*****><*****
Sitting there, I watched as a pair of ghostly green eyes stared back at me, taunting me to get lost in their striking hue. I would have stayed like that were it not for a loud bang waking me from my stupor. Odd. The door never opened, the windows are locked and the cupboards are closed, there shouldn’t be anything hap-. Oh, a fight.
It seemed the new rookie and some hound were going at it, judging by the noise. Looking out my window I spot the source of the noise. Smoke rising, alarms blaring. A bright light engulfed my vision as I was assaulted by pain, making my ears ring in discord. I stumble back, nearly breaking my mirror. This couldn’t get any worse. But it did.
“Fuck! They’re going for hostages, we’ll need backup!” Their gruff voice is easily heard over the chaos running amok in the neighborhood. My neighborhood. It wasn’t long before I heard the screaming, the horror. Panic sets into my veins as I’m hit by the reality of it. It seems like reality hits like a metal bat. My eyes failed to open as the bat made sure they’d stay swollen and closed. I can’t think straight, I can barely hold back from throwing up. I feel the bat, pressing on my sternum, threatening to crush it. It hurts, fuck, IT HURTS!
“Oi! You bitch. Come any closer and the little shit gets it!” The metal bat presses down harder, it's cold metal contrasting the warm blood on my cheeks. I’m still groggy as I realise what happened, I’m a hostage.
The same gruff voice is closer than before, and with it comes a fiery man in mind and body. “Isaac Parly, you are to release the civilian and surrender for breaking the codex repeatedly and becoming a member of a terrorist organisation. Do so and your sentence may be lightened. If you don’t comply we will have no choice but to resort to lethal force. Do you understand?” My eyes open ever so slightly, my vision blurry. Fucking CC. Fucking Darros heroes.
Not floating far from my collapsed wall is a large angry man wreathed in flames with a drab grey overcoat to show he’s from the institute of Darros. The ones who put down terrorists, not the ones that save the civilians. I curse my luck as the man with the bat presses harder, causing me to cry out in pain. Why, why me?
“Are you serious right now? One wrong move and you’d have killed a civie. Do you want that? Do you want that blood on your hands?” The rookie’s flames only burn brighter as he seems undeterred by the comment and starts to take off his gloves. “Fuck, first I’m found by some goddamn rookie, then he turns out to be from Darros? Just my fucking luck.” The irony. I’m unlucky enough to be found by a delusional CC who thinks he can do whatever he wants, and then a hero from Darros comes along, but one who just so happens not to care if I’m sent to the hospital. I can feel it, any longer and I’ll blackout from the pain, I need to leave.
While they talk, I focus and try to ignore the pain. Slowly my pores begin to open wider than humanly possible, sucking in the air around me faster than before before exploding outwards in a violent burst. The room shook. The CC’s head is bashed by the handle of his bat, the hero is catapulted across the room. I run. Leaving the two to duke it out while I dashed out the apartment complex like a man on fire. I may as well be as flames erupt like a volcano, warming the streets and singing my back. I feel my steps slow as pain threatens to cripple me. The Darros heroes don’t really worry about property damage so long as there are civilian victims saved in the process, even if the civilian ends up half dead. They say it works. I say it’s wrong.
The CC hurls a barrage of insults and slurs, swinging his bat, creating shockwaves one after the other. I leap bounds, air and fear propelling my every step, blood still seeps out of my skin. A rubber-like body where air can be directly absorbed into the body through pores. Many people are down in the dumps about having an inferior ability, some of them just aren’t creative enough.
Sadly it’s not enough, the damn CC hadn’t forgotten me and sent a shockwave my way. I stumbled, caught by the shockwave. The world flipped as I found myself face to bat with the man’s weapon somehow.
The world goes black. It’s minutes later that I wake to find a syringe, of what I assumed was a stim, stuck in my forehead. Pulling it out hurt to say the least. Looking down at my semi-clothed state, my lack of phone and my now demolished apartment I’ve no choice but to visit my old friend, Julian.
***
Slowly I walked down the streets in the residential housing area. Time sure is an interesting thing, it makes you believe you walked for hours when a quick glance at my watch tells you it’s barely been five minutes.
Eventually I reach Julain’s house, letting out a deep breath to get off that adrenaline high before knocking. I wait, no one answers. I knock again, no one answers. I knock again. My adrenaline spiked once more as I ram the door. Despite the racket I caused no one came to see what’s going on, my heart pounded in my ears as I felt something was off. Sure the door being unlocked was a big enough clue, but they leave it open from time to time for whenever I stop by. It was a simple house, two floors mostly concrete and wood, a homey feel. Walking up the stairs I still see no reaction but I do see light shining beneath one of the rooms. Julian’s room. Tense and ready for a fight, I kick the door open with a war cry to find...
