"I heard stories here and there, though I never met one aside from myself."
That got Lucky's attention.
"You're not from here?" Lucky asked curiously, watching Nero light up a flame in his index like a lighter.
"I'm from the planet Earth," Nero smiled subtly, casting Lucky a look. "An aspiring athlete from the outskirts, wanting to make it big in the city."
Nero started summarizing what he called life before he got into this world. "And somehow, just when I started in the league, I got into an accident. I don't know how long it has been, but if I'm going to estimate, that's around ten or fifteen years ago."
"You got here when you were a teen?" Lucky scrunched up his nose. "That's odd. How could you make it in the league at fifteen?"
"Time here is different," Nero chuckled. "Or rather, time here doesn't move at all."
"But there's night and day."
"You saw the city up there." Another small flame appeared on top of Nero's index, pointing up. "They do that. They control and are responsible for everything: night and day, this fog, and even the creatures lurking in the shadows."
"Oh." Lucky nodded in understanding, but then he had one more important question in mind. "By accident… do you mean you got hit by a truck?"
Nero furrowed his brows, looking back at Lucky with the same curiosity. "No."
"Are you sure?"
"I was playing and had a bad fall. When I woke up, I was already here."
"Is that so?" Lucky was unsure why he secretly sighed in relief, but what he was sure of was that this guy was here, not because he was run over by a suspicious truck.
When that settled, Lucky cleared his throat to go back to important business. "Aren't you a little open to sharing that information with me? What if I am not from here?"
"I told you," Nero chuckled. "You're neither the first nor the second. You'd hear stories about them here and there; others would even pretend they were just to be called Visitors."
"Visitors, huh?" Lucky analyzed every word carefully. "And why would they pretend to be one? Is there some sort of privilege if you're a Visitor?"
"Tons."
"Then why don't you look privileged to me?"
Nero shrugged, cocking his head back until it was against the wall. "Initially, Visitors are treated like guests. Whenever one was reported, they would get invited by the Genesis. However, since the word spread, people started pretending they were from another world just to step foot in the Metro."
Nero did his best to explain the situation to Lucky as simply as he could. According to him, due to the desperation of many to escape this hell, those who ruled the inverted city had to take precautions. It started by screening those who claimed to be Visitors and then they started filtering them.
Those who were useful would be welcomed and offered citizenship, and those who had useless powers would be rejected. Those who were pretending to be Visitors would get punished heavily.
"In other words, you were rejected?" Lucky hummed, watching Nero nod. "But why? Fire is good."
"It is in here, but not for them."
'Good thing I didn't pick fire.' Lucky mentally heaved a sigh of relief.
"They think my fire is too weak," Nero clarified. "That only means they got a lot more powerful guys over there. Either way, people still claim to be Visitors, but don't attempt to reach the Metro. Being called a Visitor is still special in here."
"Does that make you sad?"
Nero looked back at Lucky, a little surprised at his question. Although Lucky looked nothing but sarcastic, it still made Nero smile.
"No, I'm not. If they didn't send me back, Rita would've been dead."
"Ah. What a nobleman you are."
"So, are you from Earth too?"
Not really.
"You can say that." Lucky shrugged, it was easier for him to say he came from the same world. Saved him from explaining himself.
"What ability did you get?"
"Let's see?" Lucky pressed his temple and hummed. When he smacked his lips, he smiled. "Nothing."
"That's impossible."
"You just have to try to feel it within you. If it's fire, you can see the light in your heart."
"Thanks for the encouragement, but I don't think I have anything like that."
Nero tilted his head a little, keeping his curious eyes on Lucky. "I think it's your strength."
'Strength? Since when did I use that?' Lucky wondered, looking at Nero as if he was waiting for some logical explanation.
"If it's strength, then that explains how you took down the hounds," Nero added, unaware he was giving Lucky more reasons to lie. "That's not a bad ability."
"Now that I think about it, I guess you're right." Lucky grinned. "I have super strength! Do you think I can make it to the Metro?"
"You can try."
"How do I do that?"
"You wait." Nero shrugged. "You wait for them to come down. If you're good enough to get their attention, they will come straight to you. Though I only heard one rumor about a very influential figure from the metro coming down to invite a Visitor."
"A very influential? How influential?"
"Rumors have it that he's the right hand of the Leader and was executing direct orders," Nero shared with little interest as that was only rumors he heard. "Other than that, there's no way you can go over there."
"That's interesting." Lucky nodded.
"You find that interesting?"
"Don't you?"
"I don't really care anymore. For me, this is already my life. As long as Rita…" Nero trailed off, furrowing his brows as he looked around. "Rita?"
Nero sprung from his spot in panic, lighting up a flame with his finger. "Rita?" he called, but no answer.
"She's probably just playing…" Lucky trailed off as he heard a faint moan from his side. The second he caught the woman's eyes flickering underneath her eyelids, he didn't stop Nero from sprinting away to find his precious orphan.
"Rise and shine, 93109," Lucky remarked, finding it easy to deal with this woman without Nero and Rita around. "Growl and drool, or revert to being a beast all you want. Give me something to think about."
Slowly, the woman's eyes cracked open, moaning in pain. When her eyes were fully open, the first thing she saw was a pair of red eyes mirroring her jet-black ones.