As the top side of the trees fell to their sides and landed onto the ground with a loud series of thuds, Christopher burst through the air at inhumane speeds, blitzing past falling leaves, leaving behind a trail of white sparks.

Braun gritted his teeth and waved his evolved belt in a circular motion, coiling it into a spring-like structure. He pulled back his hand, took a deep breath, and with his pupils dilated to enhance his vision to the maximum, the coiled belt sprung forward, piercing through the air with its tip pointy and sharp.

The tip of the belt collided with a series of barely visible barriers converged from some strange energy, and was about to puncture Christopher on the head, but it crackled and burst into flames, charred and burnt to ash in a mere instant as soon as it touched his skin.

He didn’t stop his flight and bolted through the belt in one straight line, destroying a large portion of Braun’s makeshift weapon.

He clicked his tongue and retracted the belt while pumping more of his energy into the lighters on the soles of his feet. He flew deeper into the canopy of forests, blending himself in once more like a sneaky rat, with Christopher brutally forcing his way to find him.

As they traversed through the dizzying shadowy forest, Braun swung his makeshift whip-blade thing while Christopher bent gravity to his whim. Multiple trees were destroyed in their path, causing uncountable destruction to the previously beautiful landscape.

Eventually, his belt fully burned, leaving him with no weapon once more. Christopher trailed from behind, his eyes glowing brightly with killing intent. Finding himself lacking any way of attacking, he pumped more energy into the lighters stuck onto his shoes, and disappeared amidst the roof of trees, leaving Christopher behind, angry and full of bloodlust.

There was the continuous sound of space and time warping due to numerous gravity wells appearing all over the place, with its haunting sounds scaring away all the creatures of the forest.

Braun, successfully hiding himself, sneaked through the branches while barely making any sound or signs of movement, distancing himself away from Christopher while sifting through his pockets in search of any objects he could use.

His search turned futile when he found only a couple of lighters more in his pockets along with some pens, a pocket knife, a flashlight, Albert’s wallet, two phones, and a small notepad.

Braun inwardly groaned as he squatted on a branch hidden in the shadows, with Christopher destroying the surrounding forest in the distance in his attempt to find him.

I could use the branches as a makeshift staff, and I could make the leaves sharper and more durable… but that won’t be enough. Braun took out his pistol with no bullets and tried to think of a way he could utilize the green flame to make his pistol evolve.

Just what kind of principle does this power even operate on? Considering the lighters could burn endlessly and use a minimal amount of gas because they evolved, then there should be a way that I can make the gun transcend its limits of requiring normal bullets.

But how? Braun grabbed another lighter from his bag, along with his phone, and his flashlight.

He stared at the three objects with a contemplative gaze, wondering how the green flame could affect them. For a short while, every sound he could hear was muted as he concentrated fully on the problem at hand.

The data he had gathered regarding the green flame was rather minimal, but they potentially held the answer he was looking for.

First of all, the green flames acted as some sort of endless energy source. Although he had no real proof or evidence as to why, the intuitive sensation he felt from it gave him that feeling. Moreover, the way the lighters endlessly burned gave him more assurance regarding the ‘infinite energy source’ idea in his head.

Second, the green flame is constantly making his body adapt and evolve as long as he has enough calories to expend. From a normal human being to someone effectively being beyond the peak of humanity, Braun was a monster in human skin.

Third, the green flames can make external objects ‘evolve’ to his wants, albeit not without his full control. Perhaps in the future, he could fully control the way they evolve, but for now, he was more like guiding the flame to doing what he wanted than having conscious control over them.

Evolve… Braun’s eyes glinted with a certain light. Is this even possible? How would it even work? No, don’t even question it, Braun. Let your instincts guide you, let your mind shift along with the tides of evolution.

He grabbed the handle of his pistol, a single lighter, the flashlight, and most importantly, his phone.

If it’s about ‘evolving’ the pistol, then if I give myself enough materials to work with, then maybe, just maybe… A green flame rekindled on the palm of his hands, with his veins glowing green with a near-endless stream of energy coursing through them. It was painful, with his body barely capable of handling the strain, but considering it was the most amount of power he could muster from the flame in his body right now, it wasn’t that surprising.

He needed all this energy though, because what he would attempt next would be beyond just a simple ‘upgrade’, it was change, growth, evolution—transcendence.

The green flames covered the four items in his hands as he banged them together, illuminating his surroundings.

