A frail-looking young man with pale skin and obsidian colored hair and pale blue eyes that closely resembled the ocean was sitting down on top of a mid-sized building that looked like it had been abandoned for years while looking down with deep thought reflected in his beautiful blue eyes, usually he would be working his ass off to make ends meet but now Kou decided to simply look at the scenery today not that there was anything beautiful here in the slums.
But why would he care, his somewhat normal life or possibly life in general would soon come to an end.
Closing his eyes and feeling the wind pass by him, Kou sighed and opened them once again, Kou then uttered one word "Status" he said with a hint regret lingering in his voice. Shimmering runes suddenly appeared in front of him in a language he normally wouldn't be able to understand but he somehow understood the meaning of the strange runes. Kou's eyes soon landed on the engravings describing his information and deeply sighed.
***
Name: Kou
Rank:0
Items: -
Contracts: -
Attributes: [Stigma], [Sensitivity], [Spark]
Kou's eyes lingered on the previous set of runes before looking under them.
Divine Gift: - None
'Normally obtaining access to the runes without a divine gift or a rank is unheard of but there was something else bothering me at this current moment. What was bothering me was one of my attributes, [Stigma].' Squinting my eyes and staring at the runes showing my attribute the runes changed, going into more detail about the attribute.
[Stigma] Attribute Description: "You bear the Mark of Disgrace and may draw power from it as it will draw power from you, when you grow the [Stigma] will grow with you."
Stigma Abilities: [Locked] [Locked] [Locked] [Locked]
Kou let a loud groan as he slammed his fist against the rough ground of the building "Damn me and my shitty luck" Kou cried out.
***
3 Weeks Earlier:
A frail-looking youth with pale skin and blue eyes that closely resembled the ocean was carrying a box 2 times his own height through a rough looking warehouse and groaning loudly.
A rough looking middle-aged man that seemed no younger than forty with dirt blonde hair and yellow eyes that complimented his beard quite nicely called out to the youth " Hey! Kou you better hurry up, or our employers will see you as deadweight and fire you again" the rough looking man said with a smirk on his face.
Kou instantly responded without looking at the rough looking man and rolled his eyes "Fuck off Gilliard" He continued to carry the boxes towards one of the multiple cargo trucks in the distance with an irritated look on his face as he thought to himself 'Gilliard is one of the people I've known the longest in the slums, although I wouldn't call him a friend since we have only met on accident or while on jobs which wasn't surprising considering everyone in the slums was looking for work in any field.'
'Gilliard is one of the few people I know in the slums who doesn't partake in dirty jobs such as murder, human trafficking or any other nefarious deeds, but what I find strange about him is that he's an awakened, although he's only a rank 1. But even that's more than enough to crush me like a bug.' Finally placing the boxes into the cargo truck, I sighed with a sense of relief before walking to pick up another box.
Throwing me out of my thoughts was the sound of Gilliard's deep voice echoing throughout the warehouse "You ever wonder what is inside these boxes we're carrying?" I placed my hand on my chin and pretended to be in deep thought 'Honestly, I don't care about whatever the hell is in these boxes in fact I'd rather not ever know if I could help it.'
Ignoring the other workers shitty attempts at eavesdropping I responded to his question with a question of my own "Why the hell should I care what's in the boxes I'd rather not think about that and finish this job and go to sleep"
Gilliard laughed obnoxiously enough that one of our employers heard him and spoke up with a haughty look on his face "Shut the hell up and get back to work dumbasses" The employer with a haughty look on his face froze once he realized that the one who was laughing was Gilliard and quickly tried to act like he was speaking to someone else.
My lips curved into a slight smile as I said, "Gilliard it seems that even our employers are scared of you what they hell did you do?", Gilliard quickly tried to respond to what I said but then he looked at our other employers who quickly shifted their heads away from his gaze.
Gilliard sighed as he hurried to pick up another one of the boxes and said "Hey, Kou I've been meaning to ask you something for a while now" Moving another extremely heavy box I looked at Gilliard with a confused look on my face, though it started to look rather comical as my face also grimaced from the weight of the box.
Noticing this strange look on my face and ignoring it Gilliard said "Do you have any family or friends? I've always seen you alone."
