A slender young woman with pale skin and bundles of white hair was sitting at a wooden table, her expression Grimm, not a hint of excitement behind her scarlet red eyes. On the table lay a bottle of water and a single muffin, "I might as well make this count, as it'll be my last, well.. at least my last meal I'll have while sane.." Ira says.
Many people were passing by her, most giving her strange looks, after all, silver hair wasn't normal for a human. Added on to the fact of her scarlet red eyes, it was only predetermined that she would get such strange looks, though she hadn't always looked like this, at least not until 4 days ago.. or maybe it was just from her ragged clothes.
Near her table was ongoing construction. Last week an awakened man had gone mad from what many people believed, the Sprite, and had slaughtered 2 dozen citizens before being apprehended by the AAD, short for Awakened Apprehending Department.
The young woman having lost her appetite due to her impending doom, had decided to throw away her muffin.
"What a waste.."
It had been a waste, it wasn't everyday someone of her class was able to dine on such fine delicacies.
Most who were undergoing her predicament would celebrate with their family, but Ira had no family to celebrate with. She had grown up in the outskirts of the city that had thrown her away when she was too young to defend herself.
"Now's not the time to be thinking of the past.. I have much bigger problems to deal with, like the Sprite."
***
Only merely 9 years ago the Sprite appeared, a disease that set the world on fire.
The governments had paid it very little attention at first, though many were curious about it, after all those infected by it sometimes underwent transformations to their hair and eye color, as well as a few other symptoms such as nausea and illusions where they saw spheres of light. Though once millions started losing their minds to this mysterious disease, launching them into a murderous frenzy, the governments had finally started to act, but it was already too late, it had been from the moment the first person was infected. In recent years, some of the Corrupted had even started developing lesser versions of skills, or maybe they had always had them, and just needed time for them to fully manifest.
But those who hadn't succumbed to the mysterious disease had come back with supernatural powers. Not all abilities were equal, but all those with abilities had gone through a trial to test their worth.
All trials, no matter the situation, were always within the person's abilities. That said, the trials were always ridiculously hard to the point they were near-impossible, which is why it was a death sentence for those not born in the higher classes, for example, Ira..
Schools had started to teach combat training to children older than 7. Usually the Sprite would only infect those between the ages of 15 and 23, there were special cases though. While those of the higher class would hire much more experienced tutors for their children, trying to ensure their child would have the best chance at living through their first trial.
Being of high class was your best chance to avoid failing your first trial, and not becoming a Corrupted. However it wasn't impossible to become a corrupted after awakening, the exact conditions on becoming corrupted as an awakened person was a gray zone, some things that would affect others, wouldn't affect another.
***
Ira was now sitting in front of a police department, after all it was legally required to turn yourself in if you had been infected with the Sprite.
Ira inched closer and closer, feeling reluctant. Doing this felt as if her doom was already predetermined, and there was nothing she could do about it.
A police officer in standard attire glanced her way, and the moment their eyes locked, the man's expression became awfully serious and slightly wary.
"Fuck..! Alert, Code Black in the parking lot! I repeat! CODE BLACK!"
Soon, Ira was being bound to a chair, as the straps tightened, she couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable. The room was filled with 5-6 police officers, but the one who had called for code black started speaking.
"What do you know about the Sprite?"
Ira shrugged, leaving no mind to the question, after all, everyone knew about the Sprite and at least had a slight idea of what it was capable of.
"It drives people mad or gives them magic abilities?"
The police officer stared at her, an expression of realization on his face.
"Alright, so not much.. judging by your current symptoms you're already late into the infection, we can't go through the standard procedure with the amount of time we have, so I'll give you a basic run down. The Sprite creates trials based on your fears, personality, and sometimes even your current surroundings. Once you are in there, you might have to kill a few people to clear your trial, though this isn't always the case. Some people have passed their first trial by saving someone or solving a puzzle, but the amount of people that have been given such trials compared to having to murder a person is 2 to 10, so don't get your hopes up, kid. If it helps you, think of them as illusions, not real people."
"Oh.."
"I forgot to mention, but if you are required to kill a person.. go for the sides of the throat if you have a blade, if not.. just rip their throat open,with your hands or your teeth, do what you need to survive."
With that said, Ira starts to fade out of consciousness, slow at first, but then increasingly fast, until everything goes black.
When she wakes up, she is on the ground, rain pouring down onto her.
"W-what the hell!?"
As Ira slowly begins to realize her situation, she hears screams, buildings around her having been reduced to a pile of rubble, bodies littering the ground, blood being swept away by the rain.. and men on horses, slaughtering people.