The sun shone bright in the clear blue sky as the wind blew a light breeze over the vibrant green treetops. Sitting on a stump staring into the sky was a small dragon about the size of a puppy. Her gray scales and golden horns sparkled in the sun as her blue feathers brushed against the wind. 

“It got quiet,” she spoke her sharp blue eyes reflecting the clouds above. 

“I guess that means whatever happened in town has been dealt with,” she muttered, hopping off the stump towards the two behind her.

Another dragon sat behind the first a little ways away, his scales of dark blue shades, a stark contrast to his lightning yellow horns and wings. He held a small cord in his mouth, blue electricity pulsing through it as he sat there. 

“I wonder if anybody died this time,” the blue dragon grumbled through the cord in his mouth. 

“Draco! Don’t talk with your mouth full! And don’t be so negative! I’m sure the humans in town are fine.”

“You’re far too positive Halo,” Draco spoke, rolling his eyes. 

Halo pouted, turning away from him to the human next to him. Her back was to them both as she carefully welded the mechanism in front of her, the torch powered by the cord Draco was currently pulsing electricity through. She had golden blonde hair and a blue lab coat. She wore a button up black dress, brown boots, knee-high stockings, and had her hair placed in a ponytail. 

“What do you think Hope?”

Hope smiled, turning off the welding torch, and lifting her helmet to face the two with bright turquoise eyes. 

 

“Are you sure you’re alright? No severe magic backlash this time?” Rachel questioned gently, her hand on May’s shoulder as they walked through the forest with the others. 

“Y–yeah, I’m okay. A–are you okay though?” May spoke nervously as she looked up at Rachel questionably. 

Rachel blinked in surprise at the question before she smiled, lightly ruffling May’s hair. “I am fine May, thank you.”

“So, you finally made it back.” Everyone stopped and turned to Hope as she walked up to them. 

“So, how was your ‘sightseeing?’” Hope teased with a raised brow. 

Rachel chuckled, “Well, we did a little more than sightsee.”

“Yeah, we kicked butt!” Karla perked up excitedly. 

She had sharp green eyes, bright pink messy hair, and she wore a tight outfit of black and white stripes with purple accents. Her arms were covered in scars, and she had a red gemstone at the center of her outfit. 

Hope laughed, “So I heard. What was it this time?” 

“Just a bunch of Rogues causing trouble. Nothing crazy,” Rachel responded. 

“I guess those Rogues didn’t appreciate you guys interfering with their plans.” 

“Yes, well, the citizens didn’t exactly appreciate it either,” Rachel sighed, her bangs parting away to reveal a small bruise on her forehead. 

Rachel thought back to earlier, after they had defeated the Rogues.  

“Is that the last of them?” 

“I believe so,” Karla responded, dumping the unconscious goons with her in a pile with the rest. 

“You didn’t miss any?” Silver questioned. 

“I wouldn’t miss any,” Karla retorted, crossing her arms. 

Mizu and May glanced at each other worriedly before quickly turning away. 

“Now, now, guys. All that matters is -ow!”

Everyone turned to Rachel at her exclamation as she rubbed her forehead. Rachel turned upon seeing the rock that had hit her to see a small group of civilians there, all looking absolutely terrified.

Once civilian up front looked especially jittery after he had thrown the rock. Kiara stepped forward, her expression angered, but Rachel raised her arm in front of her, surprising Kiara. 

“It’s ok,” Rachel smiled gently to her, the others relaxing as well. However, you could tell that they were unsure. 

“We will be on our way now,” Rachel spoke gently to the scared people. 

 

Hope gazed at Rachel’s bruise sadly, but kept silent. It was unfair, and she knew it, but she also knew better than to say anything.  

“Speaking of which Rachel,” Kiara spoke up, directing everyone’s attention. 

“I know you’ve already explained it briefly to us, but could you explain what Rouges are again?”

“Oh, sure!” Rachel responded happily. 

“Around three hundred years ago, magical energy surged out of nowhere. This new surge of magic energy created something entirely new, people born with the ability to wield magic; Mages.”

