Beep beep beep beep [click] I really hate myself for putting on so many alarms. I woke up and started getting ready for another boring day at school. As I get out of bed I start to wonder what my day is going to be like. It’s always a coin toss; you can never really predict what is going to happen when in high school. you can go one day say the right punch lines; do something awesome by mistake and everyone loves you and it's the best time of your life but usually it's usually the opposite and you say something stupid in class trip up when talking to a hot girl or bump into a super powered douchebag who's looking for a fight.
After taking a shower I looked at myself in the mirror as I always do every morning. No I’m not vain. I’m just hoping to see some change any change. It had already been 3 months since I turned 16 and I still nothing. As I searched my body I went over a mental checklist .height ,still the same, about 180cm.body structure, no change, muscles formed from years of martial arts and combat training .skin tone and texture are the same just a light tan from staying in the sun while training. At this point lizard scales would be good news.my eyes and hair are both still brown. After my disappointing survey I put on my school uniform. It’s a simple all black track suit with the schools lion head logo on the back in white. Almost all schools use tracksuits as uniforms these days, they are cheaper and allow for more mobility as there have been an increase in classes that aim to teach us how to survive in this new era. Of course we still have maths and chemistry but we also have outdoor survival class, you know just in case you’re transported into another world without warning (travellers like doing stuff like that to prove that they are a threat).I head downstairs and find my mother and brother waiting by the breakfast table.
“Good morning Simon” mom says with a heart-warming smile. She is a petit woman barely 160cm tall. She had gained weight after having three kids. Her brown eyes the same as mine seemed to see the worries in my heart. Sometimes I wondered if she was an empath. I couldn’t believe that she had no powers not that it mattered my grandfather was rich enough that she was safe until she married the powered man that was my father.
“Good morning” I say back putting on a smile to hide my worries about not having abilities.
My younger brother just gives me a simple nod and I smile back at him. He doesn’t like to talk much but when he does it always feels like he’s older than me. We all wait in silence and after a few minutes we hear his footsteps from outside. We all know who it is before he arrives, the man who we were waiting for my father. Our postures stiffen as he enters the room. His presence demands obedience. He slowly makes his way to the table. His movement is eerily smooth for a man standing 200cm tall with bulky robust muscle that reminds me of hulk and just like the comic book character he has the anger issues to boot. He is wearing a full suit of armour minus the helmet( not unusual in this day and age ,enemies are always looking for the one moment you let your guard down so most people tend to stay battle ready or they just kill theirs enemies).his skin is dark red nearly maroon. His eyes and hair are metallic silver, not from old age but from his mutation. Right now you’re probably wondering how this sinister looking last boss character managed to marry my mom. Well in our “liberated and high minded society” small things like looks where rarely considered when you had raw power. It was not uncommon for a power to change the appearance of its user as it reflects the true image of the users’ soul. Think of it as showing who you really are under your skin. With an ugly transformation you might not become a celebrity but kick enough ass and people worship you.
He looked over at me as he sat down at the head of the table and asked “still no change?”
“No, sorry father” I stared into his armours chest plate unable to make eye contact.
“disappointing” he spits on the floor visibly irritated”you’re 16 now, your sister had he gift by the time she was fourteen”
There it was again, he always compares me to my sister when he’s mad. To put it simply she is a prodigy. Got her warrior set powers like my father when she was fourteen and I was eleven. We had been sparing when she changed, just like dad her skin turned red and her eyes and hair silver. First thing she did was use her enhanced strength to put him through the wall. He came out unscathed with a smile showing pride I had never seen before. After that he changed her last name to Argent and sent her off to an advanced warrior college on another planet. Did I mention Dawn is my mother’s last name; we can’t use our fathers name until we earn it, and his words not mine.
“Son when you want something you take it” he looks me dead in the eye and says “especially when it comes to power” after that he stays quiet and gestures for us to eat.
I can never get a read on my father. He showed us no love and gave us hellish training from the time we could walk but we could never tell his views on us as his family. It felt like we were just assets to him. Before you break out in tears and think I’m the only one who has it rough you should know his line of thinking is pretty much what most men in power have been thinking since the incident 50 years ago. The best way to ensure you have a secure position in this crazy world was to form a clan with your most powerful direct descendant being the head. My father took over the Dawn clan when he married my mother the current heir of the clan after my grandfather had failed to produce powered offspring. Another reason why children were treated as assets was because we could become future soldiers with destructive capabilities. But more often or not only 4 in 10 children gain power, less if both of the parents are normal. Until I awakened my power I would be off his radar. I don’t know why I wanted to be on it in the first place but hey some attention is better than none right?
