1 Awakening! (1/2)
Reef City. A large city constructed on flat land by the sea. Concrete skyscrapers towered into the sky. Steam wagons traveled through the wide roads, despite having no horses pull them. Soldiers marched the streets with large steam powered rifles on their backs.
A young boy, around 15 years in age, was riding a scooter. Two exhausts pipes occasionally had steam burst out, which boosted the scooter forward for several meters before it slowed down again. The scooter traveled down the roads and stopped in front of a high school. He got off the scooter and folded it up to carry in his arms. The boy's hair was so ruffled from the wind that it puffed out in random directions. The boy had pale skin, black eyes, and very curly black hair. He was about 1.6 meters tall.
”Hey Ed! That's a nice scooter you got there! You build this one too? I think I'll borrow it since your last one broke! You don't mind, right? Haha!”
The bully approaching Ed was much larger than him. He stood at least 1.8 meters tall. His hair was curly orange and he was covered in freckles.
Ed pulled out a shiny metal object and pointed it towards the large boy, ”I'm not letting you take this one too Jake. Fuck off if you don't want a bullet in your head!”
Jake backed off slowly with sweat dripping down his back, ”E… Ed where did you get that? You know it's illegal for citizens to carry arms. Have you gone crazy? Just calm down, okay? We're all friends here. It's all good.”
As Jake continued to back up, he carefully examined the gun. Upon looking closer, he realized it was fake. He pummeled one fist in the other and yelled, ”Oy, I've never seen a gun like that before?! It's fake, isn't it? Bastard! I'll fucking kill you!”
Jake rushed towards Ed with his arm ready to swing into a big punch!
BANG! A loud sound rang out. Jake stopped where he was and looked down in panic only to see he was unharmed. He looked back at Ed and the gun only to see a flag sticking out of it that said 'Bang' in cartoonish letters.
”ARAGHH! You little bitch!” Jake swung his fist at Ed who immediately ducked down and tried to tackle him. Ed pushed with all his might, trying to force Jake back. Suddenly, Ed felt his body being lifted into the air. The air rushed past him as he felt the ground rapidly approaching. ”Ugh!” Ed felt the air leaving his lungs as the world turned black.
…
”Damn. I lost again. Just wait until I hit a growth spurt. I'll get my revenge!” Ed clenched his fists in anger. 'That was the third scooter I've lost… I shouldn't have brought it, but I was running late today. Damnit, I'm probably late now anyways. How long was I out for?'
Ed headed into the school and entered his classroom. The teacher was already lecturing and didn't give him a 2nd glance. He sat down in the back row and began to listen. Today's lesson was history.
The teacher spoke to the class, ”The first apocalypse occurred when Earth was hit by a massive amount of plasma from the sun. This came to be known as the Coronal Mass Ejection Apocalypse. It wiped out all electronics in the world. When we attempted to recreate technology from the past, most of it did not work. However, it was soon discovered that steam technology still worked. We entered a new golden age of peace and prosperity.
Today, we are currently suffering from the 2nd apocalypse. The Mana Apocalypse. Each day, lives are lost to the growing mutant threat. Occasionally, a nightmare massacres an entire city, causing millions to die and even more to become homeless. Experts believe that the cause of this apocalypse is the new form of energy we've discovered throughout the world. This is known as mana.”
A female student interrupted the teacher, ”Professor! Is it really as bad as you say? Sure, people die a lot, but now we have espers with amazing powers!”
The teacher nodded and replied to the student, ”Indeed. Some make the argument that we are in a new golden age due to the espers. Some believe they are the next step in human evolution. However, these people tend to be the odd ones out. Do you know how many espers died in the last nightmare attack?”
The student shook her head, ”Was it a lot?”
The teacher sighed, ”Over 300 espers died. Only 900 espers responded in total. In other words, there was a 33% casualty rate among espers. As for civilians? The death toll was in the millions. The nightmare left the scene without so much as a scratch.”
Another student yelled in a deep voice, ”What about the mech suits and steam tanks?! Can't we hold them off with those?”
The teacher shook his head, ”It's true we've developed steam technology to new heights. Mech suits are the weapons of choice against mutants. Unfortunately, they won't even be able to scratch a nightmare. You children have grown up protected behind the city walls. Before Reef City had finished constructing the giant metal walls that surround it, we lost an uncountable number of lives. We didn't have mech suits back then, but even the steam rifles were practically worthless at the time. Today, normal humans at least stand a chance against them when piloting mechs.”
The class ended, and the students got up to head for their next class. The teacher called for Ed, ”Mr. Tesla. Please come up here for a minute.”
”Yes professor. Was there something you needed?”
”Mm. I saw you were late again today. I'll expect to see you in detention after school today.”
Ed nodded and left the classroom. He had already gotten used to it. Even if he tried to argue, the teacher wouldn't care. It's not that the teacher disliked Ed. On the contrary, he was the top student in school. However, this was an era where the strong survived and the weak died. A school bully wasn't a huge concern to anyone these days.
Ed headed for gym class and got changed. He walked two miles with the rest of his class. On the way back to the gym, Jake wrapped an arm around his shoulder. ”Hey buddy, thanks for the ride. My buddies want some too. Think you could help us out?”
Ed scowled, ”Fuck off! You already took three. That was the only one I have, and it will take me at least a week to build another one!”
Two older boys walked over. One was covered in piercings and wore his uniform properly. The school uniform consisted of gray slacks, a white dress shirt, and a gray vest. This 17-year-old boy was a well-known delinquent within the school known as Robby.
The other student wasn't even wearing his uniform. He wore black jeans and a sleeveless black shirt. His arms had bracelets on them that continuously released steam into the air. His arms appeared slightly red from it, but he didn't seem to care. He was considered as part of the emo crowd. Some cut themselves and others used steam. Basically, they all wore black and liked hurting themselves. Ed had never seen this student before.
The two boys grabbed Ed by his arms and dragged him towards the nearby storage shed used for gym. They threw him into the shed and Jake followed them inside. The boy with the piercings squatted down and looked at Ed, ”Me and my friend want some steam scooters. Problem is, we can't afford them. Jake told us you're the guy to talk to.”