-Reina-

The sun shone brightly, glaringly so actually, down on the girl standing on the pavement outside of the highly ornate gate leading to the prestigious, promising institute. Raising her right-hand up to shield her eyes from the brilliant rays, Reina gazed in awe at the extensive campus that lay before her. It was somewhat hard to make out the details of the main buildings and surrounding area, as it seemed that the main gate to the campus was situated at an unbelievable distance from them. Sighing, Reina thought to herself, [i]Hahaha, it’s almost as if they wanted to make it hard to students to sneak off campus, or something...Well, on the brightside Reina, at least you weren’t the one who had to carry all 6 of those heavy bags across that long field…..Should I have tipped the guard people…???[/i] Shaking away her silly thoughts, Reina picked up her last bag, a backpack, off the ground with her clammy hands and slung it over her left shoulder. 

Upon arrival, Reina had presented her acceptance letter to the guards that had stood at the gate. Soon after, her luggage had been swiftly confiscated in order to be transported to her dorm room, wherever that was supposed to be. However, there was one bag that Reina had requested to carry herself. After a showdown of inquisitive stares and much defiance, the guard in charge of transporting Reina’s luggage acquiesced, allowing the girl to carry the one bag on the condition that the contents were examined first. The backpack held simplistic items, such as all of the usual, essential school supplies typically carried by studious high school students, a handful of half-eaten snacks, an empty reusable water bottle, and a ball of yarn with two silver knitting needles jutting out of the tightly wound sphere. Having cleared the backpack, the guard proceeded to gather up the 6 heavy articles of luggage with just his two arms, amazingly enough, and had entered through the gate while Reina’s attention had been successfully diverted to the remaining guard. The remaining guard went on to explain that he would be the one to guide the “new transferee” to her assigned teacher’s office. The guard then proceeded to enter the gate as two new guards stepped out, replacing the ones that had welcomed the “new transferee”.

Hurrying along, Reina realized that it would probably be in her best interest to not lose her guide on her first day of school; she was already late as is. The short-haired brunette took a deep breath, slipped her right arm through the other strap, and quickly strode through the ornate gate onto the campus.

Reina was immediately blinded. Flinching from the glare produced by brief, sudden change from shade to light again, Reina was forced to raise her right hand once more to shield her eyes. [i]Maybe I should have thought about wearing my sunglasses today[/i], Reina thought to herself; however, in a matter of seconds, her eyes readjusted to the sunlight. The scenery that Reina was met with, though, stunned her. Rubbing her eyes and blinking profusely, Reina paused in her tracks and gazed around her in utter astonishment. She could have sworn that she had just passed through the main gates of the institute, yet somehow she had already managed to cross the extensive field and was now standing in front of the school’s main building.

“You have plenty of time to ‘ooo’ and ‘aaah’ later. Since you are already quite late, 'Miss Transferee', I would suggest you quit your lollygagging and focus on not falling behind. I have no obligation to wait for you if you decide that you would rather lose yourself in your own thoughts on the first day,” the guard nagged as he continued walking, unfazed or, perhaps, unaffected by the strange lapse in time, distance, and/or memory. The disdain in his voice was acidic.

“U-uh…..b-but uh….how?” Reina stuttered as she hastily glanced behind her in the direction that she had just come from and back at the receding figure of her guide. The dazed and confused girl hesitated for a moment, almost as if she were debating running back across the field towards the gate in order to refresh her memories, before she scurried after her impatient guide. The short tour was filled with silence and only lasted until they reached a door. The guide knocked on the door before opening it and stepping aside. He then motioned with a tilt of his head for Reina to enter. Biting her lower lip, Reina stole one last glance at the guide-guard’s stern expression before moving into the room.

CLACK!

The door closed noisily behind the short-haired brunette. Exhaling slowly, Reina steeled herself for what was to come. So far, the staff at this school seemed to be pretty uptight, which was probably to be expected from such a prestigious institute that had hailed many exemplary graduates. Now faced with a black-haired woman wearing rectangular glasses frames and a scrutinizing expression that sat at the desk in the back center of the room , Reina attempted to make a good first impression. She was quickly shot down, though. Having only begun to open her mouth to introduce herself, Reina was abruptly cut off by the woman sitting behind the desk.

