《Tom Is Chill》 Prologue: A Jokers Mask I see how it is. My ineptitude is so clear now. It¡¯s like I¡¯m looking through a fucking telescope! How could I have been so dumb? Why didn¡¯t I just kill them with the poison! Why did I bother paralyzing them? That would have saved so much time! ¡°I understand now everyone! It makes sense now! It¡¯s because you¡¯re all superior! Better! The epitome of supremacy! This truly is my defeat; you all dying here that is. My daughter really did deserve to die! Right?! How dare she hurt one of your poor boy¡¯s feeling?! I¡¯m sure he cried for days after he realized he was an ugly shit for brains who God wouldn¡¯t even be able to love. For Christ¡¯s sake, he looks like how rotten fish smells; just looking at him is giving me a hernia. MY balls are fucking receding that''s how ugly he is. Even though she still deserved to be stoned to death right?!¡± ¡°Yes it is true she deserved to die so Charles please let his highness go.¡± The round-faced ugly ass bimbo bitch yelled at me as she desperately tried to defend her ugly dead blobfish fetus of a son. I really should have poisoned her too, but her reaction is just so satisfying. I wish I could see her son¡¯s but he¡¯s a tad bit... lackadaisical right now. I stepped harder on the king¡¯s face pushing it farther into the fine cuisine he had been eating just a second ago. I had really ruined this quite enjoyable party. Everyone¡¯s so stone cold and reserved for some reason. Oh yeah, I paralyzed them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Mrs. Bitch but I¡¯m going to have to decline your most generous offer as I¡¯m going to need to kill this Psycho just like he killed my beautiful Annette. Then I¡¯m going to kill your fugly ass bitch of a son.¡± ¡°Please just end this madness sir. The kingdom needs its king.¡± The butler to the right of me said in a pleading manner. As if I give two shits. I worked ten years to become a servant all just to murder the king and he thinks I¡¯ll just let the king live! Fuck that. I take the steak knife I have been holding and try to drive it into the king''s neck. But his shield amulet ignites and blocks it from piercing his flesh. ¡°¡±Ah!¡±¡± ¡°Oh shut up will you! You goddamn knew that would happen you prissy little fucks.¡± It¡¯s a good thing I studied like a good little boy and learned about this amulet too. I hear stomping and I realize the guards must have caught on to my diversion being a diversion. The amulet only stops weapons not physical contact. I take the king by his head and lift it up. Drool drips out of his slack jaw mouth. ¡°Any last words?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°OH yeah, you¡¯re paralyzed.¡± I snap his neck swiftly and easily. Anti-climatic isn¡¯t it. I hear someone knock on the door and yell to open up. ¡°One second honey! Dinners almost ready!¡± Now it¡¯s time for the entre. Wait a second why is everyone¡¯s mouth frothing. My cooking isn¡¯t that bad is it? I Probably should have gone into deeper depth while studying that paralytic potion I chose. They all appear to be going into cardiac arrest. Ah, their lungs must be paralyzed too. Rad. ¡°Mrs. Bitch, Mr. Butler we seem to be the only ones alive here. Nevermind my dearest Mrs. Bitch, Mr. Butler seems to have killed himself. What a loyal subject. Now it¡¯s just us and soon it will just be you.¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.I take a long swig from the kings chalice and wait for the poison to take effect. I take the tray I hid behind the decorative tree and lay on the ground by the door. Now I look like just a random servant who decided to sneak some food at the wrong time. And Mrs. Bitch is the only one alive. Meaning she will look like the one who brutally murdered everyone in this room. Haha nice. Now my most amazing plan comes to an end as I feel my muscles growing numb and my thoughts get cloudy. Black dots encroach my vision and it¡¯s hard to keep my eyes open. But I wanna see Mrs. Bitch get in trouble so I struggle to stay awake. When did my life get so fucked my dearest? It doesn¡¯t matter anyway I am to be dead soon and I am sure I¡¯ll be able to join you in heaven, or maybe not but I hope Annette. I really do. Annette, I have killed your killer and my wish of vengeance has come true. Now may we both rest in peace for eternity. *Boom* the guards break into the room only to find everyone but Mrs. Bitch dead. I mean I¡¯m not dead yet but I¡¯m damn well close so it¡¯s cool. ¡°Hey boss this one¡¯s still breathing! (¡®Speak of the devil¡¯) What?! Bring him here!¡± What a hassle. Just let me die in peace. ¡°Who did this!? Who killed the king!.¡± Stop yelling goddammit I¡¯m trying to die you asshole! Even though my body is completely limp I manage to say what I need to say through pure will power alone. ¡°Mr-Mrs. B-Bitch¡­*augh I¡¯m dead now*¡± and everything went black. --- Me: *stares* Literally the void: *stares* God: *Rebirth time* Me again: ¡°Wait n-¡± God: *REBIRTH TIME* --- ¡®Where the fuck am I? Why is everything squishy?¡¯ ¡°Ugh oooowwww get the fuck outta me!¡± ¡°Honey watch your language the children are watching.¡± ¡°Shut the fuck up Harold.¡± ¡®Yeah Harold you fucking pussy. If I¡¯m in a uterus right now I¡¯m about to lay some fuckers out.¡¯ ¡°Puuuuuush!¡± ¡°I am!¡± ¡°AAAAAHHHH- Pop goes the weasel.¡± ¡®Godammit I was fucking born again.¡¯ ¡°Wah wah wah!¡± I try to cry like a baby would when it¡¯s first born. ¡°Why is he crying like that nurse is something wrong with him?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know I¡¯ve never known a baby that pronounced that actual wah¡¯s.¡± Someone lifted me up and put me in my mom¡¯s arms, but she promptly refused to hold me which I agree with because I am quite slimy. ¡°What will you name him miss?¡± ¡°Tom. Tom Thompson.¡± You know I think this is bad timing but I think I have to shit and I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s gonna be the gross black stuff. Dear god, I must¡¯ve digested a lot in there. Anyways here it comes. ¡°Wha-EEEW!¡± The nurse accidentally touched my body and felt the gross slime. Losing her hold on me and I start falling towards the ground. Harold dives for me and his fingers just brush my back. Somehow he spins midair and manages to catch me just before I hit the ground with inhuman speed. He probably used magic or something, it¡¯s not like I give two fucks. I thought that it was a done deal that I would get to rest for eternity when I died. Hence the ¡®Rest in Peace¡¯ aspect of dying. But no-! I just had to be reborn. I grow tired and my eyelids which were already closed close even more slowly as I drift off to sleep. ¡®What a shitty day.¡¯ ¡®I¡¯ll see you someday Annette, someday¡­¡¯ Chapter 1: Awakening The world around me is so vivid it¡¯s amazing. I¡¯ve never had perfect vision to begin with and my eyes only got worse as I grew older. But now as a baby my vision is perfect, and honestly, it¡¯s a little weird. I enjoy my vision, but it¡¯s a little lackluster because I can¡¯t seem to move a single part of my body. My legs and arms are practically jelly and I¡¯m afraid to try to roll around because I might hit the soft part of my skull on something. So far all of my time has been spent in a small crib located in a shockingly small room which I¡¯m pretty sure is a closet. There¡¯s not even a single window in here and there aren¡¯t any lights leaving me in darkness for most of the day. Mom doesn¡¯t take me out of my crib often; she really only does when my shit starts smelling too bad. Sometimes she forgets to feed me, but it¡¯s whatever. My life right now is a bland excuse of one and I hate to admit it but I¡¯m beginning to dread everything. ---Flashforward About a Year--- Ever since I have learned to walk my life has taken a huge qualitative leap. I say walk but it¡¯s more like a slightly sped up hobble. Still, it is better than not being able to move at all. And I can finally move around and see stuff which means I can see what¡¯s up with this new place I¡¯ve been born into. I¡¯m really lucky because I don¡¯t have to worry about my mom or dad because they¡¯re always out at their respective jobs and my brother and sister are at school for most of the day. I hobble over to the couch and click the on button on the remote with my stubby little fingers. I lay into the soft couch and click on the news channel. ¡®This TV thing is really amazing. I wonder how they keep so many people in such a small container¡¯. Since I¡¯ve learned to turn on the TV watching it has become quite the past time for me. *shik* That and making toast. I lay on the carpet floor and roll over to the tiled floor where the kitchen is and roll around the island expertly to where the toaster is. ¡°...Jona Hughes here with the local news today we have an amazing story of a young hero...¡± I start stacking up a few pots and pans then stand on them to grab my toast. Taking the butter I hid in the bottom part of the fridge I rub a fingers worth of it over my toast. Knives are too hard for me to hold right now. ¡°...Paul Wickman just barely saved his classmates at the prestigious Ridix Academy from imminent catastrophe with his A-grade power ¡®Heat Absorption¡¯...¡± Looking over at the TV I roll over to the couch as fast as possible. My sister goes to Ridix I wonder what happened. ¡°Ridix Academy was quite lucky to have a Mr. Wickmen in their ranks when the extreme pyro-terrorist ¡®Heat-Meister¡¯ decided to attack. Apparently, Mr. Wickmen had used his power to absorb all of the assailants'' fire and body heat; effectively freezing the villain alive. Through some brief investigative tactics the police have determined that ¡®Heat-Meister¡¯ was actually a Ridix dropout ¡®Sidmund Buck¡¯ who had to leave due to a training accide-...there were no casualties.¡± ¡°Phew.¡± I was getting a little worried there. I sit back deeper into the couch and suck on a piece of my toast because it hurts to chew. It did not take long for me to realize that I lived in a new world. My new world is completely different; it is one of superpowers, fabled heroes, and atrocious villains. It is so futuristic I still can¡¯t quite wrap my head around it and I don¡¯t think I ever will. It is nothing like my old world, a world of mana and monsters. In this world, the people are the monsters. This crazy place called Earth seems to hold something for me my old one never did, but I just don¡¯t know what it is yet. ¡®I have become quite a bit more optimistic since my death.¡¯I note listlessly. Is that a bad thing though? I wonder if my Mom and Dad are rich or something and that¡¯s why they always work. Most likely not. They probably work to support my two siblings and I. Going to Ridix is without a doubt really expensive even with my sister¡¯s scholarship. Now that I think about it that¡¯s probably why we¡¯re living in this shitty apartment with only two rooms and the ¡®living room¡¯. It turns out I really do sleep in a closet while my sister and brother sleep together in a small room. *Click* The door knobs turns and I look over my shoulder towards the sound and nearly have a heart attack. I hope a one year old turning on the TV by himself is regular. Honey, did you get home before me?¡± A feminine voice echoes through the mostly empty apartment. Like any one year old who¡¯s afraid of being caught red handed I pretend to fall asleep. Or maybe that¡¯s just me as a one year old. I hear footsteps walk over to the TV and turn it off. ¡°Why was the TV on god dammit I told Daniel to turn it off he is in so mu- how did Tom get out here? He looks so cute when he sleeps with those pudgy little cheeks. I hope he wasn¡¯t watching the news there have been a lot of terrorist attacks recently. I should move him back to his crib...whatever I might as well let him sleep there while he can we¡¯re going out soon anyway.¡± Mom thought aloud as she roamed through the house complaining about how everything was left out. She clearly had a stressful day. A few minutes later Dad enters the house with Daniel and Mia and Mom seems to be riled up about something. They all notice Mom almost immediately and take off their shoes in a hurry. Daniel sits on the couch next to me and Mia sits on the armrest next to us. Dad goes up to Mom and kiss her and ask her how she¡¯s doing but she doesn¡¯t seem to be having it. ¡°Which one of you wants to tell me why I found a stick of butter on the floor, the fridge open, and toast crumbs everywhere?!¡± Mom yells in a beyond exasperated voice. Shit, I totally forgot to clean up my tracks because of the news! ¡°It wasn¡¯t me Mom! It was probably Mia she¡¯s the one who eats toast every morning!¡± Daniel retorts back. He always has been a bit of a snitch. Probably a by-product of being ignored by Mom and Dad. Along with being the forgotten middle child all the attention is snatched up by Mia because she turned out to have an A++ power. ¡°I did not! I had cereal just like you!¡± She¡¯s not lying she has Nut Honey Cereal every morning. Not very nutritious if you ask me. ¡°Harold, what do you have to say about this?¡± Mom looks to Dad with a glare I don¡¯t even need to see to know is there. ¡°One of you will have to speak up or both of you will be in big trouble.¡± Dad says in his loud scary voice. I close my eyes slightly tighter and curl up even more. My brother must have looked over to me because what he said next I would hold against him for the rest of his life. ¡°Mom I think I see crumbs on Tom¡¯s cheeks.¡± Oh my god you fucking snitch. When I get older I¡¯m gonna beat the shit out of him. ¡°Yeah, I think I see some too.¡± Mia you fucking smartass no good bitch face how could you. And you were my favorite sibling. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t you try to pin this on Tom he can barely walk straight for christ sake how would he make toast.¡± Mom I love you so much. ¡°I don¡¯t know honey I think I see some crumbs too.¡± Dad, no Harold what the fuck? What about bro code. ¡°Ah-shit look at the time. Forget showering everyone get in your dress clothes it¡¯s time for Daniel¡¯s awakening. You all have ten minutes we have to be at the town center at noon!¡± Mom realizes the time and quickly forces them to get into their dress clothes. It is eleven thirty so I¡¯m assuming we live pretty close to the town center. That or Mom is bad at time management. After a bunch of rustling everyone rushes out into the hallway and lines up military style. Mom picks me up and puts me in a onezee suit. Apparently I¡¯m going with them. She walks down the line and stops at my brother adjusting his tie and smiles when she was done. ¡°Mom I didn¡¯t have toast I swear.¡± Daniel whines not realizing how little of a deal it really is. Daniel tends to overthinks the little things and has a bad nail biting problem. With his awakening today the nail-biting has gone up a lot of factors. These are just a few things I¡¯ve noticed over the past few months. He also has a crush on a fourth grader while he is only a third grader and he is extremely self-conscious about it. Mei is more reserved then Daniel but she also has her problems. For example, she is very stressed all the time but our parents refuse to acknowledge it. I am really worried about her actually. Mom continues down the line and when she nods satisfactorily she carries us out the door and for the first time I¡¯ll be able to see the outside world. What was out there did not disappoint me. I saw towering buildings that covered for as far as I could see and people bustling everywhere. A lot more people than in my old village, no a lot more people than even the royal palace. Some people weren¡¯t even human or even humanoid. There were a couple of bipedal dogs walking around in tuxedos and it is honestly super cute. My eyes flutter as I take in everything in awe as we make way to our old family carriage. The lights are so disorienting and why is everything made out of metal and brick? What are these rodes even made out of? I have so many questions but no one to answer them. We get in the car and Mom hands me off to Dad. I look up to the sky like I tend to when I need to think and notice it is gray and cloudy. I guess some things never change no matter where you are. The carriage starts up with an unsettling rumble and Mom inputs something into the horseless carriage starts up and mom inputs something into the light up panel. Then it heads off and oddly Mom doesn¡¯t seem to need to steer the carriage. It seemed to do it by itself. I don¡¯t trust it; the whole carriage with no horse thing makes me uneasy. I hope I can fly when I awaken so I don¡¯t have to ride in vehicles. Actually, a lot of people don¡¯t ride in vehicles because their superpower is faster.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ---A few minutes of speeding to the town center later--- ¡°Hurry up guys we¡¯re late!¡± We hustling after Mom and find ourselves in a bustling room full of Moms and a bunch of other kids that look around Daniel¡¯s age. We quickly funnel into the building and find a corner in the packed room. There appeared to be an auditorium where everything was being held but space in the room disappeared long ago. For a couple more minutes everyone kept on talking until suddenly the loudspeaker came on with a screech. ¡°Hello everyone I hope you are as happy and excited as I am to be here! Because today is the day your child awakens to his or her true potential and starts on their road success.