WARPED I

It was almost too late.

Time had flown by. Could he make it in time? He looked at his watch. Five minutes left. Only if time could go slower, but instead it moved with speed. He moved so quickly that he was blinded by the wind, but was he fast enough? He tried to peddle faster but it was as if it couldn't move faster. What if it was there already?

He tried to shake off that thought from his head. He concentrated on the road. Lucky for him, there weren't much cars on the road.

Adrenaline rushed.

He felt he had tapped into a new but hidden energy, but he wasn't still fast enough. Two minutes left. A wave of shock hit him as he sped past the speed bumps. This was a sign. A sign that he grew close to the target.

Seconds remained. Though his countenance changed. His goal was in his reach. It was just few metres to get to his target. New hope and energy came out of nowhere.

He stopped. Abruptly.

This caused him to fly from the seat of the bike at a great velocity. Life then flashed before his eyes. Was this it? Is this what life wanted to give him?

He did a frontflip and with his back he landed, but not with a thud, but more of a splash. Lucky for him, it had rained heavily the night before and there was puddles of murky, dirty and deep water.

If not fo the puddle, he would have been going home with a fractured spine.

But now a new problem was formed. He was completely drenched. He could not walk into that school building dripping from head to toe.

But he was always prepared for moments like this since his experience in the 7th grade. He had a spare set of clothes in his black backpack.

He went to a public toilet and quickly changed to the spare set. He didn't care about the time again, so he didn't rush.

He went to the gate.

Through the gates he could see the muscular, pink, one-eyed lady in a yellow shift and black espadrilles.

Her face was full of scorn and death. This made him wonder if she had children of her own.

There was nothing else to do. The only thing left to do was to surrender. He regretted coming so late. He looked at his watch. It was 8:15. Should he move? Should he stay? He had decided.

He took a step. And another.

He continued pacing in the direction of muscular lady. He didn't look up not because of shame but because of fear.

He gathered strength to look into the only eye of this strange woman. But he was shocked to see the woman's scornful face had been lit with a genuine smile.

What was happening? Was this a joke? Was she just trying to catch fun before finishing him?

She laughed, but the laugh was more of a cackle.

"Raine, it so unusual to see you, especially at this time", she said, still trying to hold her laughter.

"What do you mean?", Raine replied with utter confusion.

Raine was a dark skinned boy. He was in the 12th grade. His hair was in the afro style. He wore a pair of green cargo pants and a red hoodie which was complemented with baseball shoes. Originally he was in blue jeans and a black T-shirt.

"You're earlier than usual", she paused, "Way earlier."

"Just punish me already.", he thought that she was just toying with him before finishing him off with some gruesome punishment.

"I can't, you're early.", she said

"It's literally 18 minutes past 8.", he paused giving a sigh, "punish me."

"Nope, it's 7:18."

"You must be kidding me"

"Don't you notice the emptiness of yard."

That was when Raine noticed the emptiness of the yard. Not even one student was there apart from him.

He glanced at his watch again. It all hit him. He had been following an hour early watch. He just wanted to drop on the floor a get a good snooze but he would risk getting his clothes wet.

He was sick of talking to this woman so he just went through the big oak gates into the school.

His footsteps echoed in the corridors. The school was massive with marble floors and walls. It also contained three floors. His class was on floor two.

He narrowed his way through some corridors and a flight of stairs till he reached his homeroom. He walked in and plopped himself in the seat at the far left corner of the room. He didn't know what to do. What will he do to kill the time?

He decided to bring out his Enchantment note and memories the spells and some random spell affixes. This was a school that prepared it's student mentally and magically. It was well known and many students from far and wide come to attend this school.

He then remembered he had something much more important than to study spells. He dug his bag and brought out a peoce of paper. It was a form. At the top it had two bold words. It read;

GUILD ASSIGN1

It was empty and this had to be filled or he will never graduate. But was it necessary? He sighed and wrote something on it. It was his name. He chewed his pen as he thought on which Guild he should join.

There are currently 6 Guilds. They were the Lumberjacks, Wolves, Serpents, Ocelots, Axolotl, Hearth. But there was one extinct group. It was the Alphas. No one knows why the group got extinct but most people reason it is cursed.

Raine never realized how much time flew by. He never realized how time had flown by. The class was already full of students. He just shunned that and continued thinking. He became so frustrated. Must he join a Guild?

Suddenly, a shadow cast upon him. He looked up to see who it was. It was a green haired boy. His skin was white. He wore blue jeans and a red T-shirt. He was smiling that revealed his braces.

Raine tried to his what he was doing. But the green haired boy had already seen the bold letters.

"Still having trouble with this", the green haired boy said

"I was just reviewing my G.A form again Leaf", Raine replied

"I can see that it's still empty", Leaf said.

Raine checked his watch, it was 9:19. He remember Athis watch was an hour early.

"How did you get past the guards?", Raine asked.

"Let's just say I've been practicing the Invisibility spell.", he winked at Raine.

Raine spaced out for some time trying to think of which Guild he would pick.

"Raine!", Leaf called out

This got his attention back

"So what Guild did you pick?", he continued.

"I'm still not sure which one is good for me.", Raine replied.

"But you know today is the deadline for submission.", Leaf paused, "and you're the only one who hasn't submitted."

This came like a bombshell. He couldn't be the only one who hasn't submitted his GA sheet. So everyone in class had a choice of Guild. He managed to ask one question.

"What is your Guild, Leaf?", he asked

"Oh, you don't know.", Leaf started, "It's ..."

Leaf was interupted by the echo of the speakers.

"Raine, please report to my office." it paused, "Immediately."

What did they need him for? Why was the world all in for his demise?

He packed all his book in his bag, got up from his desk and headed straight to the office.