Daddy Dark Lord

 There was a reason that no one ever talked about the Sacred Superhero Training Academy. 100 hours of studying, 40 hours of physical conditioning, and enough combat training to take down a small army by yourself and NOTHING could have prepared me for this exam.

 My legs ached and my chest was constricted with exhaustion. I looked down at my hands still zinging electrical currents while I shook them out. I was sucking wind while I waited for Kendra to catch up.

 Kendra and I grew up together. We discovered our powers at nearly the same time and quite frankly, we were inseparable. When Kendra got her first crush and he decided to kiss Misty instead, I may or may not have zapped him with a little more than static.

 When Kendra found out that some of the girls were bullying me in the fourth period because of my facial birthmark, she melted their shoes to the asphalt when we were changing classes. It’s what made my dad convince her parents to let her come to a school designed for people like us.

 “Destiny!” she was screaming as she bolted past me. I had to catch her before she crashed into the next obstacle. “Girl! I thought I lost you!”

 “Take a breath. I’m not going anywhere,” I replied. I opened the little wristband communicator that each of us was equipped with. “Last one and then we make it to the Hall of Accords.” I flashed the digital maps to Kendra who was extinguishing the last little flames from her shoes while struggling to control her breathing.

 “How do I look?” was her only reply.

 “Umm, like you just got in a fight with a Phadrix and barely made it out alive?” I responded, confused. A Phadrix was a giant monster of the academy’s design. Giant, green and slimy, it looked like a shape-shifting squid. It was created to hunt our kinds and kill us or make us use those dreaded words “TAP OUT.”

 One would think that a quick blast from a lightning bolt would have zinged it into non-existence. No, it was adaptable and I had to use every ounce of monster-killing-know-how just to keep from getting caught by its poisonous suction cups on its tentacles.

 Taking in her golden brown, flawless skin. Her thick, wavy hair was still smoking as it folded over her shoulders. Her shirt was covered in little splatters of Phadrix-goo, but she still looked like a Goddess – like the superhero she was hoping to become. “You planning on using your good looks as a weapon?”

 “Well, in every superhero history recording Proctor had us watch during the lectures, did you ever see a single strand of hair out of place?”

 “It’s probably their shampoo and conditioner.”

 “We make it through this one together and I’m buying you a bottle,” she said, laughing. “Ready, Stormi D?”

 “Let’s get it, Keni Flame,” I replied, already bouncing from foot to foot. She gave me her conspiratory nod that kept us in trouble and I opened the door.

 The room was way tighter than the last labyrinth. Brown walls with nothing distinct about them. A bright light above. The center of the floor opened up. Kendra was aflame instantly and I created a cautious cloud in my hand, feeling the warmth of the electrical charges crawling around my fingers.

 An open book rose to the top and the floor closed. I shook out my hands and Kendra extinguished her flames. When we looked at the book, the pages were turning. Back and forth. Names would appear and either be marked through and noted as DECEASED or appeared blue and marked TAGGED.

 I swallowed. This was the record of our class. We started with 40 students and by the looks of the list, we were down to 2 – Kendra and myself.

 Aside from this school not being listed anywhere so that a random could stumble into it, there were mountains of waivers that had to be signed before we could even approach the grounds.

 My father had been a student here. He would tell us story after story of the adventures he’d had here. He refused to accompany Kendra and me when we were finally enrolled, as he did not want us to be seen as having an unfair advantage over the other candidates since he was a legend in the academy.

 The pages turned once more and stilled. Two names. Kendra Drakes and Destiny Youngblood. I held my breath looking to see what my marker read. A hologram popped up and we watched ourselves working through each test. I was utterly taken back.

 Kendra looked like a Firey Goddess. Her flames arching and flowing from her hands. Not a strand of hair out of place. When I looked at myself, I was shocked to see just how radiant I was.

 “Gorgeous,” Kendra whispered. She was looking at my hologram as well. “I did not know you could do that!” In the hologram, I was in the third test when we were fighting clones of other supers. At that moment, I had sent an arch of electrical charge through two clones and pinned them together, drawing them to me. I swirled my free in the air like a dancer and when I snatched it down, I sent a strong burst of electricity through my opponents.

 “Girl got the ZING!” Kendra said, wiggling her fingers in my direction. I wiggled back, beaming. “And can I just say, your hair and skin are flawless!” My cheeks warmed.

 The hologram slipped back into the book and our names blazed golden with the words “HERO” next to them. She and I gasped simultaneously as the room began to morph and the same golden font blazed on the wall “Hall of Accords.”

 Panels and walls morphed and changed into portraits that gleamed with a golden light. Vaulted ceiling covered in gold.

 The smell hit me before my eyes could adjust.

 “No,” whimpered Kendra’s voice.

 My eyes swelled with tears. Proctor laying still in a crumpled heap. His head was far removed from his shoulders. His staff surrounded him, mangled and bloodied. Blood splattered over statues and portraits. And standing tall, face full of blood spatters, dressed in full general’s uniform, sporting the Dark Lord’s crest on his shoulder was my father.

 “Well, this is awkward,” he said, wiping his “Blade of Legends” free of blood on the Proctor’s stole.

 The End.