Felix rolled over and groaned. Sunlight was shining through his small apartment window, causing him to wince.
*Vrr *Vrr
Felix's phone had begun vibrating in his pocket. Rubbing his eyes while slipping it out of his pocket, he glanced at the screen.
[7 AM]
The first thing Felix thought was: 'Why the hell am I up so early?'
He quickly checked the description he had put after seemingly setting this alarm.
[Get the hell up, you lazy bastard. It's recruitment day]
"Oh shit," Felix exclaimed while jumping up and wincing as his leg cramped. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Stumbling around his extremely small apartment, Felix tried to remember where he had put his clean clothes.
"Where the hell are they?" he muttered to himself. What's the point of having an apartment the size of an anorexic broom cupboard if you can't find anything?"
A moment later, he sighed in relief as he spotted a stack of freshly washed and folded clothes on top of the couch in which he had been sleeping.
"Thank you, past Felix," Felix said to himself while grabbing the clothes and getting dressed.
Looking around his apartment, Felix almost felt a sense of sadness. It had been his home since he had turned twelve, four years ago. Now, he was never going to see it again.
Eventually, he stopped looking around. There was absolutely nothing to look at. No personal belongings whatsoever. Felix had sold them all a week earlier. All this was done to prepare for today.
Today was Recruitment Day. Today was the day that the Global Alliance, GA for short, would collect all the citizens who had turned sixteen and send them to one of the military academies. Every citizen had a mandatory four-year service, most of which was spent in one of the academies, after which there were a few options. You could continue for another four years, in which the first two would be spent in full-time service while the last two would be spent as a reserve. If you chose this route, you would receive a small pension or the option for a permanent position. If you then chose a permanent position, you could climb the ranks before retiring, if you survived. Most people joined for the full eight years before retiring. They would then, if they were talented, join a guild.
Felix knew that joining the military for the full eight years was the smartest choice, but he also knew his opinion could change. After all, he didn't give a crap about the GA. He just wanted to milk them dry of all the resources he could get from them before joining a guild. The GA could act all high and mighty about protecting the citizens from the Beasts and other dangers, but their entire structure was built on greed, corruption, and power struggles. Felix knew the guilds were really the ones doing the hard work. The guilds delved into the dungeons and gates. The GA delved into global politics. The guilds fought back against the beasts. The GA fought over crumbs of power.
Sure, The GA was indisposable in creating order in chaos when the world went throught the "Assimilation" (Authors Note: "Damn! Look at that clean *ss transition! Bet you weren't expecting such a nice bridge to the plot description") and gates had apeared sending Beasts, unlike what humans had ever seen before, to butcher every living thing they encountered. The Beasts toppled civilization within the first year. After this toppling of the world order, humans who wielded special abilities emerged. Some had secretly hidden these abilities for hundreds of years, while others only gained them after the Assimilation. Using these strange abilities, humans were able to set up bastions of safety and push out the Beasts to the wild. This event was called The Great Emergence. Once the "Awakeners" had succeeded in pushing out all of the Beasts, the remnants of governments and groups of awakeners all formed the alliance known as the Global Alliance. It wasn't actually global, considering humans only controlled 30% of the planet even after 130 years of the GA's formation.
Humans were mostly centralized on one continent, but some megacities were on other continents as well. Travel between them was very difficult, but resources such as materials from Beasts and special gates were also very lucrative for those wishing to take a little risk. Most of the Awakeners, those who had awakened an ability, lived in the megacities because they were situated within Beast territory. That way, they could venture out and collect rare resources, becoming rich as a result.
*Knock *Knock *knock
"They're here," Felix muttered to himself. He made his way to his apartment door and slung a small bag over his shoulder. It held a few things from his parents. They had both perished in the line of duty, leaving him almost nothing. What they had left him was pretty much worthless. The bag contained a few books written in an indescribable language. Felix didn't have enough money to pay for an expert, so he had absolutely no clue what they said. The bag also contained one other thing. A small black box. Inside the box was a small ring made out of pure silver. Unfortunately, it wasn't worth much considering the many new kinds of precious metals and materials.
When he opened the door, Felix was met with the sight of a bored-looking man.
"Are you Felix Ye-" The man paused as if he wasn't sure how to pronounce the name. "Kyto?"
"Felix Ye'kito. And yes." Felix responded.
"Good. I'm from the GA. Please follow me." The man said.
Felix nodded and followed the man out of his apartment. They made a few more stops on the way out of the building, and when they left, they had a group of four. Three recruits, two boys and a girl, and the representative.
Outside the building, a black van was parked. The large GA insignia on the side of it.
'Are they about to steal my kidneys?' Felix wondered while the bored man opened the back of the van and gestured for them all to get in.
Once inside the van, the door shut, and Felix looked at the other kids. Nothing seemed particularly remarkable about them, except maybe for one of them. The person in particular was a beautiful girl with brunette hair and green eyes. Felix recognized her. He had seen her a few times around the apartment building.
Shifting his attention, he glanced at the other boy. He was a pudgy, short boy with unkept hair and dark circles under his eyes, likely from hours of online gaming and other activities (AN: You know I know what you're about to say. But don't judge the boy. Wouldn't want you to accidentally become a hypocrite). What left Felix a little puzzled about the boy was the fact that he wasn't rich enough to live anywhere else, yet he had enough money for his obviously more than average appetite. Felix, on the other hand, was slightly malnourished.
Felix tried to be physically fit and was stronger than you would expect from someone his size, but he just never had the money for healthy and proper meals. All of the pension he got from his parents' death was just enough that the GA wouldn't have to pay for his expenses until he was an adult, therefore giving them an excuse to let him stay perpetually broke. Felix had just enough to pay for the apartment and basic necessities. Any extra he had left over, he meticulously saved just in case of an emergency, but that extra was barely enough to cover one month's rent, even after selling all of his personal belongings.
The van eventually rumbled to life, and they pulled out of the apartment complex. The van was windowless and had thick walls and reinforced glass to separate the back from the front. Small vents were located on the floor in one corner.
'Wait a minute,' Felix thought, 'Why are there vents on the floor?'
As soon as the thought passed through his mind, he could hear a faint click undeneath his feet and a sharp hissing sound began emanating from the vent.
Before anyone could react a white gas had completely filled the back of the van causing everyone to begin coughing.
Felix felt his body begin tingling and his eyes drooping. RIght before he passed out he had one thought: 'They really are after my kidneys.'