“As more and more mages appeared some started to believe that they were superior to those without magic. Sadly, they are wrong, magic is the energy that breathes life into all living things. However, due to their naivety, some mages begin to take and carry out whatever they desired, thus bringing forth a war between mages and non-mages. Non-mages were quickly overpowered by those with magic at their command, and soon enough the war carried on between the mages themselves.”

“Destruction only followed this path. Cities and towns in ruins, landscapes demolished, everything practically gone. After 50 years of bloodshed, six of the strongest mages made a pact. They divided our world Etherea into six kingdoms, each under their own rule. Their rule however was no better than the war itself. Mages no longer got a choice to how they should live. Follow them or be killed, it was that simple. The war caused distrust between mages, however, due to the kingdoms influence, people feared mages believing them to be evil cursed creatures. Something that has only gotten worse over the last one hundred years.”

“We know all this already,” Karla interjected. 

“Ahem. Sorry, sorry, I’m getting to it I promise,” Rachel blushed.

“Essentially, for the purpose of organizing Mages for their armies, they created the Mage Analytical Ranking System, or M.A.R.S for short, with the rankings going from S through R.”

“S-rank mages, are those who have complete mastery over their magic, and are completely in tune with it. Their spells are refined specifically to them, and they are known to be able to easily sense fluctuations in magic energy. The six sovereigns and their nobles are all perfect examples of S-rank mages.”

“A-rank mages, are those who have a deep understanding and connection with their magic, but are only somewhat in tuned with it. They’ve created some spells of their own, and can relatively identify a mages magic power.”

“B-rank mages, are those who know their magic element, and how to use it, but don’t have their magic in tune with their body yet. They can perform larger spells, but are basically always at a standstill. Plus, they can only detect a mages magic power extremely drastic to their own.”

 “C-rank mages, are those who have some kind of understanding of their magic, and can control it, but have no idea how to use their magic.”

“D-rank mages, are those who can’t control their magic and usually have no idea what their magic element is. They have come to be known as “Late Bloomers” due to their lack of knowledge on magic.”

“Lastly, R or Rogues, are the names of mages who are not affiliated with the kingdoms. Due to this, Rouges vary greatly from mage to mage in terms of strength. Most however, have no idea how to use their magic and as such the kingdoms don’t generally see them as a threat.”

“Makes sense now?” Rachel asked them.  

“So technically speaking, that makes us Rogues, right?” Karla asked. 

“I suppose it does.” Rachel smiled. 

“Sweet!” Karla beamed. 

“Wait a minute, how come there hasn’t been a Rogue or a group of Rogues that have tried to take down the kingdoms before?” Kiara asked. 

“Well, while the nobles underneath the sovereigns have changed several times, the sovereigns themselves haven’t ever changed. There’s a reason they are called the strongest. Most people don’t even know what they look like, because those who have tried to defy them are dead. Not only that, but as I stated before, the war caused distrust between mages, therefore most mages don’t team up, and when they do, they usually get abandoned or betrayed.”

It’s not like we’re much different. It doesn’t take a genius to notice the distrust between us either. Not that I can completely blame them, some of them I have only known for a little over a month. Still…

“So that’s just how it’s been until now. Hopefully we can change that a bit,” Rachel smiled.

“Um, Rachel. Suppose we were aligned with the kingdoms. What rank would we all be?” Mizu asked. 

Rachel thought on that for a second. 

“I would say, May would be rank D. Mizu, Karla, Kiara, and Hope would be rank C, and Silver and I would be rank B.” 

Silver carefully stared at Rachel during her statement from where she was leaning against a nearby tree, as she studied her response, as well as her answer, yet remained silent. 

“D-rank?” May muttered sadly. 

“Don’t worry May! You’ll improve quickly over time! I know you will!” Rachel responded quickly, reassuring her. 

“Anyways, Hope-”

“Before you ask, yes, I took my medicine. I’m not that forgetful Rachel,” Hope replied. 

Rachel chuckled, “Good, but I was actually going to ask you how your project is going?” 

“All done.”

This caught everyone’s attention as they turned towards Hope. 

“Really?” Rachel asked surprised. 

Hope smiled, leaning forward with a cute wink. 

“Yep! Wanna see?”