This didn’t escape Christopher’s eyes as he swiftly pushed out his arm and closed his hand into a fist. Gravity caved inwards in a circle, with the trees shaking and the leaves clumping together towards the epicenter of the spherical gravity well.

Braun gasped for his breath while clutching the strange object in his hands, and with his muscles tearing apart from the pressure of gravity, he burst out forcefully with another explosion of flames from the soles of his feet.

Christopher stared at the strange object Braun clutched in his hand, gawking in surprise at how seemingly alien and futuristic it was.

The previously normal pistol had rapidly changed in appearance, with the insides of the barrel being laced with crystal, and a strange mechanism replacing the usual way the pistol shoots out bullets. Its previously black outer casing turned into a dark shade of gray, with lines crisscrossing from the handle to the barrel, along with buttons placed near the trigger at hand’s reach.

Braun clenched the gun tightly and pressed the trigger, releasing a burst of blinding light. It illuminated over a quarter of the forest, lighting up all the dark crevices and nooks as if a miniature sun lit up the night woodland.

Christopher was nearly blinded by the light and he instinctively closed his eyes, raising his arms to block out the light, and forgot to raise a defensive barrier due to the abruptness of the situation.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

A malevolent grin appeared on Braun’s face as he pressed one of the futuristic gun’s buttons, causing the lines running along the whole object to light up with green light and causing its inner machination to change and shift.

Pressing the trigger, a burst of green flames erupted from the gun and from his feet, propelling him forward at speeds far faster than before. In an instant, he crossed tens of meters, with the flame disappearing from the gun. He swung his arm, pointing the gun forward towards Christopher.

At point-blank range, Braun’s grin widened with maniacal joy as he slammed the tip of the gun’s barrel into Christopher’s chest. With the press of a button, another burst of massive green flames erupted, expanding outwards in a circular manner, from Christopher’s chest up to his head and down to his legs.

In the middle of the night, inside the vast expanse of Civer Forest, with countless trees toppled down and broken into numerous wooden fragments and crumbled leaves, a horrific cry echoed out akin to the shrieks of tormented souls from hell.

Torturous green flames covered every inch of Christopher’s skin, with white sparks chaotically dancing around him, with gravity wells popping in and out like haphazard bombs. He clutched his head, his veins being seared into an oblivion of maddening pain.

White sparks endlessly spewed out of his body in his vain attempt at putting out the flames, but Braun continuously released more flames from his gun and ruthlessly tormented Christopher.

Christopher’s control over his power continued to turn more and more loose, with bigger gravity wells and white sparks coalescing around him.

Braun flew into the distance as he pressed another button on his gun. The green lines lit up and the crystal chamber inside the gun’s barrel shifted and changed, forming a tighter, more compact cylinder formation.

From hundreds of meters away where reality itself seemed to enter a state of never-ending chaos, with space-time and light warping alongside the painful howls of the burning man in the distance, Braun aimed his gun at Christopher and squinted his eyes.

He took a deep breath and focused on his target. Flexing his finger, he pressed the trigger and a beam of searing hot light flew across the air at unavoidable speeds, and as it crossed through the wells of gravity, it barely missed the mark and pierced through Christopher’s burning throat.

Unable to scream, Christopher clutched his neck, his vision turned dark and his senses were overwhelmed by unending pain. He was unable to formulate any thoughts nor regulate his powers, with him losing all control over his body and mind.

The only thing he knew was the pain of burning and the hellish state that came along with it.

He twisted and turned in the sky, with space and time fracturing into the intertwining pools of gravity.

Braun pressed the trigger once more, releasing another beam of light that, this time, accurately traversed the field of gravity wells, hitting its mark right on the spot and puncturing through Christopher’s head.

Click. Click. Click.

Three more beams came flying in, hitting Christopher’s two eyes and his heart.

The next moment, the haunting sounds of warped space disappeared as the field of gravity wells returned to normal. The white sparks erupting out of Christopher’s body receded, and his body slowly fell to the ground, barely burning with charred skin and holes piercing through the middle of his forehead, his two eyes, and his chest.

Braun watched as the body fell into the canopy of trees, disappearing from his view with no way of possibly being alive—and yet, there was a foreboding feeling that slowly grew in his heart. It was a weird, spiritual sensation that seemed to warn him of the danger that lurked ahead.

For whatever reason, even though Christopher died, with a burn burned and punctured through the middle, the dangerous sensation only grew.

