In a certain alley within the Slum City of Vacos a mutilated corpse lay alone in the dark. Blood stained the alleys walls telling a story of violence, the end being the cold and mutilated corpse. Whoever had left the body in such a state was long in the wind and the nights end approached.
....
To Kreon everything felt sluggish, as if he was stuck in glue or even quicksand. He tried to move but his body ignored the calls but strangely he wasn't worried, a comforting coldness had enveloped him making his thoughts fuzzy. Blood trickled down over his vacant stare, drawing a red curtain over his world. In his slowed and numb state Kreons mind began to involuntarily drift back to his beginnings.
Although he couldn't remember much of his early childhood Kreon knew he wasn't always stuck in the slums. At one point he even had a happy family, far from the poverty and crime of Vacos.
He had an older brother who he looked up to like a hero and parents who loved him more than the world, the first calamity was long in the past and life was good. His parents were talented scientists helping to lead humanity into the new age full of superhumans, mana and aliens, assuring him a bright future.
Although those were simple days he had always considered them perfect. It was a time where the only thing Kreon worried about was having fun and being a kid. A time where he was still ignorant of the worlds cruel nature. Unfortunately it didn't take long for him to be introduced to it.
On his eighth birthday his parents would be labeled traitors, supposedly conspiring with an enemy race. He still remembered how they were dragged from his house while claiming they were innocent. At the time he was still too young to understand what was really happening, all he could do was cry as his elder brother held him. Their last moments were still vivid in his mind.
"My sons you must be strong, as you will soon know this world is a cruel place...I want you two to support one another no matter what." His father spoke as he wiped the tears from his boys faces while holding back his own. Shouts and bangs sounded in the background as his father continued "Live your life free from the wars and politics your mother and I were embroiled in and settle down somewhere quiet...However if for whatever reason you do get dragged into this mess.... trust no one. Humans are deceitful beings and there is much more going on among humanity that meets the eye."
His mother spoke next, she had a harder time containing her tears, a few leaking from her eyes contrary to how she spoke without waver.
"I know you may not understand everything right now my sons and we pray that you'll never have to but heed your father's words. Were sorry to have failed you boys. Just know we love you more than the world....Also no grandchildren until you're past 20" She finished forcing a smile to the boys, as the crashes were finally replaced by footsteps and the shouts grew closer.
He remembered freezing as he saw soldiers burst into the room, covered head to toe in black tactical gear while wielding weapons. They grabbed his parents roughly, cuffing and dragging them away, all before his eyes. He could still recall his mothers pained cries and his father's raged shouts as they were taken.
His last shout was directed to his boys. "Survive no matter what!"
At the time Kreon barely understood a word they said but regardless he locked his parents last words inside his heart. The weak and helpless feelings he experienced that day was something he never wanted to go through again. Even though Kreon knew he wouldn't of been able to do much, one of his greatest regrets were not trying to save them.
That would be the last Kreon would see and hear from his parents as they were executed the very next day and weren't even allowed a funeral. With no other relatives Kreon and his brother were put up for adoption.
Some "friends" of our parents were the first to put their hands up for adoption, their only condition was for the boys to undergo mana compatibility tests. It was test important for two reasons. One, that it dictated how far one could go down the path of magic and two, that it dictated how one would get there (their magic type.)
When the results came in Kreon showed one of the lowest scores in history, which was crippling in the society of this day and age. His elder brother, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He possessed one of the highest scores recorded post First Calamity. Being labeled a genius, he was adopted by our parent "friends" who, Kreon later learned, were one of the twelve noble families of the human race.
While Kreon was also adopted on paper, the reality was much different. Not long after Kreon was "adopted" he was secretly sent to an orphanage at the edge of the Slum City Vacos, in a area far from his birth place, without so much as a word of goodbye to his brother. It seemed his parents "friends" had no need for the talentless son of the so called traitors.
He arrived at the orphanage like a ghost, the people there said there was no record of Kreons existence in their database but at that time it didn't matter for Kreon, in fact nothing mattered to him. Having lost everything he ever knew and loved had broken his young spirit. He was only nine but his life had already experienced more hardship than most.
There at the orphanage his life regained some semblance of normality even if he was only a shell of his former self. The orphanage was a humble place far from the standard of life he was used to but he grew to appreciate it. After all he was all alone now, even his brother was no longer there for him so Kreon was forced to learn to appreciate the small things he did have.
Two years passed at the orphanage and Kreon had become mostly independent while his maturity had grown much beyond his age. He was long on the road of completely shedding his childhood naivety. Now at the age of ten, Kreon slowly began to open up but no matter hard he tried to form relationships they never lasted long.
It wasn't that he was shy or ugly, in fact he was a social butterfly but with the steady influx of new orphans caused by past wars and the many people looking to adopt talented kids, no one he met stuck around for long and, due to his poor talent, it seemed no one wanted to adopt him
The emotional rock that held him together at the orphanage was a frail old grandma called Martha. She was the orphan keeper and the one who made orphanage life bearable for Kreon.
Being around her made Kreon feel like he once again had a family, in his heart she would always be his grandma. Unfortunately he was never able to tell her since she died days after he turned eleven. Once again experiencing the pain of losing a loved one Kreons fragile little heart was shattered. With tears streaming from his ice blue eyes like rivers he ran from the orphanage until, eventually, he was met with the Slum City of Vacos.
....
[System activation of the Greed system is ongoing]
[65%...72%..78%.....]
[Resurrection is approaching!]