In a city where sunlight was just a suggestion, I walked a road no one else wanted. My feet, wrapped in torn sneakers, made soft slaps against the concrete as I moved down the alley behind Harrowlane High. The world smelled of oil, rust, and piss. Old posters peeled off walls. Cats scattered. Sirens wailed in the distance like a dying song.
I kept my head low. Always low.
"Yo, look who's here."
That voice. I knew it too well. It made my stomach knot every time it cut through the noise. I turned slightly and there they were Rovan Drest and his pack of bootlickers.
"Thought you'd quit school, Soryu," Rovan sneered, cracking his knuckles. "But you just don't learn, do you?"
I didn't answer.
I didn't have to. That was part of the game.
"You gonna ignore me now? Think you better than us?"
I kept walking. I knew the routine. Rovan needed me to flinch, to react. If I stayed quiet, maybe
Something slammed into my back.
I hit the ground hard, skidding against the rough gravel. My cheek scraped, blood blooming across skin. A boot pressed on the side of my face.
"You're not better. You're dirt."
They laughed.
I didn't move. Didn't cry. Didn't beg. I just stared at the gray rock inches from my eye and breathed through the pain.
"You're lucky we're bored," Rovan muttered, yanking his foot back. "Come on, let's go. He's not even fun anymore."
They walked off, laughing. Spitting.
I lay there for a while. Listening to the wind.
Then I pushed myself up, brushed the blood from my face, and walked home.
---
Home was a crumbling apartment complex that leaned slightly east. The elevator hadn't worked in four years, and the hallways smelled of mold and boiled cabbage. I unlocked the door and stepped inside quietly.
"Mama?"
A soft wheeze answered me. My mother lay on the couch, her breathing shallow, the oxygen mask rising and falling gently over her mouth. Her hands, thin and translucent, barely twitched.
I closed the door. Walked to the kitchen. Opened the fridge.
Two eggs. Half a cabbage. Some rice.
"Kalen!"
My sister's voice echoed from the next room. I smiled weakly and walked in.
Yui sat on the floor surrounded by paper cranes.
"You're bleeding again."
I knelt beside her and tousled her hair. "It's nothing."
She frowned. "Was it Rovan?"
I nodded.
"I hate him."
"I know."
"I wish you'd fight back."
I didn't answer. Instead, I picked up one of the cranes and placed it on her head like a crown. She giggled.
"You're the Queen of Cranes now," I said.
"Then my first law is that you stop getting hurt."
I smiled, and it hurt. Because I couldn't promise that. I couldn't promise anything.
After school, I usually walk three blocks to the mechanic's shop. The air was thick with grease and cigarette smoke. Ferrow, my boss, tossed me the keys.
"You close up tonight. I'm heading out."
I worked until sunset. I wiped tools, swept the floor, counted bolts. At 8 p.m., I took the trash out. When I came back, the register was open.
Money gone. Security feed black.
When Ferrow returned, red-faced and reeking of beer, he screamed.
"You little shit! You robbed me!"
I tried to speak. Ferrow slapped me.
"You'll pay for this!"
Before I could explain myself he called the cops and handed me over to them.
They didn't ask questions. Didn't check prints. Just cuffed me and dragged me away.
I looked back at the streetlight blinking outside the shop.
My last job.
Expelled. Fired. Blacklisted.
No school. No work.
I stayed home. Yui kept asking why I didn't go out anymore. I told her I had a secret mission. She believed me.
I read.
Manhwas. Light novels. Fan translations. Forums.
Solo Leveling. Omniscient Reader. The Beginning After the End were my favorite among the few manhwas that I have read. It was my way of escaping reality.
I devoured them, In those worlds, weak boys like me became kings. Gods. Shadows walked at their command. The world bent to them.
I wanted that.
Even just for a moment.
Outside, things got worse. Thugs ran the streets. The mayor went missing. Prices rose. Hope fell.
But I can't do anything to stop it, we are not in a world of magic or so and I am the weakest among everyone else.
Then it all happened It began with a shimmer.
A ripple across the sky like oil in water. Purple. Blue. Gold.
People screamed. Some knelt. Others ran, all from Damage, excitement shock.
The weak felt strong, the crippled could work, the blind could see with inner eyes, people couldn't believe it, they believed they all had super abilities.
I stood on the porch, holding Yui's hand.
The air pulsed.
My vision swam.
Light exploded.
Then darkness.
When I woke, the world was silent. My hands glowed faintly.
Yui stumbled in.
"Kalen," she whispered. "Something's wrong with me."
I turned to her.
Her hands were glowing too.
I looked down at my palms.
A symbol pulsed there, shifting like ink in water.
I blinked.
Breathed.
And whispered
"What is this…".