The Lost Bloodline

Chapter 3 : Trial aftermath

The ride back to school was a gloomy one, the students had already been woken up when they were still a thirty- minute drive away from the school, rather than being chatty and excited, some were terrified, now that everyone of them had been ranked, there was sure to be some bullying especially for the F rank mages who although were more numerous but were still far to weak to go against the higher ranks in their class not to mention the other classes.

Out of a total of one hundred students, fifty were F rank mages, twenty five were E rank mages, eighteen were D rank mages and the remaining seven were C rank mages,

All military academies at the time believed in survival of the fittest, the teachers had been instructed not to interfere in any fights unless it was life threatening or causing destruction of property, this meant for the weak the school would be hell on earth unless they formed alliances with higher rank mages which meant becoming their lackeys.

"What are you going to do the moment we get back?" Bruce asked to initiate a conversation with the still silent Brandon,

"It would probably be better if we went straight to the dorms, the tension in the bus right now is suffocating and am pretty sure it's going to be the same way in class" Brandon replied,

"Yeah, if only they didn't allow bullies to reign free in the school, we would have no reason to be scared" Bruce stated,

"You think this is scary, just wait until the awakening day, right now although we have been placed in ranks, we still lack our elemental abilities, so there shouldn't be a lot of bullying but once our abilities are awakened, all hell would break loose" Brandon explained with a sigh,

"It's all in the hopes of producing soldiers strong enough to face the foreign races" Bruce said in a sad tone,

"The problem is no one actually knows what they look like, according to the news, they never leave their dead behind, but am sure they are not humans" Brandon concluded,

"Do you think they are the ones responsible for the missing Twelve?" Bruce asked with round eyes,

"Not this again, but I don't think so, I mean the company in charge of the mythic evolutions, what was it's name again?" Brandon explained trying to recall the companies name,

"Alphite industries, the leading industry in both magical and technological advancements, they made great strides in improving human living standards, remember what they did in Taiwan?" Bruce chatted excitedly, his dream job wasn't to become a soldier but a scientist at Alphite industries, but a job there required some form of military background, he was always abreast with all their latest discoveries and advancement in every of the world,

"If you keep smiling so much when you talk about them, the edges of your lips will reach your ears" Brandon teased which caused Bruce to frown slightly,

"You only say that because you are jealous of my charming smile" Bruce said in attempt to counter Brandon,

"Charming indeed, the ladies probably find frogs more charming than you" Brandon retorted before bursting into laughter,

"Shut up, shut up, you always do this to me" Bruce groaned as his face turned red, he hit Brandon's shoulder in order to quiet him down as his laughter was drawing attention to them,

"Hey you, what's so funny, you think because you are a D rank mage, you can laugh however you like" a spikey haired kid sitting opposite them yelled before leaving his sit to confront them, he had muscular build and was about a metre taller than them, they glanced at his watch, he was an E rank mage with ninety nine points, just two points away from being a D rank mage,

"What's your problem, did you hear us talk less of you or are you just looking to vent your frustrations out on us?" Brandon replied slightly annoyed,

"Er, Brandon, I don't think talking back is a good idea right now, you still look a little worn out from the trials, I doubt you can take him on now" Bruce cautioned his friend,

"Better listen to your friend, just because you managed to get a D rank in the trials doesn't mean you are actually stronger, I mean, we all saw the underhanded methods you used" The spiky haired kid mocked until someone grabbed him from behind,

"Who do you think you a-" By the time he saw the watch on the person's hand showing C rank with 250 points, his legs immediately turned to jelly,the person was none other than Alec,

"Sup guys, is this rascal bothering you" he said with his hands still on the boys shoulder,

The boy looked at them with teary eyes as if pleading for mercy,

"Nah, he was just returning to his seat, now weren't you?" Brandon said with an amused expression,

the boy nodded vehemently, as Alec released him , he hurriedly scrambled for his seat drenched in sweat,

"Thanks for the save" Bruce said,

"My pleasure, although am sure you could have handled it on your own" Alec replied,

"I doubt but thanks not withstanding"Brandon said,

"No problem, gotta go back to my seat, see you guys at school" Alec replied as he walked back to his seat which was right behind them so was his sister,

"What do you think you are doing? Are you trying to embarrass us? our situation is bad enough as it seems" Isabella scolded him as he sat down,

"Relax, it's not like I started a rebellion against the military system" Alec replied,

The bus had finally arrived at their school, where they found Miss Silver waiting outside for them,

"Welcome back students, I hope your trials went well?" she greeted but was met with the gloomy look on thier faces,

"It was that bad huh, no worries, there's always room for improvement" she said in attempt to encourage them,

"Since it's already late, you can all return to your dorms for now, you will each be given daily allowances of 50 credits each day so you can purchase items from the school supply building, your accounts have all been synced to the watches given to you after the trial, you are dismissed" Miss Silver announced before briskly returning into the school.

