“Let me through!” I shouted to the people on the street as I was running to try and get away from the military men that were chasing me. People looked at me without understanding what was going on. However, I really knew why I was being chased; resting on one of my shoulders there was a brown bag filled with food and money, all of which was stolen. That´s how things work here in Hyakugi for those with no money.

Luckily for me, it was Saturday and the market was settled on the town square. The perfect opportunity to scape. I made my way through the people, trying to blend in with them, in the distance I could hear the militaries looking for me. I was far away already but not out of danger; the hot burning sun was up in the sky surrounded by clouds that barely covered it. In the distant purple giant, I could see a big grey cloud coming in the direction of the sun and which was going to be my way out of there.

As I walked, I kept looking behind me to make sure I wasn´t being followed. Unfortunately, I bumped into one of the militaries and with a smile in his face and his gun raised and about to hit me with it, he said “You are not getting way this time”. Suddenly, the sun got covered by the cloud I saw earlier, I smiled under my mask and giggled a bit, the military looked up the sky as it started to get really dark, then he looked back at me and I said, “Ya think so?”. As soon as I said that my body started to change, fear fall upon my chaser´s body as he watched me transform into a beast.

Full black fur, green shining eyes, big claws and sharp white teeth, that’s how people described my beast form. Everyone feared me and poor fools who dared harm me. My power could only be activated upon the shadows, that´s why I was known as ‘The Eastern Shadow Howl’.

Here in this country known by the name of Olighya, many people were normal as if the most of all. However, there are a few that possess special abilities; some can control elements such water, others can read minds, some use it for good and others for bad.

These abilities are classified in different departments and levels. Those who have minor powers are from the Beta department within levels from 1 to 10; who have powers that can be dangerous, are in the Alpha department within levels from 1 to 20; whose powers are potentially dangerous for others and themselves, are on the Zeta department within levels from 1 to 3 as there are few who own this type of powers; for the last type, are those whose power is unknown, they are on the Delta department with no scale as they are all known to be dangerous. These last ones are one of a kind and for the most part, they remain hidden and avoid getting caught.

How does one get such powers? You may ask. Apparently, there was a nuclear war that happened on the year 2036, ever since, the world changed, and it doesn’t look like before. For us, that year is the year 0 A.C for After Catastrophe, only few survived and with terrible consequences. Now we are on the year 3064 A.C and society has finally recovered, no signs of radiation on people or in most of the habituated parts of Earth. However, some developed a gene known as ‘The Spark’, that gave them those powers. As for today, there are few people known that have these powers; 5% of global population are Beta, 3% of global population are Alpha, 2% of global population are Zeta and 0.025% of global population are Delta.

I am part of the Delta department and the military want to capture me to ‘protect’ the civilians. They just want to experiment on me, I know it because that´s what they did to my Beta friend, Chiko. They captured him and I´ve never known from him ever since. If what the militaries said about what they do to us, I would have received a message from Chiko years ago.

Going back to where we were, I went under the man's legs as he had them separated from each other, my small yet big size made him tremble and fall to the ground, the people on the market started screaming as they saw me. Gunshots to the air and people running to safety created the perfect cover for me to hide in the clock tower without being seen.

Once I was there, I waited for the city to calm down and transformed back to my human form as I avoided the windows. When there was no noise on the city, I quickly covered the windows with my brown curtains and sat on the carpet in the middle of the big square room. I exhale still noticing the adrenaline running through my veins, there I was, on the floor lying down with a smile. I removed my mask, which only covered my mouth and nose and was part of my clothes; it was designed like that because here in Hyakugi we suffered from instant sandstorms that came out of nowhere, tis way people could gain some time to go to a safe spot.

I looked to the brown bag next to me and said, “That was another successful day of survival”.