¡± *Cheers* even my mom and dad started cheering, but that only made Daniel more nervous and quite frankly it made me nervous. Does this event determine your entire life? ¡°Okay everyone settle down we are going to try to get through as everyone as fast as possible because we all know how tedious it can be waiting for your child to come up. Like every year we are going to be going through everyone by random choice.¡± ¡°I hear they actually didn¡¯t use to go by random choice but through everyone''s last names alphabetically, but then everyone started choosing last names that began with ¡®A¡¯ and everything got confusing when two kids with the same first name and last name got called up.¡± My sister whispers to my brother. Mom flicks Mia on the neck and returns her attention to the loudspeaker. ¡°Children when you come up to the stage all you have to do it touch the gem in the center of the podium and a card with the name of your power on it will be distributed to you. On the back of it will be a brief description of what your power does. Then please get off my stage because we have a lot of people waiting behind you. That is all.¡± ¡°Will Andre Beckham please come up to the page¡­¡± ---An Eternity Later--- ¡°Mom I got an S class power! It says I am an avatar master of all four¡­¡± A weird bald kid went practically screaming to his mom. A bunch of people looked at him in awe and a few of the school ambassadors went over to him to give him their card. My sister has fallen asleep in Dad¡¯s lap and it was Mom¡¯s turn to hold me. But she has been dangerously close to falling asleep and the only thing keeping her awake is Daniel¡¯s constant bantering. I for one am just excited to learn about all the possible powers. So far there have been powers from extending one¡¯s fingers to changing skin tone and some people have a power that needs an impossible condition to be met and is entirely useless. For example, there was this one dude who had super strength, but every time he wanted to activate his power he would have to eat an entire can of raw spinach. He pobably ate it straight from the can with no salt or anything *blegh*. ---Another Eternity Later--- ¡°And finally Daniel Thompson will you please come up to the podium.¡± Daniel¡¯s eyes flicker awake immediately as he hears his name and he gets up in a hurry. He looks both ways fast and the finally realizes what¡¯s happening. I chuckle in my head and watch him go up onto the podium. He reminds me a lot of Annette whenever he gets flustered like that which is kind of weird considering he¡¯s my brother. ¡°Mumma...mumma...mum...mummy.¡± I pinch Mom¡¯s cheeks to wake her up and point to the auditorium. She catches Daniel walking in there nervously just in time and gets up to follow him. She wakes everyone else up and we follow behind Daniel. Stopping at the bottom of the auditorium Daniel looks back at us and we all smile back towards him. Which probably looked weird coming from me. He gets up on stage and we watch him put his hand on the gemstone. It flashes brightly for a quick second and we all look in amazement, and the old man that was announcing the whole event just smiles in the background. He looks a little impatient, but that is really understandable. My brother pulls out his card and smiles at first but then frowns when he flips the card over to read the description. I feel my heart clench for him and I pray for it to not be anything too bad. Daniel jumps off the stage on the verge of tiers and rushes over to Mom. Mom is prepared and hands me off to Dad who promptly hands me off to Mia who hands me off to the ground. Sitting on my caboose I wonder what type of power Daniel got. Daniel rushes up to Mom hands his card to her and buries his head into her pants. While he drowns out his cries into Mom¡¯s pants Mom take the time to read the card. She looks shocked for a brief second then she reads the description and just smiles. ¡°Daniel stop your crying this instant.¡± Mom commands Daniel and Daniel follows suit almost instantly. ¡°Mmm.¡± She smiles at Daniel. ¡°I always knew you were my smart little boy.¡± ¡°Mmmhm¡± The only thing that has ever been able to consistently make Daniel smile often is Mom. She always seems to know what to say to the hyper-attentive boy to take his mind off things. I never had a wife to help take of Annette but I¡¯m sure if I did she¡¯d have known just what to say as Mom does now too. Looking around from the floor I see the man approach us and introduce himself. ¡°Hello everyone I¡¯m Mr. Wyatt and who may you all be?¡± He said politely while looking at us with a courteous smile. ¡°I¡¯m Annette this is Harold and these are my to children.¡± Oh that is fucked. That is so fucked. I never knew her name was Annette what the fuck. Everyone always just called her Mom, why is this bomb being dropped on me now of all times? Seriously though that¡¯s fucked. ¡°Go on kids introduce yourselves.¡± ¡°H-hi I¡¯m Mia Thompson.¡± ¡°Hello I am Daniel Thompson.¡± ¡°TOM!¡± I yell out in my baby voice while laughing and giggling eliciting a few chuckles at my baby antics. I really am a good actor by the way; having to act nice around the people you hate for years tends to help your skills. The old man just laughs and starts talking to mom. ¡°These are quite the kids you¡¯ve got Annette.¡± ¡°Yes I know¡­¡± I zone them out and realize the stage has been left completely unattended to. I look back at the family and see them all distracted, Mom¡¯s talking to old dude, Dad¡¯s asleep, and Daniel and Mia are talking about his power. Which appeared to be some mind enhancement thing. I look back to the stage and see that gemstone unattended. It would be a shame if I didn¡¯t at least try to see what my power is right? I¡¯ve waited here for so long so there is no point in waiting any longer to see what my power is. I give the go ahead for operation roll to the cool gem and see what my powers are and I proceed to discretely roll down the amphitheater type auditorium hallways until I come to a crashing halt. I realize I¡¯m at the bottom of the stage and I need to somehow climb up on top. Looking up the stage looks so much higher than it did before but that doesn¡¯t stop me. I roll over to the stairs as fast as I can. Which is pretty slow. I look back and see that everyone is still distracted, but the old man looks likes he¡¯s getting tired of talking to Mom. Looking up the steps they look humongous but at least these are plausible. I reach up both my arms onto the first step and use them to leverage the rest of my body on the step. Then...I pull my leg up onto the step. Oh no! My other leg weighs me down and I start slipping from the step! At the last second I clench my hand on the edge of the step and pull the rest of my body up. I¡¯m exhausted from the effort but I realize if I want this operation to succeed I have to act fast. I repeat the same steps with the other steps and I proceed without a hitch. I have become a stair climbing master. I go into rolling mode and barrel roll over to the podium. Now is the time for the true challenge. I have to climb up onto the podium and somehow touch the gemstone. Luckily for me, the announcer brought a chair to sit in while he announced stuff. I roll over to the chair and thankfully it too is of the rolly kind. I grab it by the middle piece and push it over to the desk. ¡°Huh? What was that?¡± everyone looks over confused as to where the sound of a rolling chair came from. I hold my breath and my heart is in my throat. I can hear my blood pumping in my ears. ¡°Must be nothing.¡± I somehow managed to roll the chair over to the podium in time and hide underneath it. Settling down and taking a deep breath I continue on my escapade. I grab one of the chair arms and use it to drag myself up to the next handlebar which gave me more leverage to pull myself up. I get up but now I¡¯m spinning. I stand up as slowly as possible and grab the podium. Spinning the chair I make the back part face towards the podium. Holding onto the podium I stepped onto the chair armrests and did my best to balance. But the chair seemed to want to spin out of control. I stand up on top of the chair backrest and use that to propel myself onto the podium. Looking at everyone in satisfaction I feel proud of myself. Considering I¡¯m only like one and a half years old this is quite the feat. I look down at the gem with pure unadulterated greed. And I can¡¯t help but reach out to touch my precious. ¡°Mom where did Tom go?¡± Daniel asks. ¡°Harold where did you put Tom?¡± Mom asks accusingly. ¡°With Mia.¡± ¡°Mia where¡¯s Tom?¡± Mia looks everywhere worriedly. She had only looked away fro a second where could a one year old have gone?! ¡°Ah! Up there on the podium!¡± Mia finally finds me but it¡¯s too late. I¡¯m already about to touch the stone. I touch the gemstone and it shines brightly. ¡°How in the world did that boy get up there?¡± Mr. Wyatt asks mystified. ¡°Tom get down from there right this instance! I am so sorry Mr. Wyatt that boy just cannot be kept in one place without disappearing.¡± Mom yells at me sounding quite scary in the amphitheater. ¡°It is quite alright Mrs. Thompson this actually happens often but usually with toddlers who are a little bit older. There¡¯s no big reason to worry about awakening children prematurely it¡¯s just a little dangerous. You know how it goes when toddlers get powers. Blow up this blow up that.¡± My Mom¡¯s face visibly paled as he said that and she ran over to me jumped on the stage and plucked me right off the podium. She looked at the slot that dispenses out the cards with the power and description on them and waited. Soon my card came out and she plucked it from the dispenser and brought it up to her eyes. Her eyes opened slightly wider and flipped it over to the other side. She just gasped and fainted on the stage. I am so absolutely fucked with this power. Goddammit curse me and my overactive:
Imagination
This is the power to create anything from your imagination as long as you understand all the basic properties of what you are creating. If you do not understand the properties all that will be created is a simple illusion that has no effect on any of the senses except sight. Beware this power is not just an active one but also a passive one. You cannot create matter that does not exist. Rank: SSS
Chapter 2: Nightmare ---Four Years in The Future--- ¡°Everybody to Mom¡¯s room Tom¡¯s having the slit-throat nightmare again! I don¡¯t know what edition of it though so proceed everywhere with caution!¡± Dan yelled as he sprinted down the hallway. Just like Daniel had said a girl with a slit throat walked slowly down the hallway with a ripped up teddy bear in hand. She appeared to be somewhere around nine years old and she is dressed in a pure white nightgown. On a closer look one would see blood stricken across the top of the gown. And what¡¯s even weirder is the girl appeared to not even have a face just an empty void where one once was. ¡°It¡¯s the ¡®Girl¡¯ Nightmare Edition everyone! Evacuate Mom¡¯s room that¡¯s where the girl will be congregating!¡± Daniel says as he makes a beeline for his room. As if practiced before everyone runs out of Mom¡¯s room and files into Daniel and Mia¡¯s. Daniel is the last one in and he closes the door softly behind him and slowly sits back against it. His heart pounding even though he¡¯s faced this nightmare so many times before. Just looking at that dead girl is enough to scare him to death. It¡¯s just impossible to get used to that. There are no footsteps to be heard in the hallway because Tom¡¯s illusions can¡¯t create sound, but somehow that makes it more terrifying. ¡°*Sob Sob* I just want to sleep is that so much to ask?! It¡¯s been three days and I have to sleep in school for christ sake! My teacher wants to move me down a level now! I used to be at the top of my class for fuck¡¯s sake!¡± Mia cries sobbing into her hands while Mom just comforts her. This time she doesn¡¯t know what to say, no one does. Since Tom awakened his power accidentally this family has taken a turn for the worse. It was cool at first; Tom created a lot of cool illusions, but then he fell asleep and our whole lives went to shit. We originally did not know this about Tom, but he has relentless nightmares, some of them so scary our minds have permanently wiped them from our brains. Most of them originate around this little girl. This creepy fucking girl that won¡¯t fucking get out of our house. Mom has to stay home with Tom all day making sure nothing happens so she quit her job. Funnily enough, Dad is actually doing much better at work. He doesn¡¯t seem to mind taking on the late-night shifts anymore. ¡°Why don¡¯t we just wake Tom up?¡± Dan asks with a wry smile on his face and everyone just glares at him. ¡°You fucking know what happens when we get near him while he sleeps you shit head.¡± Mia spits venom at Dan. ¡°Watch your language Mia! And Dan you do know what happens so don¡¯t ask again or you¡¯re gonna be on dish duty for the rest of the year. Everyone just relax and try to get sleep while I stand watch.¡± Mom says in her best calming voice, but her fear seeps into her voice all the same. She knows both of them probably won¡¯t be able to sleep tonight and it tears her apart. Tom''s nightmares are taking a toll on everyone; especially Mia. At least Daniel has his Mind Enhancement power which helps him deal with everything without getting too tired or stressed out. And Mom gets to sleep during the day somewhat and sometimes Dad doesn¡¯t even come home. Mia has no way to deal with Tom¡¯s illusions and she is getting closer to cracking every single day. Eventually everyone closes their eyes and falls asleep bunched up together on Daniel¡¯s bed. A hand floats straight through the door and next a completely blank face followed by a bloodied bunny. The little girl stands over them watching and not moving. Everyone feels the eyes of someone watching them while they sleep and they wake up feeling a deep instinctual fear. They jump awake and Daniel rushes over to the lights being the first to be able to think properly. He switches the light on and immediately runs for the door after he sees the bloody dead girl in front of him. He rips the door open and runs out of the room. ¡°No! No! No no no no no! Get out! Get out! You don¡¯t exist so just get out! Get out of my house!¡± Mia cries into her arms. Mia missed the days when she was doted after; when she was the prodigy A class power girl that could do no wrong. Everything was great until...until that monster came into the house. Until Tom came into her life she was happy. No she was even better than happy! She was so happy she couldn''t even describe it! Now her life is an endless nightmare. ¡°Honey calm down, we both know she isn¡¯t real; she can¡¯t hurt you in any way so try to calm down.¡± Mom soothes Mia but underneath the thin mask she wears it is obvious she is terrified. Deep down she understands that they can be hurt and have been. Deep down she knew she was going to have to make a decision to save her family from collapsing in on itself. Mom knew what she had to do but she really did not want to. She really, really, really did not want to. Mom takes Mia by the hand and stands up while covering her eyes. Then she looked at the demon girl and whispers soothing words to her daughter. Taking the first step forward her blood starts pumping. ¡®You don¡¯t exist¡¯ she repeats in her head. Looking at the open door she steels herself. She is going to have to be strong for her two children. Taking Mia she runs through the apparition as fast as possible. Getting through the Ghost took something akin to a mental weight off of Mom and she lets out an audible sigh. Taking her hand off of Mia she takes her sobbing daughter over to the living room and leaves her on the couch. Daniel is hiding under the couch and Mom realizes it¡¯s a bit dark so she walks over to the switch and looks down the hallway. She turns on the light and looks down the hallway. Her heart flutters because the girl is now staring directly at her from Mia and Daniel¡¯s doorway. The blood is draining from the girl¡¯s neck much faster now like a dam that had just been opened for the first time in years. Mom falls to her knees crying; she¡¯s finally had enough with this endless nightmare. In fact, she¡¯s had more than enough. The blood pool makes its way to Annette on her knees and surrounds her completely as she sobs. Mia and Daniel come over to her to comfort her and they too are surrounded by the blood. Smiling at her amazing children she stands up to bring them into a hug. They separate after a long while and they all stand next to each other petrified. They are covered in blood. Sticky, warm, viscous blood that they could feel and smell. ¡°Wha-What...AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!¡± Mia starts screaming and Daniel takes her and runs out of the apartment. Mom looks around her and at her bloody shaking hands. ¡°How does- How can he create blood? He¡¯s five. He can barely write properly, so how the fuck does he know the properties of blood? This should just be an illusion right?! Why does it feel so real?! He isn¡¯t even in first grade yet for fuck''s sake! That¡¯s it! That¡¯s fucking it! It¡¯s time the demon is kicked out of the house!