CHAPTER 7

In a trial by fire, Ryan burns brightly

While not quite as big as Central, the Lumisphere was an impressively-sized structure in its own right. And like its fellow landmark buildings, it could be spotted from anywhere on campus—mostly because of the dome that rose over its main arena. Serving as the primary venue for large athletic and social functions, it was laid out with an auditorium function room, training facilities, as well as a few athletic courts and indoor fields. There were also several practice rooms specifically designed for aspiring Stars, or any other luminescent who sought to hone their skill.

Mindie made her way down the corridor of these practice rooms, peering through several doors in her search for the right room. It wasn’t really a search though; she knew exactly which room she was headed for. Her eyes just felt the need to dart off their forward course with every door she passed. She loved seeing her fellow Stars use the practice facilities. Having luminescence was the coolest thing ever.

Several doors later, she spotted the familiar heads of her mom and older sister. Moreover, she spied a blond boy, who seemed to be pleading with her mother.

She opened the door and closed it quietly behind her, and then joined Ciara, who was observing from the side of the room. “Mom’s got a new student?”

Ciara shrugged from her crossed arms, continuing to watch with wry amusement. “Just some new transfer student who recently became luminescent. He wants to join the Tour—and also wants Mom to coach him.”

=-=-=

“Well, the Halo Tour has already started,” Chiaki explained evenly. “Wouldn’t you rather wait until the next one so that you start on par with the rest of the candidates?”

“Please!” Ryan pleaded. “I dropped everything to transfer to HRU and become a Star! Is there any way I can get into the running for this year?”

“The Leaderboard clock has already moved through a few phases. It wouldn’t be appropriate to allow late-comers to join without merit…”

Chiaki’s eyes drifted over to the side of the room and settled on Mindie. A thought struck her.

“All right, how about this,” she said. “The Tour allows duels between your fellow Stars as long as it’s supervised by a Tour coach. If you agree to one now—and if you perform well—we can recognize you as being an official part of the Halo Tour.”

Ryan’s face lit up. “Great! What do I have to do? Who do I have to fight?”

Chiaki waved Mindie over. Taken aback slightly, Mindie glanced at Ciara for confirmation (the older sister merely shrugged) before approaching her mother and the blond boy.

“My daughter here is also participating in the Tour,” Chiaki said, a touch of pride in her tone.

Mindie beamed, extending a hand out in greeting. “The name’s Mindie. Nice to meetcha.”

“Ryan Belmont. It’s a pleasure.” He shook her hand.

“This young man wants to duel you so that he can start competing in the Tour,” Chiaki explained to her daughter. “Will you accept?”

“Of course! Just one more step toward becoming the world’s brightest Star, Mom.”

A look of surprise flashed across Ryan’s face as she said that. He quickly collected himself, however, his startled expression curling into a confident grin. “Those are some big words.” He patted his chest in declaration. “But after today, you’re going to find yourself with a new rival.”

Mindie crossed her arms and shot him a haughty smile. “Yeah? You think you’ve got what it takes?”

“Absolutely. Starting the Halo Tour late doesn’t mean a thing, because I’m going to end this Tour at the top!”

“We’ll see about that.”

=-=-=

Each practice room was laid out similarly to an observation room one might find in a science facility (or maybe an interrogation room). There was the space by the entrance that was designated for a small audience, and the inner part of the room separated by thick plexiglass. The inner chamber was a large court for luminescents to practice wielding their powers.

It was also a designated area for duels between Stars who were participating in the Halo Tour.

Mindie and Ryan stepped onto the court and stood at opposite sides of it from each other. Both of them made preparations for their bout, stretching and loosening up like any athlete would before a competition. While their bodies would become intangible to the real world once they went luminescent, energy exerted was still energy lost, and energy lost took its toll on a physical body.

Like the main arena of the Lumisphere, these practice rooms were made with spectating in mind. The clear plexiglass adopted a shaded tint. This made it slightly more difficult for a normal audience to see the two contenders before a match. But once Mindie and Ryan were in their respective glowing states, they would be much easier to see in detail.

