《Relict》 Prologue I hate my parents. I hate these monsters. I hate this world. But above all, I hate my life. Every day I get berated and beat. No matter what I do, I¡¯m always considered a failure in the eyes of my parents. My little sister, bless her soul, also gets beat. I try my hardest to protect her, but it¡¯s never enough. Why do we get beat? Simple. Powers. Powers run this world, and everything in it. You have a powerful ability? You¡¯re instantly rich. You have a poor ability? You¡¯re spat at. I was born a Biological, or shapeshifter, an ability that went practically extinct due to its uselessness. It¡¯s looked down upon as the worst ability ever. What¡¯s even worst worse is that my shapeshifting ability is practically useless. My sister isn¡¯t showing signs of her power either. Unlike other shapeshifters, who can at least transform into a single different animal, I can only change my eye color. That¡¯s it. My life must be a joke. heh. ¡°Sorax Kyzar! Get your ass back here NOW!¡± My mom, my monster, yelled from the kitchen. We live in a rundown apartment with just two bedrooms and one bathroom. My sister and I in one room, while my monsters are in the other. She and I are 8 and 10 respectively. ¡°You little shit! Listen to your mother before I beat your face black and blue!¡± My dad, my other monster added in. He was sitting on a couch in front of the TV watching the news. These are my parents. These are my monsters. ¡°O-Okay c-coming¡± I responded frightfully. I knew what this was. This was another beating in the waiting. I slowly approached my monster with my head hung low. Once I reached her, I felt a sudden tug at my head that forced me to look up into her eyes. This was my monster''s ability. Telekinesis. You¡¯d expect it to be powerful but in reality, all she can do is small tugs. Slap Ouch. That hurt. ¡°What did I tell you about leaving the dishes in the sink? I told you they should be spotless!¡± They were. She only just added a new plate. ¡°B-b-but I did! They w-were c-clea-¡± Slap ¡°Why are you talking back?! David, deal with your useless ass son this instant!¡± She ordered my other monster. ¡°What the hell did I tell you about talking back to your mother?! I warned you before! You don¡¯t listen, you never do¡­¡± My other monster told me as he approached me, belt in hand. My other monster¡¯s ability revolved around manipulating people¡¯s emotions. Very weak though. Not enough to cause anything major. But enough to make me feel like shit. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. As soon as he got to me, he smacked his belt into my face. Ouch. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Let ''em beat you, at least they won''t touch Hyla. I could hear the voices again. They never stop. At first, they were quiet, but as time went on, as the abuse raged on, they only grew louder and louder. Most of them are an incomprehensible mess. But some of them, some of them actually offer relatively good advice. Look on the bright side: get beat now, and maybe they won''t later! When they want to¡­ My other monster was still beating me across the face with the belt. That¡¯s fine¡­ at least Hyla isn¡¯t here¡­ Creak My eyes pop open in sheer terror. Please, not her¡­ anybody but her¡­ "...Bro? You oka-?" Before she can finish her sentence, an invisible force shoves her to the ground, her head smacking the floor. "And you thought you could hide, bitch? You didn''t do jack shit for the house today!" My other monster scolds her. She isn¡¯t getting back up. "Aww, Did I hit you too hard? You know, even if you died from that, we could always make another one..." I couldn¡¯t hear anything else. My ears were ringing. She isn¡¯t¡­ No way she¡¯s¡­ Why? Why me? Why her? What did we ever do to receive this? Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. W???h???y???.??? Then, everything went black.
