I was thoroughly confused at this point. "What do you mean Miss Fay set this up?"

"Didn't you find it strange that an upperclassman was wandering through the freshman corridors?"
Now that he mentioned it, it was true. But I hadn't been focused on that.
"That boy earlier, it was a test. Miss Fay has noticed for a while now, that you're above the freshman level." Mr. Li explained.
"What will happen to him?" I asked.
"He will be expelled of course. For more reasons that one might I add." He didn't elaborate any further. "Anyways, allow me to give you a tour of this area."

"That would be most helpful!" I beamed.
Mr. Li then proceeded to give me one of the most informative tours ever. He stopped to explain every nook and cranny. There were the many training arenas, dorms, cafeterias, and classrooms. Then we arrived at the Emperor's Hall (which led to the Emperor's Courts). It was a long, beautiful, golden hallway. You could barely make out what lay beyond it. Intricate carvings of dragons filled the walls.

"Beyond here," he explained "is where the Emperor's reside. You are not allowed to wander through this area uninvited."
I nodded my consent. Who would be dumb enough to go down there and risk the wrath of an Emperor?
"Well that concludes our tour; do you remember where your new dorm is?"

"Yes."
"You're expected to move in by tomorrow afternoon. You will meet your new roommate then. You're to shadow him until we get a better grasp of where you really stand."

"Alright. Sounds good, thank you."

…

Back at the freshman dorm, my roommate was begging me to help him with his concepts homework.

"Ronan, it's easy, just read the textbook."

"I did but it's too flowery and complicated."

In other words, he didn't read it.
"Okay. Pay attention. I'm only going to say this once." I sighed, deciding to do him this one last favor before I left. He nodded triumphantly.

"The Manipulation of Natural Energy, sometimes known as the 'arts' is exactly what is sounds like. Basically, certain human bodies have mutated and evolved. Their bodies are programmed differently, with a different genetic make up. Often, they are immune to past-time weapons thus resulting in the Yearly Tournaments between the nations." I paused. "You got all that?"

"Yup. Keep going, what about section two?"

"Well, natural manipulation allows you to momentarily conjure up and control certain elements of nature. It is extremely difficult to perform, but this technique is the only way to take down the super humans. The more powerful and experienced you are, the longer the length of time you're able to use this skill becomes. If you can master it, you can manipulate it even further. For example, a fire manipulator can craft a sword from the flames."

"You do realize you summarized thirty pages worth of information into two paragraphs right? But thank you, that was most helpful."

I chuckled. "You're welcome."

He turned to leave, class was about to begin. But I no longer had to worry since I was excused from all my classes for today.

"By the way…" I hesitated.
"Yeah?" he turned around, flashing me his dorky grin.

"No, never mind, it's nothing. See you later."

"Alright, bye! Thanks again!"

I woke up early to pack. Yawning, I cleaned myself up quietly. Ronan was snoring peacefully, blissfully unaware of my departure. It didn't take long to pack up all my belongings. I glanced around the room one last time to make sure I didn't forget anything. Alright, I thought to myself. Time to meet my new roommate. I closed the door gently behind me and made my way over to the right wing of the school.

I was excited and nervous all at once. I hope he doesn't have any serious B.O…what if he's a jerk? I might have to kill him. I shook my head. What am I thinking? Stupid. I dropped my bags down and knocked on the door of my new dorm.

"Uhm…hi? Can I help you?" A tall slender, black haired girl, girl, opened the door.

She was beautiful. Breathtakingly so. She was wearing our unflattering uniform but she managed to look gorgeous nonetheless. She completely took me by surprise and so I said the first thing that came to mind.

"Is this a joke?"

"Are you a joke?" She had a confused, almost comical look on her face.

"Hey! Are you Nathan?" A voice from behind us asked.

The two of us simultaneously whipped our heads around to face a small boy who couldn't have been taller than four ft.

"Yes…and who are you?" I asked hesitantly.

"Your roommate of course. I'm Kyle, nice to meet you too."

It was then that I remembered the girl.

"Then…that's?"

"Alice. She's our neighbor. You got the wrong door man."

I cursed Mr. Li quietly under my breath. What was with these teachers and setting things up?

Alice, our neighbor, was laughing at us now.
She had a nice set of teeth. Wait, rewind. My roommate is a midget!

"Well it's been very nice meeting the both of you. But I've got to go now. Maybe we'll see each other around." Alice said.

Kyle and I nodded and waved good bye.

"Our dorm is over there." He pointed to the door adjacent to Alice's. He grinned at me. "I know what you're thinking. She's cute ain't she?"

"Haha, well yeah, she is."

"Don't even think about it. I'm warning you now, she can kick ass. Big juicy fat ass."

I silently wondered about his choice of words. He was indeed quite interesting.

"I wasn't really. She just looks nice, that's all."

"She's in Tier 2. Talk about looks can kill." He chuckled.

"Right." I said, trying to take my mind off Alice, to no avail.

"We have the rest of this afternoon off, why don't you drop off your stuff in the room and we can visit one of the training arenas." Kyle suggested.

Alice is in Tier 2…I wonder if she knows my sister. If you were ranked as a Tier 1, it meant you were a potential candidate for an Emperor's spot. It also meant you would be used as training partners for the Emperor's. If you were ranked as Tier 2, it still meant you were insanely powerful. And it meant that you possessed the ability to rise to Tier 1, since Tier 1 has a limited number of spots. I used to hate it when people referred to me as Hayley's younger brother. I worked hard to move out of her shadow.

"We're here." Kyle said, interrupting my thoughts.

We entered the training arena which was already full of people. The skill level gaps were huge and noticeable. We took a seat to watch a fight play out. This particular arena was a giant reinforced glass box. I saw a woman sitting down to the left of us. She was looking intently at the match, her knees were drawn up to her chin and she was using her jacket as a blanket. She had short black hair with bangs, her hair just covered over her ears.

Kyle must have seen me staring. "That's Priscilla. She's a coach here, a very beastly one too."

"Hey Alice!" Priscilla said, waving in our direction.

Alice? It couldn't be. But there she was, right behind us.

"Hey Priscilla! We're up next aren't we?" Alice said, waving back.

I was watching this exchange with growing fascination.

"Oh hey guys. Are you here to watch my match with Priscilla?" She asked.

"N-,"

"Yes! We are. Good luck you two, be careful." Kyle interrupted.

"Thanks!" Alice smiled warmly.

"They're going to fight? Like right now?" I whispered.

"Yep. It'll be good, enjoy the show." Kyle smirked with a gleam in his eye.