Chapter 1 - Welcome To Phoenix Forest

The sound of the moving tires of the car against the graveled road filled Corbin's empty mind as he stared into thin air through the transparent car window. The driver, an old man in a formal suit, took a glance at him through his front-view mirror and frowned. 

"Do you… know where you are going? Sir?" He asked for the billionth time. Hoping Corbin wouldn't ignore him again.

Corbin's lips twitched and he muttered, "No."

"Well, you are going to the prestigious Phoenix Forest!" the driver declared enthusiastically however, Corbin was not impressed.

"There's nothing prestigious about Phoenix Forest. It's just a school for delinquents with rich parents…as I heard of course."

The driver's smile disappeared. They arrived at a large magnificent black gate with the symbol of a red bird-like creature engraved at the center of the gate. Behind the gate was a grand white building with a white masculine marble sculpture of an angel holding a sword downwards as the wings spread proudly. 

Due to the temporary inertia in his legs, Corbin had to get out of the car with the help of the driver. Two bald men in black suits with black spectacles approached the duo. The driver walked a few feet away from Corbin with the men and conversed for a while. Afterward, the driver came back to Corbin with a wide, sad smile.

"Be good now… young master." 

With that, fresh red blood splashed over Corbin's emotionless face as he watched the headless body of his driver collapse to the ground. Corbin focused on the suited man placing his handgun back in his holster. The other man approached him and removed his spectacles, two unnaturally dazzling deep blue eyes staring at him intensively.

"Corbin Wingston, my name is Holden and my friend there is Samstine. We apologize for making you see such an act." He handed him a white towel to clean the blood splattered all over his body but Corbin did not accept it. Expecting such a reaction, he simply chuckled and retracted his hand. "But of course, you are used to seeing this."

"Why did you kill him?" Corbin inquired.

"Phoenix Forest is a highly protected place." Samstine walked towards them and removed his spectacles revealing a pair of glowing blood-red eyes. "Whoever comes here… doesn't go back. Your butler was aware of this rule and yet he still volunteered to bring you here. Usually, we order a convicted criminal to pick new students up however, he wanted to spend time with you, saying that his life was over already so there's no need to send someone else."

Corbin was perplexed. Since when did he have a butler? His memories were currently clouded. He only had one account of an event in his mind and that was of him sitting in a beautiful garden with his parents talking to him about Phoenix Forest and even that one was still unclear. Did he lose his memory? Why is he even here in the first place? Why didn't he feel any sort of emotion when his alleged butler's brain was blown out? 

He was led into the building with Holden and Samstine. There, he witnessed a magnificent hallway brewing with students dressed in expensive-looking uniforms. As he passed by them, he noticed that every student had glowing eyes. Some were red, blue, orange, purple, brown, and many more. As he glanced at the students passing by, he noticed that the students wore armbands. On this armband, there were stars. Some students had one star, others had two, and he saw a few with three stars. He figured it symbolized the class they were in.

"You are right. The stars represent the stage they are in," Holden commented, snapping Corbin out of his inner conversation with himself. Corbin suddenly paused and stared at Holden. His face was still expressionless as usual however on the inside, he was confused. Did he speak loudly unknowingly? How did he know what he thinking? "Umm… you're thinking too loudly." Holden giggled, "I can read minds, as long as they are weaker than or of the same caliber as me of course. That's my power." 

"Power?" Corbin was confused. Wasn't this a school for delinquents? How and why does everyone have glowing eyes? How and why are they able to harness supernatural abilities? It didn't make sense.

"It seems a lot of things are on your mind, Kiddo." Samstine chimed in, "Don't worry, your orientation will come up shortly." Samstine patted him on the back cheerfully but Corbin responded with a look of disdain. 

They finally stopped at the entrance of a room and Holden knocked and entered the room, leaving Samstine and Corbin momentarily. Corbin could hear Holden conversing with someone, probably a woman judging by the tone of the voice. Samstine turned his attention to Corbin and grinned.

"Holden is informing the first-year students' leader about your arrival." Corbin did not respond and stared at the door seemingly in deep thought, not paying heed to anything Samstine was saying however the bald middle-aged man kept talking. "Wanna know my power?" He said with a gleam in his blood-red eyes. Corbin darted his eyes at Samstine. That seemed to have gotten his attention. "I can manipulate heat." He gestured as the temperature around them rose significantly. Beads of sweat formed around Corbin's head and he simply nodded as a sign of amazement. "That's not all, by absorbing heat from the atmosphere, I can lower the temperature of the surrounding area." He gestured downwards and Corbin noticed the chill temperature around him. 

