Rain could be heard pelting the rusted roof of the run down apartment like bullets.
Inside a cramped room with flaking grey walls, a lone boy sat hunched on a mattress. The room was barren, almost as if no one lived in it at all. No posters, No pictures. Just bare walls, a torn up carpet floor, and an inflatable mattress that lay low to the ground with a thin blanket that hardly reached both ends.
Warren's eyes were locked on a flickering screen.
On the middle of the screen was a date: "January Fourth", with a single event displayed underneath. "18th Birthday" Besides the text was an emoji with a wide smile accompanied by an even larger digital cake.
'At least someone's having a good birthday'
A knock could be heard from inside the room.
Warren lived with his aunt. After the passing of his mother and the disappearance of his father, he was left alone. She saved him from becoming a common street rat or even worse, a rank 8.
"Did you find a job yet?"
The voice was frail and worn out , nearly breaking with fatigue.
Warren remained silent.
Warren's aunt , Lena, was an older woman or rather old for a rank 7. Most Rank 7s died in their mid 20s but Lena had managed to live to 31. She was a bright girl in her youth, excelling in academics and even setting a few track records back in school. She was irregular in every sense of the word, possessing both physicality and ingenuity, an uncommon combination in the lower Ranks.
Through relentless effort and focus, she secured a competitive job as a municipal hazard monitor. One of the few government roles Rank 7s had a shot at, though the pay was barely enough to survive. She was proof that, with enough will, a Rank 7 could carve out a life. In another world, she might have even made it to Rank 6.
But in the outskirts, a better life was just a beautiful fantasy.
She had just turned 22 when she received news of her sister's death, leaving behind a young boy. Orphans weren't rare in the outskirts In fact it was very much the norm, but those children never lasted long. They would go missing or become another cautionary tale passed around until something worse happened—and something worse always did.
Lena had never been a selfless person. The outskirts beat that out of you fast. From a young age, people learned to look after themselves and only themselves. Lena had mastered that lesson. She'd already cut ties with her Rank 7 bordering on Rank 8 family and turned her back on anyone who couldn't help her climb out of the gutter.
That's why it surprised everyone when she took Warren in.
Maybe it was guilt. Maybe it was pity. Maybe she didn't even know herself. But the moment she became Warren's guardian, her life's trajectory veered hard.
She went from a potential Rank 6 candidate to a struggling, near declining Rank 7.
She could barely afford to eat herself, living off expired food packs that barely fed one adult and wearing clothes that were bartered down from the market scraps. Taking care of another person should've been impossible. But she did it.
Somehow, she managed to keep them both alive for nine years.
"You're 18 now," Lena said from behind the door. "So if you don't get one soon... you'll need to find another place to stay."
Her footsteps faded softly into the hallway.
Warren's throat tightened. His hand clenched into a fist.
'Yeah, I found a job. I can break my back unloading freight for fourteen hours, or sweep chemical run off in Sector 9.'
He leaned back on the mattress awkwardly shifting on the partially deflated surface. The hiss of escaping air greeted his movement, like the bed itself was sighing in defeat.
'Doesn't matter. Both'll kill me before I'm twenty.'
The room felt colder somehow, even though the window was sealed shut with two layers of tape and desperation. The walls grey and cracked seemed to lean in when he was thinking like this. Like they agreed.
'Born in the wrong zone. Born with the wrong blood. No chances. Just... nothing.'
The Ranks were supposed to be based on potential. A clean, unbiased system. That's what they said. But everyone knew the truth. The system loved pedigree. If your parents were trash, you were trash.
Warren was a Rank 6. The second worst tier out of eight. People like him have two choices in life. Manual labor that killed you by 30 or the kind of work that made you wish you didn't live that long.
He stared at the ceiling. One of the water stains looked like a face. He blinked, it didn't go away.
'Maybe if I'd been born with two parents, I'd be a Rank 5. Maybe dad hadn't vanished into thin air as soon as he heard he was having a kid. Maybe if my mom had saved up a little more. Maybe... maybe...'
He sat up irritated, mainly at the world for being so merciless, but also with himself ,for letting it bend him into this bitter shape.
Steadily, he pulled out his lucky phone from his pocket. a battered old thing, barely holding on, but his nonetheless. It was one of the few possessions Warren had held onto throughout his life and for that reason alone, it was lucky to him.
He pressed the power button. No response.
He clicked it again. And again. Still nothing.
For a few seconds, it seemed the lucky phone had finally succumbed to age. But just then, the cracked screen flickered to life glowing in the otherwise dark room. Albeit dimly, but glowing even so.
Warren knew that there was no guarantee as to how long it would stay on, so he didn't waste a second. He quickly swiped through the screens until he arrived at the app.
The one with the strange black icon and gold spiral.
"Belli."
The app with no install history. No permissions. No way to delete it. Just the strangely pleasant spiral accompanied by the even more strange name giving off an eerie feeling the longer you read it .
There were only two things a human was entitled to in this world: a Rank, and a chance. The Belli app was the latter.
It had first appeared a few years ago, seemingly out of nowhere. No one knew how it came about or what the requirements were to receive it. Only a few ever got it and once opened, it was said to transport you to another world. A place full of danger, ruin, and madness. A place overrun by beasts and oblivion.
'If people were calling a place that almost guarantees death a "chance," then what does that say about the state of the world?'
Warren tapped the icon.
The screen pulled up a simple interface with a few messages. At the center of the screen, bold text appeared:
"The System offers participants a chance at improving there rank in exchange for undergoing ordeals. Participation involves extreme risk, including psychological harm, bodily injury, and potential death. Proceed?"
Beneath the warning were two icons, one green and one red.
Warren reached down and grabbed a nearly empty bottle from near his feet. Placing it to his lips, he drank greedily, downing what little was left in a few rough gulps.
The alcohol burned like rust on the way down.
It was sour, gritty, and faintly metallic. Probably expired years ago.
'Cheers to adulthood.'
His thumb hovered over the green icon.
Before he could press it, a few thoughts entered his mind, stopping him for just a moment.
He thought of Lena. Of her voice. Of all she's done for him. He thought of his mom. He thought of his dad not that he ever met the man. He thought of the Rank system. Of living. Of dying. Of dying for a chance to live.
He tapped the screen.
It brightened instantly.
"This decision is irreversible. Confirm?"
He clicked the green icon again.
'I feel like people usually give some grand speech before making an irreversible, unadvised, and probably fatal decision. But if I were capable of that... I probably wouldn't be using this godforsaken app in the first place.'
That's when a voice emanated from the phone.
"Welcome, Seeker."
The voice was sweet and clear, too clear to be coming from his old phone. It was as if the voice was coming from inside his head no different than a thought.
"Your Ordeal has b-"
Before it could finish, it was cut off swallowed by an oppressive nothingness.
Warren's head reeled in agony. The pain came like a sledgehammer, sharp and searing. He would've screamed—maybe even thrashed around—but before he could do anything, the world went black.
He couldn't feel his body.
His mind was both in turmoil and completely empty.
And then...
he felt it, a cool breeze brushed against his cheek .
he was no longer in the outskirts.