"Mike!" Micheal’s eyes shot wide open, and the darkness that swallowed him disappeared immediately.
He slowly looked around, scanning the yet unfamiliar surroundings. He found himself in a strange room with simple but elegant decorations. A few pictures hung on the walls, while a single light bulb dangled from the ceiling in the center of two ceiling fans.
"Welcome back to the land of the living."
A voice reached Micheal’s ears from behind him, then he quickly turned around and saw a boy sitting on the chair beside the room table.
"Now who the hell is Mike?"
He had tousled white hair that refused to stay in place, and wore black trousers with a white shirt tucked neatly into them. A pair of black boots covered his feet, while his arms and legs were crossed as he calmly stared at Michael.
"No one." Michael sighed, then rested his head back down to the pillow. "I guess it’s from one of the series I slept late watching last night."
Three years had passed since Michael died in his previous world. He was a slave sentenced to a life of suffering, literally.
Back in his original world, after decades of nuclear wars, humanity finally pushed the Earth beyond its natural limits. The radiation, atmospheric contamination, and countless nuclear detonations severely damaged the planet’s atmosphere.
The damage affected the exosphere, destabilizing Earth’s upper atmosphere.
What followed next became known as the Atmospheric Collapse.
Massive amounts of soot, radioactive particles, and vaporized debris were thrown into the upper atmosphere, forming a dense layer that spread across the planet and blocked most sunlight from reaching the surface.
Temperatures plummeted, crops died, oceans began freezing, and daylight became nothing more than a pale glow behind the permanent darkness. The immense energy released during the wars also disturbed Earth’s orbital dynamics, slightly shifting the planet’s position around the sun.
Humanity did not destroy Earth, but they had pushed it into an age where the sun could barely reach it.
An age where in darkness, famine, freezing temperatures, violence, and societal collapse, governments fell one after another as a mysterious organization known as New Nexus emerged.
They claimed to possess the technology and resources necessary to save humanity, then began forcefully overthrowing weakened governments and seizing control of their militaries.
Within years, New Nexus controlled much of the surviving world, and humanity had entered the dystopian age under the authority of New Nexus.
Then after losing his mother in a crossfire between the former military and New Nexus years ago, Micheal’s father joined the resistance. Eventually, they were captured and slaughtered as an example to anyone who dared oppose New Nexus.
As a twisted consolation for his strength and defiance, Michael was taken into slavery, there he watched a lot of good friends and family die, and after a desperate escape went horribly wrong, he died too.
The last thing he remembered was the darkness that surrounded him as his soul left his body, but before he knew it, he woke up only to find himself tied to the rope hanging from a ceiling fan.
He immediately removed it, and fell hard to the ground.
At first, he didn’t understand, unless he was trying to kill himself in the after life, there was no reason he should have been hanging from a rope, till he took a good look at his body.
It changed completely.
His once lean and malnourished body he had in captivity was now a bit well-fed, at least better than it initially was, with normal-looking arms and legs.
His skin was pale, and his hair had turned completely black.
The rags he wore as clothes changed completely too.
He wasn’t that much disturbed about his appearance, after all it was far better than what his body turned out to be after spending years in captivity.
But after thinking hard about how this was possible, he arrived at the only tangible solution.
Transmigration.
Somehow, he transmigrated into another world.
Michael turned to the window, and his eyes flinched a bit. He immediately stood to his feet and approached the windows, then he stared out of it.
There, beyond the glass, was the glorious morning sun. Its golden rays poured through the window, glinting in Michael’s eyes.
"The sun."
"Beautiful isn’t it? I keep telling Kyle, Solaris morning sun is one thing you should never miss out on."
"Yeah..." Micheal’s face remained still for a moment, his eyes fixed ahead as if he couldn’t process what he was seeing.
Memories of Mike resurfaced, and for a few moments, he didn’t know when tears escaped his eyes.
Michael never had the luxury of knowing his mother. She was taken from him after his birth, and soon after, his father was taken too. Then he lost friends, good friends who were arguably one of the closest things he had to a family.
