An alarm beeps, as a previously dark room brightens up and becomes transparent, exposing a dark and cloudy sky.

“Wake up Delton. Your next appointment is in one hour.”

A young man laid on his bed wincing at the announcement. He had short brown hair parted in the middle, bangs barely reaching his closed eyes. Delton opened his eyes, revealing dark circles, with great difficulty and let out a low yawn. Tossing his blanket on the floor, he looks around only to see nothing around him except for the sky.

“The weather forecast today calls for light rain. I have placed an umbrella by the entrance.”

His eyes lit up, as the voice echoed in his head. He tapped on his temple twice, then the scenery in the room changed to that of a clear blue sky. Letting out a slight smile, Delton walked out of the barren bedroom and into the dining room. The bright sun of the oasis bore down on the dining table, which had a plate filled with boiled vegetables and grilled fish on it.

“My records show that you have not been fulfilling your daily nutritional value, so fish will be on the menu for the following week.”

Sighing, he tapped on his temple thrice. Then the plate of food was whisked away, as a chute opened right beneath it.

“I don’t recommend not eating breakfast, Delton.”

Delton waved his hand, as he grabbed an umbrella in the entrance and exited the room.

Exiting his apartment, he saw many others leaving theirs, too. Each holding an umbrella and wearing the same clothes as him. A gray long sleeve shirt, with gray jeans. The only thing demarcating them were their name tags.

When one of them waved to him, Delton acknowledged it only with a nod.

Delton, walking faster than the others, exited the complex first.

“I advise you get some breakfast before starting work.” Delton tapped his temple once and a path was laid out in front of his eyes.

People filled the streets, each holding an umbrella. However, unlike the people from Delton’s apartment, most of them were wearing different kinds of clothes with different colors. However, those who came from the same complexes, wore the same.

Delton, ignoring everyone else, walked to a food stall. As he sat down, a plate filled with bread and meat was served by an old man who gave him a nod.

With his stomach growling, Delton stuffed himself with the food. Letting out a belch, he tapped his temple once and a number popped up in his view: 9900. Then, the number quickly changed to 9830.

Delton left the stall, waving goodbye to the old man, and followed the path in his view, constantly looking down at the path.

Engine noises, from above, flooded the streets, as hover cars blaze through the skies. Several pointed up as a sleek, silver hover car snaking around the others. Delton also looked up, due to the commotion, and tapped his temple, while eyeing the car.

An opaque page popped up into view, showing the same car. The same voice echoed, “Kondi Dragon RQ. 4 million credits.” At the number, Delton took a sharp breath, then clicked his tongue.

He shook his head then looked back down, following the same path. Sirens echoed in the sky, as two cars with flashing lights hurried after the Kondi Dragon. Delton scoffed without looking up.

Reaching a bus stop, he waited for a couple minutes with several others, until a hover bus landed in front of him. During the commute ride, he looked outside the window, but he was not looking at the view. Instead he was reading the latest articles from today.

TenX Company unveils new hover car

Several of the Top 10 have agreed to move forward with mass exploration beyond

One of the articles caught his eye,

18 year old, Jella Kontor, successfully went through Third Awakening

Right as he read that, the top right of his view exploded with notifications. Looking at it for one second, a group message popped up.

10th_Awakened: No way!? Jella actually reached it!

Left_Behind: That’s crazy! To think, I went to the same school as her.

Corn_Chowder: I’m still barely at my first and see no signs of improving. I should just kill myself.

True_Chicken: You and me both brother Chet

Corn_Chowder: Hey Delton do you still keep up w/ her

Delton smirked, then typed:

Jack_once: No I don’t. Haha, we stopped talking after graduation

10th_Awakened: I'm not surprised, she's in a different league than us Firsts

Like_a_horse: Don't compare me to trash like you, I'll be going through my Second Awakening.

Fire_God: Just your second? Just end yourself before you embarrass yourself any more.

