The Legendary System

Pocket Diary

*ring* *ring*

At the break of dawn, a pale hand stretches across the bed and slammed the ringing alarm off. Anxiously, he sprung to his feet, and strolled to his bathroom. Splashing his sleepy face awake, revealing an unforeseen excitement as he coiffed his blonde hair into a gel slickened puff.

"Hmm, A new day, new school equals to a free and easy life... like a holiday" Draven said to himself, adding his final yet gentle brushstroke. Donning on a typical sweatshirt and pants, he did a brief check of his fridge, mentally noting down what's required and headed to the door.

the lever down, he locked it, by pressing a palm on the door before heading down the elevator. Flipping the hood up, he pushed through the building; frosty air strikes his nose pink, reminding him of the brutally chilly fall in the wee hours of the night. His jogging feet splashed the stoned pavement, fading into the fog. The streetlights shinned through, hazing the streets of London with a silent hue; strikingly unfamiliar from its usual demeanour.

Pass a mixture of futuristic and retro buildings down the lane, clearly displaying their own unique evolution, odd yet for some reason it seemed splendid together.

Sometime later, slowly more and windows were alit, shedding some light through the early birds’ curtains. Rusted shutters rustled up in the stiff air. Draven continued jogging; an enticing smell wafted into his nose, guiding him to the source. He crossed the road, walking into the shop and returning out, with buns and bread rolls peeking from his paper bag. He munched on a beef patty, as he loved having an early snack after a long jog. He strolled to the convenience store and headed home with his groceries in tow.

When he reached, he noticed his door was unlocked, open with a narrow slit. He sent a command by clashing with the side of his shoes, it automatically untied itself. Draven slipped them off and quietly stepped in. 'Man. I hope this isn't a prank! Maybe, it is Dad? he often has the habit of coming in uninvited.'

He poked his head into the living room, his blue-jay irises widened, as they met the intruder's night black eyes, holding the solicitous quality of a butler. At once Draven concluded him to be an envoy sent by his father. 'Hmm, I haven't seen him before... he must be a new butler or servant!'

The messenger did a curtsy bow, said "Good morning, Mr. Castel"

Draven nodded and greeted him back. The messenger studied his former young master for a while, smoothened his black blazer and continued "I am here to deliver news from your father."

He pulled out a fresh envelope from his blazer's inner pocket and presented it to him. Draven took it and verified it to be the real. Unknown to most, other than family's insignia on the ocean, blue seal, it had a dot at the edge of the envelope, signifying how important the message was from the number of dots.

Draven sent a nod, the messenger backed out of the flat. "Farewell, Mr. Castel"

Bottle of anxiety, pensively stared at the envelope, lounging back on his armchair and tore it open. Unfolding the letter to his view; reading through the contents, the light in his eyes diminished and gradually his face scrunched into a sour grape. Peeling his eyes from his father's conclusion, his hand crumbled the paper into a ball. The letter in his palm trembled under his vexation.

Quick gait, he walked inside the kitchen and tossed it into the trash, getting that bloody half-wit reply off his face. How could he stand it when they were asking him to just bear it? How can he bear the onslaught of his peers’ vicious discrimination for another high school year?

In order to unfreeze his mind of worries and his personal hate speech for his father and grandfather; busied himself, preparing a hearty breakfast. While cooking, internally he couldn't bear but asked himself 'Why Dad? Don't you know how miserable I am in this school?'

'I am already a disgrace to the Castel clan, why can't he just send me to an ordinary school?' putting a pan on the electric stove and lighted it up, tossed some oil. 

'I know, that old fart said he wanted me to toughen up as a descendant! But isn't that useless now that I am banished? And without a superpower, how will I gain the right to speak for myself in public?' cracking open two eggs, they sizzled meeting the heated pan and then pressed two slices of salami on the other side of the pan.

'Dad is always busy, maybe I can ask mom for a transfer? I hope she agrees!' he thought, serving his platter with eggs then the salami. After buttering his toast, his poured a cup of his daily kickstart expresso. Before he could start, he quickly dressed for school and packed his tiffin.

After having his fill, Draven gave his mother a ring, the cell beeped for a second.

A young female's voice answered "Hello, brother! How is life treating you so far?"

Draven sighed at his fate, 'Why her?'

He replied "Hi, yeah good, Brittany! Can you call Mom, I want to talk to her?"

Brittany picking up his tone, said "Oh really, I heard from dad that… ".

