The clock on the classroom wall ticked down, with time passing by ever so slowly. Liam glanced over, seeing that there was 15 minutes left in his history class. But those 15 minutes felt like ages.

His deskmate and best friend, Caleb, already fell asleep a while ago after listening to their teacher ramble on about their new topic, the history of superheroes. Liam didn’t know why the school board even includes the topic? It’s been taught ever since primary school in each history class. This is their first year of high school! By now, every student has the information drilled into their head.

In the year 2000, a meteoroid exploded in space near Earth and caused multiple shards of meteorite to embed into the planet. Cities were destroyed and the world was in panic.

But the meteorites had caused an unknown phenomenon. They carried an undocumented type of radiation, with waves shorter than Gamma rays. Whatever it did, changed and mutated every living species on the planet.

Animals grew to larger sizes and became ferocious. Insects mutated and became terrifying monsters. Plants grew at alarming rates and started spreading everywhere. Life became dangerous and nowhere was safe with these monsters appearing.

But there was hope in those apocalyptic times, as humans were also affected by the radiation. Everybody awakened different powers ranging from amazing and fantastical powers like flight and super strength, to useless and niche powers like turning water you touch to pH 7 or changing the color of flames.

Still, enough people with strong powers managed to fight off the monsters that were created, providing a chance for humanity to rise up. But, some people had different ideas on what they should do with their powers, using them against other humans and becoming villains. People died, monsters ran rampant and everything was in chaos during those turbulent times.

That’s when a group of 5 heroes arose, all with incredible powers to fight off monsters and villains alike. They established peace and order in 10 years, then helped develop cities and civilization after 10 more. 

Now, it’s the year 2120, and Liam has heard this story so many times that he can regurgitate the information easily. Right now, he and everyone else lives inside giant cities all around the continent, with the cities walled off to protect people from the destroyed wastelands that still contain monsters lurking around.

Liam glanced at the clock once again. 11 minutes left. The time was ticking by too slowly. His teacher, Mr. Stuart was rambling on about the different ranks of superheroes at this point, losing the class's attention every second.

Information about superheroes were also taught extensively in school, as the school board hoped to generate interest in students becoming superheroes with their powers. But it was pointless, because a lack of interest wasn’t stopping people from becoming superheroes. There would always be people wanting to be a superhero due to the good paychecks and government benefits they would get.

The reason why most students didn’t end up becoming superheroes lay in their powers that they were born with. At the age of 5, everybody’s power awakens and its effects are completely random. The only indicator of what your power might be comes from your parents, as the strength and ability of your parents powers can influence what power you have.

That’s where the issue comes in. Sure, there’s a chance that you might awaken an extremely strong power like super strength or fire control, but instead you’ll probably instead awaken a weaker version of said power, like the power to increase your strength twofold for a minute before you overexert your muscles and have to rest for an hour. Or the ability to move and control fire, but only up to a candle’s worth.

Sometimes, the power can be incredibly niche or borderline useless, like the ability to grow a tail, or tell where North is when touching a tree. The issue with powers like these is that some powers don’t show up at all, not because the person doesn’t have one, but because the power is so niche and specific that it hasn’t met the requirement for its activation yet. Approximately 5% of the population has this issue and are called “Unknowns”. The majority of these people are the younger generation who haven’t experienced/tested enough to awaken their powers, whilst the rest are the unlucky folks who could never figure out their powers throughout their whole life.

Back on topic, most people have these useless or niche powers. Take Liam for example. He has the power to make anything he touches weightless, but only when he’s touching it. This means he can move heavy objects incredibly easily, but anything he throws would immediately succumb to gravity and fall, meaning he couldn’t become a superhero by throwing giant rocks at villains and monsters.

But if you got a decent power, you also had to decide if you wanted to risk your life. Superheroes have the job of protecting the people on different levels, depending on the rank of the superhero. C rank heroes take care of common criminals and thieves, often working with or for the police department. B rank heroes are protectors of city districts, dealing with weaker villains and singular monsters that sneak into the city. A rank heroes protect entire cities and fight off strong villains and dangerous monsters. Lastly, S rank heroes protect the whole continent, fighting monster armies and supervillains capable of mass destruction.

Most people can only try to become a C rank hero, but even that’s a hard position to get. You quickly learn that unless you have a very good power, any dreams about becoming a superhero should be put away. You’d have to be a special bastard to have a power fit for a superhero. 

Liam looked over to the special bastard next to him. Caleb had woken up from his nap at this point, but still had his head on his arms trying to sleep. He wore a soft purple hoodie to cover his black hair and blue eyes, with a pair of designer jeans. 

Caleb was a strange fellow. Despite having a strong power of telekinesis, he didn’t want to become a superhero. Instead, he had dreams of becoming a stage performer, using telekinesis to perform amazing acts and becoming famous. Liam once asked him about his choices, to which Caleb told him that he didn’t like the superhero life, and instead was inspired by various street performances to become a performer.

“Urgh… do you know how much time is left in history class?” Caleb asked Liam. Once again looking at the clock for the nth time, he saw that there was 6 minutes left in class.

“6 minutes before lunch. Did you enjoy your nap?” Liam said with a grin.

