Being Born With A Gift

"Seriously move out of the way or I'll beat you....."

'Really, I thought these noise-cancelling headphones would work. Well, that's 700 Ores down the drain. Would they accept a return?'

Shivan mused as he tried adjusting the headphones in an effort to drown out the sound.

It wasn't as if the headphones were bad. The company that made them were a reputable one with many great products. The company didn't account for someone like him using it.

Shivan was one of the few people born with a gift. Only several hundred every year were born with one. Gifts were power they gave their users various abilities and made them vastly superior to regular humans.

Shivan took off his headphones to deal with the source of the disturbance.

Shivan wasn't being nice, he just wanted a smooth ride to his destination. It was over half a day away, so dealing with this disturbance would only bother him.

He walked up to one of the men who was making the noise and grabbed his shoulder. He followed up that action with a punch to the face, causing him to collapse with his lip bleeding.

"Hey, who the hell are you!"

His friend reacted to the attack and attempted to strike him in retaliation, but Shvian easily caught his fist. He had seen it from a mile away.

Shivan after blocking his attack looked up and took a look a the faces of his adversaries. 

The man who tried to strike him had blond hair with a nose piercing and an unusual tattoo running down his arm.

To Shivan, the tattoo was pretty weird.

The man who had gotten struck first and was on his knees had black hair with a similar tattoo on his shoulder. There was another man on the side with dark blonde hair in stance ready to fight.

They weren't older than 20 and based on their tattoos, seemed to be part of a gang. They were harassing an old couple for their seats.

'Seriously, don't you guys have something better to do?'

Shivan started bending the fist of the blonde man backwards. This action caused him to fall to the ground and beg for mercy.

He wasn't using any mana as that would trip the detector. That would alert security. Some like that would be a hassle he'd want to avoid.

Using mana was forbidden in most public settings with the exceptions being places like specialised training facilities.

Even so, Shivan didn't need to resort to using it. These men were regular delinquents who posed no threat to him.

The dark blonde-haired man tried to support his friend but Shivan responded with a flick of his fingers with his other hand.

Out from his fingers came a small shockwave that sent the dark blonde-haired man across the train and he collided with the train door.

The impact reverberated across the carriage. All the passengers turned and observed the dispute.

Shivan had used very little mana in the attack to ensure the detectors wouldn't be alerted.

The black-haired man on the ground who had seen the display of strength, widened his eyes in dread.

"H-H-He's a gift user!" He exclaimed in fear. The other two men nearby gain similar expressions with them swiftly bowing and apologising profusely instantly after.

"Shut up and don't disturb me." That was the only response Shivan gave them before walking to his seat.

The old couple thanked him while the rest of the carriage started clapping. Shivan gestured for them to stop as more noise would bother him even further.

After sitting, he opened his playlist on his phone and clicked play. He hoped for a peaceful journey the rest of the way. 

But, neither the headphones nor the music fully got rid of the ambient noise. But it was at a bearable level. Ignoring the murmurs, Shivan opened his email to pass the time.

He reread the invitation the government had sent him. It was an invitation to enter Pelentia Central Academy, or PCA for short.

PCA was the country's best school for mana technology and combat training.

It specialised in training and teaching students how to fight and kill aberrants.

Aberrants were monsters that were born from the black fog that covered over 90% of the world.

They had an instinctual hatred for all living beings and sought to destroy them, either by killing them or corrupting them into aberrants.

Those who fight aberrants are known as mages.

Being a mage was seen as an honourable job and many aspiring mages wished to join the PCA to learn how to do so. Along with the honour and glory, being a mage came with a high salary.

But, stringent entrance exams only allow the best to pass into the school. 

However, with gift users being so rare, every single one was invited to PCA without needing to pass the entrance exam.

Shivan had only accepted the invitation because he hoped the school would brighten up his monotonous life. He felt that was nothing to live for and had a sense of detachment to reality.

Nothing captured his interest.

He did find some enjoyment in several activities, such as playing video games along with playing and listening to music.

However, it wasn't enough to make him care. If he died now, he probably wouldn't mind. But Shivan wasn't actively seeking death. He was only indifferent to it.

Ever since his family died, he had felt this way. His reality seemed to be tinted by grey.

His memories of the event that killed his family were an enigma. He was only told that they were killed by aberrants when they breached the border.

The officer told him that he had been found under some rubble, saving him from being killed by those monsters.

From then onwards, he had been bounced around from foster care to foster care, not staying in one place for too long. He could barely recollect the faces of those who took care of him.

But since Shivan was 14, he had been living alone. With his parent's savings along with 10,000 ores a month from the government, he has been living a comfortable life.

'Though, it's probably because I'm a gift user.' That was what he concluded in the past.

His memories of his parents were very fuzzy and the only information he retained was their names.

He had been told that he had a younger sister and memories involving her came up as a blank.

The only reason he knew her face was because he had seen photos of her. Even so, looking at her image felt similar to looking at a stranger. 

After rereading the email for the umpteenth time, he closed the application and started playing Realmforge Conquest on his phone to pass the time.

Realmforge Conquest was an online cross-platform game which involved creating kingdoms and going to war against other kingdoms.

After boosting his elo by a bit, he hopped onto Vidline to watch the sweatiest players play the game. Shivan found the strategies used by them were ingenious and found their games super entertaining to watch.