How High You Can Fly at the Start

Soul Star Academy was quite a ways away from her hometown. It was located in a much more mystical location, with many varying natural factors far away from the nearest town. It was designed to be out in the wilderness, away from most civilization, and therefore was quite the distance to travel. Asaya could recall that the prestigious school was inside a large valley that was surrounded by a towering mountain range on one side, a jungle on another, as well as a dungeon that went deep, deep underground, as most dungeons do. And not to mention that, when you crossed over the mountains, there was quite the popular beach spot that a lot of the students went to when they took breaks from their training, making it right on the edge of a small landlocked ocean.

Valentine had paid for all of her expenses there, but despite traveling together in the same caravan, Asaya didn’t see much of her. The woman had said that she would be automatically admitted into the gifted class that took in people of ages eighteen through twenty-seven. That meant she’d be in the same class as Spike, if he made it into the gifted program as well, which was likely.

The thing was, Soul Star Academy only accepted new students until they were twenty. Anything older than that, and you’d need a special recommendation. And she’d been told that she was the first special exception in over ten years. That might draw some attention… especially in the upcoming fights that were going to ensue. Because, you see, Soul Star Academy had this kind of tradition among the gifted classes that were spaced apart to encompass age groups of ten years each. And whenever there was a new student, they would be tasked with challenging the number one rank in the class as a form of orientation. And if there were multiple new students, they would face each other first, with the loser being given the punishment of only being allowed to fight the second highest rank… which some people would prefer, probably. But Asaya was going to aim for the top spot, and her goal was to confuse the hell out of everyone watching.

“What do you think of my plan so far, Elkan?” she smiled thoughtfully as she watched the scenery go by, as she knew they were getting dangerously close to the school. They were riding in a large, golden carriage right in between part of the mountain range and the jungle, a tried and true path that normal folk tended to follow when visiting without having to bother with the harsher terrain. She could tell they were getting lower and lower, as well, and tall spires were beginning to shine from above the valley as Asaya contemplated.

“I think it’s nice,” the tall elf responded politely, emerald eyes gazing out the windows of the carriage that was being pulled along by a set of horses. “Though, as we’re almost there, allow me to ask you one more time. My lady, are you very certain that you don’t want to reveal your powers to anyone? I predict you’ll receive a lot of backlash with this. Are you prepared for that?”

“Hmm,” she drawled, messing with the golden buttons of her lavender shirt in a lazy fashion, the words briefly entering her mind as she came to her solid answer. She’d already considered this before, and she already knew what to say. “I don’t care about it. People’ve been mocking me all my life. The difference this time will be that they’re the ones getting played.”

“And you don’t think that will affect you deeply?” Elkan offered, gaze still staring out the window as Asaya turned to him, trying to gauge what he meant.

Elkan had always been like this. She designed him to be somewhat of a mentor towards those he was close with, but he was always very vague. He was willing to give support, but he never coddled. He always wanted his loved ones to figure out things on their own by prompting them to think deeper about their problems. He was a guide, but he would never tell you anything explicitly.

It wasn’t exactly annoying, and she appreciated the sentiment, but Asaya really didn’t want to think too deeply at the moment, especially when she already knew what she wanted to accomplish here. “I just don’t want to give other people the satisfaction of knowing what my magic is. No one but me deserves to know about it. I don’t want to trust anyone else with what I can do,” she explained stubbornly, crossing her arms as she slumped further down in her seat.

But Elkan’s serene smile never faded as he stared out the open window, the soft wind lightly brushing past his pale green bangs, and she really didn’t understand what he was hinting at as he spoke, as if the message was a warning mixed in with vague pleasantries. “I’m not so certain that it’s because you don’t want to,” he noted, composed and relaxed as he leaned his chin on the top of his hand, his arm propped up against the windowsill as he enjoyed the nice breeze. “But I’ll refrain from getting into that. For now, my lady, I’ll follow you wherever you take me, and I’ll give you my power and support as you need it.”

“Hm. Is your goal still world domination?”

“That should be obvious.”

