The last thing Jim felt was his already fast blood pressure accelerating together with his heartbeat before everything turned black.
After an unknown time, Jim felt his consciousness slowly return to him. He was drowsy and carefully opened his eyes, only to be blinded by the sun shining through a window from the right side. Taking a moment to adjust to the light Jim felt his blurry vision slowly clearing up.
Looking around himself he was in an unknown room in the style of medieval times. With beautiful furniture around him. He was lying on a normal wooden bed with a white blanket that had beautiful flower and vines patterns stitched to it.
Viewing the rest of the room Jim saw that nothing stood out and was a small room in a square shape. The bed was in the bottom right corner. The only window on the wall was beside the bed. The door was on the top left side of the room.
When you go through the door you would be greeted with a small table and beautifully decorated wooden stool. On the right side of the small table was a bookshelf. In front of the bed stood a chest for storage and on the wall right in front of the bed was a huge closet.
Looking to his left Jim even found a small nightstand with a small lamp on it. The table also had a lamp on it. Taking this normal appearance in and feeling the rays of the sun caressing his face Jim felt peace.
He survived after all. It seems fate had other plans for him. Taking a moment to relax he finally noticed something; pain. He tried to move his body and only after trying to move a few centers, his muscles screamed in excruciating pain, comparable to the worst muscle ache Jim had ever experienced multiplied by two.
Especially the pain in his legs and right arm was only inferior to the pain of the transformation. He almost screamed out loud after trying to move them. Trying to understand the situation Jim started to think.
I was out for at least a day. Even if my whole body aches and my muscles scream at every movement it seems that my injuries healed thanks to the transformation. A few days of rest should resolve the pain, I was really lucky this time.
The only reason Jim was able to overcome this situation with seemingly no lasting injuries was because of the transformation. Every time Jim underwent a transformation his muscles and nerves would be broken and rebuilt from scratch. Fighting with the raven he almost didn’t receive any superficial wounds. Most injuries were internal because of pushing his body beyond what it could withstand, which resulted in his muscles and nerves tearing apart.
Confirming the state his body was in, Jim finally realized something. Right! I have to look for Lukas and the others. I hope they are fine.
Sitting up he tried to turn his legs left to get out of bed. Alone the attempt to move sent a piercing pain through his whole body, leading Jim to immediately stop all movements. Fully grasping what bad condition his body was in, Jim used his healthy left arm to slowly drag his legs out of the bed.
Taking a deep breath and preparing himself he stood up. His legs obeyed and he stood up only for his legs to instantly break like sticks as they tried to lift Jim’s body weight, leading Jim to fall forward.
*Thud*
Crashing on the ground Jim gritted his teeth and crawled on the ground by only using his left arm. His right arm felt even worse than his legs and he could not move it an inch before feeling huge amounts of pain.
Slowly he made his way to the door. After three minutes he finally reached it and with another deep breath swung his left arm up, barely reaching the door handle. After stretching his back as wide as he could, the door finally clicked and a slit opened.
Opening the rest of the door Jim started to crawl along the hallway to the staircase. Hearing a slight clicking sound from below Jim screamed, “Hello! Is someone there?”
Hearing the scream Emma who just wanted to check on Jim immediately rushed upstairs. Only to find a completely exhausted Jim lying on the floor as he tried to crawl, with his one healthy limb forward.
Quickly realizing what happened Emma grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him back to his room and threw him on top of his bed. Jim first wanted to protest but after seeing her serious expression he decided to remain silent.
After putting Jim down Emma grabbed the stool from the table and sat down, looking Jim directly in the eyes. “That was stupid.”
Jim first wanted to retort but relented under the serious gaze of Emma. “I know.”
“Good that you are at least aware of your stupidity. The same applies to what you did with the raven. That was reckless and beyond stupid even for you,” replied Emma with a serious face and a hint of worry in her eyes. “How are you feeling otherwise?”
“Like shit,” replied Jim dryly.
