Parth was up the next morning, trudging to his shower room. The dorms were ensuite not including kitchens however, the Federation tried to make sure that Framers that came here to be registered officially had everything they need, also as a way to get them indebted to the government for taking care of them.

Though, Parth was convinced that most of the comforts had to do with the influence of Jyllian. There were a lot of reasons the Lion of Gold was so looked up to, her character, her achievements and more. But most of all even if not admitted by most of those at the top, it was her power. Which was to be expected as the only known Omega class Framer.

She used her influence for good however true to her righteous character, she helped where she could to benefit humans and Framers alike. Making sure to take care of dangerous and rogue Framers when called upon as well as taking part in creating facilities like this to provide for Framers. Being the biggest point of contact that linked the two groups in the world ever since the Great Wars and as she has been a big name for ninety percent of people ever since they were born it was no surprise that there were some that worshipped her.

After his shower Parth looked into his mirror, his pupils had become shaped like a four-pointed star reaching the edges of his light-brown irises and he had a small pair of black horns poking out of bronze skin and short black hair. Two years ago he had become a Framer at the age of eighteen.

Ever since The Expanse over two hundred years ago where the planet Earth itself had increased in size completely changing the worlds landscape and upending what humanity thought of science in total, a lot of things had changed. One of them being humanity itself, at the age of eighteen a human had a chance to become a Framer. A burst of energy known as Hyper Logical Essence or HLE for short would erupt from a human being causing them to undergo changes to their body that threw them into a realm beyond human.

The sudden burst of energy could happen at any point while they were at that age and while not overly strong it was capable of causing some damage to the surroundings. This led to camps being created around the world for the specific age of eighteen to limit the destruction caused. Of course, these were overseen by Jyllian again to make them as humane as possible and to allow families to visit.

After the burst of energy, the human body had both physical changes and some…esoteric ones. It varied for each Framer. The horns and pupils were his own changes though others also had similar experiences and he gained his ability to create that weird mist and form it into the scythe. Not his choice of weapon but it was what appeared naturally.

A Framer became faster than the fastest non-enhanced human and stronger too. This and the abilities they gained was why they were then put into a facility before they even when to an Institute like the one he was in. A facility to allow them to gain control of their new strength before they hurt someone deliberately or accidentally.

It wouldn’t be as bad if all of humanity underwent changes like this, then you could just call everyone human anyway albeit with new abilities. However, only one in ten thousand people had such changes happen to their body. This obviously bred resentment and jealousy in a lot of mundane people. There was also the fair share of dangerous thinking by Framers, seeing themselves as rightful rulers of humanity and whatnot. This sort of divide had led to the Great Wars after things reached their boiling points, despite a common enemy that had appear along with The Expanse.

Drakker, hideous creatures that crawled out of the void between dimensions. Their very existence corrupted space-time and everything around it and could lead to eventually collapse in their presence. Some think that, they caused The Expanse while people see it as the other way round and more believe that the Framers exist to defeat them. Some also believe that the Framers are in league with the Drakker they formed their own nation in the South. Known as the Anti-Framer League.

With the help of Jyllian, the strongest known Framer, and her followers. The Great wars between humanity and Framers were put to rest as well as the threat of the Drakker, to an extent. They had been quelled and shoved outside of rebuilt cities and reformed countries. But they were still a threat outside of civilization. And various missions had to be led to deal with any large groups that appeared. With new technologies developed, it was rare for them to appear out of thin air like they normally did, in the middle of a city to wreak havoc.

He was now dressed in casual clothes, since the Institute did not officially start the year until in a few days, he felt no need to wear the uniform. He was dressed in a place black t-shirt, red hoodie and white tracksuit pants as he headed out to the joint cafeteria. He had not made any friends yet as everyone had just arrived yesterday, though he remembered his older brother urging him to try despite his tendency to be alone.

As he walked, past other Framer…students? Subjects? Conscripts? He wasn’t sure what they could be considered after all while they would be learning as they were here, they ultimately were going to be used to fight the Drakker threat. They were obligated to for five years after a year of learning at the Institute. And all Framers had to join a similar facility after their initial training to control their abilities and were determined to be Alpha class at the end of said training.

Just as he reached the door to the cafeteria he groaned. A familiar figure was standing next to him a smug grin on her face. Closing his eyes, he pushed the door open as he walked inside.

“Good morning Parth, what a coincidence, I was just going to get breakfast and you turn up at the same time I do.” Tey’ra’s grin widened at his grimace.

What a coincidence indeed.

“Why are you here?”

“To get breakfast like I said.” She answered innocently.

“You know what I mean.”

“Hmph, I know a loner when I see one, besides don’t you want to be seen with a beauty like me?” She asked blinking her mesmerizing red eyes cutely.

He glanced at her for a moment, her small lips, almond-shaped and pale face, long flowing brown hair, and lithe figure could certainly turn heads. He had to admit that she was very pretty, but he felt like saying that out loud would fuel her ego which he felt was already considerable without the help. Though the triumphant look on her face told him she noticed anyway.

“You wouldn’t leave if I told you to, would you?” He intoned defeatedly.

“Nope.” She replied instantly.

He had a feeling she had no friends either.

They grabbed food from the counter and sat at a table near the corner opposite to each other. Parth did his best to ignore her while he ate but she spent more time staring at him than eating.

“What do you want?”

“Who says I want something, watching you eat is enough.” She said conspiratorially.

“That was creepy.” His countered instantly, a flat expression on his face.

“Okay okay.” She relented. “I want you to assist me.”