Preparation

The town was abuzz, filled to the brim with people. They were flooding the streets as they prepared for the major event that was happening later today. The Hero Academy's selections will be attended to personally by the king! There have been posters celebrating the event spread around the city with his face, placed on everything, from buildings all the way to the rooftops of some buildings.

"... The king is not required to leave his mansion, but as a move to strengthen the population's opinion of him, he decided to attend. This comes as a response to the recent increase in bandits' attacks and the apparition of a new cult that..."

Two people dressed in mostly white robes were having a discussion about the recent affairs at a table, reading an article describing them, when a knife slices the article, splitting it in two and landing with its blade inside the wood below it.

"The time for us to make our move is near. Today's the last chance, the leader trusted us to not hesitate. Do you understand that?"

"Yes ma'am, more than ready."

"Emilian! Wake up I made breakf..."

A shadowy mist extended it's hand and grabbed her by her hand, making her disappear into it's deep insides.

"Honey, I don't think he's woken up. I-... Woah!"

The pair vanished without leaving a single trace, and, as soon as the teenager's figure could be seen entering the room, the black mist fled the house. But not before Emilian could catch a glimpse of it. He looked around and saw absolutely no trace of a living person around. That thing must've done something to his parents.

He started chasing it, moving through the crowded streets and through hidden alleys until someone appeared in front of him. A short, chubby, even fat figure stood in his way.

"You're that loser's kid, huh? This is where you stop. Turn around and go home, you don't wanna take part in this."

Emilian didn't even stop to chit-chat. He had no time. His fist was slowly but surely charging with electricity, his feet were aching for a sprint, jolts springing from them.

He took his usual position and charged towards his enemy. His fist hit the target's guts sending a shock wave all through his body. But he stood in the same spot, unmoved by the action. His insides were as solid as the ground below him, making the attacker's fist swell from the pain.

"You really thought you were the only one with aces in your sleeves now, didn't you?" he said as his wide hand was going towards the kid's face.

Emilian hit the wall with his back, causing immense pain to fill each and every centimeter of his body. He couldn't get up. In front of him, a tall figure was looking down at his body and its pathetic state.

"Now I can finally assure you get out of the picture and stop bothering me."

He extended his hand and a dark vapor came out of it. It covered his entire body, and after lingering for a while, Emilian was nowhere to be seen.

"Sante, get away from here! The guards are coming!"

"If they are coming, don't shout my name, you moron!"

On the other side of the city, Tailor was preparing for the exams. Not doing any actual preparation, as he did plenty enough in the village before coming to the city, as much as doing some meditation to clear his mind.

He had a lot of events happening to him ever since coming to the city. The bandits' attack, the tavern and its owner, Miles, the money he lost because of Sante. Speaking of him, he and his partner were at the tavern, harassing some kid. Who the hell was that?

As he was finishing organizing his thoughts, Miles climbed all the way to his room.

"Come on, it's time for me to close the place. Are your exams today?"

"Yep." Tailor replied while grabbing all of the things he will probably need.

"I see..."

The young man approached the door, grabbing the handle.

"Take care."

With everything out of the way, Tailor could finally focus on the task waiting ahead of him: the exam.

The streets were crowded and busy as usual, and he was bumping a lot of people when making his way through. One of them just happened to be a hooded figure he recognized. It was carrying two bottles of alcohol and almost dropped them when hitting Tailor.

"Excuse me, I wasn't looking where I was going... Hold on, wait a minute..."

The figure turned around, trying to leave the spot they were standing but to no avail. Tailor's hand was already on her shoulder and when she turned around, Tailor could see a small girl with big blue eyes and golden hair. She was very close to breaking down and crying.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't want to do this, they forced me to do it!"

Tailor grabbed her hand and dragged her from the middle of the road onto one of the side alleys. She was sniffling and holding in as best as she could.

"We can talk here in private. Who did this to you? The same dudes that were around when we first met?"

She nodded.

"Since when did they force you to do this?"

"Ever... *sniff*, ever since they came to our house and claimed that my father had some kind of debt to pay."

"I see, are you the only one they force to do this kind of thing?"

"I... I don't know." she replied just before starting crying.

Seeing the crying little person in front of him, Tailor couldn't help but to take her in his arms. She was crying with her face stuffed in his shoulder.

"Bastards... I promise you I'll help."

"You... you, *sniff* you really will?"

"Yes, I will. This must be stopped as soon as possible, who knows what else will they do to you and anyone who might be caught up into this!"

"Thanks!"

At this point, her tears dried and she lifted her head from the young man's shoulder. Her eyes were red from all the crying but a smile as wide as the entire world appeared on her face.

"All right, what I need you to do now is to get me to wherever you need to deliver the alcohol to."

"But what am I going to do about the exams..." he whispered to himself.

"Exams? Are you talking about the academy exams? Are you a Hero?"

At this point the kid's face was shining and full of hope. This gave Tailor a lot of confidence, as he replied:

"I will be the biggest hero! Just you wait!"

He couldn't keep up a straight face and laughed.

"Still, not that bad of a dream to have." he thought.

"So, what is your name?" asked Tailor.

"My name is Diana! What is yours?"

"Tailor. Tailor Cross."