Samstine reverted the temperature to normal and looked at Corbin. "Now, why did I tell you all of this? Because when I first came here, I thought the only thing I was good at was heating the bathtub," he giggled softly, "I didn't want to become a cook or whatever that weak skill could make me succeed in. Thus, I trained day and night, and now look, I can freeze or roast an entire town to death if I ever felt like it." He paused for a moment, hoping no one heard what he just said. "Bottom line is, very soon, you'll be able to identify your ability and I wanna encourage you not to fret if it seems useless at first. You can make it work with anything. I promise."

Suddenly, Holden popped out of the room and gave a thumbs up, "You're good now. Get in."

In the office of the first-year students' leader, Corbin noticed a desk filled with towers of sheets. The background was covered with pictures of sexy, anthropomorphic cats. However, the leader was nowhere to be seen. In the seat, there was only a little Bengal cat with glowing orange eyes. It wore a white cowboy hat designed with a red phoenix symbol and the body was covered with a raiment with the tail exposed. The cat jumped off the seat and approached Corbin and stood on its two feet.

"Good morning, Corbin Wingston, my name is Bongo, your batch leader." He stretched out his tiny paws to Corbin. Corbin sighed and bent down to shake the cat. "Great," Bongo jumped back to his seat and gestured to the seat opposite him, "Shall we start your orientation?"

There were a few misconceptions about Phoenix Forest. To the general public, it was an institution meant to rehabilitate delinquent rich kids however that was not true. It was an institution meant to nurture Spectaculars; individuals who were able to manifest supernatural abilities to make them stronger to fight for the greater good. Unfortunately, the world government considered them a threat to humanity and sought to exterminate them thus, they identified themselves as a school for the rehabilitation of delinquents and issued a large entrance fee to prevent any average individual from enrolling their ward in. 

"Now, you are here because you have been identified as a Spectacular although it seems you are still too weak to activate it voluntarily." Bongo continued, "Do you know what it is? Would you like to tell me?"

Corbin shook his head, "I don't recall manifesting any sort of supernatural power."

Bongo frowned and grabbed a clear crystal orb from his top desk drawer. "Place your hand on the orb. It identifies your power by peering into your soul."

Corbin stared at the orb and slowly pulled his hand toward it. Once he touched it, the orb became cloudy and shook violently. Bongo stared in shock. That's not how the orb worked. Even if he didn't have any powers, the orb would've remained irresponsive. Was it a malfunction?

"Corbin! Remove your hand!" Bongo exclaimed as he jumped out of his seat. Once Corbin removed his right hand from the mystical object, it exploded into numerous pieces, with a shard cutting a thin piece of flesh off Corbin's backhand. He didn't flinch or wince in pain. He simply watched as the blood flowed down to the floor. 

"Corbin…" Bongo stared at the mysterious boy intensively. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about it," Corbin grabbed a ply of tissue and pressed it against the wound. "I'll be fine." 

Bongo forced a smile to hide his shock, "Okay, for now, go for lunch." He took out a piece of paper containing a map and handed it to Corbin, "Take this map and use it to find the break hall. When you are done eating you can go to your dorm. Your items are already there. The housekeeper will lead you to your room once you identify yourself."

Corbin took the map and scrutinized it. Content, he nodded and made his way out of the office and to the Break Hall but Bongo stopped him. 

"Ah, I almost forgot." He went into a room and came out with a fresh black uniform with a star on the armband. "Welcome to Phoenix Forest."

Approximately twenty minutes after changing into his official uniform, Corbin finally arrived at the Break Hall and analyzed the massive room fit for royalty. There was only one long table filled with students evenly and appropriately spaced out to provide comfort as they ate. The architectural design was not the only thing impressive about the Break Hall, the cuisine was equally as if not more splendid. Servers dressed in pleasant attires with poised expressions as they served sumptuous meals to the students. The students thanked them as they proceeded to dine into the meal. 