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but Mr. Stuart’s lesson was so boring that I dozed off by accident.”

“Fair enough,” Liam leaned back into his chair. “So… are you finally going to tell me your character for D&D tonight?”

“Hell no!” Caleb replied. “I told you already that it’s going to be a surprise. Just wait and see.”

“The last surprise you had was a water gun that shot out slime, which you tested out on me and sprayed slime in my face.”

“Hey, that was an accident!”

“You laughed at me the entire time I was washing the slime out of my mouth!”

“Well, yeah, but you have to admit it was really funny.”

“...yeah” Liam admitted. “But still, that was an awful surprise!”

“Well, trust me when I say this surprise is good.”

“Fine, keep your character a secret…” Liam relented. “Even though everyone else revealed their characters”.

Their other friends/players in the D&D game had revealed the characters they were playing. Ellie was playing “Gwen the Brave”, a human fighter from a village that fought off many monsters and defended her village, now venturing to defeat stronger monsters. Owen was playing “Magrar Flintcoat”, a dwarven cleric that wishes to help out everyone, now wandering the lands to help anyone in need. 

As for Liam himself, he was playing “Skye Wildfall”, a half-elf bard that grew up as a merchant and decided to set out, explore the world and find new goods to trade and sell.

“I’ve been meaning to ask…” Caleb said. “Why’d you decide to play a female character?”

“Eh, I thought it would be a better fit for Skye to be a girl then a boy. Plus, their gender doesn’t matter much, since it’s just role playing the characters.”

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Liam imagined Skye as a small town girl that wanted to venture the world, explore new places, find new trading goods and make friends along the way. Personally, he felt that keeping Skye as a girl would better suit the character and personality he wanted to play.

“Fair enough,” Caleb said, putting his head back onto his arms to rest for the rest of the class.

Liam looked back at the front of the class, only to hear the bell ring. The students around him all got up to leave for lunch. Liam and Caleb got up quickly to secure a lunch table.

“Remember to read the next few chapters in your textbook!” Mr. Stuart called out to the class before anyone could leave. “You have a quiz on Tuesday, so plenty of time to study and enjoy the weekend!”

Liam and Caleb left the classroom and passed by the lockers and other students leaving for lunch. It was a mess, seeing the horde of students clog up the hallways to get to their different destinations. Aside from the lucky few students who can traverse above the crowd with powers like flight, climbing or reversed gravity, most students had to push through the mass of people to get anywhere.

Liam stuck close to Caleb as he used a gentle amount of telekinesis to move other students out of the way, leaving just enough room for them to squeeze through. The school permits students to use their powers, since most people have harmless powers. Plus, some people show off their power as a part of themselves, whether they change their hair color or flaunt some wings. So as long as their powers weren’t harming or disrupting other students, they could be used within school grounds. This meant that Caleb can’t just shove everybody out of the way to make space (not that he’d do that in the first place!) and instead be mindful when using his power.

It also meant that Liam could carry all of his textbooks and more in his bag, without having to be weighed down by it. He could just make it weightless and carry it around with ease.

The duo finally managed to squeeze into the cafeteria, where they could finally sit down and enjoy their lunch. They didn’t need to search for a table to eat at, since they spotted one of their friends already sitting down with his lunch ready.

“What’s up Owen?” Liam said, greeting his friend who was a year ahead of them.

“Not much, just waiting for everyone else,” Owen replied nonchalantly.

Owen was a tall guy, with ruffled brown hair and green eyes. He wore a plain black shirt and gray jogging pants. At a glance, he looks like someone without a care in the world, despite Liam knowing the opposite of that.

Owen had told him that his father left his family after his sister was born, and a few years later his mother suddenly became sick and fell into a coma. After that, Owen had to start working a part time job after school to help pay for the hospital fees and support him and his sister. They still have some money saved up in their mother’s account, but that amount is slowly dwindling.

The only reason why Owen can join Liam and the rest in their new D&D game they’ve set up is because Friday nights are the only nights he doesn’t work, since his boss won’t let him work every single night and still has to go to school.

Liam and Caleb both offered to give him some money to support his family, but he denied all offers, stating that he didn’t want to be a burden to them. That didn’t stop both of them going straight to the hospital and secretly paying a portion of the medical fees for Owen’s mom.

It’s not like they couldn’t afford it. Liam lived by himself in a small house. His parents were scientists who got a job offer from a secret government lab in the neighboring city, so they moved there for work leaving Liam in the house by himself. He doesn’t even know what they’re working on, but the allowance/living fees they send back are $10 000 a month. Granted, a portion of it is meant for paying off rent, bills and other things but that still leaves Liam with a solid chunk of money, which he has left growing.

Then there’s Caleb, or Caleb Equinox, the third son of one of the most influential families in the city. The Equinox family are renowned to be excellent superheroes, and are a powerhouse in terms of wealth and influence. Caleb, despite being the third child, has access to a lot of expendable money (or what Caleb calls, his “allowance”).

Regardless, they both have a lot of spare money, enough to help relieve some of Owen’s burden.

As the three of them sat around the table and chatted, the last 2 members of their friend group arrived. Ellie and Daniel.

