Oorah! Oorah! Oorah!
The frenzied cheers echoed far and wide as the audience clapped and shouted furiously, waiting for the decisive moment of the fight taking place right in front of them.
Their expression were adorned by madness, and their eyes craved for brutality. It was as if humanity had regressed to the ancient times where man fought in coliseums for the entertainment of the masses and nobles.
In the middle of the crazy crowd, a young child watched everything unfold with shining eyes.
He could see a group of ten beasts cowering in fear as a tall and strong figure walked in the arena. At the sight of the person, his heart echoed with the man's name at the same time the crowd chanted it.
"Storm! Storm! Storm!"
The man pumped his fist in the air at the continuous shout, and the chant became even louder and more powerful – almost bursting the young boy's eardrums.
The boy, Verny, did not mind it, though. Instead, he continued to watch attentively, his heart beating madly in his chest as the man spread his arms open and gave a confident smile.
"Die!"
As his voice echoed across the arena, heavens and earth shook and people were forced to close their eyes as hundreds of lightning bolts feel from the skies, crashing violently and brutally against the beasts.
When Verny recovered his ability to see, his already shimmering eyes glowed with even more excitement.
All beasts had been smitten to ashes, not even a trace of their bodies left behind!
Just thinking about it he felt butterflies in his stomach, because this was the sort of power he wanted to get!
Unfortunately for him, he'd soon learn things were not so easy.
--- - -
Scratching the back of his head, Verny looked at the huge screen on the high-rises.
They were currently streaming a battle scene between two evolver – people that had tapped into the power of their bloodlines and transcended the what mere mortals could achieve.
Yes, the Earth of nowadays was completely different from the past, and to some degree, everyone had an awakened bloodline. Not everyone was a capable as an evolver and able to fight against dangerous beasts and alien races, but that was that.
'No, wait.'
Shaking his head, Verny grimaced. Saying that everyone had an awakened bloodline was a lie, because he was the sole exception to that rule.
"Stop dilly dallying and get back to work, now!"
A loud shout brought his attention back to the matter at hand. Sighing heavily, Verny sent one last glance toward the screen before turning to look at the screaming man – namely, his boss.
As a non awakened, it was already a miracle that he could find a job – even if it was just carrying materials around in a construction site. The last thing he wanted was to lose it and put an even greater burden in his family at home.
To be honest, he knew he only landed the job because the boss was his father old acquaintance. At home he was an extra mouth to feed, and here he was an extra hand to pay – completely unnecessary at all.
But if pity was what it took to decrease his parent's burden, then he'd gladly swallow his pride and dreams and accept what came his way.
Leaving that aside, Verny picked a wheelbarrow filled with sand and started to push it toward the inside of the construction site. Despite the technological advancements of the past centuries, such jobs were still left for people to do.
"Slow down boy, or else you will break yer arms."
"Leave the kid alone, you are gonna hurt his feelings!"
As he made his way, Verny could her the disparaging words of his coworkers. Apparently, people gloated in having someone even lower than them, and Verny was the worst of the worst in their eyes – probably the weakest person on Earth.
As the victim, Verny did not even spare them a glance. He had never been one to complain, anyway. And if there was something he could still pride himself in, then it was his resilience and patience.
'Well, it was either getting tough or getting depressed with all the bullying.'
The bad jokes and scorn from the adult men was far better than the stuck up assholes from school. Those guys solved things with their fists and powers, and the school even encouraged them to get wilder.
Just thinking about it made him frown, so he decided to also throw that to the back of his mind and focus solely on his work.
Thinking didn't do any good for people like him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A sudden series of explosions made the ground around Verny quake, almost sending him tumbling to the ground.
Looking up he saw a beam of red light streaking through the skies and almost splitting it in half as it disappeared amidst the clouds.
However, what send his heart into a beating frenzy was the fact that it cut through the construction site and sent several steel bars clashing down toward him.
As if that was not enough, he faintly saw a figure flying in the sky and, shortly after, a heavy explosion echoed through the whole area as a burst of energy exploded in a radius around said person.
'Don't fuck with me...'
Verny smiled awry as the entire construction started to creak and shake, and his eyes opened wide when the entire building started to bend and fall down in his direction.
At that moment, he knew that there was nothing he could do.
An expression of frustration and unwillingness flashed past his eyes at the thought that this was how things would end. There was no way he was willing!
As if being unable to awaken a bloodline was not enough, he would die such a meaningless death – caught in the crossfire of a battle between true evolvers!
With the structure and iron bars crashing against him, Verny felt his body being pierced and destroyed – but that only lasted for a moment, and his consciousness soon sunk into endless darkness.
Just when Verny was losing grasp of reality and his mind was flickering off, a low voice reached his ears.
[Adequate host found, initializing system.]
[Critical damage to the body tissues have been found…]
[Increasing regeneration speed…]
[Shutting down unnecessary functions…]
And just like that, Verny lost all sense of self. Little did he know how many changes he would go through, and what sorts of waves the event of today would usher into the world!
This was the start of a new era – both for Verny, and for the whole universe!