The sun hung high in the sky, but the world remained dark under its shine.
"Get out of here, you pesky bastard. Do you think I am your mother?" A woman shouted while throwing a baton at Cole.
The baton flew cleanly through the air and hit Cole straight on the lips.
"Tsk, another failed chance to get a job," Cole said as he licked off the trickle of blood coming off his lips.
Cole didn't waste any time; he turned to walk away. The woman's voice was still trailing behind him.
This was most of Cole's daily life, going from shop to shop, business to business, trying to get some low-end jobs to survive on his own.
As an orphan that grew up in the slums, things had never been easy.
Life never went the way he wanted, and this grew even worse that day two years ago.
Cole could remember vividly how the crowd responded when he failed to awaken his Innate spirit. The look of disgust and aversion was present on everyone's faces.
"Others awakened powerful spirits or at least not useless ones, but all I got was an obscure figure that quickly vanished."
Things were much better before the Awakening test; people were nicer, and they took a little more care of him, but from that day on, they withdrew all of that.
Despite living such a tough life since childhood, the fire in Cole was never extinguished. Not even close.
He still dreams of being a powerful Spiriter. One that is capable of changing this dog shit world.
"In the slums, seeing what you weren't supposed to could cost you—so Cole always kept his head down.
It usually works for him, but today it didn't. A hefty man was approaching him from afar, obviously distracted too.
As expected, the two collided heavily due to the difference in size. Cole was the one to fall flat on his bum.
"I am sorry, I am sorry," Cole hurriedly apologized.
He knew he wouldn't be going scot-free, but he still apologized to try to mitigate the punishment.
"Bastard," the man shouted out before sending a kick flying straight at Cole.
"That will teach you to watch where you are giving," The man said before leaving.
Cole stayed in that kneeling position for a while. Waiting for the pain to reduce before he left.
While facing the ground, Cole's hand tightened as anger slowly welled up in him.
He had held up for a while, thinking something would change in his life.
Something had to change; Cole was on the verge of totally losing it.
The pain gradually faded, giving Cole the chance to stand back up on his feet and continue his journey. But something immediately caught his eye.
In front of him, pasted on walls everywhere were beautiful golden signs that looked like advertisements.
"This doesn't look like it belongs here," Cole said while he moved closer to observe.
"Something has to change,"
"If that thought dominates your mind,"
"If you want power and status, all you need is strength."
"Thomas Research Institute got you covered."
"If interested, head here."
While Cole was still trying to decide if he should head towards the location, his body already began moving without his will.
He had nothing else to do, and he felt there was a slight chance, so why not try?
There was nothing by the road to that place as the houses gradually decreased in quantity.
"Why use such a suspicious location?" Cole thought.
He stopped to reconsider his decision, but he just couldn't stop. Someone deeper was pushing him there.
Following his gut, Cole resumed his journey. Cole walked for a while more until he spotted a shady building standing alone, surrounded by nothing but bushes.
Outside the building, Cole could see two men standing at the entrance to the building.
The security men noticed Cole approaching from a distance, and they kept their eyes locked on him till he arrived in front of them.
"Head straight down; someone will come to get you," said one of the security men with a creepy smile plastered on his face.
The moment he entered, Cole could immediately feel a sense of foreboding in the air.
It felt kind of heavy and dark, creating a very Ominous vibe.
But he didn't stop; he marched further into the dark passageway.
Suddenly, Sounds of footsteps swiftly approaching sounded behind Cole.
As swiftly as he could, Cole turned around to check what was going on, but he was met with something else.
Bam!
He felt something extremely hard hitting him directly on the face. The attack was so heavy it knocked him out immediately.
"Ughhhh," Cole made out as he regained consciousness after an unknown amount of time.
He grabbed on to his ringing head as he tried to make out what was going on in his environment.
Cole felt completely surrounded by bright light as his vision was unfocused.
Since he was currently incapacitated, he could only maintain his position and wait for things to be clearer.
The first thing Cole saw was the metal cage that was all around him.
The metal cage was quite large and looked especially sturdy. Outside the cage, Cole could see men in white lab coats moving all around.
"Where is this place?" Cole thought.
His eyes moved from outside the cage back to his immediate surroundings. All around him, Cole could see other children of varying ages looking completely lifeless.
They didn't react at all to his presence; they just stared ahead blankly.
"Hey—"
Cole's words were interrupted by the entry of a disheveled-looking man.
The man carried an air of deep authority that made the world seem to bow to him.
"Use this; I need to see the results," the man said, handing a vial to the scientist nearest to him.
He didn't say anything further; his eyes just scanned the cage, lasting a bit longer on Cole.
"I like his fiery eyes,"
The vial was quickly prepared in large quantities as the man handed it to the guards.
The guards barged straight into the cage, and began forcing the weird liquid down the children's throats and soon it was Cole's turn.
Cole attempted to resist, but he was quickly overpowered, and the fluid was forced down his throat.
"Haaaaaaaaa," Cole suddenly screamed out in pain about five minutes later.
When he felt like his soul was being torn apart and sewn together again over and over. It was unbearable.
Cole endured the pain for much longer but also eventually lost consciousness.
Outside the cage, the man stared at Cole while nodding slightly and turning to leave.
Something like this kept happening for a week straight. On the third day a kid died, and on the fourth day his body was removed; on the fifth day he was replaced.
On the seventh day, Cole was already a mess. He just couldn't take all of this anymore.
Cole sat in the corner of the cage observing everyone, waiting for an opportunity. He had been making tiny plans for days, so he waited for it to show its effect.
This time, the guards opened the entrance to feed them the same liquid, but they were forcefully stopped by an explosion.
They looked back to see the blazing fire and machines sparking with workers scurrying all about. They quickly charged out to take care of the situation.
With his slightly weak body, Cole utilized his opportunity and rushed out of the cage and burst out in a random location.
The guards noticed him, but they made sure to take care of the situation before coming straight at him.
While Cole was sprinting away, he looked back at the kids in the cage. Coincidentally, one of them met his eye.
But Cole didn't see hope or anything there; the kid looked completely defeated.
Cole clenched his jaw and turned around to leave. He was lucky enough to escape the building without an obstacle, but now the guards were closely on his tail.
They were just behind Cole, and they caught up extremely quickly.
His weak body was failing him.
Just as they were about to catch up to him, the guards felt it. Life Energy was slowly revolving and accumulating around Cole.
"Haaaaaaaa," he screamed out as he felt an intense burning pain in his eyes.
If anyone could see him, they would notice a faint golden sheen emanating from him.
This was…his First lesson.