A unique looking young man with olive skin and black hair was awaiting his weekly rations from a run down food bank that was permitted by the government, or what was the government.
"Kin... Kin!"
The lady at the front desk shouted over the clamor, waking Kin up from his stupor. He quickly got up and walked over to get his food. As he did, he studied the seated woman. Her clothes were nice but still wrinkled, and her name tag was awkwardly slanted.
"Samantha."
He whispered while grabbing the food.
"I'm sorry did you say something, sir?"
"Uh, no."
He said shaking his head.
He thought to himself walking out of the lively old bank.
...
When he got to his empty apartment, with only a mattress and a couch inside. He walked in and with every step he took there was an all to familiar creaking sound. Although he couldn't even hear it anymore, the only thing he was thinking about was the 20th Harvest. It comes every 4 years and this year it just so happened to land on his birthday. The odds were almost impossible for being chosen, but never zero. With 6 billion people on Earth, or Durbol as it's referred to in the rankings. He knew he wasn't going to get picked, but he still had a weird feeling about this insidious selection.
When the clock strikes midnight, 7 random people will be chosen by them to go to another world and compete for humanity. Humans don't even bother training champions anymore, seeing as we can't even pick our own.
We're last, we're always last.
If we were first we'd at least be able to pick 6 out of the 7 champions, or even second so we could chose 5. We can't chose no one, it's just a gamble. People don't even look up to the sky anymore because we know the rankings aren't going to change. They will forever be
-
1st - World 5: Nerthol, 54 champions
2nd - World 2: Panoptes, 27 champions
3rd - World 7: Phli, 27 champions
4th - World 4: Bayu, 13 champions
5th - World 6: Myarr, 11 champions
6th - World 3: Jhul, 7 champions
7th - World 1: Durbol, 0 champions
-
Seeing as the time was already 11:59pm Kin started preparing his own makeshift sandwich cake. He used the same red candle as he did last year. Finding it in the same old cabinet everything else was in. When he lit what was left of the candle it produced enough light to illuminate the one room.
<17>
He thought to himself
<17>
He hesitated, then began to close his eyes to make a wish and blow out the candle, but before he could take a deep breath. There was a gale of wind that covered him and forcibly blew out the candle. Tumbling out of the miniature cyclone Kin opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar face of a fellow human standing in front of him.
...
"Lovel come down the food is ready."
His grandmother gently yelled through the thick walls.
"Ok"
He absentmindedly yelled back.
A few minutes later his grandmother ends up just bringing him the food as she always does. She opens the door to a cold room, but an even colder glare finds its way back to her.
"It's hot so don't eat it just yet."
She says sweetly.
"Ok"
Lovel replies as cold as ever.
"Get some sleep, it's already getting late."
She whispers to the young man before quietly shutting the door.
Lovel gets up and glances over at the steaming bowl of his favorite soup. He gets in bed and as soon as his head hits the pillow. His head hits a hard marble floor.
Before he could think any further a gaunt looking young man gets flung out of a gust of wind right in front of him, with his eyes closed.
When he opened them, all Lovel could see in them was hope, and maybe a little bit of confusion.
...
"Uh, hello?"
Kin whispered confusingly, yet still loud enough to echo throughout the haunting halls. Before the strange man in front of kin was able to answer they both seemed to have heard the same voice in their head.
"Champion of Durbol. Complete the 8 trials ahead of you. It will be hard but persist, fight, and survive. You have also received what is commonly referred to as a 'Pod' which was placed in your right pocket, which will allow you to communicate with any and all creatures. Once again please survive."
Both the boys reached into their right pockets and pulled what was assumed to be the pod. It lit up the cavernous hallways as it embedded itself into the boys skin. Wanting to communicate how much that just hurt Kin finally looked at the boy in front of him, and was met with an even more intense death stare. Kin subconsciously gulped and tried voicing out:
"Where are we?"
Only for it to fall on deaf ears. He lined up another question instantly.
"What's your name?"
"Lovel, yours?"
"Kin"
Kin begins to glance at the newly acquired Pod noticing a visible stat screen.
-
[Kin]
Health - 4
Strength -3
Speed -5
Vitality -2
Stamina - 3
-
With even more words below it.
-
Innate skill - Inspect
-
Focusing on Inspect he's able to glance over at Lovel and peer into his stat panel.
-
[Lovel Grave]
Health - 6
Strength - 5
Speed - 5
Vitality - 4
Stamina - 6
-
Wondering if he can see his innate skill two he begins to look even more intensely at Lovel. Enough for him to notice and return the gaze 10 fold. Kin quickly looks away and tries to change the subject.
"So from what I have deduced, we both got picked as Champions from Earth. We need to complete some sort of trail and go into the 8th world. Why have we never heard of any of this before until now?"