¡± With unseen vigor appearing out of thin air Annette runs over to the kitchen and picks the home phone off the wall. She rips the number she¡¯s kept pinned to the corkboard for the past few months. Dialing in the number quickly she taps her foot waiting for them to pick up. ¡°Hello, this is the PCC how can we help you?¡± The operator lady finally picks up. ¡°Hi, uh can you put Mr. Hemsworth on please?¡± ¡°Of course just one second¡± The standby tune came on for a second only to be quickly shutoff as the other end was connected to Mr. Hemsworth. ¡°Julian...Please Julian I-¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Annette you¡¯ve finally come around haven¡¯t you.¡± ¡°Please Julian just help me. It''s Tom. He''s too much. I- I can''t take care of him anymore.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry Annette we will be taking it upon ourselves to treat your son with the utmost care. When can we come get him?¡± ¡°Now, get him now.¡± As if she just ran a mile Annette speaks through huffs and puffs. She could feel her throat constricting. Tears rolled down her face but she pushes onwards. She has to protect her children. ¡°Right now? It¡¯s one in the morning! You know that right?¡± ¡°Yes, please Julian. *Inhale* Just come get him.¡± ¡°Fine, Annette you won¡¯t regret this trust me. He will be cared for by the best facilities in the United States.¡± ¡°Julian.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Bring that girl who can nullify powers you¡¯re going to need her.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be there as soon as possible.¡± Then the phone line ended and all that was left was the blaring sound of a phone before it was returned to its dock. Annette fell to the ground and curled up into the fetal position. The phone sounded much better than her thoughts right now. Annette cried on the ground for an unknown amount of time before she heard a knock on the door. ¡°Annette it¡¯s me I¡¯m here with Corty. Your kids fell asleep in the hallway so I haven¡¯t woken them up, but it¡¯s not really okay for them to be sleeping there the ground is really dirty. Please let me in Annette it¡¯s rather depressing out here.¡± Annette got up and walked over to the door and unlocked the padlock then opened the door. Waving them in quickly she brought them over to the hallway. Annette never was one to beat around the bush. ¡°What the fuck! Annette where did all this blood come from?!¡± Julian backs up in surprise and Corty just keeps a stone face while looking around. ¡°The girl.¡± Annette points up to the figure they did not notice before and everyone cringes back even further. ¡°Tom managed to create tangible blood tonight somehow. He must have learned the properties of blood from the internet or something. Oh God Julian it¡¯s just so fucked up! Why would a five year old even be dreaming of stuff like this?¡± ¡°It does make you wonder doesn¡¯t it. From what I understand from your past calls these illusions are a by-product of his passive abilities and dreams. And looking at the state of you now these dreams must happen quite often. For a five year old to have nightmares like that every night...how does he cope with it?¡± ¡°He probably forgets them sir.¡± ¡°Doubt it. No one ever really forgets a nightmare. Not completely at least. Though that''s neither here nor there Corty lets go see how Tom is doing.¡± Julien said as he looked towards Annette to lead the way. Annette looks a little unwilling for a second but her face hardens and she walks halfway down the hallway not even paying the blood any mind. Or at least if she did she didn¡¯t show it on her face. Stopping at Tom¡¯s door she opens the door and then walks behind Corty and Julian. As if using them to protect herself from something. Julian and Corty look in the small dark room and can¡¯t see anything so Julian pulls out his phone to light up the place. Julian falls back in fright and Corty lets out a surprised squeal but remains standing up. The same girl in the hallway appeared in front of him but this time with a noose around her neck. Many more apparitions filled up the room leaving Tom just barely visible in his bed. All of them appear to have some form of a fatal wound and blood is spewing out of the opened doorway. ¡°This is much, much worse than I had originally thought.¡± Julien said while standing up with the help of Annette. ¡°*cough* Corty please use your power and we will be on our way.¡± Julian seemed to finally realize the urgency of this situation and did his best to suppress his instinctual fear. ¡°Yessir¡± Corty extended her hands outwards and clapped her hands. As if nothing was there the apparitions disappeared into nonexistence¡­ ¡°J-just like that? All she had to do is clap?¡± Annette looked around in amazement and realized that the blood still remained. It really is real blood. ¡°Actually she didn¡¯t even have to clap. She just likes to put on a show for the guests. Corty go wake up Tom.¡± ¡°No don¡¯t! Don¡¯t wake him up. I don¡¯t have anything to say to him and even if I did it wouldn¡¯t be right for me to tell him anything. He¡¯ll be better off thinking I hate him.¡± ¡°Are you sure? This could be the last time you see him. You know how the PCC is with people like your son. Letting him out is potentially dangerous it would be hard to get him anywhere off campus.¡± Julian said with a concerned look on his face. ¡°...yes I am completely sure.¡± Annette said somberly. ¡°If you say so. Corty go pick up Tom we need to get out of here fast so we can fill out all the paperwork by morning time.¡± Corty went over to Tom and surprising gently lifted him up and draped him over her shoulder. Then she quickly left the room and met up with Julian and Annette in the hallway. ¡°Annette, you are sure about this?¡± ¡°Yes...just please take him and go I can¡¯t bear to look at him any longer. Just take him and get out of my sight.¡± Annette said while wiping tears from her eyes. Annette tried to put on the fascade of hatred but she could never hate her baby boy. She couldn''t but she had to try for the sake of her family. ¡°Whatever you say Annette. Corty lets move out we have work to do.¡± ¡°Yessir.¡± Corty headed towards the door and waited for Julian there. ¡°Annette you will not regret this decision I promise you.¡± Julian gave one last look at Annette and headed towards the door leaving Annette to cry by herself. All alone. In the hallway, Julian and Corty silently passed by the sleeping bodies of Daniel and Mia. Because of some strange instinct, Daniel woke up in time to see the two figures enter an elevator and hit a button. When he looked closer through the dim elevator lights he saw that a figure was slouched over the woman¡¯s shoulder. A small figure. ¡®Tom!¡¯ the elevator closed sending Daniel into darkness. Standing up Daniel ran for the stairway and banged through the push doorway. Jumping down the first stairway expertly then sliding down on the railings for the rest he made it down to the bottom floor in expert time. But he was too late. He saw the figures enter a van parked out front and chased after them. He ran over to the door and pushed it open but by the time he got there the car had already started up. The van started leaving so Daniel chased after it but Daniel stubbed his toe on the sidewalk in his haste. Falling down he looked up and all he saw was the van leaving, but suddenly there was a flash of light from another car and it managed to highlight the license plate. The numbers Daniel read that night were numbers that Daniel would never forget. In the van, Julien and Corty were talking. ¡°Corty give the boy some anesthesia in case he wakes up. We don¡¯t want him learning about our super secret hideout now do we.¡± ¡°Oh shut up you bastard. Wake me up at one in the morning again and I¡¯ll slit your throat. You¡¯re lucky the boss approves of this operation. And you realize we technically just kidnapped a child right?¡± "Just do what you¡¯re told Corty. We are doing Annette a favor alright. Yes we are gonna benefit greatly from the boy but it is still a favor none the less. Plus it is true that only our facilities can contain a boy of his likes. She would have cracked eventually if it wasn¡¯t for us.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah whatever you need to say to sleep at night .¡± Corty said as she injected the sleeping boy with some mysterious liquid. ¡°Just be quiet until we get back to the base.¡± "..." "You got scared back there didn''t you?" ¡°Fuck you Hemsworth.¡± ---Unknown Time Later Location Unkown--- ¡®Ugh what the fuck. Why does my head hurt so fucking much?¡¯ I reach up to cover my mouth when I yawn like I do every morning, but something keeps my hands down. Opening my eyes only to cringe back from a light that seems to be directed right at my face. Slowly opening my eyes I look down this time and see my hands are bound to a metallic chair with leather straps. ¡®Kinky¡¯. Looking up I see an empty chair where I assumed someone would be sitting soon. ---Like five hours later--- I was wrong about the soon part holy fuck. I wonder what this room is used for? I hope mom didn¡¯t sell me to some human traffickers or something because if she did I¡¯m gonna be pissed. Suddenly the door slams open and I see a grinning middle aged man walk into the room. ¡®That¡¯s never a good thing.¡¯ ¡°Hello Tom! I¡¯m sure you¡¯re very confused right now. And you are certainly entitled to be, but be rest assured you are in caring hands. Now without further ado welcome to PCC otherwise known as ¡®Power Control Center¡¯ let us have fun learning how to control your powers together!¡± ''At least he has pzazz...I guess.'' Chapter 3: Interrogation ---Unknown Time Later Location Unkown--- ¡®Ugh what the fuck. Why does my head hurt so fucking much?¡¯ I reach up to cover my mouth when I yawn like I do every morning, but something keeps my hands down. Opening my eyes only to cringe back from a light that seems to be directed right at my face. Slowly opening my eyes I look down this time and see my hands are bound to a metallic chair with leather straps. ¡®Kinky¡¯. Looking up I see an empty chair where I assumed someone would be sitting soon. ---Like five hours later--- I was wrong about the soon part holy fuck. I wonder what this room is used for? I hope mom didn¡¯t sell me to some human traffickers or something because if she did I¡¯m gonna be pissed. Suddenly the door slams open and I see a grinning middle aged man walk into the room. ¡®That¡¯s never a good thing.¡¯ Last time a middle aged man barged into my room while I was strapped to a chair...nevermind I don''t think I like where I''m going with that. ¡°Hello Tom! I¡¯m sure you are very confused right now. And you are certainly entitled to be, but be rest assured you are in caring hands. Now without further ado welcome to PCC otherwise known as ¡®Power Control Center¡¯ let us have fun learning how to control your powers together!¡± Jeez this man sounds like a total jank. ---A Few Snarky Comments in the Future--- ¡°Tom do you understand why you¡¯re here?¡± ¡°I¡¯d have to assume my mom gave me up.¡± If everything went as I had planned at least. Honestly Mom held on a lot longer than I had thought. I knew the blood would be too much for her and push her over the edge. I hope Daniel wasn¡¯t too upset when I was taken away. He always was my favorite sibling. Its too bad my nightmares started coming back. ¡°You talk quite eloquently for a five year old you know that Tom. Anyways I¡¯m personally sorry to be the one to tell you that you were given up. Your powers are out of control and need to be reigned properly so no one else gets hurt.¡± ¡°Sure, but I don¡¯t believe that my power can be controlled. That¡¯s the drawback of it. That¡¯s its counter-weight that keeps my power balanced.¡± ¡°Tom there is always a way to control your power. Passive effect or not. That¡¯s not a motivational speech either it¡¯s fact. And Tom I¡¯m sorry to say this but you might never see the light of day again if you don¡¯t learn to control your powers. You''re a hazard Tom. A danger to society to be exact.¡± The weird man said while keeping his strange smile plastered on his face. He seemed to be trying to get a message through to me but I¡¯m more concerned about Mom. I must¡¯ve had a pretty bad nightmare for it to be the one that finally broke mom. I look up at the man and nod with a deadpan face. This man¡¯s face pisses me off for some reason because it reminds me of the *cough cough* late king¡¯s from back at my old world. It is a little younger and he has a shorter hair cut but his face looks the same; like a mask he wears fake emotions on his face. ¡°So what will I be doing here?¡± It kinda pisses me off how high pitched my voice sounds when I speak. Sometimes I forget I¡¯m only five. ¡°Starting off with the important questions I see. Well there are many various things you will be doing while you stay here. However you probably won¡¯t be able to start most of the other courses and join the other kids because of how young you are. You will be starting our basic education package course. Anything past that may be dangerous so we are still deciding. Anything else you need to ask?¡± ¡°Will I ever be able to leave the compound?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re a good boy and follow your orders possibly.¡± He says with his fake grin growing a little larger and a little faker. I¡¯m never gonna get out of here if I don¡¯t do something. ¡°Mr that doesn¡¯t work for me so I¡¯m gonna leave ¡®kay?¡± For the first time in a while I imagine and actively use my power. I imagine myself disappearing right in front of his eyes and look at him with a dumb smirk on my face. Oh what a dumb smirk it really was. ¡°Tom are you trying to do something right now? I hope you aren¡¯t trying to use your power because you¡¯re only making yourself look like an idiot. Also it is a criminal offense to use your powers against anyone in this building because this is a government-run facility. If you were trying to use your power right now it is very possible you¡¯d get sent to the cold box.¡± Suddenly the air in the room grows cold and I feel the man¡¯s eyes bore into my soul. My breath grows a little ragged and the subtle hints he''s given me became very clear. Don¡¯t use your power when I don¡¯t want you to. Seeing how this ordeal went they must have someone or something which can nullify powers. ¡°If you are wondering we have power energy sensors in the building that work round the clock to make sure no one uses their powers... let''s say, out of line.¡± There goes my second question. The hum from the light becomes very clear and at the forefront of my thoughts. ¡®Was getting myself kicked out of Mom¡¯s house a good idea? Yes! She would have gone crazy if I didn¡¯t and it¡¯s not like I need to be raised twice. But what¡¯s going to happen to me here? I thought Mom would have put me up for adoption or something but apparently, she sent me to this freaky place.¡¯ Doubts plague my mind and for the first time in my new life my life seemed to be in genuine risk. I calm myself once more and look back to the man this time with cold eyes which hadn¡¯t been there before. Feeling anger rise up and fester into frustration I struggle against the straps that bind my arms and legs to the chair. *Clank* I fall over on my side in my fit of anger, but that just makes me angrier and I struggle even more and I kick the table from my position on the ground. The table pushes into the man and his grin grows to a feral one. My face is bright red but all the color might as well had drained from it. ¡°A feisty one aren¡¯t you. I thought you were more mature than trying to pull something like that. But I guess you really are still a kid. Don¡¯t worry that will change.¡± He slowly stands up and walks over to me. Glaring at him as he towers over me I feel like spitting on him but I know that will just dig my trench deeper.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Get out of the chair within two hours or you¡¯re going in the cold box for a week.¡± His voice finally turns cold and the mask is lifted. The demon beneath is revealed for what it truly is. He pulls a card out of his pocket and places it on top of the table. Then he pulls a similar one and walks over to the door and looks back at me. ¡°You may just be a young boy who is caught up in his own imagination, but everyone who comes in this building has to learn who''s boss. I¡¯m the boss kid. Not you. So next time you have a fit like that and wrinkle my brand new suit again...well let us just say there won¡¯t be a next time.¡± He exits the room leaving me alone with myself. The door burst open again. ¡°I forgot to tell you kid. You can¡¯t use magic. Usually you would be allowed to but you pissed me off. Remember who not to fuck with kid. Times a ticking you better get to work.¡± ¡°Fu-¡± ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I fucking thought.¡± ¡®Two hours. I have two hours to get out of these straps, but how?! There were five straps holding me to the chair in total. One on my chest and the rest were on my ankles and wrists. They were all tightened to the max tightness they could go, and I can feel the leather digging into my skin. I thrash againsrt them again with renewed vigor but all that does is dig them farther into my skin. The cold floor grinds against my skin like sand paper. I try to jostle myself out of them but it takes what seems like an hour for me to realize I¡¯m not getting anywhere. Hopelessness finds its grip in my heart but I struggle anyway because I¡¯m afraid. Afraid of whatever punishment that sick man is gonna doll out for me. Something tells me if I don¡¯t out of this chair fast my time in the ¡®cold box¡¯ is not going to be fun. This is probably punishment for being a murderer in a past life. My wrists and ankles are bleeding but I¡¯ve still gotten nowhere at all. ¡°This is pointless just let me out! I won¡¯t use my powers wrongly again just let me out!