A walk Through City's Market

"What happens when a particular species decides to move from their world without a valid reason, and into another to take control of it, simply because they see them as a lower form of life to be controlled?

About a millennium ago, when the world was still peaceful and recovering from the disasters humanity caused, strange gates—now called rifts—appeared in various parts of the world.

The larger the rift, the higher the possibility of more dangerous beasts walking through.

However, these rifts caused an imbalance in human spiritual energy levels, making mana more accessible, but far less stable.

Children born closest to the rift zones began exhibiting mutations, awakenings, or abilities unlike anything seen before.

At first, people thought it was just evolution—as usual—until the first wave of beasts came through the rifts and destroyed major cities.

The more people they killed, the less problematic the rifts became. The more blood and chaos the beasts caused, the happier the Monarch was.

Then the Monarch decided to make it even more intriguing by building ascension towers from the shards of the highest-grade beast cores.

They scattered these shards across different parts of the Earth, and each time a rift randomly opened there, the larger the gate was, and the higher the frequency and mana energy it gave off, the higher the possibility of a tower rising.

No one knew what the towers were, since they appeared like ancient palace towers—but these ones had no windows.

Massive glowing pillars appeared in different parts of the Earth. Sometimes they were made of glass, bones, stone, crystal, or pure light.

Those who managed to step close to the tower were pulled in, and when they returned, they were stronger.

Governments collapsed over time. Brave individuals stepped up to fight the beasts, and each time they made contact, they would awaken with an ability.

While others mutated—with one or parts of their bodies becoming like the beasts'.

Labs were built around the largest rifts to study their influence.

Among these labs was Facility-01, the first and home to the master Project C.R.A.D.L.E.; Control, Research, and Advancement of Otherworldly Dimensional Lifeforms through Experimentation.

Here, they discovered that the mana pool in individuals was more stable in children and easier to manipulate, letting them awaken with or without a catalyst—unlike adults.

A small imbalance in mana could either kill an adult or turn them into a beast.

Therefore, children between the ages of 6 to 16 were tested on and trained as humanity's strongest soldiers.

If they passed the program, they would be set free, sent to other facilities, or assigned to guilds to carry on what they were trained for.

The ones who couldn't handle field missions—and those who couldn't awaken but had the brains to handle the project—were hired as scientists.

Then Project Nephilim, Zero, and seventeen other projects were created after Project Cradle's successful breakthrough."

---

Rose took a deep breath and slowly closed the book, relaxing into the vibration of the truck and the man's low humming.

"That's the genesis, I guess... it's actually quite complex and I don't think I can read it all."

"No, no, it's fine," Dorian uttered, supporting his chin with his hands on the makeshift table.

Rose didn't look at him. She kept her gaze fixed on the black, old cover of the book, with a few thoughts running through her mind.

"Did she ever mention anything about me?" Dorian suddenly asked, reaching across the table to carry the jug.

He poured himself another glass of water, while looking outside the windows to see how far they'd gone.

Rose hesitated. She was the closest person to Chief Breanna, arguably the only person the Chief even spoke to about her plans.

Betraying her in such a way just made her feel bad, but she couldn't stand seeing a mother hurt her own child like that.

She was barely even an adult, but she knew how it felt.

She fiddled with her fingers for a bit and finally mumbled something.

"She did."

Dorian took a sip and glanced at her. "What did she say?"

"The usual..."

"Which is?"

"You lived with her for a few years. You should know."

Dorian scoffed, roughly putting the glass down. "That's eleven years of beatings, punishments, and nonstop training. That could hardly be called living."

Rose's expression softened.

"Well, she didn't really say a lot about you, but she definitely did like you—"

"When I was a mindless kid and showed promising signs of awakening," he paused.

"Silas was always the golden kid," he raised both his hands in the air to form air quotes, "the one to show people our cursed bloodline wasn't as cursed as they say."

"But they aren't."

"Probably everyone else, My sister and father had the same issue with awakening," he smiled at the memory of two black-haired figures, one taller and the other, a tiny one running ahead of him and laughing.

"We got separated when one of the rifts opened near our house."

"She didn't wait for them?"

"Nah," Dorian laughed. "She only grabbed what she could, money, clothes, and left with Silas and I. I bet she's even forgotten how they looked."

Rose mumbled an "oh," then dropped her head.

"I'm sorry about that."

"I'm not saying it for you to pity me, Rose," he flashed her a smile and picked up the glass again. "Just see it as a pathetic backstory to the last and youngest of the cursed Mordaine bloodline."

Rose didn't say anything. She just watched him sip the water like he hadn't had anything like that before.

Could anyone blame him? All he drank was water with electrolytes, salt, sugar, lemon, and just fruit juice or milk.

He hadn't had clean, tasteless water before, so she could only smile and pity him.

The man driving the truck finally spoke through the comms to get their attention. When they raised their heads, they saw that the truck was finally in the city.

Dorian looked behind the truck, in search of a gate for the city, but there was nothing there.

It almost seemed as if the citizens didn't know about the beasts, or they were just ignorant.

Putting that aside, he picked up the wet rag across from him, splashed a little water on it, and wiped his face, arms, and fingers.

He threw on the shirt the man gave him and wrapped a scarf to cover the collar. He slipped into the boots he found beneath the seats, he was always barefooted.

The truck finally pulled to a stop before an open space, with tall buildings, stalls, and the murmurs from passersby.

The man looked back to check on Dorian and Rose. Seeing that they were ready, he tossed both of them a bag and left his seat.

"You'll need new clothes, shoes, and more scarves to cover that thing around your neck until you can break it.

The man said as he searched through the boxes littered on the ground.He also added, "Act like normal teenagers."

"Is there anything abnormal about us?" Dorian asked almost immediately, without hesitation, and with a frown on his face.

The man only chuckled. "You're talking about the blood urchin, who created a sacrificial circle, and drained the blood of grown men, drained everything in the metal-plated boy that was built to take even bullet shots," he paused, taking out a black coat from a small box filled with books.

"Or... the girl too young to be a laboratory scientist, and has dissected a beast and watched children get tortured."

Rose rolled her eyes and stood up. "Just because we've seen things doesn't mean we're not like every other kid."

The man looked at her with raised brows. His eyes shifted between Dorian and Rose for close to five seconds before laughing.

"He's the main problem here. Just don't let anyone get close to him before you reach the apartment."

Dorian frowned, also standing up. "What apartment?"

"My uncle's place. Don't worry," she added the last part when his eyes suddenly darkened. "He's dead, and the place is just abandoned."

The man nodded in reply and slapped a bundle of cash on the table. "Buy whatever you need. I'll pick you both up in three days' time."

"Alright," Rose said. She took the bundle and grabbed Dorian's hand, leading him out of the truck through the side doors.

The truck finally drove off leaving them, she looked at Dorian, who just stared at the market, tensed.

She could feel the heat from his palms, which would've been called normal, but it was just too much.

"Dorian."

"Don't call me by my name."

"I can't call you Zero out here," she whispered, let go of his hand, and placed hers on his head. "Calm down. No one will hurt you, if anyone walks up to you, I'll talk to them."

"Can I attack if they make any funny moves?"

Rose shrugged. "I doubt you'll need to attack anyone, but sure. Just don't bump into any sweaty old guy you see."

"I understand."

"Alright. Let's get some food first."