The slums of the Low Tier City were as cold as it was dirty. The smell of dead rats and rotting garbage wasn't new to Haden. The 12 year old boy with short black hair and 2 black circles below his eyes. His face smeared with the city's grit and his clothes patched up pathetically as you can still see his bony body through the small holes.
"Eyy, kid. Haven't I seen your face before?" The local cook tilted his head. He was built like a sumo wrestler who was given a million scars by a blender. Haden didn't beg with words but with silence. His frail hands shook as he begged for some extra food that couldn't even properly feed a single adult. And maybe in a better world it might have worked, but this is Low Tier City. A very bad place for children to be at.
'Why...'
Ever since the Tower appeared, monsters started to appear out of no where. Portals. Dimensions. Mixed in with reality, being a gateway for hellish creatures to cause chaos.
Surprisingly, by the time the first monsters came up, so did the Hunters. People blessed with extraordinary power gifted by the tower, the very thing that was trying to kill them. At first humanity helped each other to survive until they've rebuilt society. But it didn't take long for Monopolies to follow.
"Dont be selfish, kid. We've all gotta eat too" the cook continued. The line was full of dried up and malnourished people. That's what you get for being born or thrown here at Low Tier City.
And if the hunger wasn't enough, there were also the new Trainees.
The young Trainee in a black latex suit which was padded by pieces of iron leaned against the wall with a grim expression. His eyes differed in color, one being red while the other blue. On his chest sat a black dragon crest. He looked at the endless line of people and scoffed.
'Hell... Why am I even here? I should be in the tower saving humanity. Not stuck here in this damp! Why am I even assigned a Sunny's role?"
Out from the line, an old man crumbled and crawled towards the Trainee. The old man reached out to the Trainee. The sight was truly heart wrenching. But the Trainee proved other wise.
"What do you think you're doing?" Trainee told the old man before devouring the entire piece of bread.
"You- you heartless creature... How can you even call yourself human?" The old man spoke in a dry and weak voice.
The rookie raised his arm and soon the air around it crackled until fire appeared. "Hey, old stank... You do understand who I am, right?"
"Yes... You are a filthy beast much worse than the monsters from the Tower"
The Trainee's expression hardened.
The air around Trainee's hand sparked which made the old man crawl back slightly, sweat slowly started to form on his forehead. Red aura faintly engulfed the Trainee.
"Yes, I'm a beast... And you are no one...Just another lowly trash" The Trainee started walking slowly towards the old man.
The old man looked at the crowd for support but they shifted their eyes, saying that this mess was made by himself. Though still the onlookers felt injustice, so much that they wanted to intervene, but not enough to actually do so. What could they do? People like them who had a 0.5% chance of awakening had no chance against someone like him.
"This is a Mid Grade Attribute, so better savor it up because you'll probably never see it again, lowly trash"
He spouted.
"You all are nothing but dead weight to the new world!"
The Trainee seemed to have lost it. It's only been a couple days since he was assigned here but it seems the sickness had already reached him.
Strangely, most Trainees who appear here suddenly get the urge to ruthlessly bully and belittle those weaker than them. Worst case, muder. It might be some sort of curse put to them by the tower or might just be that the Lower Tier City kept getting the rotten apples.
Right before the Trainee could fire his skill, a silver spoon suddenly flew at an incredibly speed. The Trainee's gaze on the old man broke as he caught the silver spoon.
"If you're going to cause a ruckus you baby brat! Then better cause it at your place!" The cook shouted.
Haden looked up, surprised by the cook. The cook always did serve as a peacekeeper of the little amount of humanity they had.
The Trainee gritted at the cook, his expression full of red. His fingers curled into a claw with each tip being engulfed in flame. He seemed to not have had lied about being a Mid Grade Attribute, as even the cook swallowed his breath. But not before shouting, "You're the trash of an Elite that's been nagging here all day! The real trash of the trash I tell you! Haha"
No one knew what went through the cook's mind at the time. Provoking the already heated Trainee, what purpose did that serve except a death sentence? As even Haden knew the fate the cook was about to face, who else was the cook than just another body that died that day?
"...."
The Trainee went silent.
Woosh!
The Trainee sprinted towards the cook at a speed no normal human could follow. Not even the fastest man alive could do so!
Spark!
Green and purple.
Right before the claws of the Trainee dug into the cook's body, Haden steps in-between them.
Boom!
Mix of smoke and dirt covered everyone's sight for a slight second. But the cook's eyes widened as he saw the silhouette of the Trainee drop in the midst of of the chaos.
A breath escaped Haden's lips, both of relief and disbelief. What had happened? Could it be that Haden had awakened his Aura? Those thoughts spiraled through his head.
But those were cut short by an authoritative voice, leaking of venom that could make any man shiver, the voice that was almost a whisper, spoke, "What do you think you're up to...?"
Haden shifted his eyes over his shoulder, pass the cook, he saw the towering figure that stood there with a blade pointed outward, it's entirety dripping of green Aura.
The mist that covered the figure started to clear, revealing his golden colored badge, green military like uniform, and sharp tense features.
This man had stopped the Trainee.
'So it wasn't me...'
Haden frowned.
"He- hey... That's Viper... Isn't it?" A bystander voiced.
The others moved their heads towards Viper, a sight to behold. Not only because he was a promising Senior that has been buzzing the news. But it was all the question of what business does he have with the slums.
"I apologize to you all for the inconvenience this Trainee has cost. The Flourish Academy is doing their best to shape these youths for the future and be assured..." He looked at the old man on the ground and then gave him a small pack of rations, "Soon you all will be safe"
Slowly he walked towards the unconscious Trainee and picked him up. Many would mistaken the Trainee to be a sack of dead bones, but the flowing green glow through his veins said other wise.
