Seth hurried along the down the street, passing the barred doors and chained gates. On the walls, a poster reading, "Angelo For President" was currently the canvas for some teens with spray canisters. Angelo, a name he had frequently heard in the past few days. The man called for the genocide of the Unpowered, calling them imperfect and “mistakes”.

Seth scoffed at the thought of such a reason.

“How ironic…” Seth thought to himself.

Seth continued down the street quietly, thinking about the assignments and homework he had to complete when he arrived home. School had been rough on him lately His teachers expected a lot out of him, the famous “Most Hardworking Student”. He laughed thinking about it now, about how ignorant he was about the real world. He knew that no matter how hard he tried, he could not break the confines the world had put on him. He sighed and stopped in the middle of the road.

“I guess it could be worse.”

He felt a drop of water on his head. Then another on his hand. Then more and more, until it started to pour.

“Shit!”

Seth quickly broke into a jog, hugging the walls of the houses and stores. The raindrops soaked his clothes making him feel heavier and heavier. On the dimly-lit streets, the sound of his breath and shoes broke the quiet. He kept running and running until he could finally see his Grandfather’s house. He sighed in relief and smiled, his grandmother was talking to someone at the door, his neighbor, Molly. He walked forward only to see a black shadow, almost 10 feet in height standing across from him. He frowned and tried to walk to the left of the shadow only to find it continuing to block his way.

“What do you want?” Seth angrily grunted.

What was this? A prank? A robbery?

Seth turned his head up to look at the Black Shadow’s face, hoping to identify which classmates of his decided to prank him.

Lightning flashed, brightening up his surroundings.

Seth’s face froze in shock. He now wished he hadn’t looked. Even if the face was only shown for a second, it was enough to make grown adults shiver in absolute terror. He saw cold, reptilian eyes. A elongated face and fangs that grew out of the mouth.

‘W-what the f-?”

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He felt a piercing pain in his stomach. The black shadow was now crouching with its right hand extended, the claws on the furry hand digging into his flesh. He screamed but no sound came out of his mouth. Seth felt his mind racing, his heart felt as if it was going to burst. Seth had not faced anything even remotely similar to this type of pain. He forced his hands to grab the arm and try to push it away from his body while retreating backwards.

The shadow’s golden eyes shown with an intense light and the creature moved its head to bite at Seth’s head. Seth moved his head to the left and turned his body, causing the beast to bite into his shoulder instead. A loud crunching sound rang out and Seth’s vision suddenly became distorted.

“Fuck. You bastard, I’ll take you down with me.”

Seth raised his arm with almost superhuman determination. He made his fingers into a claw and with all his might, punched the creatures eyes.

“RAWRRRRRR!” The creature released the grip on Seth’s shoulder revealing multiple holes that broke through bone.

Seth, on the other hand, did not let go and clawed deeper, earning loud cries and roars from the creature. He felt intense pain all over the side of his body as the creature’s claws worked at a terrifying speed. After another 10 seconds of intense struggle, Seth pulled out his hand, also pulling the creatures eye. In the blink of an eye, the creature was gone, leaving nothing behind. In fact, the and wounds and the eye that Seth had were the only indications that anything had even happened.

Practically spontaneously, Seth felt a wave of exhaustion hit him and he fell to the floor. He felt the blood pool around his body and before the darkness took him, a single thought emerged in his mind.

“What will happen to Grandma?”

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Seth slowly opened his eyes. He was standing up, the exhaustion that he had felt moments before had been washed away, yet his limbs felt like immovable rods. He stood completely still, his eyes trying to adjust to the darkness.

Wasn’t he dead? Was the whole thing a dream? A simulation? Seth tried to recall what he had done the other day.

“I can assure you that your death was not just a simple dream.” The mysterious voice had a thick British accent, with hints of an arrogance that sounded like a noble in a Medieval film.

“Then what happened? Why am I still alive?” Seth replied, the incredulity and suspicion in his voice was clear to the mysterious person.  

“It’s a very complicated story. But for now, let’s just say,” there was a short pause before he continued, “I saved you.”

This didn’t help to answer any questions Seth had in his heart.

“How? And why did you bring me here?”

Gracefully, a man wearing a long stylish cloak walked came into Seth’s vision. “This is the inside of your soul. I brought you here to save you.”

The man was extremely handsome, enough to rival the celebrities he had seen on the Internet.

“Let’s get straight to the point shall we? I’ll revive you, awaken your powers, and you’ll be able to see your Grandma again. Sound good?”

Seth nodded and straightforwardly asked, “What do you want from me?”

The man smiled widely and used his hand to point at Seth’s heart. “I want your body.”