Mike

(Colosseum, Academy Grounds)

Mike focused, concentrating all his efforts on creating something spectacular. His wisp spun, a brilliant blue flame, pointed at the target.

"This is it." Mike thought. With a grunt of effort, he flung the flame with all his might. It shot off towards the target, and to Mike's surprise, struck it precisely where he aimed it. The wisp struck the center of the target and exploded, blossoming into a dramaric spiral of flame, before it winked out, leaving...

"Wow, not even a mark." Sam said right next to him.

Mike was distaught. It was the same result as always. This time, a bit more impressive, but lackluster nonetheless.

"Way to make me feel better Sam, thanks." Mike replied nonplussed.

"Sorry, that just slipped out." Sam said, cringing at her realization.

The last few students did what they could with varying success before the next group arrived with the next class. It was time to rotate.

"Alright students, let's move on to the track segment of the Colosseum, the next group needs their turn." La'ar spoke, leading them to a different section of the enormous stadium. Many of them were feeling let down. Their powers, whilst amazing, were nothing compared to what La'ar had shown them earlier. They were clearly a very long way off.

As they walked, La'ar spoke with them. "As we move to the track, I can't help but notice that many of you are disheartened by your showing at the targets. I promise you, all will be revealed in good time, but I will say this; nobody ever started off a master in their field. Remember that." he spoke with finality. It was some comfort, but didn't lessen the sting of disappointment.

After a few minutes, they made their way to the track where Sam was clearly rearing to go. "I'm gonna smoke ya'll!" she said just ahead of Mike, who rolled his eyes, loathing this next challenge. There were 20 lanes on the massive track, so this section would be over rather quickly.

"I hope." Mike thought dejectedly.

"Alright. Here we are, you'll run 20 at a time, one single lap, for a total of 800 meters. I encourage you to use your Gifts to assist you with this as much as possible." La'ar stated firmly.

The races went by as expected. Those with Gifts that were tailored toward body enhancements were in a different class from those who didn't know what to do with their powers.

"Like me." Mike thought in a huff.

Sam won her race in a few seconds, hardly breaking a sweat. She was definitely the fastest in the class. Some students could reinforce their muscles, and so became stronger, and thus faster. Those that had different skill sets though...

"Growing grass isn't making me faster sir!" Daniel shouted as the grass on his side of the track grew a few inches as he passed by. Floating girl had been brought down to the track, but as soon as she kicked off, she lazily floated back into the air and burst into tears, which, ironically enough, didn't stay in the air with her, raining down on the now renewed grass.

It was Mike's turn to run, and so he let the Wisp float around him as he got ready. The air cracked and Mike ran with all his might, thinking to the Wisp, "Help me run faster". The Wisp gleefully kept pace with him, offering no assistance whatsoever. Mike came in second behind a dude whose Gift was being stretchy. He elongated himself to try and outpace the rest but didn't count on Mike's turn of speed, and ended up using his arms to pull himself along the ground just to be faster than Mike. After crossing the finish line Mike came to a stop and hunched over to catch his breath when Sam clapped him on the back, a wide grin on her face.

"Hey! You're pretty great even without your Gift helping, nice race!" she said enthusiastically.

Mike gulped down the air and responded. "At least... the ballet... came in handy... here!"

"I beat pretty much everyone that didn't have physical enhancement, so that's good. Go Mike." he thought somewhat dejectedly. It was clear just what a difference it made when you took 'normal' people and gave them Gifts. They were truly exceptional by comparison.

"Let's move on now, we have only a few more tests of your skills and Gifts before we break for lunch, give it your best." La'ar spoke above us, consoling the distraught floating girl.

The next section was the 'Olympic' sports. Discus, javelin throw, long jump, and high jump.

Again, watching those with physical enhancements was just plain unfair, though this time things went a little differently. Sam tried using her speed to throw the discus, but something nearly went horribly wrong. As she began her spin and added speed with her Gift, she yelped halfway through and the discus went flying into the net. She cradled her right wrist, wincing as La'ar floated down to take a look. He touched the wrist and she blinked her eyes.