A startled yelp and a squelching sound accompanied by a flash of colour. The door swung wide, straight into a birthday cake, my birthday cake. Fuck, it’s my birthday. A soft yet somehow fast voice speaks out. “What’d I say? I told you Koa was gonna bulldoze the door down, god why doesn’t anyone in this house listen? Anyways, happy birthday Koa, and uh… are you feeling alright? Cause your clothes don’t.” I looked at my clothes to find that the back of my shirt was burnt off and the soles of my shoes were utterly ravaged. Wonderful, I ran down a couple streets flashing my bare back to the neighborhood, Tash is gonna have a field day when she hears about this.
Calming myself, I released a deep sigh. “Sorry… there was an attack. I’m still a bit… high strung, could I maybe just… chill?” I asked with a tired tone.
Julian fixed me with a look before his lips curved upwards sympathetically. “No worries man, it’s your birthday, if you wanna chill, chill. No one’s gonna stop you big boy. So how about we put on some clothes before you catch a cold, hm?” And just like that, the grand adventure ended. No more CC’s hiding around the corner, no psychotic heroes blasting the area. Just me, and a whole jar of tea.
***
After finishing the last drop of tea I re-emerged with a hoodie clinging almost painfully to my figure and a pair of too tight shorts, courtesy of Julian. Walking down the stairs, I heard two sets of chuckling, one embarrassed groan, and some mad cackling originating from the kitchen. Entering with a broad smile I greeted the four faces spread around the table. “Sorry about the whole *gestures wildly* thing Tracy, Gerald, I could help with fixing it if you want. And thanks for the clothes Julie, it’s nice to know that you haven’t changed a bit, even after puberty.” Tracy and Gerlad smiled amicably, reassuring me that there wasn’t a need to fuss while Julian let out a low whine. They couple made sure I called them by their names as we were like family.
“Nice hoodie, suits you.” I chuckle, Julian groans, Tash did come after all. The snarky girl’s green hair rustled as if blown by the wind, despite the lack of it. Just like everyone else in the neighborhood, she was an adaptor, or a mutant, or a metamorph, or whatever people liked saying. Her aptly named ability ‘Medusa’s gaze’, gave life to her hair while allowing them to form eyes at their ends, each of which capable of ‘slowing’ an object or person. She also claims that it enhanced her natural beauty. Whether that’s true or not we’ll never know.
Her smirk widened as she cocked an eyebrow in amusement. “I heard you flashed the whole neighborhood, is someone finally embracing their true self?”
Feigning ignorance, I ignore her, instead grabbing one of the cookies spread out on the table, marshmallow peanuts, my favorite. “How about some scrabble?”
*****
Meanwhile, in a different city…
Cheers and cries rang out loud and clear, shaking the arena as blood had finally been spilled. The underdog of the past month had slowly been climbing the ranks, the corpse in front of him made it clear he didn’t mess around. This was the penultimate match, the one where each fighter would prove themselves as the one fit to challenge the champion.
The man had long proved his mettle on the streets, enough that others knew to avoid him. This however was a whole different world, a world where the empowered would fight each other to the brink. Sometimes going even further, killing their opponents, Naturally the establishment was illegal, hidden from prying eyes, so not just anyone could join. But if you knew the right guy? Joining the fight was no harder than punching a kid, you only need the guts for it, and some powers of course.
Tonight though, was the night that this man would become champion, he was sure of it. He’d trained relentlessly for this very day, juiced up on only the highest quality boosters money could buy. Nothing could get in his way, nothing could stop him from becoming the apex. NOTHING!
He climbed from the very bottom of the pit, taking from those he defeated to make himself stronger. And now it would all come to fruition, now it will-
The man groaned as he was hit by a flying pebble. “You back on earth freak?” The man nods. “Good, we don’t have all night. You know the rules, everything is allowed except for guns and bioweapons unless it’s a part of your power. You already forfeited any responsibility we may have had if you die, so it’s all on you. You ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” the man chuckled. “Let’s do this.”
As if on cue, the large gate slowly opened outwards as cries for a bloody fight echoed through the arena. The man confidently strode towards the middle of the arena. For a bloodsport, it was surprisingly clean and orderly. It was built like a miniature colosseum, except that the arena in the middle was situated on a raised platform and surrounded by various poles looping around it connected by metal ropes. Nearly everything but the stands and the two VIP boxes were bleached of color. The crowd however, more than made up for it with their rowdiness. Banging against the steel fence keeping the fighters from the audience.
