3rd Pov
In the Humanities kingdom, the city of Elshire, the city known for its bias towards the rich and strong, life was proceeding smoothly like always.
Or at least for people who weren't part of the slum district.
Due to the accident that happened four days ago, the slum district was crowded and busy with people who were trying to construct the burnt buildings and get back to their agonizing lives.
It was indeed a hard task but these people had already been accustomed to this type of rough life.
Amidst the poor people, a few men were easy to notice because of the uniforms they were wearing.
three of them were wearing the same blue military uniform while one of them was wearing a black uniform adorned with different garnishments, which gave him a noble appearance.
To further entice his noble appearance, he had silky black hair, blue sharp eyes, and a face that would intimidate and Attract whoever looked at him.
"Commander Cain, We searched the area again and estimated that a little over six hundred people were found dead, and more than a thousand are injured."
"Were any of them ability holders?" The man named Cain asked.
"We searched the bodies that could be somewhat recognizable and none of them had a tattoo that would indicate they had an ability."
"And the injured people?"
"We checked on them too and the ability holders could be counted by one hand. Their abilities unfortunately were weak and useless."
"I see, so we didn't suffer any losses from this accident," Cain said with a cold tone, not caring about the people that didn't hold any value.
"Most importantly, did you find who was behind this accident?"
"No sir! They haven't left any trace of themselves."
Cain sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. His cold gaze didn't leave soldiers which made them shiver.
"You lot are useless. I wasted my time by coming here. Don't contact me unless you have found something that is worth my time."
Without saying any more words, a Black tattoo lit up on Cain's neck and he disappeared from where he was standing.
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A burning world could be the only correct way to describe the scene that was unfolding.
Screams and pleas of people, begging to be saved from the fire or to be even killed to not suffer more, was the only sound that could be heard.
No matter where one looked at, a person's dead body could be seen, burning to the crisp.
Amidst all of this, in a ruined hut that was made of wood and hay that were still burning similar to other buildings in the vicinity, a boy was trapped.
The boy was no one other than the same boy that had survived that horrible accident in the slums, yet it seemed that he was back at that place.
The fire was spreading everywhere and Claude was trapped in the middle of it.
What horrified the small child in this situation wasn't the fire but the figure that was looking down at him while being burned alive.
"Claude, please save me..." a voice was heard while she was screaming in pain.
The source of the voice was Claude's little sister, Ellie, whom had sacrificed herself to save him.
She was burning alive and the fire was consuming her, the smell of blood and burnt flesh only made all of this more realistic for the young boy.
He tried to move, to take a step and save her but alas his body didn't even budge a little no matter how much he tried, as if he wasn't in control of it.
"Clause please help me it hurts so much..." her pleading voice once again reached his ears as she begged for his help.
The scene continued till Ellie was lying on the ground with her being scorched black with burns all over her body, making her unrecognisable.
The morbid scene made Claude almost throw up, but before he could, Ellie's burnt body began to move. she stood up while her body was ruined beyond recognition.
Slowly, she began to move towards Claude. The place where her eyes were supposed to be were now empty, making the scene more horrifying from Claude's point of view.
As she reached him, She opened her mouth as if to curse him.
"Why didn't you save us?"
That single sentence made Claude's heart clench in pain because of how useless and weak he felt when he couldn't save his family.
But as if the being that was in front of him didn't care about his pain, its hand moved towards Claude's neck and grasped it firmly and began chocking him.
"Why? why didn't you save me? was I not part of your family?" She said in a dreadful and raspy voice.
Claude couldn't mutter a single word as he was being chocked to death, no he didn't even try.
He thought that maybe this was justified and he deservet it since he couldn't save his family.
At that moment, his surroundings began to change and he finally woke up from his nightmare.
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In a dimly lit room in a skyscraper, a young boy with black hair was lying motionless on a bed.
His condition compared to before was better but alas many parts of him were bandaged due to the injuries that he suffered.
The boy's breathing slowly becomes ragged and as if gasping for air he suddenly sits up from his place.
"Ellie!!!" the boy screamed while opening his eyes.
As he shouted, a wave of pain hit him making him clench his teeth.
He could still feel the burns and scars that he suffered during that cursed night.
