I trudge on to the bunker. Thoughts on my future disappear when danger could lurk around any corner. It’s better to focus on the present before I look ahead.

“Ugh… A couple more minutes mom. Just a couple more…”

Ellen showed signs of waking up on my dad’s back. My dad went over to the side of the road and layed Ellen’s body on it. A few moments later her eyes fluttered open.

“Aaaahhhh. Good morning every- Where are we?!”

I take a minute to explain what happened after she fell asleep. When I get to the part about the gigantic Ripper, her eyes begin to light up as a dumb grin spreads on her face.

“Oh really? Well if the Ripper kidnaps you Cayden, I’ll make sure to be your knight in shining armor!”

"Wait. Shouldn't I be the knight and you be the damsel in distress?"

"Nope! You're too weak Cayden, but don't worry. Since I'm strong I won't let anything happen to you bro."

Leave it to Ellen to be so nonchalant in such a dangerous situation. Although her carefree attitude does annoy me at times, it also relaxes everyone around her.

Before we can continue to the bunker, Ellen motions for us to stop. She places her hands near her chest and starts muttering some sort of incantation.

I try to listen closely to her, but the words coming out of her mouth are incomprehensible and alien to me.

Lines start forming on my sister's skin. It begins where her heart should be and spreads up to her neck and down to her navel.

The lines begin to glow a pale blue light making Ellen look ethereal as if she was divine being. My sister ends her chant and spreads her arms out wide towards us.

A feeling of warmth and serenity suddenly overtakes me. It felt as if I returned to my time as a baby when my mom nestled me in her embrace.

The lines on Ellen dim as they start fading from her skin. She sighs as she wipes a few droplets of sweat from her forehead.

“What was that just now sis?”

Ellen picks up a random rock on the ground and throws it at me. Before I can dodge the rock a blue barrier appears between me and the rock. The rock bounces off the barrier and onto the ground.

“Although it can’t take a direct attack from that Ripper, it can at least stop its shockwaves from affecting you. Alright! Let’s get back to walking!”

We move on until we see the bunker in front of us. Multiple soldiers lined the front of its entrance. One of them moves to open the doors of the bunker for incoming citizens.

While I’m scanning the area I see two shadowy figures up on top of a building. I wonder what their purpose up there could be?

The people around us start to pick up their pace towards the bunker. I’m getting ready to head over too when I notice something strange.

The sounds of battle have stopped up above and all I hear now is the footfalls of the people heading towards the bunker.

I look up and see the Ripper has stopped moving. It’s two front legs seem to have been chopped clean off.

It’s not defending or attacking, just floating there motionless. My senses suddenly start alerting me of danger around me. It’s as if I’m standing on the edge of a cliff and a knife is poking my neck from behind.

“Hey Cayden. Why did you stop? The bunker’s over there.” Connor points over to entrance of the bunker.

Right as I’m about to respond to him I watch a sphere of red lightning start to form around the Ripper. The surface of the ball ripples sending out small bolts of lightning to the surrounding area.

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The ball suddenly starts to expand as the World Rangers around it start retreating. I watch in horror as one of the World Rangers fails to escape it and is consumed by the lightning.

My sister Ellen is running towards the bunker alongside my parents. She shouts at us from afar, “Don’t stop! Just run!”

Me and Connor start a mad dash towards the bunker. The threat of death from above starts to wash over everyone around us.

From far away I see a little girl in the middle of the crowd. She suddenly drops onto the ground. I think she might be injured or tired. I pull away from Connor and head towards the child.

Connor shouts at me from behind, “Cayden you’re not gonna make it! Leave the kid!”

“I can save her! Don’t worry!”

I rush to the kid all the while pushing the people in the crowd away from me. While heading to the kid I smell a distinct ozone-like scent. I looked at my arm to see all of the tiny hairs on it are pointing upwards.

I notice all too late that a ginormous bolt of lightning right above my head is about to strike down on me and the people in the crowd.

My breathing suddenly grows hoarse as the veins on my head pop out. The people around me stop in place while the lightning bolt above moves slower than before.

I’m surprised as I notice my heart seems to be pumping blood at ten times its normal rate. I realize that I can still move albeit delayed as if I’m underwater.

I make the prompt decision to shove the people around me to safety. Some curse at me while others look around to see who pushed them.

Right as I push away the last one is when my sensation of time returns to normal. The bolt of lightning arrives and strikes my head.

My cells scream in agony as pain akin to bathing in acid assaults my body. The stench of burning flesh wafts into my nostrils.

