Simon Jakota was unsure of what to do. As Zarian continued to work on escaping his car, Simon was looking around and checking on the various corpses that had dropped dead around them. Truly, he was on the tenth now and had confirmed they all died. They had just died and left their possessions there on the ground, an abysmal situation if ever there was one. He couldn't even comprehend how this was possible or what was going on. Nothing made sense, reality did not work like this. Someone couldn't just make an announcement and cause people to die. Magic and supernatural powers, they did not work.

But yet here was the evidence, clear as day. They all just dropped dead. It didn't even look like heart attacks to him, it was just as if their lives were snuffed out, like someone flicking a lightswitch.

"You should have just let me leave. That bus would have taken me out of the city" Zarian Root told him, walking up behind him.

"Wait what?!" Simon said, shocked, as he looked back to his car. The door, which he locked and was impossible to unlock from the inside, was open, and Zarian's hands were no longer handcuffed. "How did you..."

"I got really good at picking locks" Zarian mentioned. "Still, it looks like you were telling the truth about being a cop. So...sorry, about making everyone think you were a pedophile".

Zarian looked away at the apology, refusing to actually look him in the eyes, and it felt only half sincere, but Simon had to accept that was probably all he could get given the situation. However, he couldn't ignore one thing.

"...you were trying to leave the city. Did you know this was going to happen?"

"Thousands, probably millions, of people dropping dead? No. I just wanted to get away from here because I noticed some creeps following me the past few days and decided it was time to put some distance between me and this place".

"But where have you been? You have not had any school records for the past few years, you and your family has been missing and..."

"My parents are dead" he muttered, clenching his fists. "That is all you get right now. We need to move, we are exposed out here".

"Exposed?"

"Did you not hear that announcement? It said desire or will. That means that people with low willpower, but a strong desire to live, abnormally strong, have been left alive. And if there are really weapons left around everywhere, then we likely have a lot of people who have low mental power, a strong desire to live, finding weapons all over the place, and they announced that this was a death game. In other words..."

Simon finally caught up to Zarian's reasoning. "They will kill us to reduce competition and threats to themselves".

"Indeed. Furthermore, the average person should still have decent willpower or desire to live, or some wishes they want or have already gotten and would want to protect. And yet look at the corpses around us. The bar must have been set really high. Cataclysm is right, even if only five million or less people survived that tally, that is a lot of people that are going to be desperate, in shock, and highly dangerous. And the psychopaths especially, with so many dead, will find themselves free of the restraint that law and order once provided. You only have that one gun with you?"

"I have a backup as well".

"Mind if I have it?"

"No! You are only a child! You don't know how to use a gun!"

"Idiot! Don't shout!"

Zarian looked around in fear, as a man turned the corner just down the street from them. He seemed half crazed, and unfortunately unlike Zarian he was holding a gun.

"People...no, I don't want to die...if I kill them and find these crystals, I can escape!"

The man quickly pointed the gun at them, aiming at Zarian first for some reason. However, the moment he did, Zarian already moved, and the bullet he fired missed him. The man re-aimed, but he missed again as Zarian jumped backwards, doing a backflip and then pushing off the ground in his hands in the process.

Zarian...he is dodging the bullets. Or rather, he knows how to dodge bullets. He isn't freezing up like many others do, he moves when the gun is pointed at him instantly, before the man can register the shot and fires. In other words, he is dodging the trajectory line of the gun rather than the bullets themselves. That is one of the basic and easiest ways to dodge bullets, but for him to have the survival instinct and agility to do so...that is impressive.

At the same time he took cover and pulled out his weapon, shooting the man in the shoulder to make him drop the gun. The man screamed in pain as the gun dropped to the ground, and Zarian rushed forward and took out the handcuffs that Simon had put on him before. He quickly moved faster then Simon expected, cuffing the man's wrists before the man realized what was going on.

"Have you found any Wishes yet?"

"N-no! Please, I am sorry! Please spare me!"

