Gateway to the School

Jayde gazed up at the line where the sky touched the earth, the large yellow ball of fire had changed to hues of orange, with a touch of tangerine and amber. She glanced over her shoulder and saw her shadow slowly shrinking towards her feet. Neon and Ash were a couple of feet away from her.

"Hurry!" Jayde ordered urgently, as she tightened her hold on Raven. Dragging the exhausted girl, Jayde picked up her pace.

Ash seeing that a girl that took him just up to chest was beating him, felt that his manly pride was being trampled on, grabbed his brother tightly and began to jog to catch up. When Nova whined Ash turned to him and hissed: "Do you want to be beaten by a slip of girl."

Nova looked at Jayde and Raven hobbling along ahead of them. His light brown eyes flashed with steely determination. Hell no, if those girls made it to the gate before them, he would have to live with Ash lording it over his head for the rest of his life. The pure thought of Ash telling the family about his loss to a slip of girl filled Nova with horror, mustering all his remaining stamina he pushed Ash's arm off his shoulders and started to jog on his own.

The twins soon caught up with Jayde and Raven. When Raven noticed that Nova was running on his own, her own competitive spirit rose within her, no way was she going to be the only one being helped across the finishing line.

"I'm fine, you can let go now," she said to Jayde through gritted teeth.

Jayde examined Raven seeing the grim look of determination of her face, she nodded at Raven before letting her go.

The four of them picked up their pace. As they rounded a sharp bend in the path, in the distance they saw the welcoming sight of a massive grey stone wall ahead of them. Seeing the finishing line just ahead, gave all of them a boost of energy as they sprinted towards the huge open wooden gates.

As Jayde, Raven and the twins were a couple of feet away from the gates. The large fiery orb of orange, amber, and tangerine had sunk lower in the sky until it dipped down into the horizon, painting the heavens in brilliant hues of fiery red and crimson, with streaks of orange and amber. The colors faded from maroon to coral and purple.

In front of the gate stood a group of eight young men, decked out in the navy blue and silver tunics of the school. Their bronze life disks prominently displayed against their navy blue shirts. Jayde's group came to a halt a couple of feet in front of the group. The twins and Raven leaned down, their arms braced against their knees as they greedily gulped in air.

"By the gods, I can't believe we made it," Raven gasped out.

"Not so fast," one of the youth said snidely.

He was a brawny young man, with a coarse face, his nose was broad and flat over a small mouth, his skin was pockmarked with acne scars. His black hair was tied back. His black hooded eyes glared at Jayde and her group.

"Excuse me?" Jayde asked calmly.

"You all need to pay a toll to enter these gates," the young man said waving his hand to indicate the doorway behind him.

"What toll?" Raven demanded her tone laced with anger.

The short slender man standing next to the big guy stepped forward. His face was razor sharp, with a narrow nose over thin lips that were pulled back in a sneer.

"Just handed over all your possessions," he demanded in a nasal voice.

His small beady eyes, greedily looked over Raven's curvy body, his eyes fixated on her jutting breasts, before moving down over her narrow waist and finally her long tapered legs.

Licking his thin lips with his thick pink tongue, he said: "Well I am sure we can always come to some sort of arrangement with you girls."

The group of boys behind him starting laughing raunchily as they eyed Jayde and Raven their eyes glazed with lust.

"You bastard!" Nova yelled, his fists were clenched, and his lips which were pressed together were white. His eyes were blazing with indignation.

Nova and Ash had just started to move in front of Jayde and Raven to protect them when a massive fireball blasted the ground the in front the two young men who had just spoken. A crater size hole had opened up where the fireball had landed, spider web cracks spread out from the crater. The navy blue pants of the two men were now a muddy brown covered in dirt and grit.

"That is our toll," Jayde said her voice frigid. Her narrowed eyes were cold, with a hard, flinty look. Her lips curled into a smile of ridicule.

"Satisfied? Or would you prefer a closer look at our toll?"

The two boys looked down at the large crater at their feet, their eyes widen as they blinked owlishly, before they slowly raised their heads and stared at Jayde with horrified looks, as if seeing a monster in front of them.

"Y..y-ou crazy bitch," the big guy stuttered.

Raising her right eyebrow, Jayde stared at the two as she started to draw her fire magic, creating an even larger fireball.

"Move!" she barked out.

As Jayde had begun to weave her magic, Nova, Ash, and Raven had already begun to weave their own offensive spells.

