THE GIFTING 01

Present-day 06/08/3030

"Aggh!" a terrified voice cried out

*Sigh*

"just another nightmare" mumbled Christian, a slender boy with a rough jet black curly hair that fell over his face, and brown hazel eyes that complimented his hair. He had a petite figure that makes him appear quite docile and harmless.

Christian's an only child that grew up behind the walls of Land Green with his mother ever since his father left him and his mom at a tender age to participate at the war front against the Titans but never made it back. His mother Diana had to work multiple part-time jobs before being able to meet up with the high cost of living, despite several nagging from her son to let him quit school so he could help relieve her stress and get a job to help elevate their living conditions which she refused a countless number of times.

"Christian? Love, are you alright?" asked a worried-looking Diana as she raced to the door of his room

"Is it another nightmare? Wanna tell Mom about it?"

Diana asked from the door. Having to hear her son wake up from his sleep every night screaming and it's only getting worse every single day is no sight any mother would want to see continually.

"yeah mom am alright, don't worry" Chris replied getting off the bed "what time is it now mom"

"It's 6 am and you know it's graduating day at school today so don't go back to bed and start preparing"

"yeah graduating day" Chris mumbled.

Attending school isn't much of a choice since after the war but rather a must, especially military school. But one can only get to military school after participating in the 'Gifting' event when they turned sixteen and the event's happening today at my school and it's dreading really! because whether or not I get an ability will determine what the future holds for me "Aggh".

The hierarchy of the world today differs greatly from what it used to be as only the strong get recognized and are in power, and as for the non-ability users or 'commoners' as they are referred to, they have to work under major powerful families factions or the military to guarantee a safe and well-financed future for themselves.

Even among the ability users, the 'Gifted', there is a ranking system known as 'power levels' that is used only in the military school, while the ranking system 'power ranks' is applicable around the globe.

The ranking system was introduced by the military as a way to gauge and group up soldiers depending on the level of 'dust particle' and 'ability runes' an individual contained. The number of 'dust particles' and 'ability runes' that one can absorb and hold determines how strong and powerful one ability is, and there are currently seven power level ranks with rank:

'E' being the lowest rank a Gifted can be and are fairly better than most commoners.

Then rank 'D' which is better than the 'E' rank but still belongs to the weaker faction.

Then comes rank 'C' which is at the midpoint of the ranking system. They are neither strong nor weak but can perform fairly well in large-scale battles.

Then onto rank 'B' which are considered strong and one of the highest level one can attain after been gifted but still pales in power when compared to the rank

'A' that belongs to the Elite's class and is regarded as the strongest class that Gifted commoners that aren't descendants from the founding families can ascend to.

But the 'A' rank is not exactly the strongest as there are two more ranks that by far supersedes that of the A, which are both rank 'S' and 'X'. Only a few gifted from the 'founding families have been able to ascend to rank 'S' as they are incredibly strong and relatively scarce only to be assembled at dire times.

Only one gifted have been able to ascend to 'X' rank, alias the immortals rank, and is considered non-existent to all as even most high ranking officials haven't seen him at all.

Dipping his hand into the water, Christian checked the temperature of the water before soaking himself in.

"aggh, this feels good" he sighed settling himself in the water.

Having soaked himself for half an hour, Christian came out of the bathroom with a towel tied around his waist while walking to the wooden wardrobe at the right end of his room and quickly grabbed his fairly worn-out uniform and threw them on the bed. He went on scampering around his room for a while before standing in front of the mirror, fixed his tie, then hair before chanting his favorite mantra:

"it's another day and a day to continue getting stronger and better to protect mom"

As a single mother, raising a child all by herself with what little income she earns tends to be strenuous and Chris can see how much stressed out she is but never once has he heard her lament about her Ill fate but rather encourages him to always be strong and never falter. So he made it his life goal to go through military school with the aim of growing stronger to be strong enough to protect his mother and earn enough to ensure that they lead a well-balanced financed future afterward.

The sound of his mother yelling his name snapped him out of his thoughts and he bolted to the living room to find his mom glaring back at him furiously

"Christian Major Alfred" Diana yelled

Chris gulped, whenever his mother called his name out in full like that just means he's in serious trouble.

"for heaven's sake how many times do I have to yell at you before it goes through your thick head to always hang your jacket on the hanger and not leave it on the floor?" Diana yelled with her face down to her neck all in deep shades of red to show just how furious she is

"umm, I got it mom, and I can hear the kettle whistling in the kitchen wanna go check that out?" Chris said while trying hard to hold his laughter in, his mom just looked too adorable when she's angry

"you__ you, what are you saying? take the damn jacket off the floor now and stop spouting nonsense" Diana said while folding her arms still glaring at her son

'how can he be so foolish to think that his old tactics of trying to evade everything will still work on me! So dumb' she thought

"yeah mom, just go round-up with what you are doing in the kitchen" Christian said while taking his jacket off the floor then walked to the hanger.

"am off to school" he yelled as he hurriedly hung the jacket then dashed for the door

"are you going to leave without having breakfast?"

'uhn? he's gone, that kid I don't know how he functions properly when he doesn't eat all that well'

*sigh*

Please be okay for me" Diana prayed silently

'am sorry Christian' she thought while trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall down her face

*****

"Yo Chris, where have you been bro? been looking all over for you" a dark-skinned boy roughly about the same age as Christian said while approaching him

"Hey Sam" Chris waved as he got closer "I kind of didn't prepare on time and all that's why am late, anyway what's going on? all the students should be here by now right? that means it should be starting now"

"yeah they announced that we should gather at the assembling hall not long ago, but when I got there I checked all over for you but couldn't find you that's why I came back out to check if you were still outside but it seems like you just arrived," Sam said while turning around to head back to the hall.

"yeah and uhm am sorry for the inconvenience, you know, of having to look out for me," Chris said while tailing behind Sam

"it's all good just hurry up, they were about sharing us into different groups when I left and I really don't want to lose my spot" Sam replied staring ahead not turning back once

Looking around the hall every student was present with two teachers each standing guard at each exit found in the hall, the rest were up on the stage ahead of us.

"Alright, now that everyone is confirmed to be here let's get started" saying these words was a large man with old scruffy beards and wrinkled face full of scars that screamed danger known as Absard.

"There are a total of one hundred students here today that will be taking part in the gifting ceremony. Now you have all been sorted into five groups and assigned a number" he paused to look round the hall to ensure that everyone's attention is on him

'good' he thought then he continued

"once your number has been called you are to move forward and follow the instructions of the guides available is that clear?" he asked with a loud voice booming with confidence

"Sir, yes sir!" All the students yelled and saluted like they were in the military in unison as they have been taught

Seeing this made a huge grin break out on Absard's face

'good, they have all learned well' he thought still smiling proudly to himself.