Walking through the academy's entrance, a smirk crossed Alexandra's face as she chuckled to herself. As she reached the sidewalk, she tilted her head to one side to glance back at the academy. A playful grin on her face as she sighed
"At least try to be original guys.”
her gaze raising as she looked above the entrance at the plaque, 'Starlight Academy,' the bronze letters stood out as the sun gleamed against the characters. Just as the plaque, the academy itself was fairly new, established in the small town only two years prior—a new school garnering little merit in its academic and minor feats in terms of athletic activities. Starlight Academy's prestige never fell short in the eyes of both the normal and singularity user populous of Idaho, the state not known for much besides its rafting, fishing, and hiking recreations.
The town Alexia lived in had a population of around fifty thousand. Compared to other states, though, like New York, California, or even Texas, with populations around three hundred thousand, it fell short in terms of opportunities and events relating to singularity users since the majority of said opportunities were aimed at the larger populated areas. Many talented singularity users were also drafted from these areas.
Turning her gaze back towards the road ahead, Alexandria smiled once more, closing her eyes as she began to walk once more.
"Hehe~ It fits though."
She teased as she stretched both her arms up and slightly behind her head, taking a look at the surrounding buildings and the few people going about their day-to-day lives, taking her first steps as she began her walk home.
Her hands coming together to block the sun from her face, her long blond hair falling to one side as her eyes slightly looked up to the sky.
"Though this heat is something else! What are we in?! One of those Southern States?! Geez!"
She fused as the heat began to make its presence known across the town, the girl's eyes coming down as she looked around, her gaze slowly scanning around before fixing onto a specific building.
"Salvation~." she said to herself as her steps picking up, walking towards the convenience store on the curb of the street she was currently on.
Alexia stopped a few feet in front of the store, let out a sigh of relief, and took a moment to catch her breath. Before long, she began stepping forward towards the closed doors, the doors sliding open in both directions in response to her. Allowing a cool whiff of air to escape the store's entrance causing the girl to smile, her eyes closing while her hair swayed from the passing breeze as she entered.
Currently, there were two people present in the building, a middle-aged woman now placing items onto a counter in front of her and a young man taking said items, checking them before placing them in a brown paper bag. From his Red, Orange, and Blue logo shirt, she could tell from a first glance that the young man was the employee at the store, his emerald eyes moving back and forth from the countered goods to the screen in front of him. After enjoying the store's cool atmosphere for a bit, Alexia slowly made her way through the store, looking around at the different items on the shelf as she passed.
In the four corners of the building, there were televisions stationed, two of which broadcasted different programs; one showing a news broadcast on events occurring around different regions in America, the other showing what seemed to be an intense game of basketball, the other two seemed to have been switched off though. The convenience store's interior was pretty old-fashioned, boxes stacked in the back, the floor tiled with black and white tiles creating a checkered pattern. The walls were concrete on the outside, but the interior had wooden sheeting, making it seem like one from decades past.
Dusty magazines filled the sides, seemingly being ignored as no one bothered to get rid of the old titles.
"Humanity Evolves! Singularity taking over the nation" the teen said to herself as she looked at the other, "France wins the World Series....... Issue 2020?!" she almost exclaimed loudly in a fluster but immediately lowered her voice.
"That's nearly a decade ago...." looking up towards the cashier's counter to see if she had been heard. Luckily the woman was still distracting the young man with her goods.
With a deep sigh of relief, Alexandria made her way down the rest of the aisle and into the drink compartment section. This section of the store was a bit chillier than the rest, but it was a blessing from the gods themselves in this heat. She basked in cooled air for a bit, smiling to herself before taking a gander at the different drinks on display, ultimately deciding to just go with a bottle of soda, pulling out the first one she saw and heading back up front to the counter.
"Here you go, Ma'am. Have a nice day." A voice rang out from the register. It seemed the cashier was finally finished checking out the woman's goods, handing her a bag, and lightly waving her off as she left the store, turning his attention back to the blond who was now in front of him, placing a bottle on his counter and looking at him.
