Shattered Minds and Golden Skies (Stray Kids)

Chapter 1

He could finally feel everything; as if a dam broke inside of him. A wave of overwhelming calm enveloped him. Like he could finally breathe without gasping for air. Air, the wind that he loved so dear, he could feel the wind running through his fingers, tickling his feet as he walked and lacing his lungs as he breathed. As the crowd cheered in anticipation, the boy walked into the arena.

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Life is a precious thing, that's what everyone is taught, to cherish Life and live free. But when nature takes a sharp turn humans naturally revert back to the all consuming emotion, fear. The guiding hand to power and control; when Life created something new, humans were frightened of the possibilities, but Life was supposed to be free wasn't it? To create what it liked and make more of itself? So why did humans turn against what he had made for them?

Superhuman abilities was Life's next creation, he shared his own powers with his new children. Life watched as his new children co-existed with their human brothers, there was jealousy and violence, fear and rage. So, in an attempt to appease his children he blessed everyone with a power of their own to wield. Love.

Love was beautiful, warm and precious. Life watched so eagerly to see his children's reactions, he had blessed them with markings, images that coincide with only one other. A "soulmate" as the humans called his Love, "tattoos" that dotted the side of every human's stomach. Even so... humans were greedy and continued to envy their brothers...so Life gave up. Because out of all his children no one realized that life isn't about being blessed with some magical power at your creation, it is about creating yourself along the way.

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To the world his name was Han Jisung, a free-spirited boy with a lot of heart, he could move the winds with a swish of his hands. To District 9, he was 1309, his power was wind movement. He was an elemental and he was rebellious. Rebelliousness was not something that was viewed highly at District 9, that was the first thing Jisung learned when he got there. He learned a lot of things like how every month the government shows off how "wonderful" this prison is by holding tournaments in the arena, the food here sucked and that hot guys were not as friendly as they used to be outside of District 9.

Jisung didn't know how long he had been living in his tiny cement cell, he lost count. All he knew was that he had been there long enough for his voice to have dropped and to have grown several inches, so probably about 4 years. He must be 17 by now at least.

The one thing he liked here was the few people that he had acquainted himself with over the years. He managed to find two friends throughout this hell of a vacation, Seo Changbin, known as number 1313, and Bang Chan, Number 1278. Changbin was always brooding and quiet, but he was a softie at heart. Chan on the other hand was a total mom friend, kind and caring, but do not mess with him. Jisung really didn't know how he got such a good thing out of this whole mess. Being kidnapped by the government and put in a testing facility is not the best place to make friends.

Today was tournament day, and Jisung's up next. He saw the crowd cheering as he was led out of the dark hallway into the harsh sunlight. Everyone in the packed stands were staring at him, itching for the fight. Jisung had no idea why people enjoyed watching teenagers beat each other up for no reason except for the staff at District 9. He understood why they liked it, to show off how much control they had over people with more power than them.

Jisung gritted his teeth, his uniform combat boots crunching atop the gravel, his white uniform made him stand out as the crowd peered their eager eyes on him. The soldiers who held him let go and for the first time in a month they disabled his anklet, he could feel the air now. He could feel everything with so much more clarity, like a sixth sense had been unlocked.