1 A New School and a Ceremony

The Sunlight beat down on Alex as he ran through the crowded streets of the city he calls home. As he ran people stared at him wondering what this kid was doing. 'I can't believe I over slept on the first day of high school!' Alex shouted in his head.

As Alex was running through the streets dodging cars and pedestrians he didn't notice the shadowy figure watching him from the rooftops. The figure watched Alex turn a corner, suddenly disappearing into the stone of the rooftops.

Finally after running for five minutes at full speed Alex saw the large gate that opened into Orion Academy's campus. Alex threw himself through the gate just as the teacher in front of the gate exclaimed "Times up anyone that didn't make it through this gate by now is not allowed to participate in the awakening ceremony."

'Just made it on time any second later and I wouldn't be able to go to this school. But what is the awakening ceremony?' Alex thought. The teacher that had let everyone know that the time was up turned to Alex and whispered to him "You're lucky you got here on time. Now hurry up and get to the fields the awakening ceremony is starting soon."

"Sir. What is the awakening ceremony?" Alex asked just as the teacher turned to the fields.

"The awakening ceremony is when all the new students will get a chance to awaken the ability to polymorph." the teacher explained. "Polymorphing is an ability not all humans have but the people that do have it are extremely powerful. It lets you enhance or change your body into attributes of an animal that your soul is linked to." said the teacher with a look of excitement on his face. "I wonder if anyone will awaken a lion soul?" The teacher mumbled under his breath. Leading Alex to the fields the teacher and Alex talked about the ceremony and how it is a once in a lifetime chance to awaken.

When they got to the fields Alex was momentarily shocked by the size of the crowd. In the front of the fields the students that were taking part in the ceremony were eagerly waiting for the ceremony to begin. In the back of the fields there was thousands of people who came to watch the ceremony hoping to see if anyone would awaken a good animal soul.

As Alex found a spot in the crowd of students he looked up as a man in a crisp brown suit walked onto the stage that had been built for ceremonies like this one. "Hello students, parents, and citizens. I welcome you to Orion Academy's awakening ceremony. As many of you probably know this ceremony will decide your future if you awaken a animal soul then you will achieve great things, but if you don't awaken then you will live as a commoner." the man said loudly so that everyone in the crowd could hear. "Now let the ceremony begin. Each student will be called up one at a time to try and awaken. To awaken you place your hands on the stone tablet we have on the table and think of the first creature that comes to your mind if that creature is linked to your soul you will awaken, but if that creature is not linked to your soul you will not awaken."

One by one the students were called up to the stage to awaken. Only a few awakened any animal and the animals they did awaken were weaker animals like mice and chickens. The person before Alex was called onto the stage and with a triumphant look on his face he put both hands on the tablet. After a few seconds passed the tablet began to glow and the image of a cheetah appeared above the person's head. "A cheetah!" someone in the crowd yelled out. This student was the first person today to awaken a strong animal so everyone was very excited.

After the student that awoke the cheetah left the stage it was Alex's turn to try and awaken. He walked calmly to the stage wondering what it would be like to awaken a cool animal. Alex put both his hands on the tablet and looked into his soul to try and think of an animal, but what came to his mind wasn't an animal that Alex had ever seen or heard of before. What Alex was picturing in his head was not an animal that was alive anymore. In his head he was seeing the image of a giant dragon standing before him. 'Holy crap!' Alex thought upon seeing this massive creature. 'Is that a dragon? I heard of those from myths but I thought they were made up by people.' Alex's brain was scrambling to find the answer to all the questions he had. When suddenly the dragon flew at Alex before colliding into his body disappearing instantly. Alex opened his eyes and saw that everyone at the ceremony was staring at the floating image above Alex. "A dragon! He awoke a freaking dragon!"