I spent most of my life thus far in the shadows of my parents who were known to be diligent workers. My father was a well known scholar who traveled the globe debating economics with other scholars in front of audiences while publishing books throughout the day. He was blessed with a rare acacia plant at his Ceremony of Implantation. My mother was also blessed with a plant but hers was a water lily which gave her a career as a doctor.
I say I grew up in their shadows as I never had the chance to do much outside of what they envisioned for me. They told me what to do when to do it and honestly my childhood wasn't bad. My parents loved me but they just never really showed it as they were always busy with something. To be honest there were days they completely forgot to feed me as young as a two year old.
My parents arranged everything for me to the point that I was now enrolled into the prestigious Ghostrun Academy. But first I had to travel to the Dragon Core that was at the heart of our kingdom. From there I would then travel to the Academy once my beast has chosen me.
My family name held no renown but given my parents professions I was now going to be going to school with all of the richest kids in the kingdom. My parents believed that if I was to surround myself with successful people I would too be successful. They felt that their sacrifice financially to send their only child to the most prestigious academy would have the best return of investment.
The day you turn fourteen your body starts to feel a draw to what is known as the Dragon Core. The Dragon Core is a magical core at the center of our kingdom that on our fifteenth birthday we are able to gain access to our first beast if we are lucky enough to have even one. The attraction gets stronger the closer you get to your fifteenth birthday and it is said that those that fight the draw will perish if they don't complete the task of going to the Dragon Core on their fifteenth birthday.
When I arrived at the Dragon Core I figured people would question me on why I was there but my body was pulling me so strongly towards the core that anyone looking at me could tell I was feeling its effects.
My mind was racing about the different elemental beasts that could come to fruition. There was a common belief that the elemental beast manifested was based on the individual's own personality and mannerisms. I secretly was hoping I would get one of the elemental tigers or wolves. The chances of plants just seemed inevitable given the fact my parents both had one.
I wasn't the only one to turn fifteen that day so I had to wait my turn. If turning fourteen gave you a feeling of a level one versus ten being the strongest, today it felt like a hundred. The core was pulsating as it sensed an oncoming fifteen year old ready to receive their own pet. There was a man standing next to it who would ask the person their name then announce it to everyone as they stepped on the pedestal next to the core.
"Looma Wilson" a small brunette girl with a round face and big round brown eyes stepped forward. She chanted the words written on the ground in front of the core that was easy to read when you approached it. The core pulsated multiple times before it finally had a reaction of a blue mist. The mist expanded out into the shape of a large blue marlin fish and then suddenly the fish dove down into the body of the girl.
Her face changed to a thinner pointed look as her nose elongated similarly to the marlin. Her skin turned blue and scales that matched the marlin were now covering her visible skin.
"A Blue Marlin of the Iron rank, Congratulations!" The announcer noted.
"Kyle Gin" a thin red head boy stepped up to the Dragon Core. The core pulsed when the words were spoken and this time flames came out of the core rising up into the shape of a tiger. The tiger then dove into the body of Kyle and his skin suddenly changed to show the tiger stripes. His eyes glowed and changed colors to the yellow eyes that were common on tiger faces.
"Yes! Let's go!" Kyle shouted as he was really hyped to get the tiger as his beast. Most guys wanted to get some form of a tiger I felt like as his marking looked cool and his boosts had to be incredible. At the time I didn't know that there were huge differences in the boosts from the beasts that we would bond with.
"Hanna Hunt" the announcer called out to an athletically built girl. The core pulsed several times and a black and yellow mist oozed out and went to the floor. The mist formed a massive snake with black and yellow stripes. The snake then lunged into the chest of Hanna and her skin soon showed the snake scales in yellow and black patterns. Her tongue stuck out suddenly and was forked with her eyes blazing yellow with slits instead of round pupils.
The list continued with fifteen year olds from all over the kingdom receiving beasts, plants and powerful insects. I had completely forgotten my name when they finally called it as the previous egg to open was a golden lion.
"Is Jordan Kane here?" The announcer inquired again, not sure if he should continue as he was told everyone on the list was here and ready. I hadn't noticed that he would confirm on a list of all of us who were turning fifteen that day.
"Eh sorry, that lion made me forget where I was." I blurted out not sure what to say as I felt completely embarrassed to be the center of everyone's attention more so than the normal amount given how long it took me to recognize my name. I said the words and thought to myself this core would be cool to have and I chuckled at the thought.
Not sure if anyone else chuckled at that moment like I did. I personally think it is what did me in. The core pulsed but no mist, no flame, no real reaction. Suddenly, a small tiny ball of energy known as a wisp appeared and floated up in the air in a weird uncoordinated circle, while doing so it was changing colors showing the elemental colors signifying it as an elemental wisp.
Then it shot into my chest and my mind was flooded with an intense amount of knowledge that was overwhelming. The flooding of information caused me to keel over in pain. I could feel libraries of knowledge suddenly at my disposal. The sensation of intense amounts of knowledge caused me to collapse and wake up next in the infirmary.
