Chapter 1
"And last but not least… Adam, three points."
Mr. Wilson announced. The class erupted in laughter upon hearing Adam's test results, and all heads turned to stare at the dark-haired, fail-looking boy at the back of the class.
Adam kept his head buried in his open book, trying to hide from all the embarrassment.
"Ugh, pathetic. He seriously got only three points out of a hundred?" a boy sitting next to him said.
"Oh, come on, it's Adam we're talking about here. Don't tell me you actually expected him to do better. He's been at the bottom of the class for centuries," another girl replied.
"All right, that's enough, everyone. It's not nice to mock your classmates like that," Mr. Wilson chimed in.
"I advise you all to work hard ok, I know most of you are aspiring pro Reapers and I believe that you can all achieve your dreams" The teacher smiled
"Pff, not everyone" one student laughed, turning his head back to look at Adam. Everyone started laughing again after hearing the comment
'Ooh, I give up' the teacher thought
The teacher's right arm then started to stretch unnaturally. It extended over everyone in the classroom and straight to Adam's seat as he dropped the test sheet on his desk before retracting back.
Adam stared at it in embarrassment — the big red 3 circled on the page, and the massive F next to it.
***
About 50 years ago, the world had nearly fallen. From out of the blue, malevolent Ghosts started to pour into the world. Their bodies radiated an unnatural aura, some even possessed strange abilities. They killed and destroyed anything and everything that was in their path, not showing mercy to anyone.
Humanity tried to fight back, but all their efforts were in vain. Bullets and tanks couldn't affect them. Each attack would completely case through their bodies like it was nothing.
Governments collapsed, Nations fell, everything was through at them, but nothin was able tk harm them
Until
They appeared
All of a sudden, Humans started to manifest strange abilities. Flight, the ability to control elements, the possibilities were endless, and withing a year, over 85 percent of the human population had awaken some sort of ability, later called curse factors.
Just like that, humanity had a edge, a chance to fight back
Those who had awakened their abilities fought back. It didn't matter whether your curse factor was strong or not, everyone was fighting, and they were now humanities last hope at stopping these treturous ghosts. Many lives were lost, but mankind was still able to hold its own amidst those dark times.
Till this day, humanity and ghosts are still at war and the brave ones who help battle these ghosts have been cowned the name…Reapers.
Overtime, various schools were established specifically for those who had awakened their curse factors. They were taught, trained, and groomed on how to utilize their abilities and how to fight ghosts in the real world
***
Riiiinng!!
There's nothing more amusing to a student than the sound of the school bell ringing through the halls, signaling the end of the school day.
Some students went home in groups, chatting and laughing, whereas a certain someone who didn't have any friends walked home all by himself.
"Make sure you don't get run over in the streets, you dumb nerd!" a voice called out from behind, causing Adam to
Adam had always been titled the loser of the class. Everyone else in his class had a Curse Factors. But unfortunately for him, he was the only one who hadn't manifested any.
Usually, people manifested their Curse Factors between the ages of nine and twelve — in rare cases, thirteen. After Adam crossed that age, all hope of him ever awakening one was washed down the drain, and his dreams were crushed.
Every time students played sports during break, nobody wanted Adam on their team. He was seen as a liability — someone who would only bring bad luck.
Once, he had helped a girl pick up her dropped books, only for her to refuse to take them back because Adam had touched them.
"What I'd give to be normal…" Adam sighed as he walked along the sidewalk.
As he was walking, people intentionally avoided him, not wanting to get anywhere near him — almost as if he was infected with a disease.
Adam didn't mind, though. He had gotten used to
it.
Not having a curse factor in this era wasn't something new, but with nearly 90 percent of making possessing one, it was extremely rare for someone to not have a curse factor.
It didn't take long for Adam to get home. He lived in a small, two-story apartment with his mom and little brother.
His mom worked as a cleaner in a local restaurant and Jimmy attended a primary school not far from their moms workplace so his mom would usilually pick him up from school after work
The paint on the walls were cracked, revealing the bricks underneath. This wasn't much, but it was their home
Opening the door, Adam was startled as a little boy jumped on him with a big hug.
"BIG BROOO!" the boy yelled enthusiastically.
"Oh, hey Jimmy. How was school?" Adam asked.
Jimmy's expression quickly changed as he noticed Adam's scorched clothing.
"Whoa, what happened, brother? Did you get chased by a fire? Your uniform's all ruined!" Jimmy asked with a concerned tone in his voice
That was when Adam heard his mom's voice call from the kitchen.
"Oh, welcome home, son! You hungry? Dinner will be ready in a few minutes!"
"Damn… my clothes," Adam muttered. He immediately stormed into his room to change.
He slammed the door shut to make sure nobody could see him. He'd been wearing this uniform for so long and didn't want his mom to see how badly it was damaged. He knew she couldn't afford another one, so he'd have to fix it somehow.
He was already aware of how much they were struggling financially, and he didn't want to burden her with something like buying him new clothes.
Adam then took out the phone from his pocket — a small, battered phone with most of the keypad missing. He was even surprised he'd managed to use it for so many years.
He glanced at the text message glowing faintly on the cracked screen:
"1 A.M. Don't be late."
Adam sighed as he stared at the message in silence. He knew who had sent the message., and he knew it was now or never
'Dont worry mom, I'm going to change everything soon'