“So it is, then.”

“Perhaps.”

“But I already gave you your own world where you’re pretty damn powerful!” Asaya protested, pointing an accusing finger at him as she fixed the way she was sitting in her seat. “Plus, don’t you go back to it whenever I let you go? Whenever I go to sleep, you always disappear, and I’ll have to resummon you the next morning, so you’re definitely going back there, aren’t you?! Go dominate your own world!”

“Mm, my lady, I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Elkan laughed smally, before humming thoughtfully to himself in retrospect. “But you know, it is true that by the end of my tale, I was King over the entire elvan and human races, along with my Queen. Maybe I should just be grateful for that. But I’m afraid… it’s still not enough,” he grinned, Asaya scowling at him as she kicked at his legs.

“Bad! Bad elf!” she barked, ignoring the way he cackled at her as she stomped on his bare foot. “You’re a power-hungry maniac!”

“But my lady, you agreed that you’d put us both on top, remember?” Elkan protested, finally turning away from his window to plead. “You can’t go back on your word. You have to promise.”

“I’m not promising anything to the likes of you.”

“You know, that really, really wounds me.”

“I’m sure it does, maniac,” she taunted, Asaya not missing the chance to stick her tongue at him in taunting, before the carriage came to a stop before them.

It took her a moment to gather herself, having not noticed their surroundings moving so quickly as she now stood in front of a very tall tower, grey stone bricks building the entire structure as it seemed to go on for miles. Looking around them, she was encircled inside a deep valley, and she could see a small stream cutting through the middle of the school’s center that crossed from side to side. The spires were tall with sharp points attached to the very end, with big, wired letters spelling out the words “Soul Star Academy” at the very top.

It felt like it should be impossible she was here, and yet here she was. Asaya was there, right at the doorstep of her dream, and it was real. She followed her guide through the stone halls, passing different carpets that color coded where they were in the school, with signs hung up from the ceiling every few corners or so that explained where everything was, and which color to look for to get where you wanted to go. Asaya stared at it in awe, briefly wondering how she was going to get herself to remember all of that as she walked on yellow carpet, which supposedly marked the entrance and basic lobby areas near the front that were neutral rooms for people of all ages and classes to hang out in.

They walked all the way to the back of the school before going up a set of stairs marked with crimson red carpet, and Asaya scrambled to remember what that color had met when she’d quickly tried to read the charts she went past. Red stood for fighting and combat, she was pretty sure, which checked out considering she was supposed to fight on her first day enrolled in order to be properly accepted.

By this point, she’d told Elkan to subtly go somewhere else before she needed him in the fight, so when she was brought to a waiting room that overlooked a large, vast stadium in the shape of a wide dome, she was completely on her own. And when she entered the room, Asaya met not only one person, but two.

Golden spiky hair was the first thing she noticed, as it was pretty eye-catching, you know? Spike’s hair was always an aesthetic mess, looking like he’d combed it with his hands, and yet it still looked nice and pleasing to the eye. Asaya did something similar with her dust blond hair, since it was thin and always fell flat the moment she patted it down every morning.

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She liked to keep her hair nice and clean, as that was one of the few things she took joy in while isolating herself from the world and everything to do with it, so she’d used to hide herself in a dark brown cloak and dash into stores for beauty care, where she would use the endless amounts of money her father had left her to mass buy shampoo and conditioner. In four years of barely leaving the house, she’d only ever had to make around five of those trips, she’d buy so much each time. It was a good thing those bags with extra space were in circulation, so that she could fit all she needed in a small bag and not garner much attention.

But still, Spike didn’t seem as calm to see her, and it looked more like he hadn’t expected her to be there at all. While she was busy noting that the two of them would be in the same class for gifted magic users, he looked more like he was busy processing how exactly the two of them were currently standing in the same room, and he certainly made sure to say so. After all, if Spike didn’t blurt out whatever intense thoughts he was having in a moment, would he really be Spike? Probably not. In truth, Asaya didn’t even blink as the man yelled in his disbelief, “How the hell are you here?!”