I desperately try to activate my ability. I begin to heal my wounds, but they can’t regenerate fast enough before new ones appear. All I can do is delay my own death.

The blood in my body starts to boil as the electricity courses through my veins. I can faintly hear the sound of someone calling my name. My eyes turn hazy as the pain overtakes my consciousness.

As my mind starts to give up I find a strand as thin as hair has separated from the lightning and is circling my heart. It enters my heart and disappears from my view.

The pain surprisingly pauses for a moment before resuming its assault on my senses. Could that have happened because of my heart?

I don't know how I did that, but I’m not complaining. I start to direct my blood to pump faster just like before when everything was frozen. The lightning seems to be attracted to my blood as it enters my veins and arteries.

Each circulation of blood causes my pain to lessen and the lightning to disappear. It takes ten circulations for the pain to disappear alongside the lightning.

I open my eyes to see the worried expressions of my family at the bunker entrance. The people around me have long taken off once they saw the lightning.

My skin is scorched looking like it’s been roasted on a grill. I grip a part of my arm and peel off the blackened skin revealing the healthy albeit lighter skin. Thank god for my regeneration ability.

I disregard peeling off the rest of the skin as I still have a kid to save. I scan the crowd and find the little girl still on the ground. I speedily whisk her off the ground and rush towards the bunker.

“It’s ok kid. I’ve got you.” Instead of getting a thanks from her I get an elbow to the gut.

“Get your hands off me perv!” She goes on to scratch me, slap me, and even grab my hair.

“Urgh. Ouch. Stop- STOP! What’s your problem? I was just trying to help you!”

I throw the girl onto the ground. As I look more closely at her I realize it’s not a little girl, but a teenager just like me. She only looks like a little girl due to her small physique.

“Jerk! I was just about to get my glasses and then you came out of nowhere!”

“Look lady. I didn’t mean to kidnap you or anything! I was just trying to take you to the bunker.”

While arguing with the girl I take a quick glance up and notice one of the shadowy figures has a bow taller than themselves in their hands. They begin to aim the bow and place what looks like a crystal arrow into it.

Suddenly a flash of light leaves the bow and penetrates the lightning sphere. The lightning energy dissipates revealing the frozen corpse of the Ripper above.

Me and the girl gape at the power of one blow from that mysterious figure. The sheer force of that attack outclasses most modern weapons I know. I bet only missiles could match its power.

The beasts corpse starts to crack until it finally shatters into many fragments. A piece of ice the size of an eighteen-wheeler lands nearby us crushing a citizen who unfortunately couldn’t get out of the way.

I scoop the girl off the ground and dart towards the entrance to the bunker. This time she isn’t complaining about my actions.

The ground around me starts to darken. I look up only to find a piece of ice the size of a building is crashing towards us.

My blood suddenly starts to accelerate as I activate my new ability to its maximum output. Everything around me starts to slow down until even I can’t move.

I can feel my energy draining from me as I’ve never used this ability until just recently. Just as I run out of energy I make a decision.

I throw the young lady from my arms and in the direction of the bunker. I watch as she crashes into Connor.

I close my eyes as my mind enters a state of deep peace. I feel no fear from my impending death and no regrets from the choices that led me to this position. I sit down and calmly accept my fate.

I prepare myself for my demise, but suddenly I hear footsteps coming towards me. I open my eyes and see my dad dashing towards me. Before I can tell him to flee he grabs onto my arm.

My dad sports a toothy grin which is quite atypical of him. His figure looks as if he’s shining like a divine spirit coming to save my soul.

“Son. I know I haven’t been kind enough to you recently. You might feel wronged from the difference in treatment between your sister and you. You might even be jealous of your sister’s talents, but know this. Your family will always love you no matter what. Grow up to be a good man Cayden.”

My dad picks me up by my arm and hurls me towards the bunker where Ellen is waiting there ready to catch me. I didn’t even know he had strength like that. I fly through the air and crash into my sister’s arms.

She catches me and starts running down the stairs of the bunker. Her body starts shaking as I feel her tears landing on my shoulder.

The energy my body expended to heal me starts to affect me finally. It doesn’t help that my new ability is a real stamina burner.

My eyelids begin to close as all my energy is spent and I can barely move a muscle. Right as I’m about to fall unconscious I look at my father grinning at me before a large ice fragment blocks my view of him.

All of the fatigue from the past hour catches up to me as my body starts shutting down. My mind fails me as everything fades into black.