Continuing to carry the boxes despite the pain I said with a hint of sorrow lingering in my voice "My mother died from overworking herself and my father died due to heart problems. Taking a short pause, I continued "I had an older sister, but my parents were obviously struggling to raise a kid and decided to put her up for adoption before I was born, they died when I turned 13"
Gilliard simply looked at me and for a moment his face flashed with pity though it left his face as fast as it came. He then tried to change the subject "Hey have you seen the news?" I looked at Gilliard with a strange expression on my face and said, "What makes you think I watch the news?"
I finished putting the box I had into the cargo truck. I then heavily sighed and thought 'Finally I get a damn break, is the money even worth it at this po-' cutting me off was Gilliard's deep voice ignoring my attitude and explaining what was on the news "You should know about those Stigma wielders right? well probably not but they have these crazy runes on their bodies that kinda look like tattoos they apparently grant them special skills or powers"
Trying to fathom what the hell he was saying I thought to myself 'I barely know much about awakened and now he's trying to say there are people with magical tattoos now?' "Is probably what you're thinking right?" Gilliard said with a teasing smile on his face which suddenly made me think that he was a mind reader.
Gilliard then said with a smile on his face " And no I'm not a damn mind reader your face is just giving it all away dumbass." Touching my face to try and understand what he was talking about I asked, " So what about these "Stigma" wielders?"
Gilliard then looked at me with a slightly serious expression and said with a hint of solemness in his deep voice "Apparently they are being banned worldwide."
I looked at him with a baffled expression and asked, "For what?" Gilliard quickly responded with the serious look being replaced by a smirk "Well you barely understand what awakened are, so I'll try to explain it to the best of my ability." I looked at him with a irritated expression on my face and thought to myself 'it kinda feels like he's trying to call me stupid.'
Gilliard then continued "Awakened are made by being chosen by Divine Beings then he took a brief pause then continued "Gods or legendary figures who's achievements were acknowledged in history find people to bestow a part of their power to also known as divine gifts, and with this they gain access to an energy source known as "essence" and access to the runes or system as certain people refer to it as and that's how awakened are created.
After being chosen and becoming an awakened they automatically become rank 1."
Taking a few moments to think about what he said I asked, "So it's that simple to become an awakened?"
Gilliard shook his head before saying, "Before you become an awakened and gain abilities of the Divine Beings, they give you a trial to complete."
I then curiously asked "A trial? what kind of trial?"
Gilliard hesitated for a bit then answered my question while scratching his beard "The trials depend on that certain divine being, some involve finding an item or making something, others even have you go into those divine being's memories and find a way to resolve a certain event in the past"
Gilliard continued "The most common of them all is going into the Divine beings' memories to try and resolve an event in their past." Gilliard watched as Kou fell deep into thought.
I then asked curiously, "What happens if you fail the trial given to you?" Gilliard responded with a unknown emotion hidden within his deep voice "It's simple really, you die."
Ignoring the unknown emotion lingering in his voice I thought to myself 'I understood everything he said but what I didn't understand is what this had to do with these "Stigma Wielders".'
In the end I just decided to directly ask Gilliard "So what does that have to do with those "Stigma Wielders" you mentioned?" I asked with a hint curiosity in my voice Gilliard looked at me with a complicated expression for a moment then decided to answer my question " You should know that divine gifts have a limit." he said with a tone of unusual seriousness.
I again couldn't understand what the hell he was trying to say, "What does he mean by limit?" I quietly muttered with a look of utter confusion on my face.
Gilliard somehow heard this and sighed and then he replied "The Divine beings only give portions of their powers or certain features of their powers to awakened so that they can maintain most of their power. The only time they ever give up all their power to their contracted awakened is when the Divine beings are on the verge of death."
Taking a long pause before continuing Gilliard said "The awakened aren't strong enough to fully utilize the power given to them by the Divine beings at rank 1. So, they gain more and more control over the ability given to them as they climb higher in the ranks.
But there is eventually a limit to how strong an awakened can get and the reason for that limit is due to the Divine beings not giving them all their power. The limit varies depending on which Divine being you made a contract with."
Before Gillard could speak again I interrupted by asking "Again what does this have to do with Stigma users?" I said with a slightly irritated look on my face.
Gillard then deeply sighed and took a cigarette from his back pocket and made a small flame by snapping his fingers and lit it up. Finally answering my question before taking a puff Gilliard said "Fine ill just get to the point, Stigma users use their own power and don't borrow any power from the Divine beings therefore, they have no actual limit. And that is also why the Divine Beings fear them."
***