After his transmigration three years ago, he fell into depression, the kind that none could understand. After all he was just 14 as of the time, and he went through more trauma than any human being should have gone through.
He had endured more loss than any child should have, and with every loss, the rage, vengeance, and darkness within him only grew.
Until he met Raphael Lance, the previous Micheal’s best friend who knew him more than anyone, except the previous Mike that is. But he couldn’t cheer him up for a weird reason, but after a year of persistence, he finally did.
"Raph... Why are you here this early in the morning?"
"Huh?" Raphael crossed his arms. "Don’t tell me you forgot!?"
"Forgot what exactly?"
"Bro, it’s today is finally the day of the activation Ceremony! You’ve been looking forward to it for two years!"
"I have?" He immediately cleared his throat. "Yeah, that’s true."
"You’ve wasted enough time as it is, why are you not ready for school?" A woman stood in the doorway, dressed in a neat black suit with a pencil skirt. Her blonde hair was neatly packed into a ponytail, and a pair of glasses rested on the bridge of her nose. She stared at Michael with a stern expression, and the uneasiness in her eyes was impossible to miss.
"Morning mom." Ralph greeted, but was immediately ignored out of frustration.
"Forgive me Mrs Lance." Michael said immediately admitting his wrongs. "I’ll get ready."
"Quickly." She demanded, then turned around, but before she left, she turned to Ralph then said. "You’re a good child with a bright future Raph, I don’t know why you waste your time with him." Then she left the room immediately.
"I see your mom’s still as cruel as ever, What did I ever do to make her that angry and disappointed?" After he transmigrated, he discovered that he lived in a not so loving family, especially Ralph’s mom.
"Well... I didn’t want to have to bring this up again, but it’s because after your mom dropped you off here and hurriedly left, you failed to activate your origin three years ago. If you recall, we are given a total of three separate years to activate an Origin, not everyone is lucky enough to activate it on the first try, but as the years past and each attempt fails, it becomes more increasingly difficult to do so, and after the third year, you are officially branded as a Null, and you know what that means right?"
"Yeah..." Michael said as he opened the bathroom door. "It means I’ll be talentless."
’Great, not only did I transmigrate into a crooked home, but I transmigrated into a talentless body.’
..
[South Harvard Academy]
"Okay Ethan... A new year, a new beginning..."
Sigh~
"And possibly another semester constantly watching my back."
Millions, billions, who knew how much time had passed since the universe was reset.
At exactly this time before the great reset, the gods had finally torn through the 9th barrier, descending upon humanity and reducing them to ashes.
But now, humanity lived a blissful life, they flourished in fact.
The world had entered a new era, the Era of Evolvers.
In the world that existed before, humanity was powerless, fragile and weak. They couldn’t even struggle against the visitors who descended from other realms, beings whose existence alone far exceeded their comprehension.
But after the Great Reset and the world was reborn, something had changed.
A single element had been rewritten deep within the foundations of humanity itself.
Origin.
It existed within every human, buried deep within their roots, waiting to be activated.
And when it did, the age of helplessness had ended.
And the age of Evolvers began.
The school bell rang through the academy as students chatted and lockers slammed shut along the corridors. Yet, among the bustling crowd, one boy stood alone beside an isolated locker, far from the others. Every student who passed seemed to share one thing in common, their eyes peered at him.
Ethan Kaiser.
He was another aberration in this new world of man, and this was supposed to be his third and final year attempting to activate his Origin.
"No." Ethan closed his locker with another exparated sigh. "If I overthink it, it’s probably going to happen."
As Ethan turned to head for class, before he could even take a few steps, he stopped.
Three boys, each slightly taller than him, stood in his way. They wore faint grins on their faces as they stared at him, making it clear they weren’t there by coincidence.
Roy Archibana.
He was your regular high school jock, well, not really. His grades were pitifully below average, same as his looks, but his mother and father couldn’t care less about it, after all he had the one thing that truly showed a person’s value in this world.
