Guardians of Anteverum City

Chapter One: Drawing Blanks

Sunday, November 24, 2024.

Is it possible that it's this late already?

 I turned onto my side and examined my surroundings, carful not to mess up the wires connected to my body at various locations. I was in a hospital bed in an overly large, white room that was fairly empty save the bed, two couches, bedside table, coffee table, three wooden chairs, and medical equipment. The time was 8:00 am. I sat up slowly, trying to recall the series of events that caused me to end up here, but my head was still foggy from having been out for so long. I squinted to read a plaque on the wall directly across from me. It read, "Anteverum City," in large gold letters and "Est. 232," below in fine print. A memory flew back to me as soon as I read these words.

Anteverum City was the name of the city in which I lived. I was probably at the General Hospital in the Central District for whatever reason. A stack of papers on the bedside table caught my attention. The first read, "General Patient Information." I read the first page.

Name: Lyra Marianne Edmonds

Date of Birth: April 4, 2009

Sex: F

Height: 5' 7"

Weight: 120 lbs

Eye color: Hazel

Address: Ventura Preparatory Dormitory Building 2, Room 36

1316 Aster Drive

Central District, Anteverum City 00-29-534

Parent Information:

Father: Jasper Edmonds

Mother: Helen Edmonds

Address: 68 Gregor Way

Hampstead, London N2, UK

Primary Contact number: 020-9367-2088

The second page was full of information useless to me like my insurance company and such. The next thing in the stack of papers was a map of Anteverum City. The city was depicted as having an ovular shape and was divided into six districts: Central, North, South, East, West, and Northwest. As I scanned the various locations, I realized everything I saw was familiar. My gaze halted at a location labeled "Ventura Preparatory Academy."

Ah yes, that's my high school. Ventura Prep, as we called it, is an all-girls private school in the Central District and is currently ranked among the top three schools in the city.

I put the map down and moved on to the next item, which was a red folder stuffed to the brim with a gold emblem on it. I opened it carefully so that the pages wouldn't spill out. It appeared to be homework for math, science, history, and English classes. I read over some biology notes on the cardiovascular system for a few minutes and stopped to tally all the work I missed.

The very last sheet in the folder was titled, "Second Year Skills Testing: Semester One." My name was written below. "Name: Lyra Edmonds. Seat: Primus. Rank as of Second Year Semester One test: Worldwide- 3. Ability: Force Fields." Again, my mind became refreshed with memories. This is no ordinary city and I am no ordinary girl.

Anteverum City, with a population just under three million people, existed for people with special abilities. They aren’t the types of mythical superheroes you can read about in comic books. Rather, they are normal people who use their abilities in daily life. The city is full of elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities to educate young ability users in both regular academics as well as how to develop and use their abilities. The city is essentially inaccessible to the rest of the world, as not everyone can know of its existence. To reach Anteverum City, you have to have an identifier that allows you to pass inside the barrier. That “pass” is the special energy an ability user possesses. Each ability user is given a rank on a scale of one to six: Primus, Secundus, Teritus, Quartus, Quintus, and Sextus, Primus being the highest level. Of these seats, I am one of the seven existing Primi and am currently ranked third after this semester's tests.