Our Gift

CHAPTER ONE

First Breath

Seoul, Asia

"Following a deadly war, nations and continents have been erased from the Earth. The original planet became unlivable; the grounds had dried, the crops had disappeared and the animals and humans had suffered terrible deaths.

The surviving individuals have escaped the Earth and began to populate a distant planet, Gaia, similar to the Earth in terms of faun and flora but where there are only two continents on the East face of the planet. Men decided to call those two continents as the ones they used to know on Earth, Europe and Asia. The West face of Gaia turned out to be dangerous, myths sharing the existence of monsters appeared as the brave explorers sent there were never to return. The West became Prohibetur.

Humans burned and erased all the knowledge the previous generation had about atomic and deadly weapons in order to avoid the war that destructed the Earth.

Peace was established and the few survivors learned how to live quietly. They developed cities and forgot their issues ruled by an unique government, the Crown.

Everything seemed to work perfectly for five generations until few individuals discovered that they were different. They had special abilities. The Crown quickly took care of the problem by keeping those people into laboratory where scientists studied their body, their cells. They came to the conclusion that Gaia elements somehow were different from the Earth's. And as the species are to develop and evolve to survive their new environment, some human were born with powers. The Crown called those individuals "the Gifted" and decided to keep them under surveillance to ensure the security of the Gaians. From this desire to keep the Gifted apart from the rest of the population, the Organization emerged. An entity which is part of the Crown but at the same time independent and which regroups the Gifted to train them and turn them into agents of the Crown.

The Crown stands for the glory of Gaia and for the protection of the Gaians. As we all know it is ruled by its Majesty, the glorious Emperor, brave head of the Crown and almighty General of the Organization. Every Gaians should thank him for the given opportunity of living in peace and wealth. Opponents of the Crown are simple minded people who only provoke chaos and therefore they shall be ..."

Seohyun softly sighed as she closed the book. She knew it by heart. After all, "The Glorious Work of the Emperor" was probably one of the only work available to read along with few others, singing the achievement of the Emperor. Funny how they all seemed to tell the same story. To put it bluntly, the Crown is good, the opponents are bad and the Gifted should be kept under control.

Seohyun didn't even know why she read that book again and again. Maybe she was trying to ink the words in her mind, to believe what was actually written. But the effect seemed to get worst each time. She doubted more and more the world she lived in. What adults taught her, what society followed, it didn't make sense at all. But even though she could not bring herself to believe in the Crown, she was, at the same time, the pacific type of people who systematically tried to avoid conflicts. She did not like arguing and violence in general. She knew the Crown would not consider her as an opponent as long as she kept her opinion for herself and didn't cause them problems.

Seohyun blew on a strand of dark chocolate hair that crossed her face and silently stood up, brushing neatly her knee-length cream dress. She took the book with her and went out of her small, painted in white and pink, room. Her step slowly guided her to the living room where she placed "The Glorious work of the Emperor" at its usual place, on the shelf. She frowned a bit seeing that the frames were face down as if they fell. Being the usual tidy Seohyun, she placed them back correctly.

- What were you doing?

Seohyun gasped, startled and turned around to face her brother.

- So, what were you doing?, repeated a frankly amused by her surprise Yonghwa.

- Don't ever do that again Yonghwa. I nearly died of fright, reproached him Seohyun.

Yonghwa pouted a bit, acting as if he was hurt by her words but his light smirk gave him away.

- I just want to know what my baby sister is up to.

- I was just reading, answered Seohyun.

- Let me guess, was it "The Glorious Work of the Emperor"?

As Seohyun did not respond, he rolled his eyes and sarcastically expressed his views.

- Yeah, we clearly should burn those opponents! I mean, who could ever think of not agreeing with our godly Emperor? Isn't he our amazing leader, who keeps us safe from the menace of those crazy abnormal creatures that are the Gifted? Really, I do not know who would not like him when he imposes us his will and censures all our knowledge. And I am not even mentioning the fact that he and his little army promote peace and then are surprised when people disappear suddenly after having badmouthed a bit against its Majesty.

- Yonghwa please, whispered Seohyun. Stop saying that kind of thing.

- Why? Are you scared? There is anybody in this house apart from us. And even though I was being reported to the minions of the Crown, do I care at all? The answer is a plain "no". I am not afraid of what they would do to me. Killing people to make them shut their mouth and thinking that the population is totally stupid, that is just underestimating us.

Seohyun bit her lowest lip and tended her arm to reach Yonghwa's.

- You might not be scared of them but I don't want to lose my friend.

- "Brother", corrected Yonghwa before shrugging and going to the tiny and old kitchen, leaving Seohyun in the living room.

The young girl sighed deeply and sat on the small black leather couch. She let her gaze wander.

- Right, brother, she muttered. Why are you so attached to that title when we are not even blood related, it is beyond me...

Paris, Europe

Minhyuk dodged easily the fist of his instructor. However as he retreated a bit, a leg flung at him, he grabbed it quickly but he unfortunately was not able this time to avoid the blow that crashed against his jaw. He groaned and his instructor used this occasion to finish the fight by throwing him on the ground in a rather rough way. Minhyuk took a sharp breath as his back hit the painfully solid surface.

Frustrated to have lost again he punched once the ground, still laying. This was probably not the best idea he had have since his right fist was suddenly invaded by a burning pain, result of a sneaky rock that did not appreciated being crushed by an irritated Gifted.

