I Am Number 10

NUMBER 003

Inside a restaurant, there are six friends happily talking to each other while different types of food are served in front of them. It was as if it had been a long time since they had all seen each other and gathered together.

"Guys, selfie." One of them immediately brought out the smartphone he was holding, causing the six to gather into the camera frame before gleefully smiling.

They click not just once but multiple times, just to get their desired photo. After getting a decent one, they all returned to their happy and loud conversation.

The atmosphere in that area is so cheerful, and some of them begin to reminisce about the past, as that very restaurant and that very table are the same ones where they always dined when they were all still students.

They pointed out to each other the silly things they did in the past, the heartbreaks and stupid faces they showed during their puppy love, their silly fights over some silly things that they thought were so serious at that time, and even how they cried when they all failed the same subject.

The past was so beautiful. They had each other after all.

They can't help but wander their eyes around and compare everything to their childhood—the small changes, the foods, and the memories that they all have of the place—even to the chef, who was gleefully smiling at them.

Their group was so familiar to him, and that was the sole reason why he still continued to run and cook in the restaurant; he even saw some mirages of them playing around as if nothing could worry them.

At a nearby table, everything was so opposite. Unlike the joyful and contented atmosphere at their table, the table across from them was just so depressing and miserable.

Everything was so gloomy as if there were this big dark cloud above them. The silence was so immaculate; the man was bowing down as the woman across him intently glared at him as if he had just committed this unforgivable crime. After a while, the woman slapped the person in front of her before quickly turning away.

The slap was so loud that it caught the attention of everyone. All of the people, even the chef and the noisy group of friends, inside the restaurant immediately stopped what they were doing and became silent; the couple successfully got the attention of the busy restaurant.

"Babe, wait!" Her boyfriend spoke loudly, but the woman just kept walking.

Even if he could feel the unbearable eyes that were intensely looking at the two of them, he still continued to run after his partner.

The woman had only one thing on her mind at that time, and that was to get out of the place as soon as possible.

Angry, she opened the door of the restaurant to go outside; she didn't even try to wait for the guard to open it for her.

"Fucking bastard," she whispered softly, as she immediately looked for the car key in her red sling bag.

When she finally found the key, she immediately raised her head to look around.

Expecting to find her car, the woman frowned just like that when she saw that all of the people on the street had stopped what they were doing and were looking at the sky like fools.

As she slowly followed their gaze, the key that she was holding tightly fell from her hand. She can't move even an inch.

It was as if her whole body was just processing what was happening at the lowest pace possible.

"Oh, come on, babe, it was just a mistake. Stop overreacting!"

She heard the loud opening of the door behind her followed by the angry voice of her lover, but the woman didn't care.

No one does.

In fact, it was as if time had stopped; no one moved a muscle, not even a sound.

A puzzling expression immediately registered on the man's face when he saw that the woman's full attention was not on him.

She was looking intently at the sky as her mouth was gaping out in shock; she didn't even breathe, causing the man to confusedly follow what she was looking at.

This causes his eyes to immediately widen.

In the middle of the very quiet road, a loud scream woke everyone up.

A high-pitched voice came right behind the woman, where her lover stood trembling while shouting and pointing at what was coming.

The loud, high-pitched scream woke everyone to their senses. They all quickly panicked, but it was too late; the objects were already too close for them to run.

Many people have already been hit by weird objects falling from the sky. It was so alarming that it caused mass hysteria.

One of the objects was fast approaching in the direction of the woman who was just fighting with her lover inside the restaurant a while ago.

She didn't even move; she could not move.

Her whole body has been frozen as if her whole feet had been glued to the pavement on which she was standing.

And just like that, she was hit.

The woman screamed loudly. She felt the pain all over her body; it was so unbearable. She suddenly fell to her knees while screaming in agony.

Her lover just looked at her in terror. He was shocked beyond compare and fell backward on the floor. Because of so much fear, his two legs quickly gave up; he could not stand.

"B-Babe, help." She tried to reach the man, hoping to seek help. To seek comfort.

She hoped that he would somehow try anything just to show that he cared for her, but he just kicked her miserable body and ran away in fear.

It causes the woman to become exasperated. Her brown eyes turned blue; it was so bright.

Before the man was able to get away completely, he immediately collapsed. Curiously, he turned behind him only to find out the reason for his fall.

His eyes immediately widened when he saw his very two feet left on the road. It is inside a box made of glass.

It was dissected from his body. This fact made him histrionic. He can't think rationally. He became dumber than before.

The man screamed again at what he saw. It was higher than before. So high-pitched. It was as if a girl had just screamed.

Suddenly, he felt the glass gradually wrap around his hands. When it was finally completely wrapped, his two hands gently separated from his arms.

The man screamed in fear, ignoring the continuous dripping of saliva from his mouth. Tears were falling from his eyes, and even some snoot was flowing out of his nose.

