《Death's Embrace》 Prologue: A Mans Time There was a man, a very old and crippled man lying on a bed all alone. The man was in a white room that seemed to absorb sound and nothing could be heard but a clock ticking on the wall far opposite of him, and his heavy labored breathing. He was easily in his 90s with a bald head that could reflect light if the room had any windows. The senior was of African American descent, onyx eyes that seemed to hold a lifetime of wisdom, and wearing a white gown. He had many gadgets and supplies hooked up to him that kept him alive for far longer than he felt he should be. It¡¯s not like anything was wrong with this man, he was not suffering from any kind of disease or problem. ¡®Well unless you count old age as a disease¡¯ he thought with a chuckle that made him cough into his hand. It was a long coughing fit, that seemed to tighten his lungs and cause severe pain in his chest. He rose his hand up shakily to stare at the appendage and was not surprised to find blood. It was his time, the man was dying, but he only lay there with a smile. At the sound of his coughing fit, a lady entered the room in a panic. She was young, in her early 20s, and looked beautiful. The old man couldn¡¯t help but think that she would look even more so if she stopped her constant frowning. This was his granddaughter, Alexis Dark, who began taking care of him when he became bedridden. Oh how he loved her, the girl had a ruthless personality to those she doesn¡¯t know but to family it¡¯s as if there¡¯s a switch that gets flipped. She became kind and compassionate the moment someone she cared about was involved but if you were a stranger she would have no problem laughing at your naivety and incompetence. A mean and vindictive bitch if you ever seen one but a sweetie at heart. Alexis was a lighter skin tone then him with long gorgeous black hair with a single long strand of purple mixed in her french braid. She had hazel eyes, was about 5¡¯9 tall, and had a practiced smile on her face. The girl wore a white doctor¡¯s uniform and seemed to always have a clipboard in her hand. She was walking around the room, checking all of the machines one by one with swift precision. Alexis has done this thousands of times by now and when she was done, she sat on the edge of his bed. ¡°How are you doing Abuelo, is there any severe pain?¡± she asked and he smiled at her. Her father and his son, Neo Dark, married a latina women when he was a youngster. The old man didn¡¯t know a lick of spanish but he learned a few choice words to connect with his daughter-in-law and granddaughter better. He turned out to really like the language, it was passionate and he loved arguing with her mother¡¯s side of the family in their own language. It¡¯s how they connected. ¡°...It is time for me Nieta.¡± At those words her heart sank and her eyes dimmed. ¡°I¡¯ve been here to long. It¡¯s way past my time already. The life I¡¯ve lived...has been full of regrets. Opportunities I was too scared to take, strength I was to weak to grasp, and time I was too lazy to make use of. Even with all these regrets in my life, I¡¯m happy how it turned out. Although I wasn¡¯t ready at the time, I raised an amazing son, who in turn raised an amazing daughter. You¡¯re both smart, accomplished, and determined to grab life by the cajones. Much better than this old man!¡± The man said with a laughed, not a mere chuckle this time but a full bellow with a wide smile. Before long, he clenched his chest in pain and blood forced its way through his mouth with a cough. ¡°Abuelo! You shouldn¡¯t-¡± the man raised his hand in response to silence her. ¡°Quiet girl, let these old bones fully enjoy what¡¯s left of his life one last time at least without worrying about coughing up a lung.¡± Alexis turned away and looked down at her grandfather¡¯s scolding. Her hands on her legs, she balled them into fists so tight that they began drawing blood. She clenched her eyes shut as tears threatened to escape and grit her teeth as if to hold herself back from yelling at her own blood. It became quiet for a moment while the old man worked to catch his breath. In the silence what probably only took 10 seconds felt like 10 minutes. There was no sound but the ticking of the clock and her grandfather¡¯s wheezing breath. She couldn¡¯t stand it, the silence that was meant to be calming began to suffocate her and the ticking became mocks. Like Death himself was standing below that clock with a scythe in hand and silently watching. Watching and observing for a time and moment and place to take her precious grandfather away, mocking her. Saying all her efforts will eventually be for nought and each second he steps a little closer to her grandfather, a hand silently reaching out with every tick and getting closer to his soul and heart and very being with every tock.