Aria Rand

Aria's day had started off normally. She rolled out of bed onto the floor and a groan escaped her lips. Today was the advancement day for all people at Airis Academy. Those who passed the trials last week would officially graduate that level. Aria had been one of the 312 out of 500 students who passed the last test. Everyone else was considered a straggler. Someone who failed the course and had to repeat the year. Those who fail the test twice are expelled from the Academy and their memories of the school wiped for security reasons.

At twelve o'clock, the advancement ceremony would begin and a two and half hour bore would start. Aria glanced at the clock which showed seven thirty on the dot. Breakfast had already started.

Sleepily, she began to stand up but banged her foot against the corner of her bed. She clutched her foot in pain and almost immediately got her other foot caught in the blankets. She hopped around with the her foot caught in the blankets, stumbled and then finally went down with an audible, "oof!"

"Ooh. Nice one," came her roommate's voice from the doorway. "If anyone else saw that, they would be taking a photo of you right now and posting it online with the caption: Aria, heiress to Rand Corp is actually a ditz."

"Oh shut it Lily, I'll meet you at the food court."

"Sure will. Don't be late though," she called out already out the door.

Aria picked herself up and made her way to the bathroom. Luckily, the academy hadn't skimped out on money when designing the dorm rooms. Each dorm had two bedrooms that each contained their own bathroom. The side by side bedrooms opened out to the foyer of the dorm with a mini kitchen stationed next to the front entryway.

Aria hastily dressed herself up into the boring academy clothes that the school made a standard. After she was ready, she stopped in front of the mirror and glanced at herself. She was of average height compared to her friends and relatively fit. Her ashen hair flowed past her shoulders and was neatly brushed. The blueish color of hair eyes contrasted well with her hair. Unlike many of the others she attended the academy with, she saw no reason to put on makeup. She simply thought that she did not need it which was something she took quite a lot of pride in.

She remade her bed and cleaned up the rest of her room to make sure that it looked immaculate, something of a habit that she had. She walked through the doorway and into the dormitory complex. Other girls were rushing past eager to get to their activities.

Aria made her way towards the commons area stopping a few times to greet people back. She exited the building and was welcomed by warm rays of sunlight. No clouds were in sight and a breeze blew by. She greeted everyone as she walked by.

The concrete path to the commons area was lined with cherry blossom trees which set for an amazing sight. The only color visible was the bright pink of the leaves. Aria stiffened as the wind picked up and thousands of petals were shed into the air. She loved sights like these and enjoyed the serenity of the moment. She pulled herself back to the moment and continued down the dirt pathway.

Why is this campus so big? she thought for the millionth time.

After about ten minutes of walking she reached the commons. It was a large flat structure that contained the plethora of students during eating times. Sometimes, the cafeteria was packed so full of students that many had to sit outside underneath the trees.

"Looking for me?" asked a sly voice.

Aria's mind turned to rage just hearing the voice. It belonged to Will Haddox, the worst guy anyone had ever met besides his two goons behind him. He had a large figure and was cunning. Behind him stood the Varley Twins. They barely had any brain behind the muscle and had a knack for causing trouble so naturally they followed Will like good dogs. Finn Varley currently was slack jawed with drool running down the corner of his mouth.

"Get out of here before I stick my fist through that airhead of yours," Aria spat out with resentment clear in her voice.

"Aww. The puppy is throwing a tantrum," Will mocked. He stepped forward towards Aria and reached out a hand to grab her shoulder. As he was about to make contact a voice broke out.

"Children! Not so early in the morning. If you have a disagreement please settle it in the dueling chambers!" said a tall man. His black hair was a disheveled mess. Mr. Mosey was publicly known as the worst teacher on campus. He didn't care one bit about his material. He often arrived late to his classes and barely understood his own lessons. Aria thought he was a pathetic excuse of a teacher but right now he was a lifesaver.

Will could only look at Aria. His face was bright red with anger but he managed to contain himself in front of Mr. Mosey, without another word he turned around and stomped off. His two loyal dogs followed behind him.

"Are you okay Aria?" the teacher asked.

"I'm fine. Thank you."

"Then I'll be off. Don't get yourself into more trouble miss," he said before walking towards the assembly hall. Aria watched him go down the pathway and turned back to the commons.

"That was certainly eventful," came a voice beside her.

Among the two friends, Thera was the daredevil. She ached for trouble and thrived on adrenaline. Whenever trouble came about, she was always the first one to it. But despite her tendencies towards danger, she was an honest person.

"Yeah. That jerk just randomly started hitting on me during entrance exams and now his twisted brain is telling him that he can win me over by bullying me into it."

Thera laughed, "His dad must have been smart to become the general, but Will's existence proves that intellect can skip a generation."

Aria laughed at that and pulled her friend along to the cafeteria. The smell of pizza wafted from the inside and the two were irresistibly entranced. Not often did the cafeteria serve good food.

After the two collected their trays of pizza, they found a table outside.

"Apparently there's a new congregation forming in the North," said Thera. "The regulars there have managed to stock up on weapons."

"When will all of this meaningless fighting end? I mean, last time the regulars tried to rebel, they didn't even have a reason. Just power hungry."

Thera scoffed, "Those idiots just don't know their place. They live off of us. We build their cities. I say they are ungrateful."

"But it's not like they have a choice whether they are born with essence or not," said Aria, clearly annoyed at her friend's interpretation.

"I don't care if they are born with or without it. All I'm saying is that they are rebelling because they want power. They feel unspecial and that drives them to do things like this."

"I can't say I disagree with that, but why can't everyone just stop fighting and focus on building good relationships?"

Thera laughed again and bit into her pizza, "Aria you're being naive. Your dad is out supplying the military with the means for war. I think he would disagree."

"I told you already, I want nothing to do with him. And swallow your food before you talk."

"My, my. You really are an ice qu-"

Thera was interrupted by a blaring siren that rang out all across campus.

A computerized voice spoke out, "Attack on fourth level district Rand Tower. Response team four and team seven deploy."

Thera and Aria looked at each other for a moment.

"That's us!" yelled Thera excitedly.

"I don't see why you are happy but let's go."

Thera wrapped up a slice of pizza in a napkin and shoved it into her pocket. The two sprinted past the commons and headed towards the tarmac. Passing the dorms, they ran up to the helipad where Joseph and Ethan were waiting. The four of them formed response team four.

"You're late," said Joseph. "That can't happen again."

"Sorry, we came all the way from the commons," Thera cut in.

"I don't care, but we must hurry now."

Ethan handed them each a cuff link and they stepped inside the shuttle. Ethan and Joseph picked two seats across from them on opposite walls of the shuttle. Aria and Thera clasped on the cuffs and immediately a blue holoscreen flickered into view in front of their faces. A woman's face appeared on the screen and the briefing began.

"At eight o'clock this morning, an unknown fire arcaner started attacking Rand headquarters. District Level Four is under siege by the attacker aided by twenty-three non essence wielding gunmen. Current float occupancy is four thousand two hundred seventy-one and diminishing. Hostiles have destroyed 73% of evacuation shuttles leaving 15 shuttles in service. Currently the shield is at 13% capacity and is predicted to give out in two minutes. Estimated arrival time… eight minutes."

Aria could only hope her father wasn't in danger.