"Where are we? What are they doing?" Those were my first two thoughts after arriving in an unknown house on a foreign country. I can remember traveling from my home country through different countries until we arrived here. By 'we' I mean my uncle and me. "Cero don't worry, it seems like they're bringing furniture in here" said my uncle in a hoarse voice. I came back to myself and watched two people carrying different stuff in here.

Both of them wore vests with a bright yellow color. The brightness may be the result of this gloomy place that has torn gray walls, a small brown couch and a black wooden closet. "Avreight zichas tu esshen tussoh" said one of the two mans to us after he finished transporting all the stuff. The other one stood a few meters behind him and looked at us as if he were looking at filth – well, we actually looked like filth. I can't even remember the last time I took a shower.

"Can you perhaps speak Markis?" My uncle couldn't understand the person either and tried to communicate with him in Markis. As far as I know, Markis is the most used language worldwide and therefore common for communication between different nations. Back in our home country, my uncle was a professor teaching in literature. He taught me languages including Markis and a few others. "You will get an important visit tomorrow, take a shower until then" responded the guy and left with his colleague without letting my uncle to respond.

"No one in our home country would have spoken to me like that. I guess it's time to adapt, I'm no longer a professor." said my uncle with a sigh. "Let's take a shower first before we start eating the food they brought. I'll be first!". Before I knew it was midnight and my old man was already sleeping. I couldn't sleep so I slowly sneaked out to get some fresh air "Thank you for everything" I said to my sleeping uncle before slowly closing the door. Cero walked down the road until he reached a park where he sat on a wooden bank. He looked up and was surprised to see many stars. As a child, Cero always tried to find the best place possible to get a good view at the night sky.

He remembered more of his past, the war, his parent's death and... "Matbul as, ne?" Cero turned his head and saw a woman leaning against the bench he was sitting on. She has long black hair with bangs and an almost pale skin. The contrast between her hair color and skin made her even more beautiful. But the most beautiful feature about her were her eyes. It almost looked like the starry sky that Cero had once seen in his past. "…Markis?" asked Cero with an undisturbed voice. "It's beautiful isn't it?" answered the woman with a surprised face. "Usually, light pollution would cover the night sky, but this place is somehow special. I couldn't get the gist out of it since today." continued the woman without giving Cero a chance to answer. Cero looked back at the sky "It's mesmerizing" he answered with a smile on his face. She sat on the bank and continued looking up at the sky "I'm Rayna, what's your name?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Miss Rinketeer! There you are! You have to come back at home, your father is already worried about you. Please stop going outside at this time of the night." a sudden voice came from behind us. We looked back and saw a gigantic man with a muscular build wearing a blue suit. There were some other guys with different builds wearing the same suit on his left and right side. "Cero – I guess it's time to say good bye" I said with a sympathetic voice. Rayne sighed and said with a hurried voice "I advise you to dye your hair if you don't want to attract attention". She left together with everyone except for one guy. The big guy whispered something to this guy before he left with Rayna and the others. "Can I help you with something?" I stood up and looked at him, but he didn't answer and waited until the other party was out of sight. "Who are you and what were you two talking about earlier?" he looked back at me and asked with a frown. "Isn't it appropriate to introduce yourself first before asking others?" I asked him.

"I'm Frederik you unpeeled potato – Hurry, I'm tired" he answered with an annoyed voice. "Cero, you peeled potato. We talked about pointless things, so don't bother." I turned around to make my way home.

<< Perspective: Frederik >>

Pointless things? Is he making fun of me? Does he think I'm brain dead? I've never seen her smile like this before since I remember. Thomas ordered me to make him disappear without anyone noticing, but I guess I need to add some pain in it.

Frederiks fists start to heat up until gas comes out of it and the fists take on a fiery yellow color. He begins to launch to Cero but before he could reach him, he felt an extreme blood thirst that made him stop on his tracks. The bloodthirsty aura comes from Cero while he looked back at him with only one eye. Frederik felt extreme fear and trembled all over his body – it felt like he was facing the most dangerous and bloodthirsty beast ever existing. "Wha..?!" he fainted after only two seconds – but it felt like an eternity for him.

<< Perspective: Cero >>

What the fuck? He actually fainted? It seems like I picked an extremely overpowered talent this time. I guess lady luck is on my side tonight. "Frederik! Thom- Thomas, h- h- he is laying there un- unconscious!" or maybe not – time to hurry. Cero rushed from the scene back to his old house as fast as he could.

"The a- aura came from h- here, what h- happened here?" asked Thomas with a trembling voice. Before he could start to drive with his car, he felt an overbearing aura which he had never felt before. He couldn't move his muscles and was almost about to lose his consciousness. All but one of his men have lost their consciousness including Rayna. "Ta- take care of R- Rayna and drive her back. I'm trying to find the b- brat" said Thomas with a mix of trembled and angered voice.