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°I¡¯m tired Nieta." he said after catching his breath. "I¡¯m so very old and so very tired...do you understand?" the girl nodded rapidly and began trying to interrupt her grandfather. "Only because we haven''t gotten the new me tech from the city. The things they come up with Abuelo, I know it''s been a while since you''ve been outside but soon-!" "I love you" interrupted the man. "and you¡¯ve been raised good enough to do anything you want in your life. There¡¯s nothing left for me here and I just want to close my eyes." "No!" the dam broke, unable to hold her tears from falling even a second longer. She began to rock back in forth while grabbing her grandfather''s hand. Her eyes squeezed even tighter and her head shook side to side in denial. She could hear him. She could hear it. The Reaper steps hastening with every word spoken from the dying man. "No! No! No! It''s going to be okay, with the new tech that''s being shipped here it''ll be like you''re young again. Don''t you want that?" she asked, opening her eyes a bit to look upon the feeble form of the man, almost as if asking how could he dare want anything different. "I want to close my eyes Princess, and just rest for the first time in years.¡± the old man said in a wishful voice. ¡°My sweet, sweet girl, I know this is hard to understand, but please do not argue with this old man¡­¡± she tensed tighter, her hands, feet, eyes, she clenched everything as tight as she could. The more he spoke, each tick got louder. The more she understood what was being asked of her, each tock became more mocking. She didn¡¯t dare open them yet she could feel it. A Reaper standing over her grandfather with a cold smile and arm over his chest. He was here. Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock She heard her grandfather speak one last time and everything changed yet stayed the same. ¡°Goodnight Nieta¡­¡± Her body became cold but she could feel the sweet slowly trickling down her back. Her stomach churned, and it took the entirety of her willpower not to dispense her lunch onto the floor. Breathing that was previously struggling to keep calm suddenly lost control, and she felt as if she was hyperventilating. After a couple of minutes of struggling to regain her calm, she opened her eyes to find him sound asleep. The girl¡¯s entire body started to shake and when she began standing up she felt weak. Like walking through water, she was sluggish and slow. The girl slowly moved next to his bed that connected to the wall. This is where all his machines were plugged up. The machines that were keeping him alive. The machines that were to be replaced to keep her grandfather alive. Well, that was the plan at least. With her shaking and tears now freely falling down her cheeks, she forced her hand to grab hold of all the cords keeping him alive. Tick ¡®Goodnight Abuelo¡­¡¯ Tock Chapter 1: AllFather It was dark. No, it was much more than that, if Darkness was the absence of Light, then it was as if Light never existed wherever he was in the first place. He didn¡¯t know how he could possibly know that after being there for only a few minutes a most, but it was just something he could feel. Something his very soul just knew. Like how animals had certain instincts ingrained in them from birth. Or how spiders knew how to spin their web without being taught. Everything that made him who he was just screamed Darkness, but to the man who wanted nothing but to finally rest and close his eyes, it was perfect. Something that should have terrorfied him felt comforting. Light was overrated anyway. Wherever he was, he couldn¡¯t move, he couldn¡¯t feel, he couldn¡¯t hear. It was like he couldn¡¯t do anything but be. ¡°Actually, that¡¯s a wrong way to describe it, it¡¯s like I can¡¯t bring myself to even try. I¡¯m neither cold or hot, hungry nor full, sleepy nor awake. Hell, I don¡¯t even know if my eyes are actually open right now, yet even while pondering these things, the mere thought of trying to move sounds like blasphemy.¡± The man, no matter how much he tried, couldn¡¯t bring himself to budge a single finger. It was like when a person woke up from their alarm but had a mental battle with themselves whether they should get up or not, but 1000x worse. Everything was just...perfect, and the man was scared that trying to move would ruin what was happening, whatever that actually was, he didn¡¯t know. That it would take away this perfect moment. The unending sleep, the peace he¡¯s been craving for was finally granted to him by his granddaughter, satisfying his curiosity wasn¡¯t worth the risk of losing what he¡¯s finally been given. The thought whether he was in Heaven or Hell crossed the man¡¯s mind once or twice, but unimportant queries were hard to keep a hold of wherever he was right now. Anything that crossed his mind was there for only a second before whatever it was slipped right through his fingers and he forgot all about it. He felt like he repeatedly approached a train of thought 100s of times before forgetting, like every time before. Yet in all honesty, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to care. The Time he spent in there, in that Void, he didn¡¯t know. He never cared to count or ponder about Time. ¡°What use is the passage of time to a dead man?