Arlo let out a dramatic sigh, the kind that said, "I felt average here."

  Arlo dragged out the sound, slouching as if the weight of the universe rested on his shoulders. Ahead of him, some nky guy hovered above the cobblestone courtyard outside the academy gates, his dark blue uniform fluttering as the air passed beside him, his feet never touching the ground as they were entering. Another kid absentmindedly conjured a floating notebook, flipping through pages with zy gestures. As they were walking to the middle school, it looked so out of pce. It was an average over-the-top castle, with red carpets and shining nterns... in the middle of Manhattan.

  "I’m already in 6th grade and still haven’t unlocked my magic... This is a scam," Arlo muttered, scowling as another first-year casually teleported past him like it was nothing. He was already at the age where it was supposed to happen— ten years old, the threshold where almost everyone’s innate abilities awakened.

  And yet...

  nothing.

  No sudden bursts of power.

  No floating books.

  No random teleportation mishaps.

  Just… silence.

  At ten years old, magic was supposed to awaken. It was almost a biological certainty, like growing taller or hitting puberty— except for Arlo, it just… never came. He gnced around, watching other sixth-graders testing out their newly unlocked powers, some struggling to control them, others already showing off. His eye twitched. Even literal dumbasses had powers. Meanwhile, he was just… walking. A powerless loser. One look at the kids who hadn’t awakened yet was enough to make him shudder. He didn’t want to be shunned like them.

  He was becoming irritably impatient. He clenched his fist in frustration.Evelyn, who was in 7th grade, walked down the hallway, and everyone turned to her. Students whispered among themselves, some activating small runes to send private messages without speaking aloud. A few 8th graders were practicing chanting as it enhanced their magic, a silent flex of their superior magic control. But they weren't doing it for their own benefit, they were trying to show off for Evelyn.

  “Of course, everyone looks at her. She’s basically a Queen—” He was mumbling to himself— then Arlo suddenly heard a grunt of pain. He whipped around to see Evelyn's knees smmed into the marble floor. Blood streamed from her left eye. Arlo froze.

  "Big sis, are you oka—"

  He didn’t get to finish.

  Something wet hit the floor with a sickening plop.

  At first, he didn’t process it. His mind refused to. But then he looked down—and saw it.

  Her eye.

  Her actual eye, nerves still attached, twitching like dying worms—lying there. Right in front of his foot.

  Time felt as if it stopped. The hallway fell away. His lungs locked. The walls started breathing.

  “No…” He whispered, but even he couldn't find his voice.

  He slowly turned to Evelyn. The blood—so much blood— was pouring from the empty socket like a faucet left running. Her face was locked in a grimace, her jaw clenched so tightly he thought her teeth might crack. But she didn’t scream. She didn’t cry. Her whole body shook, but she stood. She stood like she’d break before she bowed.

  And all he could do was watch.

  Move. Move. MOVE. His mind scolded him. But his feet were bolted to the ground. His knees wouldn’t bend, his fingers wouldn’t twitch.

  Everything inside him was spiraling, hot and cold all at once, like he’d been dropped into a nightmare he couldn’t wake from.

  This wasn’t his sister. His sister was strong. She was invincible. She couldn’t—

  No. No no no no—

  This wasn’t how the day was supposed to go.

  She was supposed to walk in smiling, talking about becoming a hero. She was supposed to drag him through the day. Not this. Not this.

  1…2…3…4…5…The seconds of the ticking of the clock persisted like ughter.

  “Arlo…” Evelyn spoke weakly… “Did you have breakfast yet…?”

  Arlo took a step back, stifling his scream.

  But before he could respond, Evelyn began to scream in from the sharp turmoil. This caught the attention of everyone else coming into school; they all started screaming in shock, and some even started crying. Fear spread through the school like wildfire. Why? Because this was the brutal reminder what everyone had to go through to awaken their magic.

