“Are you ready?” A middle-aged woman asked. Her long black hair glimmered under the golden sun and fell past her shoulder. Her face was weary and tired, reflected in her soft wrinkles; but her mouth curled into a pleasant smile.


    “Of course I am, Mom,” a lean boy with similar features answered, bashing with his dark-green backpack. “And you already asked me that.” His black hair was cut short and uneven, and he had his best clothes on, wearing a baggy grey shirt and loose dark sweatpants. These ones, at least, weren’t ridden with holes, unlike his others.


    The pair was inside a small playground and park, surrounded by bleak and tall concrete buildings on all sides, mundane apartments of many stories. In contrast, the park was a treasure. The sun was sparsely visible throughout his neighborhood, and it was only in the park that they could catch the full sky and sun; though, they still could smell the city. Regardless, it was one of his most prized places, and was a fantastic retreat, no matter how small it was.


    The sun was low. Golden rays came down at an angle and painted the park in shining light. The sky was a beautiful sheet of blue with a few streaks of white clouds dispersed throughout it. Patches of green grass littered the ground of the park along with cracked dirt. It wasn’t much, but it was a lot more than what the boy’s neighborhood had. He and his family lived a few blocks away.


    The boy’s mother laughed. “Yes, yes.” She patted his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “Years away from us,” she said quietly, her brown eyes turning glassy and tears forming at their corners. “My little bird’s growing up. Are you going to survive out there on your own?” She pinched her son’s cheek.


    “Years at most. And I’m going to the government, not a kidnapping ring, Mom.” The boy rolled his eyes but smiled widely, putting his hand on his mother’s. “I’ll be fine, great even! And weren’t you the one telling me I should go last week?” His mother laughed and embraced him in a warm hug, holding him tight, and she started sobbing. The boy rested his chin on top of her hair; he was slightly taller. Her face pressed into his shirt, and he felt and heard her muffled cries. Soon, his eyes became blurry as well.


    His mother broke away, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. “When did you grow up so fast?”


    The boy smiled and quietly hugged his mother again. “I’ll be back soon enough,” he assured.


    “Charlie!” A low shout sounded from behind the boy. Charlie turned to find his massive tan father running towards him with his chunks of arms spread out, trying to capture him into a strong hug. Charlie paled and began to duck, but it was for naught. He was swooped up in his father’s wide embrace. The mountainous man with dirty blonde hair lifted him up into the air, laughing, and then held him there. He smelled terrible, making Charlie break into a fit of coughs and mockingly wave his hands in front of his nose. His father had just gotten off work, it seemed.


    Charlie smiled, but that didn’t help the fact that he had his wind taken out of him by his father’s embrace, nor that he was currently held in the air. “Let me down, Dad!” Charlie yelled, smacking his father’s back repeatedly. His father didn’t flinch or move a muscle, boosted by The Element and boisterously laughing. His mother covered her smile with her hand as she watched Charlie struggle. Eventually, his father let him down – more like set him – after Charlie’s pleading.


    His father ruffled Charlie’s black hair, sighing. “Fourteen already.”


    “And soon I’ll be bigger than you,” Charlie threatened with a grin. “Watch out.”


    His father waved his hand in dismissal. “Never. But if you did, you’d have to watch out for these guns.” He pulled a sleeve of his shirt back and flexed, revealing a large, ripped, and veiny bicep. He guffawed, and their laughter echoed through the playground. Eventually, Charlie’s father settled. “Do us proud, son,” his father encouraged.


    “We’ll always support you, no matter what,” his mother promised.


    “I know,” Charlie reassured, smiling.


    His father stepped aside, and behind him was Charlie’s small six-year-old brother: Gabriel.


    “Oh? What’s this? A little invader?” Charlie marveled, bending over to pick up his brother who was speeding towards him.


    “Charlie!” Gabriel chirped. “Are you going away?” His brother had dirty blonde hair like his father.


    Charlie swooped him off the grass, much like his father did to him, and held him with his back. “Not for long! I’ll be back very, very soon,” Charlie soothed, squatting Gabriel up and down, which wasn’t an easy feat with how big Gabriel had been growing. Gabriel giggled. His parents met and embraced, looking proudly upon the two. The moment passed far too swiftly, and the sky became a darker blue. It was time to leave.