¡± he thought. Not long after arriving to the Void, he just stopped thinking altogether. Unbeknownst to the man, years started passing by, yet he never noticed a single second. Soon, 10¡¯s of years passed, then 100¡¯s, and finally 1,000s. In all that time, he didn¡¯t dare speak, dare move, dare think, because if there was anything that could wake him up from his peaceful sleep, he didn¡¯t want to risk it. If it were up to him, he would have stayed there forever, until the end of Time, if Time was even a thing where he was. But it wasn¡¯t up to him. Without warning the Void that surrounded him for thousands of years, suddenly vanished, encompassing him in a blinding Light. If you could speak to him and ever complain about waking up to bright Light, he would scream something like, ¡°You think this is bad?! Imagine sleeping for THOUSANDS of years and waking up to the SUN you insufferable twat!?¡± Till this very day, it is a sore subject for him, he never got over it. His response to his dear waker was not as warm. ¡°AHHHHHHH!!!! YOU FUCKING ASS! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?!?!¡± he fell to his knees, hands covering his eyes. You would think technically being thousands of years old would have mellowed him out huh? Yea, you would think so. ¡°WHOEVER THE FUCK JUST TURNED ON THOSE LIGHTS AFTER I JUST WENT TO SLEEP WILL FOREVER HAVE MY FURY!!! I WILL FOREVER HUNT YOU DOWN AND REMOVE YOUR FUCKING SPINE FROM YOUR DAMN BACK, SO I CAN MAKE YOU CHOKE ON YOUR OWN COCK!!! HOHOHO~, DON¡¯T THINK YOU¡¯RE SAFE JUST BECAUSE YOU MAY HAVE A VAGINA EITHER! I WILL RIP OUT YOUR FUCKING OVARIES AND FEED THEM TO YOU!!! NO ONE IS SAFE!!!!!¡± After shouting a few more choice words about his waker, how much he hated his nonexistent life, the world, and various torture methods the man finally gets enough sense to try to figure out where he was and what happened. Rubbing his eyes to relieve some of the pain, he moved his hands down slowly to acclimate his eyes to the Light. Blinking a few times, what he saw was completely underwhelming. He seemed to be in an all white room with black furniture everywhere. It was a living room fitted with a flat screen tv connected to the wall. There was long black couch with a leg rest in the middle. Paintings littered the wall with old war depictions. Army¡¯s fighting for their lives, generals leading men, and entire kingdoms burning to the ground. In the middle of the couch was an old man with a bulky figure. His arms were the size of the man¡¯s head and his chest was exposed. There was a solid 8 pack that looked stronger than steel but were covered in scars. In fact his whole body was, from his body, to his arms, to the large scar going to his right eye. Though the man couldn¡¯t really see that much of it considering the old guy on the couch had an eye patch covering said optical. He had an long white beard braided into a single ponytail that reached to the center of his chest and had a really large smile on his face while drinking something from an old timey tavern mug. ¡°I honestly expected weirder, like a giant dragon or something. Not an old man chilling in a living room.¡± the man sighed. ¡°Life is just a disappointment sometimes. Not that I¡¯m alive though, so I guess I don¡¯t have the right to complain.¡± ¡°You have quite the mouth on you Xavior. A lot of fire and passion!¡± the old man spoke after another chug from his mug with a loud laugh. ¡°I like you boy, this may not be such a terrible thing after all.¡± The smile he wore never once left his face. The surprise and shock on the now known named Xavior''s was apparent. He didn¡¯t know who this man was, where he himself was, or what he was doing here. The old man waited patiently without a word while continuing to chug from the seemingly endless beverage, apparently waiting for Xavior to respond. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but uhm...are you God?¡± Xavior asked timidly. If this old man WAS God, then one thing he did not want to do was offend him in any type of way. In all honesty, Xavior was 90% sure that the person sitting before him WAS God. He never expected God to be ripped, but hell, he¡¯s all powerful! It makes complete sense when you think about it. The man however just laughed louder. ¡°No no no...well yes, but not the one you¡¯re talking about. Me and him don¡¯t get along, the kid has a large stick up his ass. ¡®Only God¡¯ my divine bottom, the youngin has no respect. Though I have to give the guy his dues, although younger, he¡¯s just as powerful. Hell, if we came into existence around the same time then he would surely be stronger than me.¡± he laughs with a deep bellow. ¡°But the cookie didn¡¯t crumble that way now did it? Little Jo-Jo will just have to wait a few more millennia. No, you would know me by Odin, King of Aesir gods and Asgard!¡± with that declaration, thunder roared and the room shook.¡± Xavior became overwhelmed and fell on his ass. The simple amount of information that could be preened from that offhanded comment alone was enough to stagger him. ¡°Alright, I get it Murphy! You¡¯re an asshole!