The streets were oddly less crowded than usual, making Niq’s job harder than normal. The young urchin leaned against one of the many towering buildings that made up the grand city of Infini, watching as the hundreds of people making their way through the grand streets, moving like a river of people, their faces blurring as they moved past.

Tall buildings tower above, ranging from five to fifty stories tall, casting long shadows across the concrete city, their peaks practically merging with the dark grey clouds of smog that blocked out the bright mid-day sky. Skyscrapers made of glass and stone monopolized the skylines, a dull mash of grey and black.

It was well known that Infini was crowded, with billions of people living in the city limits. It was to be expected, of course, it was one of the few habitable cities that remained on earth, the rest of the world either a wasteland or crater that remained from one of the many wars that destroyed the surface on the globe. This meant that much of the city was forgotten, thrown away, abandoned. Where criminals and outcasts alike were left to rot on their own.

Niq was one of these people, altho they were not like the rest of their ilk. Niq was different, abnormal, and it was because of this that they were more than happy than most to spend their days in the underbelly of the city alongside the spiders and cockroaches. Of course, even when avoiding attention as Niq was so eager to do, the young adult still had to make a living. Which brought them to a crowded street, waiting for an opportunity.

Niq watched and waited. The streets were busy as they always were, however, they seemed far less so than usual, going from thousands in half an hour to merely hundreds. There were gaps in the crowd of more wealthy and well off individuals, enough gaps that Niq could make out the other side of the road if they tried. It made getting lost in the crowd harder, which made Niq’s unique skills far less effective.

At last, Niq moved forward, pushing off the concrete wall they had been leaning against and moving into the crowd. Niq still stood out among the wealthy crowd, Their dark purple-dyed hair tied up into a curly bun that seemed intent on escaping its bounds, paired with their simple tattered black jacket, dark brown sweatpants that were fraying at the edges, and a once-blue tank top that now looked a bluish-grey after months of use. Niq had a warm complexion, displaced only by the splotches of dirt that muddied their heavily freckled cheeks. They were naturally fairly short and thin, not quite starved or malnourished, but Niq lacked any real weight.

They weaved through the crowd with expert precision, moving with fast feet around people. If it had been even just a bit more crowded, no one would have noticed Niq carefully snatch the pale blue wallet of a middle-aged man in a suit, however, Niq’s hopes of not being seen were quickly shattered, as the curly-haired thief heard a sudden shout, and quickly changed their pace to that of a sprint.

Niq moved quickly, pushing past people and attempting to get lost in the crowd, however, the shouts from behind were only drawing more and more attention as they fought their way forward. Suddenly, the crowd seemed to part ahead of Niq, people moving out of the way as not to get run into, revealing about thirty feet ahead, two people in a striking purple garb. They wore purple vests and pants, with intricate silver trim and embellishments, with an odd opaque mask that reflected Niq’s panicked face when they met the gaze of two of the members of the Abby Guard, a group made up of people who were different, much like Niq.

Niq came to a skidding halt on the concrete street as soon as they saw the watchmen of the city, their sandals practically giving off the smell of burnt rubber with how fast Niq came to a stop. For a moment Niq felt an immeasurable fear down to their very core, they felt like deer caught in headlights, too afraid to move in any direction, the world seemed to slow for a moment as they stood frozen, feeling nothing but the sudden lack of air in their lungs. Until one of the enforcers took a single step in Niq’s direction, and suddenly the world sped up once more.

Niq held tight to the stolen wallet in their hand, feeling their heart pump blood through their veins and into their legs. Their breath suddenly became shallow, and Niq’s vision became a tunnel. Their gaze quickly turned to an ally way and Niq moved suddenly with as much speed as they could get in the short moment, shooting forward with an adrenalin-fueled boost.

“HEY!” a supernaturally booming voice echoed as Niq moved, shaking the very pebbles that were scattered along the roads concrete surface.

The Abby Guards quickly gave chase behind them, the larger of the pair moved slower, altho his footsteps hit with an echo and a shaking of the nearby earth with a supernatural presence. The thinner of the two moved faster and was quickly catching up to Niq, who still ran with a fear-filled haze, moving like a wild beast about to be caught and eaten by predators.

As Niq quickly entered the alleyway, there was a single moment where the tall building wall cut off the brutal enforcers view of Niq giving the abnormal a moment to use the skill that labelled them an abnormal, and why Niq was so keen on not being caught by those who shared a variation of this skill.

For that moment, Niq came to a stop, closing their eyes and focusing on a rising energy around them, and concentrating, the hair on the back of their neck rising like there was a static charge in the air. When Niq opened their eyes, they were no longer on one of the many crowded streets of the wealthier part of Infini, but rather in a small hidden room in one of the many crumbling and abandoned buildings in the less reputable part of the giant city known as the Forgotten District.

 A few torn and muddied blankets sat upon a rotting wooden bed frame and mattress in the corner, a small pit of stones and ash sat in the almost center of the room, the last embers cold and dead. A crumbling dresser lay nearby, stacked high with different trinkets and baubles, things ranging from a party broken pot to a small dirtied plushie in the shape of a deer. There was a single window in the room, turned nearly opaque with dirt and dust covering its surface and hidden from outside eyes by a pile of rubble, casting a faint light into the small hovel. A rusted ladder stood tall next to the window, leading into the floors above as well as the acting as the only other exit aside from the window.

Niq collapsed on the dirt and concrete floor, feeling all of their strength drain suddenly. Everything seemed to ache, Niq’s lungs burned, and their legs felt crushed from the initial burst of speed. Their hair had come undone from the tight bun it had been in prior and now cascaded down their shoulders till their mid shoulders. Niq sit there for a few minutes, feeling the warming fabric wallet in their hand and the loose stones on the ground digging into their legs as they studied the cracking stone ceiling.

It was a close call, far closer than Niq would have preferred. The city of Infini ran on something that none of the other cities had the ‘vision’ - as the city government so-called it - to cultivate Abnormals. The world was filled with people who were different. Something in their very essence that gave each of them extraordinary abilities. From things like healing faster, being naturally faster, to even having a minor control over the elements. They were known for their eyes and hair. Their eyes turned a beautiful silver when using their abilities, and their hair which was almost always a lighter shade, if not stark white. It was why Niq dyed their hair to the preferred colour of dark purple, still standing out, but less so.

The Abby guard was made up of abnormals of varying abilities. It was why Infini was a dangerous city for those with similar superhuman abilities. In Infini, there were only two paths for someone who happens to be abnormal. Either join The Abby Guard or become a story to warn against defying them.

Of course, as many people say, there is always a third option. That was the option that Niq’s mother had chosen for them many years ago. To stay hidden, avoid attention, and try not to starve on the streets. Niq’s ability was special, more so than the average abnormal. They had inherited it from their mother, who had joined the Abby guard years before Niq’s birth, and knew what the system held for Niq. A teleporter was rare and dangerous, having strict rules about their abilities, and even stricter punishments for those who moved even a toe out of line.

It was why Niq was living in a dank cellar with the rats and spiders, stealing wallets to sell I.Ds to whatever fool wanted them. Niq had seen where it had gotten their mother by joining the guard, and they didn’t plan on following in her footsteps. While they didn’t particularly like throwing themselves into the danger that they had learned to fear with every part of their being, it was what kept them fed and not under the tyrannical government’s thumb, or dead in the Rot Ditches outside of the cities walls.