Sometimes I think that life can be interesting simply by existing. As if the act of breathing was enough to banish boredom from my confused teenage mind. Not that I really believed that. No. I knew, from my own experience, that life is not that interesting in itself. At its core, it is nothing more than a vain hope, a small and constant struggle for meaningless and worthless things.
That is what I think about when my head is in a toilet. That is what I focus on when I hear the flush being activated and my mouth and nose are flooded with a mixture of clean and dirty water.
A typical scene from American movies, in which the popular and handsome boys throw the nerd in the toilet, as if to say: "Tomorrow you may be my boss, but today you are just trash." It sounds dramatic, but it is exactly what I believe. However, we are not in the extinct North America, but in a village in the former Bahia, South America. We do not live in a world dominated by nerds because they do not even exist anymore or, if they do, they are of no importance. I am also not being attacked by the pretty and popular boys who would do this in the clichés, because they are far from reaching any Hollywood beauty standard. I am not even a nerd, although I am smart as one. Not that they know what that means, or ever meant.
- Learn not to mess with us again, nerd – says the disgusting number one, Valdinei, the guy with the umbrella. Watery blond and with rat teeth. He refers to the fact that I did not let him copy my "History of the New World" test during the only period of the day.
- That's right – adds the disgusting number two, Pedro Antônio. What kind of father names two saints after someone who clearly has the face of a tyrannical dictator? Dead eyes, thinning black hair announcing premature baldness. These parents should be sued. Still, even though I sympathize with Pedro's right to sue them, I can't escape the humiliation of the toilet.
I can hear them laughing at me as they leave the bathroom where I am, and I feel angry. It's an impotent anger because nothing I do will change the school dynamic I find myself in. They are the children of people too important to suffer any consequences, and I've learned that there's no point in complaining.
I get up and run to the locker room of the San Francisco educational complex for boys to take a shower. Another change, according to my mother, made by the new leaders: boys and girls are taught separately.
As if I care about that.
Luckily (or unluckily, I'm not sure exactly), I always have an extra piece of clothing, in case of sporadic violent attacks. I needed a shower, though. After a shower, I put on a pair of sweats just like the one before. I didn't want to give my tormentors a reason to throw me out of the toilet again. My hair no longer smelled of urine, and that's a big relief considering my unlucky trajectory.
Going home after a day of school is clearly a relief. At home, I have my books and my computer, on which I research things that are forbidden to Khartys. I'm a Kharty, and therefore I'm breaking the law. But I'm not an idiot. My IP is untraceable thanks to a patented software that constantly changes the number. Not to mention that VPNs were still a thing in this world, since the leaders are not fans of technological innovation. I did it in my second year, in a forbidden class that I attended on the Internet. Learning forbidden things is like a hobby for me.
Before you ask what a Kharty is, that's the term used to define "humans." Ordinary and without any power. Since the rise of the Prodigies to absolute and untransferable power, things have worked the way they wanted, and they don't want us, Khartys, to have any contact with the magic that surrounds them. Absolutely none.
Of course, I need to emphasize certain things, to understand our new world more objectively. Let's approach the subject chronologically.
"Once upon a time (don't complain about how I start the story) there was a fallen world called Earth. Earth was a blue planet in a system called the solar system. It was tiny compared to the others, but there was life on it. Intelligent and dominant life.
"Humans, or Khartys, the intelligent beings of this planet, systematically destroyed Earth, aiming for profit without measuring the consequences, and nature was in a state of decline until the Prodigies appeared and took power from the human rulers. They, magical beings, who everyone believed did not exist, were taking the world from the greedy hands of the Khartys to protect it.
"They were the heroes.
"Then, a new world of peace and harmony reigned. A world that could no longer be called Earth because of the heavy burden brought by the name it had received from humans. A world that needed a new name to move forward and become better. Its name, Paladia. An unusual name, but the dominant beings were unusual. For a better peaceful existence that would please everyone, they rose to power.
"Everyone was happy in their new perfect world, the trees were green and the animals were abundant and serene. Humans lived with the creatures they had previously hunted for their own food. Of course, humans still hunted, but they were subject to the 'laws of payment'.