This fight was a grand one after all. Few people ever made it to the point that they could challenge the champion, much less have the guts to go through with it. The champion was known to be a beast of a man, a titan among men with a height of 2 metre 10 and built like a tank. The crowd roared when he approached the arena, shaking the building. A looming figure entered the arena, his features hidden underneath the only spot the spotlight had yet to shine.
As the champion slowly strode towards his challenger notable features became visible. The first thing to be revealed were his bare feet, large and scarred. After that were his legs, thick as cannon and rippling with muscle, the scars covered slightly by a pair of white compression shorts. When his chest finally came into view, the challenger was stunned; he only came up to the champion’s pectorals. The scars each showed the different attacks the champion had survived. One was a patch on his chest that was clearly from a burn, another tore through his abdominals like a scythe. At long last his face was revealed, clean of scars. His eyes a light shade of blue, and his platinum blonde hair pulled back into a topknot. The champion had made his entrance.
*****
“Our world wasn’t always exactly a pretty place, that much is obvious. What’s not obvious is how not pretty it exactly was. After the big boom things have changed a lot. People began to develop ‘abilities’, there were two types of people with abilities, Mutants and Omni. Mutants were people who had their genes altered for unknown reasons most of the time under high-stress situations, and had clear visible changes. The Omni on the other hand were people who had more unnatural abilities with no possible cause identified, such as flying by will alone, or transforming into different animals.”
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“The big boom being when the earth imploded, and then didn’t. People had two sets of memories for the same twenty four hours, one where they all died in a horrible implosion, and another where it didn’t implode. Frankly it was a deeply disturbing event, one that gave rise to an entirely different era, the era of chaos, one we have only recently begun recovering from. ”
“Not everybody who obtained these abilities desired peace and prosperity, there were people who reveled in the chaos and suffering caused by these emerging powers. The people who embraced this dark path later became known as the children of chaos, the CC. Remnants of their terrorist organisation still remain to this day, held back and kept at bay by our own ‘empowered’, the heroes…”
The professor droned on with a passion that neither my classmates or I shared. ‘Empowered history and its biases’ a mandatory lecture for those who wished to become a protector. A hero. A passion I’ve had since I was a child, and it’s only grown since. My friends Julian and Natasha, both are empowered like me. Julian however was an Omni unlike Tash and I, forcing him to move to our neighborhood the moment he registered his ability. Tracy and Gerald were his guardians and looked after him until he went to uni, since because they were empowered they would be able to understand the struggles he might go through... Shaking off the errant thoughts I focused on the assignment we had to hand in today, one of the questions sticking out to me.
Hero, the title given to the people paid to save and protect normal civilians from dangerous threats, what they lack in numbers they make up for with power. When the government first declared it an official occupation, people like the police and the emergency responders first thought that they may have their jobs stolen from them. Their jobs were safe however, because the heroes mostly responded to the threats of villains and/or (super)natural disasters. While most might think that if a hero saw a purse snatcher they’d immediately detain him, they couldn’t. A hero, while licensed to arrest people, is only permitted to arrest the empowered. Was it the right choice to make such a vague occupation?
I went with a relatively neutral answer that basically said what’s done is done. Whether or not I agreed with that though… that’s a whole other matter. For a hero to not be allowed to stop a criminal that doesn’t wear the armband of the empowered just felt wrong. Sure, there are some heroes that will go overboard and make use of excessive force, but not all. Which is why I know that Navo isn’t a perfect country, but nor is any other country with the empowered within them.
Woken out of my reverie by the bell, I dropped the assignment on the professor’s desk before leaving to the public park. It feels like forever since I was last there, I can hardly remember what it even smelt like, nature probably. But what kind of nature? A fresh invigorating scent? Or maybe a more calm and refreshing scent that makes you want to just lie there and-
“BOO!”
“FUCK!”
A light chuckle escaped Julian as his face popped up in front of me. “Sorry man, I’m afraid I don’t swing that way. But hey, rumor has it that Kendra swings that way, you might stand a chance.”
Raising an eyebrow, a trick I worked hard to learn, was all I had to do to get another chuckle out of him. “So, you feel like going to the park?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Julian let out a light sigh. “Sure why not, might as well stretch my legs. Is Tash coming?” Naturally falling into step with me as we walked down the halls.