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After breakfast I make my way to the hover car. The driver opens the door for me after a formal greeting. He must be another new recruit to the Dawn, actually our clan is called Argent knight now but I like to think of it as the Dawn. When I was younger my mother used to tell me and my siblings about how noble and honourable the dawn was before it became known for underground activities like drug trade and assassinations on an interplanetary scale. It’s actually the reason why my dad sent my sister off planet, to open up new trade routes and setup a possible base on a new planet. As the car started I thought about the Dawn, I wondered how honourable could any clan be when the days menu was kill or be killed. Could they have been different from what my mother had said, maybe she just wanted to protect us from the harsh reality of the new world. We flew for 10 minutes before the massive school grounds where in site.my stomach churned in anticipation of the upcoming day.
I walked down the down the steps from the landing port into the schools corridor. I took a moment to take in my surroundings; the walls were alight with multiple holographic notices. Students made their way around the school, some with confident upright postures others looking down too afraid of attracting unwanted attention. I knew the people walking with confidence are the first class citizens like me born into an ability users' legacy. Being a first class citizen didn’t mean you were guaranteed to have power or be important but it meant if someone killed you they would have to answer for it in blood or money depending on how important you were. Second class citizens could promote to first class anytime they activated ability and their offspring would all be first class citizens although a second class awakening happens rarely these days. There were many ability users in my school. Their families might not be prominent enough to send them to better schools or maybe their classes were too low to be sent to the high end schools off planet or maybe they were like me a seed ready to sprout but failing to do so. Although I say some had low classes in their categories it was more than enough to kill a normal human so it’s best to avoid them. Very few had physical augmentations so it’s hard to pinpoint what exact power someone has unless they were stupid enough to brag about their abilities to which most were.
As I walk down the hallway to my homeroom most of the students clear the way. Some if not all of the student that move aside have fear in their eyes. A side effect of being the son of a murderous clan head. I try not to pay attention to the hateful glares of opposing clan children or the guys strong enough to think they have nothing to worry about (idiots). Although when I think about it what would happen if I was killed would a whole clan be wiped out as reparations or would my father ask for a wad of cash and walk away? As I was thinking someone grabbed my shoulder from behind. I had to resist my urge and instincts to flip them just in case it was someone I would rather not mess with.
“Hey you walked right past me!” a female voice as sweet as honey said from behind me.
I quickly turned around and said”I did that on purpose, which guy doesn’t like having a beautiful maiden chasing them”
I looked over this beautiful girl who hadn’t quite gotten used to the changes her body went through. her name was Laureline, she didn’t have a last name yet because she had just been promoted to a first class citizen when she awakened her ability a few weeks ago.as the only class two citizen to awaken an ability on earth in the last two years she had become a minor celebrity . We had been friends before the change, actually more like boss and gofer, but for some reason all I feel is jealousy in my heart when I see her. I scanned her body a second time and noticed she had gotten slightly taller; her shoulder length blond hair suited her crystal blue eyes. Then it hit me she had a few more curves than I remember and I had just seen her yesterday!
“You’re using your power agai-“she covered my mouth with her finger.
“What’s the use of being a shape shifter if I don’t adjust my more lacking areas, duh!” she said as it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Ok I get your point” I said begrudgingly.
She had awakened the ability to shape shift her physical body which falls under the warrior category, she never told me what class her ability is but from what I’ve observed over the last few weeks is that it must be above class 5. This is because I’ve seen her copy the exact looks of another human (me) which is a class 4 skillset and copy my physical strength, stamina and agility which makes her class 5. She never showed me what she could copy and to what limit, I knew she kept quiet about it on purpose as she didn’t have a clan and would rather not end up being recruited by the Argent Knight. Her goal was probably to be picked up by the Enforcers and use her power for “good”.
As we walked down the hall I saw the “king” of the school Jason Grant, son of a high level grunt in the Raiders clan. I say king of the school because he was the most powerful student in this no name academy. He was short but muscular and had pure white hair and skin pale enough to match. I used to joke to myself about how his soul expressed itself as pure when it was nothing but darkness. He was a sorcerer class 6 and specialized in light magic. He had an intimidating aura about him and was the only reason I wasn’t treated like royalty by every ability user in this school.it goes to show how weak the weak where in this world. When he wasn’t around they loved me, when he was around I was an idiot in their eyes.
He sneered when he noticed me looking at him talking to Naomi, whose body structure Lauraline had copied. They were the schools power couple beauty and the beast. It looked like the where waiting for someone. Naomi’s eyes were red from crying. He said something and she nodded and then he started in my direction
I whispered to Lauraline “so that’s where you got your inspiration from”
She blushed and replied” minor tweaks ok, I’m still me”
As he made his way to me with sinister look in his eyes I knew he didn’t come to play. I readied myself for whatever he had to say or do.
That’s when he said ”You can blame your daddy for this!”
I didn’t even have time to finish my reply when a blinding ray of light consumed me. “Oh shi-“