In a closed off room of the esteemed Malbury Manor, a teenage boy sat with his legs crossed in a dimly lit corner.
His pale, thick hands provided his chin a good resting place.
*Yawn* "Wow, I can even get sleepy in a dream? I didn't know that was possible."
This stout teenage boy was none other than James. Currently, James was stuck in a dream that he had seen many, many times before.
In front of him, his younger self of 7 years old was standing inside of a half ovular machine smilingly. His two parents were at the side with bright smiles, encouraging him enthusiastically.
"Go on kiddo! We're going to test your aptitude today!" The man's top half of his face was blurry, but with the smile he was showing one could tell he was speaking with a vigorous passion.
"That's right honey, you're already so talented in everything else so don't be nervous. Just press that button and make us proud!" The woman was the same with a half blurry face and an enthusiastic smile. She didn't have any less enthusiasm than the man.
James watched the kid in the ovular machine press the giant red button on the side of it with a silly smile. It's obvious he wasn't any less enthusiastic than his parents.
After a moment of silence, a blue light flashed atop the machine.
To the side of the machine where the half blurred out parents were, a light screen appeared.
On this light screen were the results of the aptitude test young James had just taken.
[Fire : 0]
[Water : 0]
[Wind : 0]
[Earth : 0]
[Light : 0]
[Darkness : 0]
[Lightning : 0]
[Metal : 0]
Silence. There was absolute silence in the room.
The little James in the half oval machine was still smiling sillily. He didn't notice his parents' change of expression at all.
The two mouths that were just smiling stupidly sank into disgusted and disdainful frowns. The two of them turned around at the same time and left the room.
After exiting, the woman indifferently said to the Malbury family guards that were stationed outside, "That boy isn't a member of our family. Get rid of him."
The little boy's entire body stiffened, even his smile.
The scene changed. This time, James was sitting cross legged in a dark alleyway filled with puddles of sewer water and large piles of trash.
In front of him there were two little boys that seemed to be of the same age both lying face down in some disgusting sewage.
One of the boys was him four years after he got kicked out of the Malbury family. The other was his best and only friend Jesse.
Jesse's situation was almost identical to James, so when they met at the orphanage on planet Rainier 9, they hit it off.
Unfortunately, nothing good ever lasts.
Above the two boys, a group of older teenagers appeared. There was four men and two women.
Again, all of their features besides their mouths were completely blurry.
*Stomp, Stomp*
Two of the teenage boys mercilessly stomped on top of Jesse and James's head, pushing them further down into the sewer water.
One of the girls backed away trying her best to avoid being splashed by the disgusting juices coming out from puddle of sewage. The other girl stood behind one of the boys using him as a shield.
The two idle boys just stood by and watched with unbelievably haughty and arrogant expressions.
Every few seconds Jesse and James would come up from the puddles of sewage gasping for air, only to be forced down into the sewage even deeper than before with a vicious stomp.
James who was sitting cross legged in the dark alleyway stared on indifferently. He had gotten too accustomed to this accursed dream.
He watched as Jesse startled to struggle and come up for air one more time. Right when he was about to breach the surface of the sewage, the teenage boy stomped down fiercely and missed Jesse's head, breaking his neck completely.
*Crack*
James woke up from his dream after hearing the crisp sound of a whip landing against someone's bare skin.
He pushed the dreams just now aside without another thought.
His glossy eyes stared at the rock ceiling above him. He smiled and joked to himself, "The prison motto really is the most accurate."
Whips crack like thunder, your skin torn asunder. Wake up late, that's your biggest blunder.
"Truly made by a literary genius."
James stiff body creaked and groaned as he rolled out of his bed made of rocks. The sad part is he was only 15 this year.
If anyone heard him move first thing in the morning without seeing him, they would think a dying old man crawled out of the hospital bed, or maybe a skeleton dug itself out of a grave and was clanking around.
James didn't pay the state of his body any mind. He grabbed the pickaxe made from a special mineral and walked out of the little stone cave he had dug himself.
James looked at all of the similar caves around him with great curiosity. He wondered who woke up late this time.
Not seeing any blood on the ground or commotion near the small cave dwellings, James shrugged and dragged his pickaxe down a narrow stone path that was dugout with the very pickaxe in his hand.
James arrived before a small pit in the ground and started swinging the blue tipped pickaxe in his hand towards the gray stones without a clear target.
A rhythmic clanging sound echoed throughout the nearby surroundings letting everyone know that a real expert was at work.
*Clang, Clang, Clang*
James shattered a large stone that was in the pit he had been mining in. James picked up the smaller pieces of rock and set them up on the ledge of the pit right next to him.
He looked inside of each rock one by one and smiled in satisfaction. One of the rocks had a mineral that gave off an orange sheen inside of it.
James pushed all of the other rocks aside into a waste pile he had started and swung his pickaxe at the rock with the orange mineral in it.
*Clang, Clang, Clang*
After a few solid hits, the rock broke open revealing the orange mineral James was after.
"A piece of orange agate. Good. This should be large enough to get me breakfast."
James took the thumb sized mineral and crawled out of the small pit.
He walked back through the narrow path, then walked passed the other cave dwellings.
He walked around the last of the cave dwellings that were carved into a massive, 90° rock wall and arrived before an electric fence that was jolting with electricity.
In the middle of this steel fence was a gate that had a strange looking device where the handle or knob should be.
James stuck his right arm that had a blood red ribbon sewed into the sleeves of his gray clothes into the machine.
"Scanning... Death Row inmate: James. Identify confirmed. Please proceed."
The steel gate clicked and opened up automatically to let James through.
As soon as he walked passed the reach of the gate it slammed shut and locked itself again. The terrifying sounds of electricity dancing through the steel mesh returned.
James tossed the piece of orange agate up and down a few times trying to pass the boredom of this walk to breakfast.
He didn't have to walk much further before a building with a number of doors, automated kiosks, and a few tables came into sight.
The building was plain and unadorned, but this was James favorite place. Here, he can get whatever he needs.
Whether it was a new pickaxe, breakfast, or social interaction, this building had it all.
As James walked closer to the bland building he noticed a group of people sitting at one of the tables, but he didn't care. Breakfast came first.