Pisspoor: You tell him, boss!

Likes_to_eat: Why aren't you responding Lazs? Boss too strong?

The chat blew up again as they spat poisonous words at each other. Delton, seeing this, tapped his temple. The group chat was minimized and the notifications were silenced. He leaned back and read the article about Jella Kontor. Staring into her picture, which showed a beautiful young girl wearing workout clothes standing on air, he could not help but sigh.

Having arrived to work, Delton went inside a building, that looked like every other building in this town. Looking at the top left corner of his view, he saw he still had 20 minutes till the next appointment. There were a dozens of people, all wearing gray shirts and gray pants, already present, in the break room, lounging on the couches or standing up in groups. Some took notice of Delton, then went back to their conversations.

Not sparing a glance to anyone, Delton went down the long doorless hallway behind the break room, and without skipping a beat, turned right after so many steps. He opened his right eye wide, and a laser scanned it, leading to an entrance opening up out of nowhere. Walking inward, he came upon a white room with only a white table, that looked more like a solid rectangular prism.

He placed his hands on the table, and after scanning his fingerprints, the table lit up and the voice echoed,

“Delton Cloud, clocking in.”

Soon after, the center of the white table opened up, and a conveyer brought up loose metal parts. Delton tapped his temple, then, he started to hear smooth, rhythmic music. Nodding his head to the beat, he grabbed the parts, and assembled what looks to be a trigger mechanism for a weapon, in about five minutes.

He placed the built piece in the center of the table, then tapped his finger on the table. The conveyer belt went down, and soon another belt rose up with another set of parts brought up.

Delton continued to assemble, sometimes even dancing to the beat, throughout the day. After assembling for nine hours, sweat filled his forehead, as his back was wet. A voice echoed in his head,

“You have reached the daily maximum working hours. Any more work will not be paid.”

Finishing up the last part, Delton spun to the music and placed the finished piece with a posture, reminiscent of a citizen offering a gift to a king. The music stopped, and he heard a soft giggle from behind him.

Since the doors, do not close, he saw a young woman who had fair skin and cool azure hair, covering her mouth with her hand at the entrance to his room.

“You finished, too, Delt?” she said, successfully holding back her laughter.

“Yes, Jade. Was there something funny?” Delton answered with a cold voice.

“You just looked cute dancing,” saying this Jade and Delton stopped talking and began to look around instead. Seeing this awkward silence between the two, their other coworkers snickered, and a middle-aged, balding man, with a rough beard and with muscles that can be seen because his gray shirt was a bit too tight for him, led a group to them.

This man spoke with a bright smile showing his crooked yellow teeth, “Hey, you two lovebirds want to join us for dinner and drinks?”

Right as Delton opened his mouth, Jade, blushing, responded right away, “Sure, we’re available.” Delton, then scratched the back of his head then let out a chuckle. He tapped the table with his right hand, then left the room, which closed automatically behind him, making it look like there was no entrance any more.

Jade and him joined the group, with several of the others striking up conversation with them. As they walked down the hallway, several other coworkers joined them. The middle-aged man called out to an old bald man, whose hands were shaking while assembling the parts, inside one of the assembly rooms, “You gonna join us, Micko?”

The old man, not looking back, shook his head, then responded, “Not today, Boss Bopa. Gotta make some more to make rent this month.”

“Alright, but don’t overwork yourself. You still owe me drinks!” said Bopa.

Micko put down his parts and slammed the table with his hands, “You mean you owe me drinks! I bought you drinks every day when you first joined, damn kid!” He then let out a hearty laugh and waved his hand, without looking back, then began assembling again.

One of the others, a young man who looked in like in his late twenties with curly brown hair and glasses, spoke, “Boss, you’ve never gotten us drinks.”

Others brought up these complaints, while Bopa responded, “It’s because all you kids are too green. None of you have gained the amount of respect necessary for a drink from me!” Seeing his posturing and flexing, the whole group, including Delton, laughed out loud.