He was a Third Origin Evolver.
"Where do you think you’re going?" Roy stepped forward, his grin was fairly sinister than the other two boys.
"I—I’m going to class..."
"Class? Without my permission? Don’t get why ideas Kaiser, we don’t want any "accidents" this semester now do we?" He chuckled, and the other two boys joined in like back up singers.
"Huh?" Roy’s eyes dropped to both of Ethan’s hands. He stared at them for a moment, then his grin immediately faded. "Where is my coffee?"
Ethan gripped the hand of his bag tightly. "I... Forgot."
"What did you just say?" Roy raised a brow.
"I... Forgot." He summoned all his courage and said loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear.
"Tch!" A vein bulged on Roy’s forehead as he grabbed Ethan by his shirt and effortlessly lifted him off the ground, pinning him high against his locker.
The noise immediately became a magnet to other student’s attentions.
"Listen here, misfit." Roy tightened his grip on his shirt, and Ethan’s eyes wavered as he felt the strain on his back shoulder.
"This is the difference between us, you’re just but an average human. I am an Evolver, and the only reason you are still alive is because I say so, you live to serve me, so when I tell you to have my coffee ready at 9, you fucking have my coffee ready at-!"
"My my." A bold voice came from the end of the hall, drawing everyone’s attention. A man stepped forward at a steady and slow pace to Roy and his boys.
He wore plain black trousers with gleaming polished shoes, a white shirt with no tie, and the top button left undone.
A black mask covered the lower half of his face, running from his neck to the bridge of his nose, and his silver hair draped over his left eye.
"9:01." The man looked at his watch, then back at Roy. "School officially started for the semester 1 minute ago and you are already causing trouble. Why don’t you put him down and we can pretend like this never happened?" He suggested with a smile.
"Oh?" Another grin appeared on Roy’s face as he got back to his feet. "Look boys, it’s the reunion of the misfits."
The three boys attention easily turned to the teacher. "And what if we say no?"
"Well then, I’ll have the matter pushed through to higher authorities, and you know what happens once I advocate for a bullying case?"
The man’s smile immediately tensed Roy. Roy was a rebel bound by an undertaking, his grades were poor, and his only way out was through football, or to pursue a career as an Evolver.
"This isn’t over, misfit." He shifted his annoyance to Ethan, then stormed out of the hallway with the two boys behind him like loyal dogs.
"You know, you really shouldn’t bother with them Mr Jin, you might end up becoming a target." Ralph said, as he and Michael who had just arrived in school stood behind the short chaos.
"I wouldn’t worry too much about it, he is just a kid, besides." Mr Jin walked past them. "Shouldn’t you boys be in class?"
Michael watched as Mr Jin walked away towards his office. No one knew why he wore a mask that covered half his face, but rumors concerning it had spread throughout the school.
Some said Mr. Jin was a victim of a gas explosion, leaving the lower half of his face badly burned. Others claimed a hideous scar was hidden beneath the mask.
But they were only rumors.
’Misfit huh.’ Micheal thought as he overheard their conversation, and his fist clenched subconsciously, he didn’t know how many times he heard that same line from different people in and out of the school since his transmigration.
But he was starting to grow sick of it.
The rest of the day felt like hell for Michael. Throughout every class, he could feel eyes fixed on him, their stares filled with disgust and contempt. But he had long grown accustomed to it, and frankly, he couldn’t care less.
Eventually, the final bell rang.
As Micheal and Raphael stepped out of the school building, he looked up and noticed a white car parked just a few feet from the school gates.
After a brief pause, they approached it.
Ralph stood next to the passenger’s door and leaned into the window. There, a pure manifestation of beauty sat with a smile, his mother, Vanessa Lance. "Mom."
But her smile quickly vanished as she spotted Michael behind him, then she said plainly. "Get in."
..
[Kingdom of Camelot.]
The largest hall in the city stood at the center of the capital, large enough to hold nearly four hundred people. Its high ceiling and wide open space made the place feel even bigger, while rows of seats filled almost every corner.
