Dan

Dan didn’t immediately wake up. When his senses finally returned to him, He was face down on the unusually cold ground, as if he was lying on a frozen lake. Dan’s eyelids slowly cracked open and allowed the drab lighting to enter his eyes. His vision slowly cleared up and he saw nothing but a strange smudges

“Where the hell am I?” he asked out loud.

He slowly got up and saw the entire area he found himself in was devoid of color. Only varying shades of blacks, greys and whites dominated the scenery. The actual scenery was nothing like the actual world. Everything around him was merely a vague abstraction, like somebody’s artwork that was only in the concept phase. Distant objects were merely rudimentary shapes of varying shades of light and dark grey. The ground beneath him was simply a black flat surface as if he was standing on top of a void.

This strange world was too similar to a dream he had before the mission.

The rapid footsteps behind Dan snapped him out of his confusion. He instinctively ducked beneath an attack. He saw an agent in infamous armor over extend himself with the failed sneak attack. The all black armor combined with the spikes and razors were too recognizable as Kodak.

Dan instinctively reached to his right side for his handgun but felt nothing there. He also reached behind him and his Aero SMG was nowhere to be found. Where did all of his weapons go?

The Kodak agent finally turned around and flashed him a devilish grin. He lunged toward Dan. He had no weapons, was caught off guard and his opponent seemed stronger than he was. And yet, Dan didn’t flinch. The agent’s lunge seemed to slow down as if time itself slowed down around him.

Dan had no clue what was happening as he just stood there and watched his enemy slowly soar through the space between them for the punch.

Hot tears filled his eyes and ran down his cheeks.

The entire world shimmered and flashes and smudges of red dominated his view. Dan also lunged and with speed greater than he ever possessed in his life, forced his fist straight through the Kodak agent’s guts.

Time returned back to normal and the world returned back to its greyscale color palette. Dan looked down and saw his entire fist and arm through the body of the Kodak agent. The color of blood was the only other color other than dark greys in this strange world.

What the fuck? How? he thought.

Dan had never been this immensely strong in his life. Even as an agent, he knew he was nowhere near high level enough to possess that degree of superhuman strength.

A spinning blue icon appeared in front of Dan and he never thought he would be so relieved to see his HUD appear.

Berserk: An ability unique to agents of the Kodak-Cresh shard. A temporary but powerful boost in all physical stats. Vastly increased strength and speed for a limited period before complete exhaustion sets in.

A strange cackling began slow and distant and Dan frantically looked around to see where that ugly laughter came from. He slowly removed his entire arm out of the abdomen of the Kodak agent and his enemy toppled over and dropped to the ground, dead. His body then melted into grey sludge and disappeared into the black floor.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The strange demonic laughter grew louder and louder and Dan continued looking around to pinpoint where that came from.

Yes. Yes! Use the powers you have been gifted.

The voice Dan heard didn’t come from one specific direction. The sheer power and bass in the voice was as if the source was from the entire environment around him. The voice itself was deep and gutteral. The closest comparison Dan formed in his mind was as if Michael Cynosa had swallowed some rocks, then got stabbed in the throat and tried speaking.

While frantically checking his surroundings, Dan saw streams of grey dust particles swirling around in the near distance around thirty meters away from him. The swirls and twisting of the dust particles then collided with each other to form a humanoid figure. The many millions of particles formed together to create another Kodak agent right in front of him.

“Oh not again,” Dan said.

You have nothing to fear, the same voice boomed in his ears.

Dan watched as a rifle materialized out of thin air in the Kodak agent’s hands and he raised the rifle in his direction. Once again, the action was significantly slowed down as if the agent was trying to move in molasses.

It is you who they will fear in time…

Dan still had no clue who or what this voice was.

Your emotions are the fuel necessary for your next attack. Use your rage, your desperation, your fear.

“What the hell do you mean?” Dan shouted at the voice, looking around the sky. “I don’t have my guns on me.”

You do not need weapons. You are the weapon. Follow my instructions and you will stand alone from the others. You will be the one who will watch the sea of bodies flow instead of becoming part of the sea yourself. Trust in the gifts…

Dan stood dumbfounded at the voice making all of these strange declarations. The voice must have sensed Dan’s doubts.

There are two others who stir the flames within you. One a betrayer, and another an enemy who humiliated you in combat. Use your hatred of them and you will gain the power to change this world to your whims.

Dan watched as the Kodak agent finally brought his rifle up and pointed the barrel squarely at him. Doing as the voice instructed, Dan relived the emotions he had experienced when Kate revealed herself as a traitor. How she hunted him down, murdered Ben and Hailey. Then her asshole of a boyfriend, Adam Torrent, popped up in his psyche. He remembered how he was tossed around and rendered powerless against such a superior enemy. He had no business surviving that fight without last minute help from his remaining teammates.

All of the raw emotions he felt during those moments. Moments he relived in the present day. Seeing those two fuckwads again in the hotel lobby during this mission. Dan stared at the Kodak agent in front of him with all the hatred, anger and desire for revenge against those two.

The space surrounding the Kodak agent began to warp, as if the distorted lensing effect of a black hole approached behind the agent.

The agent combusted into intense flames. He dropped the rifle and the hectic screams filled Dan’s ears for a few seconds before the screams entirely stopped and the agent completely disintegrated away.

“Woah what the fuck?” Dan shouted.

Dan saw a spinning blue icon appear once again in the center of his vision. His HUD popped up another description of the new ability he had just used.

Glare: An agent’s hatred can burn so intensely that it can affect reality in a literal sense. The Glare ability harnesses psychic energy and one’s hatred into a focused stare that will disintegrate a target at its highest intensity.

Standing dumbfounded, Dan had no clue where these strange new powers came from. He still had no idea where he even was, whether he was in a dream or if this was reality.

These gifts come at a cost. A cost that will soon be collected. But for now, you will need these to survive. You must survive! You will become a valuable chess piece at my disposal.

“What? What the hell are you talking about?” Dan shouted.

Receiving no response, the grey world around him suddenly fizzled and dissolved around him. Infinite blackness swallowed him up.