¡± Desperation tugs at my mind and makes me writhe in my chair. ¡®What if I used my power? No! The sensors! But how does one sense power¡¯s do they have specific energy? If so I haven¡¯t heard of it. Is he testing me to see if I¡¯m smart enough to use my power? No that¡¯s dumb. It doesn¡¯t even matter my powers won¡¯t work in here! My thoughts are so fucking jumbled! Ah¡¯ I take a deep breath and assess my situation and like most of goals in life. It¡¯s bleak. My weak five year old muscles aren¡¯t strong enough to rip out of these straps but maybe...maybe I could dislocate my wrists or something. I think I saw someone do that in a movie once to escape a hostage senario. So I should be fine, movies seemed to be mostly trustworthy I think. My consolations are complete bullshit and I know it but I don¡¯t see any other way to get out of these cursed straps. I tug my hand as hard as I can and it soon starts to burn as the muscles and joints are pulled but I don¡¯t concede. I pull so hard that I can feel the muscles in my hand tear like a guitar getting its strings plucked. But I grit through it and black spots start to fill my vision. I pull harder and I feel my wrist start to separate from where it is supposed to be but some animalistic urge pushes me onward. I pull even harder and my hand completely dislocates from my wrist making it flop downwards. My hand feels like it has a hydraulic press is pushing down on it harder and harder slowly cracking my hand to bits every time I even move it. The animalistic urge to break free from my bonds leaves me and all that is left is ceaseless pain. ¡°Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck! Holy shit! Fuck!¡± My brain goes haywire and I want to spasm out in ain but it holds me firmly down. All I can feel is the pain in my right wrist nothing else, not the cold ground, not my torn up skin, not anything. Just the endless pain. I desperately wish to pass out but I get no such reprieve. I have to lay there in my own puddle of tears crying trying to down out my pain but it does not leave. The worst part is; is that my hands dislocated in a different way than I expected! Instead of being pushed inwards to the point that my fingers pop out of the socket instead, my entire hand dislocated from my wrist making it entirely useless to me. I can¡¯t even move my hand anymore and I don¡¯t want to try to either. It seems to be hours that I lay there in pain though I know it has probably been around thirty minutes and my suffering has not ended. I have a puddle of bloody tears around my body and my left palm is all cut up from my fingernails digging into it. Time feels like it has dilated to the point where seconds are each an eternity that drags on forever. The door opens and two new figures walk in this time. ¡°Look what we have here Corty! The little trouble maker, Julian was so pissed at you man I can¡¯t believe he didn¡¯t allow you to use your powers. Haha well that¡¯s your fault anyway so what do I care.¡± The man walks over to me and crouches above me and I try to stare daggers but even shifting my body sends me into agony. ¡°You really fucked up kid you know that boy. No one gets to skip punishment around here not even the kiddies. It¡¯s too bad the rules are so strict around here.¡± What did I even fucking do? Hurt some random old dudes feelings? What kind of bullshit is this! I don¡¯t deserve this. Why didn¡¯t I just stay dead? Why the fuck does God have to pull this bullshit on me and reincarnate me? First he takes my daughter then he fucks up my next childhood because I haven¡¯t already been traumatized enough. What a fucking cuck! ¡®What am I even talking about at this point? My life sucks.¡¯ ¡°Corty come pick up the kid we need to bring him to the cold, and fix whatever the dunce did to his hand.¡± The woman named Corty walks over to me and bends down next to me and undos all my straps. I scream out in pain as she undoes my wrist strap and cry out as she lifts me up and put me on the hard metallic table. ¡°Kid you should ball up and bite your shirt this is gonna be a stinger.¡± Before I even get to do as she says she grabs me by the wrist and jams my hand back into the socket. I scream out in pain but my voice sounds distant for some reason and black spots start filling up my vision. My eyes don¡¯t feel heavy or anything but they close unwillingly. Then everything goes blank. ---An Unknown Amount of Time Later--- I open my eyes and instantly I become painfully aware of how painfully cold and dark things are. I must be in the cold box. I rub my arms and think aloud. ¡°This isn¡¯t too bad.¡± For some reason an alarm goes off in my head as I say that but I can¡¯t quite understand why. ¡°Well newbie, that¡¯d be because they haven¡¯t turned on the A/C yet. But don¡¯t worry it will get sufficiently cold to your satisfaction. If you want I can give you a few ice packs to make your experience that much better.¡± A deep sarcastic voice echoes through the room we were in. From where I can¡¯t tell it is much too dark, but I can clearly see the annoying smirk he has on his face even without seeing him directly. ¡°When will they be turning it on?¡± ¡°Friday at noon.¡± ¡°What day is it today?¡± ¡°Friday. ¡°What time?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know precisely but I was thrown in here an hour ago when it was eleven so I¡¯d say just about noon time.¡± ¡°You gotta be kidding.¡± The faint sound of A/C units starts humming extremely loud throughout the dark chamber. ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°God dammit.¡± Chapter 4: Bloody-Hell ---An Unknown Amount of Time Later--- I open my eyes and instantly I become painfully aware of how painfully cold and dark things are. I must be in the cold box. I rub my arms and think aloud. ¡°This isn¡¯t too bad.¡± For some reason an alarm goes off in my head as I say that but I can¡¯t quite understand why. ¡°Well newbie, that¡¯d be because they haven¡¯t turned on the A/C yet. But don¡¯t worry it will get sufficiently cold to your satisfaction. If you want I can give you a few ice packs to make your experience that much better.¡± A deep sarcastic voice echoes through the room we were in. I look around looking for a face but I can¡¯t tell where he is it much too dark. However I can clearly see the annoying smirk he has on his face even without being able to see him at all. In fact I don''t even think I can see my hand even though I''m holding them right in front of my eyes. ¡°When will they be turning it on?¡± ¡°Friday at noon.¡± ¡°What day is it today?¡± ¡°Friday. ¡°What time?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know precisely but when you were thrown in here it was around eleven." ¡°You gotta be kidding.¡± Suddenly the temperature in the room drops drastically and I here a slitght chuckle echo all around me. The fucking bastard if I ever see him I''ll wrangle him. Well I probably wouldn''t do that but I''m not going to be nice to him! ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Goddammit.¡± ¡°S-so wh-why are you i-in here?¡± I ask while holding my arms close to my body in an attempt to keep myself warm. It proves futile but I continue to do it anyways. My now ¡®fixed¡¯ dislocated wrist does not hurt anymore on account of my entire going numb and now it just exists as an annoying dull throb. This ¡®cold box¡¯ probably would have been called an ¡®ice box¡¯ if that name wasn¡¯t already taken. I can¡¯t see my hands or feet but I¡¯m sure if I could see them they¡¯d be completely blue. ¡°Keep to yourself Newbie that¡¯s the first thing you know when you get brought to a place like this. And secondly, don¡¯t ask why. Just don¡¯t do it; no one likes a prying mind.¡± ¡°W-why c-can you s-speak n-n-normally?¡± ¡°Kid what did I just tell you!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Experience. I¡¯ve been here for quite the while Newbie. My body has adjusted and your¡¯s hasn¡¯t that¡¯s all. Plus I¡¯ve got some meat on me and you¡¯re a fucking twig.¡± ¡°How can you see me in this darkness?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Right, no q-questions.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Just one m-more. H-how do you g-get out of this p-place? PCC I mean.¡± I don¡¯t want to stay in this place forever. I want to explore and do stuff I hadn¡¯t been able to do in my past life not be stuck in some government-run facility again. Well last time I was there intentionally but it is all the same really. ¡°*sigh* There are two ways to leave Newbie. Become strong enough that the entirety of PCC operatives can¡¯t contain you anymore. In which case the SF would send in there legendary S-class team to turn you to smithereens. And the other way is to be sent on a mission by the PCC council which is much more plausible but still unlikely.¡± And here I just thought my mom would give me up to some orphanage but no she had to give me to these psychopaths. Getting out of this building with my power is probably possible, no it is probably easy, but what after that. The fucking Special Forces would be after me along with everyone else. From the looks of it they''d make me out to be a villain nationwide. And I¡¯m definitely not doing any mission for these fugly bastards either. Ah I give up for now. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be escaping here anytime soon. Who knows maybe this place isn''t so bad. ¡°Man g-guess wha, y-ou need to do?¡± My tongue has started to get numb. ¡°You said that was the last question!¡± ¡°C-chill out.¡± I chuckle this time. I''m goddamn hilarious. ¡°That¡¯s awfully brave of you to say when you''re in stabbing range.¡± Wait how close is he? It¡¯s hard to tell because his voice echoes in this room so much. Oh dear God I better not actually be in stabbing range. What does it matter I¡¯m probably gonna freeze to death anyway. "J-just k-k-kiding." I feel the coldness encroach on my joints making them stiff And I try to open my mouth once more but it has been frozen shut. This is like swimming in a pool in the winter except you can¡¯t leave the pool and the only way for you to get used to it is for you to go so numb your body turns purple. My...my head seems to be going numb too. Everything; why is everything so slow? I think I¡¯m gonna rest my eyes for a second. I think I¡¯m just gonna go to sleep. ---The dude¡¯s perspective--- ¡®I can¡¯t believe they¡¯ve sent a kid. A fucking kid! Why in the world would he need to be sent to a facility such as this and at such a young age at that? And worse yet they sent him here immediately! He must be a little demon for them to already be using fear tactics like this. Poor kid probably thinks he¡¯s gonna die. He won¡¯t I¡¯ll make sure to that; it''s the least I can do for him.¡¯ I raise the temperature in the box to a little above thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit just barely above the freezing point not allowing him to catch frostbite. Technically I¡¯m supposed to go beneath the freezing point but this newbie hasn¡¯t even gone through basic training yet. I almost feel bad for the poor kid. Almost.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. My shackles have long since frozen over and become extremely fragile yet I don¡¯t break them. They aren¡¯t used to keep me in here, in my prison cell, they are used to remind me of my weakness and my inability. They are used to symbolize what happens to people when they try to betray the system. Power(s), status, wealth, but especially power is all that matters here. I wish I could tell the kid myself, but it would be smacking him in the face pretty soon anyway. Actions show and words only tell so I figure it¡¯s for the best. Rankings and Crystals, all the made up systems of suppression they have, oh I remember the good days so well. How fucking pointless it all was. It pisses me off just thinking about it. Dozing off I sleep lightly and extremely vigilant just like I was taught to by my fellow ''peers''. A cold shiver runs down my spine for the first time in my life and my hairs stand up on end. My eyes flash open and I scan the room only to find the kid standing. ¡®Strange.¡¯ ¡°Hey, what are you doing?¡± No response the figure just stays still standing there motionless. ¡°I said what are you doi-¡± I notice another smaller figure sleeping right near the girl. If the boy is sleeping then who the fuck is that? Cautiously I stand up but the terror that would usually accompany someone when they find an unwelcomed guest in their residence does not accompany me. I¡¯ve grown quite numb. I get closer and see that the figure is actually a short girl with semi-long black hair and oddly enough a nightgown and a teddy bear. Not clothes you¡¯d wear when coming into a place like this. Getting closer to her she appeared to be saying something but nothing is coming out of her mouth. Kind of like trying to speak in a dream. ¡°Girl, whatcha¡¯ doing in a place like this? I didn¡¯t see Corty come by with any new inmates.¡± I speak out to the girl with an edge to my voice, but she doesn¡¯t seem to respond. ¡°Hey,-¡± I reach out to shake her to see if she would come to but instead of feeling the fabric of her nightgown my hand swept directly through her. ¡°An illusion? Is that your power kid?¡± Ask to no one in particular because the boy is dead asleep. ¡®Is this why he was brought here?! An illusion power? There¡¯s no way the PCC would go through the trouble to get a kid like him just for a lame illusion-type power!¡¯ As I was thinking I looked back up to her face. Everything on her is insanely detailed there was virtually no way to tell her apart from a real human girl. Which is pretty amazing but it¡¯s not enough to warrant the PCC¡¯s attention. What are they after here? I sigh and realize it¡¯s none of my business. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m leaving here any time soon; I still got at least twenty-five more years to go before I get my three-day vacation. Studying the girl¡¯s face suddenly it widens into a scream clearly mouthing the words ¡®Help me!¡¯ Her figure sits down in mid-air all of the sudden as if she was pushed there. And she stares at her wrists as if they are being gripped. She struggles against whatever imaginary grip she has on her arms until she tires. Tears stream down her face as she waves her head back in forth as if to say no to someone. Out of nowhere her mouth opens into a piercing wail that I could almost hear even though there was actually no sound in the room. Her finger bends back slowly and then in an extremely fast motion is crushed backwards completely. Her finger just rests on her hand loosely bound only by her fingers tendons. ¡®Dear God I¡¯m watching someone getting tortured. And honestly it is kind of intriguing. I can see how someone would be scared shit-less though.¡¯ The skin on her arm suddenly picks up and is turned into something like confetti all over the place. Like a cheese grater was dragged across her arm. All her fingers are bent back completely broken and the skin on her arm appears to have been grated to the bone with blood pouring everywhere. All of her teeth were ripped out slowly and painfully and half her skull appeared to have been cut open and then cauterized shut. Her toes were snipped in the spaces between each toe and her Achilles was cut. Every part of her body was tortured and it was kinda the coolest thing I had ever witnessed in my life. The illusion suddenly disappeared just as the newbie started shivering awake. ¡®Maybe his power is related to dreams or maybe nightmares?¡¯ The boy sits up and looks around with much difficulty none the wiser that I¡¯m standing right in front of him. What a weird young dude to be having dreams like that. I guess everyone is sort of fucked up in here though. I notice my feet feel wet like I stepped in a puddle or something. ¡®But there¡¯s nothing close to a liquid in here. Unless¡­¡¯ I kneel down quietly trying my best not to alert the kid of my presence. I rub my finger in whatever substance I seemed to be stepping in and brought it up to my nose. I take a deep whiff and the sweet smell of metallic coppery goodness pervades my nostrils. ¡°Blood. Kid, you can create blood from your dreams.¡± The kid looks like he wants to speak but he must be too weak from the cold that¡¯s been seeping into his body for the past one and a half days. Thinking about it for a second my curiosity wins me over so I raise the temperature just high enough to be above freezing cold. Waiting for the kid makes me impatient, I know the punishment I¡¯d be receiving if they caught me pulling a stunt like this. And it¡¯s not good. ¡°C¡¯mon kid hurry up and say what you were gonna say.¡± ¡°Y-you were technically right.¡± ¡°Technically.¡± ¡°My p-power is p-passive and active.¡± Suddenly he lifts up his finger and blood shoots out of his finger like a power jet. It sprinkles all over him and I look at him in a little awe. Powers that create something from nothing are quite rare. ¡°Very funny Newbie. I guess I can see why you were brought here now.¡± I say with a deadpan face. ¡®If his power is passive does that mean he doesn¡¯t have control of it sometimes or always. But then why isn¡¯t blood just shooting out everywhere. Maybe it only activates when he thinks about blood.¡¯ ¡°Hey Newbie what¡¯re you gonna do about all this blood everywhere?¡± Seriously I wonder what they would do if they found frozen blood everywhere. ¡°I dunno.¡± The five year old kid said dumbly. As if the blood had nothing whatsoever to do with him. ¡°You gotta clean it up somehow before breakfast time or else you¡¯re dead meat.¡± The urgency is lacking in my voice but I am quite serious. A student is not allowed to use their power in here and I¡¯m supposed to stop them. The only reason magic is even usable in here is because they need me to use my power to change the temperature. I looked over to the boy and he appeared to be in deep thought while staring off into space. ¡°Do you know what water is made of?¡± ¡®What a weird question.¡¯ ¡°Yeah...why do you wanna know?¡± ¡°J-just tell me.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me what to do Newbie.¡± This kid is strange and has no sign of restraint. That¡¯s dangerous in a place like this, very much so. ¡°Do you w-want me to clean this place or not?¡± He¡¯s also really sarcastic, but that isn¡¯t really a negative attribute to have in this facility. It helps with coping with stuff trust me I would know. ¡°It has two hydrogens and one oxygen. Its chemical formula is H2O. Is that what you want to know?¡± ¡°H-how do they bond with other water molecules?¡± ¡°Oh for crying out loud how am I supposed to describe that?!¡± ¡°You got this.¡± He put his thumb up in the air with a smirk I wonder if this is related to his power. I spent the next hour trying to describe how a water molecule bonds with other water molecules with little success. But eventually he seemed to catch on to what I was getting at. He just looked at me with a huge smile; somehow he had located me through the shadows I had been hiding in. ¡°Wat-er you waiting for it¡¯s time to get to work.¡± Chapter 5: American Water Torture
