"Find it!"

In the middle of the night, a group of knights wearing crude metal armor and insect-like helmets barged into one of the houses in the city, breaking everything in their way. Those unfortunate enough to be in their path were pushed aside or taken away.

"He is in the basement! Get him before he escapes!"

The knights rushed down the dangerously cracking stairs under their combined weight.

A tide of moving armor went through a narrow stone corridor that led to a fortified metal door with no handle.

"It's locked! Priests, blast this thing!"

From behind, a few people wearing robes pushed forward and reached the door.

Each one of them murmured something while holding their right hand forward. Moments later, the metal door began to glow in a reddish light and slowly melt without emitting any heat or smoke.

When the door became a puddle, the soldiers entered the room, splitting up into smaller groups to search.

It was a huge underground basement filled with all manner of complicated and advanced-looking equipment that any scientist would envy. Yet, the knights trashed them to pieces without any care in the world.

Soon, accompanied by shouting and cursing, a group of soldiers returned to the entrance, dragging an old man behind them.

The old man appeared fragile, with an impressively long white beard and hair, and a pair of silver glasses on his nose.

"We have him, sir! He was hiding behind a desk, holding this book."

One of the soldiers handed a book to his superior, who wore a golden-decorated helmet.

"Bio Magic: A Way to Heal," he read the cover out loud before throwing it into a corner and punching the old man in the face, breaking his nose along with his glasses. "You heretic! How dare you go against the law!?"

"T-The law..." the old man snorted and showed his bloodied teeth as he smiled. "There is no law. Only the cult. You put kids into prisons, brainwashing them, turning them into mindless soldiers."

"...What's your point?"

"My point is..." The old man raised his head, looking directly into the eyes of the soldier in front of him. "That you have corrupted everyone, robbing them of their free will. Now it is our turn to take everything from you. To burn everything!"

"I see."

With a swift movement, he cut off the old man's head and kicked it into a corner, leaving a trail of blood. The headless body fell to its knees and then went limp, covering the ground in blood.

"Burn this place, then cover it with salt."

"And the prisoners, sir?"

"This place has already sunk to the deepest abyss of sin. Execute them and burn their bodies as well."

While exiting the room, he noticed the glasses, surprisingly undamaged from the ordeal.

"Old fool."

"My lord! We found something you have to see!"

He stopped and turned around, his sword once again in his hands.

"What is it?"

"O-Our team found something...horrible! You need to see it!"

While swearing in his head that he would kill them if they wasted his time, he followed the soldier to a part of the basement that was separated from the rest by a red curtain.

As they passed through it, the leader almost threw up.

Bodies were everywhere, in different stages of decomposition, lying on stone altars or on the floor. They were cut up, with some parts stitched together or simply missing. If not for the special filters in their helmets, they would have been overcome by the smell.

"My God."

"And this is not the worst."

The soldier pointed towards the very back of the room.

There, a huge bronze reservoir emitted a faint humming noise, with occasional puffs of smoke.

Before this contraption stood a stone pedestal covered by a white blanket, with cables protruding like vines, connected to the reservoir.

The leader and his men cautiously approached, making sure not to step on any corpses.

"Remove that blanket."

The others looked at each other before uncovering the pedestal.

Beneath it lay another body, that of a 13-year-old boy. His skin displayed different colors, with stitches marking the spaces between them. Cables were embedded in his body, some in orifices or veins.

And the worst part was that it moved. Its chest rose and fell irregularly, while its fingers flexed and relaxed.

"...Destroy this thing."

"Sir?"

"I said destroy it! This machine, this basement, this entire building, get rid of it all! Don't let anything leave this room!"

He stormed out, now trampling on the bodies without caring about the blood and filth sticking to his clothing.

****

As the entire building was set ablaze, they couldn't foresee what they had unleashed.

The red flames consumed every book, table, and research material. Flasks melted, bodies turned to ash, and the large machine exploded due to the heat, revealing what was trapped within it. Hundreds, thousands of green orbs soared into the burning air, some flying far away into the open sky, unnoticed by the people.

As they journeyed, the orbs arrived at different places, to different individuals.

Each brought a gift.

Or a curse.

*****

-Several days later.-

 

The sky lit up as lightning bolts streaked through the clouds, the sound of rain tapping the ground.

Listening to the rain droplets, I hugged my blanket closer, ensuring the water in the gutters wouldn't reach me.

As I looked up, I could see several other people like me, homeless and destitute, trying to avoid getting wet. This city, the place we lived in, was called Dis, The Lonely City. Here, the rain never stopped; it continuously poured from the sky.