"Fine then" Zarian said, as Simon came over to them.

"I really want to know how you picked those handcuffs".

"Like I said, I got good at picking locks. Anyways, we shouldn't leave this guy here, surrounded by...wait, what?! Where did they go?!"

"What do you...wait what?!"

As the two looked around, they saw that all the corpses that had been there were gone. The people hadn't been revived, their bodies had just disappeared while they had been preoccupied. Neither was sure when it happened, but it must have happened instantly. Things like purses were left behind, but the bodies and the clothes they had been wearing were gone.

"Let's stash the idiot somewhere and get off the street. We made too much noise and commotion" Zarian mentioned as Simon got the man up. However, that was when it happened. A lot of gunfire roared out across the street, and suddenly the man was filled with bullets as Zarian hid behind him and Simon took cover. This time, there were two people approaching. A man who was younger then the last, probably in his early 20s, and a woman of around the same age. If Zarian had to guess, they were together, but unlike the guy who looked normal and plain, just some desperate guy, they had assault weapons and had a bad feel to them.

The expressions they had on, full of determination and malevolence, which felt as if the world itself got darker and colder just by looking at, did not help.

"Run!"

Zarian quickly said that as he abandoned the now dead man, heading back towards the subway entrance. Simon gave them some covering fire before chasing after him, heading down into the underground, which was full of tunnels and subways and various stores. This was a large underground mall section that was right before the subway, with plenty of tunnels that was almost like a maze. Zarian rushed down, and Simon was a bit grateful that the power still seemed to be on, since it let them see where they were going, although it also meant the ones chasing them could see them too. And they were vastly outgunned.

However, right as Simon passed the gate, he saw Zarian messing with an electrical panel next to the gate. The next thing he knew, the thing was closing shut right behind him.

Zarian however did not wait for him, and just rushed forward. Another gate was closing further in, which Zarian ran under. Simon was just barely able to dive and roll under it in time to make it, as he heard gunfire behind him.

Did he already find a way around the gate?

Zarian meanwhile had seemingly disappeared. Simon had lost sight of him, and Zarian had ran into one of the various tunnels, getting lost within the shopping labyrinth.

"Damnit. This isn't the situation for a child to run away from an officer, or any adult. I have to find him before he gets himself killed".

Simon said that, although he had the feeling Zarian had more tricks in stow. He seemed unusually cool headed under gunfire, and was able to think clearly. Whatever happened to him four years ago, he had been left in an unusual situation.

Given his knowledge of both physical and electronic locks, he was imprisoned for sure. He has armed himself with knowledge to get out of any lock or prison, and he hates being restrained. That was probably why his apology was half hearted too, he hated that I locked him in the car. It drove him crazy to be imprisoned...when this strange situation is over, I think a nice big house or apartment with big rooms, near a wide open park, is probably the way to go with him.

As Simon was being a proper and good adult, he decided he had to keep up the search.

----------------------------------------

At the same time, Zarian was checking with his phone.

"Looks like we still have power, and cell reception" he said, as he checked a faucet. Water came out normally. "Water too. Alright, lets see...ahh, here we are".

He quickly hit one of his contacts, making a call. It picked up quickly.

"Zarian, you are alive. Good" the boy's voice said over the phone.

"Yeah, I am good Noa. Considering how they phrased the question, it was clear what they were targeting anyways".

"So you noticed the double meaning too? Yeah. Where are you? We need to link up".

"I am in the underground mall by Hanover Street. However, I am also in big trouble. Two hostiles, already armed. I need your ears, how quickly can you get over here?"

"Public transportation is automated with redundant failsafes, but its also going to be a prime target so I can't use it. I will try to get to you when I can. Thankfully I am not too far away".

"Careful. Don't get shot".

"You too".

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The hung up quickly, and then Zarian peeked outside of the bathroom.

Had I just made it outside the city, I wouldn't be in this hell. But I suppose at least I didn't abandon Noa or Theo either, so that is good.