Material: Water Has Been Added To Your Object List
¡®*sigh* One more problem to deal with is added to my ongoing list. There¡¯s a fundamental problem with me learning too much because if my imagination ever gets out of check which it undoubtedly will there¡¯s more of a chance I¡¯ll be fucked. For example, let''s say that I never learned the properties of anything then there would be no problem and I would just make some gnarly scenarios, but they would only be mere illusions. But let''s say I learned the properties of a rock and then let''s say I daydreamed about a meteor coming straight for Earth. It would be a catastrophe. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t learn things most people can in this world.'' Creating stuff is easy after it is registered in my Object List almost too easy. Its as if a new part of my mind is opened up and a new animalistic instinct is formed; whatever I want is at the command of my imagination. If whatever I want is made of water and fake blood of course. ¡°Don¡¯t keep me waiting Newbie you won¡¯t like me when I¡¯m angry.¡± His voice sounds deep and loud in this metal container of a room. I just sigh a little and get to work; it''s not like he''s wrong it is my fault that there is blood everywhere. I can¡¯t see where anything is making it hard to aim, but that doesn¡¯t really matter to me because my power knows no limits. My imagination might be that of an old man¡¯s but it is still easy to imagine things up; it never really gets harder it just seems like that because life gets more and more dreadful. I imagine a huge hose of water shooting out water in front of me hyper-pressurized like the one in the videos I saw on Yuptube when I was bored. The sound of a huge water jet appeared in front of me resounding through my head as if a flooded dam was suddenly opened. I feel the prickles of the water on my skin but I continue imagining the water in my head. I am the jet stream at the ground but make sure to get the walls too. Last time I experimented with blood I ended up getting my whole room messy from top to bottom. If I lose concentration the jet will stop. But still thoughts like ¡®What would happen if I imagined a great big oce-¡¯ Nope, don¡¯t go down that road Tom! I''m just saying thoughts plague my mind incessantly. It¡¯s so hard to concentrate for that reason. Not really tiring or mentally draining but it¡¯s just hard to imagine something in your head and focus on it. It¡¯s like trying to imagine your mom¡¯s face and then trying to draw the face in your head. You can see your mom¡¯s head perfectly but when you try to draw her suddenly she becomes a jumble of shapes. ¡°Hey kid bring it down a notch you¡¯re gonna blast a hole in the wall!¡± He yells out but his voice is muffled out by the sound of the water jet. ¡°Huh? Bring it up a notch?¡± I didn¡¯t realize this place is that big no wonder his voice echoes so loudly. I imagine the water shooting out faster and the illusionary hose becoming slimmer effectively pressuring the water harder forward. ¡°Kid stop it your about to bre-!¡± ¡°What are you trying to tell me it¡¯s too loud in here?!¡± ¡°...Water!...¡± ¡°If you say so!¡± I imagine the water going even faster. ¡®There must be a lot of blood for me to need to make this much water.¡¯ I change direction every once in a while to make sure to get all of it. *Creak* What¡¯s that? *CREEEEAAAAK!* *Boom* suddenly light floods into the room and I am once again blinded by a really bright light. Shielding my eyes I look down. I¡¯m gonna be blind by the end of this I swear. ¡°Dude what the fuck why did you tell me I needed to make more water?!¡± ¡°Newbie what the fuck I told you to stop why¡¯d you keep going?! We¡¯re so fucked, we are so absolutely screwed to oblivion! When Corty comes down for breakfast she¡¯ll see this and eat us for lunch!¡± I look over to see a man that appeared to be either in his twenties or late teens, with a scar dragging down from behind his ear and to his Adam''s apple. He sports a mop of a haircut and a scrappy beard and he is quite short looking to only being around five seven. He appeared to work out a lot though, probably cause he¡¯s insecure or something. My eyes grow used to the glaring light a little bit and I look through the hole I created in the side of what appeared to a be a storage unit. I look out and see what appears to be a humongous cafeteria which had two floors. There were rows and rows of plain metal tables that were painted black or some other dark color. The food pick up had a simple concession stand type of build and the roof is decked out with fans and a lot of ventilation tubes. It appeared A/C was an important necessity here. ¡®How many people stay here for them to need a huge place like this?¡± I look around more and notice that all the doors that I can see with my limited perspective have signs above them. Probably indicating where they lead to, but it¡¯s too dark to see what they say. ¡°This place is massive.¡± I say in partial disbelief. I knew they had huge buildings like this in this world but something about this place still leaves me awe inspired. Even the king''s castle back in my world didn¡¯t have a ceiling this high or a food court this big.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Kid you don¡¯t even know the half of it. Now please can you use...whatever your fucking power is and fix the wall before we get anally raped by Corty and Damien!¡± Someone has a stick up their ass, goddamn. ¡°I could create an illusion but that probably wouldn¡¯t look right and unless you know what this is made out of I don¡¯t have any possibility of fixing that hole. So we are just gonna have to hole up and chill out.¡± As I speak the air in the room becomes frigid and my body instantly freezes. My body freezes in place and my feet are held firmly to the ground by the newly formed ice. A realization dawns on me and my eyes open for the first time since I¡¯ve been here. This fucking bastard, this foul fucking bastard who could eat his own dick for all I care. He''s the one who made this room freezing not the A/C! He''s the type of person to freeze a fucking five year old in a weird storage unit! ¡°How can you be so sarcastic kid?! It shouldn¡¯t be possible! How can your brain be so numb and screwy? Are you special or something?! Don¡¯t you realize our punishment is going to be ten times worse than this? So stop joking around and do something about this wall!¡± The freak¡¯s teeth gnash almost to the point of him looking crazy but I don¡¯t give a shit. This fucker made me freeze. He wasn¡¯t in her because he was in trouble he¡¯s in here because he¡¯s my punishment. This fucker is the reason I can¡¯t move right now. ¡°I-I s-suggest you...l-let off y-your power. I m-may l-let y-you live.¡± My entire life I''ve been stomped on and tortured and manipulated and fucked over and so many other things! I''m done with it! I thought this whole government thing could have been cool but no! They just had to go and fuck up my life for me! ¡°You think you have the authority to tell me what to do!¡± The air drops another level of coldness. ¡°I s-said.¡± I get cut short by the temperature dropping even colder effectively freezing my mouth shut with my mouth. The pain of my skin literally shrinking around me sinks in and tears of fury slide down my cheeks only to turn to ice a split second later. I imagine a pressurized jet of water again but this time smaller than the last one. This time it is not difficult to concentrate on it. I have a single focus this time. I imagine it shrinking, getting smaller and smaller until it is about the size of a pinhole and I put an insane amount of speed and force into the water I conjure. The water forms around me in a spinning cone with the water jet coming out from the very tip. I made sure to imagine as much water as I could and compacted into a very small area. I made sure he will feel pain. I shoot the compressed water out at the fugly man lightning fast leaving him no time to react. But something strange happened. As if it was frozen in time the water jet stopped mid-air and froze into an icicle. It plopped to the ground and shattered. ¡°What do you think you''re doing shooting at me with something dangerous like that Newbie? Your an idiot if you think something like a water jet is going to work on me I fucking control temperature you dumbass! Yes I freaked out a little yes, but that doesn¡¯t warrant attempted homicide now does it, so just calm down before I really get pissed.¡± His voice grew deeper and on some level I wanted to listen to him, but I could feel the anger bubbling up in me. A fierce wave of discontent roared through me. I just wanted to get out of my new mom¡¯s hair and in succession of that I¡¯ve ended up in what seems like a fucking internment camp. Did I really ruin her life that bad? No! I don¡¯t deserve this not any of it; not a single bit yet here I am. A forty-five year old man in a five year olds body three seconds away from dropping a fucking tsunami on someone who made me cold for a day and a half. My grief should have ended with my death, and yet I still live, and yet I still go on while Annette is gone. So much hatred rises up from my gut; hatred I didn¡¯t even know I had. I can tell this situation doesn¡¯t call for me to be this angry but my pent up emotions release like an open floodgate. Am I really going to murder this guy because he made me cold? ¡®...¡¯ I imagine a ball of water around the grown man¡¯s head and imagine new water appearing there as the old water pours onto the ground. He starts clawing at his face as if trying to pull the water away from his mouth but his fingers find no grip as the water absorbs his hand. I stand there staring at him still frozen just like he had left me. My mind almost blanking out from the coldness. He starts evaporating the water around his head extremely fastly but it¡¯s no problem. I imagine water filling up his lungs and his throat instead of a bubble around his head. This time the water comes spewing out of his mouth and he throws it up but I don¡¯t relent. I continue to imagine water filling his lungs, so no matter how much water he coughs up he can¡¯t fully spew it all out. He tries to scream but his voice is muffled. Water starts pouring out his nose and eyes like an open faucet. I fill him up with even more water. Looking at his face it''s not quite satisfaction I feel. He¡¯s just one of them. He¡¯s one of those evil people, he''s like a noble who manipulates and controls. He¡¯s the problem. He needs to be removed. Water rockets out of his ears almost comically, but the water turns red dyed by his blood. His figure slumps to the ground no longer struggling with watered down blood dripping out of his mouth. I stand there frozen looking at what I had done to the man. This time he¡¯s the one who has gone cold. Dead cold. "Hahaha!...Hahahahahahahah!...AHAHAHAHAHAHA! I¡¯m still frozen in place but my body feels hot for some reason. It feels like one of my nightmares. It feels so terrifying. So exciting! I stood there frozen not contemplating a single thing I had done; waiting for day time to come and someone to find me. ¡®I surely am fucked.¡± Little did I know that meant two things to me. Chapter 6: Awol ---Rise ¡®n¡¯ Shine Time--- My body still hasn¡¯t thawed out completely but I¡¯m getting there. In fact I¡¯d probably already be out of this ice if it wasn¡¯t for the hypothermia that pervaded my entire body. At least I can¡¯t feel my wrist anymore. At least it doesn¡¯t hurt anymore. I¡¯m stuck looking at the ravaged man. I¡¯m stuck looking at what my power...no, I¡¯m looking at what I did because I felt like it. ¡®Now that I think about it he was probably stuck in here along with me. Forced into this place like everyone else.¡¯ Where is everyone else? Why is this fucking freezer put in the corner of a lunchroom? Speaking of the devil suddenly the doors open and I see slouched figures make their way into the lunch room in an orderly fashion. They appeared to be monotonous in action and somehow color. Like conveyor belt works they seemed to follow some set instructions. I don¡¯t know if grey is a specific feeling but it seemed to be what they¡¯re exuding. People of almost all ages above ten seemed to walk in from ten at the youngest to what appeared to be an eighty-year-old man. This place really is a prison. I heard school is tough from my sister but I didn¡¯t know it was to this extent. They all ignore me and get in line to get a meal instead. My stomach growls and I realize I hadn¡¯t eaten in about two days. It¡¯d be great if someone thawed me out of this ice cocoon. The line goes all the way from the concession stand all the way down the stairs and to the corner of the room where I currently stand frozen. I try to get their attention but moving and muscle of my body appears to be excessively hard. I could probably get their attention with my power...no usage of powers is against the rules. ¡®Fuck this. Guess I¡¯ll just wait it out.¡¯ As it turns out I didn¡¯t really have a choice in the matter anyway. Ages seem to go by and the excruciating feeling of my skin shrinking and muscles contracting sporadically seems to fade away along with my consciousness. Strange enough as it seems my dreams didn¡¯t come allowing me to sleep properly for the first time in a long while. Even more strange I found myself missing my daughter¡¯s face more than I thought I would. My dreams are one of the few places I can be with her. I¡¯ve already tried imagining her up but it is just not the same as my pseudo-memory dreams. They are very...realistic. I appreciate my dreams dearly no matter how gruesome or terrible they are. Consciousness is an aspect of oneself that is often hard to describe but can easily be found to be one¡¯s ability to acclimate with the help of said person¡¯s past. ---Different People Different Time--- ¡°I¡¯m just saying I¡¯ve cleaned up the past few messes so it should be your turn,¡± Damien said to Corty as he passed by her to check up on the boy. It was dark because they had to clean up late at night while the students were elsewhere. Using a flashlight Damien peered into the burst open metal storage box. ¡°This metal is cold to the touch even though this room is heated around the clock. He must have really gone off on the kid.¡± Damien analyzed the situation and pointed his flashlight to the frozen figure and grimaced a little. Seeing a little kid frozen like a statue is not a welcome sight. But such is life. It probably shouldn¡¯t be. But it is. ¡°Hey Corty you got the heat gun?¡± Damien questioned the stoic figure behind him. Corty¡¯s disposition to quietness has always irked him as he is a chatterbox himself. ¡°No, you always bring it.¡± She responded just like he expected. ¡°Fine can you go get it then please?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Okay be my guest but then you¡¯re gonna have to clean up while I go get the heat gun,¡± He said in an exasperated manner. Without an answer Corty disappeared through one of the many doors leading to God knows where in search of the heat gun. A small maniacal grin appears on Damien¡¯s face and he quickly pulls something from inside his suit. A circular object that has a cone of metal inverted inwards in it. It has a singular small red button and multiple warnings on it. Most of them read ¡°Caution Extremely Hot When Activated!