    Charlie’s throat choked and his fists tightened. He had feelings to convey, but they stopped in his mouth. He and his family were a tight unit. That was how they had survived and managed in their harsh district, dictated by power, the bottom of the ladder. And now he was leaving them.


    He trembled in place, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “I… I don’t – “


    He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, and then another.


    His father stared straight into Charlie, his eyes softly meeting Charlie’s as if he was saying I know. “It’s best for you, son,” he said, his mouth forming the corners of a smile. “You’ll be a fine strong man yet.” He shook Charlie’s shoulders.


    Charlie sniffed and nodded. He took in the remaining moments he had with his family for a long while. At last, he straightened, putting on a bittersweet smile. “Let’s go.”


    Charlie arrived at the nearest government office not long after. It was shabby, and there were only a few rooms inside. He left his family and his goodbyes outside and was slumped on a small wooden chair, waiting for a government official to come and rip him away. The walls were close and painted dark grey. There was a sole metal fan in a corner of the room that emitted a soft whirr and chill to the room. It was empty, and so was the government''s presence in his community. They only acted out their part when they had to, like today.


    A door creaked to his right as a figure walked in. A wide man in a navy suit sat down in a chair opposite Charlie, the man’s eyes landing on him. He had a black briefcase, and Charlie got the feeling that he was about to be grilled.


    “I’m Sergeant Gage, your transporter and handler for today,” he stated, enunciating each syllable with a sharp twang, and unzipping his black briefcase.


    “Got it – “


    “Identification number?” Gage interrupted. His brown, almost black eyes peering into Charlie’s soullessly.


    He showed his left forearm to the sergeant. It was obnoxiously long, so he didn’t feel like reading it.


    “Date of birth?” Gage asked after a few moments. His eyes now scanned a black electronic tablet on his lap, which he had pulled out from his carrier. Charlie paused. The sergeant looked up from his tablet and met Charlie’s eyes. “Don’t know?”


    “Thirtieth of the Fifth Month, Cycle Four-Five-Nine-One,” Charlie answered at last, rubbing his hands over each other and glancing at the door. His hands felt sweaty and hot.


    “Full name?”


    “Charles Neumon,” he replied.


    Gage sighed and stood up straight. “Follow me,” he ordered, and Charlie followed. He led him just outside the station next to a cracked street. Sergeant Gage pressed a few buttons on his small tablet. After waiting a few minutes, Charlie heard a soft rhythm in the distance, and it seemed to grow louder with every passing second, along with a piercing screech like an eagle’s cry that sounded out occasionally.


    He turned its head to where it was loudest. A black behemoth drifted onto the street, tires screeching and kicking up a swarm of smoke and dust. It was like a fortress, or at least one that could move at impossible speeds. Tinted windows and reinforced plating. That was just what Charlie saw. What it hid, Charlie had no clue. It stopped right in front of them on the side of the street, and its doors opened automatically, seeming to invite them into a joyride.


    Gage bent down to enter a seat and stared back at Charlie, who held his mouth open and still. “What are you doing? Get in.”


    While the vehicle had arrived recklessly, it was comparatively better when Charlie was in it; though, it still drove at incredible speeds. The interior was spacious, built for likely a troop of soldiers, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable seating. Hard metal pressed into Charlie with every bump of the armored war van as it winded through the city roads, causing Charlie to wince. He situated himself, or at least he tried, with Gage busy on his tablet doing who knows what.


    He kept himself busy by looking outside the window to see his district, which he wouldn’t return to for a long time. It was grimy, dirty, and overall empty. A ghost town meant for the lowest of society, far old and broken. There were sparse groups of people around, and most were just loitering or playing some mundane sport. It was hard to not be bored. It was also, for the majority, lawless; though, the government was known to make people disappear, especially those who brought up too much trouble.


    These were people left behind by society, by the Element, and who Charlie had grown up with. Now, he was leaving them too. He sniffed. He wanted to go back home.