Zarian had intended to secure a route out of the city for all three of them, but he got spotted by Simon before he could. As he was finishing up in the bathroom however, he noticed something inside the trash bin. He reached in, and found a glowing white crystal inside.

"A Wish huh? Wishes always come with a price though..."

However, before he could do anything with it, he heard foot steps outside. He went to the edge and peeked outside of the bathroom, and saw the two people who were shooting at them from before. Unfortunately, one of them was holding a purple crystal, and it was no longer glowing.

Shit. That isn't good.

Zarian backed up, and eyed a vent cover.

"Score. I can use this. Let's evade and observe for now".

He took out a multi-tool out of his pocket, and quickly undid the cover enough that he could rotate it out of the way. Once he was inside, he slid it back into place, making it look like it had never been removed in the first place. He then proceeded to crawl through the vents, hoping to evade the two of them.

"One of them is nearby..." the woman suddenly said. "Given what I can sense...probably the brat".

"Best to kill him all the same. He reacted a bit too fast for my liking. He might already have a Wish or two".

"I agree. Besides, we don't know how long this will last, we need to make sure there aren't too many mouths all going for the food that is still edible in the future".

Shit. They can sense me somehow. That woman must have a Wish as well.

He didn't know everything what was going on, but he knew enough that this was a seriously bad situation. He kept crawling through the vents, heading away from them.

"He is getting further away...he should be right in front of us...unless..."

"We have a rat in the vents, huh?"

Suddenly, they began to fire bullets at the vents, closing in on Zarian. They were spraying them all around, and while Zarian managed to move out of the way, the damage weakened the supports, causing it to collapse and break apart as Zarian fell out of the vents and to the ground. The woman aimed a gun at him, but then went wide eyed.

"The other one is here, behind us!"

The two turned around and pointed their guns in the opposite direction, where Simon was. He fired at them, but they were able to dodge in time. Zarian used the chance to run in a different direction and take cover, as Simon laid down covering fire and got closer to him, taking up cover just a few meters away.

"You shouldn't run off on your own!"

"Shut up! You are not my father!"

"Would you just stop being so damn difficult?! I am trying to save your life!"

"And I am trying to survive! I don't want anyone else's innocent lives on my conscious".

"....anyone else's?"

Simon couldn't ignore what Zarian said. But now was not the time to talk about it.

"Major Wish of Focusing, activate".

"Shit!"

Zarian dodged barely as a beam of focused light just barely missed him, having evaded it at just the right time. It almost looked like it bent around him, that was how close it looked to Simon. Zarian meanwhile took cover behind something thicker.

"Oh, you managed to dodge. Thanks to my Major Wish of Focusing, I can create quite a few lasers though. Are you sure you want to endure all that stress just to die painfully?"

"Only an idiot reveals his cards so easily. And that woman has something like Minor Wish of Life Sensing right?" Zarian shot back.

"Which means that I can cut through anything, and she can spot anything. Aren't we so lucky to have such teamwork, unlike the two of you. Any last words, brat?"

"Yeah. If you just got that power, you must be pretty shit. I think I can outrun you and your shit aim".

Zarian let out a sigh. He looked at Simon.

"You know that isn't happening right? We wont be able to escape them..."

The man meanwhile just cackled.

"Please. You forget we have guns as well!"

"Yeah, I can see them finally" Zarian muttered, looking right at the man. He then darted out, making a run for it.

"Ha! Die you idiot!"

The man pulled the trigger as Zarian was running while looking over his shoulder. Unlike a handgun however, Simon knew Zarian wouldn't be able to dodge such a bullet spray. There was nothing he could do, Zarian was standing in front of him and he didn't have time to jump in the way.

However, Zarian pivoted and stopped running right as the man pulled the trigger, glaring right at the man with his eyes locked upon them as he planted his feet into the ground.

"Take this!"

Zarian snapped his fingers at them, and suddenly their guns seemed to almost explode and break in their hands. Both the man and the woman screamed in pain, as they fell to the ground in pain.

