talking, we were approaching the plane that would take me to the All-Star location to start the game.

“Good luck Lear-Bane, and if you were wondering, I think you would make a great emperor, I checked your information when you apply, you get good grades, you practice martial arts, even won 2nd place on the tournament, you are smart, you are a quiet kid that knows how to keep secrets, just like how you didn’t tell your parents that you were going to All-Stars, I think you will make a wonderful emperor”

“How do you know I didn’t tell my parents?” I asked, wondering how she knew.

“Because I just received a message that your parents are trying to get in this building and they are battling the security guards, trying to get you back. Don’t worry, normally someone would go to jail when they tried to take back their kids from going to All-Stars, but since you are the future for the islands, we will make an exception, of course you have to survive first.”

Then I got on the plane, the doors close. I took a seat in this beautifully well design planes [the kinds you only see in movies about some rich private plane guy] and I was asked what I wanted to eat or drink by the single flight attendant.

“Only a cup of water, please.” I said.

Finally, the All-Star competition is going to start. It’s going to be my first time putting my life in such dreaded danger, but if I do this, I am sure I’ll be able to do something my parents would be happy about. Something they could be proud of, something that’ll make me happy, and at the same time help this island.

After a one hour and 45-minute flight. The plane landed. I was shown what way to go by the flight attendant, and I made my way there. I arrived in a building that look small compared to the other buildings that were there, but clearly I must be wrong, since after I entered the building, I realized it was full with people. Those are all the people that will be participating in the All-Stars, and many of them are going to die, yet here they are thousands of people, ready to defeat one another in a game bordering next to life and death.

One of the 20 or so people standing all the way at the front in the stadium, then, using wind elemental magic, a spell known as wind amplification, started talking as normally as he would to someone next to him, but since he is using wind magic, his voice got amplified, and all of us could hear his voice as if he was standing next to us.

“Welcome ladies, and gentlemen, to All-Stars!!!!! Congratulations on volunteering for those that did, volunteering is always welcomed, and those that got sent here by their government, no reason to sweat anything, this is a game, yes, many people died, but just remember, all you have to say is “I give up” and let your opponent beat you up until you are no longer able to stand and can’t fight anymore. It is that easy to do, then, afterwards, a team will come and pick you up, but of course it may take an hour or two before we finally arrived at the scene to pick you up, so if any lions accidentally find you and eat you, just remember it was not our fault, stuff like that happened all the time.” Said the man, while removing a brand of his sliver hair blocking the sight of his right eye.

“Also, as you probably know, we will be handing out the ASD, the All-Star Devices to each and every one of you. Please make sure that there are not broken, even when you are fighting other opponents, you will be using those to contact us if you are giving up the championship. You can also contact us for food supply and health supply, but just remember, we only give those after you have defeated at least one opponent. The number of opponents defeated is the same number of supplies you get. Also, those supplies do not come in pairs, you have to decide which one you want, is it food/water or is it health medicine. For example, let’s say you defeated one opponent, then you request for supplies, you can only pick one. If you defeated two, you can of course ask for two different supplies, if you wish.”

“That’s how the game system works. Also, we only supply them only on the hours of 11 am -4 pm. So make sure to contact us as early as possible, since it might take an hour for the supply to get to you. And do not complain about the time it takes to get the supplies, we do not purposeful waste time, the forest/jungle is large, so it takes time. We can track you guys down via the embedded GPS trackers in the device. You can also use those devices to find opponents, but beware you can only do that once a day, so, I would only use that if I have to. And you can still other people’s supplies, that’s acceptable.”

“Any questions” asked the silver haired man.

I raised my hand, but since the room was full with people, and I am sure the person couldn’t see me, I had to yell.

“Yes I do!!!!” I yelled. “Can you tell us if just like the last All-Stars, we can make teams?”

“Yes, you can, we actually changed the rules a little, I was just about to get to that. On the previous All-Stars, people quickly formed teams, but there was a team that was 40 people, and things got a bit chaotic, so the rule is only up to 20 people, since twenty is the amount that can win the forest All-Stars. Also, any member of the team is allowed to kill another member at any time, on the last All-Stars, the groups had trouble “hurting their teammates”, so I am going to bring this up, only 20 winners, got that, you do not get disqualified or anything in the tournament, you can pretty much do what you want as long as you follow those basic rules”

“What about light during night time?” I asked again. “We are not going to be able to see, right?”

“Well, that’s your problem, people that have fire-elemental magic won’t have to worry about not seeing in the dark” said the silver haired man. “So, if any of you do not have questions, then, come on up and we will start giving you the ASD device. Oh, and as you can see when you activate the device, it has a map of the whole forest, be sure to study it, since it might save your life. Make sure you all get to know the device well, since the only thing you can trust is the device”

Then everyone started to quietly get in line to get the ASD device from the twenty people that were now sitting on a chair, with a table in front of them giving people the devices.

I got in line, and after a good 35 minutes of waiting and slow walking, I finally got my device. I turn it on, and a holographic projector appeared. I type my name on the holographic keyboard that appears and look around the menu of the device. I found the map application, and started to memorize the key points.

"OK, now that everyone is here and everyone have received a device, I want to say the last few things” said the brown haired woman standing behind the silver haired man. “As you probably know this is building area type A, this building is for those on the Eastern sides countries of the world, mostly from islands and small countries, which is why some of you are wondering where is that 'Death elemental magician' or whatever. The other buildings that you probably saw as you entered this building contain others from different countries of this world. We have a total of six buildings. All the buildings contain 5 thousand participants, making a total consisting of 30 thousand participants in this year’s All-Stars. This is actually an unprecedented record, usually we only get between 13-20 thousand. Each building type section will be sent to another area of the forest. If you check your map, you should see a blue dot on the map, it’s in the vicinity around that blue dot you will get drop shortly. Of course you can defeat your own building type group, since after all only 20 can win this forest All-Star."

“So, get ready, and start exiting this building, and entered the plane that’s in front of this building, it will drop you to the forest. And good luck” said the brown haired woman.

As everyone started to leave, not one voice could be heard, it was as if everyone’s will power have been destroyed. As if there was nothing they could do. Some people had panic expressions as they realize their death is near. Some people were crying, some people were trying to stay strong, but you could tell, things were about to get ugly, especially when considering those people with creepy happy expressions that make them look like some sort of psycho that love torturing and killing people.

We got on the plane that was there, and in about 30 minutes, we have arrived. The plane then landed in the big blue dot area that could see on the map, it looked like a plane section [you know places that are prepare for a plane to land]. We all got off the plane [of course there were others who didn’t want to leave the airplane and was making a scene, but they got forcefully removed with water-elemental magicians that were keeping an eye on us since the whole plane ride.

“OK, in about 15 minutes, a bell sound will ring, and the game will start, so run if you want, hide if you want, make teams if you want, just remember 20 or the game continues” yelled the brown haired woman as the plane starts to take flight and as the doors closes.

The moment I heard that, I started to run at full speed, I sent my electrical magic throughout my body to enhance my speed, I was moving so fast that I don’t think anyone could catch, and after running for miles to an area I found in the map, an area not too close to any of the other section dots in the map, the bell sound rang. And the All-Stars begin. Game Start.