Prelude

The late hour cast a dark cloud over the city, and with the curfew in effect, there were none brave enough to face the Guardsmen on the streets to break it. In the distance, where the Walls stood, one could make out the occasional flicker of light or movement, a surefire sign to tell that a battle of some kind was occurring near its edge. Of course, battles were nearly constant just outside the Walls, but the daylight helped to mask the sight of the constant reminders that the world they lived in was anything but safe.

The tenement housing stood tall, piercing the sky like a spear, with dozens of windows overlooking not only the streets below, but also the far sight of the Wall. Through those windows, a young man watched, his gaze on the distant sight. Unassuming by most standards, nonetheless, he had a presence about him, a confidence despite his overall lack of interesting appearance. With eyes and hair of brown, he was one who would likely never stand out in a crowd. But at this moment, as he stared hate out the window toward the Wall, it was as if the very universe bowed to the young man's intensity.

A sudden slap on his shoulder caused the young man's eyes to blink- once at first, and then rapidly. "Bro, you've got to chill out. You're going to get grey hairs if you keep getting all intense like that," a larger fellow spoke. With a broad, defined jawline and a wide smile, he was one who tended to make the hearts of many women go a-flutter. Even so, despite the fact that he looked older than the young man in the window, a careful look would show that they were similar in age. "We both want to get out there, man, but we have to take this one step at a time-"

The young man in the window turned suddenly, with that same intensity that he had been staring out the window with. "No, Jay. You want to. I /need/ to." He frowned, the intensity fading from him as he reached a hand up to his face, massaging the bridge of his nose between his fingertips. "After what happened to mom and dad...I can't stand being useless, cooped up here in the city. I want to fight those Beasts."

While the creatures that continued to prey upon humanity were known officially as the Ignotus, by far and large the populace referred to them simply as Beasts. Their biology made little sense to the more structured humans, with limbs often coming out at bizarre angles, mouths that ran the entire length of their bodies, eyes that were sometimes on the insides of their mouths, and so forth. While the scientists that remained could find little understanding in how they worked, many believed that these creatures were simply a mockery of the lifeforms found on their planet, and that their native form was something altogether different.

No matter what they were called, or what their biology was, there was no doubt in mind that they had the intention of removing humanity from the world, and seemingly only them. The creatures never attacked the other natural lifeforms, unless they were in the way of getting to a human. This made it clear that these Beasts were here for a purpose... and that dark purpose seemed to be the eradication of the human species.

"Wes, man. C'mon," Jay spoke, frowning as he folded his arms over his chest. "You can't be pulling that shit on me now, dude. I'm not in any less of a hurry to get out there than you are. We're brothers- we were both there when we lost them. Don't act like it hurts you more than it does me," the larger fellow spoke. "We agreed to stick together, no matter what. And we're gonna do that."

Wesley steadily released a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding, a numb nod following his brother's words. Jay was the older brother by about three minutes. They were fraternal twins, and while they were both boys, they didn't really look too much alike. Jay took after their maternal grandfather, being tall and broad, whereas Wes looked more like the boys' father, who had that almost 'generic' appearance. Growing up, the boys had been inseparable, even with the difference in both their appearance and personality both.

"Sorry," Wes spoke after a moment, the silence having nearly grown to an uncomfortable point between them. "You'd think after all these years, I'd have learned how your Framework affects your outlook on things," he spoke, his tone quiet, but carrying some mirth in it as he gave a small smile to his brother. "Even as conflicting as it can be."

Each person was born with a Framework, which was to say qualities of the Four Elements that made them up. Each and every person was made up of the Four Elements: Life, Death, Time and Space. The exact levels of each Element would always work out to be one hundred, but you could generally guess what someone was, based on how they acted. Those who had a high Life Framework tended to be kind, focused on leaving a lasting legacy by creating things, and had a tendency to be optimistic. Death were more of a constant in-the-moment sort, being quite impulsive.

Time Frameworks were often characterized by being almost lazy, as if the fetters of time didn't apply to them and they could take things in stride, rarely taking offense to anything said. Those of Space were industrious, but pragmatic, not bothering to sweat the small details of things (or people) that may get underfoot as long as they were able to efficiently complete what they had set out to do. Space Frameworks tended to be great politicians.

