The Nova Ranker - The Sword Almighty

Chapter 1. The First Day.

This is a story about an ancient relic. A story about heroism. The story of a boy who joined a guild, found a magical sword, and became a "hero". But maybe it's too early to be telling you about that. Let me tell you about the boy. I am that boy. My name is Elias Vasquez, I'm 14 years old. I was born in the year of the rat.

Most people don't care about that kinda thing. But for people like me and hopefully you, it does. It means I can create fire with a single thought. It means I'm stuck with one of the worst powers you can be stuck with.

Being able to read minds sucks. It sucks, stinks and blows all at the same time. Sure, I can win any board game or cheat on my exams. But it's always there. If I'm not focusing on something, I find myself listening to the thoughts of everyone in a 10 meter radius inside my brain, gnawing at my neurons and giving me headaches. The worst part is disappointment. When you disappoint everyone, that's one thing. Hearing how disappointed they are all the time even when I don't wanna? That's the worst. And I am very good at disappointing people. Mind reading isn't as glamorous as you'd think

At least I can... slightly tune it out? It's a strange way to describe it, but if I focus on something, my mind sort of clogs itself up. It's not effective 100% of the time, and for some reason the thoughts of some people spark in my mind more than the thoughts of others, but at least I can bring it down to a bearable level.

I feel it's not necessary to say this, but a lot of what you'll hear in these first few chapters was originally in Spanish, and translated into English. You'll find that the average Colombian doesn't speak much English.

It was July out here in stormy, wonderful Bogota, Colombia. I woke up and looked out the bedroom window to be faced by a cloudy sky with the probability of rain, and the snoring of my big brother. On a "gorgeous" "summer" Friday like this, school was the only thing in my imminent future, followed by a boring weekend. Normally at least. I still envy you kids in the US who get an entire three months of summer vacation, while out here in Colombia, I'd only get at most 2 weeks.

"Elias, Andres, wake up!" I heard the groggy call of my mom's voice, up and at 'em before dawn, even though she'd been working until midnight. Ay, Mami. One day I'll be able to pay your debts. One day you won't have to bust your back just to keep my brother and me well fed and educated.

After confirming that my brother was not getting up, I shuffled off my bed and walked into the bathroom, to take a shower. And as I waited for the water to get warm, I took a moment to be disappointed when I saw myself in the bathroom mirror. The same skinny physique I'd been seeing for the past 14 years greeted me. At least my eyes are cool. Shiny, emerald green eyes, that I got from my grandma, according to my mom. They made me feel different. But not the bad kind of "different".

Just as I was getting out of the bathroom, wearing my school uniform already because I'm diligent like that, I saw my brother stepping out of the room, lumbering towards me like a sleepy giant. My brother and I are alike and different in many ways. We have the same general features. Mousy brown hair, pale olive complexion, and we even talk very much alike. The big difference is that my brother is massive. He's only 17 years old but he looks like the generic main character of every manga from the 80's. Living with him was like living with an incredibly tall, incredibly buff puppy. So full of energy and excitement, even though he looked like he could crush stone with a single hand, which, granted he probably could've. Compared to him, I'm like an underfed kitten.

"G'morning Elly." Andres said cheerfully as he stepped into the bathroom, patting my back with one of his muscled hands. Dunno how anyone can be as happy as this big oaf, but I envy him so much.

About an hour later, my brother and I had eaten breakfast, and were on our way to school on the bus. I had a notebook on my lap, and was trying to do homework with help from my brother, but I was mostly spacing out, and not paying attention, just looking out the window absent-mindedly.