A boy with chin-length dark blue hair and piercing blue eyes slouched in his middle school classroom. Eram stared blankly at a wall. Despite knowing the other kids in his class for years, their names had all faded from his memory.
Tomorrow, a talent scout would assess each student's core. Any student who passed would get the chance to go to one of the Grand Academies. If Eram failed, his life would be over.
Eram held high hopes for the examination, his parents praise still ringing in his ears. Eram smiled, looking at the clock. They always made him laugh, playing fun board games with him on relaxing afternoons. His parents were his treasures.
Rubbing his eyes, Eram looked out the window, his resolve hardening. One day, he would see the world. One day, he would leave this bird cage he found himself in.
Eram reached into his bag, grinning widely. Once a week, his mom packed him a different kind of food for him to explore. Pulling out the container with something called oysters, Eram stared at the pasty flesh in horror.
Jiggling the container, Eram furrowed his brows, cringing as the flesh wriggled in response. His mom usually blessed him, but today, it was a curse.
He opened the container, shivering, unwilling to waste his mom's hard work. Without the lid, he staired at the container and gagged, his resolve beginning to crumble.
Trembling, Eram picked up the first oyster, its moist, slimy flesh sticking to his fingers. He opened his mouth, closed his eyes, and let the carcass slide in. Immediately the taste invaded his tongue like mosquitoes on a hot summer day—unwelcome and unbearable.
He refused to spit it out. Without his awareness, all of his classmates were staring at him as he continued his horrible journey.
Eram took bite after bite, choking them down. When he finished, he finally noticed all of the other students gagging and staring at him.
'Damn, I can't believe I ate that in front of everyone like that.'
Eram's face turned red as embarrassment washed over him.
There was a loud explosion outside the building, shaking the windows and making everyone's ears ring.
Eram staired out the window, surprised to see about five men and women fly by in a blur. They were either running or flying, moving faster than cars. Eram knew that if he could pass the assessment given by the talent agent, he could become strong like them, the latch force.
The class went into an uproar, every student staring out the window. Each and every kid across the world looked up and admired the latch force because they were the heroes of the world defending it from evil, evident by a kid holding up a small figurine with a cape.
One of the students who had a mutation, being a third eye in the middle of his forehead, asked.
"Who are those people?"
Of course the teacher, Mr. Longly, gave an answer with a smile and a goofy thumbs up.
"Those are the Latch Force ; as you all know, every living being on the planet has something called a core. Cores shape who we are and how we live. The latch force is there to keep people who have powerful cores from harming or killing many people."
Mr. Longley smiled from ear to ear. All of the students nodded, staring at the Latch Force's fleeting figures. Another kid began to speak up, giggling.
"Can you tell us more about them?"
Another boom sounded off this time significantly louder. Many students began to yell and move away from the classroom window. The teacher arose from his desk.
"Everyone get up; let's head out of the school, away from the fight."
Eram slipped away from the body of students that was moving towards the open field to the area where the fight was taking place. He ran in the direction the latch force came through.
As he approached, the sound of combat was getting louder as well.
He turned a corner and gazed at a man with flaming red hair and a scar running across his face fighting with the latch force members that flew by the school earlier. The latch force was circled around the man.
Each member of the latch force wore a special set of gear that concealed their identities from being found out, as well as wielding a weapon.
There was a person with an indiscernible gender; they had giant sword arms similar to what you would think of a monster having. They were closest to the man, seemingly trying to calm him down.
The man furiously kept shouting.
"Get out of my way!"
All of the members of the Latch Force worked together to subdue the man, cutting off both of his legs at the knees as well as the elbows. The man screamed at the top of his lungs, turning into a ball of bright red flames.
Eram kept rubbing his eyes, unable to understand what he saw. After a moment, the man then morphed into a red figure with two horns on its head. The creature that now replaced the man's body looked strait at Eram and gave a smile so wide that its cheeks ripped, revealing razor-sharp fangs.
The creature bolted towards Eram, punching him.
Eram landed on the wall with a massive gaping hole in his chest, blood poring out like a wave. Every time he blinked his eyes stayed closed for longer. His head wobbled from side to side as he rubbed his ears, clearly trying to focus and stay awake.
All of the Latch Force members yelled.
"Everyone save that child!"
Eram was bleeding through the hole in his chest; however, his body was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Eram breathed in and out, slowly closing his eyes.
The creature was no longer looking at Eram but back at the members of the Latch Force.
Eram coughed up a bunch of blood and laughed.
'Damn, I'm so lucky to have this ability. What the hell is that thing?'