The moment she and the Military officials left, chaos ensued, now that they had been ranked, some old friendships were broken to from new alliances, most high ranks didn't want to have anything to do with someone whose rank was below theirs except, to use as their slaves,

"Come on Bruce, let's get out of here, I'm tired" Brandon whispered,

They were almost out of the crowd when they ran into Alec and his Sister,

"Hey guys, this is my sister Isabella, Isa, this is Brandon and Bruce" Alec said,

Isabella just gave the boys a cold stare before walking off,

"Did we do something wrong?" Bruce asked confused,

"No, sorry about that, that's just how she is, she's not really the social type" Alec apologized before going after her,

"Come on bro, let's move before we get into any more confrontations" Bruce suggested.

They walked quickly and quietly till they got out of the chaotic crowd around them, the moment they got to their dorm room, they immediately locked the door,

"what to you know about those twins?" Brandon asked Bruce as he sat on his bed,

"The Moore twins? don't you know anything about the noble families in Eleanor?" Bruce asked in shock,

"Should I?" Brandon asked back,

"The Moore family is one of the noble families, their ancestors were part of the first settlers on Eleanor, and they have being living here ever since, they are major shareholders in various infrastructures like the medicine, business, even the music industry and their current leader Jean Michael Moore is one of the board members at Alphite industries, Alec and Isabella are his nephew and niece, their father is his younger brother Jonathan Clave Moore, he one of the five 5-star generals of the army and a well known war hero, they call him the battle god " Bruce explained,

"wow, they sound like real big shots, but I thought the kids from the noble families wouldn't arrive in school until the day if the awakening ceremony" Brandon stated,

"Yeah, but it's optional, noble families are free to send thier kids to school anyday before or on the day of awakening but, for Alec and Isabella, their case is different, a few years back, it was reported that Isabella was involved in some sort of scandal but her brother took part of the blame despite her protest against it, so it appears their family and uncle still hasn't forgiven them" Bruce explained,

"And you know all that how?" Brandon asked suspiciously, Bruce looked away as if he didn't hear the question which confirmed Brandon's suspicion,

"You hacked into the news media system didn't you" Brandon said,

"No, it the noble family news forum, but you can't tell anyone about this, okay?" Bruce replied in a low voice,

"What in the world, dude you could have been caught and jailed or perhaps worse, you know their news forum is meant for noble families only" Brandon stated in panic,

"I know, I know which is why I never told anyone" Bruce said with his head down,

"Whatever, it's still early noon, what should we do?" Brandon asked,

"I want to sign up at the school news register and for the laboratory assistant" Bruce said regaining his cheer,

"I don't really have any extra curriculars in mind, would you mind if I joined you at the register?" Brandon said after a few thoughts,

"When have I ever said no to a helping hand" Bruce said with a grin,

"Cool, let's go, we can check out the supply store afterwards" Brandon said heading for the door but was suddenly halted by Bruce,

"Dude you smell like a used gym towel, you need to hit the showers before we can go anywhere" Bruce said while covering his nose,

"No, I don't" Brandon said, he lifted shirt to take a sniff,

"Oh my, that does smell bad, how did I not notice" Brandon groaned, he quickly took off his shirt and trousers threw them at An unsuspecting Bruce and ran into the bathroom,

"Gross, Brandon why on earth would you do that, I am so gonna kill you when you get out" Bruce ranted, Brandon couldn't help but laugh at Bruce's tantrum,

By the time he came out, Bruce had already calmed down,

"Didn't someone say he was going to kill me" Brandon taunted,

"Don't push it Brandon" Bruce retorted as he walked into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

After their showers, the boys made their way to the principals office to inquire about joining the

school news register, they knocked on the office door,

"Come in" a deep husky voice said,

They walked in and soon found themselves in from of sergeant Borden Raid, he was a huge muscular man with a menacing aura, he had a large scar across his face which made the boys wonder, how he was able to still have both his eyes, he had long brown hair that made him look like a babarian,

"Have a seat boys, how can I help you both?" Sgt. Raid asked,

"Sir we would like to inquire if the school news register, has any openings" Bruce said as they sat down,

"The news register? they are a lot of openings available" Sgt. Raid replied with a hint of surprise,

"A lot? are none of the senior students part of the register?" Brandon asked,

"Not really, honestly, it's been a while since anyone even inquired about the register so much so that it was temporarily disabled" Sgt. Raid replied.

