Damon stared at the injection resting in his palm.
The thin glass vial caught the flickering light of the room, its contents glowing faintly—almost alive. He had pulled it from a technological discard site earlier that night, buried beneath broken drones and obsolete circuitry. Trash, they called it. The leftovers of a world that had long since moved on without him.
Human enhancement had changed everything. As technology advanced, humanity followed—stronger bodies, sharper minds, impossible abilities extracted from a newly discovered region deep within the Amazon. The injections were miracles wrapped in glass, capable of turning ordinary people into something more… or something else entirely.
Damon was not meant to be holding one.
He made his living scavenging what corporations abandoned after building flying cars and enhancement tech—an illegal, dangerous job that barely kept him alive. The small apartment around him smelled of rust and damp walls, and tomorrow it would no longer be his. The landlord had been clear. Miss the payment, and Damon would be thrown back onto the streets.
The injection trembled slightly in his hand.
Some enhancements granted overwhelming physical strength. Others rewired the mind, granting knowledge no human should naturally possess. Early test subjects had come out changed—some brilliant, some broken. With these enhanced individuals, nations had built weapons and machines capable of leveling cities. Power like that was never meant for people like Damon.
But such power came at a cost. A single enhancement injection was worth more than a small villa, placing it firmly out of reach for anyone but the elite.
And yet, here it was.
He let out a hollow laugh. Of all people… why him?
Damon's life had been nothing but survival. Orphaned before he could remember having parents. Forced to drop out of school just to earn enough to eat. Every day was the same dull routine—work, exhaustion, sleep—until even breathing felt like a chore. The only times he felt anything close to happiness were when he disappeared into novels and games, pretending he belonged to worlds where people like him mattered.
Now reality was mocking him.
Two thoughts battled inside his head.
He could sell the injection.
The money would solve everything. Rent. Food. Security. Years of freedom bought in a single transaction. No more scavenging through trash. No more fear of tomorrow.
But selling it meant staying the same.
Weak. Replaceable. Trapped.
His fingers curled tighter around the vial.
The other option terrified him.
Using the injection meant gambling with his life. What if it failed? What if it twisted him into something unrecognizable? He had read the reports—enhancements didn't always end well. Some people lost themselves entirely. Some never woke up.
But if it worked…
A real job. A future. A chance to stop merely surviving and actually live.
Damon closed his eyes. His heart pounded so loudly it drowned out his thoughts. This was the moment—one decision separating the rest of his life into before and after.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
"I'm tired," he whispered to the empty room. "Tired of running. Tired of being nothing."
His hand steadied.
If the world was determined to crush him anyway, then he would take the risk.
Damon raised the injection.
And chose to change.