    “Welcome, prospects!” A tall man boomed in a deep voice. “To the beginning of your future!” He had a shiny bald head but quite broad shoulders. He stood in the spotlight of a stage, facing a seated group of teenagers, no more than fifty, in a theater. Charlie himself was among them. “I am Martial Howard, the overseer of this cycle’s class of Compound Fifty-Four! Be assured, our Compound is elite!”


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    Someone among the audience snorted, a boy near Charlie, but Martial Howard seemed to not hear. “Starting today, you gain the ability to join glorious ranks, the thousands of our Compound, and I ask you one question in return: Are you willing to fight? Against every Revenant and hardship along your path. Are you willing to persevere? To gain strength, to chase your Element, to become a hero of the Union. Only here and now does your path start. Only here and now can you find opportunity. Only here are you given the wings to rise.” Martial Howard paused, allowing applause to leak through, which was in no shortage, and cleared his throat. “Any questions, new Cadets?”


    The theater was silent. “Martial Howard, if I may, what is the standing of the Compound?” A girl with blonde hair asked, standing up, her light and carefree voice echoing through the theater. She wore a lavish white dress, and it was perhaps the prettiest piece of clothing Charlie had ever seen. Ornate gold feathers dripped off the white base of the dress, and beneath the dress’s top rested pale and soft skin. She sat in the same row as Charlie but on the other end. Now, Charlie noticed, many others were decorated, maybe not on the same level as the girl but still amazing. A few stared his way, and especially towards the tattered clothes he wore. Charlie blushed and turned back towards the presentation.


    Martial Howard responded right away as if he was expecting the girl’s question, “Top Fifty. Any more?” No one answered, so he continued, “As new members of the government, do your absolute best to fulfill your expectations and ensure humanity’s survival. While we are in the heart of the Union, never forget that we are in a war for our lives. All of you will remain here for a year for your awakening, and at the end, you shall be tested with your Element and capabilities. Don’t disappoint, Cadets. Do the Union proud.”


    The theater broke into excited chatter, but Charlie didn’t know anyone. He glanced around for someone to talk to and met the gaze of the one who had snorted during Martial Howard’s speech, a scrawny boy with brown hair. He had clothes somehow in worse condition than Charlie’s. The boy wore grey rags with light holes in them.


    “Load of blubber,” the boy muttered, nodding towards the stage, his eyes narrow. He locked eyes with Charlie. “I’m Vince.”


    “Charlie,” Charlie answered. “What’s your story?”


    “Huh?” Vince blinked.


    “Sorry! I’m just… wondering what’s got you hating on him,” Charlie said, motioning towards the stage. “I thought the speech was good!”


    “Oh. Lots of things,” Vince mentioned and then tapped his finger repeatedly on his chin, as if to ponder. “Wanna be my bunkmate?”


    Charlie’s eyes widened. “What?”


    “I know, right? I feel like you’re my last option between all the royalty in here.” Most people in the theater were in at least decently fashionable clothing. Charlie and Vince were outliers, and not many of their status came into the program at all.


    “No, I was just surprised!” Charlie stammered. “Sure! I didn’t even know we needed bunkmates.”


    Vince sighed, “Leave it to the government to inform its citizens.”


    “I pretty much just got here,” Charlie imparted.


    Vince waved his hand. “Your escort was supposed to brief you.”


    Charlie thought back to Sergeant Gage, who seemed awfully impatient. “Oh.”


    “As your roommate, I can guide you,” Vince offered.


    Charlie’s eyes lit up. “You’re going to show me around?”


    “No,” Vince corrected. “I’m going to give you the bare basics and try not to sink me with questions.”


    “Can you please show me some stuff?” Charlie pleaded, attracting the attention of a few cadets. “I’ve never been in a place as big as this!”


    “You’ll get plenty looks on the way to our room. Trust me,” Vince sighed. “Government doesn’t have a head for architectural design either.” Vince was right. He was led through a maze of wide hallways, elevators, and stairs that seemed standardized and on its own, boring; and the walk to the room was long, but that was life in the Cube, as Vince called it. Earlier. Charlie woke up from sleeping in the van at the foot of the Cube, so he couldn’t see the extent of its huge scale, not even its top. It was a massive rectangular structure that stretched into the sky and was painted with faint blue lights like a sort of circuitry all over.