  Evelyn’s best friend, Valentina, had just arrived when she spotted Arlo standing over his crumpled sister. She froze—then stormed toward him, eyes wide with panic and accusation. After all; Arlo was the first one who entered the building "What the— Eve?! What the fuck— What did you do?!" she shouted, but there was hesitation in her voice— an unease crawling up her spine like she wasn’t even sure if she wanted the answer.

  Arlo couldn’t respond; his breath caught in his throat. His feet refused to move as if they were chained. The he needed to let out a scream. It burned in his chest, but never made it out.…

  What was happening to his sister? And was this psycho serious? His sister was bleeding out, and all she cared about was bming him?! This was only the first day of csses for him. “Answer me. You motherfucker.”

  Suddenly Valentina’s arm began to cover in her own blood, creating a sanguine gauntlet, and she was about to punch Arlo in the face before Evelyn’s pained screams became a loud shriek, like something you’d hear in a forest alone at night in a horror movie that no amount of acting could make up for, it was so raw, so terrifying, and utterly spine-chilling.

  Both Valentina and Arlo set aside their differences, turning their bodies in terror, but before Valentina could rush over to help her friend, Evelyn’s eye began to regrow… but something was wrong. It wasn’t the same anymore. “Y- your eye!!” Arlo screamed in shock, “Your iris—it's like a video game crosshair… and it's glowing orange!!!” Evelyn suddenly colpsed, passing out from exhaustion. She never thought she’d awaken her power. But she was a te bloomer—and the pain had completely spent her energy.

  Valentina carried Evelyn’s unconscious body to the school infirmary. Eventually, a couple of hours ter, Evelyn woke up in the nurse’s office with a striking headache. “Ow… what happened…?” She asked groggily.

  “You passed out. You must’ve unlocked your magic, given the fact that your eye looks like... what the hell do you even call that?” said the nurse, prompting Evelyn to rush to the mirror. She stared at her reflection— her left eye now bore a bck crosshair.

  “But I remember Arlo saying about it glowing orange, but it’s not glowing or orange.”

  Then, she accidentally activated her ability, prompting her crosshair-shaped iris to start glowing orange, but not before she felt a sharp pain, causing her eye to bleed again. The nurse quickly healed her eye before it could suffer any more damage, and then she spoke up using her own ability to open a panel, using her skill Innate Checker.

  “That’s because your power wasn’t active. I took a look into your ability, and it’s called Ocur Mockery. This will allow you to copy any magic or weapon with just a single gnce. In other words, you can instantly surpass the original holder of the magic.”

  The nurse paused as Evelyn grinned. “Cool, no way! I can just copy people?! What the hell? I’m like the main character or something!”

  But the nurse cleared her throat “Nuh uh uh, you still have drawbacks, you have a split second to copy whatever magic with that specific eye because even a fraction of a second longer will result in permanent blindness, loss of your innate, and possibly death.” The nurse checked the panel again. “As far as weapons go, you still need to physically train yourself to wield them,”

  Evelyn interjected her own two cents. “That doesn’t seem so bad… but a split second…? That’s so BULLSHIT. Tch, whatever.”

  The nurse continued. “But this is extremely odd part is your magic seems to have mutated” She paused “Your magic manifested in your biology, granting you a strong passive ability called Supreme Arcane Evolution, this will allow you to remix and evolve a copied magic by taking the core magic and reutilizing it by combining it with another or recreating it based on your understanding of magic, creating endless possibilities, thus entailing the ‘evolution’ aspect. You are very gifted; use your powers wisely.” The nurse warns the young girl.

  While Evelyn was still inspecting her eye, she was thoroughly amused by her new, cool-looking eye. The nurse sighed. Of course, the warning had gone in one ear and out the other. “There’s only a slim chance of death. I’ll take what I can get.”

  The nurse sighed once more; she had to deal with arrogant brats all the time, and today was no different. "Just be careful." She handed Evelyn a slip and waved her off. "You're free to go, Miss DuPonts. Try not to get yourself killed because then I’ll be responsible for handling your corpse. And I’d rather not do that." She said while lighting a cigarette in her mouth. “Gee, thanks for the support, old dy,” Evelyn smirked before leaving the nurse’s office.

