As the morning sun rose, warmly shedding its rays all around the world, it reached this large bedroom, disturbing a soundly sleeping boy
"V!"
Indeed, his name was a unique one, holding just one character, which revealed his one-sided, blunt nature immediately he turned to the opposite side to avoid the sunlight hitting his face, but instantly he was greeted with a loud noise from his alarm.
Bzzz! Bzzzzzbzzzzbzzz!
"Wake up, you weirdo! Your dreams have come..."
"Shut the hell up!"
V was trying to remain in the blissful embrace of sleep as he hissed through his teeth and stubbornly closed his eyes tighter. Pulling the blanket over himself, he was warm and comfortable underneath, where all the history, pain, suffering, overthinking all the problems of the world seemed less serious and depressing
For a second, there was silence.
"It's better..."
Bzzzzzbzzzzzzbzzz!
"Wake up, you weirdo! Your dreams..."
'Goddammit!'
Thrusting one arm from under the blanket, V grabbed the alarm and turned it off, still cursing it and the alarm did fall silent, but it was already too late he was awake.
After giving a loud sigh under his blanket and opening his eyes, V sat up and looked around his bedroom. It was spacious and beautiful, with large windows that let in plenty of natural light. A king-sized bed with crisp white linens sat in the center, flanked by sleek nightstands and softly glowing lamps. The walls were painted in calming neutral tones overall, it looked beautiful, but it had the same emptiness as V.
V didn't mind it in fact, this was one of the features of his life that he enjoyed the most now. Emptiness had become his best friend. After spending one whole year in an empty house, he had grown more accustomed to that emptiness than to humans
Yawning, he stood up and rubbed his face to chase away the last remnants of sleep. His long, dark hair was getting in the way, so he moved it back.
After getting up, the first thing he saw was the big clock hanging high on the wall.
"Shit... shit... shit... shit... you—you shithead, you just had one job, you bastard!" Again cursing that alarm which was lying on his bed innocently, he rushed into the bathroom and splashed water on his face without even checking if it was warm or not. He didn't even bother fixing his hair, just ran his fingers through it a couple of times and called it done.
As for his clothes, it was a neat outfit anyway. Neatness didn't matter nothing really mattered today. After all, his life was coming to an end!
Sitting at his dining table, V pampered himself with fresh meat and sweet music. After having just a few bites of meat, a loud ring of the bell resonated in his empty house, disturbing his little enjoyable moment.
"Ah! So good it melts like candy!" he would say that even if it was a little burnt, or most of it was burnt. Wiping the corner of his mouth, he gave an intense look to his plate. V sighed and forced himself to push his plate aside, standing up with a heavy sigh.
Cursing the bell ringer with a bitter expression on his face, he came to the front door of his house and stood there staring at the handle like it was some kind of bad news. Exactly the ringing of that bell was indeed bad news. His pale hand touched the cold metal, and he could see the trembling of his own hands. Then suddenly he slapped himself in the face.
"Curse you all!" Again cursing them, he opened the door with a loud thud!
Outside, three healthy-looking officers gave him a quick glance, and again and again they continued to stare at him with obvious disbelief in their eyes. They paused to study him. The boy they were staring at looked like something out of a dark fairy tale. He had pale skin that resembled white snow in the sunlight, contrasting starkly with his hair as black as the darkest night and his eyes, which could truly unsettle people deep, dark pools of darkness.
Beautiful, yes! He was indeed beautiful.
"Great," he muttered under his breath. "I must be looking like a vampire to be getting stared at by them this intensely!" With a disappointed nod, he turned his head and looked around, just to get stared at by them more intensely. After a moment, all three of them cleared their throats.
"Uh, is this house no. 2777?"
"Uh, yes!"
V found it a little awkward, then he scratched the back of his head and added
"I have called for the watchers as per the call! I am being called by the Trial of Shinzira!"
The officers' expressions instantly changed. The disbelief in their eyes reached their faces, and in just seconds it turned to wariness. They all moved closer to the young boy and asked with cold, intense voices
"We ask again—are you... playing any stupid pranks on us? If so, then—"
Before they could warn him any further, V had started to undo his shirt buttons. After a few seconds, he pulled his shirt down a little, revealing an abstract black ink design resembling a ring-like shape. It had an uneven and organic form with dynamic splatters and brushstroke effects extending outward like chaotic flames, and the dark colour seemed to drip downward from the bottom of the ring. The ring itself was incomplete and rough-edged, but it was beautifully placed in the middle of his chest.
