Year 2225
There was blood on my hands, but it wasn't mine.
Instead, it belonged to Tyson Clad, the most notorious bully at Kuiper Junior High School. The crimson drops seemed to mock me as they rolled down my knuckles—my first real act of defiance in all these years. For as long as I could remember, Tyson had targeted me relentlessly, not because I was weak, not because I was poor, but because I was what society feared most: an Empty, someone born without the spark of ability that had become humanity's shield against the darkness.
"Better to be dead than Empty," they would say. I'd heard those words whispered in corridors, seen them graffitied on walls, even spotted them in political campaigns. In a world where power meant survival, being powerless made you less than human in many eyes.
I watched as Tyson's eyes blazed crimson with unbridled fury, his own fire ability manifesting in response to his rage. The gathering crowd around us pressed closer, their faces displaying a spectrum of emotions: contempt, mockery, smugness, and occasionally, traces of what looked like pity but felt more like revulsion. Some had their phones out, no doubt eager to capture the moment the Empty finally got what was coming to him.
"You know what happens to Empties who don't know their place?" Tyson's voice carried across the courtyard, pitched to ensure everyone could hear. "They disappear. Just like your parents did."
Something in me snapped at those words. Before I could think, before I could remember my place in their precious hierarchy, my fist had connected with his face. The crack of impact seemed to echo across the suddenly silent courtyard. For one glorious moment, I watched the great Tyson Clad stagger backward, blood trickling from his split lip.
The victory was short-lived. Tyson lunged forward with inhuman speed, his ability-enhanced strength letting him seize me by the collar and lift me off my feet. Heat radiated from his hands—not enough to burn, not yet, but a clear threat. "How dare you hit me, Roland!" he bellowed, his voice dripping with venom. "What, you think you own this place just because you happen to share the same name as the school?"
The crowd began chanting, "Burn the Empty! Burn the Empty!" Their voices merged into a singular howl for violence that made my blood run cold. This wasn't just about a schoolyard fight anymore—this was years of societal prejudice finding its outlet.
Tyson's free hand ignited, flames dancing between his fingers as he drew back his fist. I could feel the heat intensifying, see the malicious gleam in his eyes as he prepared to leave a permanent reminder of my place in this world. But just as the flames began to lick at my skin, a surge of authority cut through the bloodthirsty atmosphere.
"Enough!" The word carried the weight of compressed air, physically pushing the crowd back as Mr. Vance, one of the combat instructors, emerged from the spectators. His ability to manipulate air pressure made him one of the more formidable teachers, though that hadn't stopped him from looking the other way countless times before.
Tyson's grip loosened, but not before he managed to land several brutal hits to my face, each impact enhanced by his ability. As he retreated, the look he shot me carried a clear message: "You got lucky." The flames died away, leaving angry red marks where they'd started to burn my uniform.
Mr. Vance lingered briefly, his eyes scanning the dissipating crowd before settling on me. Despite his attempted discretion, I caught the unmistakable look of contempt in his gaze. It was the same look I'd seen countless times before—the one that asked why an Empty was taking up space better used by those with actual potential.
I gathered what remained of my dignity and trudged back to my assigned quarters—a modest space provided by the TerraUnity council to those they deemed "at-risk youth." In reality, it was where they housed those who had no one left to care for them, whose parents had either died fighting the Abyss or, like mine, had simply vanished without a trace.
The room was barely large enough for a bed and a small kitchen area, with a cramped bathroom attached. Everything about it screamed temporary, as if they expected its occupants to either develop abilities and move up in the world or disappear into society's cracks. I sank onto the bed and activated the television, leaving it on the news channel as I always did. The drone of reporters discussing the latest Abyss incursions provided a backdrop to my thoughts, filling the emptiness that seemed to grow deeper with each passing day.
With practiced movements born from too much experience, I retrieved the first aid kit from under my bed and began tending to my wounds. The mirror revealed the damage—a split lip, the beginning of what would be an impressive black eye, and angry red marks where Tyson's flames had nearly caught hold. Another set of scars to add to my collection.
