Bring!

Smash!

Riarshi's hand smacked the small digital alarm clock so hard it flew off his nightstand and skipped across to the other side of his room.

6:00 AM

Riarshi's eyes had been fully open for the last thirty minutes, staring impatiently at the clock and hardly blinking until the numbers finally flicked over from 5:59.

Even though he could afford another two hours of sleep before he had to get ready, Riarshi's anxious mind was buzzing like a storm of angry bees. The swirling and heavy worries from the night before failed to disappear or fade, rather opting to twirl into a hurricane of unorganized thoughts and unwarranted anxieties that broke a sweat along his back.

He popped himself out of bed. After a quick change and light breakfast of banana, yogurt, and coffee - he was ready for the Tryout.

He was prepared. He was energized.

His body was ready to sprint out of the door. He tossed on a sweatshirt and slipped into his shoes. Before he knocked the door of its hinges; he glimpsed at his phone.

6:13 AM

Way too early.

The tension in his body melted into the wiry carpet. "Oh... damn. Uh, I guess I could sit and watch the news before I go," he said to absolutely no one. 

When an appropriate time to leave eventually blinked across Riarshi's phone screen; he grabbed his keys and bolted through the door.

The Internship Tryout was scheduled for ten o'clock sharp on this sunny November day. The wind was light and carried a few colorful leaves along for a blissful ride, randomly slapping Riarshi on the face and sticking in his chestnut-brown hair while he scurried to the bus stop.

Riarshi, Tabito, and Hara had agreed to a meet fifteen minutes before students were allowed in to the HQ. His friends wouldn't have an issue arriving on time. Hara didn't live far from the city square, so her commute was the shortest of all, and could be done on foot. Tabito lived on the other side of the city in the more residental sector. He'd probably have to take a bus if he wanted to save his legs, but that ride would only be a fraction of the length of Riarshi's.

With his feet pounding against the ground and sparks flying behind in bright thin lines, Riarshi could only pray to his lucky stars that nothing would get in his way today.

And to his luck, or an answer to his prayers, the bus arrived early. He boarded and was off to Spiritfield.

***

Riarshi stepped off the bus and onto the sidewalk of the Hero HQ at 9:40 AM - five minutes before his scheduled meeting time with Tabito and Hara. Scanning over the massive crowd outside of the HQ door, he instantly realized that he wasn't the only one who had the brilliant idea of arriving early.

Over a hundred people gathered around the reflective entrance door. The crowd buzzed loudly with random chatter and was packed closely together so to not spill into the busy street. Riarshi recognized a few familiar faces from his class, but the rest were all complete strangers.

It might have been his demonic nature, but Riarshi could sense the anxiety and nervousness flooding into the air like smoke from a fire. The dark aura from the ever growing cloud sent a familiar cold shiver down his spine. 

Discontent and unease was in fashion today, just like baggy sweatshirts and slim athletic pants. 

Some students paced up and down the sidewalk, muttering incoherent words to themselves. Their faces took on an assortment of colors ranging from white to green and every shade in between. Others looked as though they were in another universe. They paid no mind to anything else around them, their skin pasty and wet with sweat. They sat silently with their eyes staring aimlessly at the pavement, looking like solid stone statues. 

One boy sat at the edge of the sidewalk in a fetal position. A car honked its horn and hit a nearby puddle. A wave of water splashed over the boy, soaking him from head to toe. He didn't even blink an eye.

Riarshi grimaced, and looked away.

Three months ago, Commissioner Aryl stated at the opening ceremony that out of the two thousand initial students, he estimated only one hudnred fifty would make it to the end of the first semester. Today - Riarshi refused to count each head assembled in front of him, but with a quick glance - Aryl's estimate seemed almost spot on.

And Riarshi was one of the chosen few. 

With this realization, a sudden wave of amazement flushed over him, warming his heart and drowning out the anxiety that hung over the crowd. For the very first time, he was proud of himself. With what initially seemed to be impossible odds, even for someone with stronger magic, he made it. He had fought his way to the semester's end, passed all of his exams, and fightfully earned a spot in the Tryout. He was so proud - so happy, in fact - his lips slipped into a stupid smile.

His thoughts then shifted to Tabito and Hara.

He remembered when Tabito extended him a box of fries after they signed up for the Hero Program. To anyone else, a gesture like this would be too insignificant to come off as memorable. Yet this modest gift made Riarshi's insides burst with joy. A gift from someone who cares, no matter how insignificant it may seem, can and will always be treasured 

Tabito had also been his partner for every class of the first semester, using his powerful flame magic to help their duo pass each tough assignment with relative ease. But in the last few weeks, Riarshi began to understand that he relied on his partner too heavily. He made a mental promise that this Tryout would be where he showed everyone he could fend for himself.

Then there was Hara. Good ol' beautiful, cold, Hara. 

She was the girl who, at first, treated him worse than anyone else in the program by belittling his strength, harassing him, and praying for his failure. Riarshi came to loathe her high-nosed attitude and ice-cold personality, seeing her as a typical high magic user who looked down on anybody weaker than her. For some time, he couldn't even look at her without disgust cringing his face or rage boiling his blood.

It wasn't until Riarshi witnessed a hidden side of the girl that he realized she, like him, was fighting some dark internal battle - a battle that couldn't be won by a simple pat on the back or brief, warm embrace.

He remembered Big Joe's words from that same eventful night:

Drunk words are sober thoughts.

Hara confided in him (although she had no recollection), and cried for her father as she slept. He remembered the way her tears sparkled in the moonlight, the way her voice broke with pain. It reminded him too much of his own, dreadful past. 

Despite her misdirected hate throughout the last several months, she still offered to train with him and Tabito for the final weeks of the semester.

It was because of them Riarshi was able to push himself to this point in the Program. He felt as though he owed them everything for sharing his burden, along with managing their own. They made a group promise that they'd help each other become the Heroes they wanted to be, no matter what.

Today, Riarshi wouldn't let this Internship Tryout break his promise.

As Riarshi finished his lengthy thoughts, a voice rang out from behind him.

"Ah, you made it here before us?!" shouted Tabito, waving his arm in the air to catch Riarshi's eye. "How the hell did that happen?"

Hara was trailing behind Tabito, her eyes dreary and heavy, just like Riarshi's. She must have also lost some sleep to the anxiety monster hiding in their heads. Riarshi knew her pride would never allow her to admit it.

"I kinda wanted to beat the crowd," shrugged Riarshi. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder to the cluttered gathering on the sidewalk. "But I guess you can tell that didn't happen."

"Eh, doesn't matter," Tabito said nonchalantly, "they gotta check us all in, anyway." Feeling a chilling breeze, he ruffled his sweatshirt and stuck his hands into the front pocket. With the line still forming and bending around the street corner, Tabito knew this might take a while.

"Speaking of which," Hara butted in with a bit of stressful tension in her voice, "let's get in line so we don't have to wait ten years to check in." With that, she scooted past the two boys and into the shifting crowd. Despite being smaller than most of the others, Hara asserted herself and slipped between shoulders and groups and found a place in line. 

People were too absorbed in their own anxieties and thoughts to accuse her of cutting the line.

She would have told them off, anyway.

Riarshi and Tabito shared a look, shrugged, then joined in behind her.