"Brittany dear, who is on the line? Can you pass it to me?" Draven's mother's voice in the background interrupted Brittany's taunting.

Draven heard Brittany's respond "Mum, it's Draven"

Heard rushed steps over the phone.

Draven's mother, Mrs. Anya answered "Good morning sweetie, how are you?"

Draven said "I'm good Mum!"

Mrs. Anya as a concerned mother, she said "So why have you called? Is something wrong?".

Draven shot back "Yes Mom, something is wrong… Didn't I ask Dad to transfer me to a new school?"

His mother replied "He did say yes when I brought out that topic to him..."

Irritated, Draven said "Then why do I have to go to this shitty school?"

His mother reprimand him "Watch your manners Draven. It must be your grandpa's doing, he often likes to meddle with other people's businesses."

Knowing the status of his grandpa, Draven's spirits deflated, he asked "So there is nothing I can do?"

She cheered him "I can't stand knowing that my son is bullied. Don't worry, I will force your father to transfer you to a better one… Oh, it's already 6, you better get ready for school" and sent smooches through the phone.

Draven smiled, feeling better he said 'goodbye' to his mother before hanging up the phone.

Strapping a bag across this shoulder and exited his apartment, walking down the usual path to school.

Thirty minutes later, Draven climbed a tall, trimmed green hill. Few students were sitting on the wet grass and benches at the side; chatting among themselves. He walked on the red footpath leading to the grand school complex.

The stoned walls were painted in the school's colours surrounding the tall buildings. The buildings shinned against the morning sun, peeking through the fog making it seem ancient and otherworldly to the onlookers. Drawing near to the main entrance etched with bold letters of black 'Mount Vernon High School, Camden.'

He walked through the large stainless-steel gates. The inside grounds had a white stone pavement stretching from the entrance all the way to the steps of the school buildings. And in the centre, was a beautiful twenty-feet ceramic fountain decorated with flowers at the bottom and had patio gazebos on both sides of the path with a well-maintained lawn. Draven walked straight to the main building.

Walking the school halls, he passed a group of students. In his own thought, a couple of boys sneakily avoided Draven and devised a prank.

A brown-haired boy sporting a leather jacket, shapeshifted the water in his bottle into a snake and the other froze the ground ahead of Draven. The snake slithered closer to Draven and spooked him from the behind. He screamed in shock and stepped back and, slipped. He fell over himself trying to steady his balance on the slippery floor and suddenly the snake turned into a hose, spaying water on his pants. "Guys look, he peed himself! Haha!" the others laughed along. Expecting an outburst from Draven that never came, he became disinterested and sprayed water all over Draven's body and casually strolled from the scene with his buddy.

The students jeered, Draven stomped to the lost and found room and, borrowed some clothes. Unlike his peers, he didn’t have self-drying clothes since he felt they were a waste of his precious money and would rather stick to his outdated, dumb clothes instead. And 

He searched the clothes section, unable to find anything decent. He was about to quit; his foot stumped against a worn-out box. Draven picked it, going through the box, he found a pair of retro jeans with many pockets. He checked out a few shirts; chose a white shirt and the dark-blue jeans.

He ran to the washroom and changed his clothes Making best of the situation, he styling his already wet hair, matched his rugged style and admired himself.  Appreciating his good looks for a moment, forgetting the recent incident.

Draven thought to himself 'With this handsome face, how am I still single?'.

His mood instantly soured knowing the reason why?

There was nothing wrong with Draven, he was perfect in almost every department. Being the only one without an ability in a superhuman school. He became the no.1 target of every bully.

To clear his mind, he went to relax on the school's rooftop. Leaning on the rail, he watched the students coming in, while they chatted with their friends. Frustrated for many reasons, he tried distracting himself. He checked his jeans pockets and pulled out a weird looking, pocket diary.

It had a wooden brown cover centred a rhombus shaped emerald with a thick border of gold and sending ripples of waves from the centre to the corners of the book.

Draven stared, mesmerised by the gem. All of a sudden, a blinding green, light exploded. Falling on him; his eyes weakened into a deep sleep.

*Beep… beep* a coarse voice made his presence "Congratulation, Draven. You have been chosen as my host! Welcome to the Legend's scroll, I Lord Vernon will be your guide."

"Hey slacker get up, stop sleeping…" the A.I growled "Is this how you treat your Overlord Vernon, the leader of the demonic…" his banter sounded gibberish in his fading consciousness.