"Waah!" The voice of a child crying reverberated around the dirty, run-down neighborhood.
"There, there. Stop crying my child." A masculine voice could be heard from inside an extremely small house. The voice was not one that could soothe a child, with its rough and deep sound, it would probably scare off children instead. However, this one child immediately stopped crying.
"Father?" The child asked.
"Yes, my dear child?"
"Why did you give me such an awful name?"
"What? Did you not like the name I gave you since birth?" The man asked with a touch of sadness in his rough voice.
"No… it's just that the other children kept on calling me names like 'Diaosi! Diaosi!' or 'd*ckhead'!" The child's voice broke and was about to cry again before the man answered.
"Oh just how awful those kids are! But I personally think that your name is much greater than any one of those other kids."
"Why, Dad?"
"Oh, not just anyone can be named Di'ao (Dior), my son. Only the richest and the most elegant people have that name."
"You're just lying to make me feel better."
"No, son. 'Dior' was the reason you were born!"
"…Really?" The child was starting to look a little hopeful.
"You see, back when I was rummaging through the trash heap to find metals, I stumbled on this beautiful unadulterated jewel that was just laying on top of the heaps of low grade trash. It was like a star shining in the sky back when the sky wasn't black like it is now."
As the man stared into his child's eyes, finding his child looking a bit more cheerful now, he gave a heartwarming smile. One full of genuine love and care.
"As I climbed up towards the shining star, I saw many metals that looked dull and worn. But when it was graced with the light of the star, the metals started shining as well. Just like the murky water reflecting off the night sky, the metals continued to shine as I finally reached towards the star and grabbed it."
The man started pointing towards the ceiling and made a hand grabbing motion at the end. The child imagined the azure water reflecting off the shining silver star that could be seen in old picture books.
"And what I found was this!"
He used his finger and poked his child's heart.
"The most beautiful watch in existence, a Dior Grand Sior!"
The child touched his chest as steam dropped from his eyes, this time not from pain, but from pure joy.
"A piece of art only found in the Information Era from long days past, a rare piece deducing time. That is your core right there. Your 'heart'. That was what I made to use you."
The man grabbed a cleaning cloth and started wiping on the child's body.
"And the metals that was graced by the existence of the star became your body."
As the man continued wiping the child's body, the metal plates seemed to shine brightly as the child smiled warmly towards his father.
"And that's why, my child, no, Dior. Never get sad or depressed whenever someone makes fun of your name, you are the most unique existence to ever exist in the world!"
"Yes, Father!" Dior nodded as he gazed into the pile of trash heap across the house, grinning innocently.
I was jostled awake as the locomotive train arrived at a station. I gazed into the night sky trying to find a star, but as expected, only the dark colorless sky stared back. Jumping off the train, I ran. After a while, I arrived at a narrow street. I ran across the street, going past the countless billboards plastered on top of the dusty, copper buildings. Going around the steam streaming out of the countless manholes on the ground.
"I have Helical Gears here for only a whopping $10,000!"
"Crude oil for $1,000 per mL!"
"I have a gram of coal here for $500, you won't find a cheaper price!"
The people manning the street stalls started shouting as they start opening their shops for the evening rush hour business. I looked upwards to find countless steam-cars floating through the air and became a little jealous of their wealth. I lowered my head to the ground to stop myself from fantasizing. I started rushing towards home at an even faster pace. "I need to hurry since I didn't eat fuel for lunch today." As I continued rushing, the city got less crowded and by the time I reached my neighborhood, most of the towering skyscrapers were gone. All that were left are houses made of flimsy pieces of tin foil, maybe a few layers of metal here and there. It's the same with all the other houses around the area.
I walked through the muddy street and straight into the landfill as a shortcut to get to my house. I climbed the many hills filled with trash, sometimes curiously rummaging through some piles of heap to see if I can strike gold. But it's obviously useless. As I crept towards the next hill, something heavy hit my head and I fell all the way down the hill to the bottom.