"Just this?" he asked, reaching forward to pick up the bottle of soda, eyeing the girl slightly as he rang up the drink's cost on the scanner.
After confirming from the girl’s single nod to his question, he looked over at his screen, lightly tapping at it before looking back over at her.
"That'll be a dollar," he responded, contemplating putting the singular bottle in a bag.
Alexia raised her right hand with a light smile, pulling back on her sleeve a bit to reveal her power bracelet. This cashier was still observing her being taken back by the gesture. It was common practice for people, Singularity users or Ordinary, to pay for expenses with their bracelet. Seeing the newer model, bracelets could act as a virtual wallet as long as their bank accounts were adequately connected to it. But in this town, not many people paid for things this way, causing his surprise. After a quick moment to recompose himself, the cashier reached down below his counter, looking and feeling around a bit, then returned with a scanning device. These were typically used for these types of transactions.
However, again since it was still a rare occurrence in this town, he had generally never really used it that much, causing him to put it below. Reaching forward, he scanned the bracelet on the girl's wrist, looking back at his monitor to verify the transaction before placing the scanner down on the counter once more and tapping at the screen, nodding at her, and pushing the bottle forward to see if she was alright with just taking the bottle or if she'd request a bag.
Watching the girl pull the bottle towards her, grabbing one of the straws out on the counter and thanking him, turning towards the door to leave, he smiled and placed the bag that he had prepared in case down, nodding at her before speaking up.
"Have a good day Miss", raising his hand in a light wave. Alexia looked back to acknowledge his response with a warm smile.
"Yeah, you too," she responded, catching a glimpse at a bracelet also on his left wrist. As he turned his attention back to the television broadcasting the basketball game, the teen took this chance to leave the store, bottle in hand, and straw now in her mouth.
Returning to the outside world, she was immediately greeted by the change in temperature. Quickly opening the bottle and placing the straw in to take a sip, she continued her journey home through the sweltering heat.
"You'd think this would be a major concern for people! Yeesh! What are we in the south?!" she complained out loud, bringing the straw to her lips once more.
As she referenced how usually the Southern States were more attuned to having these levels of heat as opposed to the Central and North. Taking her phone out of her pocket with her free hand, she looked at the time before stuffing it back in her pocket, continuing to walk briskly down the road. It was two in the afternoon. Usually, she would at least be entering the neighborhood on a typical day by this time. She lived in a relatively peaceful area, to be honest. Not much ever happened there. Everyone knew everyone, kids playing here and there, the general idea of a quaint place.
After a few more blocks, she entered the neighborhood, finally finishing the drink she purchased and disposing of it in a trash can she happened to pass before walking up to a modern-styled, two-story house. Opening the door, she walked into her home, stretching a bit as she took her shoes off, picking them up afterwards before stepping into the main hallway. Looking into the living room, she noticed her mother and her little sister. Alexia's mother was a middle-aged woman of English origins, seemingly in her early forties. Her eyes were a greenish hue. Her hair was also blond but slightly longer than Alexandria's. Her little sister was a dead stamp of her mother, sharing the same blond hair and green-hued eyes. However, her hair was drastically shorter, only barely reaching her tiny shoulders. Her mother was currently cleaning the living room while her little sister laid on the couch close by watching the television. She noticed that her father and brother were absent from the scene, looking in the kitchen, the dining room, and in the study, noting to herself that they both were probably still at work.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"I'm home," Alexia called out as she quickly bolted up the stairs to her room, shutting the door behind her.
Her mother, being used to her daughter's usual behavior by now, simply called out.
"Welcome home."
Not even bothering to look up as she continued to clean. However, a slight smile appeared on her face. Alexia promptly made her way over to her desktop, switching it on before anything else, then tossed her shoes to one side and her bag to the other. As opposed to her actions just now, her room was rather neat and tidy. The room itself was rather colorful, having an intricate cyan into turquoise into the blue design. On her dresser, there was a flat-screen T.V., accompanied by various books ranging from comics, both eastern and western, to school books, to magazines, all neatly piled together in their respective categories. Above the T.V. was a silver clock, slowly ticking down its time towards the dead of night. Amid the room was her bed and a small table to the side of it, her sheets currently matching the silver of the clock with the pillow in a white casing and her desktop computer in the corner of the room on a desktop workstation with a rotating chair to accompany it.
