20 years ago, a portal appeared in Central New York, bringing forth monsters and creatures from another dimension.
Soon reports came in from around the world of these strange realms.
But humanity had awoken to a power they would call Genes. Individuals who were able to harness this new power were given authority to fight the invaders.
They would later be known as Players. Categorized and divided into groups of 6, they would be known as the heroes of humanity.
Everyone wanted to be a player, it was a dream job, but as life has shown to so many, dreaming is just an excuse.....
Andy Martinez was just born wrong into the world, while his friends attained ranks of A , B and C - genes.
He was born with a newly discovered gene, one that was not properly documented but still considered.
E -gene was the name, it was the weakest out of all the genes, barely any manner present and the user is practically useless in every way.
The early years in school were brutal for him, constant bullying, harassment and degradation.
The teacher would just watch from afar, they had nothing to do with someone that weak. This led to him becoming antisocial.
Andy managed to survive, barely completing high school. Jobs were difficult if you didn't have the education and skills.
So he got a job at a local Cafe. The shifts were long and customers annoying but at least the pay was decent...
Andy had been working for 3 days straight now, his eyes were tired and his mind was wondering.
"Andy, where is that triple cream express latte for table 7!!!" His boss, Ms Yon screamed in his ear.
It took a few seconds for Andy to register her presence. He flinched late.
"Oh!! Ms Yon. I was just making it right now actually, yeah...." he said with a tired tone.
Ms Yon looked at him once, "alright how about you take a break after this, you look like you could collapse." She told him, shaking her head as she left.
Andy nodded, going back to making the latte, he accidently burned himself while pouring.
"Ouch, shit is hot!!" He wrapped some bandages and applied some cooling to it. "Better but could be worse."
He took the latte and called out, "One triple cream express latte for table 7! Anyone..." no one seemed to answer.
"Oh well i tried, he turned around and planned to take a break, when a woman called from behind him.
"Wait, that's my order." She said, sounding tired.
Andy turned around and handed it to her, but he recognised that face."oh hey June, whats up?" He asked her.
June tilted her head as he grabbed her latte, eyes widening upon realisation. "Oh my GOD. Andy is that you, I haven't seen you in years, how are you doing?"
Andy blinked slowly as if his brain was booting up a response, "im fine... i think, what about you, still raiding portals like a pro i believe?" He asked.
June smiled widely, a smile that always made Andy's heart skip a beat. "Yeah, you know us players, we raid to keep humanity safe, that's our motto..." she said, blushing slightly.
Andy smiled and turned around, "anyway, it was nice seeing you again..." he walked towards the back.
"Wait, are you busy? I just wanted to have a little talk. Five minutes, that's all I need from you." She begged him.
Andy looked at the clock on the wall, he only had 30 minutes for breaks but allowed himself to be interrupted just this once.
"Alright, I can spare five minutes, be right back." He said, entering the back.
He emerged a few minutes later, looking less like a cafe worker and more like an emo edge lord, perfect.
June grabbed his hand and pulled him towards one of the tables, her hand lingering longer than it should have.
"Look at you, still rocking the Emo phase. I like it, it suits you." She told him.
Andy rubbed the back of his head slowly, suddening feeling self conscious. "T-thanks. I've been trying. So what brings you into town?" He asked.
"Not much, I just got a call from The Guild about a portal that opened up recently, they didn't have any spare healers so they asked me to join the raid." She took a sip of the latte, "Oh yummy."
"Not surprising really, you do have A-genes after all." Andy yawns a little,"So it shouldn't be that difficult." He says.
June looks at him for a few seconds, "Say Andy, you still wanna become a player?" She asks bluntly.
Andy is frozen for a minute, making sure he heard that right. "Umm well, I kinda, but it's pointless really."
"You didn't answer my question, do you want to become a player?" She asked him again.
Andy scratched the table, and held a habit whenever he was nervous. He didn't know if June was just asking or maybe.....
"Yeah, I still do actually." He answered, his face red.
June slammed her hands on the table, she leaned in slowly until she was just at his ear.
"Well then why don't you come with me, on this raid I mean." She told him.
Those words felt like honey in his ears, he couldn't believe or maybe he didn't want to believe.
"Really how could that ever work?" He asked her, waiting for the punchline, the joke.
She gestured to him to come closer, making sure no one was listening.
"Well you see, if you can go 6 portal raids while suffering life-threatening injuries, you can apply for the role of a helper, which is basically the same as a Player."
"But you'll be accompanied by an A-gene Player first, i wonder where you find someone like that?" She asked him, pointing to herself.
Andy looked at her and started tearing up, he wiped the tears away and smiled. "Thanks June...." he said.
June just smiled smugly, she reached into her bag and pulled out a card, placing it on the table before standing up.
"Here, this is the meet up point. Don't be late, okay... Oh and Andy..." she said, leaning in and kissing his forehead.
"Im glad I got to see you." She says, leaving Andy blushing.
Andy looked at the card, "maybe i can turn my life around." He thought to himself.
Then Ms Yon arrived to ruin the moment. "Andy, your break is over. Get back to work!!" She shouted from the kitchen.
Andy grabbed the card and put it in his pocket. "Yes Ma'am." He responded.
What Andy didn't know yet, was that accepting that card was the last normal choice he would ever make.