“Sorry to keep you guys waiting,” Daniel greeted them. “I was just helping Ellie get through the crowd.”

Daniel was a transfer student that joined their friend group recently. He had blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a t-shirt with a 20 sided dice on it, paired with jeans that were cut open by the kneecaps. He had a carefree and open attitude, with a giant grin on his face. He’s also the DM for their group, convincing everyone to give D&D a try and helping them all create character sheets.

Ellie on the other hand was a short girl with long brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a light blue and white striped dress with a gray hoodie on top to hide her face. Liam and everyone else knew she’s very shy and cute, although none of them openly admit the second one.

“Were you able to get through the crowd fine?” Owen asks the two newcomers.

“Yep, but it took a while,” Daniel replied. “It’s not like either of us had the power to beat the crowd.”

“Fair enough,” Owen said, shameless about the use of his power. Owen could run 100km/h, but only for a second before he had to wait a minute to do it again. This was enough time to get ahead of the crowd and race to the cafeteria before most others. 

“Hey, I didn’t use my power to get here,” Liam said, trying to defend himself.

“Yeah, cause you used me to clear the way for you!” Caleb pointed out.

Liam shrugged, knowing that he’d been called out and didn’t have any defense. “Still, maybe your spite of crowds will awaken your power.”

Daniel laughed. “Yeah, I wish. If anybody had to awaken a power by hating crowds, this school would be the place to do so.”

When Daniel first transferred, he told everybody that he was an “Unknown”, unaware of what his power might be. But they didn’t care, still inviting them into their friend group regardless.

As for Ellie, she had the power to change the state of water. So she could turn ice into water into vapor, and vice versa. Granted, it could only be a small amount at a time, but it’s great to chill people’s drinks.

“Um, Liam?” Ellie asked. “Are you sure your parents are okay with having us over while they’re not there? I don’t want to get you in any trouble…”

“Not at all! They’re fine with me hosting the game tonight. That is, if everyone can make it.”

“Yes” “Yep” “Yeah” “Yessir” a chorus of agreements came from everybody.

“Then it should be fine. Let’s just hope this day goes by fast.”

“I second that!” Caleb added in.

The group continued with some idle chatter and enjoyed their lunch before the bell rang for their next class. Everyone split off as Liam walked towards his next class, English.

Liam entered the classroom and sat down at a desk in the back of the room. The desks were arranged in pairs of two, but he didn’t have anyone sitting next to him. None of his friends had the same English class as him, so he was all by himself in this class.

More students flowed into the classroom one by one before the bell finally rang. Ms. Hopkins, a tall woman with black hair in a bun wearing glasses, came in to greet her class.

“Good morning everyone!” She cheerfully greeted the class. “Hopefully everyone’s been enjoying their Friday classes. But today, we’ll be starting our group presentations.”

Liam groaned. Group presentations. That meant working with his classmates, none of which he knows particularly well. Some of them were from his junior high school, but he never really talked to many people outside his friend group.

“This presentation is due next friday, and you must present a news article from a credible news station. I’ve already pre-assigned groups of three for anyone, so look at the projector.

She snapped her fingers, and the projector light came on. Liam didn’t know what power she had, but she could snap her fingers and electronic things would activate. During class, she never had to go back to the computer while teaching, instead snapping her fingers to do whatever she needed instead.

Liam looked up at the projector board to see who he was paired with. Jennifer and Nicole. He never talked to them before, but they’re two girls who sat near the front of the class.

He walked up to greet the duo, who didn’t move since they were deskmates. The two were already chatting away, discussing what article they should choose.

“Uh, hey,” Liam awkwardly greeted them. “I think I’m in a group with you two.”

“Oh yeah, just pull up a chair and you can join in.” Nicole offered.

Liam nodded, but was internally berating himself. Why’d he have to come off so weird?! Why can’t he say a simple sentence?!

He pulled up a chair from a nearby desk that no one was using. Jennifer was already on her laptop, scrolling through a news station called “The Oxvern Times”, a local news station that writes about stories and news in their city, Oxvern. 

“Is there any article you see that interests you?” Jennifer asks, scrolling through the options. Various titles pass by, none standing out.

“We could always look at ‘The Daily Hero’ if we can’t find an interesting article,” Nicole offered.

“Sure,” Liam said, still feeling a bit awkward. He was never good around people he doesn’t really know well. 

“How about this,” Jennifer said. “[Mysterious Villain Loose in Oxvern - 3 People Missing]. What do you guys think?”

“Oooh, sounds spooky,” Nicole exclaimed. “That would be a good topic. What do you think Liam?”

“Um, yeah, that would be a good topic I guess.” Liam said, internally berating himself for fumbling the sentence.

Nicole looked at him for a second before shrugging it off. “Well regardless, we have a week to make this. There’s plenty of time to do some research and make a presentation, but we might as well start now.”

The three of them read through the article, which talked about a shadowy figure roaming around at night, causing three people to mysteriously be whisked away. Liam read through the article and jotted down some bullet points, wishing the class would go by faster.

‘Oh wait, I still have math after this class…’ Liam realized. ‘Fuck.’