Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
It began to rain. It was the first rain that came with spring so it was naturally something special. It was a soft and refreshing kind of rain.
When one thought of rain, it would usually be one that gave off a depressing feel. Spring rain was something different. It brought the much-needed water for all the life that was deprived of it during the cold and harsh winter.
The rain of spring was something special to Spring-Autumn. As someone with "Spring" in his name, the rain of spring brought awareness to the meaning behind it to Spring-Autumn when he was a child.
He remembered the first time he experienced this refreshing rain. Taking a step outside his family manor, he was greeted by the sights of the amazing greenery that was rejuvenated by the spring rain.
Spring-Autumn pulled his hood back and exposed his face, letting rain drip down. He had arrived at the underground base.
The first time he came, there was a line of survivors eagerly waiting to go in. Back then, it was winter. It was cold, and everyone patiently waited for their turn to enter.
Winter was often associated with lifelessness. Seeing the liveliness of the people here back when he first arrived was an amazing sight as in contrast with what one would expect.
Now it was spring. The season of life. There was no one outside the underground base. It was a strange sight.
[Bullet Time]
Spring-Autumn easily passed through the first part of the underground base.
When he arrived at the main part, the sight of it was unexpected.
There was a smell of blood in the air.
The residents of the underground base did not look very well. They were pale and sickly. Many of them were laid on their bed like a sick patient and coughing up blood.
Spring-Autumn could recognize some of them. They were all [Users].
A family member of a [User] sobbed quietly, "It's not a gift to awaken an ability, but a curse!"
As Spring-Autumn continued to make rounds around the base, he heard many things along the same line.
It was a shocking discovery to realize that abilities have a chance of rejection. However, since it didn't happen to Spring-Autumn he didn't care too much.
He was a man who always followed the thought process of: "If I can't have some, I don't care."
Spring-Autumn would see upper-echelons here and there whispering amongst themselves. He continued to make way to the Azurite family.
Unexpectedly, Rainmist and Blue were not in the area of the Azurite family.
He continued to look around and finally located a familiar figure.
Her figure was pale and sickly but her beauty remained. Rainmist was malnourished and in miserable conditions.
Spring-Autumn deactivated [Bullet Time] and sat in front of her, "Hey. How are you doing?"
Rainmist's eyes were blurred. Hearing his familiar voice, she thought she was hallucinating. She didn't say anything in return.
There was a silence and tears started to well up in the dull eyes of Rainmist.
"Where's Blue?"
It was a simple question that made her tears break out like a dam.
From simple observations, it was easy to deduce what happened. The base was running out of food and people were dying due to ability rejection. There was panic in the base.
Rainmist, as the in-law of the Azurite, was not directly related to them. She was probably removed from the camp but there was a missing key. That "key" was why she was kicked out.
"Blue… she became a [User]. She suffered from rejection and they… they took her away…"
Spring-Autumn let out a sad sigh. He could see the future, but not the far future. He could see what was going to happen seconds ahead, but he could not hear what was going to hear seconds ahead.
Even if he knew what was going to happen, there was not much that he could do.
Spring-Autumn looked around. Admiral Olg was still going on with his little speech trying to calm the panic. The powerhouse [Users] like Silver and Woden were nowhere to be found.
After some deep calculations, Spring-Autumn sat in front of Rainmist, inches away from her and slapped her face.
"Wake up!"
"If you stay here, you won't survive. You're coming with me."
Spring-Autumn said to Rainmist who was in a daze. Not waiting for her reply, he threw her over his shoulder like a sack and made his way out.
--
In a secret location at the underground base.
Silver and Woden were sitting.
"It's a good thing we noticed her potential quickly," Silver said with a smile.
"Right. It's a great burden off my shoulder. I would not feel well knowing that I lost my niece knowing that I could've saved her," Woden said.
"She's saved. You don't need to think like that anymore," Silver laughed.
In front of them was Blue. She was in a patient's gown and she was sleeping peacefully.
"It's unexpected that abilities are related by bloodline. However, it's such an obvious thing as well. We're fortunate that she's related to me that I could use my power to help her control hers. Otherwise…"
"The most important thing is that now we have another person with a power at the same level as ours."
--
In an unknown location. Test laboratory.
As usual, there was another breakthrough in their research.
The chief laughed crazily.
It was different from usual. This time, he decided to make himself the test subject.
Blinding green electricity surged through his body.
"It's a success!"
His team cheered at the success.
The chief took off all the various tubes on him and exited the chamber.
"I understand now," He started and all his crew members focused their attention.
"There's a pattern in how abilities are awakened."
"The awakening of abilities comes in waves."
"Waves?"
"Yes, waves. When the world first changed, that was the first wave. Then the second day was the second wave and so on," The chief explained his theory.
"The earlier waves are the most powerful. However, the people that didn't awaken at the first wave were because their body would reject it!"
"As such, they would awaken at the later waves. This means that eventually, everyone would have an ability. The later one awakens an ability, the weaker it would be."
"Those that are rejecting their ability is because their body took in the wave too early. We've somewhat surpassed this restriction with this little device here." The chief patted the chamber he just got out of.
"However, more importantly. With this knowledge, we can create classifications!"
"The main danger right now is that we don't know how powerful each of these new strange little creatures are. Everything would be easier if we could classify them."
"Truly magnificent work, chief!" His crew cheered and congratulated him.
Indeed, it was their fortune for being able to work with such a genius of this caliber.