Chapter 1 Let the Exams Begin

Light shines in through my window making a ray of light, as it only illuminates a small portion of it, my room wasn't big, but it was far from small. The smell of pancakes filled the air and I rushed down stares to find nobody there, not a single person in sight, I expected to find my brother and sister waiting at the table for mom to hand them a plate while my dad flipped through the sports section as per usual when mom made pancakes, but to my surprise that was not the case. Though it was strange I shrugged it off and just took the plate of pancakes that was on the counter, it didn't take long for me to eat them, but it never does, ive never been a slow eater. Mom used to get on me a lot saying I was gonna make myself sick, but that never stopped me, but why would it? All I knew was I was hungry and there was a pile of pancakes in front of me begging me to eat them.

After finishing I cleaned up the mess and washed the dishes, there were a few times I could have sworn I saw something, but anytime I turned to look there was nothing in sight. Something felt off though, I knew it too, but I couldn't quite figure it out, but I shrugged it off. I started to head upstairs then my little brother walks out of my room. He looks at me and his eyes have bags under them as if he didn't get any sleep, I open my mouth to ask about it then he stops me by holding up his hand before saying, "YOU HAVE FIVE NEW VOICEMAILS JESUS CHRIST WHO TURNED UP THE VOLUME ON THIS THING!?!" I immediately wake up and fall out of bed then run downstairs, my mom looks at me and says apologetically, "Sorry Xavy I didn't mean to wake you... You should go back to bed, You have a lot to do today, so rest is important, unless... you changed your mind and don't want to go to Are..." I cut her off and say with a sigh, "Sorry momma, I know your worried about me, but this is important to me, so im gonna go back to bed so i can get up when my alarm goes off." I then turn around before she can reply and all I hear is her sigh, not a sigh a relief but one of genuine sadness.

Despite how hard it was to not turn around and hug her I knew if I did I wouldn't be able to bring myself to go to Arena, so I just tried to pretend I didn't realize my mom was worried about me, and went straight back to bed. Though I don't want my mom to worry about me she does. Anytime I bring up a desire to join Arena she always seems to break down, as if she worried about something. Its as if she knows something, but won't tell me, but when I confronted her about it she said I was just imagining things. So though its strange, I have no reason to have disbelief, plus I doubt shed hide anything from me.

I was up for an hour after the voicemail incident thinking, but I finally managed to get back to sleep, and when I woke up everything was normal, dad was downstairs reading the paper, mom was cooking breakfast and my brother and sister were fighting over who has the stronger power. It was a usual and normal morning, or so I thought.

Right as my mom went to hand me a plate there was a knock on the door, my dad folded the paper and sighed as he went to answer it, there was another knock and then my dad opened the door and a slightly taller teenage boy, with black hair that covered his left eye leaving his other brown eye in perfect sight, runs past him and straight to me, it was Hilbert, Hilbert is my best friend, we've been close for as long as I can remember, we always used to walk home together from school since his house was only 5 blocks away from mine. I can hear my dad say sarcastically, "Oh don't worry there's no need to ask permission just come on in..." I could tell mom could hear it too because i heard her giggling quietly to herself.

I could tell Hilbert ran here because he was out of breath and gasped for breath as he spoke, "X-Xavier... D-Did you hear the..." he drops to the ground as he struggles for air causing me to yell at him, "BREATHE!" he then takes a moment to catch his breath and says in a rush "Didyouhearthenews?" I look at him and say confused, "Uhm what? Can you repeat that this time without throwing up?" He then says with a sigh, "Did you hear the news?" I stare at him and he immediately says, "Ill take that as a no.. So good news and bad news, which one do you want first?" I look at both my mom and dad then say, "Uh the good news?" Despite my answer he smiles and says, "Ok the bad news." Causing me to punch him lightly in the gut as he pretends that it hurt.

We soon both went to the living room to talk and he began with a strange tone, "So the good news is we have a nearly definite entry into the Exams, however... the bad news is they changed it from 5 to 12 pm, so some of the people who were going to participate won't make it." My mind goes blank as it fails to register what he is saying for a moment then it clicks, "Wait WE NEED TO GO APPLY NOW!" since it was 11 am we had thirty minutes to get their and apply before they stopped accepting people, which meant we head there now or miss our chance.

I stand up to ask my parents for a ride and my dad says already at the door, "So are we going or not?" I immediately run over to my mom and give her a hug before bolting out the door.