Instead, she merely gave a lazy smile, tugging at a small part of her bangs with a certain smugness she knew would get on Spike’s nerves. “I dunno. What about you, though, Spike? How did you get here? Me and Elkan so outdid you, I don’t think you’re on our level.”

“What?! I ranked exceedingly high for my age!” Spike blaringly defended himself, stomping closer to her with balled up fists that looked like he was ready to throw back and fight.

“Haha, that’s all well and good, but I still got more achievements than you in that dungeon,” she smiled openly, not bothering to be modest in front of the annoying pest she was talking to. “You should be thanking me, really. My power is to steal other people’s achievements in dungeons. You should be glad I didn’t steal yours.”

“Don’t bullshit me! A power like that doesn’t exist, you bald faced liar!” Spike bellowed, Asaya doing nothing but smiling innocently at him, which only seemed to get on his nerves.

In fact, she was pretty sure he was building up to say some real nasty stuff with that foul mouth of his, when suddenly, both of their attentions were caught by the third person in the room, who she had accidentally overlooked in favor of the annoying blond brat in front of her. Their voice was small and timid, like they didn’t know what to do with it, and Asaya’s attention was caught when she heard the shy voice stumble over their words, “Um, hello there. Do… do you two know, know each other? By chance?”

“Huh?” she blinked, taking in the third lifeform in the room with care. They were a dark-skinned elf with long, drooping ears, and dark grey hair that was matting to their face and neck. It cut off right at their shoulders, curving slightly upwards in a way that might be cute if it was a bit less mobby, and their eyes were a gloomy shade of moss green. However, they were taller than both Asaya and Spike, as elves often were, and the shyness leaking from their tone made her feel the desire to be nice to them. “Oh, ah, yeah, we do. We grew up in the same town together,” she smiled openly, Spike watching her with narrowed eyes as he took in their shift in attitude. “My name is Asaya, and I got accepted here as a special case, ‘cause I’m twenty-one. What about you?”

She was trying her best to be friendly, but the other person’s anxiety-stricken expression didn’t seem to change as they lowered their head, shoulders slumped to make them appear a little smaller as they fumbled with their hands in front of their chest. “My, my name is Willow. I’m t… twenty years old. I think it’s, um… impressive, that you made it here too… it’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” she smiled genuinely, slightly weak to such anxious behavior, and Asaya felt that she didn’t want to cause this person any more fright than what they must already be feeling. “Well, three people at once getting accepted into the gifted program is kind of rare, right? I heard we’re supposed to fight each other to compete and see who gets to fight the number one rank, so how do you think they’ll do it?”

“O, oh! I know!” Willow’s head snapped up, gloomy green eyes brightening slightly as they brought their hands a little higher, bouncing them in a way that appeared adorably excited. “It hasn’t happened in, in over three hundred years, I heard… but if there’s more than two people who get accepted…” they spoke gravely, voice low and deep in a tone that sounded almost ghostly. “Then they’ll make all of us fight each other at once, and, and the last person standing wins.”

“Huh? What about second place?” Spike demanded, immediately ignoring the fact Asaya had been provoking him mere moments ago to properly tune into this key conversation.

And Willow seemed happy to oblige them both, awkwardly nervous eyes widening a bit as they nodded their head. “Yes, yes… I hear that whoever performs the second best gets, gets to fight whoever’s the second rank… and then the one who gets defeated first will be able to fight the third. It’s ahh, a very, ervy competitive system, right?” they smiled despite their strong stutter, the expression almost ugly with wide bug-eyes and a painfully awkward grin, if only Asaya didn’t find them so cute.

“Aw, I agree. We should all put on quite the show, then,” she agreed, before turning to Willow once again, who was watching her with wide eyes. “So then, what’s your magic like? Is it cool?”

“Ah! It isn’t really, no, but—” Willow began sweetly, before nearly jumping out of their skin as Spike grabbed hold of their arm, urgency rushing through his voice as he shook his head intensely.

