THE TAMER WHO REWROTE EVOLUTION

Chapter 2

A fire hound had already been summoned for a red-haired girl at the side of the hall. She wasn't even a first-year. She was a second-year student named Kaida Voss, who had been sent to help with the ceremony. Ethan knew her by sight. Everyone did.

Kaida was short and sharp, with copper hair cut close to her head and amber eyes that never stopped moving. Her hound stood beside her with smoke curling from its nostrils, and she kept one hand on its back as if she was proud to be seen with it.

She caught Ethan staring and smirked. "You," she called across the aisle. "First-year. Your uniform is wrinkled."

Ethan looked down. It was secondhand, and it had been wrinkled since the day he got it. "Sorry," he said.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to your beast. It has to stand next to you." Some students snickered.

Darius stepped half a pace in front of Ethan. "Leave him alone, Voss." Kaida's smirk grew. "Oh, he has a bodyguard. How sweet." "I'm not a bodyguard. I'm his friend." "Then you can keep him from embarrassing himself." She tilted her head. "Though honestly, I think the stone will do that for him."

Ethan felt his ears burn. "Ignore her," Darius muttered.

"I'm trying." "Try harder." "Darius Reyes," the Dean called.

Darius sucked in a breath. "That's me." "You'll be fine," Ethan said. "You swear?" "I swear." Darius gave him a quick, nervous nod and walked to the stone. He put his hand on it with a heavy thump, as though he was trying to prove he wasn't scared.

The stone glowed deep green. A squat, muscular boar stepped out, its tusks as thick as Ethan's wrist. It snorted and stamped one foot. "Talent Rank B," the Dean said. "Beast Rank Elite. An Ironhide Boar."

Darius stared at it. Then his whole face broke into a grin so wide that it almost looked painful "Ethan!" he shouted over his shoulder. "Did you see that? An Elite!" "I saw!" Ethan called back, and he meant it. He was happy for his friend. He really was.

But his stomach was twisting tighter. One by one, the names ahead of him disappeared. His knee started bouncing again, and this time he didn't stop it. "Ethan Cole," said the Dean. The hall went quiet in a strange way. It wasn't respectful. It was the kind of quiet people use when they want to hear something embarrassing.

Ethan walked forward. His shoes squeaked on the polished floor. Every step felt long. He stopped in front of the Resonance Stone. Up close, it was bigger than he expected. It hummed faintly, like a sleeping animal.

"Take your time," the Dean said, softer than before.

"Thank you, ma'am."

He raised his hand. His fingers were trembling. Please, he thought. Please. Just give me something. Anything. He pressed his palm against the stone. Nothing happened.

He waited. The hum stayed quiet. Someone behind him coughed.

Then, very slowly, the stone flickered. It was not a bright flash like Sera's, or a warm glow like Darius's. It was a thin gray light, weak and shaky, like a candle in a strong wind. It flickered once. Twice. Then it dimmed. The Dean stared at her screen. She frowned and tapped it with one finger.

"That's strange," she said.

"What is it?" Ethan asked. "The reading doesn't match any rank on the scale." She tapped again. "It says... F-Null."

A murmur rolled across the hall. "What does Null mean?" a boy whispered. "It means below F." "There's a F below?"

"Apparently now there is."

Ethan's mouth had gone dry. "Dean Okoye, I don't understand. Is that bad?" The Dean hesitated. She looked like someone who didn't want to say the truth out loud.

"It means," she said carefully, "that the stone could barely measure your talent at all."

The laughter started at the back of the hall. It was small at first, just one or two students. Then it spread, rippling forward like water. "F-Null!" "Is that even a real rank?"

"Maybe he's broken!" Ethan's face burned. He kept his hand on the stone because he didn't know what else to do.

Then he felt something tickle his wrist. He looked down.

A tiny moth had landed there.

It was the smallest creature Ethan had ever seen.

Its body was no bigger than a coin. Its wings were a dull, dusty gray, speckled with dark spots that looked like burn marks. Its antennae twitched, and it tilted its head up at him with two round black eyes. The moth fluttered once and then tumbled sideways off his wrist.

Ethan caught it in both hands before it hit the floor."Whoa," he whispered. "Careful." The moth sat in his palms, breathing fast. It was warm, almost like holding a tiny ember. "Beast Rank Trash," the Dean read quietly. "A Cinder Moth." The hall went silent for exactly one second.

Then it exploded. "A moth!" "He got a moth!"

"A Trash moth!" Laughter rolled across the room like thunder. Some students were doubled over. Others pointed. A boy in the back row actually fell off his chair.

Ethan didn't hear the details. He just heard a roar of noise, like standing under a waterfall.

"That's enough!" the Dean snapped, banging her staff. "All of you, quiet! This is a ceremony, not a circus!" It helped a little. The laughter dropped to whispers, but the whispers were worse. "Poor guy." "His dad was the coward, right?"

"Looks like it runs in the family."