—Determinant Of The World Destiny—
Not Enough
Under the morning sun, children walked to school, teenagers headed to college, and adults worked to support their life.
Two childrens in school uniforms ran past Tobias and Nathan. "Hey, wait for me!" a child yelled, calling to his friend who had already run far ahead.
Nathan and Tobias crossed a bridge over a clean, clear river, free of trash, indicating the excellent quality of the residents and their waste management system.
After crossing the bridge, a three-way intersection lay before them. Directly ahead was a wide, not-too-tall staircase designed to ascend a hill. They climbed the stairs one by one. In the middle of the staircase, there were plants and handrails on both the left and right sides.
One step before reaching the top of the stairs, a vast road came into view with a fountain in its center. On top of the fountain, a statue of a woman pouring water from a pot gushed water. The large buildings on either side made the two of them look like microbes among ants, ants among humans, humans among galaxies.
Before them stood an enormous building, even resembling a royal castle. Its entrance was in the center of the structure. The building's glass facade was divided into four floors, with each floor at least nine meters high. In the upper middle section of the building was a large clock, its semicircular roof covering the top of the clock. The central roof of the building featured a dome with a red and gold flag separated by a diagonal line at its peak.
On the left and right sides of the central part of the building hung red banners with gold stripes at their ends. The lower part of the banners was pointed, with 'Novus' written on the left side and 'Vitas' on the right.
"Woah, insane! This is magnificent!" Tobias's eyes widened in surprise.
"Isn't Equinox the same?"
"It is, but isn't this district the youngest among the other major districts?"
"Yeah, you might be right." I continued walking towards the large building.
"Hey Nathan, wait for me!" He ran to catch up to me.
We kept walking. I focused only on looking straight ahead, while Tobias kept looking left and right—curious about this place. So distracted, he ended up bumping into the shoulder of a man.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" The man walked away from us.
"Don't get too distracted."
"Sorry."
***
I pressed the '7' button in the elevator. It was just the two of us inside. Immediately, the elevator doors closed and ascended to the 7th floor. When it stopped on the fourth floor, a woman entered the elevator.
The woman wore the same uniform as I did for duty. On the left side of her chest, beneath the emblem of Novus Vitas, which was a rose, 'Unit 002' was written. Unit 002, huh? As far as I knew, they had just lost a comrade yesterday after the war against the Equinox Wanderers.
The woman exited the elevator on the 6th floor. After that we finally arrived on the 7th floor.
"I forgot to ask, Nathan, what are we doing here anyway?"
"I want to install a rune." Tobias's eyes widened at my words.
"A rune? So, what did you choose?"
"Ice Rune."
The elevator doors opened, and the floor indicator above the door showed the number 7. I walked to the right, passed two doors, and then entered the door on my left, and so did Tobias.
Inside the white and bright room were three people. Two wore lab coats, while the other was Commander Dallen.
"Nathan, you're finally here. And you brought a guest too, I see?"
"He's just following me."
"So, have you decided on your rune?"
"Yes, I chose the Ice Rune." Commander Dallen smiled at my choice.
"All right, a good choice." The two men in lab coats took the Ice Rune by inserting a key and lifting the cylindrical glass covering it.
"Come with me." Commander Dallen left the room, followed by me, Tobias, and the two men. We passed several rooms and finally arrived. Commander Dallen opened the sliding door by inserting his ID card into the scanner next to the door.
The door slid open, revealing its contents. The room was furnished with a large bed, a table with surgical equipments, and a large lamp attached to the head of the bed. Commander Dallen entered first, followed by me and the others.
"This is where your rune will be installed." I looked around the room, a little curious about this room.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Lie down there." I lay down on the only bed in the room. The two men in lab coats approached me, one standing on the right, the other on the left.
"Please take off your shirt." As instructed, I removed my shirt. Then, he took a syringe and injected me. I started to feel drowsy, and after a while, I finally succumbed and fell asleep.
***
I stood on a beach, gazing at the sea. My toes were covered in sand, my hair was blown by the wind, and the sun shone down on me. Where am I?
"Hey Nathan! Come here! We're going to take a picture together." Who were they? A woman's voice called me from behind. She wore a simple plain white shirt and long black pants. Why did they know my name? And why couldn't I clearly see their faces? So many questions popped into my mind.
The people whose faces were unclear approached me; there were three of them in total. One of them held a camera, lifted it up, and said, "Smile!"
Three strangers beside me surrounded me, taking photos as if they had known me for a long time. The moment the camera flash illuminated us, my eyes twitched, seeing only white light.
After a few seconds, I could finally open my eyes. The two men in lab coats were looking at me.
"The rune installation surgery is complete."
I sat up from my lying position, now sitting in the middle of the bed.
"It's done?" I held my forehead—feeling a little dizzy.
I touched the back of my shoulder, feeling something unfamiliar, but I knew what it was. It was the rune attached to my body. A pattern of blue cracks filled the upper part of my shoulder.
***
I bent my ring and pinky fingers, forming a pistol with my right hand. I aimed it at the stone in front of me and focused my Galactic Energy into my fingers.
An icicle formed at the tip of my index and middle fingers, it was the size of a pistol bullet but irregularly shaped and pointed. I shot it from my hand—destroying the medium-sized stone with a single attack.
"That's insane! How can you use a rune when you only had it installed two hours ago!" Tobias yelled in disbelief.
"I don't really know myself."
"It took me three days to unleash the power of my first rune."
Although it was a pretty good achievement, it wasn't enough to be used on the battlefield yet. Not enough to reach the end of this story.
Although it was a pretty good achievement, it wasn't enough to be used on the battlefield yet. Not enough to reach the end of this story.