Choose

Memories of the massive walls around Okinawa crumbling were passing through my mind as I looked at the walls surrounding Tennessee. It had already been seven years since the Shadows overran Okinawa and I was forced to evacuate, leaving my family behind unwillingly. Ever since then, I've become a total social recluse and exercise junky.

I recently turned eighteen, and my powers had awoken as I was staring at the burning Okinawa from the transport helicopter that took me to America, so I was in line to get into a very good Academy for people like myself. I always thought that school was a waste of time since it forced me to try and be social, and I hate it when attention is drawn to me because of my build.

I knew an academy would be even worse.

I shook my head to clear myself of my thoughts as I continue to jog down the highway. The air was cold and there was a light fog, but it was a pleasant morning. I took the closest exit and continued to jog down the road until I reached a small subdivision. I made it into my driveway and breathed a sigh of relief. My life was relatively peaceful and quiet, and I had no real issues doing much of anything, so I guess you could say I was set for life.

But I wanted more.

I wanted more strength so that I could join an Exploration Team and venture out into the portals that plague our world. I wanted my revenge. I unclenched my fist and let the black-blue fire surrounding my hand dissipate before sighing once more and muttering "I'll do this mom, dad. I'll make you proud, and make sure that you rest in peace. I will kill them all..."

I walked through my house and out into the barren backyard. It was all dirt with no grass because of my powers, and even the fence was made out of a highly durable and heat resistant steel. I began to stretch before doing a set of one-hundred push-ups, sit-ups, squats, butterfly kicks, and jump ropes. After that, I began practicing controlling my flames and extending them to other parts of my body.

So far, I could only get my flames to reach my elbows on either sides of my arms and, for seven years of practice, I thought that I was lacking something. My ultimate goal was to be able to have complete control over my flames and to be able to cover my entire body with them before I try and sign up for an Expedition Team, but at this rate I knew that would be hard to accomplish.

I clenched my jaw as I held my palm out and watched as the flames covering my arm focused onto my palm before slowly streaming outwards in the shape of a falcon. I kept a small tendril of flames connected to my palm so that I could control the bird, making it useful as a distraction or scout since I could connect with my flames to see what they saw.

It's almost like it's just as alive as I am.

The flames continued to climb into the sky until the connection was getting too strained to go on. I brought the falcon back down before gently caressing its head and letting the flames cover my arm once more. I settled down into a low stance with my right arm stretched out in front of me, tilting downwards slightly, and with my palm facing the ground, and my left arm behind me tilted upwards slightly with my palm facing upwards.

I slowed my breathing and began to concentrate until I could feel the subtle vibrations under my feet; until I could feel everything around me like it was apart of me. I snapped my eyes open and stepped forward with my left leg before bring my left hand down and back up in an arc. I snapped my hand down and punched out with my right, causing the dirt beneath me to stir.

Sweat began to drip down my face as I continued to throw out attacks against an imaginary opponent. My fire began to merge with my attacks, sprouting from my legs during a kick, and shooting from my hands during a punch or backfist. Soon, the alarm on my phone began to go off, signaling for me to end my training session and get dressed for the academy tour I had later today.

I walked back inside and immediately went to go shower before cooking breakfast and getting dressed. I slid my contacts out from my eyes and wore my black rimmed glasses to match with my black suit. I looked in the mirror and tied my shoulder-length gray hair back into a ponytail before messing with my bangs and releasing a sigh.

I could never get the bangs to stay put up after all. My violet colored eyes shone with confidence as I took one last look at my appearance before leaving. I got in my car, an old 2012 Ford Mustang with a nice black paintjob and convertible roof, before putting my destination into the gps on my phone. America is a lot more peaceful than Japan, and that always came off as weird to me, and there's barely any crime. Even in New York and Chicago.

The U.S. Government pays for most of my stuff and over half of my insurance, probably because I'm what they call a "Light" to counter the Shadows, and that just makes me even more wary. I shook my head to clear myself of those unnecessary thoughts as I pulled into the parking lot of the academy. I got out, locked my car, and looked at where the crowd has heading before walking over.

Murmurs from both males and females kept popping up around me, but I've all ready learned how to keep myself from lashing out. I put my headphones on and began to blast music into my ears while standing in what seemed to be a line, or a poor excuse for one. I noticed the people at the front moving off to a side room when they finished whatever it was that they were doing, so I figured that this was a simple sign-in deal before the tour.

By the time I got to the front, it was all ready close to midday. Like I thought, it was a simple sign-in sheet where I had to fill out my name, birthdate, address, etc. After filling the sheet out the woman at the desk told me to go off to the side room I saw all the others enter, the only problem was I felt like that room was a bit too small for all those people to fit in...

I shrugged my shoulders and went into the room, making sure to shut the door behind me, before turning to face three masked men in front of a bright blue portal. My body tensed up as my flames sprouted across my arms, ready to defend me. The three men relaxed their bodies before leaping toward me at speeds I couldn't comprehend.

