Huddled in a dark room, strong arms wrapped around her, Lana (Lah-nah) struggled to break free. She could hear screaming–the desperate, unmistakable sound of pain–and the urge to save the girl burned inside her.
"We need to save her! Let me go!"
"It's too late," her twin brother's voice hissed in her ear.
"If we leave this room, we will be giving them what they want," Dobin (Dah-bin) whispered, desperately trying to get through his sister's thick skull.
Lana Plantwell was startled awake, bolting upright in her seat. Her head had been resting on her desk. She didn't even remember putting it there. History was such a boring class.
Commotion echoed in the school hallway, drawing her attention to the window in the door. Through the classroom door window, she could see a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy being slammed into the lockers by another boy his age. Blood streamed down his nose. He balled his fists searching for an opening as he turned to retaliate. Laughter erupted around him.
A green-haired, muscle-bound monstrosity kicked the blond, sending him down the hall, out of view.
It was the second to last day of school, Thursday, May 29th to be exact. Their classmates' spirits were lifted, entertained by the spectacle and the change their lives would have in a few short days.
Lana, rage consuming her facial features, emerged from the classroom in mere moments. Her blood boiled and her vision turned red as her brother was being bullied. Again. The badge around his neck, the stupid thing current society demanded students wear, displayed the number 0.
It was common for those who were strong to bully those who were considered weak. The marker for strength was that glaring numeral that glowed brightly next to the header Ability. Dobin had no magical ability, so he was deemed the latter.
Zero meant no magical aptitude at all. The weakest of the weak. These people were tossed aside as unproductive in this new society where power was measured by a person's capacity to injure another. Zeros ended up doing labor that required no skill.
Dobin took a swing as a torrent of water was sprayed from his assailant's hand. Once again, he was pushed into the locker by the pressure of the water. The impact reverberated down the hall.
"Take a bath, skunk!" the bully taunted.
A chorus of laughter reverberated through the hall.
Lana cursed the teachers for their lack of action. She cursed this society for being so horrid, unseeing and uncaring. And worse, she cursed her parents for abandoning her and her twin at the Blue Rose Orphanage.
With her right hand, she threw out a vine that seemed to come out of her hand wrapping one end around the offending hand which dared to throw water at her brother. She yanked the other end of the vine bringing the unaware boy into her range.
Before he could react, she wrapped the vine around his throat and pulled as hard as she could. She smiled as she could hear the desperate gasps for air, the frantic hands trying to break her vines as she choked him from behind.
"Do you think a weakling such as you could break this?" she breathed quietly into his ear, venom dripping from each word.
Chills ran down his body as fear struck him to the core.
Dobin, having recovered, ran to her. "Lana, let him go. I know you're angry, but you don't need this."
He got closer and whispered in her ear, "You don't need this attention, PLEASE! We start the Academy in three days. Do you want them to find out?"
Her temper started to subside and she released the vine. With all the strength she could muster, she kicked him from behind hitting the back of his knees and moved out of the way. This caused him to fall on his back, then she walked over him.
Standing on his stomach, she then pointed to her own badge reminding him that hers displayed the number 6. The maximum number was 10 while his was only a 4. It was the end of the school day, so students often celebrated by beating up the perceived weak. This level 4 was the rule, not the exception. Lana needed to remind him why her brother should never be touched. Again.
The twins undertook a three-mile walk to the orphanage each day by themselves. There were others their age who lived there but they didn't speak to them much. Lana took the time to reflect on what she had learned.
Humans didn't always have these magical abilities but in the past two centuries, what was once rare, became moderately common. Correction, she reminded herself, they were very common over two thousand years ago but gradually technology and religion replaced what people knew to be fact, claiming it to be fiction. Archeological digs found some remarkable artifacts from those times.
Lana didn't understand how people could decide the things they were doing daily were fiction, but this was what they learned in history class.
Overtime, technology won the religion war. People lost their connection to nature. Then the world disconnected from them. Humanity, under the power of technology, began to fail. The climate took a cataclysmic turn. Plants and animals started going extinct. The very seas seemed to rebel.
At first, magical abilities were kept secret in the families or specific sects or monasteries they surfaced in. Each had a specialty such as water, monster taming, ice, and more. During the Walker War, things were forced to change. The war lasted for about 20 years, but the military was pressed hard in the first five. These ability users had to forsake their comfortable shadows and join forces with the military when it seemed all hope was lost, to prevent the human species from being annihilated.
There were currently three camps on abilities. The first were those who kept the ability in their family calling themselves originals.
The second were those who taught their ability to others, making the ability available in the public domain so others could learn through ability books. These families lost their standing in society due to their ability being common but were considered heroes for their effort in the war.
The third group were those who were unable to obtain an ability because the cost was prohibitive.
In this post-war world, those with no ability were looked down upon as though they had no value to society. And were punished for it.
The twins were known as troublemakers because they didn't agree there should be groups at all. They never really meshed with this society. They didn't know how to follow the rules and were always being punished. One rule was no use of abilities on the premises of their orphanage.
The reason for this was most children didn't have abilities. The orphanage administrators felt the other children felt bad when the few who had an ability, displayed it. That somehow the orphans who knew how to use magic were more privileged for having richer parents before they came to live in such a place. Their school badges had to be tucked in or left in their school locker. If not, it was considered "flaunting" which resulted in being whipped.
Lana was a special case. Under normal circumstances, a child would be taught magic through a teacher or an ability book. Lana had always had her ability while Dobin was one of many without.
It didn't bother him that his sister had an ability, anymore that is. He did have some fighting prowess and was able to have her back while she always had her vines to protect him when he got into sticky situations.
Lana had spent countless hours in the library trying to learn anything she could about her powers, but she always came up empty-handed. She didn't have a name for her ability. She didn't even know how much more she could learn. Was there anything beyond level 6 for her? Had she achieved everything a level 6 should?
"Have you given any more thought as to how much you will let them see?" Dobin was the first person to break the silence as they were both lost in their thoughts about what had just occurred.
"I think the agricultural stuff is safest. They will see it as an asset but not enough to endanger me or get me noticed by anyone." And, in her head, she whispered, I hope.
Turning to her brother, her greatest treasure, "Dobin, I want you to take their stupid book. Take the magic path they offer you. If they offer stone manipulation, I think it will be most beneficial."
"Are you sure? We have been told what that means…" Dobin gulped as he spoke those words knowing what it meant to do such a thing.
"Yeah. I have been thinking about this for a long time. He told us two years ago what to expect. I think we have prepared as much as we can for what's coming. I'm hoping we can find allies. No, I'm SURE we can. Two years, that's all. Two years, Dobin. Then, we can finally have freedom. Besides, stone manipulation compliments my own powers. I think I will make us a stronger team."
"You mean I might be able to be a Hunter some day?"