  In the hallway, Arlo was waiting for Evelyn. When she came out, she walked towards him. Expecting a hug, Arlo held out his arms. “Big sis—” Before he could express his admiration, Evelyn punched Arlo in the face, sending him flying a few meters. “You little shit. Why’d you bail on me when I was hurting?!”

  She was frustrated by his cowardice more than anything. “I’m sorry—” He tried to interject but was abruptly cut off once more. “Don’t be. Just… just do better. Not just for me, but to those who are in need.” She said to him with almost a solemn tone in her voice. “I can look after myself. But I’m not always gonna be there to look after you.” She continued.

  Suddenly, Valentina sprints from the other end of the hall and tackles Evelyn. “Oh, my goodness. I thought I lost you!!” She was sobbing into Evelyn’s chest. “I heard you unlocked your innate magic.” She sniffles.

  “Yeah, I did. The nurse called it Binocur Mockingbirds or something.” Evelyn spoke with pride. “Binocur… Mockingbirds…?” Arlo asked incredulously. “Ooh ooh, do you summon an army of mockingbirds to fight for you?!” Valentina ughed a little as she wiped her tears, sounding a bit happier than a moment ago. “Are you guys stupid?” Obviously, it means I can copy people’s powers,”

  She genuinely inquired, questioning their intelligence. “...What does that have to do with binocurs and mockingbirds…?” Arlo questioned inquisitively. “Stop asking me stupid questions.” Evelyn huffed in annoyance, but there was a pyful undertone in her voice.

  As Evelyn pyfully shoved Arlo, things were returning to normal again. For a moment. Then—BOOM! The A-wing corridor erupted in fmes and chaos. They heard a loud and boisterous voice ced with false authority and malice; in other words, a cliché middle school bullying plot.

  “AW HELL YEAH, TIME TO TAKE THIS BINOCULAR MOCKINGBIRDS FOR A TEST DRIVE, BABY!!!” Evelyn wasted no time rushing toward the cause of the action, leaving Arlo and Valentina chasing after her. “EVE— IF YOU USE YOUR POWERS NOW, IT COULD BRING UNWANTED ATTENTION!” Cried Valentina, only for her screams to fall on deaf ears. She knew that the Military would want to take Evelyn when they got a hold of this information, not if. When. Being able to copy powers is what the Military has been looking for.

  Evelyn jumped out the window as she nded on her feet outside, skidding to a stop as her shoes were grinding against the pavement, kicking up dust as she reached the scene. Valentina and Arlo caught up seconds ter, their breathing uneven from the exhaustion of sprinting.

  Their eyes locked onto the lone figure within the shadows— It was Xylo. They didn't need to see him because his reputation preceded him.

  He's the infamous eighth-grade tyrant, a notorious bully whose NeoFmes are the magic of fmes that have different properties based on their color. This made him way more dangerous than any ordinary delinquent. Arlo clenched his fists. He had heard stories about Xylo. How he once burned a student so badly, they had to be carried out in pieces. How the school covered it up, and the teachers did nothing because no one wanted to be next. He heard rumors about how Xylo torched the entire gymnasium st year and got off with just a warning, even the staff were afraid to subdue him. And the principal? Who knows what that guy is doing. Xylo’s reputation wasn’t just about strength. It was about control— and how no one could stop him.

  He stood towering over the librarian, one foot pressing into her back like she was nothing more than a used rug. His presence was suffocating, the air was visibly bending from the heat radiating off his body. He smirked as his gaze fell upon the new arrivals. “Well, well, what have we got here? Two pretty things and a bitch boy who hasn’t even unlocked his magic yet.” He turned his attention to Evelyn, eyes glinting with unfiltered arrogance. “Say, how’s about I beat your pretty little ass and take you out?”

  Evelyn sneered, completely undeterred by the implied threat. “No thanks, I’m not into guys.”

