On the roof of a school in the city of Nash sat Loy Sofen, a 16-year-old student. He looked over the landscape full of buildings with his nut-brown eyes. His hair that matched its color was long enough to reach his eyebrows, but not too long to poke him in the eyes. From the cityscape, he looked at the sun's warm rays.

"What am I here for...?" he asked himself gloomily. "What was all this for? What am I… living for?".

With a disturbed narrowing of his eyes, suddenly, a black silhouette of a human-shaped figure appeared in his vision. Its hand reached out for him. Despite its proximity - within touching distance of him, it was blurred, and no detail of its identity could be seen. As quickly as it appeared, it was gone, just as Loy was trying to peck at it.

"Again...!" he grabbed his face in surprise. When a moment after, his surprised look changed to despair again. He looked up to look at the clouds with a depressed gaze when the school bell rang.

He sat down at his regular desk in the last row, where he was hidden from the eyes of others.

"Once again I'm sitting here... Another day that passes... Why do I even come here?" he wondered in annoyance, looking at his desk. "For the academic content, it's sure not. Even if I had listened, what would I have done with it? On second thought, what can I already do? What should a normal teenager do at this age?". With no answer, he looked away from the desk to the classroom window next to him and spent his time staring out of it until the next bell rang.

When it arrived and the students gathered their belongings, Loy remained motionless. After everyone left, he got up from his desk and left the school. With an apathic look, he walked forward his house in the nearby small town, a walk that took almost half an hour.

When he got to his room, he lay down on the bed and looked at the clock that was hung on the wall in his room. For several hours, he watched time pass. When he felt that he had enough of this exciting activity, he went outside to loosen his bones. As he walked the streets, different groups of people recognized him.

Teenagers. Adults. Sometimes, even children. Fingers are pointed at him. Frightened looks are popping around like mushrooms after the rain. Ridicules and whispers are well noticed. But it didn't surprise him. He got used to all of it.

"What am I..." he wondered, staring at the crowded street.

"A ghost. After all this time... nothing has changed. Today… it's even worse than it was when I was a kid. They don't care about me. Nobody cares about me. If that's the case, why should I care about them?" he questioned as he glanced at the crowd of people who thought he wasn't paying attention to them.

"You are a coward." Another voice stated.

A high pitch voice that spoke his language, but it had another element to it.

Almost beastly.

Loy eyes were quickly opened in shock as he looked down to hide his expressions from those around him. "You understand it in your mind. However, you do not act. You are the most cowardly person on earth." the voice teased him.

"What do you expect me to do?! Kill them all?!" Loy replied full of anger. "If that's what it takes, yes," responded the voice calmly. "And how would it help?!" he replied furiously as he gritted his teeth. "How does it help what you're doing?! Huh?!" resented the voice back. Loy flinched in response. The passers-by on the street looked at him suspiciously although his attempts to hide it. He recognized their looks immediately.

"Did you swallow your tongue?" asked the voice cheekily. "You know I'm right. Stop defending yourself. At least admit it to yourself, that you're a cowardly piece of trash. Then at least there will be some progress." the voice stated.

"Shut up." Loy answered sharply." Go back to where you belong." he demanded harshly. "Again… when… when did he get in?".

-------

"Nobody cares. Everyone's dealing with their own shit." thought Ruan Vanclief to himself as he lay on the street floor littered with cigarette butts, liquor bottles and syringes.

Ruan, a 16-year-old boy who dropped out of every possible framework.

His black hair flowing symmetrically to both sides of his head. The color of his eyes was brown as the color of the earth. He got up from the floor and didn't bother to clean his clothes from the dirt that stuck to them. Dusting them off won't hide the stains and holes that stood out from his pants. Some will even claim that in their eyes, this is the latest fashion.

He began walking out of the street where he lived towards the main parts of the city. On his way, he encountered the usual spectacle. The homeless are begging on their knees, some even holding the clothes of passers-by at the station for money.

"It's every man for himself. That's the world we live in. That's why it got to this point." he argued to himself as he watched a man shake off the grip of the beggar's hand holding his fancy business suit.

"When the first person sat on the floor and raised his hand asking for alms, it was seen as unusual. People stopped and asked, why is he sitting on the street floor? Is he okay? Does he need help? But today, this is the norm." he summed up to himself the reality he was looking at. "We have reached such a low level that it shows in the purest form the nature of our world. Each for itself." he concluded with furious eyes.

"Money... please...!" An old beggar called out toward Ruan as he put his hand on his shoulder.

Quickly, a blow was heard.

The old man's fell to the floor as he held his cheek in pain. Ruan fist clenched from the pressure of his anger. The apprehensive passers-by were afraid to intervene due to Ruan's violent appearance. "Are you an idiot or senile huh?! Don't you have eyes?!" Ruan yelled at him angrily. "Do you even see what I look like?!" he shouted at the old man as he held his torn shirt in his hands. "I'm in the same situation as you, you imbecile!" he shouted madly as he passed over the old man's body to the depth of the city.

Pacing quickly, he walked past the luxurious businessmen of the companies in the nearby building. He noticed their evasive gazes. He examined their clothes. Smelled their fragrance. He was jealous of the shine radiating from their polished shoes and well-kept hair. "Those wealthy people... will turn worlds upside down for their smallest problems, but they won't even look at me. It makes me sick." he stated filled with anger. "They shoved us in there, with all these pathetic losers. It's their way of cleaning up the city of Saraf. Bintesch Street. One street which is the dumpster of everything they don't want to see.

Fist fights. Drugs. Drunks. Poverty. Insanity.

