18 October 2043 ( 8 Years In the Past )

In Cresthold, the streets were busy, pedestrians walking along the side while the sound of cars filled the air. This was the everyday life of such a place; nothing out of the blue happened.

On the city's edges stood a lone lab surrounded by electric fences. Its bland grey concrete walls stood tall, and the fence sizzled with electricity. From the outside, nothing would seem out of place, but within, a fierce battle would soon begin.

…

Daniel sat in the corner of his cell, a ten-by-ten-by-ten-meter room tiled with the same grey tiles; the only thing that stood out was the pure reinforced steel door that served as the exit to this room. He pondered his existence, his reason for being created. He knew precisely why he was made, as his creator would remind him nearly daily;

"You were created as a proof of concept, nothing more, nothing less."

These were his exact words. The ones drilled into his head.

Pointless… Useless… Simply just existing for other's benefit… heh, I guess that's my fate…

He swirled around magic in his hand, forming different shapes: a sphere into a triangle, a square into a cylinder. This was how he spent his days.

Suddenly, there was a grinding sound, signifying someone was entering… Daniel looked up at who entered; it was one of Johnson's assistants.

"Experiment." The Assistant said, not looking directly at Daniel so as not to humanise him. This was also the reason for his not being given a name. 

"..." Daniel stayed silent. He knew the consequence of talking. It was one of the many rules Johnson had established, and his scars were reminders of why he shouldn't break them.

"I've brought your daily meal; I'll be back in 30 minutes to collect your blood sample."

Daniel wasn't exactly human. He was the first human able to use magic, and there were some benefits to that. Daniel found out that he has to eat less and can heal faster, along with exponentially higher stamina and strength overall. But it came with its prices, and Daniel still needed to figure out what they were.

"..."

The assistant leaves without another word. It was routine: He'd eat food, and then they would collect his blood to do something with it; Daniel would never know what they did.

Oh look, it's bread and soup… for the umpteenth time.

…

After Daniel ate his meal, a different assistant took his blood. Daniel watched quietly, not even wincing at the spike of pain; after all, he'd been through worse. Once the blood was collected, Daniel watched the wound heal in front of him. He needed to find out how long it took since he had no sense of time apart from the daily meals and blood collection.

And so, he went to sleep. This same routine continued for days, as it had for the last 12 years…

7 November 2043 ( 8 Years In the Past )

Daniel had grown tired of this routine, of being locked away like the experiment he is. So, he started formatting a plan.

I wonder… no, that wouldn't work.

Daniel had begun pacing around the room, coming up with plans, only to discard them because they could not help him escape. At one point, he tried to blast the door with pure condensed magic in its most volatile and potent form. But it was to no effect, as he was flung back, mentally drained. The door, however, was unscathed, proving that it had some anti-magic defence to defend against this situation.

It makes sense; magic makes a lot of obstacles useless, so, of course, he'd imbue the door with some defence against magic itself.

So Daniel kept on planning until one faithful moment;

Every time an Assistant enters, they leave the door open. They know I wouldn't attempt to escape out of fear. Heh, jokes on them. I'm done hiding.

He had gotten a plan, but the chances of it working were low, and the chances of him coming out alive even lower. But it was all he had, the only opportunity to leave this place once and for all. So he waited. Patientience is something Daniel had in surplus.

…

The moment came when one of the assistants entered with a plate of soup and bread once more. 

"Experiment. Here's your daily meal; I'll be back in thirty minutes to collect a blood sample."

He never managed to return because the moment that assistant turned his back, a small ball of condensed magic flew through his heart, turning his insides into pulp from the speed. The assistant fell, and everything happened faster than he could process. Daniel stood there, a neutral expression on his face. The incident didn't phase him, his magical nature suppressing his emotions. He ran out, looking for the exit, when a thought struck him: a single idea that would change the course of his future;

"I'm the first of my kind… I'll ensure I'm the last."