Looking at that abstract ring, all three of them asked in unison
"When did it start to appear?"
V shrugged with a grin "A month ago, I guess?"
At his words, all three of the officers became visibly paler, with a little sweat on their foreheads. The mark was proof of being called by the Trial of Shinzira!
"Crap!"
Then, with a hurried motion, all three of them reached for their walkie-talkies.
"Attention—attention! We need backup with instruments—I repeat! We need backup with instruments. The process of Inborn can begin at any time—I REPEAT!"
---
The Trial of Shinzira first came to be known after the sudden change of the moon a total of 30 years ago. Back then, the world was just a peaceful playground for children, but after the sudden change in the moon's and it's rays, millions of people started to complain about the constant feeling of something crawling inside them.
But this simple thing did not attract much attention from this cruel world. But when they suddenly started to die and monsters crawled out of their dead bodies, governments finally panicked. But by then it was already too late... so late even to regret.
These creatures in no time overwhelmed national militaries, dragging the peaceful playground into complete chaos.
In the end, no one knew what caused these large creatures to be born in the little bodies of men and how they could fight them. After a whole month of chaos, scientists finally came to know the reason behind these creatures being born!
It was our little moon and its rays—the cause of it all. The rays the moon was shedding all around the world led to unknown parasites being born. These parasites targeted specific hosts and fed on their soul from inside, until they had reached the 'Oborn.'
Oborn is a stage where parasites had completely devoured their host's soul.
And finally, when they crawled out of these men by tearing their flesh apart, the parasites came out in the form of mindless monsters. Each parasite had its own different characteristics and appearance—some 10 meters tall, some 50 meters, and some even as large as small mountains, and some even larger.
But... the same moon and its rays had humanity's answer all along, called "Inborn!"
Inborn were specific individuals chosen by the moon's rays itself for a trial called Shinzira!
After getting hit by moon rays, few individuals started to go through unique transformations. After a month, that transformation was called 'Inborn.'
Inborn, on their first trial, produced a large egg shell around them and get trapped inside it. And when they get trapped inside it, they start their first trial called "Shinzira."
If they passed, they could move to the next trial while owning a Frame.
But if they failed to pass their first trial, they would come out of their egg as mindless monsters called "moon creatures." But instead, if they passed their first trial, they could remain human with much better physique and strength while owning a "Frame!"
Those who survived the first trials given by moon rays and came back alive with miraculous abilities with their Frame earned in their trial those were the ones who could put a stop to all these creature rampages. They could create a new society of peace.
But as for V, he really never cared about others. After all, it had been 30 years since it all started, so many things had changed. Even the number of Inborn mattered the larger the number of Inborn a country had, the more it would govern other smaller countries with ease. None of this had concerned him even a little.
V was always the type of lazy guy who just wanted to sleep peacefully and eat plenty, but getting called by the Trial of Shinzira was something he had never expected.
---
A few minutes later, V was staring at them with confusion-filled eyes as they were circling around him after making him sit on the cold floor. A minute passed they continued their little rotation. Ten minutes passed they continued. One hour passed they continued their rotation.
Then, as the next hour was about to pass, V continued staring at them for this whole two hours. After the first hour, he dozed off quite a few times, but then as the second hour was about to pass, he dozed again and then slapped himself in the face to wake himself up.
"Uh!... Can you bring me the juice from my freezer?"
All three of them stared at him with intense eyes for a while, then one of them turned back and stared at the freezer, then back at V. As he turned back and began to head towards the freezer, the bell rang suddenly
Tringgg... tringgg... tringg!
"Curse it! Curse it all! Those psycho bastards have to do it right now!"
The officer who was heading towards the freezer turned midway and started walking towards the front door of V's house. Opening the door, three more officers made their way inside V's house. One of them was holding a black suitcase.
"What took you so long!" the bystander asked from beside V. An officer with long brown hair replied
"There was a similar case of Inborn on our way here."
The other officers who had just entered his home were standing near him with the same disbelief in their eyes.
"Aha, vampire, hah!" V slowly muttered to himself.
The other officers who had just entered his house one had a sword, one had a spear, and one had a gun all with grim expressions on their faces. None of this concerned V that much. The only thing he was thinking about was that he couldn't drink that juice! because of these stupid officers.
