Ring, ring, ring
'Ah dammit that's loud. I need another alarm'
My day started like all the others. Boring and uninteresting. I woke up, brushed my teeth and got ready to go to school. I tried to find some clothes that weren't ripped but that was difficult seeing that I was a victime of habitual bullying. I didn't want to bring some new clothes only for them to be ruined after one use. The only pair of clothes left that still looked more or less wearable was my old school uniform. The school wasn't really strict when it came to what we wore so most people didn't wear the uniform. But unlike them, the uniform was my only choice, after all it was given to me for free by the school.
I looked in the fridge to see what i could eat for breakfast
'Looks like i'm gonna have to go on an empty stomach again'
sigh
I didn't even bother looking for lunch cause I knew I wasn't going to find anything. It was hard for an orphan to survive alone in this world, especially after the Disappearance.
--
The Great Disappearance, an event where over 100 million people disappeared from the face of the earth, hence its name. After the first disappearance, the public was frantic after all how does so many people disappear without leaving a trace.
It was no surprise that the government was poorly equipped to handle such a situation. No matter how much they investigated, it seemed as if the people simply vanished from existence. Cars suddenly lost their drivers and crashed, there was even an instance where the pilote of a plane disappeared. If the copilote hadn't been there, it's safe to say that that would have been catastrophic.
Religious groupes started to pop up everywhere preaching the end of the world and the likes. Of course they didn't get much attention from people in general.
Eventually the government gave up, there was only so much they could do. Families went on mourning their lost ones and the world, contrary to your expectation, didn't devolve into madness. After all 100 million people may sound like a lot but it's barely more than 1% of the population.
After a few years everything was back to normal. But as normal as it might have seemed, there was something off. A feeling in the air, almost like a dark premonition that whatever happened was only the beginning and it wasn't going to end any time soon.
This was proven when the 100 million who disappeared came back, and with them they brought magic!. The ones who came back brought tales of alternate worlds where they were brought to and battles they were force to partake in, in order to return home.
Durning those battles and adventures they learned how to use magic and other mystical powers that seemed to completely defy to known laws of physics. Magic that allowed them to fly, to move the earth under their feet, to manipulate nature and so much more. Some had even heard rumours about magic that allowed the dead to come back to life, and magic that allowed the caster to manipulate time to a certain degree.
The world was forever going to be altered, after all, these people still had access to the powers that they had acquired in the alternate worlds. The challengers as they were called or more accurately had named themselves after they returned, quickly became almost god like figures with their power.
It was safe to say that the world was in the middle of major change and the outcome was something no one could foresee.
Especially when another 100 million disappeared.
--
And so my story begins here, 75 years after the first great disappearance. A poor, broke orphan who is bullied and has problems even feeding himself, going to school in an old ripped school uniform.
On his way he saw dozens of enormous screens floating in the air with all kinds of news stories and ads about the various new challengers that survived their trials.
'urgh'
He had long hated the challengers and all the publicity and worship around them. After all his parents had died in the trials.
It had to be said that, while being transported to another world to take the trial was an enormous opportunity, it was also incredibly dangerous. And every time challengers would clear the trials, depending on the trial world they went to, a large portion would die and not return.
That was the fate of his parents. When they had disappeared, he had been so exited. Even though he knew he would have to be separated from them for a while, when they came back they would be able to do things he could only dream of.
During his wait he stayed with an aunt who had been nice to him. However after waiting the two years and all the challengers returning, his parents had still not reappeared.
He waited and waited but they never appeared. His aunt who had been nice to him so far change once the death of his parents was confirmed. She kicked him out under the pretext of not being able to raise him on top of her own kids. It became very clear to him that she was only close to him to have an affiliation to challengers should his parents have returned.
His parents house which had been maintained by the government as a courtesy to all the new potential challengers was claimed by the bank. He had no place stay and no place to call home. He was taken into an orphanage sponsored by the government. His life was okay for a while after that but once he became 16 he was kicked out unceremoniously onto the street to fend for himself. With nothing but the meagre amount of money he got from the state each month, which was barely enough to afford a crappy room, he often didn't have enough money to even buy food.
"argh"
He grumbled as his feet hurt from the worn out shoes and the long walk.
He would soon be at the school as he noticed that more and more students were appearing around him heading in the same direction. He soon saw the school gate in the distance as the massive crowd of students were converging like a funnel into the school.
He stopped moving while looking at the school gate with a tired expression.
sigh
'Here we go again'