Three students in Stein's class had already disappeared on their sixteenth birthday.
Today, it was his turn.
Most kids locked themselves up, surrounded by their loved ones trembling while baselessly reassuring one another that everything would be okay,
It wasn't unusual for kids to faint, burst into tears, or stop coming to school as their sixteenth birthday drew closer.
Stein wasn't doing any of those pointless, pathetic acts. He wouldn't spend the day in misery.
Stein wasn't like most kids. For one, that morning his room had golden highlights from the trophies and medals on his shelf reflecting off the morning sunlight.
Not a single silver or bronze, they were all golden.
He was terrible at sports though, skinny with weak arms and little muscle. No, these weren't sports medals and trophies.
They were all academia. Stein couldn't remember a time when he wasn't top of his class. He always came out on top of anything he did.
He grabbed his school bag, pausing in front of a mirror. His collarbones stood out beneath his uniform, and his cheeks looked more hollow than he remembered.
He made a mental note to try eating more if he could.
The moment he stepped out of his room, he was hit with the whiff of alcohol. He walked down the stairs finding a man sprawled out on the couch. Dead drunk.
Stein's fist tightened as he strode past his father, not sparing him another glance.
It was one thing having to take care of himself but then to also take care of the person expected to care for him was infuriating.
He pushed the door open, stepping into the streets.
The first thing he noticed were the missing person posters. The streets were literally crawling with them.
The parents of these kids hadn't given up even after several years.
Stein laughed thinking of how his father would give up within a few days.
It was easy not to notice the posters until your sixteenth birthday drew closer. He was so close to having a poster of himself put up there.
Already, three of his classmates had vanished. By the end of this day, he could be the fourth.
It all started nine years ago, a strange phenomenon where some children went missing on their sixteenth birthday, simply vanishing from the earth's surface.
They had tried everything, from underground bunkers to tracking implants and even sending them to space.
All of it was ineffective. Parents could do nothing but blink in disbelief as their children vanished right in front of their eyes.
The government went crazy trying to find all the missing children, or at least prevent more disappearances, to no avail.
Earth had no choice but to move on, with children dreading their sixteenth birthday as roughly five percent of them went missing, never to be found again.
And now it was Stein's turn, what are the odds of being a five percent?
Yet somehow he knew that he would get taken which was why he wasn't too surprised when the world suddenly went dark.
He couldn't see or hear anything. He was suspended in an empty void.
He was nowhere, yet he was everywhere. Stein could feel his consciousness slipping away, his mind going dull.
Was this death?
Would his life end in such an anticlimactic fashion? If he had known he would die this soon, he wouldn't have spent as much time studying.
He would have tried to have more fun, make some friends, play games and maybe have a girlfriend.
He gritted his teeth, "I don't want to die!" Stein shouted into the void hoping something, anything would save him.
As if in response, the darkness vanished and light took its place instead.
Stein was still suspended in the air only this time it was light around him not darkness.
He strained his eyes to look as far as he could in every direction. There was nothing, but light.
The light seemed to be coming from everywhere as he couldn't pinpoint a source.
Was it a lucid dream? No.
While he had perfect control of his body and thoughts, he couldn't make things happen at will, as one could in a lucid dream.
He stared around, looking for something to explain what was going on or give him a clue.
Flickering caught his attention.
Sparks of pure white light sprouted from a spot in space, like fireworks spreading out in blinding brilliance.
Stein jumped back, almost letting out a yelp. The sparks stopped, then began spiraling before coalescing into one brilliant spot.
It expanded in a blinding flash, forcing Stein to shut his eyes and raise a hand over them.
Even through this, the light grew brighter and brighter.
Then, without warning, it vanished.
Stein hesitated, cautiously lowering his arm. There was a woman, if the being could be called that.
She towered over him, her mighty legs hovering in the air. She was about nine feet tall.
That and her floating above him made Stein feel small and insignificant beside her.
It didn't help that she was perfect. Too perfect.
It was as though every other woman he had seen was a terrible, pathetic attempt at creating this.
Her face was flawlessly symmetrical. Every feature seemed to be sized and placed perfectly.
Her skin shone richly, as though it had received the best care and had never once been exposed to harsh conditions.
Her curves were moderate, not too small or too large, just the perfect size.
They didn't draw attention, they simply blended with the rest of her features to create the flawless woman.
She wore a regal white dress that clung to her figure, draping down to the floor.
Something was odd. Stein felt no lust when looking at this woman whose beauty couldn't be described with words.
He thought he should at least be afraid, but his emotions and wants defied logic. There was no fear in his heart. He wasn't nervous.
All he felt was curiosity. He wanted to speak so badly, to ask questions. It took a lot of effort to make himself say nothing.
The woman smiled at him, and Stein thought that if any form of technology could capture her smile, it would be a priceless piece of art.
"Congratulations," she said softly. "You have ascended!"