"The peace lasted sixteen years. After that, the Prodigies requested from each dominated province the so-called law of payment for the use of certain khartys, called commoners, from nature. This payment was to be made with the sacrifice of sixteen young people, eight boys and eight girls, and this was repeated every sixteen years." Speculations were made by many rebels, but they were rarely heard. Most sites were forbidden and no information other than official information was considered important. No one knew anything about the young people, what happened to them when they left, but once they were taken, they never came back.
But there was one good thing. The bourgeoisie were spared. This meant that if you had purchasing power and therefore did not need nature to survive, you were free from the selection and that was my case. I could, through my mother, pay before the selection, and that was great. I was a bourgeoisie and I bought the means necessary for my subsistence. A free person. A non-plebeian.
My mother was an employee of the current government and that guaranteed me certain privileges. And that was very good, because I wanted to meet the Prodigies who would come for the selection. I found them fascinating.
"Khan?" my mother called as she was arriving at our house. "Come quickly!" She seemed tense, but everyone else was. Tomorrow, on my sixteenth birthday, the selection would begin and sixteen young commoners would be taken into the unknown.
I walked up to her and entered through the gate of the house. It was huge by Kharty standards. It had several empty floors that my mother didn't want to rent. We lived on the top floor, for some reason, but I liked the view and never complained. Of course, I found it very suspicious that she didn't rent the other apartments. If she did, we would have enough money so she wouldn't have to work, but I didn't question her decisions.
It was lunchtime and my mother and I always had lunch together. She was a brunette with straight, full hair. Her eyes were the color of the night sky and her body was too voluptuous for a mother. I didn't have a father. According to my mother, he had died during the war against the southern rebels, but I never cared about that.
Most people call me insensitive, but why would I care about someone I've never seen?
- I brought food. – She said. She always brought it. We didn't have time to cook anything. The bourgeoisie worked to live and keep their dependents alive, and my mother was no exception.
- Great. – I said, feigning excitement. – I'm hungry.
- Can you set the table?
- Sure. – I said, before placing the plates and cutlery needed for the meal. It was a daily ritual. She brought food, I set the table. Then we prayed and ate. I didn't like praying. It was so human.
After everything was ready, we sat down and my mother said a quick prayer to "Father" (whoever that was) and said amen. I imitated her.
- Why are our foods different? – I asked before taking a bite. I had always noticed that, but I ignored it most of the time. It was strange.
- Yours is better. – She smiled.
- What is it? – I said. I had never asked her that before and she was surprised by it. For some reason. - Chicken in brown sauce. – She said.
- What's the difference from regular chicken?
- The... sauce. – She said tensely. - Do you want to try mine? – She said and I looked at her suspiciously. She laughed. - So you can judge for yourself.
I looked at the fork pointed at my mouth and bit into the piece that was there. It tasted horrible. Like old paper. The disgust I felt from the food came in waves and I almost threw up.
- I said. – She smiled sadly as I started eating the chicken in brown sauce, which was much better than that.
- This is disgusting. How can you eat it? – I asked after the fifth bite of my food.
- Diet. – She said.
We were silent for a while. I wanted to know about the selection, but like most people, my mother didn't want to talk about it. Still...
- Have you ever seen a Prodigy? – I asked casually. The food had made me less sloppy. My mind was clear and focused on the response of the woman who raised me. I think anyone is more alert after a meal.
- Yes. – She said simply. It was as if she didn't want to talk about it. For some hidden reason. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't insist:
- What are they like?
- As you've probably seen in the books. – She sounded evasive. What was going on?
- Well, tomorrow I'm going to see them in person so I can compare them with the pictures in the books. – I said smiling. They were the heroes, right? Paladia was a better place because of them.
- Promise me you won't leave tomorrow, Khan. – My mother said, looking terrified of something.
- Why? – I asked. And of course I would see the Prodigies. They were my... heroes. She couldn't ask me that.
- Just promise, Khan.
- But...
- No buts. Make the promise. – She said and looked at me. Was she serious? This had to be a joke. I wasn't going to stop seeing the Prodigies because my mother thought she could stop me. On the other hand, if I broke an oath I could be imprisoned in Trudy's dungeons, where the rebels were chained until death.
