Humanity bears the weight of every sin. Their most prominent sin of course, the sin of greed. Humans are greedy by nature, this greed led to a war in order to gain control over the world. This war lasted far longer than any other, going on for more than twenty years. However, it soon all came to an end. A swift and painful end. After the landscape of every country was reduced to mostly rubble, global warming increased, and a final nuclear bomb was sent to America. The ice in Antarctica gave in just as swiftly as South America was destroyed by the bomb. The sea level increased, going far above what it used to be. The melted ice gave way for many tsunamis and engulfed every piece of land that was too close to the original sea level. That was when it happened, that was when The Hex began.
Everyone below the age of 40 was infected with The Hex, they would be brought to a trial shortly after being infected. People who fell asleep without knowing that they were infected were swiftly transported into a specific trial. If one was able to survive they would receive a rating based on their performance. Those rankings are Inferior, Master, Royal, Sacred, and Divine in order of growing power. There was yet to be a single soul to obtain the rating of Divine, granting them an innate ability of the Divine Rank. The world was changing, so humans changed as well, these powered individuals were known as the Enlightened. After completing their trials they began to notice something and so did those who haven't been infected.
Every time someone fails their trial, their body would go under a mutation, transforming them into mindless beasts. When this happened no one in the area was safe, they would receive missions from a sudden holographic textbox that would appear before them. Survive, that was the mission. There was a specific amount of time that varied depending on the beast. The stronger the beast, the less time you'd need to survive. These beasts would go on rampages, military weapons were useless against them, all of them. The ocean was quickly swarmed by different beasts that would appear from portals that scattered randomly at the bottom of the ocean. Soon it was named a death zone.
Those who had awakened powers were too terrified to fight against those beasts, so they did what anyone else would. Escape, run, and hide. Until the brave few that realized they could fight back stood up against those beasts. They quickly realized that although strong, they had little intelligence and the powers of a human who had gone through their trial were no less of those beasts that shared their rank. Humanity began to flourish once more, evolving for over twenty years and nurturing all who were infected by The Hex. Those who lost their trials were swiftly killed by the empowered humans that kept watch on them.
However it wasn't too peaceful, no, in fact the appearance of The Hex made the government of each remaining country focus on containing and nurturing those infected by it instead of helping heal the world. The air soon became poisonous, people began to die one after the other because of the unlivable conditions brought by the war that were left untreated. A subtle shift of focus occurred within every government, they quickly built massive domes that covered a large portion of cities. Inside the domes, it was still the same, houses, stores, schools, and much more. But, the air was no longer poisoned, it was filtered. Life inside the domes were left for the fortunate and rich. Their lives are improving greatly. These domes were massive, but they could not cover every inch of a city. The area out of the domes was called the outer shell. Life there was difficult, harsher than anywhere else. People died to poisonous air, malnourishment, and much more. There was a lack of housing and a lack of food.
People who lived in the Outer Shell quickly learned to become ruthless and cunning so that they could survive. So with this the world moved on. Humanity lived, for now.
"Mom! Mom! Why can't I have it? I want ice cream! I want it now!"
The small child chirped while pouting, his mother had refused to let him eat ice cream before dinner for the fifteenth time. The mother of the child chuckled and tentatively ran her fingers through the child's head, patting them affectionately.
"No, you can't have it. Maybe for desert. But first comes your dinner and it's almost ready so calm down."
Another figure came into the room, approaching the mother and child and wrapping their arms around them.
"Boo!" Yelled the mysterious figure. The mother jumped slightly in the grasp of her husband and their child stopped pouting and jumped as well.
"Stop that Higashi!" The mother scolded her husband as their kid laughed contentedly.
"Come on let Kaito eat something he wants, it's his birthday still!" The father chuckled and brought a small bowl of ice cream to the kid's hands with a bright smile on his face. Kaito immediately grabbed the ball and ran off with a grin towards the table to eat.
"Thank you dad!" However, just at that moment the ground trembled and Kaito fell onto the cold floor, the bowl slipping out of his hand and shattering some feet in front of him. The parents rushed to his side immediately, holding him tightly. The mother was just as panicked as everyone else.
"Kaito! Oh my god!" As the father held both of them while looking at the child start to cry he turned his head towards the window after feeling yet another tremor. His eyes scout outside in the dark and eerie night, landing on a faint glow a couple of feet away. His eyes widened in horror as he realized what that thing was.
"Oh gods.. Take Kaito to the basement! Now!" The father grabbed Kaito and his mother, bringing them towards the basement and then running off towards the door. Kaito's mother hesitated before shedding a few tears and bringing Kaito into the basement.
"Listen Kaito, you're strong. The strongest boy I know. Please, stay here until I come back with your father. Do not move!" She paused and brought her hand to the child's cheek and kissed his forehead. "We love you, don't forget that.." With this the mother closed the basement door after bringing the child inside, locking it and running off to the father who was currently calling the police.
However, just as the woman grabbed her husband's hand, the wall burst open, a low growl escaping the mouth of a wolf-like creature, its teeth as sharp as knives and bloodied. Its snout was painted blood red and its fur was covered with dirt and blood. It lunged at the defenseless pair, biting deep into the flesh of the mother's neck while pinning the father down with its hand; the beast's claws had impaled his chest.
He watched in horror as his wife was eaten and then it was his turn. By the time the beast had finished and headed towards the door, the enlightened had arrived, killing the beast and running off the rest that were crawling around.
A portal had appeared inside the shell, something that should have been impossible. As the enlightened took care of the portal, one of them looked at the basement door, walking towards it and busting it open. Kaito's eyes widened at the sight of the Enlightened human who had opened the door. His eyes swollen with tears and his face pale. He had heard the sounds of his parents being eaten alive and suffered through it all.
The Enlightened woman spared a glance at the child and sighed, walking towards him and bringing Kaito out of the basement.