His appearance was so depressing and pathetic.

The cool, seductive, and desirable appearance that he always and securely maintained has been shattered. Finally, he showed his true, insecure self.

He moved frantically when he saw his lover slowly crawling towards his sorry self.

The woman at that moment was so disgusting to look at. Her hair was so disheveled. Blood was dripping from her bright blue eyes to her nose, mouth, and even her two beautiful ears. She is a mess.

When she noticed the man's extreme avoidance of her, her bloodshot eyes quickly brightened.

"I told you to help me, you cheating bastard!"

Once again, fear and horror consumed the man's entire being when he felt the familiar sensation slowly creeping toward the most protected part of his body. Where his little unborn children reside.

He was even more nervous and shook his head violently when he realized what was going to happen.

"No, please. Babe, babe!"

A loud and terrifying scream was heard that day in front of a restaurant, but no one paid attention to it because, at that time, almost everyone was already in trouble.

And just like a snap of a finger, everything changed.

Everyone who was hit by the mysterious objects gained a unique ability. That thing modifies their normal DNA chemically.

Others begin to grow tails, fangs, and even long claws.

Others breathed fire. For some, they had the ability to fly.

The few who couldn't handle it were like a bomb going off, their body scattered everywhere.

A town was also hit by a massive object, forcing it to sink into the water and vanish from the map entirely. However, it also gave everyone who lived there the capacity to breathe underwater.

In one day, everything drastically changed.

The news from different stations in each country follows one after the other.

The military reacted quickly, but they had difficulties managing the situation because several of them were also hit by objects falling from the sky.

Some prisons have also been destroyed, causing almost all the big criminals in the world to escape. Some of the police even died at the hands of those criminals.

It is easier to say that the usual balance in the world has been lost, causing the proper flow of things to be broken. Rules became useless. Everything is out of control.

In spite of the chaos happening all over the world, there is this very quiet island in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean.

A thick layer of smoke can be seen enveloping a huge building. It was the result of the sudden explosion.

Not far from the place, there was a girl lying unconscious. A lot of scattered debris was lying around her unconscious body from the exploded building. Some debris was still catching fire.

Half of her body was burned as the bones became visible. After some time, her hands began to glow. Little by little, every wound that she has and every burn that she gets are all gradually healing, and anyone who could see it would be mesmerized.

Her body healed itself for a few minutes until finally the girl spontaneously returned to her previous form.

No more wounds can be seen here. The girl's face once again became smooth and peaceful; no trace of burns was left behind.

Her little finger glowed once again, and there was a small crystal that was forming on her hands.

It slowly covered her body, from her little fingers to her toes, spreading little by little into her entire body. In just a short span of time, she was covered by these hard and spiky crystals that no one could break.

The crystals began to spread around her, engulfing everything in the vicinity, from the trees to the animals to the neighboring mountains.

After two hours, everything was completely covered in a very thick crystal.

If you look around, it's as if the entire island has been enclosed within a large snow globe; it's just that the crystal that surrounds it is so sharp, making it impossible for anyone to step on it.

The once peaceful wave of the ocean started to gradually form a huge wave that moved three hundred kilometers away from the island to act as a barrier and protect the island from the outside.

On the child's body, a thick fog settled and gradually spread all around. It reached up to the sky, and gradually, several large tornadoes started to form in the ocean.

Thunder and lightning began to disturb the peacefulness of the place until the whole place was completely hidden from the outside.

No one can get close to the island as the thick fog tries to hide it from everyone.

Several years would pass, and no one could enter or unravel the mystery of the place, not even those self-proclaimed experts who dedicated their lives just to unraveling the mystery of this phenomenon.

THE YEAR 2035.

Five years later, since the strange object from the sky affected everyone, they called that object To dóro, which means 'the gift.'

Despite the fact that many people possessed unique abilities, not everyone was affected by the explosion.

Most of it is still lying around or was just not lucky enough to hit at that time.

Because of the sudden change, the world was forced to adjust and develop new laws to maintain order.

The people of the world are divided into two classes, the 'Mahistiya' and the 'Glosya'.

The Mahistiya are those who gained exceptional abilities as a result of the explosion, whereas the Glosya are those who did not.

Also, because of the separation of the people, discrimination between the two began to develop.

The majority of the Mahistiyas began to become more arrogant as the days passed by; their egos became stronger and stronger, thinking that god chose them.

Because of their newfound strength, they banded themselves together as the most capable and powerful people—the greatest and perfect people.

Whenever they engage in a duel with the Glosya, they have this stereotypical and well-known taunt.

'You were missing when God showered the world with blessings, but you caught everything when idiocy showered.'

As a result, the Glosya anxiously sought a fair strategy to battle the Mahistiya.