Chiaki ambled up to the small console by the plexiglass and spoke into the microphone, whose sound resonated through both sides of the entire practice room. “This is a duel between Mindie Tachibana-Callahan and Ryan Belmont. The winner will be decided by break of luminescence. I will stop the match if I feel that any dangerous situation threatens either combatant.”

Mindie faced Ryan with a cocky grin, cracking her knuckles and ready to rock. “You better watch your butt, new guy.”

Ryan rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously, his eyes averted from looking at her. “Actually, if we’re talking about butts, I’m already a bit captivated by that slender figure of yours…”

“Wha—?!”

She wasn’t expecting that kind of remark. While she was momentarily baffled and trying to make sense of what she just heard, Mindie was snapped back into her wits at the sight of a bright yellow streak of light racing towards her. She dove to the side, just barely clearing her way from its collision course.

Recovering without another moment’s distraction, Mindie regained her bearings and luminescent herself. The court was already largely devoid of detail and color in the real world, but now she could see the detail of her opponent within his bright aura.

Ryan smirked at her. It had been a ruse.

An annoyed grin twitched on Mindie’s face. “You play kind of dirty, don’t you.”

Ryan just laughed. “If you fell for that, this duel is going to be a walk in the park!”

“Don’t count on it!”

The two launched themselves at each other, and the sparring match began in earnest. Mindie showed much more experience in hand-to-hand combat, amplified threefold by her enthusiasm as she threw punches and kicks at him from every angle. Many of those strikes connected. But Ryan showed off his own crude martial prowess, enhanced by good mobility and agility which allowed him to evade and block several more times than his opponent expected.

Mindie leaped into the air and attempted to drive a drill-kick into him. When that was met with a solid block of crossed arms, she backflipped off him and created some space. She took a moment to catch her breath.

“Not bad! I wasn’t expecting a total newbie to keep up with me hand-to-hand.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet.”

Ryan flashed a cocky grin and bounced on his toes to the beat of his rising adrenaline. Then, he whirled around with his arms flung out on either side of him. As he did this, luminescent energy gathered in the palms of his hands.

While it’s possible to train themselves to manipulate their energy in other ways, most luminescents gravitate towards a particular set of abilities, or a particular set of shapes and forms. Their souls instinctively draw upon what they believe the most effective way to deal with chaos is—even in the moment they first obtain their power.

In Ryan’s case, it was fire in its various forms.

“I’m just getting warmed up!” The luminescence accumulating in his hands took the form of a two raging flames as Ryan faced Mindie again and hurled the energy like balls of fire.

Alarmed, Mindie evaded the blazing projectiles and attempted to regain some bearing. But she couldn’t. Fireball after fireball came at her in a continuous barrage, putting her completely on the defensive. When she tried to close the distance between them, she was met with direct hits to her aura. Each impact chafed the radiance of her glow, dimming it slowly and steadily.

=-=-=

From the observation side of the facility, a small crowd had gathered in front of the plexiglass to spectate the duel. It started earlier in the match when a few students happened to peer inside from the corridor and see something interesting going on. Others soon followed, seeing their peers enter this particular room.

Among them was Erika, who had come back from Central and became increasingly excited seeing Ryan up his game against his opponent. A thought suddenly came to her as she watched, and she whipped out her phone to send a message.

Even Ciara was impressed by Ryan’s prowess. She crossed her arms with a smug grin on her face.

Chiaki just watched the match unfold, her expression unreadable.

=-=-=

With the default form of his luminescence revealed, the tide of the duel shifted in Ryan’s favor, and he knew it. He relished in it. He took complete advantage of it and didn’t give Mindie any room to retaliate. Ryan threw flame after flame at her, disorienting her and driving her into a state where she could no longer evade his onslaught.

“It’s over!”

Ryan brought his hands close together as if holding a basketball. Between them, a sphere of luminescent flame twisted and turned and expanded, the intensity of its glow soaring to a blinding level.

“Pyromania!”