But considering that she was the only witness to my oath and would certainly not denounce me, I couldn't care less.
"I, Khan, promise in the name of the one God, whom all serve, that I will not leave my house." The day after tomorrow, I finished inwardly. My mother smiled in relief, thinking that I would obey her.
"I love you." She said. I felt guilty at the same time, but I pushed the feeling away. Nothing could stop me from meeting them. Nothing.
"I love you too, Mom." I said.
After lunch, my mother went back to work and I washed the dirty dishes. I would love to not have to deceive my mother, but if I had to, I would. I went to my room and logged into the northern rebels' website. They were the only ones who still remained resistant to the Prodigies and their website was my best source of information about the world of these magical beings.
I clicked on a picture of the Elf and then the Vampire. They were no different. They were both pale and beautiful and, according to the website, they both fed on blood. Morbid.
The thought of the viscous liquid was nauseating in a good way. I had tasted my own blood several times and it was like my lunch today.
Delicious!
I shouldn't believe these websites, but what else were humans needed for? They couldn't be for servitude, although the Prodigies were immortal and needed to renew their servants. So what for? I sighed loudly and began to delete my browser history. I needed to be careful with my mother. She couldn't know what I was researching on the Internet.
Anyway, I would go to the selection and see for myself. According to the website, the Prodigies couldn't smell blood without becoming uncontrollably hungry/thirsty, which would be noticeable if you looked into their eyes, and I could test it when I saw them. I started walking around the house to have something to do. It was always like that. There was nothing interesting on the streets of San Francisco, and I didn't leave the house for anything. This gave me time to think about things I wouldn't think about if I was distracted.
I wouldn't think it would be cool to be a commoner just to get close to the Prodigies, even if it meant my death in the end. I would be fulfilling my dream of meeting them, finally. It was the coolest thing and the only thing that mattered.
On the other hand, I doubted they would kill the humans they took. Even if they were to become food, they would have to be used in the long term. It didn't make sense to eat them all at once when you could taste the food little by little, right? It would be even more likely if they only killed them after sixteen years, when a new batch of sacrifices was made.
I was thinking about it when my mother arrived with dinner. Greasy ham sandwiches. Or at least I thought they were ham. They had a different and very tasty taste. Different from the ham she herself ate, which was curious. Did diet ham exist?
- What do you want for your birthday? – My mother asked as she ate the food, which I thought must be crap, for people on a constant diet.
- A Vampire tooth. – I said, with my mouth full of food. – For good luck.
- Where did you hear about that? – She said with a laugh. – Vampire teeth! Even if those legends you hear out there were real, do you think anyone would dare to sell parts of a Prodigy?
- The rebels would dare. – I said. And I regretted saying it right away. – Not that I want to, one day, get involved with the rebels just to have a lucky tooth. – I finished quickly. - It's a good thing you don't want to.
- We can spend the day together tomorrow. - I said, trying to change the course of the conversation and getting information for the selection at the same time. This had worked before and I needed it to work now so I would have something to plan with. I knew my mother wouldn't be with me all day. As a bourgeois, she would have to attend the selection early in the day, so it would be easy to leave, but I needed to know when she would be back.
- Not until two, son. - She said, giving me the answer to the unasked question. I had until two to go home, after all.
- Okay. - I said, trying not to show any happiness when what I wanted most was to scream with mad pleasure.
The next day, my sixteenth birthday, my mother left at six in the morning and I got up. The court was supposed to arrive around nine o'clock and I had time, but I wanted to be ready before then. At eight o'clock sharp, I was getting ready to leave the house, but the door was locked. Great, she hadn't fully trusted my oath. Which was interesting, since she had always been the trusting type.
Although only the two of us had witnessed this, and if I denied it... Well, I guess she wouldn't report me in the first place.
I walked to the living room window and looked down. It was thirty feet to the ground. I had jumped from here before and knew I would live. I was strong enough to jump from here, but I was still apprehensive. It wasn't very common for Khartys to jump from considerable heights, but he had a technique. He just had to relax his muscles when they got close to the ground. That lessened the impact.
I guess.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the window and jumped. The ground came toward me with surprising speed, and the violent impact unsteadied me for a minute, but I remained standing.