They created another community within them that lives a complete reversal of everything they know. And I, I live in the middle of all of it.

But, they still don't understand. I'm not like the others. They are not on my level." he clenched his hand into a fist filled with determination. "Those in power think they are smart. They think it will go their way. But… not for much longer." His eyes shone with revenge. "Soon... soon they will get what they deserve. And it's all thanks of you, grandpa." he cherished in his mind as his grandfather's image appeared in his imagination. He stared into the horizon as his pupils reflected the fire of faith in his heart. "Until then, I'll keep fighting for you. I will continue to do everything in my power to make you achieve your dream. A dream that will take both of us out of this disgusting place and change our reality and the reality of the entire world, forever."

------

On the same evening after it got dark, Ruan returned to his home. Suddenly, he heard strange noises. He knew they were strange because he had been the only one to live in his house for quite some time.

"Who's here?!" Ruan yelled firmly as he pulled a knife from his pocket and approached his grandfather's room. Looking at the beam of light emanating from the room, he walked slowly and carefully at its direction. When he got to the door, he saw a person rummaging through the drawers. His grandfather.

Mada Vanclief. 51 years old. Scientist.

Most of his head hair dropped out along with his grandson from school. To the sides of his head was from what was left of it, white hair that held tight with the rest of its strength.

"Huh?! Grandpa!" Ruan exclaimed in surprise, "What are you doing here?! Are you looking for something?". His grandfather continued his search without an answer. "You haven't come home in a few days. You're sleeping again on the lab table huh?" he asked a second time but again no answer was heard back. Mada ran in his room from side to side, among the various paper forms placed on the tables scattered in his room. "What are you eating there anyway?" Ruan asked for a third. "Real scientists, are the foundation of the future!" Mada called out loud. “Here it goes again…” Ruan rolled his eyes.

"The power within us, the "Energia", is one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of human beings. It is what helped humans get to where they are today. Energia is used everywhere. In fighting. Work. Transportation. Fitness. It is a necessary force humans have learned to utilize in order to take our potential to the maximum. Simple logic says that we must understand exactly what it is in order to take full advantage of it, but no!" Mada yelled angrily as he punched the table in his room. The plastic cup that stood at the end it and contained pens and pencils, fell to the floor. Ruan raised his eyebrows in wonder. "Has he completely lost it or what?".

"They banned it! Those scoundrels in the government! Hundreds of years ago! Think to yourself where humanity would have been already if they hadn't done so!" he shouted madly while waving his fist in the air as Ruan collected the writing tools back into the cup. "They banned any research on the Energia and any component that could have been related to it! Those who oppose, are persecuted by them.

They do what they can to break us.

It's not just that. Throughout history the punishments for it have only gotten worse. Today, it reached such an unbelievable level that if they tie my name to Energia research, it's as good as a death sentence. I can't accept it! It's absurd!" Mada yelled furiously. "This law in itself is illegal! The same force that carried us throughout history, is allowed to be used but not to be researched. Not to be understood!" Mada yelled as he slammed his hands on the wooden table.

"Tell me another thing that every kid in kindergarten knows." Ruan scoffed to himself, trying to remember how many times he had already heard that speech before. However, the thought that he was the only one whom his grandfather was willing to share it with made his heart able to contain any new nonsense that he came up with.

"But... it's clear to me. They wouldn't do it without a reason. It was clear to me that they were hiding something. Until I realized what when I saw it with my own eyes.

I won't let them ground me to the ground.

I won't let them close my eyes in the desperate attempt to keep me a fool.

The curiosity of humans will never be curbed!" Mada yelled full of excitement. "No matter what! Our nature is to break out beyond our familiar boundaries!" he stood proud filled with motivation as he held the piece of paper he was looking for in his hand. "Back to the lab huh?" Ruan asked indifferently.

"Of course." replied Mada.

"Do you need something?" Ruan asked, trying to get his grandfather's attention one last time before his mind blossomed again into fiddling with formulas and diagrams. "No... just time. Not something you can get me... you already know. The deadline. Two more months. I have to do everything I can." Mada replied as he looked at Ruan. His red eyes signaled how severe his lack of sleep was.

"I know... I'll do what I can to help as much as possible." Ruan replied.

"I have to go back. See you soon." Mada said quickly as he walked towards his rusty car. A piece of junk that looked almost as old as him. The only vehicle that even on such a street, no one will try to rob.

"So at least another week huh?" Ruan muttered to himself, watching his grandfather's vehicle disappears into the horizon. "Always the same speech...". He knew his grandfather's condition, so he tried to disturb him as little as possible to avoid interrupting his train of thought.

The massive lack of sleep that he had suffered in the last few years gave its signs on his body and mind. Although he was in his fifties, as a result of the enormous stress he was under, he sometimes felt as if he were ninety. Frequently he would not remember his actions. For moments he would forget what had already been said. Sleepy from fatigue, but nevertheless with a complex mind and always remarkably sharp in all that had to do with his research.

"They say that once in a generation, born a man who is revolutionary-" Mada spoke to himself as he made his way to the lab located outside of the city of Saraf. "-I am that man. I will break through what is known and reveal the secrets of our reality. I will be the one who will reach the end of the humans and history pyramid and withstand on top of it! And I will do it… with this." Mada concluded as he opened the car's glove box with an ear-to-ear smile.

From there, he took out a small diamond stone, half the size of his palm. Rhombus-shaped and blue in color, he held it in his gloved hand as shivers went down his spine, looking at what he had been working on all those years.

The essence of his life.