The Gates were like portals from which beasts used to access the human world, many believed that these beasts were controlled by more intelligent beings. Some beasts were stronger than the others, while some were on a whole other level.
They usually said, the stronger the beasts the darker the gates. So the gates were graded in the human world from Level one to five of which the deadliest was a Level one gate, the Level one gate hardly ever appeared, there had only been three occasions where the Level one gates were seen.
Two of them were during the first war and most of the people who witnessed the appearance of the first gate are not alive anymore to tell the story.
The only people rumored to be strong enough to take on the beasts that appeared from the Level one gates were the Elite squad.
This was another rumor that had been passed down through decades, as nobody had ever really seen this Elite squad.
Which brought people to the conclusion that they either didn't exist or they didn't bother with trivial matters as their sole purpose was for the Level one gates.
When a gate opened, the beasts that came through them varied depending on the level of the gate. For a level five gate, beasts at equal threat level came through.
For a level four gate, beasts at level four threat level and a few lower threat levels that acted as underdogs, it was the same for Level three gates, a few level four and five beasts also came through.
But for the levels two and one there were hardly any lower-level beasts, the beasts which came out of these gates didn't need minions, just a few of the beasts could easily go on a killing spree.
Some places in the small town had what was called a jammer. These jammers were so rare so they were only used at important locations, they were used to block Gates from emerging at certain locations.
Due to its rarity, only very few people had access to it. Derek's father Damian due to his reputation as one of the saviors of the earth realm during the first war. Had access to a few, which he placed at a few places in the small town.
He didn't expect a gate to appear by this time especially in front of his home that was why Damian had frozen to the spot when the Gate started appearing.
"Derek move" Damian shouted as the portal opened behind Derek and the first beast stepped out of the portal. Derek was too stunned to move, he turned his head slightly to the side and saw a figure he couldn't describe lunge at him.
But Damian was quicker, Damian covered the large distance between them both in a second. Derek had never seen his dad move that fast. He hadn't even seen him move and next thing, he was being shoved out of the way.
The first beast that came through the red portal was very unlucky, its outstretched hand was immediately separated from its body.
The beast barely had time to realize its hand was missing because it was only able to see the sky as its head rolled to the floor, its headless body stood still for a few seconds before falling head first into the dirt only without the head.
More beasts had already begun to pour out of the gate, Damian cut down the first few but their numbers quickly multiplied. He quickly picked Derek up and dashed off.
Damian came out of the surrounding thicket and rushed to his front door, he could already see a few bloodied beasts on the floor in front of the house.
His wife was no push over either, but his heart began to beat faster as he got to the front of his house. There were dead beasts stacked at the door and the door lay open.
Damian could smell the blood from afar, maybe that was why his heart beat had gotten a little irregular. He quickly rushed into the house to confirm his suspicions.
His wife lay on the floor, hugging their ten-year-old daughter in a pool of their own blood. Damian paused in his tracks and sank to his knees.
He had failed to get back in time, he had almost forgotten he carried Derek in his arms and Derek had already seen it all. He took him to the basement and locked him in there, it was the most secure place in the house.
Blinded with rage, Damian left the house everything else was a blur as he walked to the first gate, different gates had opened all at once. This was not supposed to have happened since he had made sure the jammers were in place.
Most of the beasts had dispersed when he got to the first gate but he launched himself straight into them and went on a killing spree blinded by rage.
That was the last that was heard of him. It was all coming back to Derek now, he must have passed out after seeing his dead mother and sister.
Derek held his head in his hands and sobbed quietly, the only family he had was gone and he was just a spectator in it all. Emily put a hand over his shoulder urging him to sob to his heart's content.
"When the soldiers got there, it was a massacre. We found you in the basement. We searched everywhere for Damian, your dad but we couldn't find him or his remains.
I know it's all too much to take in so I will give you time to grief. Your dad was a good friend of mine so you will stay at the school from now, I will see to it that your needs are met.
When you are feeling better you will be enrolled into the school but until then, rest up" with that the Headmaster concluded.
Derek didn't know if he should cry or laugh in scorn at his life, it was just funny how things had changed just because of a single damned gate.
***
The homeroom teacher for Class A, Elton John stood at the field under the direct heat of the sun waiting for Derek.
The term had gone a little before Derek's resumption so he had to take the test just like the other new students had done.
The test was made to grade students based on the level of their abilities, the abilities which were the four elements were fabled to have been passed down through generations.
Many believed that during when the first gate opened here on earth, the beasts that came through had almost wiped out the human race.
But a sleeping god Tunechi had woken from his slumber and granted a few humans the power to control one of the four elements. Air, Earth, Water and Fire
Because of this, the humans were able to defeat the beasts and destroy the gates from which they came through.
It was rumored that there were some people who were given special abilities which was the major turning point of the war against the beasts.
These people with special abilities were known as Originals.
Even though the Originals were a lot stronger than the element users their lives were threatened because they were seen as a threat.
There were stories that the humans had gotten paranoid after the war and tagged the Originals as an anomaly.
So out of fear that they could be ambushed at any time by the humans the Originals had gone into hiding.
Anyway, there was no way to confirm this story as no one knew what abilities the originals possessed and the war had taken place so long ago, the stories were all mixed up now.
These abilities to control the different elements were passed down to offspring through generations till this day. And the birth of newer generations birthed new abilities.
But at the same time the use of abilities had also created a segregation system.
Due to the rise in human population, a lot of people had abilities. Those that didn't have any were discriminated against.
The school which Derek was about to be enrolled into was just a perfect example, it was mostly people with abilities that were able to attend the school.
Most people without abilities who tried to stay at the school left only after some few weeks, the only people without abilities that made it far were the rich kids.
They bought their way through almost anything, the rich kids without any abilities either had a chaperone with an ability or were under special protection.
Derek eventually strolled into the field, Elton the homeroom teacher was in no mood to waste any more time.
So, he quickly got down to business, he motioned to Derek to come over then he held out what looked like a tab and asked him to place his hand on it.
Derek did, but nothing happened. Elton had him remove his hand and put it back again but still there was nothing.