The world is corrupted, beyond belief, not corrupt in the figurative sense of political parties or corrupt politicians getting away with scandals or deeds that are enough to put a man in jail for life, no, it was something else. The world is quite literally corrupt, with something unnatural that plagues the world, bringing about the destruction of many lives by infecting people. No one knows when this thing appeared first in the world, but it was eventually dubbed the 'miasma' by those who knew of its existence, with those who knew of its existence knowing of its effects on people, causing them to change.
The miasma was an intangible thing that would speed up their progression to death's door once it had successfully invaded a person. It would not shorten their life span or take their life, no, that would be too easy on those infected, the person will act abnormally to their current behavior to the point that the deviation becomes violent. The person dies eventually as a result of their actions or by taking it into their own hands. However, death is only for the lucky ones, as some who were already messed up will change into something different. Monsters born from the miasma of those unlucky to be released to the embrace of death end up changing into some abomination, creating more masima to increase those infected.
As a result of its existence, a bit of good came from it, as naturally there would always be some good to combat the bad, which came in the form of essence. Essence was a counter to most of the tricks of the masima, but it was not omnipotent, and this essence was only discovered a few years after the appearance of the masima, so it had the advantage. Still, though, not that many people knew about it through the manipulation of media across the globe, through blaming the deaths on natural causes or making the people out to be addicts or emotionally unstable, so that they took themselves out on their own terms.
Statistics from world governments found that mostly males were affected by miasma, while females were the ones who gained access to the use of the essence. There were a few cases of one or the other gender being affected by these substances, but they were indeed rare for some reason, with some theories circulating about why people changed due to the substances. The theory was that miasma affected males mainly as a result of their high testosterone and hormones, which made them easier targets of the miasma. In contrast, it was the complete opposite for females, who had high levels of estrogen hormones. This theory had no real scientific findings. After all, how can someone discover anything about something intangible? So, all that was stated were theories on both of them.
Both essence and miasma seemed to be two sides of a coin, but each had different effects on whoever was affected. Masima changed the physical bodies of those unlucky individuals, and a few could develop the powers that came with the change. Essence was different in that it created no physical change but could instead be used to strengthen one's body and resist some of the miasma's effects to a degree. One fact was that the essence in someone's body could be increased steadily through training and tempering it through various methods, which miasma could not, thus limiting the growth of miasma-infected individuals.
That is the general understanding of this world, and while there is much more to explore and discover, it will not be revealed now. So, let us move on with our story.
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[Location: Los Angeles (The city of angels)]
It was a regular day here in the city of angels with the traffic being the usual hell that it is, with people going about their business in the early morning whether it be moving around through the busy streets or going up elevators to their floor in the massive skyscrapers of the city that look down on the people below. However, everything was not as it seemed in this city. In an alley further away from the bustling city, two people were standing at the entrance of this unnaturally dark alleyway.
Two females with almost unnatural beauty were wearing uniforms that hugged every curve of their bodies, making them stand out.
These two were each equipped with medieval-looking shortswords that were drawn and pointed down the alleyway. They were on guard against something within the alley that prompted them to draw forth their essence from their bodies to strengthen them and cause them to glow slightly with their swords.
"Well... well... well... what beautiful specimens we have here..." A hoarse voice from within the alley calls out
The darkness advances as if it has a mind of its own, with the two at the end of the alley getting scared and attempting to retreat. The two of them cannot deal with this creature of shadow, as they had recently begun to utilize their essence. Trying to retreat was pointless, though, as they were soon easily caught by ropes of shadow and dragged into the alley, with their fates sealed and remaining a mystery.
Moving away from the city angels to a home in Trousdale Estates neighborhood home to many famous actors and people in Beverly Hills that held a lovely family consisting of a husband and wife couple with their two elder daughters and youngest son they both were going about their day with their son moving about the million-dollar home in search of his school supplies for the day in the early morning. All was well with this family getting ready for the day before each departed, respectively, with their father being a film director in Hollywood and their mother being a famous designer for a variety of works that made some crumbling clothing brands become famous and wealthy overnight. Both of them met in one of the movies they were working on, and as a result, they hit it off, eventually marrying and having two beautiful daughters.
