As the morning comes, in the outskirts of the great city of Cinerelle a rather common scene can be seen, in a dark alley two dudes are beating a young boy to a pulp
"you really think you can steal from us?" Said one of the men
The boy, refusing to react remained still on the ground, only enduring the blows, his eyes not showing fear, like he was no strange to being in that situation. After some time the aggressors grew tired of hitting the boy and just leaved
'Seems like I will have no decent dinner again' thought the boy as he slowly got up
'These guys were surely ruthless, I feel like I broke some ribs, now I have to catch a rat to eat or something like this, though they are quite disgusting'
The boy eventually recovered some of his breath and started to walk, using the walls as support. As he walked he crumbled at every ten or so steps, due to the uneven floor and the walls, made of uneven bricks wasn't of help too, this place is just too damned. He had already desisted of searching for rats after seeing his own state, now walking somewhere else. But in the way he saw something strange
'Eh?! What a uncommon sight' Walking through the dirt streets of the slums, was a man, the strange thing about him was the appearance, contrary to the normal people who roamed this place, these being beggars, addicts and thugs, this man was elegant, wearing a big red overcoat, big enough that the coat hem was brown of dirt, due to the contact with the streets. On his head, he wore a black topper, blending with his long pitch black hair and mustache. It seemed like he was looking for something
'I'm getting a bad feeling about this guy, better keep moving, he could be one of them' Although around fifteen years, the boy lived in the outskirts his entire life, fighting to survive, with time he had developed a instinct toward things, he could get a slightly bad feeling towards certain people or objects
After walking some more, the boy stopped in front of a wooden fence, the fence taller than the boy, and clearly made by amateurs as some desperate form of protection. He moved a loose piece of wood, revealing a hole in the fence, his passage, and entered it. Inside, was a backyard with a small bricks house in the end of it, in the backyard, a lot of kids were playing and chatting, this was a kids shelter
"Seem like today didn't go well for you, Cain" A voice came from the counter
"Yeah, but I'm still better than you, today is Friday and I succeed in getting food three times, and last time you had only two success, Lizz" Cain said with a mocking voice
"You know it's not a competition right?"
"Whatever, I need to get inside and take a bath"
Cain headed to the brick house, more kids were inside, but the majority was older, around the age of Cain, and most of then was injured and some even crippled. He soon reached the bathroom, it was small and dirty, having space to afford only a toilet and a sin. Cain opened the sink, but no water came out, he already knew it, but it had already became a ritual for him to try opening the sink, on the corner of the bathroom, was a bucket of water and a mirror, he picked up the mirror to inspect his bruises
'Could've been worse'
In the mirror, a he saw himself, his red short hair even more red due to the blood, his brown skin also painted red, and deep black eyes, whose due to the light looked like a small galaxy. But the most outstanding feature in his body was a black mark, looking like a abstract tattoo, stretching by all the right side of his body to his ear
After the bath, he sat on a corner in the living room of the house, observing the ambient. Many kids had food with them, but none was willing to share with others, they could be living under the same roof, but it was merely a shelter, it was everyone by themselves. After sometime a figure walked in and sat by his side, it was Liz
"You know, sometimes I think if it's really worth it " She started to talk
"All these kids here, and us, we lack a motivation to live, we just struggle to survive and nothing else, there are moments when I just want to give up"
Cain stared at Liz, pondering what to answer, he had thought about it before, but got no answers, why should he live? What was the value of his life? He just couldn't get a answer
"I honestly don't know, but we have just one life, and I'm not willing to give it up that easily" This answer was the only thing he could think of at the moment
"I gue-" BAM!!!
As Liz was about to answer, a huge bang was heard from outside
"What was that?!" She asked, hurrying to get outside
Cain was silent, the bad feeling he occasionally have was stronger than ever, he was afraid, whatever was happening outside wad no good. But staying inside would be no good for him, knowing this he eventually get to the backyard too, getting there, he couldn't hide the surprise. He saw that same elegant man form before, now with a sudden malice and craziness in his eyes, by his side, three children's were tied by chains, the man gaze met with Cain and he whispered
"These four will be enough" Right after, he shoot towards Cain, he was baffled, how could a man have this inhuman speed? And more important, why was he targeting him? But as his mind calmed down he came to a realization
"It's a fucking mage!"
He also perceived something he hadn't before, all the tied kids had the same black mark of Cain on them! But suddenly his train of thoughts were interrupted, and his mind darkened, he was knocked unconscious
In a dark room, the mage was preparing something in a table, behind him four kids were slowly waking up, a sinister smirk appeared on the mage's face
"I finally completed it, with this i can eventually become a rank six!"
Cain's eyes slowly opened, upon trying to move, something restricted his movements, he looked down, he was completely tied by metal chains. Realizing that he was not in the shelter, he started to look around trying to recognize the surroundings, it was a dark room, with no windows and only a door as a way out, several tables with ingredients and chemical recipients filled the room, and around him the three other kids, they were slowly waking up too, and Cain again noticed their marks
'These markings, it's said that not a long time ago, a terrible plague devastated this city for whole five years, and everyone who got it would die in twelve hours, the plague grew in the bodies of the infected as a dark mark that spread through the body, consuming it. Some pregnant woman's infected by it gave birth to child's, these newborns carried the mark in them and were immune to the plague, my mom was one of them. The doctors believed us kids to be the key to find an cure, but one day, the plague suddenly disappeared, like it had not happened at all. But why this mage kidnapped us? all bearers of the plague tattoo.'
The mage, upon seeing that all the kids woke up started to talk
"you've already seen a mage before?"
the kids didn't answer, paralyzed by fear
"I will take it as a no, people concept of mages is too shallow, they think all of us are some kind of gods, but it's not like that, like every ecosystem there is the weak and the strong, mages go all the way of rank one to six, six being the highest anyone have records of, to obtain rank six, a mage can't just be hardworking or talented, if it was like this everyone could be one, it also depends on how one started this path, to become a mage, besides having a aptitude to the mana, one also needs a mystical potion, made with mystical beasts ingredients, potions also have ranks, the rank of the potion indicate what rank the mage can eventually step in. You all must be wondering why am i telling this right?
Cain looked with curiosity, he always has been fascinated by the mages, they looked extremely powerful, and most important, they could do what they wanted, they were free. His curiosity and fascination eventually suppressed his fear and he was able to talk
"Why you brought us here?"
The mage smirked "finally someone willing to talk, as a reward, you will be the last one" his smirk grew bigger
"As for why i brought you here, well, i'm a mage as you noticed but my potion, is only of rank two, so i need a higher ranking one, it's very dangerous to mix potions, they can conflict with each other, thus i needed to make one myself, i spent large sums of money and used all my connections to buy rank six creatures material, but to get the quantity right i needed some test subjects, and here you enter. That mark of yours, the plague tattoo, was not caused by a true plague, but rather a extremely powerful magic, the mage eventually died in combat and the magic was cast out, but the children born from infected mothers naturally bear a aptitude towards magic, basically, you are the perfect test subject. I'm so close to completing it, and with your deaths i will finally complete the rank six potion!
With this explanation Cain realized, he was definitely going to die in favor of this crazy mage experiments!