The Next Morning
The sun settled slowly over the city.
The sky was a pale gray-blue, streaked with thin clouds that drifted lazily above the crooked skyline. Sunlight filtered through gaps between the stacked buildings, cutting the streets into uneven strips of light and shadow.
『The city of Ravens』
The architecture looked chaotic—buildings stacked on top of buildings, balconies patched together with scrap metal and rusted railings. Laundry hung between windows like colorful flags, swaying gently in the breeze.
Buzz! Buzz!
A phone vibrated against the metal rooftop floor.
The female figure sitting on the ledge didn't react immediately.
She sat high above the city on the edge of a tall building, headphones covering her ears as loud rock music blasted through them. A can of spray paint rested beside her, along with half of a small pair of scissors leaning against a small side bag marked with a raven symbol.
One boot dangled over the edge of the building.
Her heel tapped lightly against the wall.
Below, the city stretched endlessly.
BUZZ! BUZZ!
The device at her side continued to vibrate.
Pipes and vents covered in graffiti twisted across the rooftop like a maze of iron veins.
Finally, she leaned forward slightly and removed her headphones, her attention drawn to the phone.
She picked it up slowly.
" Hello....?... It's rare for you to contact me…" she said calmly, sounding almost bored.
"What's up…?"
There was a pause.
"…Huh?!"
Silence followed.
The kind of silence that tightens the air before important news.
Her head tilted slightly.
A knowing look crossed her face.
"You found the last member…?"
Darius voice answered through the phone.
"That's right, my dear newbie... I just happened to pick her up while relieving my boredom at the Helios Dynamics Containment Wing...."
Not far away—
A narrow backstreet opened between aging concrete buildings.
Rusty balconies jutted out from the walls, surrounded by cages of bent metal railings and laundry poles. Graffiti covered nearly every surface.
The bright morning light settled softly over the street.
Footsteps on gravel.
The distant hum of traffic.
The faint buzz of power lines overhead.
A battered signboard hung above a tiny shop entrance, its lettering chipped and faded. Pictures of oversized sandwiches were printed across it.
A couple of customers lingered near a bench outside, speaking quietly.
Several ravens perched on a nearby utility pole, heads tilted as they watched the street like they owned it.
The door of the shop suddenly swung open.
I stepped out.
In one hand, I held a thick sandwich.
In the other, a large metal lighter.
I looked like a starving homeless person.
Without hesitation, I dropped into one of the outdoor chairs, gripping the sandwich with both hands as if it might escape.
Then I took a massive bite while it was still steaming hot.
Crunch. Tear. Chew.
Sauce spilled from the sides.
I didn't slow down.
Another bite.
Then another.
The world narrowed to taste and texture—soft bread, greasy meat, salt and heat exploding across my tongue.
I set the sandwich down for a moment.
Then picked up the lighter.
With a flick—
Click.
A huge flame burst to life.
I leaned forward and inhaled the fire like someone drinking milk for the first time.
The lighter sputtered until the fuel finally ran out.
"Phew…"
I leaned back slightly.
Now that was a good meal…
I rubbed my stomach.
But, I still can't believe I got forced to sleep at that weird hotel last night…
I tugged slightly at my clothes.
And this jacket and pants…
I'm not used to wearing baggy stuff...
Across the table, Darius watched with raised eyebrows.
"Whoa…" he said with a crooked grin.
"For a girl, you eat like there's no tomorrow."
"Which reminds me," he added teasingly, "you threw up a lot after beating those idiots yesterday, didn't you?"
I grabbed the sandwich again and took another bite.
"I don't wanna talk about it…"
I paused just long enough to breathe before continuing to eat stubbornly.
The wrapper crinkled loudly in my hands.
Above us, one of the crows shifted its feet and gave a single caw.
The street climbed upward in crooked layers.
Stacked buildings.
Unrealistic balconies.
Exposed pipes and tangled wires stretching across the sky like a giant net.
The architecture looked like it had grown instead of being built—each floor added by a different person at a different time.
Sunlight filtered down through narrow gaps, catching drifting dust in the air.
So this is the City of Ravens…
I had only ever seen brief glimpses of it on the news....
Before the broadcast cut out when the reporter was killed live on air....
I thought it would be completely destroyed…
Just broken buildings everywhere....
Since it's supposed to be a villain zone…
But looking around now—
It felt more like a real town than I expected....
Not as advanced as the nova yorka....
it's not that bad...
I didn't even know there were places like this…
Actual streets....
And good Food here....
"By the way," Darius said casually, sipping from a cup.
"What's your name, kiddo?"
I hesitated for half a second.
"…E—Ellie."
"Ellie, huh?"
A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"That's a nice name kiddo."
I straightened slightly.
"Tha—thanks…"
"Now!" he suddenly said, pointing at me dramatically.
"I'll give you a crash course on what's really going on."
"First question," he continued.
"Do you know what an Imprint is, Ellie?"
"…Not really," I admitted.
" I see.... Then listen closely..."
Darius leaned back slightly.
"All powers in this world come from an artifact called the Tesseract core...."
" so people didn't just wake up one day with powers."
"About a hundred years ago, a meteor crashed into the city that we all know as Nova Yorka..."
"Inside that meteor… was a strange artifact."
"People started calling it the Tesseract."
He tapped the table lightly as he spoke.
"It emits a reality-altering radiation field."
"People who were exposed to it had their DNA mutated."
" So over generations, humans developed Resonance Nodes inside their bodies."
"These nodes convert Tesseract radiation into abilities."
"Those abilities…"
"…are what we call Imprints."
He paused briefly.
"Eventually, Helios Dynamics was created to take control of that artifact."
"They used it to develop their city far beyond the others."
I looked around slowly.
"If that's true…" I said quietly.
"…shouldn't they share the Tesseract with the other four cities?"
"After all… we're all human."
The air around the table seemed to tighten.
Darius raised his eyes.
"I wish it worked that way, kiddo."
"But Helios Dynamics refused to share it."
"The other four cities tried to take it by force."
"That's when Helios created the Hero System."
"To defend the artifact...."
He leaned forward slightly.
"They drove everyone who tried to steal the Tesseract out of the city."
"Then they branded them as villains."
"And labeled the other cities as villain zones."
"I see…"
I lowered my gaze.
That's starting to make sense now.…
When we entered Helios Dynamics, security had been everywhere...
Cameras.
Guards.
Heroes patrolling every district.
Almost impossible to infiltrate.
Well…
I did try once...
Thinking Storm might be there...
But...
something still bothers me...
How does this guy know so much about the Tesseract and it's history than me who was born in nova Yorka…?
They never taught us anything about its origin.....
Just that it powered the cities....
Darius slowly adjusted his grip on his cup.
His thumb brushed a groove worn smooth from repetition.
"I've been meaning to ask kiddo…"
I leaned forward unconsciously.
His eyes settled on me.
"How did you end up in a containment wing?"
" and Why were they experimenting on you?"