  Xylo’s smirk faltered, his jaw twitching in irritation. His narrowed eyes darkened with something more dangerous than anger— an insulted ego. “It’s always the sexy ones that gotta do this bullshit.” Then, without warning, his body erupted into fmes. Not ordinary fmes— NeoFmes. The fire was burning intensely, too bright. Licking at the air with scorching intensity. The temperature in the immediate area viciously spiked instantly, forcing cracks into the pavement below him. He stepped forward, his foot lifting from the librarian’s back, and without hesitation, she scrambled away, seizing the only opportunity for escape.

  That was her chance; both Valentina and Xylo were in her line of sight, and she was getting a two-for-one deal. The bck crosshair pupil lit up, fshing orange. “Nice… now let’s put this to use.”

  Evelyn lunged forward, the force of her movement tearing the soles of her shoes as they were not designed for combat. She dashed, and her blood responded— rushing from her body and coalescing mid-air into a sanguine mallet, a technique borrowed from Valentina. The crimson construct gleamed under the flickering light, its weight dense with intent. She swung without hesitation. But Xylo was faster. A huge burst of fmes ignited beneath his feet, exploding with enough force to propel him several feet into the air in an instant. Evelyn’s strike barely scraped past his original position. “Shit—” she hissed in frustration, she realized offensive wasn't the best idea, so she abandoned the attack and shifted to defense. A sanguine shield manifested just in time— BOOM. The impact came.

  Xylo’s fmes erupted against the shield, pressing down on her like a hammer to a nail. The sheer heat was burning at her skin, the shield was the only defense preventing her from burning alive entirely. The barrier cracked, tiny fractures webbing out like gss about to shatter. Xylo sneered through the bze with unadulterated arrogance.

  “Not so tough now, huh? You should just go back to the kitchen; it’s your natural habitat, after all.” His words dripped with condescension, and his eyes alight with sadistic amusement. Evelyn’s lips curled in disgust. "And you... go right back to hell." Then wisps of fmes began to form around Evelyn's body— Xylo’s own NeoFmes,

  or rather...

  Evelyn's variant of NeoFmes erupted around her like a fiery aura in a brilliant, spectral blue. In the NeoFmes fashion, blue fmes were unique. She fired the blue fmes toward Xylo, creating a bzing fiery wall. But then the bzing fmes instantly froze in pce, dripping with coldness, the fire that once engulfed the battlefield is now an icy mass. Steam rose as the drastic temperature was drastically dropping compared to before.

  For a moment, it seemed to work. But then— Xylo tore right through it. His explosive speed sent shards of ice scattering like shattered gss, embers flickering off his body as his fmes burned hotter, angrier. He emerged unscathed. “Cheap tricks aren’t gonna beat me, pretty,” Evelyn smirked as she twirled the dagger forming in her hand. “The only cheap trick here is you.”

  Her blood slithered up her arm like snakes as they were spiraling into her palm before solidifying into a crimson dagger. She gripped the dagger so tightly that it left marks on her palm as she lunged forward to strike him. She swung the dagger in an arc only for Xylo's body to burst into motion.

  A sudden violent detonation of orange fmes, and this had sent him rocketing toward the sky— his explosive footwork leaving molten cracks in the ground. Xylo nded on top of the school rooftop. “You should be grateful that I took an interest in you, you're a fine piece of ass. But more than that, I like my women feisty,” Xylo sneered, his smirk curving menacingly, it didn't help that his face was lit up by his fmes.

  His shoes had burnt away already, and he left charred footprints that still sizzled where he stood. “Honored, even, that I’m wasting my time on you. If you didn’t have your looks, you’d already be a pile of ash.” He bared his teeth in fury, though the sadistic glint in his eyes sharpening.

  This time, she didn’t respond; instead, her the crosshair pupil in her left lit up once more, shifting between red to yellow. She raised her arm, as her blood swirled into the air coalescing into a spear hovering over her hand. She swung her arm toward Xylo’s direction as the spear rocketed towards him.

  It missed.