As she got changed, freshening up herself before dinner, her computer finished its booting up and loaded her desktop. As she tied her hair into a ponytail, she sat in her revolving chair, spinning until she was now facing her monitor.
"Time to do some research...." she said out loud before opening the web browser.
The first topic of interest she looked up was the prizes and payoffs for a participant in a Singularity Tournament. According to the article that came up, many professional players earned more than one hundred thousand dollars just for participating in competitions, let alone sponsorships and the actual prize money.
The article then went on to describe the different types of tournaments and the prizes associated with them.
"Heh... Now, this is getting me all excited!" she said to herself as she continued to look at other articles relating to tournaments and such.
A few noteworthy articles such as 'China's Youngest Dragon joins the national team,' 'American Devil enters the realm of the Pros!' and 'Scottish Veteran finally retires after a comeback victory!', caught her attention, causing her to lose track of time, reading each one of them. From what she'd read so far, most participants never used their actual names when competing. Aliases were often used or titles gained from accomplishing some noteworthy feat. But there was one article that truly captured her attention, 'Archeologist team assembled! Ready to uncover humanity's true power!'
This article mentioned a group of archeologists traveling worldwide to study sites where singularity cases first began to manifest. These types of things were always a favorite to Alexia, the Archeology fangirl. She would always be fascinated by thoughts of uncovering ancient human progression, discovering ancient fossils, or text lost to time. But when it came to singularity, she couldn't help but feel annoyed about such power. It was as clear as day that not everyone could obtain a singularity. Some were born with it, others had to develop it at a young age from a five to ten age range, the generation gap mark was unmistakable. After reading this final article, though, she couldn't find any other that caught her attention like the rest.
Suddenly there was a knock at her door. Before she could even turn around, the door opened. As the blond turned her head to see who it was, the person began to speak.
"So I got a call from the school today..." her mother said, walking in with a basket of freshly cleaned clothing, setting them close to the bed. " Apparently you just signed up for a club activity?"
She went on to say as she paced through the folded clothes to ensure they were all there.
"This is the first I'm hearing of 'The Alexandria Winchester' wanting to do this type of thing," she teased as she looked over at the girl who had now spun her chair to face her.
"You're very close to graduating, so what could possibly make you of all people change your stance and join a club?" she asked curiously as this development in her child was rather perplexing, to say the least, joining a club? In the middle of summer, no less?!
"Really, mom..." she responded as she felt the blow of her mother's statement.
"It's the singularity club. I figured if I could get my feet into this profession, then I could probably make it big, and the rest of my life would be easy sailing~" she added as she folded both her hands behind her head and spun the chair in a 360-degree spin, a bright smile on her face.
"Oh?! Nothing is easy sailing, my dear sweet, sweet child~." her mother retorted, "But are you sure about this profession?" she added as she folded her arms and leaned against the doorpost.
"Why not just keep doing what you were doing before? I picked out a nice college for you and everything you know~." she said with a light smile on her face, raising a palm to her own cheek and closing her eyes.
"When you were little, you said you wanted to be a teacher." she said as if she were reminiscing the days when the teen was younger.
Alexia blank stared at her mother with a sigh, "That was when I was little, mom...." she lamented as she knew where this conversation was headed.
"Just...give me a chance to see how this plays out...please?" she pleaded as she knew full well her mother's intentions right now.
"I don't think it will play out much," Mrs. Winchester responded, confirming the girl's thoughts.
"You know those tournaments are brutal; it's even more so in the higher fields" she went on to express her concern before opening her eyes and looking at her daughter.
"It's even more worrisome when I know you aren't exactly the most physical person around," she added in a worried tone. Yet, her little smile could tell that she fired that shot directly at her on purpose. Alexia flinched for a moment, holding her chest before leaning forward, depicting an arrow piercing the heart,
"Wow, mom… That's harsh.." she lamented with a teary eye expression, though she knew that what her mother had said wasn't that far from the truth.