The group of boys in front of Jayde could feel the heat of Jayde's fireball from where they were standing. Seeing that the three youths next to Jayde had also created fireballs, they didn't even bother to preserve their dignity as the group of boys scrambled out of Jayde's group's way.

As Jayde and her group strolled past the huddle of young men, the slender man gandered all his courage before yelling at them: "You better pray that you don't make it through the final assessment, once you in the outer door sector, your asses are mine, do you hear me — mine!"

Hearing the thin man's threat, Jayde spun around with her fireball still in her left hand, she withdrew her sword in her right hand as she lunged for the young man. Seeing Jayde sudden movement his heart nearly leapt out of his chest.

The little coward's face blanched white, his eyes widen so wide that they were bulging out of the sockets. Jayde swung her sword, as it arched toward the man's neck she stopped it a hair's breadth away from his skin.

"Boo!" she shouted.

The young man let out a terrified wail, as he jumped backward, tripping over his own two feet he fell onto his arse. Sprawled there in an undignified heap he stared at Jayde with a terrified look.

Nova, Ash, and Raven had already started to move the moment Jayde did. The three battles they had fought together earlier had already conditioned them to react when she did, without even realizing it they were coming together as a powerful combat unit.

Jayde lowered her sword until it was touching the young man Adam's apple.

"Let me give you a friendly piece of advice, should you even THINK about harming me or my friends, I will personally hunt you down and peel the flesh off your bones."

Jayde's tone was so sinister that the boys felt as though death himself was talking to them, the thin man sprawled on the ground, was so terrified with the asura from hell standing in front him, that he lost control of his bladder. As the rank smell of urine permanented the air, Jayde wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Do you all understand?" she demanded coldly, as she eyed each of the youths in front of her. Her eyes were flat, icy and filled with death.

All the youths bobbed their heads jerkily.

"Y..y-es," most of them stuttered out quickly.

"Yes, mam!" Jayde ordered them curtly.

Confused with her strange demand, but too terrified to even think straight the young men all shouted.

"Yes, mam!"

Please just go, they prayed. Some even felt their bowels shivering when they had met that death stare.

Giving them all the evil eye once more, Jayde then sheathed her sword, before absorbing the energy from her fireball. Veering towards the open doorway, Jayde stalked away.

Takara who was still nested on Jayde shoulders snickered to himself, the stupid fools he thought, taking on this crazy bloodthirsty woman, they must have been suicidal.

Takara had been silently debating with himself who was more scarier — Jayde or his lord, but after that shouted boo, he decided that Jayde just might even scare his poor master. Throwing the sweaty, pale-faced youths a disdainful look, Takara lifted his nose up in the air. His charge was so impressive, he thought.

Nova, Ash, and Raven turned to follow Jayde, each of their gazes on her back were filled with worship. All three of them had the same thought. She was so damn awesome. And just like that Jayde became their undisputed leader.

Unbeknownst to Jayde and her group, their whole altercation had been observed by two senior teachers. The teachers of Damonia were well aware of the bullying that took place outside the gates to the school.

They refused to intervene, it was a good lesson for these youngsters to learn. Most of the children came from protective families, and they needed to learn that in this world the weak were food for the strong. For years they had watched over potential students being bullied, their duty was to ensure that the bullies didn't go overboard and harm the wannabe students. Should one of these youngsters lose their lives during the assessment it would cause a loud outcry.

For years they had watched as each young man or woman had handed over all their precious treasures, while some had tried to fight back, they had quickly succumbed to the group when they were surrounded. They have even watched with cold and indifferent eyes as many young women had sold their bodies just go through the gates.

Today was the first time they had seen such a demonstration of power. Both teachers looked at each other, their eyes glowing with delight. Oh what an interesting group these four youngsters were. Life at Damonia was just about to become interesting, they both thought.

As Jayde and her group walked through the gates, they entered a large grass field, at the end of the field a crowd of young people stood waiting. Jayde and her group walked over to the crowd.

Jayde and her group quietly chattered with each other as the bright orange colored the world turned a sparkling gold as the sun descended. The sky changed from cerulean blue to a subtle purple, speckled with diamonds and adorned in three large orbs of opal.

Bang!

The massive wooden doors to the school slammed shut. The real fight for the top fifty had just begun.

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Quote of the day

"Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present." -- Jim Rohn