As they left the building, everyone’s eyes flashed with light. A number popped up in Delton’s screen, the previous 9830 became 10660. Like all the others, Delton nodded his head at the number.

Looking down from above, through the misty clouds, one can see a group of yellow hexagons moving forward. As these yellow hexagons were about to bump into a group of red octagons, the red octagons parted to give way. Elsewhere, a group of purple and orange octagons moved forward, sometimes bumping into each other in a friendly manner. Elsewhere, colorful circles rotated in a happy manner. An endless stream of droplets landed on these shapes, but a shape in particular caught one’s eye. It was in a group of gray circles, specifically one circle whose section was actually white.

“So this is Fate,” a voice whispered from above, as the winds carried it far away.

Light rain had begun as was forecasted, and the group had opened up their gray umbrellas and headed out. Not wanting to take up the whole street, some of them shared umbrellas., and Delton shared his with Jade’s.

Looking up and seeing a white section in his umbrella, Jade pointed out, “Why is it like that?”

“It got run over during the heavy storm a couple weeks ago and the fabric ripped. I had my mom’s old one during Transition and took the white fabric from that,” Delton responded with a sly smile, that was asking for a beating

“Is that really something to be proud of? Isn’t it just simply knitting or taping?” Jade responded while puffing her cheeks.

“Ha! Do you see any stitches or seams?” Delton pointed at the white part of his umbrella. Delton grabbed Jade by the shoulder and guided her head to look at the umbrella. Feeling her breath on his face, Delton saw how close their faces were together, and backed away in a hurry, causing the both of them to blush.

The rain started to let up, and the muscle-headed Bopa already put away his umbrella. He gestured to the left and said with a loud voice, “If this isn’t the best fried chicken you ever had, then I will comp your meal!”

Several of the group laughed and called him up on his offer. Their group of fifteen sat down on a round table, and a round of drinks were served. A couple of them, including Jade, didn’t drink alcohol, so they drank soda instead.

“A toast to another long day!” A thirty-something woman with short hair, held back by a headband, shouted out, raising a pint of beer. The others raised their drinks, and Bopa along with another thirty-something man, with short-spiked up black hair and glasses, glanced each other and chugged down their drinks.

After the first toast, conversations began between small groups. Delton had sat next to Jade, but because of their previous conversation, words could not come out of their mouths.

Having received another drink and seeing the two, Bopa raised his glass towards Delton, “Kid! Drink this glass with me!”

“I’m not that big of a drinker, Boss.” Delton waved his hand to decline.

“Come on, Delt! You’ve been with us for a couple of months, and you’ve never joined us before. You shouldn’t decline the, hahaha, honor of Boss’ first drink,” the bespectacled young man with the curly brown hair spoke.

“Jucor’s right. Never! Decline! The! Boss’! First! Drink!” an older woman, who looked to be in her forties with graying hair down to her shoulders, shouted out!

Since the rest of the group started to look at him, Delton put his head down, then raised his glass of beer. He looked at Bopa then started to drink his beer. A burning sensation filled his throat, as he gulped down mouthful after mouthful. Opening his eyes to look at Bopa, who was still drinking, Delton did not stop until his pint was finished. Letting out a long breath, he shook his head.

The older woman pointed to her face and laughed at Delton, “Not much of a drinker, huh!” Delton chuckled and could feel his body warm up, while the others laughed with them.

“Says the one eating fried chicken with wine! Come on, Auntie Rocca!” Jucor shouted at her.

Laughter and bustling conversations filled the table. When the fried chicken arrived, the conversations stopped, as the more inebriated people believed that eating this food was the most important event in their lives. The less drunk people, like Jade, Delton, and Jucor, could not help but lower their heads in embarrassment, due to the glances from the other tables.