After dad dropped us off we ran over to the admissions stand and the worker was young, she appeared to be in her teens, in fact she looked about my age, she looks at us while chewing gum and then blows a bubble before saying in a snarky tone, "May I help you??" Normally id be offended and would call her out on it, but i didn't have the time for that, I then said in a Rush, "WEWOULDLIKETOENTERTHEENTRANCEEXAM" she then looks at Hilbert and says, "What did he say, and do I need to call a medic?" causing him to smirk and say to me, "Yeah, now whos throwing up his words Xavier." I immediately glare at him then repeat what i said, to the girl this time without breaking the space time continuum, "We uh... would like to enter the Entrance Exam..." I then pause for a moment before saying, "Please..."

She looks at both of us and sizing us up before blowing another bubble then replying with, "Kay, you are away that you could get hurt right? This isn't a game, its a real qualification match, sure it looks like its all fun and games but its not, its fighting, there have been cases where some of the people who went in had entered with big dreams and left in a body bag. Its a Battle Royal to test the strength of the applicants." I look at Hilbert and he says to me, "We got this, remember what you mom would always say? something about portage and tarts?" I groan as I know what hes referring to since got the whole thing wrong, however in my mind I knew he was right and I looked at her and said "I a..." She cuts me off by saying, "Just can it kiddo, If you wanna try it go for it, but if you get hurt you can't blame me."

My face turns red and Hilbert steps in front of me saying, "Ill handle our applications, you go for a walk and cool off before you do something stupid." causing me to grit my teeth and stomp away angrily. When I finally cooled down and laid down on the water fountain a girl approached me with a book to held up, I couldn't see her face because of the book and she didn't seem to actually see me and sat on my stomach causing me to gasp for air, and her to fall down, there was a splash and she she stood up and turned around angrily before realizing it was her own fault.

Once she brushed herself off she cocked her head while looking at me then said, "Are you new around here? I don't think I've ever seen you before.." She was around my height with long dark brown hair, she was tan and had blue eyes, She stared at me for a moment then said, "Uhm are you okay? I didn't hurt you that bad did I?" I shake my head and sit up, causing her to say annoyed, "You gonna answer my question or just stare at me like a weirdo?" causing me to laugh to myself before replying with, "I'm not from Arena if thats what your asking, well not yet at least, I hope to be, since the Exams are today, So I guess we'll find out." She giggles then says "Shouldn't you be heading to the Stadium then?"

Not long after I then hear Hilbert yell "XAVIER COME ON WE GOTTA GO WE HAVE LIKE 10 MINUTES BEFORE WE ARE IMMEDIATELY DISQUALIFIED!" She then turns and sees him and smiles, "Friend of yours I take it?" I shrug "I don't know man he just kinda follows me around and says were in it together" She smirks, "So best friend?" before i could reply im picked up and carried to the stadium by Hilbert. The girl waves at me and the I can faintly hear her scream "NO MY LIBRARY BOOK IM SO DEAD!"

As we approach the Stadium we can hear people talking from the benches near the front row and Hilbert puts me down. We enter through the door and I quickly spot the girl from the booth up on the stage, she points to us and I can hear the announcer say, "And here come the last minute entries, Xander.. uh I mean Xavier Hemlock, and Robert Roswell!" Despite him getting my name wrong the first time I didn't pay too much mind since he fixed it, I watch as the girl whispers into the announcers ear and he says, "Whoops it appears I made two mistakes there, Roberts name isn't Robert.. Its Hilbert!" I look at Hilbert and his face us red, not from anger but from embarrassment.

The announcer goes over the rules, I paid no attention to most if them since I knew the rules quite well, but I tuned in every so often, I eventually started to scan the crowd and my eyes eventually made it back to the stage and I spotted something, the girl from earlier she then stepped forward and stepped up to the Microphone where she said a speech I'm likely to never forget, "Friends, fellow students and people just here to watch the chaos unfold I welcome you here not just for the sake of a speech, but rather the sake of a future, one that will change our lives whether we want it to or not. As most of you probably know I am the Student body president, Lilly Sage and I have two powers, One allows me to see a glimpse into the future, and the other allows me to sense how strong someone is once I touch them. Today both of my powers activated a.." She is cut off by the announcer who grabs the microphone and says "One second.. " we hear a ringing noise as he turns off the microphone, and i watch as their arms flail about, then the announcer turns the microphone and says, "One moment were having a discussion."

You could tell by his tone he didn't mean what he said and he was actually just quietly yelling at her, the girl from the booth eventually rips the microphone from his hands and hands it to Lilly who clears her throat before saying, "Aaaaanyways, sorry about that, where was I? Oh! Things are about to change for we will finally be moving up, I won't spoil anything, but... We miiight be about to witness the rise and appearance of our Countries God Tier!" Upon hearing this the crowd goes wild with excitement then Lilly seems to scan everyone then upon spotting me she smiles. Hilbert sees it and nudges me with his shoulder teasing me, then as the crowd begins to simmer down her voice rings through the stadium once more as she says, "Now without a further adieu.. Let the Exams Begin!"