<< Perspective: Thomas >>

He must be also lying unconscious somewhere, unless he was the source of this disturbing aura. Thomas was wandering the streets and saw many people lying unconscious on the ground. "He is dangerous." I thought with a serious expression. "Sigh" It's almost 4 am, I need to go back. Starting today I will patrol my men around this area to find this ticking bomb. I also need to report this issue to the Homeland Association.

After Thomas drove back to the villa, he went straight to his master. "My goodness Thomas, why are all my men knocked out?" a tall man opened the room door and yelled at Thomas. He had short black hair and a long white beard. Just with one glance one can see that he wasn't an ordinary man. "Sir, something unexpected happened" said Thomas. After explaining everything, the tall man looked surprised and had a pondering look. "Maybe it's a high-level talent. Don't send my men to their deaths, let's wait first. It's impossible to not attract attention with such a talent". After talking for a while, the tall man said "We will talk about the detail's tomorrow evening – If you lose sight of my daughter again, I'll…" suddenly Thomas felt a similar aura like before, it was hard for him to breath in front of such monstrous eyes. The aura halted for only one second before it vanished together with Rayna's father. "The feeling was similar but also different. It's like comparing the most dangerous beast with a deadly monster." thought Thomas with a tense face.

<< Perspective: Cero >>

At the same time Cero slowly opened the door and walked in leisurely. He checked whether his uncle is still asleep and then he laid beside him. A few moments later his uncle opened his eyes and frowned. Cero did not notice anything but thought about the previous events. "Dye my hair? Unpeeled potato?" thought Cero. Cero had white hair and a medium skin tone. He was 16 years old and was quite tall for his age – precisely 1.80 meter or 5'11 feet. "It's not like I always looked like this" sighed Cero. He was born with a beige skin tone and brown hairs but everything changed after he discovered his talent.

Since millenias every person on Earth possesses a unique talent. Usually, a person discovers their talent between the ages of five and ten. Each talent has an individual downside which differs from talent to talent. Under normal circumstances, a talents downside is not life threatening. For example, some of the worst downsides publicly reported are suicide attempts, endless hunger and Alzheimer. A downside lasts for around two hours, but can last up for over 24 hours. There are also rare cases where the downside lasts forever. Even after thousands of years, there is little known about talents. The strength of one's talent can be increased and upgraded through different ways, which is based individually. After discovering one's talent or upgrading it, the holder knows everything about it. Each upgrade is categorized, following the order:

Upgrade 1/2:

Name: Awakened

Lifespan: 100-200 years

Ability: Increased psychical and mental strength (after each upgrade)

Upgrade 3/4:

Name: Ascended

Lifespan: 500-1000 years

Ability: Invisible Wings

Upgrade 5/6:

Name: Sage

Lifespan: 2500-5000 years

Ability: True Sight

Upgrade 7:

Name: Saint

Lifespan: 15000 years

Ability: Mind Control

Upgrade 8:

Name: Emperor

Lifespan: 50000 years

Ability: Predict the future

Upgrade 9:

Name: Supremacy

Lifespan: 150000 years (only in theory)

Ability: Time travel (only in theory)

Upgrade 10+:

Name: Beyond Supremacy

Lifespan: 500000+ years (only in theory)

Ability: Unknown

To date the highest upgrade ever achieved was Emperor. All soldiers in a military are Awakened persons. Their commander is usually Ascended. The supreme leader of a military must be at least a fifth upgrade Sage. A country or state leader must be at least a sixth upgrade Sage and the leader of a nation must be a Saint. Between each category is an unmeasurable distance in terms of strength and power. The last Emperor died many years ago from attempting his next upgrade. The chance for an upgrade differs from talent to talent. The strength and potential of a talent is categorized as F, E, D, C, B, A, S and SSS tier. For example, a talent which increases the ability to drive cars belongs to F tier.

Talents are also divided in types. There are six different types of talents: Basic, Physical, Shapeshift, Elemental, Nova and Special.

Basic

Examples: Car driving, Cooking, Programming

Physical

Examples: Increased strength, Sharp eyes, Increased speed

Shapeshift

Examples: Transformations in different kind of species

Elemental

Examples: Fire body, Water body, Lightning body

Nova

Examples: All other abilities (Laser eyes, Poison breath, Lie detection)

Special

Examples: A+ tier Nova talents (Revival, Mind Reading, Teleportation)

The last Emperor was known the have a Special talent, which was Cloning. After a talent has been upgraded, it not only becomes stronger, but also receives new functions, features and opportunities that were not available before.

Cero's talent is known as Star Picking, and it's more complicated than it sounds.