Chapter 2: Chapter 1: And of course, Mindie raises a flag

Mindie Tachibana-Callahan couldn’t care less about what she was being taught in Luminescence 101.

She was attending HRU because of its unique Luminescence Department, whose program was tailored to breed aspiring Stars. After she graduated, most of her time would be spent in the field, getting rid of chaos with her glowing fists and feet. Being in the classroom for something so hands-on seemed completely unnecessary in her mind.

Yet here she was sitting in the lecture hall, eyes half open, mind wandering as she propped her head up by the elbow on her desk in languid irritation. There were only a handful of students besides her, and she idly wondered if there was any point to holding this small class in the auditorium-sized room.

Half the time it felt like the professor was just talking to herself.

“…Chaos waxes and wanes in everyone, and such energy is constantly released into the world,” the professor rambled, gesturing to the slides on the projector screen. “But if you harbor too much at one time, a chaotic state will become your default. You will become a Shade, and your chaotic energy can be forcibly expelled by luminescence. Of course, as we learned last week, chaos more commonly manifests as Shades of pure energy, in which case…”

Blah, blah, blah… Mindie kept her yawn to herself, mouth closed and emerald eyes watering slightly in the effort to be discreet. She had been training to be a Star since she was in high school. That was earlier than most people with luminescence even thought about becoming Stars. She was already past all the basics.

Worse yet, the Lumi 101 professor was Sheila DeSanto. Her lecture style was butt-crack dull. Stars were the protectors of the world. They wrangled with foul energies and prevented major incidents—or stopped those incidents before they got worse. They burst onto dangerous scenes like real-life superheroes! Couldn’t she be more exciting? Couldn’t she tell the class why Stars are the coolest people any luminescent could ever be?!

But all she ever did was drone on and on and on about chaos and luminescence are two sides of the same coin, and too much chaotic energy is bad for you so remember to eat your veggies, and other things that were obvious already. She was a voracious researcher in the field of luminescence and, assumedly, a bit of a recluse. No one had ever seen her anywhere outside her lecture times—except maybe her nephew Pike.

Speaking of Pike, Mindie was getting impatient. She had reached the limits of her boredom and was ready to get out, find him, and pester him like she usually did. She had resorted to checking the clock every handful of seconds. Finally, the hand ticked up to the hour. 5:00 PM. The students started to rise from their seats and pack up even while Professor DeSanto was still speaking—Mindie among them.

The professor raised her voice over the sound of dragging chairs and rustling bags. “For those of you who have luminescence, this is very important to remember. There are only a handful of you in the whole world each generation, and you are the future of this ability. That’s all for today. I’ll see you all next week.”

Her backpack zipped up, her rollerblades dangling off the side of it, Mindie hurried out of the lecture hall. She nearly knocked over a small, timid-looking girl as she raced around the open door (a student behind her opened the door wider and actually knocked the girl over) and down the corridor to the main hall.

- - - - -

Framed on both sides by the double staircase in Central’s main hall was the Halo Tour Leaderboard. It was an enormous screen that displayed the eight highest-ranking candidates of the Tour—the aptly named Top Eight. At the top of the screen was a countdown timer and, currently, a display that showed the Tour was in Phase 3.

Individuals with the ability to wield luminescence were few and far between. While it’s simply fate’s discretion that determined who became luminescent, nearly all who did gained their abilities during their high school years. And almost all luminescent students attended HRU with the singular goal of becoming a certified Star—an individual who had license to professionally deal with chaos around the world.

As a student at HRU, the only way to become certified for that was by finishing the Tour as one of the Top Eight. The timeline of fate aligned quite nicely for aspiring Stars.

Mindie reached the bottom of the staircase by sliding down its curved railing. With a little hop in her step to regain her footing, she adjusted the backpack over her shoulder and glanced up at the Leaderboard.

She smiled confidently to herself. She wasn’t up there herself yet, but there was plenty of time left in the game. By the end of the Tour, she would finish at the top. There was no doubt about it.

Once she was outside Central, she sat at the bottom of the stairs leading to the building’s entrance and unstrapped the rollerblades from her backpack. Then she began to swap them with the shoes on her feet and lace them up.

At this time of day, Pike was most likely in the art building. An impish smile crept along her face as she rose to her feet and accelerated down the sidewalk—nearly running over one of her peers as she zipped by. The peer stumbled out of the way just in time, nearly losing grip on her on-the-go coffee. The flap of her open sports jacket flagged behind her evasive motion and grazed Mindie’s backpack.

“What the—! Watch where you’re going, TC!” Mindie’s full surname was a bit of a mouthful, so it was often shortened to just the initials in casual address.

Mindie called back and waved, but she didn’t bother to look over her shoulder as she raced across campus. “Sorryyy!”

- - - - -

The bus stopped right in front of the archway that marked HRU’s campus entrance. Among the passengers who emerged was a young man. His wavy blond hair fluttered slightly in the light breeze, and his blue eyes turned upwards as he gazed up at the archway before him. Indeed, he had arrived at his destination.

He beamed. “Finally made it! Halo Ridge University.”

He was a transfer student. As he stood beneath the arch, thoughts filled his head of how he would spend the rest of his university life here. He was enrolling mid-semester, but surely it wouldn’t be an issue. Like many others, he knew HRU offered the curriculum he needed for the future he had decided to pursue—an opportunity for luminescents like him that he wouldn’t find anywhere else.