    By the end of their stroll, Charlie was left in wonder. There were so many rooms with all sorts of purposes. He couldn’t even begin to imagine all their uses. At first, he had asked Vince what some were for, but he stopped answering after Charlie began spitballing them out with one cool thing after another coming into view, rooms upon rooms. He even caught sight of a couple Elements in use. People passed by in, usually, an athletic navy uniform that had white streaks, black accents, and sparse gold - the Union colors.


    “Here’s our hall,” Vince finally said. It was smaller than the other main passages, but it was still wide and had doors on either side to what Charlie could only assume to be rooms.


    A young man with long blonde hair walked by Vince, staring his rags up and down. “Really, Vince? Where is your uniform?”


    “Don’t need it, Senior,” he replied, motioning his arms and legs. “I’m loose and ready. Just as the Union wants me.”


    “Put yours on.” The man rolled his eyes and turned to Charlie and his similarly conditioned clothes. “What’s your story?”


    “He just got here,” Vince answered for him. Charlie nodded.


    Understanding flashed in the man’s eyes. “I’ll take you now, before this treasonous man here corrupts you into a conspiracist.” He pointed his finger at Vince. “Tone it down. Don’t defame my hall.


    Vince grinned. “I’d never.”


    “Come with me, new kid,” the man instructed, his golden hair fluttered as he turned. As Charlie joined the man, he waved Vince goodbye.


    He waved back, grinning. “Have fun together, you two!” He shouted down the hall at their retreating figures, cupping his hands around his mouth. Jace waved his hand back in a shooing motion.


    “I’m Jace, your upperclassman by two years, so treat me with respect.” Jace stopped at a door on the left with a sign above it. “I’m essentially your babysitter,” he winked as he turned the doorknob. “So don’t do anything stupid; otherwise, I’d really have to ground you.”


    The door opened to a small office, but it looked like more of a storage closet. Surrounded by random utilities and boxes, the lone desk in the middle was an island. Jace searched a few boxes with his hands, opening some up and moving on when it wasn’t what he was looking for. He pulled out a uniform and held it next to Charlie. His eyes switched between the two, comparing sizes. He put it back and pulled out another smaller one. After roughly checking the size, he handed it to Charlie. “Seems good. I’ll hang outside, put it on and tell me what you’re thinking.”


    Charlie nodded, and then, after Jace left and closed the door behind him, smiled to himself. This was the same uniform he’d seen on other people in the halls outside. It was made of some sort of stretchy material, and it was cool to the touch. Charlie rushed to put it on. The uniform was sleek and meant to support any movement. He jumped up and down and waved his arms around, brimming with excitement.


    Charlie opened the door grinning. “How do I look?”


    Jace gave a thumbs up. “Brilliant,” he smiled. “Feel good?”


    “Oh yeah,” Charlie confirmed, jumping in place and flailing like a wounded bird. Anything to test it out.


    After talking a bit more with Jace and receiving an interesting electronic bracelet, which might as well have been alien technology to him, Charlie headed to Vince’s room. It wasn’t a mess and was rather clean, considering Vince, who Charlie had grasped Vince as quite the agent of chaos. Perhaps it was more because Vince didn’t have items to clutter the room with than him being an orderly type. He sympathized with Vince on that matter.


    There were two wooden beds, a bunk on top and one on the bottom. Vince had already claimed the top, but Charlie didn’t mind. In fact, both beds were better than the one he was used to, so he was happy all the same. But it was here where loneliness hit hard, like a slowly closing fist around his heart. The bed reminded him of his far away home, but talking with Vince distracted him, and he learned.


    Vince had been in the Cube for about a week or so, but orientations happened every two weeks, so he technically got inducted into the program the same day as Charlie, who had been lucky to arrive the morning of. The interesting bracelet was a device designed to help introduce students and was a standard for any citizen across the nation. Any citizen that wasn’t in poverty, that is. Upon activation, it revealed a large blue screen containing scores of data, primarily centered around students. It had rules, advice, personal schedules, and many more functions that neither Charlie nor Vince had yet to discover.


