"Hey, who is Davi?" Emul questions the man, who is still grinning at the results from Davi's Coin.
"Davi? Davi was a man who lived over a thousand years ago. He was the first person to ever receive a Talent, well, an Aura to be exact. He had an ability to read people's Talent and how to activate it, hence the creation of Davi's Coin." The man passionately explained.
"Okay. So… what do we do now that we passed and you scanned our abilities?" Emul questions the man while looking over at Anna.
"First, let me introduce myself. My name is Ragnar. I am the warden of this prison, and the leader of the group you are about to join, Serenity." Ragnar replies, changing his red suit coat into a black one.
As Ragnar stepped out the door, Anna and Emul followed, Emul taking one last glance at the machine and the large paper on the wall.
"Where are we going?" Anna asked, closely following Ragnar.
"You are going to meet the other members, but first, I need you to come inside this room." Ragnar replied, pointing towards a smaller door on the left side of the hallway.
Emul and Anna step in the room, Ragnar following behind.
"There is nothing in this room." Emul said as he felt a sharp strike at the back of his neck.
He stumbled forwards as his vision faded to black, managing to take one last glance towards the doorway, there stood a man in a black coat.
A thought shot through his head just before he met with the cold, hard floor.
This motherfu-
*****
As his eyes slowly opened, Emul noticed a HUD like display in his eyes, displaying his current health status, he looked around the room, there was a bright surgical light above his head, rubbish all over the floor, it looked like a very messy operation room, he tried to move, but strapped to an operation table, he struggled.
"Help! Anyone! Help me!" He shouted before taking a look to his right side, he noticed Anna, strapped to another surgical table.
"Anna! Anna wake up!" Emul shouted, hoping to get Anna to wake up.
"Calm down, she's alive, you need to rest as well."
Emul looked towards the corner of the room, a shirtless man sat on a sofa, smoking a cigarette. He had a large tattoo running up his left arm and continuing up his neck, it looked like a dragon.
"Who are you? Untie me!" Emul shouted at the man.
The man started getting up, grabbing a small mirror that sat on the sofa beside him.
"My name is Arsene." He said walking up to Emul, only untying his arms.
Emul shot up off the table as Arsene showed Emul the mirror.
"What do you think? Do you like it?" Arsene questioned Emul, taking a drag of his cigarette.
Emul's breath shuddered "What the fuck did you do to my face?"
Looking into the mirror, Emul saw two black circuit lines running up his face on each side. They started at the back of his neck and ran up his cheeks, one pair ending underneath his eyes, just before his nose bridge, the second pair going up past his eyes and ending at the sides of his forehead.
"What the fuck is this?" Emul asked as he started feeling a small rectangle at the back of his neck.
"This is approval of the passing of your exam. Welcome to Serenity." Arsene replied to Emul's question as he started unstrapping his legs and walking towards Anna.
Emul got up off the bed and sprinted towards Anna, noticing she had circuit lines as well, but they weren't like Emul's. Instead of running up her face, two pairs of lines wrapped around her neck, ending at the top of her larynx.
"What's Serenity?" Emul questioned, examining Anna's lines.
Arsene looked at Emul, raising an eyebrow.
"Has Ragnar really not told you anything?"
"No, he said he doesn't like speaking with murderers." Emul replied, turning around to face Arsene.
"Ahh" Arsene sighed as he started walking towards his ripped-up sofa.
As he started sitting down, he began explaining "Serenity is a group of prisoners with enough potential to take over the world. You will work for the Neo World Order from now on."
In that moment, Anna woke up and Emul immediately turned towards her, running to her bedside.
"What happened to your face?" Anna questioned, as soon as she looked at Emul's face.
"Don't worry, I'll explain later." Emul reassured Anna.
Bzzt! A buzz came from a square speaker above the door.
"Looks like it's your time to go." Arsene said showing them out the door.
Arsene pointed out a door at the end of a really long hallway. "Thats where you have to go to meet the others, also, your names between Serenity are not Emul and Anna. You will be addressed by numbers. Emul, you are 10, Anna, you are 11. Enjoy your stay." He said with a smile.
As Emul and Anna began walking, Emul explained everything to Anna.
*****
They stood before a massive wooden door; it stood out like a sore thumb being the only wooden thing in the entire prison. The door began opening, and as they stepped in, they were met with stares from the other members of Serenity.
Emul scanned the room with his new eyes. The floor covered with a dark grey carpet, indented deeper into the ground in one corner of the room, was a table with a hologram of the world map on it. There were people gathered around the table, as Emul looked at them he could see their name and power. Only one stood out though. Number 04 Aura; Skill Drain, drains the opponent's energy overtime, until knocking them unconscious.
Number 04 stepped out towards Emul and Anna reaching out for a handshake.
"Number 10, Number 11, welcome to the crew." He said with a smile.
"Th- Thanks." Emul replied, shaking his hand.
"Here, have a drink." 04 said as he handed Anna and Emul a cup of beer.
"Thanks." Emul thanked 04 for the drink, only to drop it seconds later.
Everyone in the room started grabbing their heads covering their ears, trying to deafen out a loud beeping sound, only to realise the sound is inside their heads.
As the sound finally stopped, they could hear a voice.
"Look towards the table." A man's voice echoed inside their heads.
Emul looked towards the table, only to see that the hologram which used to be a map, is a projection of Ragnar.
"This is how we will communicate from now on, don't worry about the beep, you won't hear it anymore. I am here to inform you of your first mission as a group." Ragnar's voice still echoing within everybody's head.
As people started paying attention towards Ragnar, he gave them the best news they have heard in a very long time.
"You will be sent on a mission in the next couple of days, you are going to join the guild Cerulean Reverie and stop them from killing Elysia the Cerulean Dreamer. Until then, you are free, and all your criminal records will be wiped."
A smile formed on everybody's faces as they all began cheering.
Emul made eye contact with Anna as they went to hug each other.
"But, with the chips installed into the small rectangle at the back of your necks, you will be tracked at all times, and you cannot activate you Talent unless given permission by me." Ragnar interrupted their cheering.
Number 02 approached Emul and Anna.
"You want to go out for a couple drinks with us? Get to know each other."
"Uhh, sure." Emul replied, exchanging glances with Anna.
As they started following 02 to the rest of the group, he used his new eyes to scan 02's abilities
"Talent: Pyromaniac; Elemental manipulation, Fire"
*****
"I missed this view so much!" 01 exclaimed, walking ahead of the rest of the group, admiring the massive landscape of Neo Athena.
Emul and Anna walked behind the rest of the group. Looking to the right side of the street they were on; they see a dark alley with a familiar purple neon light on one of the buildings.
Emul made a disgusted face as a memory flashed through his head.
He stood in a dark pool of blood, his parent's lifeless bodies laid on the floor in front of him, countless stab wounds on their bodies.
I'm sorry mom and dad, but I had no other choice.