"Guys! Food is ready!"
A middle aged man and a young child both dropped their axes and headed towards a small wood cabin.
"Orion, what did I tell you about your shoes? Take them off before coming inside, gosh"
The young child, Orion, reluctantly took off his shoes at the entrance and headed towards the dining table where his mom was placing the dishes she had prepared. He tied his long raven hair into a bun to stop it from getting in the way and picked up his fork, ready to eat.
'Uh... that's unusual'
Perplexed by the unusual amount of food as well as the rare and expensive ingredients his mom used, Orion asked a question.
"Mom, what's the occasion?"
She looked at him for a few moments—a glint of pity could be seen in her eyes, but she tried not let it show on her face.
Before she answered, the middle aged man answered instead.
"The Mark I Trial is today, son"
Orion's mood suddenly turned gloomy. Something as horrible as the Mark I Trial of course would have such an impact.
'How could I forgot something like that today...'
Everyone sat down and ate their food in silence due to the somber atmosphere. When they finished their unusually extravagant meal, Orion's mother stood up from the dining table and headed towards the projector on the wall.
Orion's family lived on the outskirts of the city and where very poor, however every family owned a projector. It was a commodity of sorts that everyone had.
When the projector came to life, a holographic projection of the current news appeared in the air.
[...Sadly there were no survivors. Now, moving on to the main event that everyone has been expecting all day, the Mark I Trial will start in seven minutes. As all citizens know, the Mark Trials take the lives of thousands of humans every year. With the Mark I Trial happening on the first quarter of the year and the Mark IV Trial happening on the fourth quarter many will die this year without exception. The only thing we can do for the unlucky people that get selected is pray for them.]
'Yeah right. Praying will totally save you from being dismembered by a cyber-bear in the Mark Trials'
The newscaster continued giving words of encouragement meant for the future citizens who would be selected for the Mark I Trial. There was no way to know who would be selected, so his words were generic. The Mark Trials worked in strange, but orderly ways. Teens who were ages fourteen to eighteen were capable of being selected for the Mark I Trial, but anyone older would only be able to qualify for the Mark II, Mark III, and Mark IV Trial. The older one got, the higher the chance you would be chosen for a Trial of harder difficulty. There were cases of people who were selected to participate in the Mark III Trial despite them not having cleared the first Trial.
Everyone in the Orion household kept their gazes on the news projection.
[The Mark I Trials participants will be selected in one minute]
While Orion's parents kept on glancing at the clock on the wall, he stared at as his wrist. On his wrist there was a small digital watch embedded into his skin. A small cybernetic enhancement that his dad worked specially hard to pay for. It was a gift for his sixteenth birthday.
Orion held his breath during the last ten seconds.
3,2,1...
A voice resonated from inside his mind.
[Orion, You have been selected for the Mark I Trial]
'Huh?'
A green panel only visible to him appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Orion]
[Age: 16]
[Version: Mark 0.00]
[Components: -]
[Relics: -]
[Fuel: 100/100]
[Current Directive: Reach the tasked area to continue to the Mark I Trial]
[Transporting Orion to the tasked area]
"Mom! Da—"
The world quickly began to fade as Orion lost consciousness.
***
"Ah!"
As though he had lived through a nightmare, Orion woke up and screamed in fear.
'W-where am I? Mom? Dad?'
He looked left and right, but his parents were nowhere to be seen. In fact, he could see nothing. Orion was shrouded by darkness, except for a small light far away.
Feeling the ground with his hands, he managed to stand up. He began to take small steps as he tried to get a feel for his surroundings.
'Just where am I?'
After what seemed like an eternity of wailing his arms around and taking small steps, he stumbled upon a wall. He grabbed the wall with his hand and began walking towards the light on the distance using the wall as his guide.
When Orion finally reached the source of light, he was momentarily blinded. His eyes needed a few moments to adjust to the change in light.
'Is that... a forest?'
Orion had never seen a forest. He knew what it was, but such thing did not exist inside the city. His dad was a lumberjack, but he only worked on synthetic trees that were grown in factories and private properties. It was extremely rare to see a bunch of trees together in a place that was not a factory.
The sun shined bright above his figure. Orion raised his hand above his forehead to cover the sun, but realized something grim. There was blood on his hands!
"Ah!"
Panicked, he ran into the forest trying to get far away from the cave he came from as fast as possible.
Cough, Cough.
He ran and ran until he was out of breath.
'That should be... enough distance right? Sigh...'
Orion leaned on a tree and sat down.
'Where did I get this blood from? It doesn't hurt, so it's not mine... I think. Also... What the hell was that!? I was chosen? Why!? Sigh... If that's the case then I'm basically a dead man walking'
He tried to recall the memory of him with his family watching the news, him being selected, and him blacking out, but everything seemed blurry.
'Ugh, my head hurts...'
What he did recall clearly though was the green panel that in front of his eyes before he lost conscious. Orion knew that people who were selected for the Mark Trials were able to access their Status to check on themselves, their upgrades, their relics, etc. After all, the stories of people who survived the Trials were well known to all citizens.
Orion focused on that memory of the green panel. The sound it played on his head was still fresh in his mind.
'C'mon...'
[Name: Orion]
[Age: 16]
[Version: Mark 0.5]
[Components: Code Shatter]
[Relics: -]
[Fuel: 100/100]
[Mark I Trial: Slay 5 Crazed Skulls]
***
'Version 0.5? Isn't that the version that all of the participants of the Trials are? Hmm...'
His eyes followed every single letter until the next line.
'Code Shatter? What the hell is that?'
It was common knowledge that every participant of the Trials was awarded a free Component at the start of the Trials in order to help them in their journey.
He focused his mind on [Code Shatter].
[Component Ability: Slowly take control over the components of other beings]
[Fuel Usage: 0 per use]
[Component Location: Brain]
'...'
"What!?"