In my world, power determines everything.
Some are born with titanic strength—they become the Guardians, elite body‑shields who protect the rulers.
Some arrive with perfect hearing—they are the Listeners, able to pinpoint a target miles away.
Others possess iron memories—the Rememberers, walking archives who can recall thousands of pages at a glance.
There are the Bare‑footed, whose leg muscles let them scale sheer cliffs and outrun panthers.
And finally the Voicers, whose very shout can rattle a mountain.
Anyone born without one of these gifts is cast out—banished to the gray wasteland they call Oustaria.
The promised day had come: the ceremony that reveals which lineage you belong to.
I stood in line, my heart hammering, my father tense beside me. Mother had vanished long ago—today it was only us.
One by one the names were called. Each child stepped into the towering white device that read your essence, while the rulers and the roaring crowd awaited the verdict.
"William, step forward!"
William entered. Listener—cheers erupted.
"Sarah, step forward!"
Sarah's result: Guardian. The announcer boasted that she would keep the leaders safe.
Then—
"Rahin, step forward!"
My name. My legs trembled. Father called out, "Don't worry, Rahin—trust yourself!"
I entered the tube—pure white walls, a door sealing me inside. A calm mechanical voice spoke:
"Please place your hand on the screen for a few seconds."
I obeyed. A warm light washed over me—pure, gentle—then abruptly flickered into absolute black. A crushing emptiness closed in.
The door opened. Two Guardians seized my arms, metal cuffs clamping my wrists. Jeers burst from the stands.
I will never forget Father's face: pain, disbelief, powerless rage.
I shouted, "Father! Fath—" but the ruler's decree cut through my cry:
"Throw him to the Promised Zone. We have no place for the weak."
They locked me in an iron cage, carted me away like refuse. Hours later the doors opened onto a bleak, colorless expanse—nothing but ruined stone and drifting ash.
This was Oustaria.
The land of the forsaken.