¡± and so on. Damien¡¯s black silhouette enters the cold room leaving a faint shadow in the mist created by the cold and hot temperatures. He chuckles deeply as he does so leave no doubt about his malicious intent. He walks up to Tom¡¯s frozen figure and his smile widens showing all his teeth and gums off. Like a wild dog that has been given a new chew toy. ¡°Hey there buddy. I¡¯ve been hearing a lot about you as of late and thought I might as well come to check up on you myself. I can¡¯t help but say that I am very disappointed. Who would have thought that a legendary SSS class like you would be a weakling? How do I know that? Don¡¯t ask questions kid. Anyways, kid, I¡¯m going to have to remove you now, nothing personal just business is all. Bosses orders ya know. Actually you wouldn¡¯t understand you¡¯re just a little rat.¡± Damien spoke to the frozen Tom as if he could understand. Damien heats up the heat gun and aims it at Tom¡¯s chest. Three seconds. Three seconds is the time it took to melt the ice on Tom¡¯s chest. Damien reaches out to touch Tom. ¡°You know Tom I have a very unique power you see. Whatever I touch and willingly wish to turn to poison turns to poison. Very crazy right. This world. These powers. Ah whatever I¡¯m just rambling at this point but you should understand. A lot of people have been vying for your death you know because you got some crazy powerful superpower and I quote "that''s strong even among the strongest people". A five year old scares the upper echelons enough to kill you no less. A crazy world I live in, truly crazy indeed.¡± With a huge smile but dead eyes Damien puts his hand on Tom¡¯s chest. ¡°The weak obey the strong and the strong kill the weak so they will remain the strong. You are a weak child who will never come to power because they saw it fit that your legacy ends here. Your parents, Julian, mostly everybody but a few want you dead. There is no story, there is no rising action, there is no climax to this story you end here. Me saying this is just an obligation you see. To you and all the other people I eliminate. Bye then.¡± Suddenly Tom¡¯s chest skin starts melting turning into a poisonous liquid. One second is how long it takes for Tom to wake up. Two seconds is how long it takes for him to feel the pain. Three seconds is how long it takes for him to freak out. A literal tsunami of hatred and fear bursts out of Tom blasting Damien away faster than it would take one to blink. Destruction was all that was on Tom¡¯s mind. Destruction is what he got. The single blast of water had blasted through the metal container, launched itself through multiple tables, and effectively embedded itself in the wall along with Damien. A mini crater formed around Damien as he dangled from the wall unconscious. ¡°Ah! Help! Help! Someone my skin is melting! It¡¯s melting! Help! Fuck! Someone!¡± Tom started writhing in his ice prison and managed to break the ice. But he could not remain on his feet for long and fell to the ground spasming sporadically. Screaming until his throat bled and then some more Tom \waited in agony for someone to come to his rescue. ¡°Damien I couldn¡¯t find the...Damien what¡­¡± The women named Corty looked over and saw Tom. ¡°Fucking christ Damien he¡¯s just a kid.¡± Corty ran over to Tom and activated her power on Tom to stop the corrosive effect of Damien¡¯s power but it did not heal the damage that was done. Gritting his teeth hard enough to crack them he screamed through the pain. ¡°Just calm down kid. I¡¯ll get someone down here soon.¡± Even the stone-hearted Corty couldn¡¯t help but feel for the kid. But with the people in the facility she knew that he would be alright soon, so she is not all too worried. ¡°Hello yes can I get Sheryl down to the lunch room? There¡¯s been an incident with the new inductee. Ah yes as soon as possible. Thanks, bye.¡± Corty kept the talking as succinct and brief as possible. Glancing at the boy she put on her stone face and walked over to where Damien was dangling. ¡°Someone finally put you in your place huh Damien? You fucking cunt. Is your position in this godforsaken place really that important to you.¡± As if in response to Corty¡¯s words Damien¡¯s eyes opened ever so slightly. Blood dripping from his forehead made its way into his mouth but he appeared to not be able to spit. ¡°Br...bra-...¡± Damien gargled in his own blood as he tried to speak. ¡°Just wait for Sheryl to get here Damien and quit struggling you¡¯re just making your wounds worse. This is what you get for playing with fire.¡± His head shook ever so slightly. ¡°Brain...brainwash¡­¡± ¡°You know we can¡¯t do that Damien that goes against government protocol.¡± ¡°T-..stron...g.¡± ¡°Damien just tell me this when you get better.¡± He appeared to relent and nodded. Corty then made her way through the debris once more to check on the boy. She knew Damien must have been ordered to kill Tom but what she didn¡¯t understand is why they hadn¡¯t just killed him when they discovered him all those years ago. She shivered just thinking about the event, so she didn¡¯t. ¡°Hey kid shut up you¡¯re getting annoying. Haven¡¯t you ever played with a little bleach? This is just like that no need to worry.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°That sounds like something I need to fucking worry about!¡± ¡°I told you to calm down you¡¯re getting annoying. Be happy I¡¯m doing this for you in the first place.¡± ¡°Why does this weird as shit always happen to me? I just want my daughter! Where¡¯s my daughter!?¡± Tom cried out in pain incomprehensively. The pain is just too much for such a small mind to handle. ¡°Daughter? But you¡¯re like five years old.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care I don¡¯t care I don¡¯t care! This is a nightmare!¡± The world to Tom suddenly blurred between reality and dream as he reached the state of half-consciousness; a being of pure instinct with little thought to regulate it. His face darkened as red-blood dripped down it and he cried out in anguish. A pitch black mask of a laughing man appeared on his face and he unleashed his pent up anger. Entities seemed to appear everywhere in the lunchroom some were normal people, some were dead people, and then there¡¯re the demons that chase after you when walking up the stairs at night. The demons all varied some were tall figures standing on pegs with waterfalls of blood dripping out of them, some had there fingers pulled back all the way and no lips, and some looked like completely normal animals that somehow emanated pure evil. They are the embodiment of all of Tom¡¯s hatred. Unrelenting and unfazed just for the world in general. His life has never been easy in fact some would say it has been a hard one. Corty activated her power at Tom full force after seeing him go awol but nothing happened. It was like he wasn¡¯t affected in the least. Corty felt something drip on her shoulder she lifted her hand up to touch the damp spot and brought her hand to her eyes. Shining her flashlight on her finger she saw her hand drenched in blood. Her eyes widened as she simultaneously looked up seeing an enormous devil looking down back into her eyes. Corty leaped back for cover but she isn¡¯t quick enough and the claws of the beast stroke her. However they seem to pass right through her body as if they aren¡¯t even there. Tom, he has the power of imagination that¡¯s all I know. So maybe whatever he creates isn¡¯t real. Corty contemplated to herself but she realized that couldn¡¯t be true the blood had been very real. Real to the touch. Suddenly Tom¡¯s laughing mask turned toward Corty and the laughing smile grew wider. Corty looked at Tom then back up to the demon. ¡°May-maybe brainwashing him isn¡¯t such a bad idea after all.¡± A huge ray of blood shot out of the beasts circular almost gas mask like face. Blasting Corty straight through the entrance doors and skidding her across the tiled floors for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually, she landed at the feet of a person dressed in a white lab coat. ¡°You call me up at this time at night for something like this Corty. You know I have more important things to do.¡± ¡°Ow.¡± ¡°Just shut it.¡± She used her power on Corty and with a brief bout of pain Corty became as good as new. ¡°Thanks Sheryl.¡± Sheryl is a lady in her mid-thirties with far too many gray hairs. Her services are quite the necessity around here. She is very tall standing at just under six foot seven without shoes on. Her hair is a deep black brushed to the right and kept at shoulder length. She has been overworked and underpaid for the past eight years. ¡°Whatever just bring me to the problem case and I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± ¡°About that, we probably shouldn¡¯t go in right now. The industry has gone a little wild and is out of control.¡± ¡°Then just use your power on him like always.¡± ¡°Ah it seems¡­it seems.¡± Lines formed on Corty¡¯s face as she frowned deeply. ¡°It seems your power isn¡¯t working right?¡± Corty could only nod. ¡°That makes things more complicated. Well then let''s just wait it out shall we? I needed a break away from work for a few minutes before going back anyways. The kid should be done soon anyway, you know how they get with tantrums and all no need to worry about this at all.¡± Said Sheryl as she tried to calm down Corty. She knew this must have been a big shocker to her with her power not working at all. ¡®I¡¯m just sympathetic like that.¡¯ Sheryl thought to herself. ¡°This seems like something I really need to worry about.¡± Corty sat down and rest her back against the wall. ¡°Is this what parenthood is like Sheryl?¡± ¡°Dear God I am so thankful I don¡¯t know. Praise the condom god.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°I think I understand why Annette gave away him now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s Annette¡¯s child?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± ¡°No fucking wonder.¡± Things seemed to clear up in Sheryl¡¯s head after she said that. Sheryl joined Corty and laid against the cold wall. ¡°Time to just wait it out.¡± ---Same time and place but this time it''s from Tom¡¯s mind--- Hate, I hate then hate some more and then I throw some more hate onto my hate meal deluxe. I seem to be in some sort of lucid dream. A void of blackness surrounds me but I can still see my hands and my body. It¡¯s like all the light around me ceased to exist. I can¡¯t feel my body but I can move. This really must be a lucid dream. ¡®My life is so sucky maybe I should just end it. But what if I¡¯m reincarnated again? What if I never see my daughter again? This darkness is so comfy. Like a soft blanket that isn¡¯t too warm or too cold. I fucking hate it too.¡¯ I start running and running as fast as I can but I can¡¯t feel my legs pounding and my breathe doesn¡¯t become laborious. Like a lucid dream. ¡°What is your goal Tom?¡± A soft sweet voice rang throughout the void echoing through its endlessness. ¡®Annette? Annette! That¡¯s Annette¡¯s voice I could never forget it!¡¯ ¡°Annette where are you?! I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t save you that day! I was too useless I¡¯m so sorry!¡± The void flashed with new found light. ¡°What is your goal Tom?¡± The voice asked again. ¡°G-goal? To find you of course.¡± ¡°You will never find me Tom and you know that. I am dead and gone. I exist on my own plane now. Now what is your real goal?¡± ¡°I know this is just a dream and a conjecture formed by my own brain trying to save myself. But fuck that! You¡¯re my daughter, my one and only, my sunshine. I go to sleep every night and have nightmares of you dying just so I can see you once more. My life literally has no meaning, no goal, no nothing without you. I would literally go into the depths of hell just to find you! A fucking plane of existence won¡¯t stop me from having my happy little family!¡± The void flashes brighter than before. ¡°I just told you to give up.¡± ¡°And I just told you that I¡¯m going to find your ass then love and appreciate the hell out of you!¡± The void is no longer a void and is blindingly bright. ¡°At least promise me this dad. Have fun and enjoy your life it was hard getting it for you.¡± ¡°Wha-? This is a dream right?¡± The light encompassed Tom and he appeared in his old location. He fell down in pain once more sprawled out in the blood of his making and his temporary undoing. ---An Hour Later Back With The Ladies--- ¡°Sheryl, hey Sheryl wake up I think the screaming has stopped.¡± ¡°Hmm wha-...oh, oh yes of course. Sorry I didn¡¯t mean to drool on you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think about it. Anyways we have to go check on the boy and Damien both were in pretty critical conditions last I saw them.¡± ¡°Okay let''s make this quick.¡± They walked through the hallway and through the almost unhinged steel push doors. They both felt the dampness of the inch thick layer of blood and went to wipe it off but instead found it to be pointless because the blood flooded everywhere. ¡°You weren¡¯t kidding wasn¡¯t safe. There¡¯s blood everywhere.¡± Sheryl stood looking around with a little shock. ¡°The monsters he created seemed to generate this blood. One had attacked me with a focused blast of it. It probably would have been lethal if you hadn¡¯t come along.¡± ¡°This definitely isn¡¯t blood. It¡¯s more like corn syrup with dark red dye. It¡¯s much too sticky. Also where are these monsters you were talking about.¡± ¡°I dunno must¡¯ve disappeared along with the boy. Are you sure this isn¡¯t blood? This smells like blood?¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely not blood. Anyways where is the boy? Ah, nevermind there he is.¡± Sheryl quickly rushed over to the small figure and laid her hands on him activating her power. She knew not to waste time in these situations through past experiences. Her power flooded into him almost instantly like a vacuum he drew on her. Tom¡¯s body became red hot with a fever and started wiggling around on the ground like mad. Like a kid having a tantrum he pounded the ground around him. ¡°Whew a real fighter we got here.¡± ¡°Tell me about it.¡± Tom¡¯s eyes bulged open and he gasped for air panting only to pass out a few seconds later. ¡°He¡¯s a real fighter for someone his age. I can¡¯t believe he endured for so long with an arm like that most kids would have just straight up died from circulatory shock with that amount of pain. Not only that he had Damien¡¯s touch on top of it.¡± ¡°Arm?¡± ¡°Specifically his wrist but there were some minor issues with his arm also. It seemed to have been completely dislocated.¡± ¡°Oh yeah I had just set it yesterday when I was bringing him to the cold box. It shouldn¡¯t have been that bad I mean he only dislocated it.¡± ¡°Well you did an awful job Corty. Well with whatever he was doing he almost tore all the tendons in his wrist completely and he definitely broke a good portion of the bones in his hands. Not only that the way you tried to set it back in place all suddenly probably destroyed what little semblance of a hand he once had. It definitely ruined any chance of it ever functioning again without me being here of course. What exactly caused it to break in the first place?¡± ¡°Julien had tested him. He said it was some standard thing he did to everyone before they entered the complex. I didn¡¯t know it was that bad.¡± Corty had thought she was going on a regular pick up and take in mission when Julien had picked her up. Now she¡¯s starting to think differently. ¡°Anyways let¡¯s hurry up and heal Damien too.¡± They rushed over to where Damien was and just as quickly Sheryl used her power on him. ¡°Tch.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°This is bad I¡¯m going to have to take him back to my office to do some more extensive work. I can stabilize him but this is going to take a while. Let us call the cleanup crew and a few stretchers. They are probably going to send the kid down under after this but that¡¯s probably for the best. He seems to be too unstable mentally right now.¡± ¡°Okay I¡¯ll call clean up right now.¡± Corty took out her phone once more and speed dialed a number. ¡°Hello is this clean up? Yeah we had an incident down at the kitchen. No it¡¯s nothing too bad. Yeah things are a little bloody. Bring two stretchers. No Gerald I won¡¯t go on a date with you, you have a loving wife and kids. Okay thanks.¡± Corty shut her flip phone and put it in her pocket. ¡°They¡¯re on their way I¡¯m gonna go get a drink from the kitchen.¡± ¡°Yeah, me too.¡± Chapter 7: S(hes) (Fuck)ing D(e)a(d) Tom Look to the future, and then to the past only to realize the present has gone by fast; Soon you are your history and your own past, Sooner you are worried about your future¡¯s looking back Because you know alack, your story is not in this one¡¯s past And you finally finish last With no future and no past Long gone is the present-no time to resent; You are forgotten Next time remember: A life of blunder is better than not having a life asunder At all. ¡°Anne-!