Though before he walked away, he looked back at the cook and said, "I observed the situation"
He corrected his tie with his free hand before saying, "You were incredibly idiotic. Watch yourself"
Then he walked away.
The cook looked serious, not surprised nor baffled. But serious. Though his expression changed when he looked at Haden.
"Hey, kid..." He hooked his arms around Haden's neck, "That was pretty stupid of you! Why'd you even do it?"
Haden didn't answer. His mind was too lost in thought and the cook noticed that. He also noticed the patch up logo on his poor excuse of a shirt.
Before the cook could confirm his assumption, Haden pulled away from his hold and slowly walked away.
"Ehhh... Wait up!"
But Haden did not listen.
The cook scratched his head as he watched Haden subtlety disappear into the crowd. Haden returned to being another walking pair of legs in this city. But the cook knew this wasn't going to be their last meeting.
Clank.
A sound of a pan against his pot sounded which interrupted the cook's thoughts. He felt slight annoyance at the bystanders that did nothing, he understood them, but still felt annoyed. The line continued to move yet never dwindled in length.
"Be careful, Old man Ross. You'll get yourself killed with your nagging some day. That could have been today!" The cook chuckled.
"It just angers me how poisoned our youth is today... The children are the future... And the future is bleak" Old man Ross said as he handed the pack of rations to the cook.
The cool shook his head and gave the old man an extra scoop, "Well it'll be fine. You've said the same for me... Guess you were wrong"
Both chuckled.
"Hopefully I will be wrong again..."
****
Haden's bare feet walked him through the familiar dark alleyways. And not long after bumping against some locals, he found himself face to face with his hell again. The sign hung lowly near the ground, the breeze crept through the shattered windows, occupied yet abandoned.
"What are you looking at, 012?" A voice calmly spoke, yet that calm was piercing. Haden gritted his teeth. "Come here at once...You've wandered again without finishing a single task again, haven't you?"
The voice came from an old woman, tall and lanky, her jaw was as sharp as her eyes. She wore a surprisingly well kept dress, contrast to the location she was at, she looked like a doll.
Haden slowly walked up to the house that had kept him since birth. His steps were too slow for the woman and so she marched towards Haden.
Flinch.
Haden's shoulders raised, his head hid towards his body. Then a piercing pain shot to his ear. The woman's sharp and well-polished nails hooked Haden's ear, pulling him.
"Don't waste time now. So much to do with so little time of yours... And is that porridge I smell? Greedy goblin, you've already eaten a minute ago and yet you still scavenge?"
She ranted to Haden as they walked towards the door. She dropped him on the floor as he rubbed his ear, sobbing. Then she threw a sponge at him and said, "If you have time to dillydally and cry, then you have all the world's time to polish these floors"
Haden gripped the sponge. His feet, his body, his soul, screamed for him to run away from this hell hole. Isn't this place supposed to be the last place of warmth and humanity this society has created? If this is that then the rest of the world must be rotten. Rotten.
The woman turned her back but was stopped by a pull of her dress, it was Haden. She raised her brow, asking without words, she slapped Haden's hand off her dress.
"Whe- where's... The water?" he asked.
"Have you no tears? Make use of what you have, you've already wasted enough time so we cannot be wasting water on you as well"
Her voice cold.
Without a second, she turned away from Haden and dissapered into the other room. Haden stood there, slightly trembling, slightly sobbing, then a breath, then nothing.
He dropped to the floor and started scrubbing the floors. It was no use as the stains were to thick. 'I am not a dog'
'I don't need anyone telling me what to do... This world...'
he scrubbed hard.
'These people...'
And harder.
Until his knuckles turned white and his breath trapped between his teeth. "Arent they human too...?"
His thoughts rolled and spilled out his tounge. "Is this how the world works...?"
The sound of scrubbing halted as only silence followed.
Haden stood up from his state, looking around the dimly lit house that held more than just the children. He walked towards the bathroom and stared down at the disgusting water, swirling with mold.
'I have to finish this'
A green turd floated above.
'I have to finish this'
Haden swallowed his breath, leaned forward and with only an inch away.
Ding!
He stopped.
Footsteps were heard not short after the ring of the door. Then a familiar voice sounded behind the closed doors. Two footsteps walked across the wooden floors, one precise and sharp, the other heavy.
'Another lucky one...'
He knew whose precise steps those were, he did not care for the heavy ones. Another blessed child pulled out of the hellpit. Salvation.
Suddenly his breath grew deep, his eyes stung, as much as he held it in, he couldn't help but weep. Clutched his chest and crumbled to the cold stone floor. He wasn't foreign to the feeling, but then again, why did it hurt so bad...
"I want..." He curled into a ball in a corner.
"I want..." He mumbled, like whispering his words were a crime.
"I want a family too..."
Knock.
Haden slowly shifted his head towards the door, it seems like someone was at the other side. The knock was strangely nonthreatening.
A familiar voice sounded at the other side, "Open up, kid"
Haden's eyes widened.
He picked himself up, 'That voice...' how could he be here? How'd he even know where he was? He walked unevenly towards the door until he reached the knob. "Don't make me wait all day now!"
It was really him.
Haden opened the door, revealing where the deep voice came from. "Stinks in there. You sure did unload a weeks worth, haha!"
That same tattered piece of cloth that served to cover his thick stomach. A golden tooth and a smirk. And a strangely large black jacket.
It was the cook.