My legs burned from the effort of not collapsing, but they were steady enough that I didn't limp down the road. My only problem, it seemed, was how to get back up to the house. I ignored it, thinking I couldn't waste any more time.
I walked to the central square, built at the beginning of the rise of the first prodigies. It was old and large. It was full of common people, of the plebs. They would be chosen by the reporters while the royal family watched and smiled at the citizens without choice. It was a mandatory party for the plebs and the non-plebs didn't have to attend, but I still saw a significant amount of bourgeois among the crowd.
I lifted the hood of the robe I was wearing and walked towards the pulpit. I could feel the document that classified me as a bourgeois in my inside pocket and it kind of gave me the sense of protection I needed to keep from running like crazy.
The avenue in front of the square was free of any and all cars. No one else used those air-polluting objects, after all. Only animals were allowed as a means of transportation and they had to be treated with respect and kindness. Irc!
After thirty minutes of waiting, they appeared. It was a convoy with about a hundred animals, pulling an enormous... House. There was no other way to describe it. It didn't look like a carriage. It was much larger, like a palace in motion. The royal family was on top of the structure, covered by a special awning.
Sixteen Elves and twelve Vampires were among those protected. And they were beautiful. They were perfectly beautiful. They smiled with their sharp canine teeth at the crowd in an ironic and fierce way. I watched the smile of a Vampire who was staring at a thirteen-year-old boy, visibly frightened. I was so dazzled that I almost didn't notice the girl walking towards them.
Almost. Because suddenly, she was my focus.
I felt pain.
A fierce pain in my throat. And she was... the girl was... dripping blood. A kind of red mist was perceived in my peripheral vision. I was hungry.
An ancient feeling, pulsing inside me, told me to attack. She was the food. The cure for the pain... everything in me wanted to do that, my entire being was drawn to her... To her blood.
I repelled the feeling and ran towards my house. What was happening to me, after all? Was I really considering attacking someone? For the love of the Great One God, what was happening to me?
My legs propelled me quickly and surely towards the street that led to my residence. I just needed to find a way to get up. It wouldn't be hard, or at least I didn't want it to be hard.
After two minutes, I was in my garden, but I wasn't alone.
- Hello, nerd. - Valdinei looked at me as if I were his favorite toy. I knew that this wouldn't be good. Every time he came to my house, something bad happened. Still, as strange as it may seem, I was more worried about him than about me.
He walks up to me and punches my body in the lower abdomen. Pain runs through me as always, but it was followed by something else. Anger.
I was angry. My mind began to ask, no, order me to fight back. My body was considering the idea. It wanted to obey. It...
The next punch was thrown slowly. Things seemed to be happening very slowly now. I saw when his hand came towards my face. The air moved, slowing the movement. The young man's muscles were fighting against the force of gravity, trying to maintain trajectory and speed to cause maximum impact.
And I dodged.
It was easy and natural. Valdinei's eyes opened wide and I laughed. I could feel his fear. It was strong, like some kind of smell that incited me to attack. I wanted to attack. It wasn't like he was a person who deserved... my generosity, but there was something wrong with me.
I attacked. Fast as a snake. I pulled his left arm and, turning his neck, bit his jugular and sucked hungrily on it.
Blood!
- Ah! – He screamed, but I twisted his neck, breaking it, and he fell silent.
His life was fading away and all the fun in feeding me had ceased to exist, but I kept sucking. The taste was indescribable. Sweet and rich. But at the same time, salty and vigorous. I could feel the energy filling me inside, the heat in my stomach, usually cold, was intoxicating me.
It would be better if he were alive.
That nagging thought was quickly dismissed and I turned my attention back to the food in my possession. It was weak. It was easy to take. The blood was still warm and the hunger was gone before I had drained the source. I stopped.
Something inside me screamed in horror at what I had done, but I didn't care. I was hungry and I ate. It was the predator/prey dynamic and I was the predator.
The hunger was sated, but there was something else I wanted. The feeling of feeding on something fresher. Something more... alive.
I was still in ecstasy. It was... incredible. Sucking the life out of someone like that seemed a lot like... power, but... something was still nagging at me. I pushed the thought away and started running toward the field. I was a predator and I was in search of new prey. Prey that was alive.