Today was officially my first day at Golden Sierra. For every first-year student, the first day is dedicated to giving us a starting rank. We demonstrate our powers, while a machine measures it by total power input. Based on that, the machine will give us a rank amongst the thousands of students at Golden Sierra. We were all given gym clothes to wear since none of us had any. We were all seated in the gym when the teachers walked in.

“Alright everybody, silence please.” Mrs. Tyler, the homeroom teacher for class 1-C, called out.

Gradually, the gymnasium went quiet. Mr. Collins spoke.

“Alright students, as we mentioned to you all yesterday, today we’ll be measuring the total power input of your abilities from this machine here.” He pointed at the other side of the gym.

The machine he was pointing to looked very much like those test your strength games you’d play at carnivals. You know those machines that you had to hit a pressure plate with a hammer as hard as you could so a metal object would go up in hopes that you’d ring that bell.

Well, the measuring device we had was a tad different. To start we didn’t have the famed hammer. And instead of having those markers that would poke fun at your strength with titles like you need to work out, not even close or what are you? A child? Instead, they were replaced with the possible rankings of E, D, C, B, A, and S.

“Now, this machine has been fitted with detectors, which will detect and review your power output.” Mr. Collins continued. “These detectors will the procced to give you your rank. Any questions before we begin?”

No student raised their hand.

“Good. Now we’ll start with students from class 1-D.”

As student by student of class 1-D went up and tried their powers against the machine, most of them scored pretty low in the rankings. The highest was a C rank. Class 1-C was almost the same, except there were a lot more C ranks then the previous group.

“If this keeps up, we’ll just breeze right through the competition.” Cel whispered into my ear.

“Didn’t you listen to your homeroom teacher? Ranking and grades are separate. They could be C rank, but still, whip butt if they know how to use their arts. You also have to take into account the students from years 2 and 3.” I whispered back.

“No I didn’t hear from my teacher, I was with the headmistress and you for the whole day idiot.”

“Oh.”

I looked with keen interest at the students that demonstrated their powers. This was information, highly valuable information, which could be used at a later date. Soon enough it was time for class 1-B, Celestia’s class.

“Wish me luck.” She said, giving my hand a firm squeeze.

Her classmates took their turns, waiting to let loose their skills. One after the other they went up, showing their skill and given a rank. This was the class that started to have a lot of variety in the students. There were Necromancers, Warlocks and Cardinals, all second grade arts.

I grinned to myself. “Finally, some promising people.”

Celestia was next in line. She closed her eyes and concentrated. At her feet, little fires burst onto the scene, flickering. She opened her eyes.

“Wait, that’s it?” A student behind me asked.

“That’s so lame.”

“Twerp is gonna get her butt handed to her.” Trevor Hans, a student in my class sneered. It was only the second day we were at school and he was already the resident first year bully.

I stared at Celestia, silently praying she was pulling all of our legs and just pranking us. Surprise, surprise, she was, and I felt stupid falling for it. She extended her right arm out, snapping her fingers. Immediately, those small embers at her feet erupted like a volcano. They grew bigger and bigger, taller and taller. The flames circled around her, effectively causing a fire tornado. The students and teachers backed away from her to avoid becoming fried human, we weren’t tasty.

The fires eventually died out, with only Celestia in the middle of the gym, grinning like any good pyromaniac should grin. The display beside the ranking machine was rapidly flashing a letter: B. she was the second highest in her class, after somebody called Daniel May, who got a B+. My class was next. We all lined up, awaiting our turn. Celestia passed me, and we gave each other a high five. I was a bit nervous now, after seeing all the great different arts class 1-B had offered, but I was also pumped full of adrenaline. One by one, my fellow first-year classmates went, getting their rank, while I was raking my brain trying to think of a skill to demonstrate. I first thought of showing off my Transcendental Chaos, but I quickly shot that down. That was my trump card per say. If I showed it, people could find ways to defend themselves from it.

“Elenore Magnus, you’re up next.” Mr. Collins told me.

“Right away sir.”

Crap, crap, crap! It was my turn and I still didn’t know what to demonstrate and I could feel everyone’s beady, laser pointer eyes targeting me. I bit my lip like I always do when I’m under lots of pressure. At this point, I was pretty sure my poor brain was steaming from overthinking. Then I got it! I’d show them something fearful. I extended both of my arms in front of me and started to chant:

“I call you forward, knight of unyielding darkness, and soldier of chaos. Rise from the pit, weapon and shield in hand, to serve me and destroy my enemies. Come forth, chaos guardian, Dusk Templar!”

A magic circle appeared in front of me. Dark, gloomy mist seeped out of the circle. It continued to leak out until the entire gymnasium was filled to the brim with mist so dark, I couldn’t even see five centimeters in front of me. People were coughing behind me, probably also trying to swat the mist away but to no avail. When it eventually dissipated, a huge chunk of black metal replaced the summoning circle. It shifted and groaned, moving and lifting itself up, until it was about 10 feet tall. Its armor was all black; gauntlets, breastplate, greaves, helmet, shield and weapon, dammit. The helmet took the shape of a skull, with piercing, glowing red eyes, looming inside the helmet. The sword was a giant buster sword strapped on its back, with a whopping 6 foot tall shield in hand.

“Show me your power, Dusk Templar!” I commanded.

In a rapid motion, it yanked its sword off its back, whirling it around and thrusted it into the gymnasium floor. The tremendous impact of the sword slicing into the floor like butter, causing everyone, me included to be blown back off our feet. A crevasse emerged from the initial impact of the blow, quickly spreading through the gym. Many students ran out of the gym, wanting to understandably not wanting to be swallowed up by the crevasse.

Ok, I admit I may have gone overboard. Was there a more sensible skill I could’ve used? Yes. Was there a less destructive skill I could’ve used? Yes. Do I regret my decision? Hell no!

“Begone guardian, for you service is no longer required.” I told the knight, which evaporated back into mist, and vanished.

At the back of the gym Mr. Collins, nervously cleared his throat. “Urm, well then, this will conclude today’s morning classes. All of you have acquired your starting ranks. You can now be challenged by other student, and issue challenges of your own. Be sure to attend your afternoon classes. Now can we get someone to fix the gym?”

I started to make my way to the ranking machine, to know what my rank was, but before I could, someone grabbed my arm, pulling me out of the gym.

“Elenore Magnus, I have business with you.” He said.