Ranking

"Wake up human," he heard a scream in his ear. Jeras took the pillow and placed it on his head to keep the sound out of his head.

He had a stressful night and his body ached from being thrown to the wall like a big bag of trash. He was stressed about the debt he owed the landlady since he was fired from his job.

"I. Said. Get. up," Mono said angrily and turned the bed dropping him on the floor harshly.

'Why? What did I do to deserve this?' he asked internally. He got up from the floor and stared up in anger to glare at the ant. Then he realized that the ant was tiny and was probably down on the floor. Averting his gaze to the floor but he couldn't spot the tiny thing that dared to drop him from his bed so early in the morning.

"When I find you. I am going to crush you with my feet," he threatened.

"What?" Mono asked in an icy angry voice. Jeras gulped recalling the immense strength the tiny ant had.

"Nothing," he replied hurriedly.

"If it wasn't for the urgent matter at hand. I would punish you severely for daring to threaten me. Now get ready we have work to do," Mono ordered in a matter-of-fact manner that left no room for questions but Jeras was confused.

"And what urgent matter would that be and why should I get ready?" he asked the ant.

"You have your first task and..."

Before he could finish his statement the portal opened in his room and he was sucked into it. He hadn't had the time to process anything when he found himself buckled up in his seat alongside many other people. Confused and a little scared he held on to the chair.

'This is a dream, this is a dream,' he kept chanting in his head still unable to wrap his head around the weird occurrences in his life.

The room was silent with every person confused by where they were. They looked around the empty room only to be filled with more questions.

"Welcome exemplars. Welcome to your new school," they heard a voice say, and before long sounds of footsteps were walking towards them from the east of where they sat.

They all turned their heads in that direction to find out who it was that spoke. Soon a figure of a man appeared before them wearing a black leather suit with a sword to the side of his waist strapped in his belt. He had black hair and dark eyes. He was well built and looked strong.

"My name is Galzra. I will be your class master this year. I will lead you to reach greater heights," he said softly.

One of the people in the room with Jeras raised his hand drawing the attention of everyone on himself.

"Yes, Axel," the teacher called out to him giving him the chance to speak.

"I'm sorry but I didn't sign up for school," he said and before long the others also contributed saying the same thing he did.

"I understand. None of you applied for the school. That is because you don't choose the school, the school chooses you. After you prove to have the gift," the teacher went to explain.

"But where is this place?" someone asked from the group.

"The school is everywhere and anywhere. But that is a topic for another day, first of all, we will start today with an introduction."

The group stared at each other than at the teacher with no one willing to listen to him. They believed that all that was happening was all a dream because of the weird things that happened in their lives.

"If no one wants to introduce themselves then we move to the next thing. Ranking," the teacher said and clapped his hands. The chairs vanished dropping all of them to the ground.

"Welcome to your arena," they heard a deep voice echo in the room. "Task: Each will switch your beasts with the person next to you. Each individual will take turns to fight the beasts," the voice added.

"Succeed with high points to rank first in the leader board and get privileges," the teacher said before he stood on his sword and floated away from the arena. "The task starts now," he announced.

Jeras looked around him, his heart racing in his heart at the thought of fighting. He was good with animals but having to fight one scared the life out of him.

"This is stupid," Axel said angrily.

"Your thirty seconds to choose your switch is up and the list is in," the teacher said shocking everyone. They had not even selected anyone so it surprised them how he came to have the list.

"First, Axel and Jeras," he called out. "You have thirty seconds to choose who goes first or the decision will be made for you," he added.

Jeras and Axel stared at each other for a few seconds contemplating what to do. "Since we are already here, I guess there is no harm in playing along," Axel said to him. "I'll go first," he announced at the Arena.

"Axel," the deep voice sounded in the room. "In the middle of the Arena, there is a white star drawn on it. Stand on the star with the beast you intend to fight," the voice instructed.

Axel made his way to the stage while the other watched carefully in anticipation of what is to happen.

"Your challenge starts now. Good luck," the voice said before the star raised from the ground with a barrier around to prevent him from leaving the challenge.

"What am I to fight I don't see anything?" he asked aloud.

"Right here," he heard Mono's cute voice say.

"Still can't see you. What are you?" he asked looking around to find what was talking to him?

" I'm an ant," Mono replied.

Axel started laughing. He laughed so much that he felt his stomach in pain. "You expect me to fight an ant. How pathetic, just tell me where it is and I will crash it with my shoes," he said.

"You will be sorry for that," Mono said. He lifted Axel from the ground and started twirling him in the air like a balloon.