*Crash*
"Ouch!" I winced from the pain of falling and getting hit in the head. "What was that?"
I looked around and found a large piece of black-colored rock next to me.
"OMG is that coal?"
I immediately ran over and picked it up.
"It's at least 1kg in mass!"
I jumped up and down in glee. Immediately taking a scalpel from my stomach, I chipped a piece of the "coal" and stuffed it into my heart.
"Ohhh!" I immediately felt reinvigorated. "I've never felt this good from ingesting coal before! Is this really coal?!" I stared at it for a while before giving up.
"Oh well, I guess my Dad could answer that question when he comes back from work."
I ran back to the house as fast as I could to see if Dad was back yet.
"Dad, I'm home!" I shouted.
There was no answer from the door, meaning Dad was probably still at work. I opened the door gently to prevent it from falling and closed it behind me. I immediately sat on the sofa and lit a candle. Our house simply consists of two futons and a small desk. That's it. I put the coal onto the desk and held the candle near it. Not to close, however, since it might combust. "Yeah, I can't really tell the difference, but isn't this coal shinier than the ones Dad usually gives me?"
I started wondering the differences between this slab of coal and other coals, when I noticed a piece of paper lying on the desk.
"Hey Dior, just wanted to let you know that I'm working late today. I might work all the way up to tomorrow morning, so please go and sleep first." I read.
"He probably used all of his money buying that drop of oil yesterday and now he needs to work overtime." I almost teared up again.
I wanted to write something back with the paper, but I suddenly felt a pang of drowsiness. I fell onto my futon and immediately fell asleep.
Unbeknownst to me, when I was sleeping, the steam pumping through my body started refining itself. Little by little, the refined steam is turning into liquid form. Not only that, my inner body seemed to have increased in toughness. However, I had no way of noticing that at the time.
The very next morning, I woke up and saw that my father still isn't home yet. I sighed. I left a note on the desk addressing my dad and left for school again.
"Oh, I almost forgot this."
I returned and grabbed the coal that was left on the desk yesterday and put it into my stomach to prevent other people from stealing this valuable piece of commodity.
As I walked through the winding streets in the morning, the street stalls completely changed.
"I have a pure aluminum alloy hand for sale! Only $1,000,000! Come get it now! It's now or never!"
"Taxi? Anyone ordered a taxi?"
"A classic metal top hat for $25,000 only!"
The street stalls are now completely tailored for humans. As I walked across the street, people wearing frock coats drifted by, some of them have arms made of the latest augmented gears, some of the wear the traditional top hats made of silk, while some others wear metal top hats. I walked towards the train with a hood on, covering my whole body with a roughly knitted hoodie that my father gave me for Christmas.
As I approached the train station, many mechanical units are rushing to the gate trying to buy the last-minute tickets.
"I'm sorry ma'am but all the tickets are sold out!"
"No! I need to see my father before running out of coal! Please just let me on this once!"
"Tch! Another scrap. Guards! Take her away!" The instructor yelled and gave the woman a look of disdain. The guards immediately appeared from the crown and dragged the woman away.
"No! Someone help me!" The woman screamed from the top of her piano-like vocal cords.
Some people gave the woman a look of pity before continuing through the gate, ignoring her. While others just scoffed at her futile attempt to enter the train.
I started walking into the alleyway across from the train station and entered a secluded staircase that goes spiralling downwards. As I walked down, steam started pouring all over my body. I coughed and coughed while continuing downwards. Before long, I arrived at the bottom of the sewers. I walked across the scantily made roadway located next to the steaming hot sewer water. After a while, I found a steel ladder that goes all the way back up to the ceiling. I climbed upwards. I remembered one time, a long time ago, when I looked back towards the sewers. Not only was the water jet black, but the steam that was released from it hit my eyes, almost causing me to fall.
I came out through a manhole and immediately saw the train directly next to me. I climbed on the train and went on the roof again. The train started moving, taking a long trip towards the school.
When I arrived at school, I found a few people waiting for me at the entrance.
"You scrap metal!"