“No! Don’t tell her!” he announced loudly, pointing an accusing finger at Asaya as she stood there innocently. “She won’t tell anyone what her power is, you know! She won’t even tell me, so she definitely won’t tell you! And if she won’t tell you what her power is, you shouldn’t tell her what yours is, either! To level the playing field! I’m helping you out, here!” he bellowed, but for a brief moment there, she could’ve sworn she saw their eyes start glowing a bright lime shade of green. But as they tried to scurry away from Spike’s intensity, it’d gone back down to a murky shade of moss, and it led Asaya to wonder if she’d simply been imagining it.

However, she was more actively upset by the fact Spike was preventing her from gathering information, even if he did have a point, so she merely scoffed in his face. “Nah. The truth is, I’m powerless. I don’t have any magic, see?” she waved her hands, Spike and Willow staring at her incredulously as Spike let the taller elf go, who quickly stepped a few yards back as they retreated into their original corner.

“Liar! You do have a power! You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t!”

“How do you know? Maybe I’m just super charismatic,” Asaya teased, Spike’s furiousness only growing as Willow looked in between them, nervous.

“Charismatic my ass!” Spike declared crassly, prickly spikes already budding from his knuckles as if he were ready to start their fight before they’d even gotten into the arena, and someone else would’ve probably been worried he was about to deck her. But Asaya recognized that it was probably just a natural reaction his body had to his overwhelming anger. She hadn't actually talked to Spike since he'd awakening his magic, but she liked to think she still knew him well enough to know he wouldn't actually hit her. Still though, that didn't stop him from spewing out countless insults. “You’ve never been able to properly lead a group with charm! All the kids back in our town always knew that if they followed you, they were following you into trouble! Nemara was the only one who followed you everywhere like some dumbass!”

She froze slightly once again at the mention of Nemara’s name, slightly taken aback to hear it, but internally, Asaya had already been preparing herself to hear it a lot, since she’d soon be in the same class as her former best friend. She’d been preparing herself to not only be hearing it, but to be seeing her in person, as well, so she was quick to numb down whatever pain hearing Nemara’s name caused her as she snapped back at Spike with equal sass. “You followed me around too, Spike! If you fell for my charms, it’s okay, I understand. I’m quite irresistible.”

“You most definitely are not!” Spike seethed, cheeks flushing a soft pink as he glared at her, but all the intimidation was subtracted by his cherry face. “No one would be attracted to somebody who hides in their house for years on end when things get tough!”

“Why are you hitting me with such a low blow? I’m just teasing you,” Asaya grinned, wisteria eyes gleaming as she gave Spike a wicked smirk. “Unless there’s some truth to my accusations? Spike, do you have something to tell me?”

It looked like he was about to blow another fuse at her verbal remarks, and Asaya was quietly reveling at how strong of a reaction she’d gotten from it. It’d been so long since she’d been able to tease Spike like this, it was almost refreshing. Alas, they were interrupted by the door to the room opening, Willow looking all too relieved to have someone come and intervene as Asaya turned herself around to meet eyes with someone who could only be considered a celebrity.

“Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?” the woman laughed fondly, her voice sweet and cheerful, just like everyone always said it was. Her curly lavender locks of hair draped over her shoulders in beautiful thick waves, and her bright teal eyes were kind and full of life as she met the three new students in the room where they’d been waiting. “My apologies, I promise I’ll let you argue to your heart’s content once you get out into the battlefield in just a moment! But first, allow me to introduce myself."

"My name is Pegasus, and I’m going to be your new teacher for as long as you’re students here! It’s my pleasure to welcome you, and I’m so happy to have three talented new students added to my class! It’s quite an honor, I assure you. So without further ado,” Pegasus smiled, her fair face breaking out into a smile as she gestured extravagantly to the three of them. “Let’s get right to it! You can introduce yourselves to me by starting out this year with some excellent combat! I hope you’re all ready, because from now on, you are members of the upstanding school Soul Star Academy’s gifted program, and I’m going to help each and every one of you soar to new heights... as high as you can go! So come with me to your stage, and let’s see how high you can fly at the very start of your journey here with me!”