The rundown apartment in the tier 5 area was no pretty sight. This eyesore of a place was where Leo and Michael unfortunately had to call home, the environment was poverty stricken and dangerous. To say that these kids were poor would be too much of an understatement.
Tyler was lucky enough to have a good life, he wasn't exactly a rich kid but he was far better off than both of them. His parents worked for a Runestone company that specialized in creation of Beast based ability stones, that was also how he had an ability despite the fact that those things cost an arm and a leg.
Michael and Leo were not orphans, at the same time they were relatives, cousins for that matter. Leo's parents died during an invasion from Karos forces in a neighbouring town along with Michaels dad when Michaels mom had taken them for summer holidays.
Leo still couldn't forget the tear filled face that changed her entire happy expression that day in the blink of am eye. After a long while of sobbing, she took them to another city to start a new life and started working vigorously, sadly, she died a few months later while saving up money to buy the boys an ability stone.
Their life was basically screwed. The funds that was not enough to get either of them even the most basic of Ability stones was used to rent out this house for 6 months, not to mention feeding.
The two walked into the building, their room on the second floor was nothing nice at all, a one room apartment with a small kitchen and bathroom. They each took their baths and got ready to go out to earn their most basic need, Money.
The owner of the house wasn't exactly the nicest guy alive, he had a shallow relationship with Michaels father so he barely agreed to shield both of them away from law enforcement as their guardian if they could meet up with the months rent diligently.
Needless to say, for two 16 year old high school orphans, 200bucks a month wasn't something they could just fork over easily especially in recent times.
The duo didn't dare waste time dawdling. They understood the essence of time, time was their money maker and they had to utilize it well. They walked into the streets away from the 5th tier area and started walking into the higher tiers, the circumvented the streets looking for places were they could find jobs.
It wasn't their first time job hunting, its just that work for 16 year olds were either to menial or unavailable for their status, the pay for work in tier 5 was too poor, Tier 4 was too hard to find and even the lowest Tier 3 establishment in the city would never take people like them in.
Just like before, their efforts were useless, the spent the day getting rejected from one establishment after another.
" I think that's enough for today " Michael nodded in agreement, ever since the invasion, technology had advanced taking over majority of the jobs. What was left were occupied by older men or rich children.
They started heading home from Tier 3 to Tier 5, it was already getting dark out, they wanted to get before they encountered any thugs or gangs along the way so they passed through the outskirts of Tier 3 away towards the woods.
"Hey cus, why do you think Kayla helped us, I heard that you two aren't exactly on good terms".
Leo didn't reply, he just kept starring at the darkening sky, even though the stars hadn't emerge yet, it still looked beautiful to see the sun set. "Why did she help us" even Leo had asked himself that question for a while now, ever since that he.... Leo's delicate, well featured face suddenly showed a crumpled expression.
Leo stopped moving, his eyes glued to the sky. Michael was puzzled, he raised his head to see what had startled his elder cousin.
A loud piercing noise assaulted their ears like a shockwave, the area in the air was twisting around like it was about to collapse until it turned into a small black hole in the sky.
"Is that a Gate? Wha What is one doing near the city". A gate opening up near a city was equivalent to large scale destruction, if the monster that comes out is anything above a C rank, more than half the city would be destroyed before the military sent soldiers to deal with it.
The energy leaking out was immense, the gate shot out an object that was shrouded in fire. like a shooting star, the flaming object screeched through the air into the deep parts of the woods with a loud crash.
The overwhelming pressure, from the gate felt like it was pressing down on them, it was so strong that Michaels legs trembles visibly to the point that any external force as light as a summer breeze would make him unable to support himself.
After a few minutes of hovering over the air, the Gat disappeared along with its overwhelming aura. The faces of Leo and Michael that were previously ashen improved slightly and their trembling legs finally received strength.
"Leo, what was that thing, it just shot out into the woods, we should report whatever that was right"?
" I... I don't think so, there is something strange yet familiar about it, I feel like the best thing is to get far away from here and go back home. The military should take care of it".
Leo was in deep thought, " Why do I feel like its so familiar, why does it feel like..... why is it calling me?.
Suddenly the air felt cold, Michael could see small particles of frost floating in the air, " Oh Shit ".
The resounding footsteps led the duo to turn around, only to b greeted by the very familiar yet sinister face of Jason.
"Jason what the fuck are you..." Leo was interrupted by michaels tapping him on his shoulder to turn around, and sure enough, Reeves was approaching on the other end of the road. The Sunshield brothers had trapped them.
The black pupils of Jason's eyes gave out the chilly white color while Reeves just smiled while pounding his fist. Being blocked off from both sides, Leo didn't hesitate. He grabbed Michaels hand and both of them dashed into the woods.