City hospital, in the middle of the city. There is this city hospital that is specialized for pregnancy, and more than one child is born every few minutes. It is a 12-story building, with the top floor reserved for VIPs.
With a click, a door opens on the top floor and a nurse comes out.
"Congratulations, it is a baby boy," she says joyfully.
The man standing started shaking from joy and rushed in the room. But before him, there was a man with a classic formal attire standing a few inches from his newborn.
"What... what are you doing?" the man said to the man who was currently injecting a very thin needle inside his newborn.
"No surprises, sir. I am Agent 91, specialized for child healthcare. I am just checking if he is alright," he says with no expression.
"Ohh, then I think—" he was interrupted with a strange sound coming from the machine that was near the agent.
"Magnificent." The agent's eyes started glowing, and a devilish smirk crossed his face.
"Zorian, please... please wake up baby. My sweet boy, wake up..." A voice filled with fear. Drops of blood mixed with her tears were falling on the cheek of the boy she was holding.
Me.
My one eye opened and I saw a big wound on her head. She was bleeding, but her eyes immediately relaxed when she saw my eyes open. She grabbed and buried my face in her chest.
"What... what is happening? Why am I here? Why can't my body move, and who are you, miss?" I asked her very politely with emotion, but small curiosity.
She loses her grip enough so I could see her face. She placed her hand accordingly to support my head and face, and she leaned closer.
"Enough questions for today, my sweet ba—" Blood started coming from her mouth. She just stopped breathing. "I will always love you, son."
Just five words. A spear tore her flesh, tearing her chest and stopping just a few centimeters from my eyes. But something else was that my memory started flashing.
Ahh... Ah.... Ahhhhhhhhhh maaaaaaa! My life started in my eyes, but the only thing I know is that life is changing.
I tried moving my legs to sit up and support her frame. Nothing happened. I tried using my arms. Nothing. I had absolutely nothing. I was useless, completely useless. Failed everything.
Is this the worst? Why? Why here? I looked at the sky, screaming in my mind. Why? I wanted to live. I wanted to make her proud. Flashbacks started playing. I was always a burden to everyone that loved me. I was a burden. Please god, please, if you exist. If you exist...
"Just give me another chance!" I screamed as I heard my lungs give up. But from the sky, a sword pierced my heart just at that time.
"Maa... Maaaaa..."
I tried talking, but this was the only sound I could make. I opened my tear-filled eyes, only to find that a needle was inside my tiny forearm. Standing in front of me was a man in formal attire.
He was standing with glowing eyes, but a voice from behind him came.
"Is he ok? And what does that machine show in boxes with 'S' written in all of them?"
A voice so muscular that my poor neck tightened. I tried to lift my head, but I was unable to do so.
"No, no, sir, it's nothing," the agent says in a joyful tone and pulls a paper out. "He is a one-time genius. Please sign these papers. When he will turn 6, he can graduate from our special program which offers great perks and, you know, money." The agent says all this in one breath.
"If it is for his future, you should sign it." A very calm, peaceful voice from the bed right beside my crib came.
"Yeah, yeah, you are right here, I signed it." The same muscular voice.
"Wonderful." He turned to me and lifted my hand to remove the needle. His face turned from happy to confused. He removed the needle, pulled out a tag, and gave it to my mother. "Ma'am, give him this when he will be 6 and coming to join our academy."
He didn't wait for her reaction. He instantly vanished.
"What?!" she shouted. "He called my boy defect! And also an S-rank defect, not acceptable?! Go and throw this in his face, because my beautiful boy is perfect, and the name of this beauty is Zorian. Zorian Sterling."
Stepping back, I had never heard of it. But I am really happy that I got... what did I get? Haha, I forgot. Guess I am a real defect. I closed my eyes and went into deep sleep.
But when I opened them, 5 years had passed.
I don't remember much. The only thing I could get was that I am chasing something, wanting something. But I don't know what that something is. I was thinking this while skipping. The skipping rope was moving so fast that the naked eye couldn't see it.
Suddenly, the door is knocked. I don't know how, but I knew it was my mother, Serena Sterling. Currently, I had no interest in talking to her, so I gave no response.
"I know, I know you are upset, but at least open the door. I promise I will spend my whole time with you. I will not teach anything, and will trust all your fantasy that you see portals and some sort of demons. Promise," she says, all this without taking in a single breath in her all-time sweet voice.
