1 Recruitment

This world was once a peaceful world. But greed and carelessness combined, resulted in a disaster, that not even the brightest of scientists could predict. As production and industrialization increased, so increased soot in the sky. Seeing the sun slowly became a rarity. People didn't really think much of it, as they lived rich and happy lives. Well, some of them did.

In a shabby-looking shack, a boy and his grandpa are eating dinner. The rain is beating on the tin roof, and the echo of water leaking from the ceiling into a small bucket fills the barely furnished living room.

"Here," the grandpa hands the boy a bowl half full of a hot grey substance with a slightly off-putting smell and steam still rising from its surface. He scrapes whatever is left in the bottom of the pot into his own bowl and sits down with the boy.

"Hey, grandpa," the boy asks while stirring the slop with his small wooden spoon.

"Yes, Seth?"

"I found a bouncy little ball of soot outside today."

"Oh really? Did it bite you?"

"It didn't."

"I'm glad."

Since people didn't care about losing sunlight and continued pumping soot into the sky, small soot monsters, the size of tennis balls started falling from the sky, who people started calling chirps. These little black fuzzy balls of soot were harmless at first. They did nothing but bounce around and chirp, hence the name. They were thought harmless until ones larger in size started falling. The bigger, almost volleyball-sized chirps started expressing aggressive behavior. They had developed small mouths with little fangs, and people who got bitten by them started showing the first symptoms of a phenomenon later called human decomposition. The first symptoms comprised of the skin turning black, extreme pain, and in worse cases fingers or whole limbs crumbling into ash.

"Grandpa..."

"What is it again, Seth?"

"When will we eat something other than slop?"

"Do I really have to explain that to you again?"

"No..." Seth shakes his head, "it's just that, the younger kids sometimes get to eat bread and sometimes even sausages!"

"I know. Some day I promise, you are going to be able to taste all kinds of food. From sausages to even fruit!"

"Really grandpa?!"

"Of course!"

The two continue to eat in silence when grandpa notices a troubled expression on Seth's face.

"Is something wrong, Seth?"

"Nothing. It's just that I don't know what a fruit is..."

"Well, you see, fruit are-" the grandpa is cut off by heavy knocking on the front door, and not even a second after the last knock, the door is opened and three men in long black raincoats enter the house.

The first of the men takes his hood off.

"How old is the boy," he asks.

"He is twelve," the grandpa replies.

"Good. We will take him with us."

"But he is too young!" the grandpa stands up from his chair, "I heard only sixteen-year-olds were recruited!!"

"They lowered the recruitment age a long time ago because the training phase is five times more effective when started young," says one of the men standing behind the first, and also takes his hood off, "Please don't resist, this will be easier for both of us if you act responsibly."

Grandpa sits back down.

"Grandpa? Who are these men? What does recruitment mean?" Seth asks, confused as to what is happening.

"Can I have a moment with him? I will send him out in five minutes," the grandpa says, looking at the robed men, who then look at each other, nod in unison, and then leave the house.

"Seth, they are going to take you to train and become a soldier to protect the domes. Be a good boy and go with them."

Despite very real threats, humans kept polluting the sky with more and more waste. This resulted in even worse beasts falling from the sky. These beasts were called fumes. The fumes resembled humans in size and shape. They made different grunting and sometimes whistling noises when moving around. The fumes were very aggressive but slow. Coming into contact with one would start human decomposition faster than one could react. If one of the fumes were to touch a person, they would crumble into ash within seconds.

But despite the threat, the fumes were a blessing in disguise. Somewhat. For some people, who were extremely lucky, the fume manifested into a magical tool, that gave the person superpowers inspired by their personal traits. These fume manifestations were also called fume props. Fume props varied in power, and not one was the same as the other. Most of these people, especially if they had offensive powers, were enlisted into the anti-fume corps.

Yet, due to the threat, many major cities had thick and strong domes built above them. But space inside the domes was limited, and not everybody got the luxury of living in one. Because of that, only the rich lived inside the domes. And to be safe, the rich also created the anti-fume corps, tasked with keeping the domes safe from any fumes. With the anti-fume corps, safety around the domes increased, and a middle class of people formed around the domes. And away from the safety of the dome, lived the poorest of people.

"Are you going to come too, grandpa?"

"Sadly, no."

"But grandp-"

"Enough questions, Seth," grandpa puts his hand on Seth's shoulder and kneels in front of him, "Remember the hole in your ear that we made last year and re-opened just a few days ago?"

"I do."

"And that I told you you weren't ready yet to know what it was for?"

"Yes?"

"Well..."

Grandpa reached into his pocket and pulled out a black earring, on it was a white complex triangular pattern that was a bit nauseating to look at. He then brushed Seth's long white hair behind the ear with his hand and put the earring in.

"This earring is a very important treasure of our family. I think you are ready to have it now. This earring will be of use to you one day when the time comes. Please treasure it."

"I will grandpa!"

"Good, now go, Seth."

"I'm going to miss you, grandpa!"

Grandpa didn't answer back. Just smiled, and waved. The men came back in, took Seth by the hand, and took him out. They then lead Seth on an old green bus, where many other children sat, most of who cried.