“That was to be expected in your body condition,” said Emma with a concerned expression.
“How bad is it?”
“How bad do you ask?” While shaking her head Emma continued, “It is a wonder you are still alive. Without the help of your transformation, you would be long dead. After Dave found you they immediately brought you back to the church in the hope you would survive somehow. Fortunately, some guardian angel must have pitied you. Your body is mostly healed and you should be fine after a few days of rest, but you were, really, really goddamn lucky.”
“How are the others doing… How is Lukas?” Jim asked with worry written all over his face
While looking to the side Emma slightly shook her head, “He… didn’t make it.”
Like being punched in the lung, all of Jim’s hopes were crushed. In reality, he already knew that Lukas's survival was impossible. He just didn’t want to accept the truth. Now hearing from Emma the confirmation Jim was heartbroken.
While looking at the ceiling he remembered again the smile Lukas had before his vision started to blur. Touching his face with his left hand he realized that he was crying. Putting his arm over his head, in an embarrassing try, to hide his tears Jim started to cry even more.
Fuck. All that new power for what? Just to see how one of my teammates dies directly before me? I couldn’t even react!
Like a recording, the scene played again in front of Jim’s eyes. Seeing these talons suddenly rip through Lukas's chest and his expression slowly turning into despair, Jim felt powerless. He was weak, even after all these battles he was still too weak.
He felt confident after winning so many battles with no real problems or injuries. He yet again underestimated the true capabilities of these beasts. Every time Jim felt somewhat safe the world would throw a new threat in his direction. It almost felt like the world was mocking him for believing he could change the situation.
He was careless and now another human died, a human Jim wanted to protect at all cost but he; failed. He would remember this, engrave this moment deep into his mind to make sure that he would never repeat the same mistake.
Not knowing what to say Emma just waited for Jim to calm down. After a moment he calmed the turmoil of emotions raging inside him and asked, “How is the rest of the group?”
“They are all doing fine; I hope at least,” responded Emma somewhat unsure.
“You hope?” Jim asked bewildered.
“Right, a lot happened in the last few days. Chris and Clay left two days ago,” replied Emma with a tired sigh.
Shocked, Jim sat straight up. “WHAT?! What do you mean left? Wait, did you just say three days ago!?”
“Yes,” confirmed Emma while she pressed him on his shoulder to force him to lay back down. “You were unconscious for a total of four days. After we brought you here we informed the rest about what happened and how Lukas died. Hearing how her son died Lukas's mother was heartbroken. We tried our best to calm her down and she wanted to be alone to think…”
Pausing Emma looked out of the window to avoid eye contact. Getting a bad feeling Jim asked, “But what?”
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Taking a deep breath Emma continued, “The next day we found her hanging from one of the trees in the garden.”
Shocked, Jim looked at the ceiling again. After a moment he asked, “And why did Clay and Chris leave?”
Sighing, Emma explained, “I don’t know if you knew but the rivalry between Lukas and Clay was very important for him. So he was especially shaken by his death. One of Lukas's last wishes was for him to protect his mother. Seeing the corpse he lost all reason to stay and left together with Chris to go back to their village in the hope of finding their family.”
Looking at Emma in disbelief Jim asked, “Are you guys crazy!? We just lost Lukas and you didn’t even stop them from going out there?! This is suicide! You can’t survive with just two people! From here to their village is a distance of at least thirteen kilometers.”
Now losing her temper Emma screamed, “What were we supposed to do?! Force them to stay?! With what people? Dennis and Max are at the school, Charlotte wants to stay with her family, you were unconscious, Jake closed himself in a room and Lukas is dead! Did you expect me to stop them alone? We never really talked with them anyway. You know full well that they were a duo that did their own thing.”
Now starting to cry Emma said, “This group was built only because the situation forced us and is now splintered in fragments!”
Realizing how bad their situation was Jim sighed as only one word came to his mind which described their current situation. Opening his lips slightly he muttered, “Fuck.”