A manicured hand made its apparition in front of his face and he grabbed it. Narsha shook her head, her red dyed hair strangely looking like a little fire. She then slapped Minhyuk's upper arm once, twice, thrice, ...

- Stop that!, protested Minhyuk.

- Not until I put some sense into your head!, replicated the instructor, furious. You keep doing the same mistakes! We have been training the whole morning, I have thrown you on the ground an uncountable number of time, always using the same strategy. And for an odd reason you don't seem to get it. So, Minhyuk, how much time do you think I still need to beat you until you finally learn from your mistakes? That kind of error can cost you more than dust on your outfit and bruises the next morning in a real fight. I am not the type of teacher who will give up on a part of the training and then send her student to death.

- I am sorry Narsha. I really am, he sighed. I am not focused enough.

Narsha glared at him for a good minute. Then she simply nodded and motioned him to get ready for another round.

- I swear Minhyuk if you don't last more than three minutes this time, I will personally make sure that your name appears first on the list of students who have to scrub the toilets.

Minhyuk swallowed hard. If there was one thing any agents wanted to avoid it was having to clean the toilets. Generally officers gave that task as a sanction and having received it two times already, Minhyuk perfectly knew that you could spend an entire night scrubbing everything. Apparently some smart kids liked to test their Gift on the mirror or the floor of the toilets, which resulted in patch of mud decorating the floor, little lakes that you needed to avoid and, at last but not the least, weird and questionable spot of different colors splattered all round the place. Minhyuk didn't even know why those were so hard to clean, he really didn't wanted to know what they were made of. If only he had a Gift that could actually help him clean the toilets...

- Are you even listening to me?, screeched Narsha, drawing back Minhyuk's attention to the fight.

- Sorry, I kind of spaced out.

- I can see that Lee Minhyuk. Now move your and prepare to defend. I won't be going easy on you.

- Because you were before?

Narsha didn't answered but her burning gaze literally yelled "you will regret it". That was always in those kind of situations that Minhyuk really hoped he was more focused in general. Because facing a pissed off Narsha was like dealing with a wild dragon. Wait! Dragons are normally wild aren't they? So was there a need to precise it? And apart from that detail, the comparison didn't make sense since Minhyuk never fought against a dragon.

A sudden pain exploding in his stomach made him focused on what was happening. Right... Narsha, the training. After only five seconds he already managed to get hit. Fabulous, really!

The fight continued as the previous ones, Narsha attacking, Minhyuk defending. When Narsha threw her leg at him, he just avoided hit, dodging the fist that came right after aiming for his face. In a sudden rush of confidence he attacked rapidly, taking his instructor by surprise. Narsha wobbled and fell as Minhyuk hit her right in the legs.

The only sounds hearable were pants coming from both Gifted. Then Narsha broke into a large smile and patted her student's shoulder.

- You did well, just remember to always focus on your fight. The training ends here for today, you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day.

Minhyuk didn't wait to be told twice, he rushed inside the building, scrolling quickly along the corridors until he reached his room.

His room was not comfy nor personal. Minhyuk didn't really care about the decoration of it. He just needed a bed to sleep and some places to put his belongings. Not that he had a lot anyway. He had begun to live in the Organization building when he was eight. It had been eleven years since he last saw the faces of his parents. He couldn't clearly remember what they looked like, it became blurrier day by day. He had heard that his parents had a daughter after he was taken by the Organization. He didn't care. His family was nothing to him anymore. Then again, they were the one that sold him to the Crown.

Minhyuk will always remember the awakening of his Gift. How the temperature of the living room had increased, how long reddish flames had begun to the carpet, the curtains. And the scream of horror of his mother that had made the eight years old boy cry. He had not understood why the house was burning. He had not understood why people took him away from all he knew after his parents had called someone. He had not understood why people in white coats had taken samples of his blood. He had not understood either why a woman had explained him he was to live in the strange completely closed building. He had not understood why people had kept referring to him as a Gifted.

Eventually the little boy he was had grown. Minhyuk often laughed, bitter, thinking how disappointed his grandmother would be if she knew that he was trained to kill.

- Minhyuk, can I enter ?, asked a voice behind the door of the room.

Minhyuk only groaned lightly as a response and a man in his early-thirties came to him.

- The General wants to see you. He also asked me to give you that.

Minhyuk grabbed the file and flipped quickly the pages. He arched an eyebrow, the file was composed of person's profiles. There were four of them. All seemed his age.

- Looks like you're going chasing.

- I am not trained for that purpose though, answered Minhyuk, quite confused.

The man shrugged and proceeded to exit the room.

- Taewoo ?, called him Minhyuk.

- Hm?

- I heard that Gain and Narsha had a tracking mission a few weeks ago. Do you think that is related?

- I don't know, kiddo. The General won't tell me that kind of information and you know how Gain and Narsha are. Torture them to death and they will still keep their mouths closed.

Minhyuk nodded and the door closed. He took a last look at the pictures in the file. A girl with bright red hair caught his attention. She was looking away and what fascinated Minhyuk was her gaze. Sad and fierce at the sale time. As if she was saying "leave me alone" to the world.

When Minhyuk reached the General's quarters, he paused for a bit in front of the wooden door. He tightened his grip on the file and took a deep breath. You definitely didn't want to be called by the General. He knocked hesitantly on the door and after waiting about ten seconds, a voice resonated inside the closed room.

- Come in.

And Minhyuk really hoped he was not sent on a chasing mission.