Roses and A Letter

The world brightened as his heavy eyelids opened widely, he sat up quickly panicking around the room in the end breathing a sigh of relief. The body and blood on the ground have all disappeared. He feared that they were still there and had been discovered by his father or the butler, but they had all vanished mysteriously which sent another shiver up Alivium's spine. 

*Ding* 

His eyes darted to his phone where the texter infamous texter had greeted him. 

''Good moewning sleepy head. ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ'' 

He looked down at the phone in disbelief, in his head gods were meant to be more dignified and have an air of royalty about them. This one seemed more like a teenage girl trying to toy around with those who were beneath her, but he was a bit thankful to her for giving him the opportunity to take down his bully.

''No need to thank me yet, there are plenty of other bullies in the world you will have to take down. Plus you will prove to be entertaining to me so I don't mind investing a few stat points into you. ᕙ(`▿´)ᕗ''

Alivium looked around the room for any sign that she had broken into the home, she must've been the one to clean up the blood he thought. In the corner of his eye, he spotted a bouquet that must've been taller than him, dyed in crimson-coloured roses and a small letter sitting at the base of it all. He slowly got out of bed, tip-toeing towards the newly erected garden in his room where he picked up the letter and ripped it open. 

It read the following: 

Dear Alivium,

This is an invitation to the banquet of gods, you have been selected among many others to participate under your invited god. We hope you will wear your best suit as you will accompany your assorted god to the coronation ceremony. Food and beverage will be provided so you mustn't bring anything with you except a gift as an offering to your all mighty.

Refusal to comply will result in automatic death.

We hope to see you on December 25th of next year young one.

''What''

''The''

''Fuck!?!''

*Ding*

''Wassup kid? Are you illiterate? ^⇀ﻌ↼^ฅ''

''Wassup?! Don't tell me you signed me up for this bullshit? What the hell even is this?!''

*Ding*

''I guess you are, no wonder you are so bad at school. Well the basic of it is that you will be accompanying me to the banquet of gods where you will compete against other candidates and try to win glory for your 'god'. Makes sense? ≧◠ᴥ◠≦✊''

Alivium switched to his calendar app and scrolled all the way too December 25th where he wrote down. ''Kidnapping''

*Ding*

''Heyy~ now it isn't kidnapping. We are just forcibly taking you to an unknown place to force you to do unsavoury things. That's all huney. （っ＾▿＾）''

He sighed deeply before starting to get changed into his school uniform, quickly he realised that it no longer fit him so snuggly, Alivium always bought clothes a slight bit larger to be comfortable but these seemed to not fit tightly against his form. He hurried to the mirror before he starred passionately at his own reflection. Alivium touched his face with caution, barely recognising the person in front of his eyes, it made it fully sink in that what happened yesterday really hit him. But he didn't get stressed this time. He felt an odd emotion, it was confidence.

He finished tidying himself up and ran through the front door of the apartment, running as fast as he could towards the elevator. He present the very bottom button and doors closed behind him, despite repeatedly adjusting the straps on his back he couldn't find a way for it to be comfortable. Alivium gave up and decided to wrap it around his arm, the books seemed weightless comparing to before he unlocked the stat points. His body felt more energetic than ever before, it was like a rush of never ending adrenaline.

The elevator doors opened up, several security guards spotting him and stopping Alivium before he could leave the building. 

''Hey there, who are you? Do you have your ID on you?''

Alivium scrambled to take out the plastic ID card he was constantly told to carry in cases where it was necessary to flash it. The guards snatched it straight out of his now thick hand. He patiently waited as the security guards peeked over the card to him and back to the card repeatedly. 

''Hmmm I dunno. You look a bit different on your ID Mr Alivium.'' 

For some reason he really liked being addressed as Mr, it felt like the respect he had never received before. His cheeks even beginning to get rosier, but he had to explain himself somehow before he gets into bigger trouble.

''Ah well, you see...I got some plastic surgery done.'' He nodded his head rapidly to try and hide his terrible lie, but the cops simply shrugged as they weren't paid enough to care. He handed back the ID and allowed Alivium to bolt through the front door towards the school. His legs carried him faster than ever before, he could almost keep up with the cars on the road, though they had speed laws imposed on them so it wasn't a fair comparison.

The school gates came just into view and he noticed the Sports Teacher standing out front with a kendo sword slapping against his palm. It was that time of the month again. The fitness checks for the upcoming hero recruitment were a thing that happened on the monthly as the school was among the top in the country. Normally he would score at the bottom with the exception of some kids who have seen less daylight than someone who was blind.

He stopped behind the long line of students who were being inspected for their uniform, anyone who didn't conform to wearing it properly was given ten laps to run around the ten-kilometre school campus. Not exactly something that could be done by just anyone, so if you fail it he would give you a series of other exercises with the same intensity which you were never able to finish and miss all of your class. Meaning you received extra punishment from other teachers.

''ID?''

Alivium handed the plastic card to the sports teacher who took his time inspecting it, normally he would wear glasses but he must've forgotten them at home. Without them he looked like a monkey trying to read English, squinting until he just gave and looked at the picture. 

''Ah Alivium, let us see that uniform!'' He was long-sighted so while he couldn't see anything close to him, he made them stand several metres back when inspecting the uniforms. His eyes wandered up and down Alivium's uniform, looking for anything that would give him laps to do.

''Say, aren't you a little taller than usual? And did you start using some facial cream? You look like a girl HAHA.'' He laughed at Alivium while slapping his knee, deep inside Alivium wanted to slap the annoying PE teacher but he held it in. 

''I'm just fuckin with you, get in before you are late!''

As he walked towards the school entrance on the conveyor belt, he could hear distant laughing from the haughty teacher. If the morning was this annoying Alivium feared for what he would have to put up with later when the exams were taking place. 

He stepped through the front door, instantly being hit with a blast of air unbefitting of the warm air outside. It wasn't even cold out and they were blasting the heaters like hell, where they get their budget no one knew. The management must be a bunch of old cold men who are shivering in their office. 

A small stand sat at near the reception with two girls handing out fliers decorated with several colours and patterns he couldn't make out from where he was standing. But *something* was making him go and ask them for one. He puffed out his chest and wandered towards them with his newly acquired looks. Alivium lost all composure as he realised just how pretty the girls were, one of them wearing a short skirt barely reaching her knees, brown hair that glowed under the fluorescent light and eyes emerald green. She seemed offaly familiar to him like he had seen her somewhere before. The other was dressed from head to toe in a black latex suit with a whip attached to her side, her face much more sour than her partner's. Each handed out flyers with a different tactics.

''Uhm, H-Hello!''

''Hii, are you here to try out for our agency?'' Spoke the brown-haired girl, handing a flyer to Alivium.

''Or are you here to ogle at us you sorry excuse of a human.'' She cracked her whip which seemingly teleported to her hand. He couldn't even spot her movement. He felt completely outclassed by them. But he remembered from where he saw them, they were the rising stars at the Bastion Agency. Not a day would go by when you wouldn't see their face on the cover accompanying a top hero. They were among the top sidekicks in the country.

''I will do my best to prove my worth!''

''Looking forward to it hihi.'' His heart melted at the giggle of the brown-haired girl.

*Ding*

He took out his phone to see a message from the mysterious texter.

''Don't get so high and mighty because you look a bit better now alright fuck face. Stay loyal to your god.''

''Pfft. Haha'' Alivium couldn't contain his laughter at the seemingly jealous god.

''How about you give me a new mission at today's evaluation, that way I can grow for that silly banquet of yours.''

A few seconds passed before a second notification came through.

''Fuck you.''