"Shit...he has a wish?! What did he do?!"

The man raised his hand to use his Major Wish of Focusing, but Zarian took Simon's hand and led them away, getting them out of eyesight.

The woman's minor wish isn't that precise. They weren't able to zero in on me in the vents, and they noticed Simon rather late. It has a lot of uses and applications, but its definently a minor wish, not a major. Honestly, its not the best either.

Suddenly, a beam of light reflected off glass and tried to skewer them. Zarian was just barely able to move a box in the way that was right next to him, not physically touching it but somehow physically moving it in the way.

"What was that?"

"Later, lets get someplace safe while they recover".

Zarian proceeded to lead him around until they were far enough away, and had decent cover even from laser attacks. A barrage of attacks kept coming, which seemed to home in on them. They hid behind a mirror which reflected it away from them, and then kept running as they tried to escape the range. They turned corner after corner, avoiding any and all attacks they could. That said, one pierced through a few walls to get at them, although it seemed like half of a blind shot that got lucky. Zarian quickly touched the ground with his hand, and suddenly gravity seemed to invert itself as the two of them fell onto the ceiling, avoiding the attack as well as a few future attacks.

Eventually with that, the two of them managed to escape and get out of danger. They were now in a side maintenance hallway. Simon forcibly stopped him here.

"No more later. Tell me know, what did you do".

"Fine. I possess the Major Wish of Inversion, and the Minor Wish of Gravity Manipulation".

"Inversion? Gravity Manipulation?"

"So long as I can see something or predict something, I can invert any force or energy to reverse itself or its state. In this case, I inverted the bullet forces of the guns. Rather then firing out, they fired in, ultimately ruining those guns forever. It would be as if you fired a bullet perfectly down the barrel of the gun, only all the force was at full strength and it came from a gun of equal strength. However, I cannot use it on things that already exist or have taken effect. There needs to be an active effect already in effect, or can be triggered. I cannot invert physical objects or people inside out, and if something moves too fast like that laser, I can't invert that either. Also, if we come across someone with a fire or water manipulation ability, even if I inverted those attacks, it would be canceled out almost immediately if manipulation means active control, since they could redirect it immediately after. I can also invert certain commands if they use a Wish of the Permission variety, those that sort of act like reality shifters or mind control powers, but only as the command is given. I cannot invert any command already given, unless its a computer command, since its still electrical impulses in a system. But once its fully executed, I can't do that either".

"So, its sort of like a defensive or countering ability then?"

"Yes, although I would call it more reactive. And gravity manipulation is simpler. Anything or anyone within a meter radius around me, or any object I have touched in the last five minutes, I can freely control the gravity of. If I really put effort into it, I can probably extend that radius further, but that would take some focus and effort. As for people, if its an ally I have touched in the past fifty minutes, I can basically let them fly or fling them around, but as for people who don't give me permission and have hostile intentions towards me, it reduces down to having needed to touch them in the last five seconds".

"How did you learn all this?"

"When you gain a power, knowledge of how to use it and its limitations sort of appears in your brain, as well as the potential costs. That said, while I have some offensive ability, my powers are better at defense and mobility. I can use them for offense too, but they are far more effective on defense".

"Well, at least you admitted it. But what is this about potential costs?"

"Every wish has its cost. Something you have to pay. There is some freedom to choosing the cost however".

SImon was still processing the fact that people had died, and then their corpses disappeared. And now these people were using supernatural abilities. It was all a lot for the police detective to take in, but Zarian already had a major and a minor wish now, and seemed to know how to use them far better then the other two trying to kill them. However, there was something that was bugging him about all this.

When did Zarian have the time to put all this into practice? We were not separated for that long.

That was bugging him. And yet, it seemed like they didn't have any time left, as they heard footsteps coming their way. They quickly headed further in, when Zarian shared an idea he had. When Simon heard it, he nodded, and they decided to put it into action. Just managing to stay out of firing range, they made their way to a nearby store.

