Travails

...And in the blink of an eye, everything turned upside down.

A day ago, Von would've never imagined his life turning out this way.

"I'm back!"

"Welcome home son."

"How was school?"

Despite the fact that his parents couldn't afford sending him to Gifted High, they still managed to send him to a good high school.

He was very appreciative.

"Same old, nothing interesting in particular... is that what I think it is?" he said as he energetically marched towards the kitchen at the end of a long corridor.

"Your nose is keen as usual isn't it my boy?"

His mother with a height of 2.43 metres was there, mixing different ingridents into a pot of gold-looking soup. She wore a loose roundneck and a pair of shorts, all covered at the front by a large apron.

"You get home and the first thing you think of is food, really?" His grumbling father appeared behind him.

Showing a wry smile, Von spoke with a dramatic voice, "A wise man once told me that 'food is the thing that brings you happiness after a looking day', isn't that right dad?"

The man snorted before breaking into a warm smile. He lifted his son who weighed around 55kg into the air with little to no effort and pulled his cheek hard.

"Nice one, your mom has been teaching you things hasn't she?"

Maria looked up with a face so innocent John almost believed her, "I haven't been doing anything at all."

Even though Von was 16, he didn't mind being put on the shoulder of his father who was about 2.97metres tall. He looked at his father's melted reaction and burst out laughing, causing his father and mother to follow suit.

Minutes later, Von expressed the need to buy a material he needed for a school project.

"It's an artificial F-core, I need to get it for tomorrow's chemistry."

With a look of concern, Maria asked, "How expensive is it?"

"Just say it, not like it's your fault anyway," John spoke to reassure a mumbling Von.

"It's.. $2000," Von said as he inspected his parents' reactions. Maria was looking towards the ground with and unreadable expression, while his father just sighed and stood up.

"2000 hm? Is it because it's your final year?" John asked.

"Yes... That's why," Von spoke.

"Very well then, follow me," John ordered Von.

Normally, $2000 would've never troubled his family, but something his parents weren't keen on sharing came up, and they moved to the trenches of the city.

Things had been hard since then. Despite the fact that his father and mother were Core Holders- a set of humans with supernatural powers- they were still treated anyhow within the city.

Even still, they managed to send Von to school, the managed the small house, if it could be called one, that they were living in, and now, they were still taking care of him.

'I'll definitely take care of you,' Von thought to himself as his father opened a safe, took half the money there, and placed it on his palms.

"Now, run along son, don't think about anything else except studying and succeeding. If you make it out with decent grades, then you might get a job in a C-class city, and get all of us outta here," John said and winked to his teary-eyed son.

"Thank you," Von quietly said as he disappeared outside the building.

After he left, Maria walked up to John and spoke, "He's 16 now, we should tell him about these things you know."

"He's 16, yes, but still my kid. No need to bother him with all this."

Maria wanted to reply but was quickly silenced by a warm kiss that was felt on her lips. She sighed before sitting on John's lap, and then, they kissed again...

***

The walk to the market was a remarkably long one. Von had to weave between stalls, shops, houses and even uncompleted and dilapidated buildings before reaching the main road.

"Ah... I have to talk again..." Von mumbled as he reached the front of a large stall with the name

"CORES FOR STUDENTS"

The highest tier of cores one would find here would be E+ cores at best. Von looked at the various people moving to and from the shop, all of them with their fancy clothing, and then took a glance at his own dress.

Just a plain, black hoodie, blue baggy trousers, and a pair of boots.

'Who cares anyway.'

He confidently walked towards the woman seated at the back of a considerably large desk with so many files on it, and spoke,

"I would like an F- core."

The woman first inspected Von from head to toe, then she spoke with a disinterested voice, " $1970, if you can't afford it, get out of here and don't waste my time."

It was obvious he was from the trenches. When glancing at himself earlier, he didn't take note of the holes in his attire.

To the woman's surprise though, the boy in front of her brought out a clean bundle of ten $200 and placed it in front of her.

The woman seemed to think about something, since she bent closer to the boy and spoke in an intimidating tone,

"Did you steal this, boy?"

Unwavering, the boy answered in a passive voice,

"No."

She stared at the boy for a while, his heart was beating normally, and there wasn't even sweat from the boy's face.

She barked some orders and the core was delivered safely into the boy's hands. As he turned to leave, the woman spoke to him,

"Keep that thing hidden, you don't want to be hunted down by the trench thieves do you?"

Von performed a curt nod and walked outside the building. Immediately he got out, his hearts started thumping loudly, sweat trickled down his face and the saliva in his mouth thawed.

"What the hell is wrong with that woman?!"

He stopped his heart beat and his breath when the woman came towards him. In truth, he was incredibly nervous, but he had to put a calm front so that he wouldn't be misunderstood.

After a few minutes of walking, his breath finally calmed down. He walked towards his house, which was still about a kilometer away, but then he heard a set of footsteps behind him.

He immediately changed his direction, only to discover the footsteps resounding behind him again. He changed his direction about 4 times, but the result was still the same.

He was being followed.

Seeing no way to lose the footsteps, he stopped moving and turned around. There were.. six people, all of them with heights of 1.7m, 1.74m, 1.85m, 1.69m, 1.82m and 1.9m

The shortest one among them walked forward and spoke to Von.

"You should know what we're here for, kid. Leave the core alone, and you can go without any broken body parts."