    It was then that he found out, along with Vince, that he had classes today. To that, Vince stated, “The government wastes no time in churning out bodies.” He looked serious this time, his eyes seeming to gaze into some far-off land.


    Vince had his uniform on now, and together, the two headed to their first class, World History, led by Professor Woodley, an energetic old woman. Her hair was shaggy, long, and grey, but her face, teeming with wrinkles, still gleamed with energy. She talked on and on, and there for an hour, Charlie learned of places he didn’t even know existed. The empires that ruled in the time before the Union. The world outside, broader and wider than he could imagine. He paid full attention to Woodley’s each and every word, eyes brimming with a deep curiosity and excitement. Vince, however, looked like he couldn’t care less, zoning out and even falling asleep a couple times before jostling awake. The class was full of everyone from their orientation, but Charlie hadn’t interacted with any of them. They mostly stayed away, much to Charlie’s gloom.


    Charlie glanced at the rest of the classes that he had scheduled for the day. There were Elemental Studies, Physical Fitness, Martial Arts, and... Revenant Studies. Revenants were… beasts, but that wasn’t an apt enough term. Revenants were the incarnations of the harrowing stories told to children at night to make them listen, and they were very real. Charlie hadn’t had an encounter with them, luckily, but that didn’t make the Revenants any less present. He lived in the capital of the Union, Vanica, named after the Union’s founder, albeit not in the main part of the city; still, the Union took protection of the capital seriously.


    “The Element is impartial,” Professor Nolan said, his fiery orange hair spiking. “It is random in the same way that your hair is different than mine. Yet, it is fair in that there is chance. There is fairness in chance. There is fairness in what is not harnessed. It is our third party. And it is how life rises and ascends.” He dramatically paused. “The Element, when we interact with it, becomes our Sixth Sense. Like your sight, like your hearing, like your touch. The world is the same, but with new interpretations. And that is why we are truly lucky to be able to access it.” A student with brown hair and freckles raised their hand. “Was it… Davian? Go ahead.”


    “Respectfully, you said the Element is random, but I believed it to be largely genetic. Is that not the case?” Davian asked.


    “Part genetic,” Professor Nolan corrected, wearing a white Union uniform, the sign of a staff member. “It’s not very likely to happen, as the Element reacts differently to everyone, for everyone is unique, but similarities do occur due to genetics. However, know this: your Element is your own. The path you take on it is your own. No matter what similarities people might say you have. I personally believe the Element even draws from what you were, are, and will be in the future.” Davian nodded in realization; his thick eyebrows raised. He wrote something down on his blue screen, which popped up due to his electric bracelet. Charlie had found out that it was named an Access.


    “I’ll continue. There is no bad Element. It is simply a matter of application and view. Do not envy others’ Elements,” he spoke like a grandfather telling his grandchildren a serious lesson of experience. “That is a fool’s journey, and one that would hinder your own.” All the students’ Accesses buzzed, as well as Professor Nolan’s. “Well, that is all for today. Come tomorrow, and we shall discuss the Elements of the Union’s greatest soldiers.”


    The cadets buzzed with excitement, including Charlie. With all this talk of the Element, he couldn’t wait to awaken. With a smile, he approached the professor. “Thank you, sir,” Charlie said, bowing his head slightly. “I really enjoyed the lesson.” Charlie clutched his heart, which was beating fast. He had never learnt before. Education wasn’t an option where he lived, and a newfound passion for learning ignited in his soul, especially a passion for chasing his own Element.


    Professor Nolan beamed, his orange irises glowing. “Come tomorrow, kid, and learn all you can in the Cube!” He chuckled. Charlie grinned and shook Professor Nolan’s hand before leaving. Vince waited for him outside of the room.


    “Sucking up to teachers on the first day?” Vince bantered.


    “Oh shush,” Charlie blushed. “You know we didn’t get chances to learn like this.”


    Vince waved his hand in dismissal. “Excuses.” A smile formed at the corners of his mouth. Together, they went to their next class.