Chapter 1: Nemesetz'ah Karumeth
The night was dark and hostile, seeming to swallow the twisting roads off in the distance. Eerily quiet, a man hidden by a grey cloak was walking through the empty streets, his footsteps echoing in the suffocating dark. In the man's arms was a small bundle wrapped in cloth, a small face showing from a small gap.
Two eyes could been seen looking around curiously. If someone saw those eyes, they would be surprised and maybe even a little bit afraid. It was not because the baby was scary itself, but one of it's eyes were golden, while the other one was emerald green.
Soon, the man's steps became increasingly agitated as he hurried towards a large building isolated from the rest of the buildings beside it. Arriving at the gloomy building, the man set the bundle down at the doorsteps and knocked on the door with a worn-out brass door knocker. After knocking, the man's figure wavered and disappeared, almost as if he was never there.
A minute later, the door of the orphanage opened, and out poked the head of an old man. He looked around, and saw nobody outside. Thinking that the knock was just his imagination, he was about to close the door when he heard a weak cry coming from his feet. Looking down, he noticed the bundle of ragged cloth, and was surprised. Picking up the bundle, his head swiveled from left to right to find the person who left the baby there. Seeing nobody, he took the baby back in and closed the door.
On the roof of the orphanage, a figure clad in a grey cloak nodded, before disappearing.
-5 years later-
A young boy around the age of five woke up, rubbing his eyes groggily. Checking an old clock hanging from the wall to his left, he quickly changed his clothes and rushed downstairs, almost tripping over his own foot. Dashing into a room, he quickly joined a line of children, ranging from an age of 3 to 18.
The rules of the orphanage states that at the age of 18, the age when a teenager becomes a man, the individual must leave the orphanage and find their own way in life. The age of 18 is also when an individual can take a certain test that every young man wants to pass.
This test is to see if one has the potential to become a Sentinel. At that time, one places their hands on a magical stone built from the materials scavenged from the lurkers. These stones trigger a certain phenomenon inside the human body known as the "Trial." This phenomenon allows the human body to gain certain powers, and the rank of the power is accessed to see if one can become a Sentinel or not. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of the human population can obtain powers, while the lurker population has a significantly higher chance of obtaining powers, although the chances of obtaining strong powers are lower than the human population.
The powers have a ranking system, based off their power and utility. F-class powers are the weakest, and the people with these level of powers can only join 3rd tier Sentinel-training schools. E-class powers are slightly stronger than F-class powers, and can also only join 3rd tier schools. D-class powers are stronger than E-class powers by a decent margin, and the people with D-class powers can join 2nd tier schools, although the weaker D-class powers can be rejected. C-class powers are stronger than D-class powers by a decent margin, and can join 2nd tier schools. B-class powers are stronger than C-class powers by a large margin, and the stronger B-class powers can be accepted into the first-tier schools, schools that train the strongest sentinels, the "Guardians," or as the lurkers call them, the "Zexols." A-class powers are stronger by B-class powers by a significant margin, and the people with A-class powers have a 80% chance to become a Guardian. Needless to say, people with A-class powers can join the best of the first-tier schools. S-class powers and SS-class powers are the elite of the elite, beating A-class powers by a giant margin. The people with these powers are 100% able to become a Guardian. And last, there is the legendary SSS-class power. There is only one being known by mankind with a power of this level, and it is the ruler of the lurkers. S-class to SSS-class powers are usually based off elements, which are way stronger than other powers. The lurkers have their own elite force, and they are named the "Kaiju," or as the humans call it: the "Rippers."
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Snapping back to the present, Nemesetz'ah Karumeth, or Nemesis, as his friends call him, stood in line. Grahart, the owner of this orphanage, hands out breakfast to the kids at 8:00 every morning, and if anyone didn't wake up in time, they would not be able to eat until lunch. His turn to get food, Nemesis ran up towards the big pot, but one of the bigger boys pushed him out of the way.
"Move it, loser." The boy said as Nemesis stumbled back, barely able to keep himself on his feet. Nemesis sighed in irritation. He was scorned by the other kids because of his eyes. It started when he was around three years old. Nemesis was angry at the start, but he learned to endure. After all, they were bigger than him by two or three years.
Waiting for the other kids to finish getting their share, he finally went up and peered into the pot. All that was left were a few vegetables nobody wanted to eat, and one tiny potato. Seeing that the four year olds still had to get their share, Nemesis sighed, before taking two scoops of soup, two vegetables and half of the potato. After getting through breakfast without any other problems, Nemesis started doing his share of the chores. And the bigger boys. They forced him to do their share, and since their chores were suited for bigger boys, Nemesis is already a lot stronger than other people his age and size.
"Looks like this'll be another long day." He groaned. Deciding that he'll do the easier jobs first, he left the orphanage and entered the dark forest behind it, not forgetting to grab a basket on his way out the door. He enjoyed this chore the most. Walking through the forest calms him down, and he feels most at ease away from the annoying people in the orphanage. He stopped to pick up mushrooms on the ground before continuing on his way.
Movement near him caught his attention, as he spied a deer with a small fawn. Seeing the parent take care of the fawn, Nemesis thought about where his parents are, and why they left him. After musing for a while, Nemesis realized that he went farther than he's ever been into the forest. Looking around him, he saw that he arrived at a small clearing. He noticed that the ground was made of weird looking stone instead of the usual grass. Even though the vines and plants covered most of the ground, Nemesis spotted weird markings on the ground. Approaching closer, he realized that the markings were pulsing with blue light. Tentatively, he reached a finger to touch the markings. After touching it, the markings pulsed brighter, and Nemesis fell to the ground screaming, his body writhing with pain.
That was when his first change happened.
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Author's Note: Hey guys! Welcome to my new story. I haven't got a schedule for chapter releases yet, but I'll work on it as soon as I can. Oh, and I wanted to ask you guys about the romance in this story. Do you guys want the romance to be right off the bat (in like.. 5-6 chapters or so?) or have the romance in the later chapters of the story (100ish chapters)? Maybe you guys can help. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I promise great things will happen :D
Btw: I've changed the aliens names to Lurkers.
-KrYpTiK