The harsh winds of the prison planet howled across the barren landscape, kicking up clouds of dust and sand that stung his skin. The sun burned mercilessly overhead, a constant reminder of the desolate world he had been born into. A planet made for criminals—no laws, no mercy, just the law of the strongest. And here, standing in front of a gang of hardened criminals, he was nothing.
Kade.
Sixteen years old.
Scrawny. Weak. And terrified.
The others were towering over him, each one more intimidating than the last. Their eyes—cold, calculating—pierced through him, sizing him up like prey. He felt the weight of their stares, felt the suffocating presence of their power pressing down on him. This was the moment he had been waiting for. The moment he could prove himself. Or so he thought.
"You think you can just join us?" The leader, Garrick, scoffed, a scar running down the side of his face, making him look even more menacing. "You don't have what it takes, kid."
Kade's throat tightened. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His hands shook, his mind racing for a response, anything that might convince them. But the words didn't come. Fear. It paralyzed him.
Garrick took a step closer, the smell of sweat and blood heavy in the air. "This is a prison planet. A place for killers, for criminals who have nothing to lose. You don't fit here. You're too soft. Too scared."
Kade swallowed hard. The gang members around him laughed, their voices echoing off the cracked walls of the abandoned building. They had all rejected him. Again. He wasn't strong enough, fast enough, or ruthless enough. He wasn't like them.
But Kade knew that.
The truth was as clear as the sky above him: He was nothing. Just another weak kid in a place full of monsters.
"Get lost, kid," Garrick sneered, shoving him backward. "Go cry to your mommy."
The laughter grew louder, echoing in his ears, drowning out his thoughts. They didn't believe in him. They never would.
His heart hammered in his chest. The shame, the anger, the frustration—all of it bubbled up inside him. He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms. He had been rejected before, but this time felt different. He wasn't going to run this time.
He couldn't run anymore.
As the laughter died down, Kade stood there, trembling, but something deep inside him stirred. It wasn't anger that fueled him now. It was something else. A promise. A promise he had made to himself years ago, when he first realized he couldn't survive in this world by being weak.
"I'll prove you all wrong," Kade muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for them to hear. His voice cracked, but there was a fire in it. "I'll build the greatest criminal gang this planet has ever seen."
The others stared at him for a long moment, their mocking expressions slowly fading into something else. Amusement. Maybe even a hint of pity.
"You? Build a gang?" Garrick laughed, shaking his head. "You don't even know how to survive out here, kid."
Kade didn't respond. He didn't have to. He didn't need their approval anymore.
Without another word, he turned and walked away. His body ached with the sting of rejection, but inside, something had changed. This planet—this prison—had broken him in every way possible. But it wouldn't be the end of him.
He was going to prove everyone wrong.
He was going to become something greater.
The greatest criminal the galaxy had ever known.