While Jay had never gotten an official test, it was clear that he had a healthy dose of both Death and Time, with a small bit of Life mixed in for good measure. When something was afoot that he had interest in, he tended to be rather focused and realistic about things... but as soon as it was something he didn't really care for, that all faded away and Wes was left to deal with his lazy elder brother. Wes had parts of all four, and it was likely that he took after his father in more than just appearance, who was one of those referred to as a '25er' as he had '25 percent' in each of the Four Elements in his framework.

Jay couldn't help but to smile slightly, at least a little glad that his brother had come back from wherever he'd been, mentally. That intensity wasn't new, but it had been cropping up more often lately. "Look, I can't help it if Grandpa gave me all the best qualities and you got stuck in boring town," Jay spoke, before the smile started to fade a bit, and he reached out, giving his brother a small punch to the shoulder. "Look. Tomorrow we're reporting to the Training Camps. It won't be too much longer before we're out there on the front lines against the Beasts. You don't have to go out there right now."

"You're right. I just...we've been waiting three years for this chance, Jay. Almost four, and now, finally, we'll get the chance to get out there." Wes turned back to the window, his gaze transfixed on the distant Wall, as if he could see what was happening just beyond it.

This building had been their home for these past three years, after their parents had been killed when the Wall had been breached. They'd lived closer to it, back then. After their parents had been killed, the government had put them into this building along with a number of other orphans and those who didn't have a job of their own to support The City. The infirm and the elderly were mostly just waiting to die, and most of the minors were dreading the day when they turned eighteen and began the mandatory training and soldier duty to keep Haven (the name of the last remaining Human settlement) safe.

"Just don't think that it's going to be a cakewalk, Wes. Those Beasts aren't something that you can just...go and fight on your own and win. Even with our Framework, it's not an easy thing. Not unless you get your test and you happen to be like Tier Three or something."

An individual's Framework dictated just how skilled they were in their particular Element, and as such, someone who had a Framework of 50% Space would be twice as talented in the specific abilities that Space used than someone with 25% Space. Of course, that didn't count one's Tier, which doubled your affinity. As such, a Framework of 50% Space as a Tier One would match a Framework of 25% Space if they were Tier Two, and similarly, a Framework of 50% Life at Tier Two would match a Framework of 25% Life if they were a Tier Three. Which meant that on average, a Tier Three was four times stronger than a Tier One.

Tier Ones were the norm- most of humanity fell under this blanket. Out of every one-hundred Tier One individuals, on average, one of them would be a Tier Two. And similarly, one percent of a group of Tier Twos would actually be a Tier Three. There were also rumors of Tier Fours, but if they existed, no one had ever seen one before.

At his brother's words, Wes couldn't help but to smile slightly. "I wish. Once our Frameworks are Activated tomorrow, we need to spar again," the brown-haired man spoke, glancing back toward his brother. "If we're allowed to, that is. When it's just you and me without them, I don't really stand a chance."

"Well that's because you don't work out, my man. I'd fight you right now, but the last thing we need is to show up to the Training Camps tomorrow with black eyes. But yeah, I'll accept your challenge. Once we both get the ability to actually /use/ our Framework, it'll be like a brand new fight. I'll just have to beat you twice as bad," Jay called, grinning widely, the young man flexing both arms, even as Wes turned away, rolling his eyes. "C'mon dude. Let's get some sleep before tomorrow. Don't make me drag you away from that window again."

Wes couldn't help the barest flicker of a smirk flit across his features. "Yeah, yeah," he spoke, recalling the memory. A battle had nearly spilled into the streets, and Wes had been zeroed in on it, watching every little bit of it, but Jay eventually had enough. Jay had pulled his brother away from the window by force, and all-but threw him into the bedroom before he shut the door and setup a chair to keep it from opening. "I don't need to be treated like I'm a four year old." With a movement that almost seemed like reluctance, he lifted his hands to shut the curtain, blocking off the light from coming into their home. "There," he announced, as if he had done something worthy of praise.

Jay grinned, throwing his arm around his brother's shoulders. "That's my kid brother. Let's go!" he called, his arm suddenly tightening into a headlock as he began to drag Wes toward the bedroom, despite the protests of the younger. Despite being only a few minutes apart, Jay often declared himself the man of the house or the older brother, and given his size, that allowed him to generally act like a fool if he wanted, as Wes wasn't really able to stop him.

He just had to wait until tomorrow- he knew that whatever was Activated in his Framework, he'd be strong enough to show Jay that he was able to defend himself, and that he didn't need to constantly be protected.

And then maybe he could finally escape this damned headlock.