This year, the Activation ceremony was held in the kingdom of Camelot.
Many people were seated inside, students dressed in their academic robes sat together, while wealthy parents occupied the seats nearby.
Among them were nobles and other important figures who had come to witness the event that decided the fate of all continents.
High above the main hall was a special room reserved for the most important guests. Behind its wide glass windows sat princes, princesses, kings, and queens, all with a clear view of the hall below.
Despite the large number of people gathered there, they were all focused on one place.
At the far end of the hall was a room, within the room, a metallic table was placed at the center, on top of it rested two large stone tablets with several strange inscriptions were carved deeply into their surfaces, standing side by side like an ancient altar.
The stone tablets were linked to a computer where the person in charge monitored the energy output of the tablets during each activation.
Everyone’s eyes remained fixed on the room, as they knew what came next.
Today was that day.
The day new saviours would be born.
"Good morning all." A man emerged from the room, then as he shut the door behind him, he spoke.
"I’ll get straight to the point. Today is the day you have all been waiting for, the day many of you have trained your own life for, the day of your Activation, even after previous attempts. Needless to say, your future rests in the results of the origin you will activate, The type of Origin you activate will decide if you have what it takes to become an Evolver. Some may emerge meeting the requirements, and some will live their lives like 90% of humanity, so it is recommended you prepare your mind for both outcomes."
The principal of the South Harvard academy in Midgard, the academy where Michael and Raphael schooled in, announced, his voice entering into the ears of each and every student that hoped to activate, and they became more anxious than ever.
On a stage not far from the door, an old man stepped forward and spoke into the microphone he had, fulfilling the custom of the largest academy event before proceeding straight into the activation ceremony.
Centuries ago, a comet most thought to be a gift from the heavens, became humanity’s worst nightmare.
No one knew where it came from, and it wasn’t even detected by the planet’s satellite until it struck the center of the earth and released an energy wave that altered the earth.
For a while, humanity thought it was over.
Until it came along.
The Abyss.
No one knew what the abyss was, but the facts remained, its influence changed the whole planet.
At first, no one thought much of it, after all it didn’t seem like there was anything different about their world.
Then, the kings and queens of each kingdom finally panicked. And the reason for that was, the disappearance of their people became a frequent phenomenon, and what was left in their place was a transdimensional gateway.
A rift.
These rifts poured out indescribable beasts and mystical creatures into their world, beasts and creatures that should have only been allowed to exist in fantastical settings.
These beasts immediately overwhelmed the military might of each kingdom, and plunged the world into chaos.
But that wasn’t the only thing the comet brought. After prolonged exposure to the energy wave it released, humanity’s DNA was rewritten by the comet’s energy. That rewritten bio code became the dormant phenomenon that humanity today now referred to as an Origin.
In the end, it was the Evolvers — Individuals who managed to activate their Origins, that killed the monsters of the abyss and ventured into it to prevent them from ever breaking through again.
Origins were the basis of any Evolvers abilities, they are what allows them to mold nature energy and channel the force of the world and its elements.
Just like a human existence came from their parents, everything had an origin, there were three Origins that classified what kind of nature energy an Evolver has.
The First Origin, the Second Origin and the third Origin.
The first origin classified an Evolver that is naturally talented with immense potential to control and manipulate forces one can’t even imagine, they are the strongest Evolvers the four continents only had four of them combined.
The second Origin classified an Evolver that awakened the ability to manipulate and control the elements of the world from its origin.
Fire, air, metal, lightning, you name it.
And the third Origin, although weaker than the first two, was extremely useful. They commanded forces that aid or support Evolvers in battle or other life threatening tasks.
As the old man finished his speech, the principal took his place on the stage and announced. "As we have done over the years, we will call the names of registered aspirants at random, and due to the numbers of this year’s aspirants, you will come in batches of two."
The whole hall tensed immediately, why wouldn’t they? Not only did they have to face the probability of awakening a low grade Origin in the presence of their academy and other academies, but this was the one event where every important figure dared not miss.