  But the moment it passed by Xylo, it exploded. The blood shrapnel piercing Xylo’s flesh like a shotgun. The pain was visceral, and it infuriated Xylo. “You’re pathetic, just like your brother.” His fmes fred with his rage, as if it was echoing his sentiment. “At least you’d be better off in my bed. You waste of a woman.” Xylo calmed down once more, his fmes died down with his emotions.

  He grinned sadistically. He disappeared, the edge of the rooftop where he once stood was a molten charred mess. Before she could register it, Evelyn was sent crashing through several walls, each wall slowing her down. She y among a pile of tables and chairs knocked down with her impact, among the rubble and debris. The world blurred at the edges. Her ears rang. She was on the verge of losing consciousness… but she refused.

  Her blood swarming back to her body, refusing to let her go down. They were flooding in like flowing through her veins, carrying each oxygen molecule to her brain on rapidfire. Each blood cell refusing to let her succumb to her injuries right now.

  After her vision began clearing again, Evelyn slowly began to rise to her feet, pushing aside the rubble and kicking aside the debris. There was blood trickling down her face, though even they began to reverse.

  She was stumbling forward, trying to regain her bance. Her steps were uneven like a drunkard’s stride. This guy just keeps giving her reasons to beat his ass. She paused looking around the cssroom, she noticed the tables and chairs. They were practically begging to be weaponized. Wish granted.

  She suddenly grabbed a table, dragging it out as it screeched against the ground. Then she threw it at Xylo. Xylo was hovering in the air, not paying attention, as he believed Evelyn was already defeated, but as he heard what was occurring— CRUNCH. The impact on his face sent a stinging shiver down his spin, his nose was crushed from the impact, and his skill fractured.

  “Hah! Take that dumbass!” As the table began to descend, Xylo quickly swung out his arm, grabbing the table by the leg, he spit out a couple of teeth. He was going to beat Evelyn into a bloody pulp with the table. But he didn’t have time to act on it, the a grenade went off, no… this was no grenade as Xylo was crashing to the ground, he saw the pieces of the table frantically scattering in the air, a firework of metal and wood, as they descended. When Evelyn had noticed the table, she filled the underside of it, cing it with her blood.

  When Xylo grabbed onto the table, it had expand, causing a detonation like effect. “You BITCH!” Xylo snarled, his voice more muffled than before due to the loss of his teeth. His arrogance was now lost to the void of sheer rage he felt. “I’ll have your head on a stick.” He slowly raised his hand toward her, his fmes nowhere to be seen. His heat also seems to have disappeared.

  “Prepare yourself for my ultimate technique: Heavenly Fmes.” He closed his palm, as fmes began to manifest within his fist. The temperature skyrocketing as his fmes condensed into something denser. The white fmes seeped through the gaps in his grip like caged beasts, gnashing at the air, distorting it like a mirage, sizzling the air itself.

  Heavenly fmes, the fmes that could burn fmes, that was the fmes being used right now. As of this moment, Xylo was dead serious. Then, moments ter, he opened his fist, the fmes themselves lunged at Evelyn, so bright, that Evelyn had to covers her right to protect her vision, since her left eye was beyond the need for protection now.

  She didn’t flinch. She had been waiting for this, she had also been charging her own variant of Heavenly Fmes. She swung out her arm releasing as her own fmes surged to life— spectral white almost with an orange hue, flickering like ethereal wildfire.

  The fme beams collided mid-air with a deafening shockwave, and for a split second, the world turned white. The floor beneath them melted into molten sg. Walls buckled, distorting before they even crumbled. The cshing forces imploded, unleashing a wave of raw force that ripped the air apart. The walls finally caved, reduced to a scorching rubble-storm, and both Evelyn and Xylo were sent hurtling backward like ragdolls.

  As she was gliding through the air, she used the explosive NeoFmes to stabilize herself. She flips mid air onto her feet again, and once she regains her footing, a droplet of her blood formed at her fingertip, before it took the shape of a bullet.