As I worked, my attention drifted to the black grimoire resting on my bed—the only thing I had left of my parents. The tome was a marvel of supernatural craftsmanship that seemed to defy the laws of both physics and ability-craft. From each corner of its cover, ornate baroque patterns unfurled like tendrils of darkness that danced and intertwined, converging upon the center. There, they encircled an oval frame, within which sat a crimson jewel that pulsed with an inner life, a heart of vermilion fire, as if it had been forged in the very depths of the underworld.
I'd tried everything to open it—conventional tools, ability-enhanced equipment borrowed at great personal cost, even attempting to destroy it outright. Nothing worked. The book remained as pristine and unopenable as the day it had been delivered to me, five years after my parents' disappearance. Only the epilogue at the back remained accessible, its contents raising more questions than answers:
[In the year 2213, an enigmatic catastrophe shrouded in shadows, heralding an era of unspeakable dread and alarm, descended upon us. Monsters, grotesque and terrifying, began to appear out of nowhere, attacking all living things in sight. Humanity fought back, but their weapons were ineffective against these horrifying creatures. As territories fell and land became scarce, nations put aside their differences and merged into one, united against this common enemy.
During this time of crisis, people who were more exposed to these creatures suddenly gained abilities. After practicing those abilities themselves, they taught others. They later discovered that they could create books that people could use to learn how to use these abilities, so they did it. They created books that documented these abilities and used them to train the military. Once the crisis lessened, these books were shared with the common people to give them a fighting chance and the day of the calamity was then known as 'Monstrosity's Dawn'.
Those who had not shared their abilities were called the 'Pioneers' and some later went on to start their own factions and organizations, while others became adventurers and/or worked for different factions.
The previous government was recognized as the Earthbornes, who had control over the Earth and held the majority of the Earth ability books. With the help of these abilities, technology, which due to severe natural disasters had stagnated for about a hundred years advanced by leaps and bounds. This greatly improved humanity's fighting capacity, as those without or with weak abilities now had the chance to fight for their lives and for the people closest to them.
The following systems were created six years after the 'Calamity' and are used worldwide today:
Essence Pool: Determines the amount of power a user can store and draw upon.
Control Mastery: Measures how finely they can manipulate their essence in terms of precision, speed, and adaptability.
Ability Evolution: Describes what new skills or forms can emerge at each level.
Environmental Impact: How much users can affect their surroundings or interact with external forces.
Tier F: Embers (0-50 Essence Points)
Tier E: Initiates (51-150 Essence Points)
Tier D: Practitioners (151-250 Essence Points)
Tier C: Adepts (251-400 Essence Points)
Tier B: Elites (401-600 Essence Points)
Tier A: Masters (601-850 Essence Points)
Tier S: Legends (851+ Essence Points)
(Their Essence pool level, Control mastery, Ability Evolution, Environmental Impact and a description for each)
After the subsiding of Monstrosity's Dawn, these people quickly rose to high leadership roles and were considered as heroes of humanity. After these systems and more were implemented, the world took a drastic turn as technology advanced, space travel became common and personal security became everyone's own problem, whether these changes were for the better or the worse…. No one knows.]
My fingers traced the patterns on the cover, feeling the familiar warmth that always seemed to emanate from the crimson jewel. Sometimes, late at night, I could swear I heard it whispering—voices just beyond the edge of comprehension, speaking in languages that made my head hurt when I tried to understand them.
The soldier who had delivered the grimoire had shown a peculiar reluctance to hand it over, his eyes fixed on the book as if expecting it to suddenly spring to life. "Your parents wanted you to have this," he'd said, though his tone suggested he thought it was a mistake. "When you're ready." Ready for what, he never said.
The mysterious nature of the epilogue only deepened the mystery. How could it contain information from six years after Monstrosity's Dawn when my parents had disappeared merely four years after the event? And why leave behind a book that couldn't be opened?
My contemplation was interrupted by thunderous pounding on my door that seemed to shake the entire room. A deep, commanding voice resonated through the thin walls: "Open up, Roland. It's time to go... to The Humanity Defense Military School."
The moment I'd been dreading had finally arrived. In a world where power meant everything, they were about to discover just how Empty I truly was.