After eating and many more rounds of drinks, Delton, himself, having been forced to partake in five of them, the alcohol had started to kick in. Bopa walked up to Delton, pulling his chair behind him, and placing himself between Delton and Jade. He let out a burp, causing them to wrinkle their noses at his breath, and spoke in a serious tone, “When I was your age, you two, I felt like I was king of the world. With my talent of Muscle Controller, I wanted to become an explorer, like those in my family who came before. However, because of some stupid accident, I ended up being crippled. It was so bad, I couldn’t even reach my Second Awakening.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Jade said as she looked at the middle-aged man sighing.

“Don’t worry. It was a long time ago. What I’m trying to say is. Don’t waste your life when young, like me!” Bopa spoke with a sage-like demeanor.

The thirty-something man, who went drink for drink with Bopa, started to laugh, “Hahahaha! Those two parts of your story had nothing to do with each other, old Boss!”

Another middle-aged man from the group, who had his graying hair neatly tied in a bun and clean shaven, spoke up, “All I got from those words Boss, is that you got a cool sounding talent. My fucking talent is-. Get this. Good with hands!!! That’s how I ended up stuck in the assembly group!”

At those words, the table hooted and hollered. Delton and Jade, also laughed to their hearts content.

Not saying anything for a couple of seconds, Bopa rubbed his chin, and said, “Huh. You’re right, Polte. I guess that’s a story for another time.” Delton, drinking another glass of beer, after having laughed too much, immediately spat out what he was drinking.

Not letting Delton catch his breath, Bopa continued speaking with zen-like concentration, “I do mean what I had said, though! Don’t waste your youth!”

As if emboldened by Bopa’s words, Jade said, “Boss, I will turn 19 in the coming weeks. I was placed in the assembly group, due to my talent, Hawk Eye, to see things in great detail. Because of my goal to help my family, I won’t waste my youth and plan on reaching Second Awakening in the next couple of years! Believe in me!”

Having never before heard so many words come out of her mouth, the whole group was silent. After a bit, they started cheering her on and clapping. “To Little Jade!” was shouted out and another round of drinks was had.

Delton, stood up, and spoke, “Like everyone else, when the Day of Awakening came, I was hoping to get some broken talent that will shock the world. It was all I could dream about and hope for, coming from a family of Firsts, you know. Instead, I got Jack of All Trades as a talent. After finding out and reading the report, I knew then that I would be stuck as a First for the rest of my life. All I want now is to live a long life…”

Then quickly glancing at Jade, he continued, “… Marry a nice woman, and have a good family. If I have that life, I wouldn’t consider my youth wasted.” After saying this, Delton sat back down, with his head lowered.

“Respectable words, kid!” Bopa patted Delton in the back. Delton looked at Bopa, then looked over him to see a blushing Jade.

Jucor yelled out, “You looked at Little Jade, when you said those words, didn’t you!”

“No, he didn’t!”

“No, I didn’t!”

Jade and Delton spoke at the same time, and realizing this, the others in the group went on a laughing fit.

Polte even said, “And here I thought of introducing you to my cousin! Hahaha! You have eyes on you, kid!”

Delton and Jade didn’t speak for the rest of the time there. And as the conversations and laughter died down, the group started to prepare to leave. Bopa and Polte have passed out, while Rocca told the waiter to leave the check to them.

The cloudy sky had cleared up, revealing a starry sky. Delton said his farewells and went to the bus stop. He headed home, following the same path he took previously. Right before entering his complex, he noticed a shooting star. Staring at it, he tapped his temple, and a voice spoke,

“Unidentified object. No records found.”

Delton only shrug his shoulders, then entered the complex. After taking a shower and changing clothes, he went to sleep. Unbeknownst to him, another figure appeared in his room. A cyan aura shrouded the figure. Underneath the aura, revealed a young man with messy white hair that reached to his shoulders and wearing light leather armor, with a golden sheen. The shadows and wrinkles around his dark brown eyes showed that he had been crying for a long time. He looked at Delton and shook his head, clicking his tongue multiple times and sighing.