"Wait, it's…fine!" she said in shock, shaking out her hand to test it.

"Be a little more measured Samantha, your gift gives you speed, yes, but not enhanced strength, which will need to be earned. We'll elaborate on this later." La'ar said, floating upwards. When it came to the Javelin throw, it was no surprise that the majority of the class, strong or not, couldn't throw the javelin properly. Strength or Gifts aside, it didn't matter since most didn't have the technique down, and the Javelin would go soaring up, only to fall flat, nearly fly backward and skewer someone, or fall back to earth the wrong way around.

One student had a spear in his hand already. Clearly, it was a part of his Gift, since he seemed more comfortable with it than anyone, and it had appeared in his hands the moment he activated his gift. He took a few steps, and with unnatural grace, he threw the spear in a perfect arc, and subsequently, set a world record for the furthest throw of a Javelin in history, 146 meters. Mike and the rest were shocked and impressed, giving a small applause, though they still felt lousy at their attempts. Everyone had expected Magic to fill in their gaps. It stung when didn't.

Next up, there was the high jump, and long jump, all of which went pretty much the same. The physical enhancers did amazing, whilst the rest of the students felt pretty average all around. La'ar never revealed the actual stats either.

"Why is La'ar making us do all these weird tests? It's so obvious we don't know what we're doing. He's being awfully quiet too. I'm honestly feeling despondent and like a total loser in the face of the enhanced guys. Can't he see that for most of us, this is pointless? Not all of us are good at the physical stuff with our Gifts." Mike thought with some brewing hostility towards the day's proceedings.

"Alright, time to break for lunch, deactivate your Gifts, please. You'll find meals in the cafeteria where you'll have an hour for lunch, then please proceed to conference hall 7. It's not far from where you'll be eating." La'ar spoke before pointing out the direction they should walk.

They deactivated their gifts, and as House Zayin walked together towards the Cafeteria, Sam sidled up to Mike, looking at him expectantly with a smirk.

"And what's up with you exactly?" Mike asked suspiciously.

"I did super great at just about everything, that's what!" she beamed, much to Mike's chagrin.

"You should really read the room, as it were. The rest of us aren't feeling all that great right now." Mike offered tiredly. Sam looked around and that's when she noticed the sullen looks and irritation plastered on a number of faces.

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"Riiiight. Not everyone had a good time, huh." she said measuredly. "And you Mike? Did you also not have a great time?" she asked with a smirk and nary a hint of compassion. Mike had to laugh at the ludicrous nature of the question. Of course, he was mad and everyone who had the skillset for this sort of thing excelled, whereas the others, like him, had no idea what they were doing, or supposed to do. It was infuriating.

But...

Mike came down from his exasperated laugh and looked at Sam. "Yeah, it sucked bad. I feel terrible and like a loser, and I don't think I'm the only one."

They entered the cafeteria where, to their surprise, every seat had a meal waiting for them. All they had to do was take a seat. "Wanna sit together?" Sam asked thoughtfully.

"That would be nice, yeah, thanks." Mike responded.

They sat at the table and unwrapped what looked like some delicious sandwich rolls. Just as they were about to dig in, Daniel, the grass guy, slumped into a chair opposite them.

"Damnit!" he said, thumping the table. His sandwich briefly became airborne before lazily rolling onto its side. Daniel unwrapped his roll and bit into it hungrily, grumbling all the while.

Sam and Mike glanced at each other perplexedly. Mike was about to open his mouth to speak when...

"It's not fair! Is he mocking us? Cause it sure feels like he's mocking us! 'Don't worry, your power will be great someday..' yeah right! Need to run away from a bad guy? I'll just grow some grass, that will totally help! Need to stop a bullet, don't worry I got you, let's grow some grass! Need your lawn done? No? Oh look, your grass grew, looks like you do now!!" Daniel exclaimed before munching another mouthful of sandwich roll and chewing as if his life depended on it. Mike and Sam decided it was best just to eat and silently observe the outrage of the poor guy in front of them.

