"Welcome, one and all, to the Hall of Stars, the birthplace of Stars. We are gathered here today to honor our past and celebrate our future."
Speaking to us was the No. 1 Zenith: The Glacial Heroine: Aurora. She is known for her ice powers and monotone personality. If boring was a person, it would most definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, be her, but you didn't hear that from me.
She is also joined by the other number ones of each group.
No. 1 Catalyst: Iron Will Hero: Titanium. At first glance he might seem scary and stoic, but he is actually quite sweet, a sort of gentle giant, if you will. Well, if said gentle giant was known for wiping out monsters left and right in record time. Fun fact: his fan base is largely made of people swooning over him.
No. 1 Aegis: Wild King: Beastial. He tends to get sidelined by the media for other top heroes, which feeds his competitive streak. He seems to care the most about his image, which makes him outperform anyone in terms of gate raids and crime reduction. Personally, I just think he does it to satisfy his ego.
And last and usually least, No. 1 Prism: Myst. Not much is known about them aside from their abilities. They don't appear in media often, partly because the media mostly focuses on catalysts and zeniths over aegis and prisms. The other factor is that they don't show on cameras, as all photos and videos of them end up blurry. People debate on whether it's intentional or just a side effect of their abilities.
Aurora was now talking about the rules that must be followed within the Hall. At this point, no one was listening to what she was saying; some were even having conversations while she spoke.
Honestly, I can't blame them; she can be quite boring. I've seen her do multiple speeches, and all of them seemed to drain the life out of people.
Besides the heroes, there is also a swarm of reporters taking photos and recording every moment. I mean, this is the biggest event of the year, so it makes sense for them to be here, but why are they so annoying?
When I become a hero, they will be numero uno on my avoid-at-all-costs list. The assessing eyes of the reporters, cameras in my face, and mountains of questions aren't for me.
Then there are the students; since there is only one Hall of Stars in the country, all students from our grade are here, meaning there are over one hundred thousand students here.
Combining all those factors gives you a very cramped Hall of Stars. It's a good thing they made this place huge. It's more like a house for giants than a testing ground for heroes.
What makes this even worse is the fact that we've been standing for the past hour; at least Aurora seems about done with her speech.
"And may the stars of our past show us the way towards the future." Everyone began clapping, including me. I don't even know what she said.
"We will now proceed with the presentations of our fallen stars, those who lost their lives defending their people. All students and faculty are required to participate in this part of the ceremony." She gave us an icy cold glare, and all those who were talking before immediately shut up. I felt an uneasy chill crawl up my spine as she did.
"With that being said, please make your way to the auditorium." The other heroes made their way off the stage, and each stood at a different passageway. "My colleagues will lead the way, so please follow them."
We followed them into a large auditorium. Seriously, this place is huge. We all take our seats, and I finally realize we are all mixed up now. I'm sitting next to two different people I have never met before. Well... in all honesty, even if I had met them, I probably wouldn't remember them anyway. They seem to be from different schools as well.
Being my usual self, I just sit there, ignore everyone around me, and focus on the screen. Now I wish Camy was here; at least it would help with my boredom, although she'd probably just roll her eyes and say something along the lines of "Can't you survive five minutes without me?"
The presentations are the same every year; they also broadcast it to the public. I don't know why we have to watch this, but I guess I'll just have to endure.
The presentations started with the appearance of the first gate and its impact on our world. The monsters ravaged country after country, and humanity had no way of dealing with them. Not even nuclear weapons worked.
The result was 64 percent of human life being wiped out from the planet. Truly a devastating event.
Then, when all hope seemed lost, the first heroes emerged to fight back against the monstrous forces.
However, not all of them were able to survive; heroes would die on the battlefield. The weakest links were picked out, and only the strong remained to fight another day.
However, what they don't tell you is that since abilities were not ranked during those times, prisms were sent to fight monsters directly, leading to most hero deaths being that of prisms.
They were sent to their deaths, yet instead of commemorating them for their brave and noble efforts, all people do is blame them for it and brand them as weak, which they could do nothing about.
A truly sad reality that we live in. The world ignores all those who died during that war in favor of the distractions that come from flashy and cool powers.
The media promotes assholes and makes no attempt to correct the mistakes of the past. History is written by the victors of war, as they say.
In this society, if you can't punch or blast something to death, people don't care about you. If they did, he would still be alive. He'd be here to see me.
Pity.
"Hey, are you okay?" It's the guy to my left; he looks at me concerned.
"Um, yeah, I'm fine. Uh, why wouldn't I be?" He points to his cheek; I instinctively reach for mine and feel something wet. Oh no, not again! Why does this happen to me?
"Oh, um, this is... this is nothing to worry yourself about... it happens sometimes." I respond quickly so that this conversation can end right now.
"Are you sure? Because it seems like something made you upset." This guy seriously can't take a hint. Just leave me alone!
"It's fine, really. I just get really emotional during these types of things, you know? I'm fine now, though." If he doesn't back off, I'm going to lose my shit.
"Oh! I guess that makes sense; this is a presentation about the fallen heroes of the past. You must really be into heroes, huh?" God, why do you punish me so?
"Uh, yeah, you could say that." He smiles. Why is he smiling? Someone help. Please?!
"Me too! I've always wanted to be a hero since I was a kid." Just great, the conversation continues. Fantastic!
"Actually, my favorite hero as a kid was Lightning God: Zeus. He was so cool and held the title of No. 1 Catalyst for 10 years straight. He was my idol growing up. I want to be just like him someday."
Well, since my attempts at shutting him down ended in failure, I might as well just listen to what he has to say; at least it's better than listening to that boring presentation for 2 hours.
The guy's not that bad; he's just really enthusiastic about hero, so who am I to judge? I do the same around Camy anyway.
I find myself warming up to him rather easily; he has this golden retriever type of energy, but it's not too overbearing.
"So what's your favorite hero?" He looks at me, waiting for my answer.
"Um, well, the thing is, I don't really have a favorite; there are just too many great heroes for me to choose one." I rub the back of my head. Well, it's technically true.
"Yeah, understandable. Man, this is so boring," He yawns while stretching his arms. Now that I got a proper look at him, I can see he has some muscle.
"Ah, yeah, but it should be almost over; it is set to last only two hours. So we should be done in a few minutes." I look back at the screen; the presentation is now nearing its end.
"And after that we will be tested for our abilities. Can't wait; I'm so fired up." He gives me an enthusiastic grin, and I smile back.
In just a few minutes I'll find out what abilities I have. I have to get a good ability and rank. It's been my dream since I was a child, and now the wait is almost over.
I'll succeed no matter what. I'll do it for you.