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, extending over everyone in the classroom and straight to Adam's desk as he dropped the test sheet on his desk before retracting back.
Seeing the big red 3 circled on the page, and the massive F next to it, he couldn't help but feel ashamed
***
About 50 years ago, the world had nearly fallen. From out of the blue, the sky tore open, and malevolent Ghosts started to pour into the world. Their bodies radiated an unnatural aura, with some even possessing supernatural abilities like teleportation, manipulating elements, and many more, and without mercy, they reeked havoc, slaughtering anything and everything in their path
Mankind tried to fight back, but all their efforts were in vain. Bullets, tanks, and all the weapons mankind could offer couldn't affect them, as each attack would completely phase through their bodies like it was nothing.
Sadly, things only got worse from there
Governments collapsed, Nations fell, and mankind's population was crumbling. Everything was thrown at them, but nothing was able to do any damage
Until…They appeared
All of a sudden, a number of people started to manifest strange supernatural abilities. Flight, matter manipulation, the possibilities were endless, just like the ones the ghosts had.
Within a year, over 85 percent of the human population had awaken some sort of ability, later called curse factors.
Nobody knew the cause of these abilities. Some say it was a gift from the gods, and to others it was an evolution of mankind. Nonetheless, it was an opportunity, and now mankind had an edge in this war, 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 giving it their all. After all, 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 the chaos
Overtime, various schools were established specifically for those who had awakened their curse factors, as they were taught, trained, and groomed on how to utilize their abilities and how to fight ghosts in the real world
And till this very day, humanity and ghosts are still at war, and the brave ones who help battle these ghosts have been cowned the title…Reapers.
***
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.
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, with some rare cases, thirteen. Unfortunately for Adam after he 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. They all saw him as a liability or someone who would only bring bad luck to their team.
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, those who knew him ersonally intentionally avoided Adam, 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.
His school wasn't that far from where he lived so 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 usually pick him up from school after work
The paint on the walls were cracked, revealing the bricks underneath. It 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. Look , your uniform's all ruined!" Jimmy asked with a concerned tone in his voice
It was only up until now Adam's attention had been drawn to it. Parts of the sleeve were ripped and the fabric looked extremely worn out and faded. Anyone who saw Adam for the first time would think he was a homeless person
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!"
"Oh, thanks mom, I'll be with you in a sec" He said"Damn… my clothes," 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 , it 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'