Daniel swallowed before wiping his mouth, gesticulating with his hapless sandwich, from which a rather precarious slice of tomato was on the verge of flying off toward freedom. "You know what's even worse? Priscilla has been floating around all day! How is that okay? She could have gotten lost, or hit her head! What if she floated over to the Javelins and fell on top of them? Her hair got caught in the discus net when she tried to get down, and she's been a mess ever since the track! Come on man, this isn't right." he finished forlornly.

Mike wasn't sure whether or not to laugh or take it seriously, so he opted for the safer option for now. Daniel's thoughts were echoed in Mike's mind as well. He wasn't the only one who was miffed about today. Looking around at the others, they were also muttering discontentedly, while a minority were gathering together and celebrating the day so far instead. He looked at his hand as he ate. His Wisp had responded when he asked it to spin for the target throw, and while it was spectacular, it hadn't done a thing to the target. Since then, it also hadn't been useful for any other activity. It didn't help him run faster, it didn't help him throw the Javelin, jump higher, or even throw the discus. He felt so lame.

"You're Samantha, the speedster right?" Emma, the Dewdrop girl asked. "May I sit with you guys?" she asked bashfully. Sam, with a full mouth, tried to chew faster to respond, but instead just nodded her head. Mike spoke for her. "Sure, Emma right? Please join us."

Emma sat down next to Daniel and gingerly opened her sandwich. "You know, I couldn't help but hear what you were saying earlier, and you're not alone. It was...amazing, to see my power being used the way it was by La'ar before, however, when I got to the targets myself, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't freeze my droplets at all. I tried thinking at them, making them go cold, but nothing worked! All I had was the droplets still, and I couldn't even combine them! It felt so... Lame! So I just thought, screw it, and threw them hard as I could at the target, but they... didn't even reach it. It was no better than throwing water droplets from my hand without magic. From there on, everything else was just the same. As if I didn't even have magic." she ended sadly, before taking a dainty bite out of her own sandwich.

"Huh, sounds about how my day went too, sorry." Daniel offered sullenly. Emma smiled slightly before resuming her meal.

They sat in relative silence, eating for a few minutes before Sam piped up. "You know guys, I'm not really one to talk, since my powers are kinda...easy to use, compared to yours. But, if you think about it, mine has some hard limits that yours don't." she said as she took her last bite. Mike looked sideways at her.

"What do you mean? You, at the beginning of your power, can run a kilometer almost in under 5 seconds, how do you know that you have 'hard limits'?" Mike asked incredulously. The other two were following quite attentively at Mike's question.

Sam, oblivious to any venom, after swallowing, replied. "I'm serious! Hear me out. At the discus, I think I dislocated my hand trying to use my Gift to wind me up for the throw. I thought it would be fine, but the mechanics of my Gift seem to be a little bit... limited by physics. You see, if I spun the discus as fast as my Gift's speed would allow, it would increase the weight I would need to carry to throw it, massively! which is exactly what happened. In other words, the discus became so heavy, it almost pulled my bones apart. I guess what I'm saying is, whilst my Gift is pretty awesome off the bat, it's also really dangerous, especially to myself if I'm not careful. If I calculate it wrong, and I run into a solid object at my speed, I'll be a splat on the wall. My body is struggling as it is to keep up with the speed, and I can feel it. My Gift didn't give me automatic density to compensate for the speed. I guess that's what La'ar meant by having to 'earn' my strength." Sam said thoughtfully.

Daniel's mouth was hanging a little open at Sam's analysis. "I don't know whether or not that makes me feel a lot better, or a lot dumber for knowing I could never piece that together myself." he said at the table.