“Don’t bother,” the woman stated coldly as she waved her hand in a dismissive manner, “I already know who you are. Reina Reeves, age 16, normal history with a bit of self-confidence problem…” The woman trailed off at the end of the mocking statement as she peeked up above the brim of her rectangular frames as if confirming her analysis. Seeing the mystified and embarrassed expression that she was looking for on her student's face, the woman continued. “I am Ms. Hawkins. You were placed in Class 1, and therefore I will be your homeroom teacher….Anyhow, you are inexcusably late. Despite your approved waiver, you missed a very important...entrance exam. Sadly, you are unable to make up the examination portion, but before you are dismissed from this office, you are required to write on this slip of paper a single word. This word will define how you will be fighting for the rest of the school year. It will be what you will depend on, and the only thing you can depend on during your stay here. And most importantly, and I don't know why some teachers don't tell you this, but this word will be your supernatural power, your ability. I recommend nouns and verbs, and to lean away from the more abstract of words.” Ms. Hawkins then pushed a square slip of paper across her desk  along with a pen towards Reina. The short-haired brunette stepped forward and took up the slip of paper and pen. “Once you’ve decided on a word and written it down, hold it in your hand and say it aloud”

Nodding, Reina took the slip of paper and sat down in one of the not-so-comfortable chairs situated in front of the woman’s desk. The young girl shrugged off her backpack and fidgeted awkwardly as she tried to get comfortable. [i]A word...that I’ll use to fight…? What does that even mean? I mean, like I know what the words mean, but AUGH this makes no flipping sense. Am I just going crazy? Did the stress finally get to me again? Or maybe all of that monotonous driving got to my head? Or am I just dreaming? Because fighting, the application and school site never mentioned anything about that...Maybe I really am not ready to push myself again. Maybe mom and dad were right, maybe I should have just stuck with my home school...Augh, I need my needle and thread...all I need is my thread...yes, just my thread…[/i]

Calming down, Reina elegantly scrawled out the simple word, ‘Thread’. Peering up, Reina noticed the woman’s gaze still fell upon her. The woman looked like she was waiting patiently to see what this late transferee had come up with. Feeling a bit pressured, Reina shifted uncomfortably in her seat and straightened her back. She cleared her throat before she spoke her word in a clear voice. A bit confused about the whole process, Reina gasped in bewilderment as the paper in her left hand shriveled into nothing  and a sharp, itching pain in the palm of her left hand replaced it. The girl immediately stood up and screamed. A single word etched itself into her skin, ‘Thread’. Grasping her inflicted hand, Reina flailed it around wildly, screaming all the while.

“What did you do to me?!” Reina wailed. Her eyes were filled with fear as she gazed upon the woman in front of her who had ordered her to carry out the strange ritual.

“I did nothing. This is simply your welcoming ceremony. Skyline is not your typical school. In order to survive for one year, you have been gifted with one ability of your choice. Based on your word selection and natural ability to wield it, you may or may not live till graduation day. You should consider yourself lucky, you missed the first trial day. However, if you were present, you would have come to realize the true blessing of being able to choose and use a word.

Anyway, enough of you, I have no further business to discuss with you. Take this and be on your way. Your class assignment, dorm information, key, etc. are all inside.” Ms. Hawkins proceeded to thrust a manilla envelope at Reina and indiscreetly hinted at the girl to get out of her office. Receiving the message loud and clear, Reina made her way towards the office’s one and only door.

“Oh and one more thing,” Ms. Hawkins called out just as Reina placed her hand on the door knob. “Make sure you have a clear image in your mind of what you want your word to do when you go to use it. It would be [i]terribly[/i] unfortunate if you were to meet your end due to your inability to use your word.” With an amused smirk, the austere, black-haired woman with rectangular dismissed the disconcerted new student.

Exiting Ms. Hawkin’s office, Reina closed the door carefully behind her and stepped to the right of the door. She leaned against the cool wall and let her knees buckle under her body weight. Collapsing to the floor, Reina rested her head against the wall behind her and shifted her body so that she could bring her knees up to her chest. She clasped the newly acquired packet in one hand and her backpack in her other as she wrapped her arms around her knees. It had been a long, long day. The excitement from the morning was completely gone now. Reina had been so elated to be able to attend such a prestigious school, one that could contend with the achievements of her elder sister; however, everything was a mess now. This school was weird. Its students were expected to fight. Fight what exactly? The girl did not know, nor really care to question it at the moment. She honestly didn’t want to know the answer either. Not to mention, the strange paper to tattoo ritual thing that happen. It was like magic, or some queer voodoo something. It was all just too much for poor Reina to comprehend in one sitting. So Reina just sat there outside of Ms. Hawkin’s office for a good 30~ish minutes or so, staring at the wall on the other side of the hallway, stupefied by all of the information that was just dumped on her. What kind of mess had she just gotten herself into?