1 The Quarry

Rei had been living on her own for two weeks now, but nobody knew.

Her grandpa hadn't been much of a talker really anyway, and her parents had been dead for years, so it wasn't as if someone should have noticed.

It was still strange though, having everyone else seem so perfectly oblivious and innocent, being just the right amount of naive for their age.

It would be her sixteenth birthday tomorrow, the day a person was told what their Ability was, and they were given their Rank.

Her class had already been halved, those who gained an Ability having either chosen which Academy to attend, or dove right into the Adventuring business.

Rei hoped she didn't get an Ability. They were stupid, stripping a person of all their hard work and replacing it with nothing but luck and talent. Of course, it was impossible to not get an Ability.

Hopefully then, she'd get something stupid, like a scholarly or beauty one. That way she wouldn't have to be an Adventurer.

She could live quietly and alone, just as she wanted.

She needed none of the hassle of Abilities and Adventuring and Guilds and Ranks. All she needed was her empty house and for time to wither her into fertilizer for the garden.

A noisy classmate pulled her from her reverie.

"Hey Reina, isn't it your birthday tomorrow? What Ability do you want?" She went with the most common one, because she didn't want to think about it more than she had to.

"Strength." Her classmate, Tori, scrunched her nose up in disgust.

"But that's what all the boys want. You should want something more feminine like water, or ice!" Rei huffed.

"I'm being realistic Tori, you should try it sometime." The girl looked offended for about ten seconds, then she grinned.

"I am! I'm really really totally thinking within the bounds of this reality! And in this reality any Ability is real and possible. I heard there was even one that could make you grow angel wings. Angel wings!"

Rei turned hopeful.

"Then maybe there's one that will transform you into a devil so ugly you'll never want to show your face again!" Tori gasped and went back to talking to the friendlier teens.

Rei noticed nothing else until it was time to leave. Then, she encountered the daily treatment.

It was known school-wide that she was an orphan, so she'd begun getting bullied because of it. Of course, she wasn't an easy victim.

She fought every time, threw insults, and played dirty, but she never avoided her bullies or submitted, which just made her a more desirable target.

Especially since she was a girl, nobody liked a girl that wasn't weak.

Her bullies, three pudgy boys named Jack, Trent, and Kyle, were waiting at the exit.

They immediately surrounded her, books gripped in their hands to use as weapons. She smirked.

"Decided to get a bit smarter this year, huh?" Jack, the resident hot-head, fumed. Trent and Kyle calmed him down.

They seemed to have something planned for today. Kyle, the mouthpiece, ground it out.

"We want to make a deal with you. We're all almost sixteen now, so we figured we couldn't keep this up for much longer." Rei rolled her eyes.

Clearly, they'd found out she was on the verge of getting an Ability. They wanted to keep her cornered for a day more.

"I'd rather suffer until tomorrow, thanks." She started to tense into a fighting stance, but Jack raged.

"Just listen! We'll give you your pin back!" Rei froze.

She loved that pin too much to leave it in their filthy hands. She clenched her jaw and hissed.

"Fine. What. Is. It." She thought Trent might've been choking. Kyle continued the explanation.

"You know the old quarry?" She did, it was a collapsed mine smack dab in the middle of her grandfather's property. It had turned into a Dungeon long ago, so her Grandpa had closed the entrance to prevent a Dungeon Break.

"Yeah."

"Take us there and we'll give you the pin." She narrowed her eyes.

"Show it to me first." Jack brought it out, and she inspected it from afar. It was a delicate pair of dove wings, light blue on the edges, that her Grandpa had given her before he died.

The silver-white part of the feathers was a bit beat-up, but it was otherwise just covered in a layer of Jack's finger grease that would eventually come off.

She gestured for them to follow, and a ten minute walk later had them trecking through the forest passed the garden.

The boys gaped as they reached the quarry. It was old and disguised by patches of lichen, but still unbearably intimidating.

As they got closer, Kyle started pushing aside the outer layer. Rei rose a brow.

"What are you doing? Do you want to die?" Kyle was joined by Jack, while Trent kind of just stood there, awkward and looking too nervous.

"We're just taking a look." Rei would be lying if she said she wasn't curious, but she wasn't stupid either. She just wanted the pin.

"Can I have the pin now?" Jack, ever the bitch, taunted.

"Come and get it." Rei sighed and abliged. Trent began to shake more as she passed. Jack dangled the wings directly in front of the uncovered hole. She shook her head at their antics and swiped for it.

Only for the boy to toss it to Kyle, which then he tossed back. She shoved Jack, annoyed, and triumphantly got the pin in hand.

She figured out why Trent had been shaking.

She didn't give them the satisfaction of screaming on the way down.