'Man… I've got to be the most unlucky person alive! …Why'd I have to let myself get caught?!' Sami thought as he darted into a narrow backstreet, running as fast as his legs could carry him. He took a quick glance back, and when he saw that the three men who had been chasing him were still very close behind, he clicked his teeth and shouted at the top of his voice. "Aisssh! Leave me the fuck alone, you crazy bastards!"
Almost immediately, one of the pursuers, a burly man in a suit, yelled back at him in irritation. "Stop running and just give back the watch you stole, you shameless son of a bitch!"
Sami grinned, then raised the very expensive golden wristwatch and shouted, "Catch me if you want it back, motherfucker!"
He increased his speed, jumping over potholes and other small obstacles in the narrow street while pushing down larger ones like trashcans and barrels in an attempt to slow his pursuers.
The chase stretched on for several minutes until he spotted an alley a few meters ahead. Then he quickly headed for it and darted inside, but almost immediately, his face twisted in panic as he yelled, "No, no, no! Fuck!"
The alley was a dead end.
Sami slowed, coming to a halt, and ran a hand through his hair in frustration and panic as he stared at the large wall in front of him.
'Shit! I'm screwed… I'm really screwed.'
At that moment, the three pursuers finally ran into the alley, cornering him. He turned to face them and seeing that he was out of options and was indeed really screwed, he held out the watch and said hoarsely, "Uh… here. You need this right? Look… I'm sorry I stole it. You can have this back, I don't need it anymore."
The three men exchanged glances at each other. Then one of them, a lean man with a scruffy beard and a scar on his face, let out a small laugh and walked to a corner where a short pipe lay. He picked it up, tested its weight, and turned to Sami, then spoke in a gravelly voice. "Did you really think you could steal from us and get away with it?" He began walking toward Sami, tapping the pipe menacingly in his hand. Sami instinctively took a step back.
The man continued, "This is the problem with you poor folks of the lower districts." He pointed the pipe at Sami. "You smelling bastards don't know your place."
Sami bristled at that last comment and blurted out, "Jeez! We ain't all stinky! I mean, I take a shower at least once a week, so don't lump me in with everyone!"
"Shut the fuck up, you shameless scoundrel," the man snarled, kicking Sami in the gut.
Sami coughed, doubled over, and fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. Then, the man raised the pipe and slammed it down onto Sami's back.
He yelped as pain exploded through his body, but it didn't stop there. The pipe came down again, and again, and again.
As if that weren't enough, the other two men joined in, kicking him mercilessly.
Sami lay on the floor, curled slightly on his side. He clutched his head with both hands to shield it from the relentless blows. 'Aissssh! I only stole a watch! I didn't kill anyone, goddammit!'
The beating went on for what felt like an eternity, and when the pain became too unbearable, Sami finally passed out.
***
Moments later, Sami woke up, barely able to open one eye. He lay sprawled on the dirty floor, every muscle aching and his body bruised from the beating.
'Ah… I'm still alive?' He thought in disbelief as he slowly turned his head, studying his surroundings. That was when he realized that he was still in the alley where he had been cornered and beaten half to death. It seemed that after he had passed out, the men had simply left him there on the floor.
Sami exhaled. 'Thank goodness. I really thought those bastards were going to kill me.' He slowly raised the hand that had held the gold wristwatch he'd stolen, then saw that it was no longer with him. 'Tsk… looks like they took their watch. …Well, it's not like I needed the damn thing anyway. I've achieved what I wanted to achieve.'
A strained smile tugged at his lips as he brought his right hand closer and rolled back his jacket sleeve, revealing an inky black tattoo with words written in a foreign language. He could understand the words perfectly. It read:
"Fear kills before the danger even arrives. To survive the depths, one needs to be without fear, but how can you, when you do not know what danger is? If you wish to walk the path, then you must willingly embrace danger great enough to change your relationship with fear."
Sami sighed as he stared at the strange words. This tattoo, which hadn't always been there but had one day magically appeared on his hand, was the reason he was in his current situation.
The tattoo was called a Sigil, and it was known to appear on the bodies of random people once they reached the age of eighteen. However, the language it appeared in and the words were always different, unique to the person it appeared to.
Once a person received a Sigil, it meant they had been chosen to become a Dominant, a different race gifted with powers and abilities beyond human comprehension.
However, to fully awaken as one, a person first needed to pass the trial written on their Sigil.
The trials varied wildly. Some demanded dangerous or even impossible feats, while others were deceptively simple. Because of that, many people prayed that if they were ever chosen to bear a Sigil, their task would be something they could actually complete.
Those who weren't so lucky, and were unfortunate enough to receive impossible tasks they couldn't complete, lost their chance at awakening as Dominants, as their Sigils faded on the day of their nineteenth birthday. This meant that the time window for completing a Sigil's trial was only one year.
For Sami, who had received his Sigil almost a year ago on his eighteenth birthday, only two days remained to complete his trial. He hadn't completed it up until now, not because he didn't want to, but because, well… the task he got wasn't exactly an easy one.
Of course he wanted to awaken as a Dominant. Who wouldn't want to gain magical powers and abilities? Especially for someone like him, born and raised in one of the lower districts filled with desolation and poverty, becoming a Dominant was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to climb out of the gutter and reach the upper districts, where the rich lived and Dominants were respected and admired.
But after reading the words on his Sigil, "embrace danger great enough to change your relationship with fear," he figured… maybe being a Dominant just wasn't for him.
Was he supposed to go out and look for danger to throw himself into, one big enough to probably get him killed? No way!
Well, his resolution didn't last long. The lower districts were really tough to live in. People here stole to survive, killed to eat, and sold anything they could, sometimes even themselves, just to see another day.
Sami was tired of living this kind of life. He ended up making up his mind to take the risk. After all, if he did something dangerous and survived, the reward would be far better than the life he was living now.
And so, he decided to do something he wouldn't have dared on any other occasion. He decided to steal from not just anyone, but from a gang in the district.
That would count as dangerous, right? After all, if he got caught, the consequences would be severe.
His plan was simple. When he heard that a gang from one of the higher districts had visited this district to launch a base here, he decided to sneak into their hideout, steal something, anything, and get out without being noticed.
Unfortunately, thanks to his terrible luck, he got caught right after stealing the watch, chased through the streets, and ended up in this alley, beaten half to death.
Sami sighed. Terrible luck and the brutal beating aside, the good thing was that he had survived. He tried to sit up, grimacing and clutching his side as pain radiated through his body. Then he scooted over to the alley wall and leaned against it, trying to catch his breath.
However, barely a second later, he felt something change.
Looking down at the sigil on his hand, his eyes widened as the words began to shift, some fading away while new ones appeared, reshaping themselves into a fresh line of text.
"Only by overcoming your fears can one rule over them. You have been invited to Tiamat's sanctuary for your initiation."