Their son was an unexpected joy that had entered their life, at least that was what their parents said whenever the boy asked them why they looked weirdly at him sometimes. Still though as he grew up he began to see that it was only a fabricated li,e to make themselves out not to be monsters to him that never wanted a son in the first place since their daughters were going to receive everything they needed and when he came along it just complicated things further than necessary for them in many aspects. So his parents did not give him much attention as a growing boy, thus leading him to find someone to look up to, which happened to fall upon his sisters, who adored him. Thanks to them, the boy's life was better with his sisters teaching him many things, helping him learn right from wrong, and guiding him as best as possible with what they could.
Continuing on, the boy had found what he was looking for in one of his sister's rooms, left on their desk from the night before, from when they were helping him with homework for school and making sure that he was understanding the curriculum that was being taught nowadays in schools. Their dad would drive to work in the morning at the production studios to handle various tasks to ensure that whatever movie he was working on would be released on time, or that they would use the budget wisely. Meanwhile, their mother would drive their daughters to school before heading wherever she was needed for her job. That left their son to get to school... by himself... at 12 years old.
Still, it was not as bad as it had been made out to seem since his school was relatively public, not far from their home, so he tended to walk there and back since he would rather not waste his funds. He did not work since he was not of the legal age to work, so his sisters were kind enough to split their allowances to give him to use every two months to avoid the suspicions of their parents. So with that, he could pay for the items he needed to use, such as new clothes, transportation, and sometimes gifts for his family (yes, even his parents).
The boy made the hour-long walk to his elementary school in the early morning as usual passing by the familiar places and streets along the way. Even though he was young many people out of the Trousdale Estates area knew of him and how much his parents paid little attention through conversing with him or just seeing that he does this every morning, leading to the local people to try and help him as much as possible to help the sweet child as much as possible. Such kindness would not go unnoticed in the future, as the boy promised to help them once he had the means.
Still as to why this was brought to the attention of any authority in the city was because the child parents were not so negligent as to leave him all alone so he was given a bottle of pepper spray after being told the basics of how to use it as well as a contract stating the parents had some people watching over the child whenever going to or from school. That was a lie, and everyone who found out knew that, but what could they do, as they were just some regular people, whereas the boy's parents had connections with many influential people around the globe who could help them. Even then, though the boy asked people not to make a big deal about it, he said he did not mind that he was given this type of freedom and privilege. People just kept quiet because they could not do anything about it. They decided to make sure that the boy was safe, which led to people in the surrounding neighborhood of the Trousdale Estates viewing the boy as their responsibility until he grew old enough to provide for himself.
The day went by as usual with the boy going to school and arriving on time to his class, not standing out too much in class during lectures nor hiding, like some do, working hard to keep his grades at a solid A during the day and making sure to complete his homework as quickly as possible to have time once school was done. School ends, and the boy would head to the neighborhoods around his own since he was told not to return until two hours after school ends, since his parents said that they would be too busy to look after him, while his sisters would usually still be in school at this time. So, typically, he would kill time helping in the surrounding neighborhoods, ensuring their kindness was returned as best as possible by helping with different things the people were doing. They were all glad for the help, and as a result, the boy built connections with the people and got to see the perspectives of 'normal people'.
Eventually, he returns with his sisters, greeting him as usual at the door and asking how things were at school, with him telling them what had transpired throughout the day. Then dinner would happen, and he would be ignored. At the same time, his sisters would take the limelight at every family meal, resulting in him being ignored by everyone, so he would usually eat some food, leave the table, clean his dishes, and head to his room, where he would spend the evening exploring the internet, intending to learn about something new.
School was interesting and all, but it was difficult to become engaged in the subjects they taught since they were oriented in making sure that the children would learn only the basic subject material that the government deemed as necessary for the workforce and so as a result the urge to find something else to take up his time came. He often searched the internet to devour new knowledge and fully understand it. That was his hobby and pastime, which no one in his family knew about, not even his sisters, so he grew a strong mentality and sense of reason for the natural world, all thanks to the internet.
He still pretended to struggle with subjects in class, to spend time with his sisters, and to make them feel appreciated, as they had been doing so much for him since his birth.
The next day, however, would change everything...