After Emma finished with her outburst and was sure that Jim was doing fine she left. “I’m going now, but you are not allowed to leave the bed yet. At least for today, you have to rest. By tomorrow, you should be able to do some light exercises. I will also bring you some crutches.”
Jim nodded his head at Emma. Then she left the room leaving him alone with his thoughts.
What do I do now? Like Emma said our group only had somewhat of a bond because the situation forced us. Not because we had a good friendship or something like that. Now that I think about it this whole group would have never really worked together. We all have different interests and could have never worked so well together if the situation didn’t force us.
Trapped in bed, Jim was forced to think about all sorts of things. Eventually, he thought about his family. Time never stopped and after being unconscious for four days a total of eleven days already passed, since the start of this whole mess. By now most people in the city should be either dead or fled somewhere different. There were bound to be a few survivors around the city, but a group as large as the church was almost impossible to survive with all the mutants they would attract.
The chance for his little sister and parents to be still alive was slim at best. But he still had hope and had to at least check. The problem was that he first had to heal his body and somehow build a group that could accompany him.
Especially after fighting the raven and almost losing his life to it, did Jim realize that surviving alone in this new world was almost impossible. More and more rank two mutants will appear with time.
After some time, rank three mutants like the raven will also grow in numbers. Jim wasn’t sure how long this would take, but it would happen eventually. The only good thing was that the living beings in the city were limited and there shouldn’t be more than two rank three mutants roaming the city.
Jim could feel that after reaching the third rank the next rank seemed immeasurable far away compared to the previous ones. He couldn’t even think how many more mutants he had to kill to reach it. The higher you go the harder it will be to reach the next rank.
Thinking about all sorts of things and plans to somehow find his family and survive all of this, two hours passed by and Jim got a visitor. Father Solaire came to Jim to check on him and talk. Grabbing the chair Emma previously took, he sat down and looked at Jim before saying,
“Oh, Jim, my boy. I hope you know how reckless your actions were?” Seeing him nod mindlessly, Solaire sighed. “Just try to be careful with this ability. I don’t know how you do it, but you know that it pushes your body beyond what it can withstand. If you were able to kill that monstrosity of a raven then I can imagine what great power it can bring you but please remember that every power has its price.”
Nodding his head Jim said, “I know. It was the second time I used this and I’m sure it essentially burns this energy to temporarily give me power beyond what my body can withstand.”
Sighing, Solaire looked at Jim gravely and said, “Jim we need to have a serious conversation. There are a few things I haven’t told you yet about the third rank.”
Looking at Solaire in confusion, Jim asked, “What do you mean?”
Shaking his head, Solaire explained, “You know before Clay left he came to me to ask a few questions. We talked a bit and it turned out Clay is very sensitive to this new energy. Normally only after reaching the third rank would you be able to feel this energy more clearly but there are always exceptions I guess.”
“Wait, is that why you were able to see our ranks? You mentioned that you could sense them.” Jim asked with curiosity
“Yes,” confirmed Solaire before stating, ”But there is way more to perceiving this energy than just being able to sense the rank of someone. This sense is something you have to train, but some people are gifted with perceiving it more easily, people like Clay. He is way beyond what I can feel, as I can only slightly feel this energy around me and perceive the aura of others on a superficial basis.”
"Wait, what exactly do you mean with aura?” Jim asked with squinted brows.
“Aura is just what I call the energy coming off from the ones who underwent their transformation. Depending on your rank you will emit a sort of aura made out of this energy. The higher the rank the bigger and clearer this aura gets.” Replied Solaire.
Hearing this Jim remembered the foggy light surrounding the raven and exclaimed, “So that was what I saw!”
“You can already see auras?” Asked Solaire with perplexion.
“No, normally not, but after boosting my body with the energy I was able to see a sort of foggy light surrounding the raven, but ignored it for the moment,” explained Jim.
Nodding his head Solaire said, “Good that makes it easier. This foggy light is precisely what I call, aura. To come back to the topic, I don’t know if Clay just wanted to help, or felt guilty about leaving, but he told me everything he knew and some of his theories surrounding this situation.”