¡± I blast awake discombobulated and confused; I open my eyes, and for once they aren¡¯t immediately scorched by light. Quite the welcome experience I¡¯d say. In fact I¡¯d say most of my body is fine now. I mean finer than before of course. I try to move around but I find myself strapped into a chair once more not unlike when I first came to the facility. This dark place and being strapped up in this chair is an oddly relaxing combination. Nothing to worry about and nothing to do; it¡¯s how I like to live my life. Relaxing my eyes I let the darkness blur out my vision. *Creak!* ¡°Fuck! Close the door! Close the door! Ow the fucking light!¡± ¡°What, do you really not want to see me that bad? Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll be quick. I just need to drop off a few things and tell you about your new schedule starting tomorrow.¡± His voice rang through my new cell-like fucking sandpaper being run through my eardrums. It¡¯s the old ass man who made me break my wrist. The fucking jebaiter. I keep my cold mask of a face plastered on and stare at him dead in where I suppose his eyes are. It¡¯s hard to see him properly because he¡¯s using the door for light. His figure walks in a little bit without turning on the light. ¡°No need to be so stone cold with me Tom. I am the reason you are alive right now after all. You would be dead for killing our poor little prison guard like that. Not only that you almost killed my favorite coworker Damien. Poor little Damien was so rattled. Now, now why would you go an-¡± ¡°Why are you talking like that now? It¡¯s annoying, go back to the businessman talk like before. Like it¡¯s really not that scary or intimidating you just sound like an idiot.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°I¡¯m not lying man I really hope you don¡¯t talk like that to all your prisoners.¡± ¡°No just you. I guess you really aren¡¯t just a five year old.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Nothing I was just speaking to myself.¡± ¡°Just kidding I heard you, loser.¡± ¡°I was wrong you are just a five year old.¡± ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Oh fuck off. Anyways I¡¯ve come to give you your VR gear and your schedule. Also I¡¯ve been given orders to tell you that you¡¯re not allowed up above anymore under any circumstances even if it is life and death. If you are found up above you will be killed.¡± ¡°What am I too dangerous to be up above or something?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not supposed to answer that kid so let me tell you something. This cell isn¡¯t constantly watched by a power nullifier for no reason. You fucked up kid. You had one chance and you blew it.¡± Oh no now I can¡¯t use my power what am I the powerless naive kid to do? A lot of relaxing and looking into the void that¡¯s what. Wait didn¡¯t he mention something about VR gear. As if he knew my inquisitive thoughts he continued. ¡°Although you can¡¯t see it you are already currently hooked up to your VR gear. The first of its kind actually. It was engineered by some of the top scientists in the world to help train the trainees here. You have the more advanced version of what everyone else in this facility has.¡± ¡°Ain¡¯t that just great and dandy.¡± ¡°Ahem, you are probably wondering what about this rig is different than everyone else¡¯s right? Yours is hooked up not only to your brain signals but also your muscles and all of your nerves. There¡¯s a lot of particulars I¡¯m not going to go into, but this means you can experience everything in the VR like it¡¯s real life. And not only that, when you work out in the VR you will gain real muscle mass out here in reality. No other trainee or faculty in this facility have these same benefits.¡± ¡°And if I say no to all this.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the most enjoyable part Tom. You don¡¯t have a choice. I¡¯ve already said enough and I really don¡¯t like you Tom so I¡¯m just gonna leave this here and go get some lunch.¡± He puts a janky headset on my head completely blocking my view from the endless darkness. The only thing on the screen attached to the headset is a digital clock with the numbers in Comic Sans MS displayed across the entirety of the screen. I hear the business man¡¯s steps fade as he made his way to the door. ¡°Tom! I almost forgot to tell you that you don¡¯t need to worry about food either it¡¯s being tube fed into you. Have fun in classes. Pfft hahahahahahaha! What a joke.¡± The door creaked to a complete shut behind him. ¡°Fuck that I¡¯m not doing jack shit. I¡¯m just gonna close my eyes and I¡¯m going to sleep until I can¡¯t sleep anymore.¡± I said out loud to comfort myself but I know deep down they definitely have some messed up method to keep me busy. I¡¯m not a complete idiot. Probably. The light coming from the screen in front of me starts changing but I refuse to open my eyes and instead opt to shut them tighter. There is no way I¡¯m dealing with this shit right now I am too tired. Suddenly the lights stop and go the screen goes dark, not that I mind. I try to sit back and relax in my apparent ¡®electric chair¡¯, but life is never that easy. I feel the armrests or what I thought to be armrests suction cup to my arm. Next the back of the chair molds perfectly along my spine and butt as if it had been made precisely for me. I feel boots wrap around my feet and gloves enclose around my hand. I don¡¯t bother struggling or anything at all I¡¯ve had enough of freaking out for the time being. I feel cold metal slither along my head until it meets the other side of the chair. Except now it really isn¡¯t a chair; it¡¯s more of a suit or a bulky exoskeleton.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Is that it?¡± The chair then starts to creak again and I feel my heart catch in my throat once more. ¡®Why would I ask that? That¡¯s rule one! Rule one! Never ask if it¡¯s over.¡¯ I feel sharp pinpricks all along my entire body followed by a very intense numbness. I try to yell out but my mouth goes numb too making me unable to even let out a whimper. An extreme faint feeling of electricity flows through my body like pins and needles. My eyelids start to droop but I fight it, I fight whatever is flowing through my body. I don¡¯t want to go to sleep like this. I want to do what I want to. ¡®C¡¯mon just stay up. Don¡¯t. No. Up...keep eyes...¡¯ My eyes shut and I¡¯m out just like that. ¡°Welcome Number One would you like to take the tutorial?¡± ¡°Wha- No I¡¯m not a fucking pussy.¡± A mechanical monotone voice echoes throughout the room. The room? When did I get here? How did I get here? The simulation...I¡¯m in a simulation. I¡¯m in VR! It feels so realistic, this is amazing I wouldn¡¯t even be able to tell the difference from real life if given the chance. Porn in this must be amazing! Looking around and smelling the air it appears that I am in some sort of waiting room. Waiting rooms just have the sort of smell you know. Dust and depression is probably the most appropriate label. Oddly enough the waiting room I am currently in only has one singular chair and I¡¯m sitting in it. Not very accommodating if you ask me. Not only that, it is poorly lit, only has one door, and no windows at all. Talk about claustrophobic. ¡°We hadn¡¯t prepared one anyway so you can take your attitude and shove it where the sun don¡¯t shine.¡± ¡°Holy shi-. I totally forgot about you. Where are you speaking from anyways I don¡¯t see any sort of comm system.¡± I say while looking around. ¡°In one minute that door will open up and you will start your training course and finally be on your way to becoming a professional.¡± ¡°Professional what?¡± ¡°That¡¯s for you to figure out and me to laugh at your bad decisions.¡± ¡°You are such a beta male you know that ominous voice man.¡± ¡°Time in the world you are going into is dilated by an enormous amount so you can effectively learn the masteries you will need to know. Your body on the outside will struggle to keep up and you will most likely be extremely sore at all times, but we will manage any possible damage to your body so don¡¯t freak out. Also, unfortunately, there is no one in your age group right now so we had to move you into a ten-year-old class. Any questions?¡± ¡°Yea-¡± ¡°Sorry times up bye Tom enjoy your stay in hell.¡± ¡°C¡¯mon I just got here can¡¯t I stay a little longer?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Suddenly the lone door creaked open slowly revealing a vortex of swirling light. What I assume to be some sort of portal. Welp. I am moderately angry, and I kind of want to freak out, so I¡¯m going to do the grown-up thing and curl up on the ground in the fetal position, and not do anything at all. I really just need to lay down and rest for a little while; then I¡¯ll solve all this shit. The floor is cool to the touch but it comforts me in my destitute. I can relax here and chill out no need to go out there into the harsh world. Harsh world mean. Harsh world scary. I¡¯ll wait out my life and die peacefully like everyone else. God seems to have it out for me. Why the fuck is the whirlpool teleporter thingy getting bigger. It inches closer too me at a constant slow pace. I back up against the wall and look into the swirling void. People say when you stare into the void it stares back too, but all I see right now is a whole bunch of fucks I could not give. ¡°Stop! Shoo! Back off! Abra Cadabra motherfucker!¡± Alas none of my spells worked and the whirlpool encapsulated me and...and a loading screen appeared? Everything around me is pitch black and only the only light is emanating from a empty loading bar with the number zero percent written underneath it. ¡°Seriously? You know I expect loading screens in normal video games and all, but not here. For real you guys have figured out how to make the first complete immersion VR and yet you haven¡¯t gotten ridden of loading screens. You don¡¯t even have any minigames to pass the time what the fuck.¡± For the next four hours, I was forced to watch a loading bar slowly inch forward and occasionally lose percentage for no apparent reason. It got to the point that I thought I was watching an ASMR video. The kind that gives you an epileptic seizure of course. Next thing I knew I was standing in an open field watching a bunch of ten year olds beating the living shit out of each other. Not one of my top five fantasies but it will do. Taking in a deep breath inhaling the fresh air I sit down crisscross applesauce and watch. The sun is blazing and I feel parched but the kids just keep beating on each other. The field them and I are in stretches on for what looks like forever with only a series of platforms for the kids to stand on changing the scenery. All of the platforms had different terrain and all of them appeared to train different things. Some were for using swords, some guns, and most were for training powers. However, it appeared only the older kids were using those ones. I sat in the same place with my hands in the grass for quite some time and it was incredibly satisfying. Sitting there made me think that this training might not be a bad thing. Maybe I could become some sort of cool super soldier or something. Or even possibly there¡¯s a tiny chance I could get abs. The relaxing sensation of the breeze and the sun made me feel that things were not so bad. ¡®What did Annette say? Live your life? Something along those lines. Things aren¡¯t as bad as I originally had thought.¡¯ I wonder if Annette reincarnated too. *sigh* Thinking hard I imagine a ball of water appearing in front of me, but all that appears is a blue screen in front of me reading ¡®Unauthorized Magic Zone: Magic Cancelled¡¯. It appears I can only use my powers in those square zones. Tch. I¡¯m too thirsty for this shit. Fuck this place is awful. Is that a fucking spider crawling up my arm eww, holy shit ants are crawling up my pants! This place is awful! I stand up wiping ants off my legs and realize that I am standing on a slow rising hill. Allowing for a perfect vantage point of the training grounds below. Everyone appears to be congregating in the centermost and biggest platform of them all. One of them stands at the center and speaks with a voice so loud I hear some of the echoes from where I¡¯m standing. ¡°...Champion...games...Cleo¡­¡± The bits and pieces I put together seem to prove that there is a competition going on among the students and that the one named Cleo won. I hear cheers echoing from the platform seemingly vibrating the entire area around it. A huge picture of a black boy with two scars dragging down his eyes and cheeks appears. His hair is a very pure white and his face is dull like he is bored out of his mind. I assume he is Cleo the champion. Soon everyone starts disappearing one by one until no one is left. Leaving only the man in the center of the platform left. I see his figure move and face towards me. I feel his eyes pierce straight into mine and I can¡¯t help but look down. ¡°Teacher Litica has invited you to teleport to his position do you accept?¡± ¡°No-.¡± ¡°You accepted!¡± Next thing I knew I was standing in front of the towering alpha of a male that was teacher Litica. My eyes grew wide. This man¡¯s body is an amalgamation of muscles and badassery, he easily stands over six foot five. His tight-fitting tracksuit did little to hide any of it. His face square with overhanging eyes like a neanderthal hiding his eyes under shadows of pure power. This man must have been eating only protein powder and raw eggs since he was born. ¡°Dear God you¡¯re intimidating.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but tell it like it is. ¡°You ain¡¯t so bad yourself kid. I¡¯ve seen your...work. Anyways I¡¯m tired and want to sleep irl so let us make this quick. You will be completing a simple exam to judge your physical and magical prowess.¡± ¡°Your voice sounds like a lions growl. How does one become so alpha please tell me?¡± ¡°My name is Mr. Litica I will be your examiner and teacher for the next five years until you graduate. You will be participating in classes tomorrow and be doing some extracurricular work during that time. You will have no time to yourself irl and will only be allowed access to this facility and your homeland.¡± ¡°Is that five years in here or irl?¡± ¡°Five years here.¡± He said with his godlike voice. He gestures for me to follow him and starts walking toward another platform. I struggle to keep up with him as my strides are about a tenth of his. We walk down the steps from the platform and over to the other one which took a surprisingly long time. With everything looking so similarly everywhere it is hard to gauge distances properly. We come to an abrupt stop making me almost bump into his calf. Panting with my hands on my knees I feel his stare once more. ¡°First test: Martial Ability.¡± ¡°Martial what?¡± Chapter 8: Bloody Hell A happy night to face the inevitable Nothing is better Nothing on those nights is regrettable The inevitable will come and soon last forever; The happy night will guide you It is your light for whenever The happy night is not hope to you Instead, a goal against the inevitable So let us cheer now; disregard the detestable for it will come Do now for we are able; So soon the inevitable has come But we are ready with many a smile and grin For whatever that may be grim; It is inevitable that we will win now so back down You can¡¯t kill someone who¡¯s happy to die Tomorrow night heads will fly You win this round Hahahaha You win this round See you tomorrow fuckers ¡°Mr. Litica I don¡¯t want to take these tests.¡± ¡°Then don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°No, if you don¡¯t I will turn on the no death function and personally beat the shit out of you until you try your best. So quit wasting my time.¡± He sounding a little too happy saying that. If you ask me he¡¯s probably a pedophile or something. ¡°Well that doesn¡¯t matter anyway because I think my test scores will surprise you.¡± Remember how I reincarnated? Yeah, in my past life I didn¡¯t do jack shit except kill the king and kill myself, so in conclusion I¡¯m absolutely fucked. Seriously I have the coordination and strength of a toddler, quite literally in this case I might add, and it¡¯s not like I was a fucking ninja master in my past life. I was just a loser who poisoned a king because I got mad. Quite a big one too. My life is complete shit! I make my way to the stairs and step up onto the platform, it is much larger than it looked from far away. It could definitely hold a few hundred people in it with room to spare. ¡®I have been rather accepting of this whole ordeal. It¡¯s not like I have anything better to do, except bitch and moan I guess. I¡¯ll just do the two simultaneously.¡¯ ¡°So what are you gonna have me do? Punch one of those strength gouging machines? Run as fast as I can?¡± I look back asking him inquisitively. A small smirk appeared on his face leaving me to wonder what is so funny. ¡°No not exactly.¡± ¡°Oh great you¡¯re just like everybody else. Another mister mysterioso who needs to act so cool and indifferent. Seriously who taught you how to talk to other people? The Joker? Did you learn how to converse from a comic book big man?¡± Even as I say that the big man¡¯s face remains indifferent. What a chad. From my spot up here I¡¯m almost taller than him, but somehow it appears I am still the lesser man. ¡°Okay child let¡¯s see just how long you¡¯ll survive in the ring. I was thinking about letting you go to just before you die because you¡¯re so young and all, but let''s go until you die instead and help the scientists figure out what will happen to you.