A fist slammed into my stomach while one hit my jaw and the other landed on the left side of my chest. My vision blurred and I felt my flames extinguish as a bag was thrown over my head. The next thing I remembered was having the bag over my head pulled off and looking out toward a vast expanse or orange grass and black trees.

There were seven other people around my age already standing and stretching a few feet away from me, and the three masked men were standing in front of me. "Kenji Yanai, you will now be tested to see if you have the prowess to become a member of the Academy of Light. You will be subjected to multiple tests to gauge your strength, endurance, intelligence, and speed. You have five minutes to warm up before we begin."

I went to speak to the men, but they quickly turned away and ignore d my words. "Don't waste your breath hot stuff. They won't listen to a damn thing you try to say." I turned my head to see a woman with short, jaw-length blonde hair and green eyes nocking an arrow into her bow before testing its pull. I stood, dusted my pants and shirt off, and rolled my shoulders before walking over to a tree and resting on it.

I already warmed up and stretched earlier, so I had nothing to really do besides try and communicate with my flames. The first time I had ever made contact with my flames was when I got my powers on the helicopter. I made it a habit to do so everyday from then on out so I could find a way to solve the mystery of how I even got the powers in the first place.

A dark flame lit ablaze inside of my consciousness, and I tried to reach out to it, but I couldn't move at all. The flame slowly snaked over toward me before wrapping around my body, filling me with a sort of cold warmth that soothed my tense mind. "Thanks buddy. I can always count on you to help me out when no one else will." For as long as I could remember, I was always alone, however, when my powers awakened I always had this presence following me.

I felt like it was watching over and protecting me.

I opened my eyes and saw the other people making their way over toward the masked men, so I followed. One man placed his hand on the ground, causing it to sprout up and form multiple targets. The man turned and said "Now, you will strike these targets while using your powers like so..." The man turned toward a target and made the earth beneath him cover his arm before punching out.

A box popped up next to the target and beeped before displaying the number "1,204". The man walked toward his companions and gestured for us to begin. I watched as the woman with the bow drew the string back before loosing an arrow into one of the targets, scoring 598 points. The others weren't all that flashy or impressive, and most of them scored at around the 200-400 range, but they all took it in stride; never getting angry or blaming others for their poor performances.

Before I knew it, I was the only one who hadn't gone yet, so all eyes were on me. I popped my neck before covering my entire right arm in black-blue flames. I was surprised when they went past my elbow, but I didn't let it show as I walked up to a target and took a stance before punching out with all of my strength.

An impressively large dent was made in the target as the box popped up off to the side and dinged before displaying my score. "1352, eh? Not bad for an orphaned edgelord..." I glanced at the man that raised the targets and shrugged my shoulders before saying "You're mad that I scored higher than you. You're afraid that I will replace you, no? It would be wise for you to never talk about my past ever again. Got it?"

The man scoffed and said "Whatever tough guy. You're lucky I don't wanna lose my job, or else your face would be flattened by now." The man next to him slapped him on the back of the head before moving over to a target and punching it with his bare hand, scoring more than I did with a score of 1489. "Don't get cocky about your scores. I didn't even use my powers and yet I scored higher than all of you, and I'm not even the strongest person here. That guy is..."

The man pointed behind himself to a the last masked man, who was a behemoth that was double my size and build. "Even then, he's no where near the strength of the strongest person in our squad let alone our commander and vice commander. Those two are the only ones I've seen that have scored over a million on our little targets here. Now, enough of the talking. Let's move on to the next tests."

The man walked back over to the masked man that made the targets and he immediately started to shape the earth into a sort of obstacle course. We were timed on this, and I made it out in a minute and forty seconds while everyone else made it out in two minutes or more. The next test was a treadmill like machine in which we had to run on for as long as we could.

This time, however, I scored in second place with a time of ten minutes and forty two seconds. The last test was the intelligence test, and we had to answer all kinds of questions about tactics and tell the men what we would do if we were in that situation. I came in third place since I got five out of the seven scenarios right, but that didn't sit right with me. If I wanted to become a part of a big Exploration Team, I would have to know how to improvise in the middle of a battle.

The man that made the targets clapped his hands before saying "Listen up! You'll be blindfolded again and knocked unconscious before we transport you back to the academy. There, you will receive your overall score and what you are eligible to receive upon entry to our academy."

A person raised their hand before asking a question. "What if we choose to join a different Academy? Do we have to go through their tests as well or will our scores from this one transfer over?" The man shook his head before responding. "No, they will not. Each academy has different tests you will have to take in order to enter, however, most of them will likely be very similar to the ones you've endured here."

Multiple people clicked their tongues in annoyance but opted to say nothing. I was about to tell the masked men to get the blindfolding over with when a voice came from behind me. "Your name's Kenji, right? Can we talk for a second...?"