The new generation

The moment has finally arrived. The greatest dream of any 16-year-old kid has finally come true. It's finally the day, the day I've been waiting for since I was born. I still remember the radiant excitement that flooded my entire being when I received the news that I had been selected to attend Vargshimore, the best school for superhumans in the country. It was my first day. I was unmistakably pale, sweat dripping from every pore of my skin. My parents woke me up at six in the morning; they were even more anxious than I was, although I don't quite understand why they woke me up at that hour since, with my teleportation, my travel time is practically zero, even though my older brother insists I'm incredibly slow.

Thanks to Mom's powers, I managed to calm my nerves a little. That's one of the many advantages of having a mother with maternal superpowers. Dad, although he's more of a cold and unfriendly guy, couldn't help but let out a small, proud smile when he saw his youngest son achieve one of his biggest dreams. That slight smile couldn't hide his concern, though. But what was he worried about? It wasn't like his son, who wasn't very studious, was going to be entering the most demanding school in the country.

Mom made some scrambled eggs because she insists that protein is vital in this new stage. She genuinely believes that with eggs alone, I'm going to become Atom, the most powerful human in the country. I don't think she knows yet that my only power is teleportation, and well, obviously, being incredibly handsome. But anyway, the time had finally arrived. Classes started at 7:00 a.m., and it was already 6:59, the perfect time to use my superpower.

I had gone to the school beforehand to explore the place and not be completely lost on the first day. Everything was exactly as it appeared on television and social media. The campus exuded an aura that was impossible to ignore; it was a fortified structure with completely impenetrable security. There were eight towers with the highest defensive technology, ready to fire if any teleporting student got too close. Inside and outside the campus, there were facilities of all kinds, from a top-level soccer field to a dueling hall. That school was like all the most incredible schools from fiction had been crammed into one place; it was absolutely amazing.

I finally arrived at Vargshimore after an exhausting 0.000000001 seconds of travel. Being the cautious and self-aware student I am, I teleported to one of the school bathrooms to blend in as much as possible. But to my surprise, I ended up triggering an alarm, which caused the entire school to panic and activate an intruder search. When I opened the bathroom door, trying to act like nothing had happened, I found myself facing three cannons pointed at my forehead, as well as the most powerful teachers in the school, ready to take me down. Not bad for the first day.

Once everyone realized it had been a mistake and that I was just an innocent freshman trying to attend his first day of classes, they lowered their weapons and let me go, but not before warning me that it was illegal to use any kind of power on the planet without legal authorization, and therefore there was a chance I would be expelled from the school. Don't blame me, teleportation is the safest way to circumvent the law. You just have to go straight to the restrooms or teleport fast enough to be practically invisible, but I hadn't counted on the school having such an advanced system. They took me out and put me in line with the rest of the new students. I'm an incredibly shy and introverted guy, so the line kept moving and I still didn't socialize with anyone. As the line got shorter, I realized it was the initiation test. The moment had come to demonstrate how powerful the new students really were. This test categorizes the new students into five levels: The Celestials, the most powerful. Only students with a perfect score on the test enter this category. The Elites, the second most powerful. You need at least a 9 to belong to this category. The Soldiers: this group includes all those who belong neither to the strong nor the weak, simply the useful ones, with a grade of at least an 8. Then there are the Assistants, who have a minimum grade of a 7. And finally, the Fans, or as they are disparagingly called, "The Cheerleaders": this group includes all the students who fail and are condemned to a school life filled with bullying and contempt. It is very difficult to climb the ranks, not impossible, but it requires a lot of effort; very few have succeeded.

The test consisted of a one-on-one duel with another student took place in a stadium where students from all grades were present to observe the tests. The stadium wasn't static; it was modified to create different scenarios for each duel, allowing for the evaluation of skills in a randomized context. One student was designated as the hero, and another as the villain. This assignment was apparently based on a psychological analysis conducted when deciding who to invite to the school, with students with more troubled personalities being cast as villains. The hero's objective was to save 10 hyper-realistic mannequins in the arena, while the villain's objective was to destroy them. The teachers evaluated all kinds of skills, strategies, techniques, technologies, etc., used; there were essentially no limits during the duels. The super-intelligent students used their technology and gadgets to achieve their goals, those who knew about magic applied all sorts of spells and incantations to achieve theirs, the classic heroes used their powers, the super-warriors used their strength, and all the other races also managed to try to pass the test and place well.

After waiting in the entire line, my moment arrived. They gave me a slip of paper with my role and took me out of the hallway. They led me about 200 meters to an elevator while explaining the things I mentioned earlier. Once they finished, I opened the paper and it said "Villain," a huge surprise to me. It's not like I had broken thousands of rules using my power. As I went down in the elevator, I could hear the noise of the stadium approaching. It vibrated as if tectonic plates were shifting. There were shouts, applause, explosions, punches—everything you'd find in a science fiction movie or TV show.

When I finally reached the top floor of the elevator, a one-minute countdown began. I wasn't sure if it was a bomb about to explode or a countdown to open the door, but I stayed alert in case anything happened. Once the countdown ended, the elevator door began to open. Just as a ray of light appeared, it went dark as quickly as it appeared. Small, feminine-looking beings with curly black hair, slender builds, and dressed in athletic leggings and a top, rushed at me at incredible speed. There were too many of them; an overwhelming number of them suffocated me inside the elevator in the blink of an eye. They almost covered my head, and more and more of them kept coming in at an increasing speed. The beings kept shouting my name: "Julen! Julen! Julen!" As soon as I felt the small beings on top of me, I tried to use my teleportation to escape. However, every being that came into contact with me had to be teleported with me, and teleportation consumes energy. Therefore, I needed a large amount of energy to use my power. Once I cleared my head, I tried to relax and gather as much energy as possible to escape. When the beings tried to cover my nose, I held my breath as long as I could and tried to continue accumulating and concentrating my energy. However, I've never been good at holding my breath, so it was time to attempt the escape maneuver. It's still risky, because if I don't have enough energy, my entire body might not teleport, and I could lose a limb or even my head…