If I could go back and redo it all over again I would. To think my goal was to blend in pretty much failed day one. Upon waking up, I was alone in the infirmary. I checked my body and everything seemed to be the same. I remembered the fact that a wisp had entered me but I saw no physical changes. I left the infirmary realizing that I was in the capital and not that of the academy.
I walked over to the carriage that had a man standing with a glowing sign above his head saying Ghostrun Academy. Multiple kids that looked around my age had already gotten onto the carriage as I approached the man. Right before I had exited the infirmary apparently the large man had yelled for everyone to board as all students have now been accounted for as being ready. I wasn't aware that they had been waiting for me to be discharged from the infirmary before they departed.
I entered the carriage to see that there were multiple people already sitting around and looking through the carriage I was quite confused to see that there appeared to be over a hundred people already on it. I looked back out the edge of the carriage to double check and yeah my eyes didn't deceive me, the carriage looked like it might fit four people.
An elderly man with a warm smile and blue eyes that were slit narrow like a snake around his neck was a blue hexagonal pattern that from a distance one would think he was wearing a scarf but upon approaching him you realize it is his snake wrapped around his upper body.
'He has a water snake on the silver rank.' A voice inside my head spoke. I thought I was losing my mind then the voice informed me 'He is your teacher but we will be teaching him, his snake needs new nourishment.'
I really thought I was losing my mind hearing that voice for the first time. It changed its approach after that as I started to figure out that it was in fact my beast. I was looking at different people and their beast and rank level was revealed to me by this voice.
"Jordan Kane, glad to see you awake and in good health! I am Mr. Jones and it's my responsibility to make sure you graduate from our lovely academy. Now you have an elemental wisp, these are iron rank beasts that have no known evolution. I should say wisps are known to be iron, you are our first ever recorded elemental wisp.
But don't fret over the fact that you can't evolve, the twenty five percent increase to intellect and a fifty percent increased mana absorption rate gives you the ability to hold more mana than most beast masters. You also can learn all of or concentrate on one element, it's up to you". Mr Jones was way too happy about such a terrible prospect. Most people only gained respect based on their rank as a beast master as each role in our society was dictated by our beasts.
I am not sure why I was feeling so down at the time. The combination of not being able to evolve my beasts meant I was going to be stuck at the iron rank like my parents and have to seek intellectual work. I hadn't really put together that I had access to all of the elements meaning I would be able to adapt to any situation so I was highly sought out for group missions.
As if the wisp could feel my agony I suddenly was flooded with a vision of a man with a wisp next to it that the wisp was larger than the man. They were battling a massive dragon with the wisp commanding multiple spells at once. The ball of energy flashed different colors as it cast spells of all of the elements. The entire engagement happened in a moment in my vision but was hours of combat.
I could feel knowledge flowing through me as if it had all been there the entire time. My mind was still trying to put together what I just witnessed but it was the kick in the ass I needed. It also helped me to block out all the side comments by the kids who thought they were superior because of their beast.
The carriage ride was a quick flight from the capital to the location of Ghostrun Academy. The school was created on the outskirts of the city long ago and if one were to look at a map they would see that Ghostrun was almost more central than the capital was for the entire nation.
We arrived at the academy and I headed to my living quarters for the next year as my mind was still being flooded with information. It was as if there was a vast library of knowledge at my whim. The walls and floors had bits of information I could look at and enhance and study. Even the pictures were suddenly being portrayed in paragraph form of what the painting is showing.
I made my way to the first year wing and down the boys hall to room nine. The door opened slightly already as I approached I could hear two boys laughing as a third was telling a "your momma" joke. "Your momma is so fat, the elephant beast she was infused with at the ceremony of implementation said "Oh hell no!" and went back into the core."
The laughter died down quickly as they realized someone had entered the room. One of my new roommates had a brown shell on his back, I thought his turtle was pretty cool looking and having an impenetrable back once gold rank would be nice to have. His name was Travis Finch and it made it easy to remember the T's(turtle and Travis) together.
The second kid, Joey Sho, who was laughing had a red and white pattern of fur as he received the beast of a red panda. The patterns of his fur were pretty cool looking in my book but at the time I had no idea what a red panda beast would do until I saw the beast summoned. Even my wisp was silent when I looked at the kid.
The one telling the joke would soon become my best friend. Adam Lock was his name and he had a unique beast similar to mine. He was fortunate to meld with an arcane wyvern and on top of it the wyvern was double headed. I hadn't figured it out but my wisp's most powerful attacks would be from the arcane class as the two of us grew together.
Adam was a taller kid already with a slender build. His wyvern scales covered most of his visible skin and his eyes had changed to narrow slits. The purple scales would flash blue and green at certain angles giving him a glimmering effect at all times in the light.
They each looked me up and down and then Travis realized that I was the one who received a wisp and his face changed to a solemn expression. The atmosphere had changed as they all didn't know what to say about my beast as it was not visible. I decided to break the tension by introducing myself. "Jordan Kane, wisp master!" I said with a big grin on my face.
They all laughed and introduced themselves to me as they would be spending the next year together in the same room. I was glad I didn't get stuck with tools who would try to kick me out of the room the moment I entered, at least that was my worst nightmare before entering the room that day.