A very pale and skinny young man was sitting in a very old chair inside a classroom, his long silver hair draping over his dark eyes as he tried to stay awake in class. Some would say silver was an unusual color but after the appearance of "paradise" and the ascendants, exotic hair and eye colors had become the most common of things.
Nero was having a hard time, after buying the meds for his sister, there was no more money for food for the month, at least not for him, but he would never tell her that. He still remembered when they told him the price of essence dispersers, it was the stuff of nightmares.
'fucking thieves, how are the people of the slums supposed to live?'
The hunger was so tiering that Nero was seeing some colored spots in his field of vision and the lecture just made it worse, the teacher had a monotone, softspoken voice that was slowly leading Nero to dreamland, he was close to giving up and taking a quick nap, but he knew that the content today was important, he had to, at least, try to pay attention
"On January first, at exactly 12 sharp, the gate appeared and whit it came the voice. Can anyone tell me what it said?"
Nero looked around the mostly empty classroom only to see a red-haired youth raise her hand.
'typical'
"Yes, miss woods?"
"It said: "reach the top of the ascension and engrave your name on the gate of paradise". It was the only time the voice was heard outside paradise, and everyone in the world heard it.
"Excellent answer, miss woods."
Nero saw Samantha grin in satisfaction and scoffed.
'school is easy when you have a tutor I guess'
Samantha woods was the daughter of Mike Woods, one of the most successful people in the slums. He was the owner of the only official essence workshop in the south slums, which made him, and his family, the equivalent of royalty to the people there.
Samantha was easy to spot out in the classroom, she had deep red hair, a slightly above-average face, and new, clean clothes, something almost as non-existent to the slum dwellers. She was the envy of every student in the school, but no one dared to touch her, after all, what would they do if the heater broke in the winter and the workshop refuses to fix it?
"What happened after the appearance of the gate? I want a different person now"
Another kid raised his hand
"After the gate appeared the ascenders started to receive the calling"
"Good, and what is the Calling? Nero, you answer now"
'This fucker, can't you see I'm already having a hard time!'
Nero looked straight into the teacher's eyes, and his stomach, as if it was in protest, emitted a loud sound.
"I don't know sir"
Samantha turned to him whit a huge grin on her face.
"I guess you can't expect much from the kid whit the wacko sister."
The majority of the class laughed, but the teacher ignored it. Even he didn't dare to offend the woods family.
"I will explain it again, the Calling was a phenomenon that happened to a small part of the population. It's considered the first step of ascension and it can affect anyone above the age of 10, being more common in people over 18, so, unless you are a rare exception, you lot are still safe for another three years."
The teacher grabbed a marker and started to write on the board
"The Calling is composed of one of these three symptoms, it is different from person to person: you will feel a sensation pulling you to the Gate, it will start subtle and with the passing of time, will grow to an irresistible, ardent desire to touch it. You will lose all control of yourself if you try to resist it and will ignore everything until you enter paradise."
'Im glad the only desire I have is a chicken sandwich '
"The second symptom is auditory illusions. You will start to hear soft, almost imperceptible, whispers, they will also grow if you try to ignore them, transitioning from soft calming voices to full-on screams"
A loud bang made the teacher turn his head around, a student had fallen off his chair.
"Are you alright mister Green?"
"I'm sorry sir!"
Jake Green was Nero's best, and maybe only, friend. They lived in the same trashy building and often played together since they were 3 years old, Jake´s mom always tried to help Nero and his sister and treated them like one of her own. She often gave them a little bit of food, mended their clothes, or helped whit their homework.
'I guess this month I´m gonna have to pray that she´s generous whit the food…"
Nero heard from the homeless around town that hunger was at its worse in the first hours and that after, it becomes more bearable, but the opposite seemed to be happening to him. He was getting so tired, and the spots in his vision only grew in quantity.
'Red, Silver, Purple… Is it normal to be seeing so many colors?'
"The third, and rarest symptom, is the ability to see the Essence that escapes the Gate. As you all know, Essence is the energy that Ascendents attune to in paradise. A little part of it escapes the gate and through the years many scientists tried to study it, after a long time a scientist by the name of Alex Creed discovered how to synthesize it, and synthetic Essence replaced every other type of fuel. It´s said that people who experience this type of Calling are "blessed" by the Essence and will have an easier time in the assessment."
Nero was as pale as ghost.
"The Essence is described as spots in your vision, and the color represents the one you have an affinity whit"
'Color? I see three colors, maybe I'm wrong?'
What new hope in his heart, Nero raised his hand
"Can you see more than one color?"
"Good question Nero, there have been reported cases of multiple colors if you have more than one affinity. But it´s a very rare case, normal people only have one affinity"
Nero was shocked, it couldn't be, one color? He was seeing three of them!
"People who experience the calling are called Listeners and are at the start of the path to ascension. Yes, Mr.Green?"
Jake had his hand up.
"I'm sorry teacher"
Tears started to fall down his eyes.
"I think I'm listening to the calling"
The eyes of the teacher winded.
'Fuck it, at least I'm not alone.'
Nero got up.
"Teacher I think Im listening to the calling as well".