When the two attackers finally turned the corner however, the store turned out to have no way out. They were now trapped in a home appliance store.

"Major Wish of Focusing!"

The moment he raised his hand, Zarian used his Minor Wish of Gravity Manipulation and moved a mirror right in the way. The laser was reflected off the mirror, and shot right back at them. The angle was not perfect however, so it only hurt them both, but it still brought them down.

"Shit, we got the angle wrong" Zarian muttered, as the man raised his hand again to fire another laser. Zarian tried to move, but then the woman raised her hand.

"Major Wish of Detainment, activate!"

Suddenly, shackles appeared from the ground and trapped them. They couldn't move out of the way, and while Zarian tried to move a mirror in the way, the man seemed to adjust for that. He didn't know the woman had a Major Wish as well, that had caught him off guard.

And yet, what happened next surprised everyone.

"Major Wish of Soundwaves!"

In that moment, the two attackers suddenly found themselves knocked into a wall by powerful directed soundwaves as a blue haired boy came out. He was wearing blue headphones and appeared to be around Zarian's age. He also had a blue jacket on, blue shorts, a white T shirt, and blue boots.

"You sure are lucky I made it here in time".

"Thanks, Noa. What about Theo?"

"I got him for a moment, but he sounded busy. He said we should meet up at Park Street Station. He apparently has a place there we can lay low and sort things out".

Simon perked up the moment he heard that. He wanted to check in with the police station, but...he was also afraid he might not find anyone there, and he wasn't a big fan of the idea of leaving minors alone until they were someplace safe. However, he also remembered something else.

Another name on the list. A nine year old boy who disappeared two years ago, making him eleven now. Theodore Veil. If Theo was his nickname, then he might be another missing victim. This was something he needed to verify as well, and he needed to get the story from them. It was obvious there was a lot these boys were hiding.

As the two started to get back up, Noa glared at them. He raised his hand, and created several shockwaves. This dealt the final blow, killing them both. The moment they died, something in their pockets began to glow and the detainment wish's effects dissipated.

"Looks like they had three wishes in total. Was that the Major Wish of Detainment I saw used on you?"

Zarian nodded. "They also had the Major Wish of Focusing, and the Minor Wish of Life Sensing, although I'm taking a wild guess on that last one".

Noa quickly went through their pockets as the other two approached the boy, and he got the crystals out. He tossed one of the purple ones to Simon.

"You are a police officer right? The Major Wish of Detainment seems like a good fit for you, so you should Inherit its power. The Minor Wish of Life Sensing...honestly, its not all that great in terms of minor wishes, but its not bad either. There are definitely better, so we should keep it on standby and look for something better. Just, if you do decide to use the Major Wish of Detainment, you should beware of the cost".

Zarian nodded. "How about you? And Theo?"

"Both of us are fine. That said, there will be a lot of dangerous people out. Let's all get to Theo's hideout to regroup. I am sure the detective there has questions".

Zarian looked back. "You don't, do you?"

"Oh, I absolutely have questions" he said, unamused.

"Geh...I guess it can't be helped, we need more allies. Noa, any others you know the locations of?"

"Everyone is in the city, I know that much. We were all too paranoid about trying to leave when they were monitoring the ports and airports after all, although a few might have found ways out by now. I think Jax is in the Central District, and Maze and Maria are still hiding in the old school campus on the city outskirts".

"Everyone else stayed isolated so they wouldn't get discovered, but Lulu and Davis made it out and was establishing a hideout outside the city where we could safely move people too once the route was secured. They should still be outside the city, but this dome has cut off contact with the outside world. I am also worried about the wording of that announcement. It sounded like....like everyone outside the dome might also have been wiped out".

Simon twitched. "I have so many questions right now".

"They have to wait, we are not safe here. Lets regroup with Theo".

"Yes...I need to get you kids somewhere safe first".

And so, the group headed into the tunnels, to seek a friend and a base of operations.