I am one

Prologue

(Above is the symbol Kada is born with)

When I turned sixteen my whole life changed. The mark on the side of my neck started burning and glowing an ominous purple colour as my parents ran upstairs cheering. "I wonder what it's going to be" my dad boomed as he danced with glee. They had been waiting for this day since I was born and I wasn't going to ruin it for them now, even though I was getting slightly uncomfortable with the noise they were making. This was the day I was going to take my place in society, the day I could finally work, yet all I could think about was what food I could stuff myself with when I finally got downstairs. My parents clapped as the number slowly formed on my wrist, placing bets as to which number I would get. However, neither of us expected the number I got.

You see my universe is no longer like yours. We still live on the same planet, the planet we now call Marki instead of Earth, although everything has changed. No one has any memories of the way the world was before, all we know is that there has been three tribes since we awoke to this new world.
The elemental tribe, the leaders and the warriors, the ones no one wants to come up against in a battle. For many, their power is fuelled by their link to our world through the main four elements: fire, earth, air and water. Although there are some that are fuelled by strong forces that are all around us and even in the ground itself. These are the strongest elementals however, they are very rare and few between. They are fuelled by darkness and light in a never ending war between evil and good.

The emotions tribe, the healers and protectors. Their powers are fuelled by the emotions within them and within others: happiness, sadness, love, anger and the most powerful, fear. They have the ability to enlighten others and to try and bring peace to the world. But, they also have the ability to destroy people from the inside out.

Finally, there's the animal tribe, the strongest of our people. Their powers are fuelled by their animal ancestors, they have the strongest link to their power and the most prevailing can tear worlds apart with a flick of their wrist. They were meant to be extinct, dead for centuries. Everyone believed that they had disappeared forever. That was until the day I was born with the dragon symbol.

We get our names when we our born due to the strange birthmark that's etched into our skin, the symbol that's written into our DNA. My name is Kada Vadas, which means the ruler of the dragons. Our powers come from our marks, they determine how strong we will be and how much of an impact we are going to have on our world, but they only come into effect when we turn sixteen.

There's another catch, we only know the certain skills we possess if we use them. Sometimes they can be unlocked by a certain event that happens in our lives or with training. However, most of the time we learn them when we are at our worst. When we are fighting others or when we need help and the certain powers we have acquired beforehand can't help at all. For example, if you were drowning and could throw fireballs. Unfortunate people only ever have one power they can unlock, though most of us have many and the ones who do not are cast out. Forgotten. Some know all their powers and can use them all. Some die never knowing their full potential or the full extent of their abilities. Never really knowing where their place was in the world.

Our mark is normally positioned in a place where all can see as if the gods where telling us to wear them with pride. On some rare occasions, the mark can be hidden with the clothes we wear, when this occurs it means that the power within the person runs so deep that they are in danger of being consumed by the power itself. If they don't fight back or try to remain in control then they become a lost soul, doomed to walk the land forever with one sole mission. To kill. We call them soul hunters.

The number on our wrists represents where we stand in our society due to the strength we possess or the assets we are able to unlock. If you're first you will never grow hungry and you'll be like a god among people. Our tribes worship those with the best numbers, however, gods can always be torn from where they stand and that is what happens to most.

If someone kills you they get your rank. Your number disappears and forms on their wrist like some kind of gruesome trophy. This means the top five ranks are always targeted for their power and money they will receive if they defeat them. Most of the time, this is a battle to the death.

Our world is now based around fighting. Anyone that doesn't fight is seen as weak or unworthy and there are some that will strike them down because of this. You earn money by working with the gifts you have or by fighting with the gifts you have. You win either by killing your opponent or by knocking them out cold. The kinder of us don't kill but there are some that just want to be a higher rank on the ever growing list.

The money we earn is stored as credits on our wrist, ready to be used or stolen by people that kill for money. The total we have appears when we run our fingers along our number. The thing that defines us, the thing that we get when we turn sixteen.

There are some that try to resist. I call them heroes but most call them vigilantes. All I know is that the world isn't right like this and someone needs to change it as people will keep dying until we find a better way to live.

There are still rules, we are allowed to fight outside of the arenas but if we kill, like in your world, we are punished. If we step out of line and don't become the mercenaries that society wants us to be then we are struck down and killed, or at least the lucky ones are. We aren't allowed to see if we can alter our powers through laboratory experiments; this however, doesn't stop some. The testers have been a burden on our way of life; they slaughter thousands of innocents just to see if they can change the powers inside of us. Killing many children and families.
For years now there has been a war brewing between the two tribes left alive. Now that the war seems to be starting.  Am I really the only one that can stop it? The prophecy found by monks in an old abandoned cave seems to think so.

I don't agree with the rules and I'm going to take our world into a new and better era so that our children can live in peace. My name is Kada Vadas. I am the dragon ruler. I am number one. This is my story. This is my birth right. This is my number
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