I awoke in the middle of a crater underneath debris and rubble. My body was in pain. I was in pain. I could hear sirens wailing in the distance. I could see people yelling nearby. I saw the tear-stricken face of parents holding their children in arms trying to rush them to the ambulance. I could see firefighters trying to put out flames. I could smell blood littering the ground. I saw police trying to evacuate people. I saw ¡°Heroes¡± Lifting rubble and healing people. Where am I? Where is my house? Where is Sorax? Before I could try to come up with an explanation, I heard a groan beside me. I looked off to the side. I saw Sorax. He was completely naked. Otherwise, he looked completely fine. What had happened? Why was my brother naked? I started looking around to find some answers. My hands were shaking. I was terrified. Fear-stricken. I couldn¡¯t breathe. I needed to get out here. I needed out. Out. OUT. Suddenly, I felt all the pain across my body disappear. Then, out of nowhere, crystals popped out of existence. Pink in color. They were of all sizes and shapes. I could feel a¡­ link to them. I don¡¯t know why, But I just knew I could control them. So, in a panicked state, I ordered the crystals to get us out of the ruble in any way they can. Surprisingly, they responded. Some combined together, some grew out of the ground, and some even grew in size. In the end they all formed one massive crystal hand. That wasn¡¯t even the craziest part. They all FLEXED like muscles. Was this¡­ my ability? No. no. No time to think about this. I needed to get myself and my unconscious brother out of here. The crystal arm began to move, slowly lifting the debris off of me. I could finally breathe. I slowly got up, taking in deep breaths. I noticed that some parts of my clothes were torn and bloodied. But, surprisingly, were I expected wounds to be, All I saw was crystals in their place. They looked like they were covering them. They also feel warm to the touch. Like human skin. But much stronger. How? Why? When? Later. I needed to get Sorax out first. Using the same crystal hand, I lifted the debris off of him. He also didn¡¯t have any wounds. Weird. I could hear the police sirens approaching. We needed to get out of here fast. If they caught us, they would return us to mom and dad, wherever they were, and that wasn¡¯t good. I knew I couldn¡¯t lift my brother. He was too heavy. However, my crystal hand could. So, I ordered it to lift my brother and follow me. It surprised me for the second time today, by carrying my brother gently before ripping its self out of the ground and levitating there. I guess it would follow me then. As I started to move it moved with me. Good. When I raised my hands to wipe the beads of sweat that formed on my forehead, I noticed something. My hands were still shacking. Steeling myself, I decided to run out of the crater with my brother in tow into the streets before anybody could reach us. Heroes and people were too preoccupied with themselves and saving other to really notice us leaving. I kept going and didn¡¯t look back till I reached a nearby alleyway. I then gently laid down my brother before disabling my power. Now that I laid him down, I could get a proper look at him. He looked pale. Unusually so. I could still see the scars our parents left behind. He was also grunting and whimpering while unconscious. What happened? Street Life "Hey! Stop right there!" Shit. Shit. SHIT! I did NOT have the time for this. Moments ago, I was in a supermarket trying to "Buy" some food for sis and I. You know, the ol'' stuff shit in your pockets as you act like your browsing shit. I know, not the most original, but can you blame me? I''m desperate and starving over here... I almost got away with it too. If not for that fucking kid... "Umm Mister? what''s that guy doing over there?" Some rando kid with big googly glasses asked the officer across the Aile. And well, you can guess how it went from there. I got lucky though and was able to grab a few cans. As soon as he yelled for me to stop, I bolted out of there, slamming the supermarket doors open. I looked behind me, and the cop had his hand raised while staring at it with a bewildered expression. He quickly shook his head before sprinting after me. "Gah! Damnit!" God damn it! Why now?! When we''re starving half to death over here?! I am NOT letting go of these cans. I continued sprinting through the street and started taking as many sharp turns and random directions as possible, all while thinking of a way to lose him. I looked behind me. Oh, great. Another cop. And they had their taser drawn too. "Halt, villain!" The other cop yelled. What the fuck?! Villain? Are you kidding me?! Just because I stole food, doesn''t make me a VILLIAN! ...Well, I guess it is considered illegal, but COME ON! I kept running. There was a fork in the road. One left and the other right. And one hidden path that only sis and I knew of... I turned left, making them believe that I chose the normal path. They followed, just as I planned. Once they were far enough, I took the hidden path, which was a bunch of trash bags. Once I was out, I turned to look at the cops. "Huh? Where did he go?" The first cop said. "How did he disappear so fast?" I quietly snickered to myself. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ''Not fast enough.'' Once I was satisfied, I began to run back to the rundown apartment sis and I live in. It was a dump. No doubt. It had holes all over the walls and ceiling, the paint was peeling, the floors were broken, the plumbing was rusty, the roof leaks, and it''s always cold. But, it''s a home. It''s safe, and that''s all that matters. I was about to round the corner of the block when I suddenly heard a familiar voice. It was a voice I''d recognize anywhere. It was a voice of a girl. A voice of a girl that sounded tired and exasperated. The girl who helped me through thick and thin, the only family I had. My sister. Hyla. She was wearing a brown ragged hoodie with a matching pair of jeans. She was laying on a rundown sofa bed watching TV while reading a book. "Sis! Look what I got us!" As I ran up to her, she looked at me, then the cans of food. Her expression was one of shock. "S-Sorax! That''s a lot of food! Where did you get it?" "Doesn''t matter, sis. Now let''s eat!" As I walked up to the table and set down the cans, she suddenly looked at me. "Sorax... How did you get this?" I looked away from her, refusing to meet her eyes. "Sorax." She spoke in a commanding tone. "...I-I might''ve... stolen them..." "...Sorax..." "I-It was the only way, okay?! I''m not losing you to hunger again, Hyla! And we sure as hell ain''t getting a job at our age." "How many times do I have to tell you that stealing is wrong?" "Yeah, yeah, steal from the rich and give to the poor and all that jazz..." "This isn''t a joke, Sorax! Do you want to get arrested?!" "No, I don''t, but we''re not exactly in the position to care about morals right now, Hyla. Besides, it was easy." "You could have gotten hurt!" "I could have gotten hurt every day, but I haven''t yet! Come on, let''s just eat. We''re both starving." "Sorax-" "Look, you can''t blame me for not wanting to starve to death, sis. You''re lucky that I was the one who was out today. If you were in my shoes, you''d have done the same." She sighed. "Yeah... You''re right. Thank you, Sorax." I smiled at her. "Let''s eat." "Let''s."
I stared at the pile of remaining cans on the table. It would probably last us two days if we didn''t eat anything else. ''How did he steal this much food without getting caught?'' ''I''m gonna have to talk to him later...'' My attention was suddenly brought to the television. ''Huh?'' It was a news report about an attack on a bank. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Today, at 4:45 PM, the "Villain" group attacked the national bank in Manhattan. This is the third one this month." ''Villains...'' ''I wonder how Sorax feels about them.'' "The Villains are a group of individuals who have powers or abilities and use them to commit crimes." ''Yeah. I''m pretty sure everybody knows that by now, lady. Get to the point.'' "They are a growing threat and are becoming more common. Many of their members are either unregistered, or simply refuse to register with the government." ''They''re criminals, what did you expect?'' "The public is advised to stay away from Villains and contact the police or authorities immediately. Back to you, Tom." "Thank you, Linda." Well. That was a waste of time. I wonder how Sorax was doing? I went to his "Room", really just a rundown kitchen, before hearing the sound of snoring. I looked over to the source. ''Speak of the devil.'' ''He''s asleep.'' I sighed. ''Can''t say I''m surprised. He''s been out every day. I''m worried he''s gonna collapse if he keeps it up.'' ''And then there''s the issue with his powers. Being a shapeshifter is already bad. Being one that can just change eye colors? Thats a death sentence.'' My train of thought was suddenly cut short. "No... Please..." ''Oh god. Not again.'' He was having a nightmare. I slowly walked over to him. "I''m sorry. I''m sorry! I didn''t mean to! It wasn''t me! HYLA!" I held him. "It''s ok, Sorax. You didn''t do anything." His breathing calmed down. "It''s not your fault. It never was." As I held him, his breathing finally returned to normal. It was never your fault Sorax... It was theirs. Theirs and the fucked-up world we live in. "but don''t worry, Sorax," As I started talking, unbeknownst to me, my eyes started emitting a soft pinkish glow. "I''ll ALWAYS be there for you," The glow became brighter and brighter as they glowed pinker and pinker. "After all," The glow then faded to nothingness. "You''re all I have left." Dream A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.