Stalking Sam

While I was walking out from the school yard towards the gates, I saw Juliana again.

This time she was with her friends and they looked happy. Juliana was laughing along with them, probably to an inside joke, or some new event that had happened to one of them, and it looked like a great time to have friends.

But there wasn't anything truly special about it.

Nothing looked tempting enough to waste time not focusing on the future.

All it looked like was some fun.

I turned my head away from potential paradise, and restarted my walk home.

The day had turned out well, and there wasn't anything that could've really detracted from it.

The only potential bad thing was how I had a talent, and an unknown entity who seemed to be helpful.

I walked down the lonely streets of the rundown suburban neighborhood my school was based in, and couldn't help but think about what I could do from now on.

Life wasn't going to stop, so I needed to try to gain an upper hand against it.

To do that I needed to grasp my talent.

It was apparently a Green Grade which is good enough for battle in most cases, but how was I supposed to use mine?

It was vague, and that was after reading the data on the glasses.

That fact of the matter was that the paragraphs that I saw earlier were all useless.

They were just one dull paragraph repeated over and over again to be a cool distraction.

All it list was my talents name, and what it did

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Swarmkeeper.

A talent that seems to allow for the control over smaller species such as insects, or creatures that are ingrained into a pack/swarm, i.e., mice. The user is inexplicably linked to the swarm, yet that link seems to give control over the swarm to the Swarmkeeper. Some swarms have been a mixture of species culminating into one diverse community, but that seems to come with a weaker swarm. The reason has not yet been found.

In casual life the swarm can be an extra leg, or another pair of eyes, but that is all that has been recorded that would benefit the quality of the Swarmkeeper's life

In combat it has been observed as a ranged attacker who can use ranged weapons to cause meager damage, but with the help of the swarm it can cause huge amounts of damage to beasts at Magnitude 5 and lower. The swarm is a collection of small creatures, and they can do various things. In combat scenarios previous Swarmkeepers have used the swarm to track down foes, or gather information about the opposing forces. The swarm's origin is unknown, but the Swarmkeeper will eventually find one. The swarm can grow to sizes beyond imagination. The Swarmkeeper's strength, dexterity, and stamina seemed to increase with the size of the swarm. Along with the swarm the Swarmkeeper seems to be able to control some magic. Note Swarmkeeper magic isn't unique, and the strongest magic cast has been turning something into mist. Note: the mist did turn back into the original form. They also seem to have an uncanny skill for information gathering because the swarm can communicate with the Swarmkeeper.

To summarize Swarmkeeper is a strong Green talent with a wide variety of uses.

Battle: Back, Ranged

Utility: Combat/Scout

Rarity: Very Rare (Bladecorp's database has a very small record of Swarmkeeper abilities)

Rating: 6/10 (Useful for scouting, but Swarmkeepers are typically too fragile for any confrontation)

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Who the hell is this supposed to help?

It talks of all these great things, but it doesn't tell you how you can get them. How is a newly 

I had put the glasses away before I broke them because they seemed somewhat useful.

I crossed the street before any vehicles decided to barrel down, and continued down the sidewalk.

The orange trees in the prime of their growth cast a light shadow on me as I walked under them.

It felt like a nice blanket that helped stop skin cancer.

What the heck is a Disease System? I wondered.

I understood the "Disease" part because I had a phase where I wanted to be a doctor, but what the heck did it mean by system.

System typically means a set of rules, but even then I couldn't find a good explanations in my brain.

It also said that I couldn't steal the power of someone else, but also said that I could.

This 'system' is way to sketchy, I thought.

I made the final turn towards the small house my family left me, and noticed a man stoically blocking the entrance.

He was wearing a black suit and fedora.

It was Sam.

"Hello Zen," he cheerfully called out.

Sam had always given me mixed feelings. He was just a messenger, but even then he was a the bringer of bad news. Even after my Mother died he didn't really do anything. He only showed up, gave his condolences, and then left as if she never mattered

I got into my school on a scholarship, and that paid for everything I needed.

"Zen, we need to talk about your future," he calmly spoke.

I cut him off, "Nope, I am going to go to an Academy, and go from there."

I tried to brush past him, but he stopped me

I continued, "After that I will decide what I will do with my life, and that will be the educated decision I make after I consider all of my options, so let me through."

"You can't do that," Sam corrected, "You'll still need to pay the tuition fees for any academy."

"Even if you can get into the High ranked Academies, it doesn't mean you can pay them," he calmly reasoned, "I know you can pay for Low ranked Academies because they would obviously be giving you scholarships, but you know you can't pay the tens of millions required to attend anything High ranked.

"That doesn't even count the risk factor of going there," he continued.

"You should know that even in Low ranked Academies 10% of the students wind up dead," his voice started to rise a little, "30% of those in a High ranked Academy die, minimum."

"Think of your parents," he tried to reason, "They wouldn't want you to die just because you tried to go to an Academy."

"I did think about my parents, and that is why I am going to go to an academy," I said firmly.

"There is every reason to go to an Academy for my parents; additionally, my Father also went to an Academy," I countered, "He would've been a little scared, but I know he would be proud that I am following my dreams, and his footsteps."

"I know what you want me to do Sam," I asserted, "You want me to go work in the offices of the government because you think I am all brains."

"You know my Father was murdered by the Acno, and you expect me to just sit here with patience as we lose the war," I yelled.

"They tore my family apart, and you think I could be fine with just sitting here alone without any care in the world as everyone else loses everything," I started tearing up, "I can't just sit here while I know I can do something that could bring them peace."

"I even awakened a talent that can get me into a High ranked Academy, and you probably know that Bronzeheart Academy was the proctor for my class," I wiped away the tiny droplets, "You know how much this means to me, so don't try to stop me."

"I am going and that is because I know the risks," I tried once again to walk past him, and he gave way

"I guess that you could be here for me to be able to go to a Military academy, but you should know the Military is the next thing I hate," I desperately tried to shoot down any comeback.

He flinched a tiny bit, but he held his tongue.

I quickly walked through the doors, and he didn't try to stop me.

I moved my way through my house, and locked myself in my room.

The tissues on my desk cleaned up my face well, and I got back to work.

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Zen had always been an interesting kid.

He had a brilliant mind, and had loved as family.

Those are all expected, but what truly set him apart is how he reacted when he lost his father.

Nobody told him to man up, or to even try to be resilient, but he did it anyway.

He took care of mother without needing me to help.

I didn't have to anything.

When I did come over to check on things, the house was spotless, and he was at school, or there taking care of his Mother.

He didn't need anything other financial assistance which isn't bad considering he didn't have any means of securing money.

The amazing factor is he only asked for money once, and I gave him a small amount.

Not even enough to buy anything more than a week's worth of groceries, but he somehow didn't need money from that point on.

Turns out, he had gone to the stock market, and played very safe, but still made some massive money from it.

I don't know how he did it, or if he was still doing it, but I know damn well that we can't just let him go to anybody else.

This levelheadedness from a kid barely in Middle School was definitely way too valuable now because he had only grown up to be an excellent student. He maintained his stoic demeanor, and continued to be the most mature person in any room. He had fought any teenage angst until this very moment, but even then he was smarter than any of the other kids I had to see grow.

He was special, and I needed to take him to where he belonged.