"Can it be re-enabled?" Bruce asked hopefully,

"Yes, meet Miss Silver, she's the head of the news register" Sgt. Raid replied, Bruce sighed in relief,

"Thank you Sir, permission to take our leave sir?" Brandon asked,

"Permission granted, you are barely a two weeks in the school Year and you are already using military protocol, you guys are special, I can tell" Sgt. Raid replied,

"We appreciate the compliment sir"Bruce chirped,

They saluted and left the office to find their teacher,

"So Miss Silver is the news register's head, well that explains the typewriter" Brandon said,

"yeah and since it was disabled she probably didn't get any funds to change the equipment with"Bruce sighed in pity,

"Poor Miss Silver, she has been all alone all l this time" Bruce bellowed,

"And who told you I was lonely" Miss Silver said from behind them causing the boys to jump back in fright,

"How were you able to sneak up on us like that even Brandon didn't notice you" Bruce asked in shock,

"You will learn that in fight class, now why am I the subject of your conversation?" Miss Silver asked still walking,

"We were thinking of joining the school news register, Sgt. Raid said you were the head and that it could be re - enabled" Bruce replied,

"Oh I see, well first up we will need a photographer and a writer" Miss Silver replied rather gently,

"I will be the photographer" replied Brandon,

"I will be the writer" replied Bruce,

"Good, meet me at the register tomorrow during lunchtime, I will see to the re-enablement before then" Miss Silver replied,

"Thank you ma'am" They replied in unison.

Their next stop was meant to be the school laboratory but they got blocked by seven students,

"Hey guys wanna join our group?" a huge chubby guy asked,

"No not really, but thanks for the offer" Brandon said politely, they were all D rank same and he and Bruce, they tried to walk past the but were blocked off,

"It wasn't an offer, buddy" another boy said,

"Like I said before, no thank you now move aside" Brandon demanded,

"I see we have a stubborn one, why don't we convince them to join us boys" the fat guy said with a mischievous grin, he lunged at Brandon, who tried to dodge but was still too weak and got tackled to the ground, five of the boys ganged up on Brandon while the other two held Bruce, Brandon was being hit pretty badly, his nose was broken as well a few ribs,

"Stop it, you are hurting him" Bruce cried out, but to no avail,

"Stop please, leave him alone" he pleaded but they just ignored him,

Brandon now had broken ribs as well as his nose and his vision was getting blurry,

"Brandon, you have to fight back" a voice said as he saw a blurry figure in front of him,

"I can't" he mumbled,

"Yes you can, you can't give up now, think about Bruce, are you just going to let them beat him up too" The voice replied,

"Noo" Brandon replied barely by a whisper,

"Say it louder, are you going to let them hurt your family?" the voice asked seriously,

"Nooooo" Brandon screamed as he released a shockwave from within him that blew the guys against the wall, the remaining two guys immediately took to their heels out of fear,

"Brandon, Brandon, are you okay? don't worry I will get you to the clinic" Bruce said as he raised Brandon up over his shoulder.

The doctor and nurses on duty was alarmed by the sight of the bloody Brandon being brought in by Bruce, they hurriedly took him in and began treatment but the strange thing was, most of his Injuries had already healed, this baffled the doctor and nurses but, they were too grateful that Brandon was alive to take it seriously, Brandon had lost quite an amount of blood so he was unconscious at the time, once his Injuries were taken care off he was laid to rest on one of the beds while receiving a blood transfusion,

"Brandon, what was that back there? am pretty sure the ability orbs have already worn out but that didn't even look like a fire ability or any ability I Know" Bruce wondered,

"Well at least it saved us, you saved us.......... again" he mumbled,

He stayed by Brandon's side till late that evening when a worried nurse managed to convince him to go get some clean clothes for Brandon and report the incident to a teacher,

He quickly went looking for Miss Silver, she was the only teacher who might even do something,

"What did you say?" Miss Silver asked furious startling Bruce,

"and you really don't know how your friend did what he did...... It's barely been twelve hours since the trials and already some rascals have already began exhibiting this sort of behavior" she sighed with furrowed brows,

"Don't worry, I will see what I can do, you go back and stay by your friend's side" she added before leaving Bruce, who went to get Brandon's clothes and some snacks and went straight back to the clinic, he wanted to be there when Brandon woke up, more so he was curious to know if Brandon is aware if what he did.

"Wake up Brandon" Bruce prayed within his heart.