  She flicked the sanguine bullet toward Xylo, who was tumbling, dazed, attempting to recover his footing. The sanguine bullet pierced his flesh, as her blood immediately began to flow within his body. “Hahaha, look it's a monkey!!!” She was ughing her ass off as she started doing an embarrassing dance, Xylo’s body unintentionally mimicked her movements. “Dance, monkey! Dance!” Her Crimson Strings, a sub-technique of Blood Manipution, allows her to take control of one’s body if she manages to inject her blood into one’s body. This works when her blood flows their their body faster than their muscles can take control, but this also relies on infiltrating the brain. Like a virus.

  For all the fun she was having, something had just occurred to Evelyn.

  Just then, she remembered what the nurse had told her about her abilities.

  She could not only copy abilities but remix them, too. And right now, she had two techniques within her arsenal that she could properly utilize… All this time she’s been using NeoFmes, and Blood Manipution separately, either or. But she was going to try something different now. “Hey, bastard, I hope you’re ready for my scorching might, nighty night.” She slowly raised her hand. “What are you—”

  Xylo still dazed, tried to make sense of what was happening. She was going to take a hold of Xylo’s own blood, a technique that Valentina wouldn’t be able to do, her body started to heat up, the air distorting around her body, she was preparing to utilize NeoFmes again set his blood flow abze. “WHAT THE FUCK—” Xylo didn’t have enough time to process the pain before his body retired on him.

  Arlo was baffled by his sister’s quick victory. “How did you beat him so fast?!” Evelyn rubs her nose with a fox-like grin as if to show she is just a humble winner. “That was a pain in the ass. But I guess it’s a good warm-up. I was only testing the waters to figure out how my abilities work.”

  Valentina shoved Arlo out of the way as she revered Evelyn. “Woah, I’ve never been able to utilize blood manipution like that. It looks so cool, and the way you used it is badass.” Evelyn’s prideful grin widened before she spoke. “I know, right? That Binocur Hummingbird is really overpowered.” Evelyn turned to Arlo and spoke to him directly. “Don’t worry, lil bro, I’ll protect you until you get your magic. No promises, though!”

  Arlo nods, but there’s a hint of uneasiness festering within him. He decided to leave early, leaving his sister to hang out with her friend. “I’m gonna go now.” Evelyn raised an eyebrow and spoke up. “Alright. Take care, bro.”

  Arlo left the school grounds and approached the diner he usually visited. When he entered, there was Zero, sitting at a random table, sleeping again. He was a frequenter. Arlo decided maybe today would be the day to talk to the boy, maybe make a new friend. After all, they had one thing in common, right? This particur diner. Ultimately, he chickened out and went home early, prompting his parents to be confused, as he had always been boasting about getting powerful magic, but his body nguage expressed disappointment.

  Meanwhile, Valentina’s grin faded away as she remembered the implication of this encounter. “Eve… you do realize the school has surveilnce runes, right?” Evelyn shrugged. “So?” Valentina swallowed hard. “So, if this gets out, you’ll be on their radar. You know how the military keeps an eye on prodigies, right?”

  Evelyn rolled her eyes. “So what? Let them come. This is my shot. If I prove myself, I can join the military early. I’ll be a national hero.” Valentina sighed. “You think it’s gonna be that easy? They don’t just hand out hero titles. You’ll have to fight for everything.”

  Evelyn smirked. “That’s what people without ambition say. My grandpa didn’t sit around waiting for permission—he made himself into a hero. The military gave him the chance to be something more, and he took it. So will I.”

  Valentina’s jaw tightened. “Dammit, I hate that you’re right. I just don’t know what to think of this.”

  Somewhere deep in the school, a rune fshed, sending a silent alert to an unknown recipient. The person on the receiving end grinned menacingly. Their face was hidden in the darkness, slightly lit up by the screen, where Evelyn’s image now rested. They had finally found a copy prodigy. One with talent, potential, and above all— drive. The same charisma. The same arrogance. The same eagerness for heroism. Just like Henry Duponts; her grandfather. Now, it was only a matter of seeing how far she’d go.