Pulling up my phone to call her I saw that she’d already texted me she was going to the park. Why she’d tell me? No clue, so like the good friend I was, I ignored it.
On our way to the park, Julian and I encountered Kendra. The dame stood at a decent height of 185 and was rather popular due to her ability to transform into a dragon/human hybrid. That and her genuinely nice personality. A somewhat rare find among those with especially noteworthy abilities.
I called out to her with a small wave. “Hey Kendra, you feel like going to the park with Julian, Tash and I? Just to chill a bit.”
Kendra turned around, revealing her impressive physique, apparently being able to turn part dragon comes with additional benefits. “Oh hi guys, finished your class already?” After a quick “yeah” from julian she answered, “Sure, I’ve got nothing planned anyways.”
It wasn’t long until we ran into Tash at the entrance of the park, making complicated shapes with her hair. Ever since Julian and I moved in here the park would be the place where we could decompress and relax, it was also where we met Tash. Oh memories.
Noticing our approach, she straightened her hair out to its passive state and sized us up with a smirk.. “Well well well… if it isn’t airhead, pong, and lizard gal. How’s it hanging?”
“Not too bad, I heard that this was a great place to hang so I tagged along.” Kendra answered, jovial as always. Her smile growing wide and bright, she never hesitated to show what she felt. Something that made the rest of us sigh with fondness and exasperation. Kendra managed to get himself into many situations where she was reprimanded for being so ‘disrespectful’. Like the time she laughed when an elderly man wore one of those old top hats while dressed as a hippie.
Chuckling inwardly at the memory, I noticed that we had arrived at our spot. A small crater with a radius of around half a metre, smooth and shiny to the point it looked like liquid dirt. None of us knew how it came to be, it was always there as far as we were concerned, most likely the result of someone using their ability.
Without hesitation Julian jumped down into the crater as he was at the front of our little ensemble. Contrary to what most would expect, his feet did not impact the dirt, but rather fell through it. The rest of his body soon followed, as the dirt he fell through splashed onto us before dragging itself back to the crater. The sight always managed to amuse and creep me out at the same time.
It wasn’t long before the rest of us jumped in after him, the liquid mud consuming us all. Our feet kicked up what little dust there was on the densely packed dirt, a dim light illuminating a narrow passage. When the four of us literally stumbled upon this hidey hole, we figured it to be the perfect place to be our hideout.
Whoever made this place must have known something about engineering, either that, or the guy had a really nifty power. Our base was around five metres deep and was a circular chamber with a diameter of around twelve metres. When we first fell in the hole, we didn’t know how to get out so we panicked. But as it turned out, all we had to do was touch the weird mud hole and we’d be sucked up and spat out the way we came.
Sitting down on the couch we somehow managed to smuggle into our little base, I slowly began drifting off as Kendra started the fire. Somehow, the fire here always relaxed me, made me sleepy. Not once had I not fallen asleep when the fire was lit, making it seem almost magic. The soft bickering between Julian and Tash lulled me to sleep as everything faded into darkness.
*****
The fight was over in less than a minute. The moment the match began the challenger didn’t hesitate to transform into his lycan form. That was his ability. He had the power to transform into a lycan, a beast known for its ferocity, speed and lethality. His form shifted as he became larger and hairier, there was a wild glint in his eyes, held back by an admirable level of restraint. He may have become a beast, but he was far from mindless.
Launching forward at speeds only possible due to his new gaunt yet muscular form, he circled around the champion. He knew the champion was strong, strong enough to stay champion for 5 years. But he studied him, saw him fight. While the man appeared as indomitable and imposing, that wasn’t necessarily the truth. The champion, while powerful, was slow and arrogant, never using his ability. That was his weakness and Enzo would make sure to abuse it.
Enzo had been forced to become someone cautious and cunning. A true cut-throat. Never giving his opponent the chance to relax until he won and they were lying cold at his feet. He moved from one opponent to the next, honing his skills for when he had to face someone different, someone with an ability. The day he transformed into a lycan he had lost control and killed over 17 gang members when they stepped into his home turf. That was what gave him his title; Enzo “Lunatic” Meseidas. From that day on few were brave enough to stray into his territory, especially those from other gangs.
Back in the arena things started getting dicey for the lycan. Despite the numerous lacerations it had managed to inflict upon the champion, the champion wasn’t tiring nor weakening. He simply stood there and watched as the lycan would strike in a flash and retreat quickly thereafter. This continued for around ten more seconds before the champion suddenly lunged forward, grabbing its wrist. Before it could react the champion had yanked him forward, grabbing his shoulder to use as leverage to rip out the lycan’s arm.
