CHAPTER TWO

About halfway to the school, we heard a familiar voice yelling.

“Hunter!” We turned to see Hunter’s best friend running over. His name is Ashton, a boy about Pearl’s height with ginger hair and red eyes. We all knew him fairly well, since we all sit together in class, plus Isabelle too. 

Speaking of Isabelle, I saw her walk over to us. She smiled at Pearl, and Pearl smiled back. She’s a black girl with coal coloured black hair in twin tails and grey eyes.

“Hey, the whole gang's here!” Hunter cheered, pumping his fist as we walked.

“I wouldn’t call us a gang…” Isabelle muttered with a slight African accent, walking next to Pearl.

“Oh, don’t be like that Isabelle!” I exclaimed, smiling.

“I have to agree with her,” Ashton sighed in his usual British accent, Pearl sighed quietly.

We walked to school chatting, Pearl and Isabelle occasionally joining in conversation, but mostly keeping quiet. When we got to school, we went straight to our class. The bell rung shortly afterwards.

The teacher started talking, I didn’t really pay attention, until he mentioned something interesting.

“The school, after giving it a lot of thought, has decided to elect a male and female representative for the upcoming YFT.”

I knew exactly what the YFT was, it stood for Youth Fighter’s Tournament. Every year it went along with the cultural festival that celebrated our five gods. I was surprised that our school was participating.

“This week instead of your regularly scheduled classes, you will be paired up to fight another student from another class in front of a random class as well as the principal and vice principal. You will be called down when it’s your turn. If you do not wish to participate, let me know immediately so I can tell the office to remove you. Now, raise your hand if you do not wish to participate.”

A couple people raised their hands, including Pearl and Isabelle. Our teacher went to his computer and quickly typed in the names. The announcements beeped suddenly.

“Welcome students, to Starling Gale Middle School’s first ever student tournament! To kick off the tournament, we’re going to have students from class 7-6 come watch Ben Hage from class 8-4 battle with Hanna Jenkins from class 7-5!” Everyone looked at Ben, and he stood up nervously. A couple people encouraged him to do his best as he left the classroom. 

Classes continued through the day, and to my disappointment, I didn't get called down to fight at all. 

I didn't pay much attention, until Culture class started. 

"Alright, we're just going to review what we've learned so far. Who would like to start?" 

Hunter raised his hand. 

"Hunter?" 

"Thousands of years ago, five divine beings worked together to create the world. Bereizu, Lord of Flames, Shizen, Lord of Earth, Mizu, Lady of Water, Kaze, Lady of Wind, and Seishin, Ruler of Life and Death." 

"Very good, would anyone like to add?" 

Pearl raised her hand. 

"Pearl."

“The five divine beings worked together and created earth, creating along with it the first living beings, which eventually evolved into us humans.”

“Impressive, anyone else? Ashton?”

“The five divines were very different, and ruled everything associated with their element, such as Bereizu, being lord of flames, is also the lord of war and peace, and Kaze is the lady of air storms and air creatures, as well as wind.”

“I’m extremely impressed, would anyone like to tell us what the personalities of these deities were?”

I raised my hand.

“Ellie?”

“Bureizu was the leader, a fair and just deity that made his decisions based on the opinions of his fellow deities and logic. Shizen was kind hearted, and always put his friends first. Mizu was quiet, but the smartest, good at creating a plan, as well as thinking on her feet. Kaze was essentially the troublemaker of the group. She enjoyed pranking her friends and causing trouble, however she loved them as much as they loved each other. Seishin kept the most secrets, and wasn’t often there, however he cared for them as much as they cared for him.”

“Seishin was friendly to everyone unless you did something he didn’t like, however the only mortals to ever see him are the dead ones.” Isabelle added afterward, and our teacher clapped.

“I’m impressed, your table seems to have the basics memorized. Now, can anyway explain how we know about this?” 

Instantly, everyone’s hands shot into the air. 

“Oh my, alright then, why don’t you take turns telling the story?”

“Thousands of years ago, when humanity was still new to the world, five children were born with a piece of jewelry,” Ashton started.

“When these children turned 10 on their birthdays,” Hunter continued, “they jewelry started to glow, until they became the human forms of the gods.”

“The humans were doubtful at first, but after they had proven themselves as divine beings, they explained that the jewelry is a blessing from them. When each blessing had a child, it was their job to pass the blessing on, and teach them how to use it for good,” Pearl explained.

“Afterward, each child gained different abilities, each based on the deity that blessed them. They became known as The Blessed, and their jewelry was a Blessing.” I said, “to this day, the Blessed are still living, protecting the earth from outside threats.”

“Thanks to the Blessings, a Blessed is able to directly contact one of the deities, and the deities are able to directly contact their Blessed.” Isabelle finished, “If anything were to happen, we would be warned by a Blessed.”

As soon as she said that, my bracelet became warmer. I blinked, and looked down at it. The wind pendant on it was glowing brightly. I cursed under my breath, pulling my sleeve down to cover it, and raising my hand.

“Yes Ellie?”

“May I go to the restroom please?” 

“Of course, thank you for asking.” 

I nodded, and stood up, speed walking out of the classroom. I could feel Pearl’s eyes on me as my left. Once I was out of sight of my classmates, I started running down the hall. 

When I reached the girl’s restroom, I went into a stall and locked the door, uncovering my bracelet. The pendant was glowing even brighter now.

I closed the toilet seat and sat down on it, as the pendant flashed, and everything went black.