They created modern equipment, vehicles, and other things that made everyone's life easier.

Because of the sudden change, everyone decided to use the same language. They begin to teach the language to children all over the world.

This was done to prevent people from having a misunderstanding due to the difference in the language that they used. Unlike before, a simple misinterpretation of something can cause death. They need to be careful.

The world gradually lost interest in the languages of the past. Only adults speak in their native tongues.

It might seem strange to think about how fast everything is changing, but answers are nowhere to be found. The questions are just piling up throughout the day, but there is still no answer, not even one.

Where did it all come from? How did it change the DNA so easily despite the humanities' constant research in the past? Who did it? Is it really from god? Will this continue throughout human history? Will this ability kill the owner someday? Why? How?

There are many speculations about this, but no one knows if it is true or not.

And the only person who knows what happened is none other than the girl trapped inside a thick crystal.

The crystal that covered the entire island gradually dissolved over the course of five years, leaving only the girl's body covered.

She had not changed, nor had she aged, in the five years that had passed; her body remained ten years old.

For the first time, the thick crystal started to crack; after a while, it grew more and more until it was completely broken.

Suddenly the surroundings became quiet; there was no chirping of birds or clouds in the sky, which could normally be heard before. It was as if the whole island was anticipating her return.

Little by little, the girl's finger moved, her heart began to beat, and her blood slowly flowed through her body. One by one, the child's insides came to life.

His eyes suddenly opened, and she suddenly sat and took deep and continuous breaths; she was gaping, as if she had drowned in very deep water.

Her bright yellow and unfocused eyes could be seen when she finally opened them. The girl was panting for a few seconds as she squeezed her chest. When she finally calmed down, her golden eyes began to return to their previously gray color.

She looked at her hands; nothing had changed, which made the girl even more Puzzled because she still remembered a strong object that hit her before she lost consciousness.

"Quod factum est?" She asked softly to herself and looked around.

Seeing the dark surroundings, the girl slowly stood up but quickly fell down. Feeling weak, she lay on the cold sand while listening to the strong waves on the beach.

What in the world happened?

She closed her eyes tightly as she felt herself floating. When she opened her eyes, they began to glow and became a bright yellow color.

She suddenly remembered something and floated towards the location of the broken building. The girl slowly stopped when she reached her destination.

She sees the dilapidated laboratory, where they all spent more than five years doing experiments with the mad doctors inside the building.

The ten children were only five to six years old when they were abducted from their peaceful lives.

The doctors forcefully train them in things that only veteran soldiers do for five years before the actual experiment begins.

In just two days, all of her companions were consumed one by one due to the ulterior motives of the madmen.

The girl slowly reached for the necklace attached to her neck. She could see the familiar numbers on it.

'12025010.'

The girl angrily pulled it out and threw it somewhere. Each number on it means something.

'Group number 12 in the year 2025, experiment number 10.'

It makes the girl disgusted to think that they were all considered laboratory rats that could be changed and discarded.

She immediately cupped her forehead, a sarcastic laugh slowly coming out of her mouth. Her laughter got louder and louder, and as time went on, she sounded like a madman.

She suddenly stopped and looked intently at the entire building.

"What should I do now?" she asked in her serious language.

The girl just looked at the building silently and didn't know what to do.

"Bring everything back!" She angrily waved her hands, causing the remaining parts of the building to be completely destroyed.

"After everything you've done! You can't be killed that easily; you didn't pay enough!" The girl screamed angrily and continued to destroy the building that stood, but it was not enough for her.

It waved its hands, and a huge wave swept over everything that was left of the building.

She weakly knelt down on the ground and angrily folded her hands.

"You didn't pay enough."

THE YEAR 2043.

The car suddenly stopped in front of an academy. Looking out the window was a young woman with beautiful black hair, thick eyelashes, and red lips.

She gently scanned her surroundings as she got out of the car. The size of the entire academy was clearly visible.

She then heard some loud noises not far from her. She immediately rolled her eyes as she saw that the noise was just from the students taunting each other and fighting over their abilities. Some of them are even showing off the modern weapons that they have.

It's been thirteen years since that day.

The girl just shook her head disappointedly as she saw the man eating the fire coming out of his friend's hand.

"It wasn't supposed to happen, but why do people become dumber and dumber as time goes by?"

As she goes inside the academy, she can't help but hear the whispers around her about useless things.

Without emotion, the girl just continued walking until she saw the two hallways that would decide her life as a student.

One path goes to the left, while the other goes to the right.

Each path has its corresponding place; choose one, and it will be your life forever.

The girl stopped in the middle of the two hallways and repeatedly looked at the two paths opposite one another. Annoyed, the girl just sighed and slowly turned to the right.

A huge letter, made of gold, was clearly visible, posted on the upper part of the hallway where her two feet were walking.

"Campus for Glosya."