The World Before the Fall - Less than a millennium ago, the world experienced wars, treaties, dialogues, and mishaps; however, all of this happened among humans themselves. Humans loved and hated, perceiving the world just a few millimeters away from their noses.
Then, meteorites fell. Not meteorites that blew up the world, but ones that carried a type of radioactivity that enhanced the strength and speed of living beings, taking their senses and reasoning ability in return.
It was a fantasy that the world had always dreamed about but had also always dreaded: zombies.
Emitting infectious fumes, these meteorites affected the entire world. Nothing was spared. It wasn't until centuries later that humans learned to utilize the meteorites. They created a serum from them, a serum that forced evolution in the human species without infecting their minds. Thus, humans with abilities were born.
Great walls were built to keep the infected world out while the humans slowly fought to conquer the Earth and take back what was rightfully theirs from the hands of "monsters."
---
"Ha! Loser!"
The taunts of young students filled the field as rotten eggs were poured all over a young boy.
"He has a photo of Hero Lee. What a dreamer."
"Haha. What did he say?"
"I'm gonna be like Lee when I grow up. Bleh, bleh, bleh," a kid mimicked, sticking his tongue out as he flailed his arms.
"Try being like the janitor first," another kid chimed in, kicking the bullied child.
"At least he has a little water control... and the great cleaning technique," a scrawny child joked, pouring a bucket of cold water on the bullied kid.
Jesse Louis was the battered sixteen-year-old kid. In his last attempt to fight back, he grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at the other kids, running away as fast as he could.
"Yeah, run away! You should be living behind the seventh wall, asshole!"
"Sure, behind the seventh wall," Jesse murmured, pushing his glasses up. The seventh wall was the last barrier that protected the fortress from the rest of the world, and behind it lay the home of the infected. He left the field, running to his secret place: a spot atop the school building that rarely had visitors and was inspected once or twice every several months.
The great seventh wall could be seen even from this distance. It towered up to the sky, keeping everything out and everyone in. Only certified ability users could traverse the outside world.
However, for Jesse, it was nearly impossible. Even when a program was held to distribute free serum to willing students, every student had unlocked an ability, no matter how useless, except Jesse. Because of this, he was ridiculed by the entire school, even by teachers who were supposed to guide students.
Anyway, it was his last day of school; after this, he could either die without powers or jump off the seventh wall, as non-ability users could not continue their education. Neither could they secure a proper job.
Jesse unwrapped the paper in his hand—the photo of Hero Lee that he had always held dear to his heart. "Good thing they didn't take it."
---
Jesse, who had unknowingly fallen asleep, jerked awake. It was already dark, and light could only be seen behind the school gate and from the crescent moon in the sky. He grabbed his worn-out bag and tied the shoelaces of his tattered shoes. However, as he tied the shoelace of his shoe, a small beam of light flashed right past his eyes.
"A shooting star?" Jesse raised his head toward the direction of the flash.
After the fall, even beautiful shooting stars were considered a threat to humanity's safety, and this particular one, which grew larger with every passing second, was even scarier.
"God," Jesse muttered under his breath. He mindlessly jumped down from where he stood, forgetting that it was a two-story building.
"Ah!" he yelped as the pain shot through his ankle to his thigh. Still, he picked himself up, limping quickly toward the field.
Jesse peeked behind him, and the supposed star was now as big as a baby's fist. He stumbled on a rock, rolling over the green grass. He turned his head toward the "star."
As Jesse struggled to get back on his feet, the "star" hurtled toward him, its light intensifying. He raised his hands, shielding his face from the impending impact. But instead of a fiery explosion, he felt a strange, gentle warmth.
Fainting from the sudden impact, Jesse woke up after a few minutes, as if giving his brain enough time to process what had just happened. In the history lesson, it was said that living things around where meteorites had landed turned into crazed beasts in mere seconds; however, there was nothing stating anything about a piece of a meteorite landing on a person.
Picking himself up, Jesse felt a sudden rush of cold from the hole burned through his shirt. Without stopping, he ran to the suburbs where he lived.
Jesse burst through the apartment door, slamming it shut behind him. He leaned against the door, panting and trying to process the events that had just transpired. His eyes widened as he looked down at the smoldering hole in his shirt, revealing the glowing crystal now embedded in his chest.
He stumbled toward the bathroom, flipping on the light switch. The mirror reflected a stranger's face, with sunken eyes and a pale complexion. Jesse's gaze drifted to the crystal, pulsing with an ethereal energy.
Tentatively, he reached out to touch it, feeling a surge of power course through his veins. The crystal seemed to be adapting to his body, merging with his skin. Jesse's mind reeled as he stumbled back into his room.
His small, shabby apartment was the only beneficial thing he had received from the government after the death of his parents in the first wall breach that happened fourteen years ago: an apartment and monthly allowances for the families of those who had lost their relatives in the breach.
The apartment was filled with stickers of Hero Lee and his team, an old non-holographic television on the wall playing one thing repeatedly, and a small, one-person-sized bed. The greenish, mossy walls were hidden beneath a load of stickers, though Jesse, who had gotten used to this, could not be bothered by them.
He got on his small, tacky bed, lying on his back as he faced the ceiling, his finger still caressing the foreign object. The thought of turning into one of the infected plagued his mind.
He applied a little more force at the thought of becoming something inhumane, unintentionally pushing the crystal deeper into his chest and hastening the merging process.
"Argh!" he yelled, turning to lie on his stomach as he bit into his pillow.
"Ah!" The muffled shrieks were stifled by the soundproof room. The pain traveled from his chest to every part of his body like an electric current, only subsiding after long minutes.
[Ding]
[System Initialized]
Jesse's vision blurred again, but this time, holographic screens flickered to life in front of his eyes. The images were distorted, like a malfunctioning TV, but he could make out lines of code, diagrams, and strange symbols flashing by. The screens multiplied, overlapping each other in a dizzying display.
Jesse's mind struggled to keep up, but the sheer volume of information overwhelmed him. He felt his consciousness slipping away, unable to cope with the deluge of data. The screens faded into darkness, leaving only the soft glow of the crystal embedded in his chest.