…
…
…
“GRUAAAAAR!” The lycan cried out in pain as the crowd roared their approval of its newly attained status as a cripple. Consumed by pain, it was unable to notice the champion repeating the same steps for his other arm.
Another pained cry echoed through the arena as the lycan was on its knees, barely cognizant of anything. As the crowd howled and demanded for the champion to finish it, they were suddenly silenced by the steam suddenly enveloping the raised platform, originating from Enzo. Not a moment later the lycan launched itself onto the champion, arms regrown.
It was futile. The champion dodged its attack by a hair’s breadth and countered with a strike to his stomach leaving it gasping for air. The beast was not given time to rest as the gargantuan hands of the champion, Anískhō, squeezed his skull causing black dots to appear in the beast’s vision. Yet the lycan did not succumb to unconsciousness. No, instead the same mist appeared as Enzo escaped the death grip rolling to the side, before becoming the lycan once more.
Having had enough of this, the champion’s leg cracked like a whip as it sent the lycan flying out of the platform and into the spectator’s fence. The steel fence groaned from the impact, bending inwardly towards the audience. The colosseum went still for a moment before it erupted in a cacophony of cheers and groans. Because despite all odds, people still loved to bet for the underdog, hoping to get lucky and make it big.
Alas that was not the case as despite Enzo returning to normal with no visible injuries, he remained limp on the bent steel bars. Some of the spectators were bold enough to yell and kick Enzo through the steel fence, despite the combat prowess they knew he was capable of. This beating relented however, when Anískhō himself came to carry Enzo out to the sick room.
The excitement finally died down as Anískhō left the arena. The champion was known famously for only ever killing one of his opponents, it was said to be done in a fit of rage. The challenger had managed to land a hit on Anískhō’s face, causing the champion to slowly torture his opponent until he died of blood loss. From then on, no one dared to attack the champion’s face. Now that very man placed Enzo down gently on a sick bed before taking a bundle of bandages for himself. The man who endures would have yet another scar to add to his collection. My collection. The mismatched scars adorning my large frame were too many to count. Each of those scars representing a battle won, an obstacle overcome. I haven’t faced one of those for a while now. A soft sigh escaped my lips as I left the medic wing.
The ground shook beneath my feet as I strode down the hall. It was not a surprise that I had run into my manager, Glen. A wiry man, empowered just like me. He had the ability to turn people into stuffed animals, a surprisingly scary ability despite it seeming rather innocuous. It fit his appearance, small and unassuming until he got up close personal. The ability to completely isolate you from the world, trapping you inside a stuffed toy, is a dangerous one. Fortunately for me, I have no reason to fear his power, for mine all but nullifies it.
“Ah Anískhō, great job out there! I’m sure that with this overwhelming defeat, our little lycan will be a bit more open to our aid. You’ve really been helping us a lot these past few years, I hope you keep up the good work.” His voice was oily and laced with venom, because despite all I’ve done for him, he still can’t get over the humiliation. When he tried and failed to turn me into a stuffed toy. Thinking about it, I doubt Enzo would ever accept his aid. The man may have fought dirty but he had pride, I doubt he’d stoop lower than he already has.
Barely acknowledging his words with little more than a grunted “yeah”, I brushed past him to get to the exit. I’m sure that my actions nearly made him burst a vessel, my casual dismissal of him so jarring compared to the respect he normally demands and receives. I don’t know why, but I find it so satisfying watching those in power become powerless before me. Like being able to flip the bird to a minister yet face no repercussions.
Some might call me sadistic for revelling in another's helplessness, some have. They’re wrong of course. I don’t exactly cackle in glee when I beat down a challenger, nor do I laugh maniacally whenever I see my opponent struggling to get up. I do not take pleasure in their pain. I just enjoy seeing Glen struggle to not try and attack me. Because the moment he does, I win and he’s in a hospital. That simple.
Reflecting on that, I find it difficult to imagine myself losing a fight. My powers awakened when I was 8. It happened when I was watching a fight between three heroes and an empowered criminal. It was my first time ever seeing a real fight and it was right in front of our house. It scared me. I wanted it to stop, so I stopped it. All four of them died in an explosion of gore. Caused by me.
Even to this day I can still feel the pain coursing through me, the looks of horror staining my sisters expressions …Oh yeah my sisters, I was going to visit Matina, Tenna and Valerie. It really h as been a while since I’ve last seen them.
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