But there is no response from my side. Instead, a sound of me leaving the house from the window. She turned and grabbed her clothes like always to check on me.
This was my life. Living in a world where everyone is on social media, has AI, but no one uses their brain. Everyone classifies me as a fool, but no one sees what I can. I can literally feel my mother, and also a creepy creature on her head, but she won't. I don't understand why me.
As soon as the metro gate opens, I run as fast as I can towards my home—or I should say a palace, because being the only grandchild of the richest human is a problem. But the air in the house was different. The gate was slightly open, and in there was my father, gasping for air.
"Father!" I lunge forward, but suddenly a hand grabbed my neck.
"See, the little brat has turned big, isn't he?" one thug said.
But I had no plan of seeing my parents get tortured. I pull out a dagger from my socks. I have always kept it for training, but I immediately put the dagger in his eyes, and then towards the other one's neck, and—
My aim didn't miss at all. He died.
But this one didn't. I grabbed his hand with both hands and legs and twisted them to break his hand. Then my eyes went towards the cigarette extinguisher on the table. I grabbed it.
"You chose to lay your dirty fingers on my father. I won't let you lay on anyone else."
My rage spread across the room. The air became 10 times heavier. I started hitting his fingers with the glass tool. With every hit, he was losing one finger, vibrating, but he couldn't escape from my grip. His blood was coming across my cheek, but I didn't stop.
But there were other ones also.
One of them with an axe in his hand lunged forward to cut my arm. He was very fast. I raised my arm, and when the blade touched my forearm, the axe broke.
My forearm had zero scratches. His eyes widened. Before he could react, my right hand moved fast. The moment it touched his face, it bursted into pieces.
The other thug rushed to escape, but I jumped and my hand pierced his chest. Suddenly, a memory started playing... but I ignored it. I pulled my hand out, which had a red layer on top of it, and tried to walk forward towards my father. But my legs gave up and I lost my consciousness.
Before I could fall on the floor, my mother catched me, and only one word managed to escape her lips:
"Flux." She pulled out the phone and called her father, Arthur Sterling. "I want to meet you, please. It is very important." She hung up the phone and pulled me closer to her.
When I woke up, 3 days had already passed. I had missed my birthday. There was a cold feeling. A strange pattern has appeared on my arm exactly where the needle was placed when I was born, and on my same side leg thumb was a tag.
I tried to grab it, but I didn't realise she was sitting on my side watching what I am doing. As I saw her, I turned my face.
"Why are you even here? I don't want to talk to you, just go." My tone was rude and very bad.
She stood up, kissed my forehead and said, "Well then, I must tell you, you aren't going to see me for 6 years." Her voice lacked gentleness. It was rather sadness and sorrow.
But I was happy and asked, "Will I be able to train? And become stronger? Will people there understand me?" I asked her in a joyful tone, but saw tears in her eyes.
"Yes... yes, there will be everything you need, but—"
She was interrupted by one agent as the door opened. "The time is up, ma'am. You can talk with him as he comes back from academy 6 years later. But it is time, I am sorry," he said deadpan. He put a blindfold on me and took me away from her.
It was clear that I was happy, but she wasn't. But things cannot be changed. It was a long flight. I was not alone there. We couldn't see, but I could feel the aircraft was full. But it wasn't normal, and I felt it stop mid-air. The gate opened. We are blindfolded. There were so many children, but in front of us was a whole city in the air.
In front was written: The Creepers.
We entered from the main gate, but there were two gates in our front. It came my turn. He checked my tag and looked at me again.
"A failure?? In our system? Ahh, just go to Worker class. You aren't going to be a sorcerer, goddammit."
"Wait, there must be a mistake. Let first tell what is sorcerer, as I know what class worker mean," I said politely but furiously.
"I am not here to teach anyone anything. Just go, don't argue, or I will terminate you here," he said very rudely.
"Can you? Come show me what you have got," I said, ready to take a fight on.
"Enough. Let him in. I will make him my servant."
A voice, really deep but with authority, came. A boy, heavily scarred. His nail beds were empty and bleeding. His hair was unevenly growing, his one eye was closed permanently, and on his hip was a shining Katana.
The Worker turned. "Yes. Yes, right away, Master Arashi. I am sorry, I didn't know you wished that—"
He stopped. He turned his head. But not only he... everyone, including me, became a statue.
A dark aura blinded me.
"My, my... it looks like there is a brat who needs special treatment." The voice was so creepy, I got goosebumps.