Devotio

Prologue

People say it was like the purge; that perhaps being the one thing everyone can solely agree on nowadays. Some will say it was for the best, ridding the world of those that were born different, and going back to how it was when time first began, while other argued that it's the time to embrace the future and really see what the world had to offer. That was back when the world was still at peace with itself, but time had passed and everything had changed.

The human genome is stored on 23 chromosome pairs. 22 of these are autosomal chromosome pairs, while the remaining pair is sex-determining, but there were some that were born with an extra pair. No one knows where it first originated but those born with the extra pair were born with a certain gene that gave the spectacular powers; powers that let you control fire and ice, levitate something with a mere though, conjure animals, control shadows , and even bring back the dead. They decided to call it the M-Gene.

Scientists have been studying, trying to figure out why only some are born with the gene but nothing has been found. The only thing that was remotely useful that they figured out was no two people in the same family had powers and the gene was more commonly found in male genome.

Since discovering new abilities that came with the gene, the people of the world had been forced to choose sides- support the gene and further explore what it is able to do, or try to put a stop to it.

The government had issued that all people born with the M-Gene be taken into custody to have tests performed and figure out why they had been born with it. Parents were taken from their children, new borns were held at the hospitals. Families were ripped apart. The organization in charge of the operation was called Chargarde. They had scientists doing everything in their power to decipher where the first gene originated and how they could stop it from being passed on to another generation.

They had headquarters set up around the world and since it was mainly government funded, they had ties to hospitals so they would know the minute a child with the M-Gene was born.

But there was a change. People rallied against Chargarde and soon Cardinal was a name known around the world. They had also set up bases throughout to counteract Chargarde and get to the families first. It was a group composed of those who wouldn't idly stand by and watch as their friends and family were taken from them.

Years past and the world began to fall into ruins; schools were closed, food stores running low and not being restocked, places getting looted. It seemed like one of those cheesy movies about the apocalypse but that's how it turned out. People were scattered across the globe, doing all they could to escape both Chargarde and Cardinal. There were some that even sought them out in means to help stop the war but all that came was more.

It wasn't until many years later that everyone truly began to see the toll the world has taken. The population was decreased significantly. Most of the remaining civilians were captured by Chargarde in means to bring out family members who had allied with Cardinal then capture them as well. There were still groups here and there of people who had managed to elude both groups; though it was a lot easier said than done.

Though there was a group of people that could stop it; a special forces group among the Japanese Division of Cardinal. They had taken on the task of finding a teenage boy, no older than 16, who had been born with the M-Gene. Normally they wouldn't risk it but he was the second child in the family to be born with it which likely made him not only a high target for them but also for Chargarde. It had been the only known incident in history that someone within the same immediate family had been born with the gene.

So they ventured out to the last place he and his older brother had been seen, somewhere in the central district of Tokyo. They just hoped that they would be able to get to them first.

The world has fallen into chaos; a storybook battle of good against evil, right against wrong. And it was time to choose a side.

Quick author's note: for the plot to work, they will be blood brothers. Please keep that in mind while reading.