Pondering for a moment Solaire said, “He is an interesting boy that was always hard to approach in the past. It seemed like he was avoiding me but I knew he had a kind heart. He was always like that and stayed for the most part alone for himself. Anyway, the point is that I now know a lot more about this energy.”
Slightly confused Jim asked, “Why shouldn’t he tell you about his experience? I mean you already told everyone about this right?”
Shaking his head in frustration Solaire seriously said, “Jim I know that my following word may be a bit harsh but you have to understand the seriousness of the situation and its dangers. We don’t live in a working society but hold together because of circumstances.
The moment some people lose their temper and go amok all hell will break loose. Right now everyone can do what they want and do it when they want. There are no laws or rules we are bound to. We have to make our own rules and if we really want to build a new society we have to make sure someone enforces these rules.”
Looking a bit shocked Jim said, “What do you mean? We all have to work together to get out of this situation. Why do you want to hide such important information?!”
“Jim!” Solaire almost shouted and looked him directly in the eyes. Jim never saw Solaire so angry and serious so he got quieter, comparable to a kid getting scolded.
Pinching his glabella Solaire calmed himself, before he looked at Jim again, “I’m sorry Jim but you don’t know what humans are capable of if you give them power and no limit to use it.
I said that I was the only one to kill these beasts because my power was so draining, but that was only part of the truth. In truth, I wanted to limit the power others could get. I was too scared of them becoming stronger than me. May the sun forgive my sins. Jim, I’m not perfect and I too am scared of the future. For our survival, we have to build a functioning society. To do that we need rules and someone who makes sure that no one breaks these rules. You understand that right?”
“I do,” sighting in frustration Jim said, ”But it… it just doesn't feel right to lie to all these people. This is information that could help them survive.”
“I know that it is hard but we have to restrict this information. We need a group that enforces the rules we make and limits the growth of the people. The group that enforces the rules always has to be by far the strongest. The problem now is that it will be exceptionally harder to go out and hunt now that rank three mutants will appear one after the other. You have to make a group that is loyal to you and will follow your lead.”
Shocked, Jim looked at Solaire, “What do you mean!? Why should I lead a group? I’m only seventeen, you are way better for that and the people support you anyway.”
Shaking his head, Solaire explained, “I’m not saying that you are the only group. Dave will lead another one, but I’m too old to go out and fight hordes of monsters. Not to mention that my powers don’t work well in groups. I will stay here to protect the people, keep them calm and make sure they don’t do anything stupid. Why do you think I would choose you from all the people here?”
“I-I don’t know,” replied Jim with bewilderment.
“It’s because you are the strongest, can adapt the fastest, stay calm, have a huge will to survive and most importantly you have a kind heart. Jim, you may not have realized it but there is a reason why your group followed you, without determining a clear leader. Probably no one else achieved what you did. You brought a group of teenagers together to fight against mutated animals multiple times. Even if you were forced by the situation, you know that this achievement is impressive.”
Thinking about it Jim realized for the first time how crazy their achievement was. Jim and the others not only survived this new hell but thrived in it, killing mutant after mutant without thinking too much about it. Humans were weaker in almost every aspect compared to animals. They had to make up with numbers and tools to stand a chance against this new threat and the best way to get people was to build a new society. A stronghold where the people looked out for each other.
Making up his mind Jim looked at Solaire with determination shining in his eyes. Solaire felt relieved after seeing this, he wouldn't live for much longer after all… He had to prepare Jim for the worst.
“I don’t know if I’m really the right person but if you want me to go out there and kill some more mutants then I will try my best,” replied Jim with determination.
“Good. But remember that more important than anything else is your strength. Of all the people here you have the advantage of this new ability you discovered. You have to train it and learn how to control it. Only with this ability will you have an advantage over everyone else. You are young but with enough strength, people will respect you.”
Nodding his head in understanding Jim asked, “So what is the plan?”