Emma and Sam giggled at Daniel's response, and Mike smiled. It made sense after all. The Gifts they were given didn't automatically gift them with superior genetics, or improve them in 'superior' ways right away. The feedback would be way too intense. They didn't even understand how magic worked, and what magic 'used' in order to work.

The table decided to chat about other things after that, like the fact that they were in fact at the South Pole, how it was kinda creepy that they'd been 'drugged' to sleep first thing upon arrival, and how they were being thrust into situation after situation, and they hadn't even unpacked their bags yet.

"It is a lot to take in, and kind of annoying, had I been in their shoes of course." Mike thought with a sly grin. Before they knew it, a few loudspeakers announced, "Attention House Zain, please make your way to Conference Hall 7, thank you."

With that, they made their way into the hall, and the four of them chose seats around midway from the podium. The hall looked more like a large lecture hall than a conference hall, but who was Mike to judge the ways of corporate design? It took a few minutes, but once everyone had settled, La'ar walked in and stood at the podium.

"He's not flying in? Wow, risque." Mike thought incredulously.

"Students, congratulations on your first day of training, I want you all, despite your feelings, to give yourselves a round of applause. Day one of Magic Academy has been completed." he stated, starting a clap which most took up with a little confusion, and others with vigor. Once it died down, he resumed. "I know it may seem silly, but I wish for you not to look down upon your work today, even though you may be disappointed by the result, for you see, today was a benchmarking test for each and every one of you, and there will be more in the coming days. However, that is not the focus of this little chat."

La'ar magically projected a picture on the wall. It looked like...

"This is a progress chart. Each of you will gain access to your own chart if you wish, at the end of this talk, but suffice it to say that this will show you your progress, day by day, week by week, and eventually, year by year. It is a living testament to your roots, where you came from, and where you're going. I bring this up because I want to bring our attention to something that has been rife amongst you since the target segment out on the field." La'ar stated abruptly. A little murmuring went around the room at that statement.

"You see students, for many of you I understand that you may feel as though today was 'unfair', but I would say that's hardly the case. For you see..."

A window popped up in front of Mike, showing his progress chart. Mike quickly scanned over it, and at the same time he noticed it, he heard the murmuring go up around the room as others clearly saw what he did.

"Wait, is this legit!? That means..." Mike began thinking before he and everyone else were interrupted.

"...you have all improved dramatically from just a few days ago. The only reason you never realized it was because I kept you focused on your Gifts. What you didn't realize, was that most of you came near Olympic qualifying levels of fitness and physical prowess, even though your gifts didn't help you. The chart in front of you shows your athletic ability, which we compiled from your very minds before coming here, and your present ability today." La'ar spoke with a slight smile. "Why don't you take a moment to see for yourself."

Mike looked at the chart in front of him. There, in white was the 'old' data, and in green, the new data, with a percentage increase beside it. The overall percentage of improvement for Mike, at the bottom of the chart, was...

"A 30% improvement!?" Mike thought ecstatically.

You see, a 30% improvement might not mean much on paper, but on the charts, it meant that instead of running the 800 Meters in nearly two and a half minutes, Mike had just scraped under two minutes now, with no prior training. An instant buff that hadn't been noticed due to his disappointment in his Gift. This meant that not only in speed, but in strength, intellect, and in a plethora of other factors, Mike was now truly...

"Exceptional. You are, each and every one of you, exceptional, by human standards. And you aren't even fully grown boys and girls. Realize this one fact right now, and I promise you won't be so sullen anymore." La'ar spoke dramatically, yet effectively as every ear in the room tuned in to what he had to say next.

"You are better than 99.9999 percent of the human population in almost every way. And we're just getting started." La'ar spoke confidently.

Sam whispered to Mike. "I don't know about you dude, but I am beyond psyched for more of this."

Mike had to agree.

This was just the beginning, who knew what was in store for them? It didn't matter if it didn't feel great today. The proof was right in front of them.

"This is going to be awesome indeed." Mike thought with a smile.