She wasn't that much of a physically fit teen, barely exercising apart from the mandatory gym class participation. And it was also common knowledge that many singularity users were, on average, stronger and faster than regular humans, especially the ones that competed in tournaments.
"I know I'm not as fit as I could.....should be.." she said, the look on her face showed that she had taken damage from the previous shots fired by her mother.
"But I'll work on it! J-Just...give me one year! That's all I need! Please!" she lamented as she pleaded with her mother's warm heart, clasping her hands together and shaking them back and forth.
"That's all you're getting, sadly!" her mother reminded her as she brought up the fact that she was also in her final year at the academy. With a deep breath then a sigh, Mrs. Winchester placed a hand to her forehead and shook her head.
"Honestly...this child..." she said out loud, "Fine...you have until graduation. I'll let you do what you want for now..." she said to Alexia, lowering her hand looking at the gleeful expression on the girl's face having gotten her request approved.
"But if it doesn’t get you anywhere within that time, you'll be heading to college.....well you were going regardless really...but still.." she added, causing the teen to almost fall out of her chair, her blue eyes now locked with her mother's green ones, before they were closed.
A smile is given to her, "Do your best~!" was all that was said before Mrs. Winchester left the room, closing the door behind her, leaving Alexia alone for the night.
"Nothing like a good old Mom's 'Fixed Priorities' speech to get your morale up..." she said to herself sarcastically, pulling her knees up to her face and placing her feet on the chair. It was obvious now that after that little exchange, Alexandria began to doubt herself a bit, even if her mother did approve of the idea.
"She at least gave me the chance....no sulking Alexia..." she said to herself, "Now...the only problem now is adjusting to a team..." she continued on remembering she had three months before the supposedly scheduled regionals would begin or granted, one month after school started once more.
"This is gonna suck..." she muttered to herself, thinking about the entire process she had to go through to get her 'easy sailing in life'.
As the clock chimed down towards the hours, it would only be a matter of time before she would have to wake up again to begin her training with her new team. She'd already come to terms with the fact she had to work hard to get to the point she envisioned, but how hard was this hard work going to be?
Meanwhile, Reynolds was in his classroom back at the academy, pacing back and forth as if he was worried about something. Soon after, though, he took a deep breath to recompose himself and took a seat at his desk. Leaning back in his chair, thinking about the day's events, and exhaled, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. He glared at his phone before tapping on the screen a few times, bringing it up to his ear right after.
"Still no answer...." he said in a low tone as he looked at the screen showing the call logs.
This had been the seventh time he'd try to contact this person, and there was still no answer. Shaking his head, he lightly tossed the phone onto the table before him and leaned forward, resting both elbows on the desk and clasping his hands, bringing them to his nose, "This kid is gonna be the end of me....." he muttered to himself as he glanced down at a sheet of paper currently laid there. It had been the team members' names for the new Singularity team, but for a Singularity team, it was rather odd to just have five members. On average, a team would have around seven or more, especially one with the correct number of users attending the academy.
Reynold sighed once more; either the academy he transferred to was bizarre, or the students themselves here were in their own little worlds. After some thought, he concluded...it was a bit of both. Singularities were all unique in their own way, but at the same time, they were also similar in others. It was the wielder of the singularity that made the biggest impactful change on it. Still, honestly, there have been occasions where there have been strange singularities throughout time, especially now in the modern era. Looking outside his window then back at the paper, the man reached forwards and picked up both the paper and his phone before getting up. It was time to head out, seeing he'd have more preparations to come with this newly formed team. However, it would be a stretch if they actually showed up to training. Honestly, he wouldn't even blame them. I mean, who would want to waste their summer away on a club-related activity?
"At least two will show..." he told himself as he thought back to the members currently on the team.
"Ah.... I'll just make sure to bring it anyways... I'm sure they'll come around to it.." he muttered to himself once more before leaning in and flicking the lights off, locking the door afterwards and heading out to his car out front. As he turned the car on, he couldn't help but ruffle his hair a bit, just thinking about the week to come.
"A Singularity Team, huh....." was all he said before driving off.