15 years old, an age where one was no longer just a child and yet not much of an adult. In a world of magic, gods and legends, this age is significant, for in the city of Parallon home to the Five, and the last true bastion of humanity, all children, soon to be adults, across the city come into their powers. 

And one boy, one young man, was no different than any other on this day of testing… though that may only be partly true. 

After all, it's not everyday one who is prophesied to become the most powerful of his era is born.

But before that, just like any other great hero or epic villain, our protagonist must go through a metamorphosis. He must change in a way that allows him to find power so grand, even gods shall hesitate to stand against him and his allies. 

However change, a force capable of remodelling a person and who they were fated to be, is never predictable, for fate is such a fickle thing. For instance, if this boy were not to experience this particular change, he would grow to be just another face in the crowd, another mediocrity, doing what little he could to follow the commandments of those who held power over him.

A fate, I'm sure, many would rather avoid at all cost- though a life of normality may have been far better than what would become of this child, if a goddess, just as fickle as fate, were to have her way…

But the future must be left to those who live in it, for at that moment the boy was walking down an old road in a poor district of Parallon, he did not live there, but the orphanage he grew up wasn't too far either, and if he was unlucky one of the slightly dilapidated houses may one day be his home, depending on the results of his testing.

The child had been left at the orphanage around the age of 3 or 4, by an anonymous family. Of course, who his parents were was known to the orphanages thanks to the rules and regulations regarding the giving up of children, along with detailed information about medical and power related history, to ensure no strange bloodlines or disabilities had a chance to be passed on.

The boy assumed this protocol was followed at any orphanage in good standing, but also understood that the home he was left at was one of the orphanages that received large ‘donations’ from various anonymous philanthropists, so he also assumed that this level of care and attention for the children was bought for, rather than it existing thanks to the benevolence of the city and orphanage.

Nonetheless, these topics were not on the mind of the child as he walked down the now less cluttered, and cleaner roads, as he continued out of the poorer districts, and into a better residential district on his way.

Instead, the boy was currently hoping for an amazing ability, one like flight or strength, or perhaps a mind based ability, something, anything, that could let him become a powerful hero, or at least someone able to use their power to make a living.

Other children might have hoped for strange and powerful abilities, ones that boggled the mind as it stretched their imagination to their limits, but this child was smarter than that.

Other than the 4 main archetypes that he'd be able to manifest; Human, Conceptual, Metaphysical and Natural, there was one other category, Special. 

Those who awakened these spec archetype abilities were people able to manifest powers that could be placed in more than one of the four main archetypes, the outliers, or how most of the churches in the city would put it, powers that defied the holy texts, and commandments that maintained the mortal realm. 

Some of the greatest heroes were Specs but so were a lot of villains, and on top of that when someone was classified to be a Spec, they had to go through compulsory mental examinations where it would be determined if they could be normal citizens.

Most people didn’t pass and had to go though further testing in a site outside the walls of Perellon not to be seen for months, and sometimes even years.

The idea of that happening scared the child, being torn away from his life and his friends, and yet, he walked with little worry in his heart. Maybe one in every 100,000 people ever developed abilities like that, what were the chances he would?

Shaking his head as he disregarded that train of thought, the boy continued to walk through the stress of Perellon, noticing that he’d made some progress on his walk.

The familiar streets that he’d spent the first 15 years of his life in, playing games with friends, or doing chores for the orphanage, disappeared as cleaner, more organised streets took its place.

The people walking the streets also seemed different, there were people wearing more formal clothing like suits and less casual clothing, and everyone seemed to have a more hurried feeling to them. The almost neighbourly atmosphere that had been embodied in the residential district he’d grown up in had seemingly disappeared.

That made sense, seeing that he was now in a business district, closing in on the community centre the ‘late bloomer’ testing was being conducted in.

The ‘testing’ for powers was quite simple. The four testers who had the main archetypes and one trusted Spec, usually a hero, would spend a day meeting kids around the age of 14, and having them display their powers if they knew what it was. The vast majority of people would develop abilities at around 14, and if not, being surrounded by all the different archetypes allowed each of the teenagers to feel a connection with the tester who had the same archetype. At that point, you could concentrate on that connection, and use it to tell what your ability is, and how to use it.

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Last year the boy had attempted this, only to find that nothing had happened. Around 2% of teenagers who had reached their 14th birthday were late bloomers, or couldn't seem to get a handle on what their ability was, and had to come the ‘late bloomer’ test a year later, were the test would be done again, and if nothing was found, a testing crystal could be used.

The child had heard that people with powers so weak a testing crystal needed to be used weren't expected to get into any of the good universities, and just the fact that he’d already have the shame of being a late bloomer was more than enough to put a damper on this teens mood, so he really hoped that wouldn't be the case for him.

And yet, his stride did not falter. He’d gotten a decent scholarship to a college that was both local, and had given him an unconditional offer… as long as he has a ‘suitable’ ability. The boy had faith that he would get his power, and that it would be a good one.