Corbin found a seat at the end of the table and sat down quietly. A server came to him and placed a splendid dish that he had never seen in his life on his table; however, Corbin rejected it by shaking his head. The server nodded and took the meal away. A young, attractive lady across the table spotted him and her eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Oh my god, you haven't awakened yet?" she walked up to him, grabbing a seat opposite him. Corbin darted his eyes at her dismissively.

"Yes…and?" Corbin was not in the mood. Right now the only thing that was on his mind was his lost memories. Why is he even here with these freaks? Does he even have powers? Maybe there was a mistake? What exactly happened?

"Wow, you're a rare case." She nodded, "Mostly, students are fully awakened before they are found by the school. How were you found?"

"I don't know myself. My memory is still hazy." Corbin rubbed his eyes.

"I see…ah, where are my manners?" She knocked her head jokingly, "I'm Ayla Grace."

"Corbin Wingston…I think"

Ayla giggled and her blue eyes gleamed. Corbin realized that her eyes did not have the same glow as the other students. They looked normal, like his own.

"Are you… like me?" Corbin asked curiously. 

"Hmm? Oh…my eyes. Unlike most of the students here, I have the ability the power to control the activation of my power. I can turn it off or on whenever I like. 

Corbin's attention went straight to her armband and noticed three stars. When Holden talked about the stats representing the stages they were in, he probably meant how powerful they were. Corbin couldn't even use his power if he had one that is, so it was obvious he would have one star.

"But hey, there's a guy like you, Ayla stated. "He hasn't been able to activate his powers even though he's been in the school for over a year and so I think he feels left out. Would you like to meet him? Maybe…you guys could be friends?"

"No thanks," Corbin rejected instantly, not even giving it a thought. 

Ayla sighed disappointedly. She was about to say something when a dark-skinned young man with blazing red eyes appeared behind Corbin and wrapped his arm around his shoulder. The other students, previously chatting with each other happily halted action and directed their attention to the sudden occurrence. 

"That's Blas Phoenix, the son of the current headmaster and the descendant of the creator of Phoenix Forest…" A spectator informed his friend. "I heard he's a notorious troublemaker."

"Well hello newbie," Blas grinned maliciously. He was surprised by Corbin's unfazed manner but dismissed it right away, considering the latter a smug character who needed to be humbled. "Now what do you think you're doing with my girl?"

"Ugh, Blas just shut it." Ayla looked at him with disdain. "I'm a student's representative officer, I'm just doing my job."

"I could give a shit about your job…" Blas retorted, "Just stay away from weak losers like this." Disgust could be spotted in Blas' tone.

Corbin got up from his seat and nodded at Ayla. "I'll be taking my leave." With that, he made his way to the door, not even giving Blas a single glance.

"Hey! Who said you could leave?" Blas felt insulted. Corbin ignored the latter completely and exited the room, studying the map to his dorm as he left." Blas was furious. No student in the school, regardless of whether their star level was lower, equal, or higher than him, had ever acted that way. So how dare a weak Star One who can't even activate his power refuse to acknowledge his presence? It was simply unacceptable and unheard of. Veins popped out of his head as he gritted his teeth violently in anger. 

Ayla, noticing her boyfriend's displeasure sought to comfort him. "Blas…calm down." However, she was too late.

Corbin was walking slowly and examining his surroundings to figure out where to go next when suddenly, the large doors of the break hall were blown to pieces by the violent flames of Blas. Corbin turned around and saw an enraged Blas fuming behind him.

"How…dare you?" 

Blas charged at Corbin, pinned him down to the floor, and began his assault. The unchanging nonchalant expression on Corbin's face even as he was being beaten to a pulp infuriated Blas even more. What's wrong with him? Was he set to only one expression? 

"Get off me," Corbin ordered quietly.

"You dare command me?" Blas became more violent.

The students ran out to watch the one-sided fight and Ayla ran to get the teachers. Silent whispers and murmurs could be heard in the crowd:

"Oh he's so dead"

"I feel so bad, it's the poor boy's first day."

"Reminds me of Seymour."

"Get off me."

"No! You piece of trash!"

"Get off me."

"SHUT…UP!"

Suddenly, everything was quiet. The spectators glanced at each other in confusion. Blas seemed tranced by Corbin's dilating pitch-black eyes. A few moments later, Blas collapsed. His eyes which were once fiery red and brewing with life gradually faded to a dull-brown shade as he lay motionless. The faces of the students twitched in horror.

"Blas…is he? Dead?"