"Take a seat and sit quietly," said one of the men.

Seth nodded and took a seat. He saw his grandpa from the bus window, still waving and smiling. Seth smiled and waved back. The bus drove off. The entire frame of the bus shivered from the heavy rain, and potholes in the street seemed ever so numerous, almost taking the bus onto two wheels at times.

The bus was eerily quiet the only sounds were rain, the squeaky suspension of the bus, and the whirling sound of passing cars. The ride did not last very long.

They pulled up to a huge complex of different buildings. The bus stopped in front of one of the smaller ones, in front of which a man with the same raincoat waited. His figure was visibly bigger than the other men, even through the long raincoat.

The bus doors opened and the men led the kids out of the bus into the building. The building, including all of the other buildings around the complex, were all very bland-looking concrete structures, with a small number of windows and a few occasional ventilation pipes on the walls. Inside, the floors were made of hardwood, and the walls painted white. There were no unnecessary pieces of furniture, which made the place look very minimalist.

"Welcome to the anti-fumes corps, new recruits. My name is Gard." Said the man with a large build, who after taking off the raincoat looked even more muscular. His massive pecks were so big they could seemingly burst out of his tight black and red uniform any moment.

"First, does anyone know what a fume is?"

One kid raises his hand.

"Yes, you, what is your name?"

"Ahst."

"Tell me then, what is a fume?"

"A scary monster."

"You are not wrong. The fumes are monsters and our enemy. They are very strong, and you are here to train and to become strong enough to protect those dear to you from the monsters we all know as fumes," Gard nodded, "But there are even scarier monsters out there. These ones we call the silent ones. That's because as some of you know, the normal fumes make grunting and sometimes whistling noises when they move. As the name suggests, the silent ones don't. When you encounter a silent one please don't approach it. Hide and stay silent. Enough on the silent ones, you will learn more about them later."

'protect those dear to us...' Seth thought to himself. Reminding himself of his grandpa's smiling face, waving back to him and the bus driving away.

"Who has seen a fume before, raise your hand," said Gard.

"Good, now keep your hand up if the fume you encountered transformed into an item you now can't seem to let go of however much you would like to."

Only a few hands remained.

"Less than last year, huh..." Gard mumbled to himself, "Very well! All who left their hand up, go with this fine gentleman here," Gard pointed to one of the men standing near the group, who waved for the kids to come with him," all the rest of you, come with me," said Gard and started to walk in the other direction.

Gard took them through a long corridor, into a room that resembled that of a classroom with many little desks, and a big desk in the front of the room.

"Take a seat, a random one is fine," he then said, standing in front of the classroom with his arms crossed.

"Look into your desk drawer. The key you find there is the key to your rooms. You will share the room with one random person in this room. Remember your desk, you will come here and sit at the same desk tomorrow morning. Now go upstairs and find your room with the number on the key. You will find the stairs when you leave this room and turn right. Dismissed."

The class stared at him blankly.

"That means you are free to go. Remember that."

The kids all nodded and silently made their way out of the classroom and up the stairs. The second floor mimicked the floor-plan of the first, with a long corridor that stretched the entire length of the building, with stairs on either side. The left side of the corridor was lined with numbered doors.

Seth looked at his key. '015' he read off of the red plastic tag that was attached to his key via string.

He walked through the corridor, keeping his eyes on the door numbers passing by until he reached the door that had 015 on it. He tried to unlock the door, but it was already unlocked. His roommate must have unlocked it already and went inside. He opened the door and to his surprise did not see who he had expected to see. He read the same emotions off of his roommate's face. Seth's new roommate was a girl.

"Uhh... this is room 015 right?" said Seth and held his key up for the girl to see.

"Yes, it is," the girl answered.

"I didn't think they would put boys and girls into the same room together..."

"The keys were given out randomly after all," said the girl, having suppressed her initial surprise.

"You are right..." Seth said while looking around the room and sticking his key into his pocket. The room was relatively small. Just barely enough for two people. Plenty enough for kids. On one side of the room was a black-framed bunk bed. The walls were white like the rest of the walls of the entire house, the flooring was also the same. Above the door was a copper emblem, with roughly the same design as the emblem on the men's raincoats and uniforms, just a bit more fancily decorated.

"I have already claimed the top bunk," said the girl with a smug look on her face.

"Is that so... By the way what's your name?" asked Seth.

"I am Aria."

"I am Seth."

Silence hit the room more suddenly than neither of them could expect. Seth climbed into his bed and closed his eyes.

"WAKE UP RIGHT NOW FUCKING DUMBASS!!!"

'What was that??' he thought to himself, and then remembered. This was just a dream,

"YOU MONKEY WE ARE LATE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PUT THE ALARM THIS MORNING GARD IS GOING TO BEAT OUR ASSES!!!!!"

Right, this was just a memory. It has already been five years since they came to the anti-fumes corp. And right now he was in a hurry to wake up and escape the wrath of instructor Gard.

"I'm awake, I'm awake!!" Seth yelled back at the angry female voice coming from the other side of the room and got up.