A sweat and soot covered young man with calloused and chiselled skin sat on a worn down bench across from the entrance to the mines. He was holding an old and rusty pickaxe close to him — reminiscing the years he spent toiling away with this old bad boy.
Normally he would be in the mines mindlessly digging with this thing, but on this particular day, Alex decided he couldn't quite convince himself to go down there.
Not that he was too physically exhausted or anything — he still had another few hours in him.
Ever since he woke up that morning, he was filled with a sense of impending doom.
He could feel that his life was coming to an end.
The cause? Well, Alex wasn't in the mood to talk about it.
"Tsk, if I realised this feeling earlier I wouldn't have come to this damned place."
Giving the mine a complicated look, Alex sighed and opened up his lunch for the day — a cheap nutrient solution.
Feeling the familiar warmth of the fluid, he raised the packet and took in the familiar aroma, before taking a gulp… and his face soured.
"Tastes like crap as always!"
This didn't stop him from downing the rest though, as he forced himself to drink until the packet was empty. Crap or not, he spent his hard earned money on it.
But thinking about how he wouldn't even be around anymore to spend that money, his thoughts started drifting to luxuries he never would have dared to indulge in before.
"That's right! May as well go and fill my stomach up with some goodies before I go ou…"
However before he could even finish his sentence, Alex let out a small yelp as he looked at his bank balance… he was in the negatives.
Shaking his head and cursing, Alex left the mine. The manager and the other miners rushing about with their work cast strange glances in his direction. No one had ever been so bold to abandon their duties like he did.
With nothing left going on for him, Alex rolled his eyes in contempt at his previous co-workers and with a forced smile, he made his way into the city and entered the first police station he came across.
Inside, the officer at the front desk gave him a quick glance before going back to his newspaper and expressionlessly pointed to the seating area where another 7 or so people were waiting.
Alex looked around with some curiosity before quickly losing interest. The place looked just as corrupt as every other institution in the colony.
But seeing that Alex hadn't heeded his words, the officer turned back to him with an even more annoyed look.
"Can't you see I'm busy kid? Go sit down and wait your turn like the rest."
Alex ignored the man and cleared his throat.
"As required by Federal law, I am here to report myself as a victim of impending doom."
The officer did a double take before his expression quickly turned from annoyed to horrified. He looked at the young man with intensity before he asked with uncertainty.
"Are you sure you're not just imagining things?"
The officer was visibly shaking at this point and grew paler as the seconds passed by.
Alex simply shrugged and lifted up his shirt, showing two black, parallel lines that stretched from the bottoms of his feet all the way up to his chest.
"Yup, I'm pretty sure I'm not imagining this."
The moment the words left Alex's mouth, the officer pressed a button underneath his desk.
"EMERGENCY! Evacuate the lobby! I repeat! EVACUATE THE LOBBY!"
***
Reports and stories of impending doom had been spread across the federation even before humans spread their reach beyond their home planet. Those stories only tell of people getting a sense that something tragic or life threatening was about to happen to them.
But just over a hundred years ago, this changed. Millions of people all across the Federation checked in to their local police stations, hospitals etc to report a sense of impending doom. This was simply treated as a freak phenomenon until the first person succumbed to this 'curse'.
The infected started to disappear, literally, into thin air. And in their place horrors beyond human comprehension took their place.
In less than a few weeks the Federation was nearly overrun by monsters and creatures — militaries capable of sweeping entire planets were defeated before this new enemy.
No one at the time knew what this curse was, how to fight it, or how they possessed such mystical powers.
It was only when humans were on the brink of defeat and extinction across the whole galaxy that the Awakened — people who succumbed to the curse and miraculously returned alive — ended up putting a stop to the rampage of these monsters.
With abilities rivalling that of those monsters, they recovered what they could and restored order and peace to the human race.
Along with these Awakened, the name of this curse was also brought to light, the Primordial Expanse.
Over time stability gradually came back to the Federation and the Primordial Expanse generally wasn't regarded as a curse much anymore, as it was a whole other realm. But as far as Alex was concerned, it was.
For the wealthy, the appearance of those two black lines on their bodies, often referred to as the visual representation of the Primordial Expanse, was a welcome occurrence as becoming an Awakened brought many benefits and status in the Federation.
With money, you could send your kids to specialised schools where they would learn fighting techniques and martial arts, all in the off chance that those two wonderful black lines appear on their bodies one day.
For the average person it was as much of a risk as an opportunity to be infected with this curse. If they came out alive and as an Awakened, their status in society would skyrocket. If not… well they would be forgotten as a nobody.
For the slum rats like Alex, it was almost certainly a death sentence. Only luck could help these bunch.