As he bellowed the name of this finishing move, the sphere erupted into an enormous beam that surged towards his opponent. Dazed and unable to gather her wits, Mindie watched wide-eyed and helpless as it drew closer to her…

The entire court was engulfed in blinding light, obscuring the two contenders for several moments before finally fading. When it completely subsided, Mindie could be seen standing there, the glow in her eyes gone. The expression on her face was a mask of shock. The blank look in her emerald eyes indicated her attention wasn’t focused anywhere at all.

And then she dropped to the ground with a blunt THUD.

The glow in Ryan’s eyes also faded then. He panted heavily, trying to catch his breath. He had exerted himself a lot more than he originally intended, but it was all worth it. With the match decided, the feeling of triumph welled up within him, quashing his exhaustion and compelling him to throw a fist in the air.

“AWWW YEAH!!!”

The shading over the plexiglass transitioned away, and the crowd cheered along with him. Ryan walked out of the court and into the observation area, where he was greeted by a crowd of his peers who formed a mob around him. They chattered excitedly, clapping him on the back and hopping up and down in celebration.

Erika pushed through the crowd and tugged on his arm. “That was amazing, Ryan!”

Ryan laughed, rubbing the back of his head in a gesture of humbling his ego. “Good thing she wasn’t one of those Shade things. I probably would’ve obliterated her.”

Just outside of the gathered crowd, Chiaki and Ciara watched as the students showered Ryan with praise. To any observers on the sideline, it would seem he had immediately gained a fanbase for his extraordinary performance against Mindie. This was surely only the start of this boy’s journey into stardom—in all senses of the word.

Ciara was certainly among those impressed. “Guy’s not half bad,” she remarked, before spying Mindie trudging into the observation area. She hurried over to aid her exhausted little sister.

Meanwhile, Chiaki stepped forward, joining the crowd in applause. Seeing the Chair of the Luminescence Department approach, the pond of people parted so that she might confront their newfound idol. Erika moved off Ryan’s arm, allowing him to face the distinguished Tour coach uninhibited.

“Well done, Mr. Belmont,” Chiaki remarked. “Based on your performance during this duel, the Luminescence Department deems you qualified for this year’s Halo Tour. If you would please step forward.”

He did so. Then, Chiaki closed her eyes and reached up to hold a hand in front of his forehead (she would have hovered her hand over the top of his head had their height differences not been so stark, but it didn’t matter in this case). As her own purple aura began to radiate steadily, a faint but noticeable glow seeped out from her fingers and weaved its way around Ryan’s head, forming some sort of halo. And then in a flash, the completed halo vanished.

“The Department now recognizes you as a Tour-approved Star.” Chiaki opened her eyes and stepped back, phasing back to normal and looking up at him. “Congratulations. You are now an official contender of the Halo Tour.”

Ryan’s smile widened as he looked at Erika, who was just as thrilled. Their peers surrounding them also began to murmur and call out cheers in turn. Meanwhile, Chiaki continued her exposition.

“In addition to emergency purposes afforded to all civilian luminescents, as a participant, you are permitted to use your luminescence to proactively pursue and deal with any chaos-related activity on campus and within the town of Halo Ridge. Although you aren’t certified in the official sense, you will be expected to conduct yourself appropriately. For that is now how those around you will recognize you—a Star.”

The cheers only became louder. Ryan felt a little embarrassed by how much encouragement was being showered on him. He held up his hands self-consciously as he tried to calm the crowd down. However, he couldn’t deny that it felt good to be called a Star.

“You may be starting late,” Chiaki continued further, “but that shouldn’t discourage you from doing…”

No one else noticed that her smile soured—just slightly—as she finished. “…your very best.”

They were too busy riling themselves up. By the time Chiaki finished, all focus was solely on the promising transfer student, and hardly anyone was paying attention to her. Mindie dragged herself towards her mom, her sister acting as her crutch. Ciara murmured some consoling remarks about the defeat, but the younger sister assured her she was just fine.

As the cheers and applause started to subside around him, Ryan turned to Chiaki with a bright smile. “Thank you, ma’am. I’m looking forward to learning under you—”

She cut him off with a disingenuous smile. “That won’t be happening.”

The sound of shocked gasps abruptly pervaded the room.