A weak-looking young man with pale skin and bags under his eyes was sitting under a withered down bridge covering himself from the downpour of rain. He was rocking back and forth in order to warm up his drenched body, as living in the ghetto didn't offer much comfort to a young boy like him. He wanted to get out of this shitty place, but that was a pipe dream for a boy like Ash.
After all, he was gonna die soon anyways.
Still attempting to warm himself up, he groaned in annoyance of the cold weather consuming his body heat.
"damn you, you selfish god!"
Staring up at the sky with a new-found intensity, Ash decided to himself,
"If I live through this damned curse, I'll come after your selfish ass, and drag you down to the deepest parts of hell."
Shaking his head and cursing, Ash was finally warm enough to keep moving. The higher valued citizens scurried past him, judging his sorry state. Looking impoverished in his wragged clothing, covered in mud, he knew he didn't belong there, but it didn't change the fact that it pissed him off. Staring back at them with disdain in his eyes, he brushed it off and kept walking.
As he made his way down the street, he caught sight of the clinic, where he was scheduled to go. With a slight smirk, he crossed the street and entered the building.
Inside, a tired looking man with circles under his eyes and stains on his shirt, was sitting at the receptionist desk.
"Can I help you, young man?"
Ash looked around, wondering which way he was supposed to go. The receptionist looked a little too rugged to work in a place like this, but looks can be deceiving.
"Hello! Do you hear me!?"
Ash directed his attention towards the receptionist.
"Uh, which way is Dr. Grendells office?"
The receptionist's expression changed to one of confusion. He looked the young boy over once more, this time with a look of intense disdain.
"You're one of them, aren't you? One of those cursed people. What are they called again, the Condemned."
Ash shrugged.
"I guess so."
The officer sighed in disgust.
"Keep going straight down that hall, take a left, then it's the first door on the right."
***
A curse called the dreadspell covered the world in a dark veil, releasing a shadow that- when coming into contact with a human, puts so much strain on their soul, causing them to be in a constant state of numbness. After a few days, it would lead their souls to corruption.
When a person's soul is corrupted, their body is put into a deep state of limbo. While their body is in limbo, their soul in transported to purgatory.
These people who are cursed are called the condemned.
This curse first appeared a few decades ago, when the planet was finally starting to recover from a series of nuclear wars and natural disasters.
At first, this curse was nothing but a hoax, but as more and more people started dying to it, the world was put in a state of panic. The worst part though, was that after their death, portals were created that opened a gateway for Veiled Beings to enter our world.
The government created a new law forcing people who suffered from symptoms of the curse to go directly to the nearest clinic for help. If for some reason, someone didn't follow the new law, they would be eliminated on sight if they were thought to have the curse.
Veiled Beings are the monsters that come from the deepest parts of the condemned person's purgatory. These creatures can come to the real world if someone dies while in purgatory.
At first, no one knew what the curse was, let alone how to fight against it.
But then, as people started coming back from their limbo state, they were able to fight back against the Veiled Beings. Being granted titles from surviving the first trial of purgatory, they were granted mystical powers. These people are called the Altered Ones.
Since the curse started becoming more present, more and more people started learning survival skills and fighting techniques, on the off chance that they were taken by the curse.
For Ash however, he didnt believe learning any kind of martial art was gonna save them from the horrors of purgatory, instead, he was just trying to survive the day.
***
A few moments later, Ash was at the door of Dr. Grendells office. As the young boy opened the wooden door and walked through, a old-looking man with gray hair was sitting at his desk, looking out his office window.
"Nice weather we're having today, huh?" Dr. Grendell joked.
Ash didn't quite care for any small talk.
"I'm here about the curse, I'm infected."
Quickly, the doctor turned around and intensely looked Ash up and down.
"When did your symptoms start?"
Ash shrugged.
"About a week ago."
"Interesting. For someone carrying the curse for so long, you seem to be perfectly fine." The doctor stood up and walked towards the young boy.
"We're going to have to keep you here for now, if you were to go out into the public and something ends up happening, I'll be the one at fault for letting such a high risk individual leave this facility under my watch.
Ash shifted uncomfortably.
"What exactly are you planning to do?"
Suddenly, Ash felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. In an instant, Ash fell to the ground, his vision fading to black.
*A couple hours later*
"Nghh, where the hell am I?" Ash opened his eyes.
"We just wanted to take some precautionary measures to make sure nothing would happen, just in case you... You know... Die."
Ash attempted to stand up, but found himself unable to move.
"So by precautionary measures, you meant tie me down to a chair like some crazed lunatic?"
The doctor's expression turned sour, then looked at Ash.
"Listen, if it's already been a week, then there's no telling when it will start. There's something we could try in order to speed up the process, but you might not like it."
Ash sighed in annoyance
"And that is?"
The doctor turned around and grabbed some sort of metal box.
"Inside of this container, there's a special serum. We've been trying to come up with some way to expedite this process, in order to help the Altered Ones get their titles faster."
The doctor moved closer to Ash, looking him up and down.
"The thing is, there's a chance it won't work, and if it doesn't, you could die."
Ash attempted to shrug, forgetting he was strapped down.
"I don't have shit to live for anyways. Just do it."
With that, the doctor opened the container, and grabbed the syringe full of blue liquid.
"Are you sure about this? We could just wait and see what happens?"
Ash stared into the old mans eyes.
"It can't be any worse then being strapped down to this chair, Just do it already."
The old doctor then grabbed Ash's head, tilted it to the side, and shoved the needle into his exposed neck.
"This better not kill me, I have a promise to keep."
After a few minutes, Ash felt himself going in and out of consciousness. It became hard for him to speak.
"And also, once you're in that place, try to stay alive. If you die in there, you'll become one of those monsters here in the real world, and we don't want to deal with that."
Drowsing out of consciousness even more now, Ash was finding it hard to understand what the old man was saying, his surroundings also growing dimmer.
"What do you-"
Before he was able to finish his sentence, Ash was finally pulled under.
Everything was gone, leaving only a blank darkness.
And then, in that darkness, a red light appeared, slowly lighting up the area Ash was in.
When the light spread throughout the vicinity, ancient lettering appeared Infront of him.
"What the hell?"