He clutched the handle of his gun tightly, his eyes turning despondent and wary. Taking a deep breath, the flames beneath his feet intensified and he flew into the forest, disappearing from the sky and hiding amidst the darkness of the night.

…

A short while later.

Christopher’s body, burned and charred, lying breathlessly on top of a layer of leaves, abruptly shook.

His empty eyesockets released a tiny spark of white light, with the leaves and branches subtly vibrating around him. Slowly, the intensity of the strange phenomenon escalated, with the trees swaying as howling winds blew.

The leaves on the floor rose up into the air, with an invisible cyclone carrying them with its spin, forming a vortex of leaves that surrounded Christopher’s lifeless corpse. More and more white sparks converged around the charred figure, with light bending, gravity warping, and space-time twisting.

His body rose up just like the leaves, with the vortex of leaves turning larger and larger the higher he rose into the sky. He broke through the roof of leaves and branches, ascending into the sky, with gravity bending space-time to its whim.

Slowly, his charred skin turned into burning flesh while the empty holes in his forehead, eyes, and chest were seared with white light. As if the time of his body began to rewind, his whole figure began to revert to before he was immolated, from the peace of death to the torment of flames, until he eventually to normal, to when he was still alive and breathing, not burning and dying.

The endless stream of white sparks erupting out of his body gathered into a large white ring hovering around his waist. His eyes lit up with the divine fury of the heavens, causing the white ring around his body to vibrate and shake from the tremendous energy stored inside it.

Pressing his hand forward, with his mind hazy and unclear, the white ring expanded out for hundreds of meters, covering over a quarter of the whole forest. Its height grew increasingly high, reaching down into the ground and up into the clouds.

A loud, indescribable hum reverberated across the silence of the forest, and as he closed his opened palm into a clenched fist, brilliant white light erupted from inside his hand, exploding outwards to cover the whole cylindrical domain.

Like a divine strike from a god, a pillar of white light consumed a quarter of the forest, lighting up the night with its devastating power.

…

Braun looked into the distance with a grave face, his eyes squinting with interest and desperation from seeing the pillar of light swallow the horizon whole.

Is this proof of the existence of souls? Did he survive by activating his power with his soul? Does this mean he’s effectively immortal? Braun sighed but didn’t let the situation deter him.

Immortality, huh? He chuckled softly and continued to traverse the dark forest. I wonder just how I would make myself immortal, and how I would defeat an immortal being.

Do I have to find a way to eradicate his body and soul at the same time? Damn, how would I even attack a soul in the first place?

…

As the pillar of light receded, and the darkness returned to the shadowy forest, Christopher breathed heavily as he slowly regained his senses. He grabbed his head, his mind disoriented from recent events and his memory hazy beyond recognition.

Christopher slowly flew down, with questions running through his mind. Who was he? What was he doing here in the forest? What was that phantom pain he was feeling? Why could he fly? What was that power moments prior?

Suddenly, his eyes shot wide open as a stream of fragmented yet clear memories replayed in his mind. He remembered that strange, ethereal state he had after he effectively died. He remembered tapping into another power besides gravity, a power that held tremendous strength and destructive capabilities. He remembered the searing pain of being burned alive. He remembered Braun’s cold and callous gaze as he was slowly falling down from the sky.

Although fragmented, it provided him with enough information to know what happened.

Just what was that power… Christopher glanced at his palms with hints of fear and awe in his eyes. To think he was that strong… But how do I even control that power again? It felt like controlling a cell-size knife and having to operate on an atom, dissecting the protons from the neutrons with skilled precision…

As he sighed, his whole body froze as he remembered why he was here in the first place.

Where’s Braun? Christopher spun in a circle, his eyes glancing across the whole expanse, but not a single sign of Braun was to be seen.

At that moment, a freezing chill crawled up his spine, causing his elation of being alive to be thrown away, and instead replaced with a horrifying realization.

Braun… Christopher’s heart skipped a beat. He escaped…

…

Braun grinned widely as he pressed his foot into the pedal, causing the white van to drive across the offroad path at breakneck speeds. The night sky twinkled brightly with falling stars creating a mesmerizing view that would enrapture any eyes that looked up.

Biting into a protein bar, Braun licked his lips and clutched the steering wheel, his veins glowing brightly with green light as a green flame flickered in the hood of the white van.

“Christopher… Just you wait, I’ll eventually catch up to you!” Braun’s eyes flickered green. “And then I’ll eventually kill you with my own two hands!”