Even a single move of a muscle was enough for his body to ache, this added on with the nightmare he saw, only made him feel more weak and vulnerable.
After the pain subsided, he took his time to look at the place he currently was. A Luxurious room, with high-quality properties.
This place was something he couldn't even imagine in his wildest dreams.
"Where am I?" Claude asked particularly from no one.
While he was bewildered by the environment, the room's door was crushed to pieces as a woman rushed into the room.
*Crack*
"You're awake!" the woman exclaimed with a relieved tone.
Claude looked at the woman that was in front of him with shock and awe, She had long blonde hair braided in a ponytail, and violet eyes that drew attention to herself.
Knowing that the woman probably was the owner of the room and her unreasonable strength that made her break the door easily, Claude tried to be respectful and wary of her.
After all one of the simple rules in the slum was to bow to those who held more power than you or you will suffer.
"Sorry miss but who are you?" Claude said trying to be as respectful as he could, but his voice came out a bit dry as he hadn't drank anything for several days.
"I'm your savior and the one that looked after you." she said proudly.
Claude tried to bow to her as a token of gratefulness, but his body hurt and stopped him from doing it.
"Hey hey don't strain your body. It was a hard job looking after you and your injuries we don't want them to worsen right?" she asked him with a gentle tone while also helping him to lay back on the bed again.
Claude nodded at her words and appreciated her kindness.
"Thank you miss.."
"Miss Yuna. But no need for formalities just call me Yuna or mom if you want."
"Yuna or mom, o-Wait what!?" Claude shouted in surprise.
"Didn't I tell you? I saved your life and took care of you while you were sleeping."
"I know that but what does that have to do with me calling you mom?" he asked more confused than before.
Was it a rule or norm in the world of rich and elite people to have people that they saved call them by this term?
"Oh that, well I did a background check on you and it seems you were an orphan, and given what happened to you, I thought it would be good for me to take you in and raise you."
"But that doesn't make any sense!"
Why would anyone want to take care of a useless person like him, specially if he came from slums...
He couldn't even save the people he considered to be his family, so why would someone show him this much kindness?
Yuna places her hand on her chin as if thinking "But it makes sense. Think of it like this, you see a person that due to what they've been through could lead them to a dark life. For example, if I hadn't saved you back then you might have become a horrible person in the future. Yeah definitely." She said the last part while nodding her head as if what she said made sense.
"But-"
Before Claude could say anything yuna interrupted him "No buts. I saved you and took you in. Just be grateful. Is it too much to ask?"
Claude sighed. It seemed Yuna was a persistent and hard headed person and no matter what he said he couldn't change her mind.
"Ok then Miss Yuna thank you for saving me."
Yuna frowned as she heard Claude acting this politely with her even after she told him not to.
"I told you to drop the formalities. Either call me Yuna or Mom or you'll end up like that door." while saying that she smiled gently which made Claude sweat nervously.
"Ok."
"Good boy." she smiled gently at him "Also from now on your name will be Claudius Indrukal. I gave you my surname and changed your name a little. You fine with it?"
"Mhm." Claude nodded his head as a sign of agreement since he really didn't care about such things.
"Good. I'll bring you some food to eat so wait for me and don't move, ok?"
Yuna then went out of the room and a few minutes later came back with a tray of food.
After feeding all the things she had cooked to Claude she smiled proudly "How was the food? I bet it tasted great."
"Yuna." Claude said while staring at her with an unpleasant expression.
"Yes?" Yuna answered a little worried on what could have caused this reaction from him.
'Could it be that he's still in pain from the horrible accident that he went through? that would be probably the case.'
"I am thankful for you saving my life but please don't cook again or else I might die for real this time."
"Kuhh." Yuna made a small noise while grabbing her heart, as if someone had crushed it.
"How can you say that to your mom."
"I'm just being honest, your cooking is horrible."
"Gahh!" Yuna made another weird noise while dropping to the ground in a defeated manner.
Claude sighed and looked at Yuna seriously "Yuna can I ask you a question?"
Seeing Claude being serious she straightened up and nodded to indicate that he could ask her what was on his mind.
"How do people get abilities? If only I had one I could have saved my family."
