The Custodes

Chapter 1 - Neo

In the city of Pomona, California, lived Neo Cahya, a seventeen year old boy who's entire appearance was based around the colour black. Having been born with unnaturally black irises and the darkest jet black hair you could imagine, it was fairly difficult for him to be viewed as anything other than an outcast. 

After he reached his teenage years he stopped his efforts to draw attention away from his peculiarity and instead embraced it, choosing to wear all black clothes to go along with his features. It ended up being the right choice, as it was far easier to blend in when you were openly weird, rather than being a weirdo who was trying to disguise the fact. 

Neo lived in a run down apartment building on his own, often finding it hard to scavenge enough money to pay his rent in time. In the simplest of terms he was a delivery boy, albeit one of a shadier kind. 

It was difficult to pinpoint exactly when he began the job. At the start it was a simple favour or two for certain people, but once the money started rolling in it became a far more regular thing.

 A large part of it was due to the area he lived in. 

It was far from the nicest part of town, but the building specifically was full of all sorts of scummy lowlifes looking for someone inconspicuous to deliver their goods, and who better than the quiet kid donned in all black apparel. Neo learned the best way to go about making money in his line of work was do what you're told, do it quick, and don't ask questions. 

It had worked for him for over a year now; simply take whatever package he was given to whatever meeting point he was told, hand it over to whoever was waiting for him, take the cash and deduct his earnings, then bring the rest back to the original guy. 

Easy as pie. 

He'd done it for so long without deceiving the clients or messing up once, and became known to be extremely reliable, increasing his popularity in the area. 

Despite what he did, Neo was by no means a bad guy. 

He spent most of his days walking around town out of boredom, or maybe heading to an abandoned building to get some peace and quiet. The boy wasn't quite sure where his life was going - it seemed as though he didn't have any sort of plan for the future and was just living each day as it came. 

Due to his less than satisfying upbringing, Neo's education history was distinctly lacking. He knew essentially everything he needed to to give off the impression he was at least capable, but there was no way he'd be able to get any qualifications at the stage he was at. He figured he may be able to go back and learn some things eventually, but he another part of him told him it would be a waste of time. 

One day, however, things changed - and quite drastically at that. 

It started out like every other day had. Neo woke up in his apartment sprawled out on his mattress on the ground, his covers pulled up to above his shoulders. His pyjamas consisted of boxer shorts and nothing else, and although it was fairly cold in his room he didn't bother to put on any extra layers. 

The boy slowly got up and stretched, scratching his back as he moved towards the kitchen. The apartment was extremely small, with every area all openly connected except from the bathroom. An old mattress lay in the corner of the living room, no bedframe in sight, with an alarm clock on the floor beside it as its only companion. 

An alarm clock which had never actually been used to set an alarm. 

In fact, Neo didn't know how to.

There was a cupboard in the other corner with a few books, newspapers and other miscellaneous items inside, as well as a worn-down couch and a small, low-down coffee table placed in the middle of the room.