As he thought this, he finally found himself on the footsteps of the community centre. Taking a deep breath, he walked inside.

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The testing was almost exactly like the year before. He got into a far smaller line than last year, with people who looked less happy and excited, and more stressed and upset. While it wasnt logical, people were still prone to worrying if they had any power at all, watching people do amazing things with fire, or fly, or make something out of nothing all day, every day, left an impression on someone who was meant to have a power but didn't yet. 

Having said this, the boy in line waiting for his turn to be tested wasn’t worried about that at the least. In the orphanage, he’d had to read the scriptures at least once every day, so he knew full well that every mortal had an ability, even if it was a small one, and every ability mattered.

Having said that, he’d much rather have a cool ability that let him make a name for himself, or at the very least ensure he got his college acceptance, then the ability to, say, float 5 centimetres off the floor or something.

As the young man pondered this, a voice called out from the front desk.

“Hello! You there, it's your turn.”

The boy jumped as the lady at the reception raised her voice, apparently he was too busy day dreaming to notice it was his turn to enter the testing room.

He gave his details to the lady, and walked inside, he was greeted with almost the same thing he’d seen the year before.

The four testers were exactly the same as the year before, sitting in a semicircle made of foldable chairs in the middle of the large meeting room. The first was a construction worker with the ability to produce perfect bricks with any type of material he was holding, the next a water treatment plant manager with the ability to sense and remove impurities in any body of water, the third a local hero with the ability to move, run, jump and do anything with his legs, on a super level, and the last of the four was the district mayor, who had the ability to speed up or slow down his perception of time.

The only difference was that the test was being done here in this community centre, rather than the building made to specifically hold the yearly testing, and that the fifth person, who through the process of elimination must be the Spec, was not the same.

The year before, a woman in a sharp business suit, who looked as though she had far better things to be doing then testing random children, had been the tester Spec, but this year a tall, broad man, with a cloak covering his clearly superhuman build sat in the chair she would have been in.

“Ah, it seems you’ve noticed that the Spec tester has changed,” the mayor said “she would have been here today if it wasn't for the fact that an incident occurred about an hour ago, some security breach at the outer walls, and she was called in for support.”

“But I assure you, her replacement is more than qualified enough to get the job done.” the mayor continued, giving the boy a charming smile. The Spec gave him a small wave and a grin, and with that the testing began.

The boy sat in the middle between each of the testers, sat on the floor, and crossed his legs, as directed by the testers. Each of the testers started using their powers, a metal brick the same colour as the chair he sat in forming in the hands of the first tester, the second tester holding his hand over a cup of water, the third bobbing his knee up and down so fast you could barely see his leg move, and the mayors eyes flicking from left to right at equally superhuman speed, all the while the fifth tester sat stock-still, seemingly doing something that couldn't really be perceived. 

The boy closed his eyes as he searched for a connection with any of the people surrounding him, until suddenly he felt it. He was being pulled towards the first tester, not literally, but almost as though his soul had sensed a kindred spirit, and was moving towards it.

He concentrated on that feeling, deepening it, seeing what it wanted him to do, and as he did his hand raised into the air. Suddenly, he felt a moment of pressure, then a release, and then something small but hard hit his hand.

The mayor let out a small yelp, and the boy opened his eyes as he raised his hand, looking at the rounded amethyst crystal in his hand. It was attached to a silver chain, but the crystal seemed to resonate with the boy, forming a connection with him.

Whispered conversation started as the testers spoke to each other.

“- conceptual? Perhaps he can bring things with value towards him, or crystals?” the construction worker muttered.

“Perhaps,” the water manipulator said as he turned to the boy, “before your ability manifested, did you feel a connection?”

The boy nodded, and explained the connection with the conceptual type construction worker he felt before his ability manifested.

“I see,” said the mayor, then typed into his phone. A moment later, there was a knock on the door, then the secretary at the reception brought in a seemingly heavy box.

“It’s here, but getting it on such short notice was hard.” She said, as she brought the box over to the mayor. Despite the seeming difficulty of getting the box, and whatever was inside it, the secretary had brought it in seemingly only seconds after the mayor had presumably texted her on his phone.

He waved his hand in dismissal as he said, “I’d much rather our new conceptual here uses his powers on something that isn’t the gift my dying mother gave me before she passed.”

At that the boy’s eyes widened as he quickly jumped up and attempted to return the necklace to the mayor.

The mayor laughed as he held out his hand and took the necklace back. “Don’t worry, if all we have to deal with today is my necklace needing a new chain, then this testing day would be a huge success.” At this the other testers let out small sounds of amusement or agreement.

“Now, in this box are various crystals, we are going to go through your ability to move each and every one, what you can do with them, and for how long, and decide on what your classification is going to be.” The mayor said with another charming smile,

“Are you ready?” 

All the boy could do was smile and nod in excitement.