Looking around, Atlas was no longer somewhere on the open field. It was a dark cave. He instantly knew he was back on Earth. Everything happened so fast he had so much to think about. But there was no time. He tried to stand up. With so much pain he managed to. Leaning onto the wall, he started to walk slowly. He fell down here, so he thought there was no escape, but that was not true. He could see the energy. It was flowing from somewhere towards the portal. As if it was sucking it from the outside.

Atlas decided to follow this path of energy. And after an uncountable amount of time, he was out. Looking up, he saw a dark sky. Trying to walk he fell down. All the pain and wounds, both internal and external, started to show. He was lying somewhere on the road, in the empty street near the abandoned construction site. He was sure no one would help him. Closing his eyes, he tried to take a deep breath and summon at least some strength left in his body. Yet unsuccessful.

“Atlas!”

He heard someone screaming his name. He could not stand up to look. The person screaming his name ran towards him lying on the ground. Looking at him, he saw a beautiful woman with red burning hair. Her worried face looked almost crying as she screamed and tried to call for help. Now realising he is safe, his body gave in and he fainted.

————

Waking up, Atlas found himself in an unfamiliar place. White ceiling. Smell of flowers and ethanol. Although it took him a while, he realised he was in a hospital. He could not remember how he ended up there. Looking around, he was in an empty room, with two beds. There were flowers near his bed. Now looking at his body, it was covered in bandages and patient clothes. Yet he was feeling well.

Now he tried to remember the last thing he could.

He was running away from Corey and his friends. Abandoned site. He fell…

He fell down the cave. Portal! Other world. Fight, ability.

Now all of the memories came back of what happened to him. He felt the sudden urge to vomit, but there was nothing he could vomit. Now remembering all of the pain he felt, he looked at his body again to see the wounds, but nothing was hurting.

“Was this all a dream?” Atlas thought “Did I just fall and hit my head? Or Corey beat me up so hard I dreamed of all this?”

Atlas wanted to believe, but there was nothing he could do to check. Or was there?

“The ability! I have the ability!”

Now trying to activate it, Atlas concentrated and closed his eyes. When opening them, he expected to see all the energy waves around him. But to his disappointment he saw nothing. The room was unchanged. More and more he started to believe that everything that happened was fake. Illusion. Fake memories. He thought he would be sad, but he wasn’t. For some reason it was much easier to control his emotions now. After everything he supposedly experienced there.

That was when he saw it. A blue aura moving somewhere in the distance. He was seeing an energy output. He was not sure what it was, since he saw it through the walls. But when the source was close enough, he realised. It was a human. Someone was coming into his room. Ability was working. Everything was real. Atlas suddenly felt happiness he rarely felt. Then he heard the door to his room open. He closed his eyes and tried to “turn off” his powers.

Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see not one, but around 5 people entering his room. Two doctors, two policemen and a woman with bright red hair.

“Ms. Scarlett, what are you doing here?”

“Atlas! You are awake? How are you feeling” Ms Scarlett had a worried face.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“I’m good, thank you. How long have I been sleeping?”

“Not that long. About 12 hours. These doctors are going to check you, but before that, could you please answer these officers' questions?” Ms Scarlett said.

“Why are there policemen here?” Atlas was confused.

The policemen were in police uniform. But one of them wore sunglasses. He looked about 40-50 years old.

“Call me officer Lenz. Lieutenant of the Ameli’ Police department.” He said.

Atlas could not resist but chuckle. These times, police had nearly no authority on people, since everything was controlled by big corporations and factions. Moreover being a policeman in this small town, really made the Lieutenant look quite not serious.

Officer Lenz could only raise an eyebrow.

“I am sorry, I just remembered something funny. So, what was that you wanted to talk about?” Atlas replied.

“We wanted you to drop charges against Corey Lamante”

“What!?” A very loud crack was heard. It was Ms Scarlett holding what used to be a flower vase.

*Breaking it with one hand is truly impressive* Atlas thought, looking at the scene. He Suddenly remembered the monster which was breaking trees with its hands. A sudden movement in his stomach could be felt.

“What are you talking about? You want him to drop charges from the attacker? He was beaten up. He had several internal bleedings. Open wounds, broken hands! And now you want him to just pretend as if nothing happened?” Ms Scarlett was now almost shouting at the policemen.

“Well how is he right now? Doctors said he would be as new in a couple of days.” Lieutenant Lenz replied. “I understand, you used to be a hunter in the past. You are still affected by the emotions and shock from that time. But today it is an ordinary thing isn’t it? People get hurt in an argument. They get healed. Stop living in the past Ms Scarlett. Despite, Corey is a son of an army general, he would not do that without some serious reasons. The boy must’ve started the fight first. Or maybe he even did that to himself to blame Corey…” As the officer could not even finish, his sunglasses shattered into pieces.

Standing enraged with bright red eyes, Ms Scarlet was death-staring at the officer.

“I hope you are not serious” she said “you know, not even a single soul will notice if some policemen just disappear suddenly. And trust me, I know a whole lotta about making people disappear.”

Although Lieutenant Lenz was looking very calm, a small drop of sweat came down his forehead.

“Listen, we all know policemen have realistically no power. But you know who does? The army. And you know who is in the Army? The very father of that brat Corey. You think we are that stupid not to see the picture?” Officer Lenz was no longer as calm as before speaking “As soon as you blamed his son for beating up the kid, he pulled the strings. So right now, you Miss, really putting me behind a rock and a very, very hard place. So just please, let me enjoy my life without any of this shit. I want to have as few responsibilities in my life as possible. Why do you think I started the job in this shitty town anyways?!”

“You piece of human…” as Ms Scarlet was about to finish her sentence, and quite possibly the officer Lenz himself, Atlas spoke:

“I will drop the charges.”

“Atlas, you don’t have to”

“I will. First of all, If not the policeman, Corey’s father will come after me. Secondly, I am fine now, am I not? This situation made me stronger. I don’t need to resort to higher ups to resolve my own problems. And moreover, I am a kind person. I don’t want to see Mr Benz or whatever, getting his calm life ruined.” Atlas said with a slight smirk. He could allow himself to be a bit bratty in this situation.

*And lastly, Corey was not the one who did it* Atlas thought.

Sighing, Ms Scarlet said:”Well, there never was something I could make you do, was there? Just, make sure you get well. I will see you at the school. Make sure you are on time.”

Along with the policemen she left.

“Mr d’Prince, we need to run some tests to check if your recovery is going smoothly” doctors said.

“Could it wait a bit?” Atlas asked

“I am afraid not. We need to do all the check-ups before your roommate comes back”

“There is someone else here with me?”

“Yes, and she is a very “sweet” person. Make sure you two get along, okay?”

*She?* Atlas thought?

As the last check-up was finished, Atlas could not resist but ask:

“So, who is that girl, who is my co-patient?”

Before the doctor could answer, a loud knock was heard and the door was kicked open. Looking there, Atlas saw a girl around his age. Dark hair, black t-shirt with some death metal band on it. Ripped jeans, and sleepers on her feet.

Her face showed a quite angry or disappointed look.

“So the wimp finally woke up?”

“Good luck, stay strong these 2 days, ok” the doctor looked at Atlas.

“I will try to” already predicting the next 2 days in the hospital to be “fun”.