¡± He says to me with a deep undertone of death and violence. ¡°Oh I can tell them that already. Everything turns really black, really squishy, then there is light, and then everything goes to shit and you are put up for adoption and the government takes you in.¡± ¡°Just shut up kid. I¡¯m activating the program now I¡¯ve got things to do so just get over with this fast please.¡± ¡°You really don¡¯t have to do that.¡± I anxiously plead. All I get in return is a small head shake and a finger tapping on some invisible button. I imagine the start button. *Berh* *Berh* Ow too loud, too loud! My hands reach up to my ears covering them. I look behind me and see a three-dimensional timer ticking down. Shit I only have ten seconds! Looking back at the man I feel my heart pounding and things become too real. I run to the stairs but something impedes my way. A semi-transparent wall lights up at my touch. Hitting it a little confirmed my suspicions, the wall isn¡¯t budging. Fuck! *Boom* ¡°Match start!¡± Oh fuck off! I turned around to face whatever I am supposed to be facing with little anticipation. My heart palpitates a little thinking about the battle to come, it¡¯s going to be really tiring without a doubt. I clench my fist until my knuckles turn white and my pulse rises even further. Maybe this won¡¯t be too bad maybe I¡¯ll be able to fight back. No I¡¯m going to fight back...to spite those fuckers to show them what¡¯s up. And if I¡¯m going to fight I might as well go head on and try not to get the shit kicked out of me. ¡®Might as well¡¯ I scoff at myself. Looking towards the center of the stage I wait to see what will happen, and soon enough blue pixels appear like a hologram in mid-air. They crawl from the head down revealing a blue silhouette of a humanoid figure. Judging from what I¡¯ve seen in this world so far, or at least what I¡¯ve seen on the internet, I¡¯d say that there is a seventy percent chance it¡¯s a fucking goblin. The blue pixels finally reached the feet of the creature and the rendered creature begins to unveil. ¡°A fucking goblin. You¡¯re making me fight one of these losers for real?¡± I look over to the proctor man but he just looks at me dead in the eyes. [Hobgoblin Grunt Lv. 1] ¡°I just can¡¯t win can I?¡± ¡°Grrr!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t growl at me you soggy asparagus lookin¡¯ ass!¡± ¡°GRRR!¡± The green figure seemed to be riled up now if it wasn¡¯t already before. The gobl- hobgoblin stomps his feet like a horse before it charges, and it dashes forward full speed. I try to follow him with my eyes but I¡¯m too slow. My body subconsciously reacts and I try to make some sort of athletic pose to prepare myself. I make out a whistling sound coming straight for my face full speed and turn to it instinctually. All I manage to make out is a green blur before it fills up my entire line of sight. ¡®So fast!¡¯ I try to drop to the ground but the little shit is too fast for me and my small figure. I hear a loud clonk before everything goes blank for what seems like a second or two. An intense pain rings throughout my forehead forcing me into the fetal position clinging onto my injury. *Tap tap ta-* With my ear close to the ground I hear quick pulses of vibrations getting louder and louder. ¡®He¡¯s coming!¡¯ I roll to the side as fast as my body can handle and use the momentum to launch myself up. My eyes are blurry and won¡¯t focus but I ignore them and try to run away full speed. It¡¯s not enough though I feel the monsters manic eyes upon me and I¡¯m already winded. Moving at any speed with these legs is fucking impossible I¡¯m way too scrawny! The same whistling sound pangs throughout my head sending a wave of nausea through my brain. I dive to the side this time once more however something still manages to clip my leg. Tumbling to the ground I try to roll as far as possible to give myself a little more space. My heart is pumping too fast way too fast and it''s giving me this awful headache. My head hurts! It hurts, it fucking hurts! Fuck! My eyes are spotting up but I know I need to escape. ¡®Get up! Get up!¡¯ I try to move my legs but they won¡¯t comply. They won¡¯t move! Not now I need to run now! I look down my body only to find one leg bent the wrong way and the other limp and blue. ¡®Fuck...I¡¯m dead...I¡¯ll respawn though right? This is okay. I¡¯ll just die. Die again.¡¯ ¡°Grrraaaahhh!¡± The fiend lets out a little cry of victory. Congratulations you beat a five-year-old. The chubby green monster trots over slowly smiling to itself with an ear to ear grin. It looks like it just went to the Faire and actually won a prize for once. The figures scrawny legs make its way over to me slowly taking it¡¯s time and enjoying the view. As I see its shadow creep its way towards me my heart starts speeding up. I was really banking on being able to fight back I should have just let the monster kill me in the beginning. My body feels awfully lethargic as I look up at the hobbitch and I can¡¯t help but take some comfort in it. The blow to my head must have really done a number on me. Finally reaching me the hobgobli- no it¡¯s a fucking goblin, the goblin pops a squat on its chicken-like legs and leers down at me. ¡®Just fucking get it over with.¡¯ Raising its grotesque leg it motions over to my head putting its stinky gross disgusting absolutely horrid foot on my face. His foot is rough and littered with unpopped blisters. His foot presses down into my cheek as he looks down at me with his malicious green eyes. ¡°W-what are you too scared to f-follow through string b-bean?¡± ¡°Grah?¡± He tilted his head clearly not understanding. ¡°Are you a fucking vegetable? Follow through pussy! Kill me!¡± I¡¯m screaming now but my voice feels distant and my head is fading. It¡¯s like I¡¯m sinking to the bottom of a lake looking upwards. I just want this to be over, just kill me.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Grrrraaaahh!¡± The beast graciously complies. He slams his foot on my head hard enough for me to hear a cracking sound. Over and over he pounds my head. *Crack* *Crack* *Crack* My world starts to fade from my eyes throwing me back to the void. I got beat up fast, too fast. I¡¯m a disgrace. I¡¯m also a five year old, but also a forty five year old man. Ideas and thoughts are passing through my head like a thread I can¡¯t grasp. I just want to fade but I remain tethered here by a failing quest. Poetic aren¡¯t I. My mind is weird. Fuzzy. It feels wrong. I don¡¯t think I like this. Who are you? You¡¯re not me. Wrong this is wrong! ¡­ ¡°They killed her.¡± A feeling rises in my gut. ¡°They killed my daughter.¡± No stop it! ¡°They killed my daughter.¡± I¡¯ll get her back don¡¯t worry so stop. ¡°You can kill them Tom! Kill them Tom! Kill them!¡± Who are you? You don¡¯t belong here; this is my head! My head! ¡°They killed our daughter Tom.¡± Shuttup. The void pulses. ¡°You have the power Tom.¡± Stop talking! The void flashes. ¡°They killed our daughter Tom.¡± I know! The void brightens. ¡°You have the power Tom.¡± I know I know I know! The void is blinding. ¡°They need to die Tom.¡± ¡°They need to die Tom.¡± ¡°They must so they will.¡± ¡°Pitiful really, just pitiful. I don¡¯t know what I was expecting but this is just too much.¡± Mr. Litica sighs inwardly to himself. He does his best to remain indifferent but it is never easy watching a little kid be brutally murdered right in front of your eyes. ¡®It¡¯s just part of the job. He¡¯ll respawn anyway and be fine.¡¯ He tries to lie to himself every time something like this happens but it does little to remove the genuine worry he has for his students. From time to time Litica even finds grey strands of hair on his head even though he is only thirty. ¡°This job is going to be the end of me I swear it.¡± Litica cringes as he sees the kids legs disform and contort as the hobgoblin pounds into him. He knows all too well how real this game is and how real it feels. Some of the higher grade students fight him for sparring practice, or at least in theory; it¡¯s more like one sided destruction. Some people are just insane. ¡°...Fucking vegetable...follow through!...¡± Litica scoffs ¡°He¡¯s got some balls on him I¡¯ll give him that.¡± At least this whole thing is going to be over soon and the next test should be finished rather quickly too. Then all he has to do is send the reports and kapeesh, he¡¯s done. In theory at least. ¡°Hmm, cold.¡± A cold breeze blows by, but that makes little to no sense because the temperature is always hot in this server. ¡®Odd¡¯ Litica thinks to himself. *Player Magic Deactivated* A window appears in the entry barrier in front of Mr. Litica. ¡®Player magic? The kid isn¡¯t that dumb, is he? He ought to know he can¡¯t use magic in there.¡¯ *Player Magic Deactivated* *Player Magic Deactivated* The windows spam. Looking from the panels to where the boy...is standing? How he had just been on the ground a second ago. The boy¡¯s hand and arms twitch and spasm uncontrollably like he is being possessed. ¡°Magic doesn¡¯t work there kid so stop trying you¡¯re going to give yourself an aneurysm!¡± He called out to the kid but no response was to be found. ¡°The must so they will.¡± Black tendrils shoot out from underneath the boy¡¯s feet like snakes slithering around him forming a massive whirlpool with him at the epicenter. The chilling feeling intensifies even more and a vivid feeling of malice flows through the air like thick oil. The hobgoblin stands still frozen in place like a statue. The boy from inside the whirlpool turns towards Litica staring at him with the same black tendrils pouring out from inside his eyelids. His eyes blank like he staring at nothing and no one. ¡°This isn¡¯t good, this definitely isn¡¯t good I should contact HQ.¡± *Error:// 678 External Failure* just as Litica was opening his contact list an error message popped up. ¡°External failure? What the fuc-¡± *Fwoosh* The whirlpool becomes a gigantic hurricane of black tendrils haphazardly spinning around each other in circles. ¡°No!¡± ¡°Kid you need to stop! Look I¡¯ll stop the test so you need to stop! Stop now!¡± Litica projects his voice into the stage. Trying to reach the voice he heard ever so faintly. ¡°HQ I have to call HQ right now.¡± Mr. Litica checks his contacts list hurriedly and his fingers fumble through his Holo device speedily. A lot of incidents happen often so he knows who to contact. *Ding* ¡°Hello is Damien there?¡± ¡°Sir! We have an incident with the new student that the computer couldn¡¯t handle.¡± ¡°Just watch sir? Are you sure?¡± ¡°Sir yes sir! However I can¡¯t see anything right now sir! There appears to be a giant vortex blanketing the stage!¡± ¡°Yessir!¡± As commanded Litica turns off the shield around the stage and lets the vortex run wild in hopes that it will clear up his view. However instead the only thing that can be said to have been accomplished is drowning everything in a huge radius in pitch black darkness. ¡®Holy shit, holy shit.¡¯ I do not like the darkness I never have! Even though my ability enhances my body by a great margin it does little to nothing for my eyes. I¡¯m too vulnerable here. My body walks through the darkness like it¡¯s thick molasses. I should have just ended it right then and there and just gotten over with it. But no I had to turn on death mode. ¡°Kid where are you!¡± Damien is going to be so fucking pissed if I don¡¯t get a recording of this. Trying to peer through the darkness but with little success I continue to walk forward in the direction of the kid. My legs start to tire which is strange because I could run one hundred miles for a warm up. Just where is this kid? My lungs feel heavy like they¡¯re full of a thick viscous liquid. I walk some more trudging on but it is taking an eternity to get anywhere at all. He couldn¡¯t have been that far on the stage could he? Could he? ¡°Hard...isn¡¯t it? Walking in that blood.¡± A crackling voice resonates throughout the darkness like a loudspeaker calling students to their next class. ¡®Blood?¡¯ I glance down but can¡¯t see anything so I crouched down to get a closer look. Reaching downwards slowly eventually I feel a cool dark liquid touch my fingers and suddenly things become a little more real. ¡°I want my daughter can you give me my daughter? ¡°...¡± ¡°C¡¯mon there is a present for anyone who gives me what I want.¡± Daughter? No that is impossible he is only a little over five. He must have gone crazy. Maybe this is just his instinctual response, maybe this is his near death response. People do go haywire every once in a while, even if they know it¡¯s a game. Just a game. ¡°I¡¯m not playing tell me where she is.¡± The voice becomes louder and proportionally more urgent. Like a dog waiting to eat its food. ¡°...¡± I refuse I won¡¯t play along. A cold feeling rises up my leg slowly but steadily. The blood is rising I have to run. Adrenaline starts coursing through my body and I launch myself forward full speed. Drowning in blood is not something I want to do even if virtual. Tightening and untightening my muscles it becomes clear my power is not functioning unlike the kid¡¯s. He must have overloaded his system somehow. Yes because that makes perfect sense. I just have to get the psycho kids don¡¯t I. I couldn¡¯t just go with the usual military instructor path, no I had to go with the fucking kid that spews fucking smog out of his ass. ¡°No stop I need to calm down and think. Think, think, think!¡± The darkness makes its way and smothers me in its blanket. Squeezing my eyes shut I do my best to think up a solution, but I only draw blanks. ¡°Last chance Mr. L please tell me where she is I really need to know it is of the utmost importance. She¡¯s about yea high and has beautiful hair and is the very cutest and is my daughter.¡± His voice echoes throughout the endless sea of darkness in a very cold and detached manner. Not a voice of nightmares but instead that of an adult male, not deep but low and emotional. ¡°I...I really don¡¯t know who you¡¯re talking about.¡± I say honestly out towards the nothingness resigning to my inevitable death. Well, probable death, at most, to be honest, it didn¡¯t really matter either way because this is a virtual world anyway. Although pain sensitivity is turned on in this world. ¡®Who cares I¡¯ve dealt with worse in the past.¡¯ ¡°Wrong answer.¡± The voice hit another low and the blood started rising faster. Now the blood level reached up to the top of my pectorals and it didn¡¯t seem like it was going to slow down any time soon. ¡°Who is your daughter? Maybe we can find her!¡± I try feeding him lies because from all first hand accounts I¡¯ve heard of, drowning in blood is painful and sucks a lot. I start swimming in the blood but I know at some point I¡¯ll reach the sealing of the battle box. ¡°Annette, her name is Annette¡± The voice became soft like it was pondering distant memories. ¡°We can work with that we have a database with all the names and faces you would ever need!¡± I yell out to him this time telling a half-truth. We do have the database it¡¯s just he¡¯ll never get to use it of course. ¡°Really? Would even my Annette be in the database?¡± ¡°Yes! Of course she would be!¡± ¡°Then bring me to the database right now I am going to find my daughter!¡± The blood stops rising but I still have to swim to remain afloat. Which is not too bad considering I could swim for days. ¡°I can¡¯t not right no- Argh! What the fuck!¡± My arms disappeared from my body leaving only gaping holes in my sides. Immense pains makes my eyes become dotted and my sight blurs like nothing I¡¯ve experienced before. The fucking blood had hardened around my arms so fast I couldn¡¯t react. *Warning: Player is About to Faint. Buff added to Player* [Temp Buff: Insomnia added] I feel like I¡¯m going to pass out but my eyes stay up forcing me awake and not allowing me any temporary relief. I want to say something but blood fills my mouth and Getting a breather is hard. Something clotted the blood pouring out of my arms and somehow I¡¯m still alive. ¡°Bring me the database or I¡¯ll destroy this planet, your choice.¡± A now maniacal voice forces its way into my skull and rings like the loudest dropped pan known to mankind. Fuck this I wish I just drowned. ¡°Yo-you have t-to *cough* get permission fi-first.¡± I managed to speak through my blood filled lungs. ¡°No I¡¯m going to take it and leave!¡± He surprisingly responds to me and I shake my head ever so slightly. Everything is slowly becoming more and more numb and my eyes can¡¯t seem to focus on anything. ¡°P-assword.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll fucking force it out of them!¡± ¡°C-can¡¯t, they¡¯ll, just kill, selves¡­¡± ¡°Fuck. Shit dick balls eat ass you fucking cunt kill yourself you fucking bitch ass dickhead butt munching toe sucking fuckface. I will fucking end your entire fucking lineage starting with your first born you fucking degenerate ass steroid infused cock sucking bitch ass who has a tiny ass dick!¡± Suddenly the blood warped its way around my head and then everything went blank. *You died Congratulations! Speak to Project Manager Immediately after exiting the VR device. Thank you!* ¡°Well fuck me I think I should quit.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Naw I don¡¯t have anything better to do anyway fuck being a Military instructor that¡¯s boring as fuck.¡±