"Wasn't he the one who was burnt?"
"Yes! They say that he was cursed! If you make eye contact with him, he will eat you alive!"
"Fuck it, I'm scared. Let's go somewhere else, he looks too scary."
Vayne could hear every single comment made on him whenever he passed the hallway. School was not easy since he grew infamous for being the cursed kid, the one marked by the flames.
His friends were cooled and fear took place of pity. Parents warned their children to stay away from him. His friends who had visited him on the first day, were now away from him. Wherever he went, he could feel the gazing and stares as they pierced him like daggers. He was the topic of the town. The freak, the new story to tell your friends about. He had never felt this judged before.
Everyone walked on eggshells around him, afraid of awakening the 'Beast' or whatnot they called him. The teachers also avoided him. What could he even do?
...
After spending another grueling day in school, he remembered his objective. To inform the Champion League about this man, The Void, and what he saw. He was determined that what he saw was real.
The CL Head Office was on the other side of town, taking thirty minutes to reach, and Vayne's vehicle were his feet. His family were not wealthy, so they couldn't afford a Baracycle, so he walked. It was all for the sake of.. everyone actually.
The Head Office was a magnificent marvel of architecture, cutting the sky with its tapering head. The building was shaped like stairs from four sides, reaching towards the top. The roof of the top floor is furnished with a huge goblet burning eternally. Each floor was smaller and more significant than the last. The head office was supposed to be the largest man-made building in the world, with 100 floors. The base floor was wider than 70 buses lined up.
He wanted to go to the Intel Reporting Department to report the information he had. However, it is not easy for nulls like him to reach there and that too, a teen. He had, though, taken an appointment to present his information in front of a lesser board on floor 3.
His energy had been drained from the walking and felt that he would just break off. However, the view of the building and remembering the gravity of the situation, he was pumped up again.
He entered Gate 6. A huge mob was present. Lines going towards nowhere. He was in the quadrant of a quadrant of the basal floor. It was used by the Travel Permit Dept. He entered an elevator, struggling through the outflux of passengers leaving.
These were the special, expensive Voidvaters made by the legendary Champion, Vishwana, from Jelania. She is said to have the fruit to "Create any machinery she wants". Designed to be the most comfortable and the fastest. Beautiful, more beautiful and larger than the Shunya home, able to accomodate hundreds of people. The League paid a huge sum for the creation and installation of these elevators to her. These lifts can move at unimaginable speeds at little to no maintenance. Their running costs are negligible, the reason for which is not publicly disclosed. Vayne had learnt this in the documentary series, 'The Pyramid to God', featuring the building and the various stories relating to it. It was fascinating to him how the Champions helped the common people and how a lot of what we do depends on them.
...
Before he even knew it, the lift reached the third floor. It felt as if the only time he spent on the elevator was because of it stopping at the floors prior. He stepped out.
The third floor was much more beautiful than the ground floor. It gave out vibes of high class and luxury. However, this was even below the grassroots of the organisation. The League provided employment and uphold the economy of the country. Oh, how wonderful these Champions of the Gods are!
"Hey, kid! Stop loitering around like you own the place. Get in line or get out.", a guard nearby snapped at Vayne ogling at the cubicles and the reception desks. He hurriedly got in one of the several lines.
"I have Intel! The Rat people are anigh! They are about to attack the city! They have formed a crime syndica-", an older woman, wearing torn-down rags and looking like a beggar, shouted at the woman working behind the desk.
"Ma'am, this is the fifth 'intel' that you have provided us. We have given you the benefit of the doubt five times and it is almost always the same thing. We haven't found anything that could prove the existence of 'Rat People'. If you could provide us with some concrete evidence other than 'I saw them', we cannot help but disregard your Intel.", the woman replied.
"DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND THIS? THEY LIVE IN OUR SEWERS AND HAVE EASY ACCESS TO OUR HOMES AND EVERYTHING, THEY WILL KILL US! YOU WILL SEE!"
"Security. Please."
Two guards wearing blue uniforms took the woman away.
"Don't these type of requests get unvalidated before they waste our resources?", the workers discusses and laughed a little. After hearing a lot of weird and incoherent Intel, some seeming more believable than the others, Vayne's chance came.
"Oh! How are you young man?", asked the woman.
"I am fine! I have an important information I would like to give in. I know where Unpossible Man's enemy is."
Silence struck. The workers started laughing. One guard commented, "Hey Mark! My daily bingo is going to be completed! Crazy Cult... Rodents... Fire stolen... And, Unpossible Man fighter! Only a Kaiser sighting is left!"
The woman controlled her laughs, "Kid, are you sure this is not a misunderstanding? We receive dozens of such reports everyday, people claiming to see 'The Void' and finding him. None of them are true. Dear, do you have some proof?"
Vayne couldn't explain how he felt. It was embarassing and he was shocked how unmanaged this department was, considering how properly managed and coordinated everything else is. He was unsure whether he should disclose the vision to them, but they were the League!
"Actually, I, um, saw it in a vision. On the Day of Fire, I was engulfed by the tributary flames and then, I was able to... See the fight between the Void and Unpossible Man. After the fight, I was stuck viewing his life for three days."
It was as if someone had died. Not a single soul spoke. HE was the kid who was cursed by the Gods. Was he right? Maybe he just hallucinated it. No, he must be lying. It must be a trap of 'The Beast'. There was no other explanation. He was the reincarnation of Him.
"I was able to locate his address in the vision. It was 49, Willow Stree-"
"That's enough, kid. You can stop these shenanigans. This is the League. No need to mess around. Rafael, show him the stone."
"Wait! What does this mean!"