Then from the back, a middle-aged man wearing a leather long jacket with scars all over his face started to walk in. After looking around the house, he turned to V
"What's your name, kid?"
V looked around his house while, scratching the back of his head, asked
"Can I get that juice that I mentioned before?"
At his words, the middle-aged man turned to one of the officers and looked at him without a word. The officer who had opened the door for those new officers got V his juice. After drinking it, he looked at them with a grin.
"V! My name is V "
"Huh... 'V'!" That middle-aged man seemed a little confused, as if he was doubting his hearing strength, but after V nodded with yes, the middle-aged man smiled a little.
"'V'... what a strange name "
"Indeed, I do find it strange." After giving a loud burp, V added
"Hmm... about the meat on my dining table, can I eat it before we start?"
For a second, there was a dark look on the officer's face, then their expression turned serious
"Alright, V." Saying that, he got that meat which was resting on the dining table. Looking at the meat which was burnt for the most part anyway, V started his meal once again, taking bite after bite. The middle-aged man sighed and asked with a serious tone
"How much do you know about the trials of Shinzira?"
V gave him a questioning look with his mouth filled with meat, then he continued his little meal. After a few bites, he said
"Agfusu fhadu ghdd gkmmg?"
"What?"
V gulped his meat and added
"As much as anyone who doesn't know about those trials of Shinzira?"
The middle-aged man seemed completely frustrated and said in a frustrated voice
"Can you stop eating for a second!"
"Huh?" V was really surprised by that. It was his last day, but he couldn't even eat as he wished. Giving an intense stare to his plate again and again, he pushed his plate aside and sighed heavily
The middle-aged man waited for a second, then nodded and continued
"I am not talking about what you see in movies and hear in broadcasts! I mean, how much do you really know about these trials?"
V found it hard to answer. After thinking for a second:
"Uh I just have to kill a few monsters in the lands of Shinzira in order to complete my first trial and awaken as Inborn, owning my 'Frame.'"
All seven of them agreed with his statement, nodding their heads.
"It's easy, I know, but listen carefully, V," the middle-aged man said.
"Once you start to form shells all around you until the egg completely traps you inside, and after getting trapped inside, you will start your first trial of Shinzira immediately. The trials of Shinzira are given by the rays of the moon. Once you enter your first trial, you will meet monsters, people, and even different species. But you have to remember—"
"I know, I know, I have heard it plenty of times! They're just illusions created by rays to test me," V said with a grin.
The middle-aged man just stared at him for a while and continued
"The first trial of Shinzira is always linked to your own 'Frame.' After all, the rays set up your first trials to have you own your 'Frame.'"
Then, moving on, the middle-aged man stretched his hand to the one who was holding that black suitcase. Grabbing its handle, he opened that suitcase, revealing a black metal torch with some weird patterns.
Turning to V, he stared at him for a moment.
"Do you know what this is?"
V instantly replied
"It's a Nel torch which contains the 'rays of night moon.'" Saying that, he shrugged.
"Uh—you know most of it, huh!... Then let's get started with it!"
"What?..."
So suddenly, the middle-aged man turned on the torch, pointing it at V's face. The torch's light hit V's face and instantly, nausea crashed over him like thunder. His vision blurred as he tried to gasp for more air.
"What the hell—" he gasped, but the words died as his skin began to change.
It began with a strange warmth spreading through his body as a thick, clear liquid oozed from his skin, coating him in a sticky, embryonic gel.
The substance clung to him, pooling around his feet, then rising, swallowing him inch by inch. As he tried to move, the more he struggled, the more it thickened, suspending him in its center like something unborn.
"What's happening to me?" V somehow managed to bring his voice out, but it was already becoming muffled as the shell covered more of his body with each second.
Then came the second layer without any rest a thin, rubbery membrane stretched tight around the fluid, sealing him inside, hugging his every contour. He gasped, but the air grew thin
"Don't die on us, V! Please do us a favor and don't die!"
And finally, the outer shell began to harden, starting as a soft crust before solidifying into a purple, bone-like casing with glowing glowing purple lines over it. Cracks of light vanished as the shell closed completely, muffling sound and sight. Now it had fully erased everything.
'What?'
That was his last question and last thought. V finally slipped into a deep slumber as everything became black. And then, in the darkness, a loud unfamiliar voice rang once, loud and clear
" [Seeker! Land of Shinzira welcomes you for your FIRST TRIAL OF SHINZIRA!] "