This city was the only city on the entire continent, hence its name or at least the only one mankind could build. Since time immemorial, mankind had been competing with other races like elves and dwarfs for survival. It was a harsh world out there, with creatures known as monsters roaming the lands, always seeking easy prey like us.

Unlike elves who could use magic or dwarfs who could craft exceptional weapons, mankind had no other talent besides their faith. We had been praying to the gods that created this world for protection and guidance. And recently, some of our prayers have been answered.

And recently, our wishes have come true.

I did not know where or why, but warriors with incredible abilities started to appear, fighting the monsters and saving lives. This allowed humankind to develop, building this city.

I, David, was one of the people born into this world. I had been a farmer since birth, like my father and his father. I had a good life, raising cattle and pigs until a wave of monsters hit our villages and destroyed everything.

A few months ago, I came to this city with little to no money, hoping to build myself up from nothing.

Sadly, the reality was cruel.

With the help of the heroes, food production became unnecessary since they somehow brought massive amounts of food to us. There were still farmers, but all the lands were owned by nobles, and apparently, the pay was almost nonexistent. Moreover, you had to sign a contract that would basically turn you into a slave.

I might have been desperate, but I still wished to maintain my freedom.

I tried to become a tailor, a cook, a laborer, yet nothing worked.

It seemed like the world had turned its gaze away from us.

With these grim thoughts, I felt a rumbling in my stomach.

"Time for dinner."

I slowly stood up, pulled the blanket over my head, and walked away.

To fight the rain, the city was built with canals and bridges. There were different levels in this city, and the higher the social status, the better the environment you lived in.

As someone who owned nothing, I was destined to live in the lowest levels, the place where all the garbage, sludge, and unpleasant things accumulated. In other words,  it was the slums.

Walking through the catwalk streets, I arrived at a series of tunnels. With a heavy sigh, I hung my soaked blanket on a protruding metal piece.

With the blanket, I only had the clothes I was wearing: a tattered white shirt, severely patched-up brown pants, and old leather boots. I used to have more, but I sold most of them to various pawn shops to feed myself.

"I hope I find something good."

The tunnel I was in right now was the sewer system of the city. It ran through the city like a giant maze, going to places even those who cleaned them didn't know. Now, don't worry; I am not planning to eat anything filthy. Well... at least not in a proper sense.

As I walked, I looked around the dark tunnels, my eyes slowly adapting to the darkness.

In the end, I picked up a wooden plank and swung it a few times.

"This will do for now."

I slowly continued deeper into the tunnels until, at an intersection, I found what I was looking for.

Walking alone was a small emaciated creature with pale white skin and a long nose. It was ugly beyond belief, and the moment it saw me, it made a 'giii' sound.

That was a city goblin. Unlike regular goblins, which were green and worked in pairs, these guys preferred to be alone since they didn't have to share food.

Without a word, I stepped forward and swung the piece of wood down, hitting the creature on the head, breaking its skull on impact.

With a disgusting crunching sound, its head caved in and fell to the ground, twitching slightly. 

Did I forget to mention that these guys were laughably weak? So weak that even a farmer can take care of them. 

Throwing away my broken weapon, I kneeled to the body and inspected it.

These creatures usually had a pouch on them in which they carried their latest prey to eat later.

True enough, I found the pouch, but it only contained a half-eaten rat.

"Yeah... no."

I might be homeless, but I will not stoop so low as to eat rats.

I threw the pouch away and continued going deeper. 

As the tunnels went down and down, the visibility got worse and one might encounter stronger monsters down here. There was also the chance that one might lose their way down here but, I have been coming down here for a while and I have not yet got lost. 

It's laughable, even if it's not a good idea to live here due to the constant monster threat, at least you can get some food to eat, and if you are lucky you may find something useful here. 

Not to mention-

“DIE YOU FUCKER!” 

-it's a perfect way to relieve stress. 

I encountered another of these goblins and this time I attacked it with my bare hands, punching it into its stupid face. 

As it took a few steps, I quickly grabbed its neck and threw the fucker right at the wall. As it started to cough up its disgusting purple blood when it fell back to the ground, I started to stomp at it. 

“This is for my family! This is for my farm! And this is because I am fuckin pissed!” 

Why do I have to live like this? Why do I have to endure something like this? Why was I even born as a human, the weakest race in this world? 

I hate it. I hate it all! 

After finally calming down, I kept walking, not even wanting to check if it had any food.