Cyrus Solaris
Today was the joint house exercise. My housemates were ecstatic about the event. In one way or another, we all loved competition, and we took pride in representing the groups we belonged to.
Over the past few days, the idea of becoming an astronomer has grown on me. I had a deep passion for the stars and everything that happened out in space.
As I was getting my things ready for the day, my watch beeped. Professor Rhondall wanted us to meet him in the planetarium.
My housemates scrambled, jumping from their orbiting rooms in the sky, and dashed across the Isle. Before I followed, I made sure I put my stag horn in my dimensional storage.
Since the totem games, I've made sure to take it everywhere I go. Since losing the scale of the eternal hydra, I hadn't realized how reckless I was with my body until now. So I thought using a weapon would reduce the damage I took in battle.
I needed to adapt.
I also made it a habit to take my stress ball everywhere, too.
Before I started my next node, I wanted to get proficient enough with Gravity Well Minor so that the mental strain would be minimal. The task still used a great deal of my cosmic energy, so I did it in segments.
When I made it to the planetarium, Professor Rhondall's foot was tapping on the stage frantically.
"Take your time, Cyrus."
I had no sly remark. Trying to jump out of my orbiting room, while maintaining the stress ball, was more difficult than I thought.
"And for Patheon's sake, put the ball away. It's distracting for everyone."
The forty-nine other housemates all turned and stared at me.
"Fine," I said, placing the ball in my dimensional storage.
"Now that we've got that out of the way. I'm going to go over the joint house exercise. Today, we will be in the central isle, where the combat facility is housed, and there will be a small tournament of sorts. The tournament will be one-on-one combat." A couple of kids groaned at the idea.
But this was something I loved.
"Each house will pick four of its best fighters to participate. And the house that comes out on top will receive a prize." My housemates started to become a little bit more excited.
I didn't care about the prize; I just wanted a chance to prove I wasn't some no-name fluke.
"Now we will vote on the four housemates who will participate."
Immediately, students began calling out names: Kuru, the heir to the Shademaul clan; Sanka, an heir to the Araknos family; and the guy who had me pinned in his web during the Totem games.
Even in our house, loyalties were split between two major clans. While I was left out to fend for myself.
They knew I was stronger. I defeated many of them during training.
Kuru and Sanka always declined my invitation to spar.
Then it came down to the last choice. And the kid who was a branch member of the Shademaul got picked. I was furious. The kid made me question the school's selection process, because he could barely throw a straight kick, let alone hold his own in combat.
Despite their disdain for each other, Kuru and Sanka agreed on one thing. They hated my guts, too. A lowborn starbound that showed them they were inferior.
"Now that we have our four contestants picked, the professor is allowed to pick an alternate in case someone gets hurt or can not continue for any reason." Professor Rhondall said as he scrolled through his tablet. Kuru and Sanka tried to give their input, but the professor just shooed them away.
"I have made my choice. Cyrus will be the alternate." Many kids scoffed at the words, but the professor had a boyish grin. The professor was crazy at times, but he was fair.
Soon after, our house made its way to the combat facility.
In all the late nights I spent training on the technique Gramps taught me in this facility, I had never seen it this crowded.
The energy in the room was contagious, so much that goosebumps formed all down my forearms. In the middle of the combat facility, four circular rings were built.
The rings were six feet off the ground and made out of a material that sparkled when light reflected off it.
Xhatal spares no expense.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bunch of students huddled around a giant board.
There was a bracket, but it had only sixteen spots, not twenty-four. Making me suspicious of the school's plans.
"Will all the contestants come to the center of the facility?" Head Master Naga announced into the microphone.
When we all arrived at the center, the same machine from the evaluation test was present.
"To see who actually gets into the sixteen-man tournament, students will be asked to strike the machine." I was elated.
I turned around and saw Professor Rhondall just chuckling, gesturing for me to turn around.
House Obalex and Bronzard were able to keep all of the contestants. But the remaining four houses only had two who were strong enough to stay.
Alternates were allowed to hit the machine, so that guaranteed me a spot over Sanka, who was very pissed about the situation.
But when I looked at the rest, I noticed a specific person wasn't in the group.
"Where is Jace?" Sora asked a member of House Chakana.
"He said he didn't feel like fighting, so he rejected the opportunity."
"Of course," Sora said, her gaze shifting towards me.
A brief moment of silence occurred before her face turned sour, and she turned to the other Arbiters.