“I should probably find the registrar’s office. Hopefully they still have dorms available too…”

As he contemplated which way to go, a speedster on rollerblades zipped past behind him.

- - - - -

High Tower was the university’s library and archive, and it was ancient. Its gothic aesthetic had remained unchanged since its construction, which predated the university itself. Its singular tower was visible from any point on campus, standing like a neglected watcher that rose high over its ward. It rose even higher than the town’s own landmark, which protruded similarly from the town hall building but was objectively more inviting to look (specifically, because the tower rising over town hall had a star-shaped light that changed color every so often).

From the small double-door that was carved out from the building’s original and much larger double-door, a girl with a long ponytail of dark hair and equally dark eyes emerged—Ciara Tachibana-Callahan. She pulled on her sports jacket and slung her bookbag over her shoulder as she made her way past the statue of the late, world-famous Superstar Soren Park. The statue had been established in his memory just outside.

As she reached the main sidewalk, she heard a cheerful, approaching voice call to her in an Eastern tongue: “Nee-chaaan~!” (Sisterrr!) Startled, Ciara turned to see who it was—though she really didn’t need to guess.

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Mindie was racing down the sidewalk towards her, a bright smile on her face. “Coming throoough~!”

Ciara couldn’t help but scoff out an amused smile. Her little sister was endearing, after all.

She waved Mindie down as she rapidly approached on her wheels. “Where are you going?! It’s almost time for dinner!”

“Just gonna see if Pike’s in the art building for a bit!”

“What?! But—!”

Mindie breezed past her. “I’ll see you at hooome~!”

“I swear, that girl…” Ciara couldn’t help but grumble and facepalm. Her little sister was impossible, after all.

- - - - -

The Art Department was housed in one of the few other, smaller buildings on campus that weren’t reserved for dormitories. Class had been dismissed an hour ago, and the sun was already beginning to set. Pike sat alone in the classroom, idly sketching out a new piece. This time it was a landscape of campus, and his cartoonish rendition of the building he was currently in.

This was the type of environment that suited Pike when he was at work. Empty classroom. End of the day. No chance he’d be interrupted—

“Sooo, is it writing or drawing this time?”

—except by Mindie. In the years they’d come to know each other, this wasn’t even an interruption. It was more like an expectation. Similar to how one gets used to being woken up by an alarm clock every morning. By the time he realized she was there, Mindie was already draping herself over him, arms hanging down over his shoulders while she rested her chin on the collar of his hoodie.

Pike grinned, continuing to focus on his sketch. “Hey Mindie. How’d you know I’d be here?”

Mindie beamed with all her teeth and pulled herself off of him, turning about and hoisting herself onto the art table beside Pike’s work. “Well, it’s pretty easy to find you. You’re always here in the art building. Or in High Tower. Or by the lake—if you’re not eating or sleeping.”

“Maybe I should change my routine up a bit. Be a bit more unpredictable.”

She let out a laugh. “Nah, you’re fine just the way you are. There’s nothing wrong with being predictable.”

“What’s new with you?”

Feeling done sitting on the table, Mindie slipped off the side and onto the stool next to him. Then she spun around in her seat and sprawled out over the tabletop. She heaved an exasperated sigh.

“Nothing. Unless you count Professor DeSanto boring us to death with her latest research of luminescence.”

As Mindie recounted the non-events of Lumi 101, ripples started to wander into the room. They could barely be seen, and most would dismiss them as billowing steam, or the waves of heat radiating from a nearby vent. But for more discerning eyes—for the ones trained to know—these ripples were usually the start of something else…

Pike finished up the last touches of his sketch, then sat more upright in his seat. “Hey, don’t knock my Tita Sheila’s work. It’s not easy stuff, looking into chaos and luminescence.” A bit of his family’s Southeastern mother language slipped, where Tita meant Aunt.

“What’s there to look into?” Mindie sat upright again and erected her chin. She held her forefinger up in matter-of-fact fashion and recited dutifully (if not a little facetiously), “Luminescence gives us the ability to deal with chaotic energy before it can have bad effects on the real world.”

She glanced sidelong at Pike with some expectation. “Isn’t that enough?”

Pike had begun to turn and curve the edge his sketch paper up into a roll. “If it was, I imagine Tita Sheila wouldn’t be obsessing over her research. Also, shouldn’t you be heading home for dinner?”

Mindie stretched slightly, letting her hands clasp behind her head. “Yeah, I guess… Anyway, I haven’t seen a whole lot of chaotic energy making trouble lately. I mean, there was that one incident I stepped in to deal with earlier coming back from downtown, and I’m sure there’s other stuff happening out there. But life’s been pretty quiet for us the past week or so, don’tcha think?”

As if on cue, as soon as Mindie finished speaking, the lights of the room began to flicker. Then, they were completely out. Behind them, the ripples in the air started to become more apparent. Pike finished rolling up his art piece, not even bothering to look over his shoulder. He knew it was there, and, while she was momentarily distracted in surprise, so did Mindie.

He sighed. “You know what we writers call that?”

Mindie turned around to take a look at what was happening behind them. The sun had set, and no more daylight shined inside. In the dark of the room, the ripples looked menacing, as if amassing together in the air into a vaguely discernable cloud.

“A flag. You just raised a flag.”

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