Guardians of Anteverum City

Chapter Two: Rewind

August 18, 2024

I sprinted down the halls of Ventura Preparatory Academy towards the dormitories, praying that she would be awake already. My new leather flats clicked loudly each time they hit the floor and drew plenty of attention to me as I dashed past girls hurrying in the opposite direction. It’s not like I wasn’t used to attention though. Being Ventura’s only student ranked Primus, I, Lyra Edmonds, am unfortunately somewhat of a celebrity. I skidded to a stop at the door of room 36 and flung it open.

“Ottie!” I hollered into the large suite. “I can’t believe you overslept on the first day of the semester! GET UP!!” I gasped, out of breath from running all the way from the school’s athletic facilities. I dragged my half-asleep roommate and best friend out of bed and tossed her uniform at her. I helped Ottie change and brushed her hair quickly. “You’re in high school now, so the two pigtail look isn’t going to fly.”

“Lyra, I’m still sleepy,” the tiny girl groaned. Her long, dark hair fell in front of her face as she leaned forward and shut her eyes. I couldn’t understand how she was so lethargic. On my first day of high school last year, I was pumped up and ready to go half an hour in advance, with all of my notebooks and textbooks all packed. Ottie was a laid back person in general, so I guess the first day of high school didn’t have much appeal to her. 

“You’ll get used to waking up earlier after a while,” I replied. “But you only get one first day of high school in this lifetime so I wont let you be late!” I grabbed Ottie’s arm and sprinting out of the room. “We’ll get there on time if you just get a hold of yourself already and run,” I panted. Still disoriented, Ottie grabbed my hand tightly and bounced off the ball of her left foot. Before I had even blinked twice, we were already at the other side of campus at the athletic facilities, right on time for skills testing. Ottie has the ability to increase the speed of her thoughts and actions. Therefore, even when she wakes up ten minutes before school starts, she can still arrive on time. “Alright, your homeroom teacher should be somewhere over there. Get your head in the game, Ottie!” I said as I ran towards the second years. Ottie smiled and tottered over to the other first years. I couldn’t help but laugh. Ottie was the first friend I made when I moved to Anteverum City before middle school. We ended up rooming together because there were an odd number of students in my grade and Ottie’s friends had all paired up before she returned for the new school year. Though our personalities are quite different, we somehow managed to get along and have been best friends ever since.

Skills testing occurred at the beginning of every semester after students went through half a year of education or had the entire summer to put their skills to use. Tests were administered by year, which is the equivalent of grade level. Since my second year of middle school at Ventura Junior Preparatory Academy, I performed my test first as I was the only Primus.

After all the students had arrived and checked in with their homeroom teacher, the classes filed into the stands and skills testing began. First to test again this year, I stepped into the center of the field as the announcer called my name. The countdown began: 3… 2… 1… GO! Cannons at the end of the field hurled out harmless cannonballs created specifically for my test while the girls in the crowd shrieked with mixtures of anticipation, fear, and excitement. “Round one: 500 lbs, 145 mph,” the field’s screen displayed. The cannonballs hurtled towards me, but when they closed in, they abruptly smashed against my highly charged force field and disintegrated. “Round two: 3 tons, 260 mph.” Same story. “Round three: 8 tons, 420 mph.” The cannonballs were blocked in midair about 40 feet before they would have hit me and then disintegrated. Those who had not yet witnessed my ability gasped in the audience. I was slightly disappointed by this years test, as it challenged me no more than the one given to me last year. My ability allowed me to create force fields as well as utilize elements with the fields. My well-known specialty was electrical force fields, which I mastered about two years ago. The display screen changed and read, “The subject may now present any improvements to her skills.” I glanced up at the screen, surprised that they didn’t have further planned testing for me. The school board must be getting lazy, or maybe they aren’t creative.