Yuna sighed and sat beside him "You're wrong about that. Even if you had an ability, saving them would have been a hard task. Tell me how much you know about abilities?"
"I know that they are something that gives us humans power beyond what we can imagine. I'm sure if I had one I could have saved them." Claude said the last part with a regretful tone.
"Your knowledge about abilities is close to none. The first thing you need to know is that not all of the humans get abilities. First of all a person awakens as a term we call elementalist. These people have affinity and acces to a single element, while some talented and lucky ones have acces to more than that."
"So I was that cursed that I didn't even awaken as a elementalist?" Claude Muttered to himself.
Yuna carresed his hair to gain his attention " That's not the case, first let me explain this all then you can curse your luck. A person gets an ability in one of these three ways. First is by earning one at birth, which mostly gives the person an ability that is similar to their parents."
"The second way is by finding stone monuments otherwise known as legacies that are quite rare and even buying one of them would cost a fortune. We call them legacies because they are left by the heroes and awakeners of the areas before us."
She then continued "The third one is forging a pact or contract with a mutant."
"The first method is the most common one, the second one isn't unheard of but is rare. As for The last method, getting a contract with a mutant is almost impossible cause of how hard it is."
"What is a mutant?" Claude asked curiously.
"From this part, it's a history lesson so try to pay more attention. Hundreds of years ago, people lived normally without any ability but after a bright light enveloped our planet, not only did people gain the power to control elements and awaken abilities, but other life forms also changed and mutated. Outside of the city borders a lot of these mutants roam around that like us have abilities themselves in addition to the physical change they had."
Yuna then paused to take a breath "These mutants mostly are hostile so they are killed on sight most of the time. That's why making a contract with them is impossible not solely because they are dangerous, but because they are the ones that have to offer us a contract not the other way around."
"I see. How do I know if I or someone has an ability?"
"That person at the first stage should have awakened as an elementalist. After that they gain ability in one of the ways I mentioned. Abilities come in the form of tattoos. They are different from each other by shape, size, the place that they are located, and many more."
"So if a person doesn't have a tattoo on their body it means they don't have an ability?"
"In most cases yes. Now to tell you more about this I need you to close your eyes and imagine what I say. alright?"
Claude simply nodded his head and closed his eyes.
"As you know Our brain is placed in our head and our heart in the left side of our chest, now imagine a line that connects these two parts of our body. This line is called the energy line or life cord, and the closer a tattoo is to it, the stronger the ability you have gets."
"The next important thing is the shape of the tattoo as it shows what kind of ability you have. Next is the color of the tattoo, which usually is the same colour as the element you have awakened. After that comes the size of the tattoo, the larger it is the harder it gets for its user to control an ability. Now I'll ask you a question, we have two people with the same tattoos, one is placed on their hand and the other one has it placed on their neck. Which one's ability should be stronger?"
"Going by the logic and what you explained, The one that has the tattoo on their neck should be more Powerful than the other guy."
"Exactly. It seems you learned what I taught you. Now let's talk more about elementalists since it seemed you had no idea about them."
"Unlike abilities that are rare and a small number of our planet has them, more people had access to elemental powers."
She then continued "There are six main elements, Water, Earth, Fire, Wind, Light and lastly Darkness. People that awaken abilities, often get ones that are related to their element. For example a person that can manipulate light element are mostly given abilities that are mind related. While a person with fire element can awaken an ability that causes mass destruction."
"If a person can control an element before getting an ability, does that mean I also don't have an element because I don't have ability too?"
"That's why I said that you should wait and let me explain this. We don't know anything about your element or ability because your heritage is hidden.You were an orphan so we don't have much information on who your parents were so that we could find out your element or the ability that you might get."
"I'll be going now, as I said before please refrain from moving your body and get some rest till I come back." Yuna said while caressing Claude's head.
She then got up and was about to leave the room when her eyes met the broken door.
"I wonder who broke this door."
Claude deadpanned and looked at her "You did."
"Really? Meh, it's just a door someone will fix it." she then left the room while humming a song, not caring the slightest about the broken door.
Claude looked at the broken door confused "But this is her house who's gonna fix it if she isn't?"
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Word count 2922