¡± His chest tightened and suddenly the pure presence of the man before him terrified Xavior to an ridiculous degree. ¡°Does that mean there are not only multiple gods but pantheons as well?! How would that even work??? Basically each pantheon has their own take on not only the creation of humanity but the Earth and sometimes even the galaxy! Besides that, how does power scaling gods even happen? If Odin is as, if not more, powerful then the capital-G God, how did he become so powerful if he¡¯s apparently younger? And what does ¡®Came into existence¡¯ even mean? How does the birth of GODS even happen!? And last but certainly not least, JO-JO?!?!?!?!?¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°I uhm-¡± ¡°Well of course there are multiple gods. Most religions humanity comes up with has them. If we were to make it a numbers game and only a single pantheon existed, the likelihood of a multi-god one being the winner is highly likely. About the creation myths, those are mostly hogwash, ways for a pantheon to get more believers. Though, some gods have tampered with their faithful to make them more distinguishable.¡± Odin gulped down some more of whatever was in his mug before continuing. ¡°Power scaling is a little bit more tricky yet relatively simple. You see, not many pantheon¡¯s can hang with the Norse, we¡¯re just that awesome, and that number gets smaller if we¡¯re talking about individual gods. ¡°....awesome?¡± ¡°Gods grow stronger the older they get, how many followers they have, and how well known they are. Remember this, words have meaning boy, and meaning has power. We don¡¯t necessarily need to get prayed to or worshipped to receive power, though those methods does give us more than usual, our names just need to be said or something dedicated to us needs to be done. I¡¯ve lived a lot longer than the youngin but he¡¯s just as powerful because of how large and popular his religion actually is.¡± ¡°W-well how are you even still around the same level? Christianity is one of the most popular religions in the world and is still going strong. No offense but how isn¡¯t he stronger than you yet?¡± Xavior stuttered out. ¡°Remember? Having something dedicated to me gives me power. Every game with Norse Mythology as a premise, every book or poem, and especially every Wednesday, I am a little more stronger than the day before. Though I have to share a little with the Greeks and Romans, I get most of it.¡± ¡°Right...Wednesday was named after you.¡± he said while getting off his ass. ¡°That doesn¡¯t explain the whole coming into existence thing. I mean, if most of the creation myths are nothing but belony, then doesn¡¯t that mean humans came first? And why does something as powerful as the Gods get power from humans anyway?¡± ¡°Well Gods are brought into the world by the belief and faith of humans themselves. I told you, meaning has power boy, and faith even more so. The faith of humans not only brought about our creation, but also decided our powers, abilities, and even how we act in certain instances. Your race are our parents I guess you can say, we came into existence simply because you believed we existed. Humans are scary creatures when you think about it.¡± the god¡¯s smile widened more. ¡°But don¡¯t get cocky little human, I¡¯m still a god. Now sit, or are you going to stand there with you mouth open all day?¡± Xavior didn¡¯t know what to say. All of this made no sense to him. He sat down with a blank face and suddenly realized he was holding a similar mug to the god¡¯s that had some kind of suspicious liquid in it. Eyeing wearily, he took but a sip, and immediately regretted his action. The taste was delicious, like the finest honey sickle made into a broth. The mere flavor of the substance encumbered his entire body. It¡¯s like the drink didn¡¯t encapture only one of his senses, but all of them. For a second the room changed into a wide open prairie with flowers all around him. The fragrance of the honeysuckle surrounded him in a swirl of beauty. His body felt sensitive to the blowing winds and he could even hear the wildlife all around the meadow. But the taste wasn¡¯t the problem. The moment his tongue made contact with the substance, he became the dizziest he¡¯s ever been in his life. It took a moment for him to realize that just sitting there, he was swaying back and forth, and no matter how much he tried he couldn¡¯t stop himself. Worst of all, he couldn¡¯t focus, the entirety of his mind wanting nothing more but to have another taste. To experience the sensations once more. It was like with only a sip he had nearly become addicted. The man couldn¡¯t think or process the world around him and it took all his willpower from taking another sip. At his actions, the god seemed to laugh even more. ¡°That was made by Aegir himself, don¡¯t take it lightly puny mortal!¡± The voice and presence of the god woke him up with a startle. Like a wind blowing him back, the mere words of Odin demanded every ounce of his attention and an invisible aura sped towards him. Just as sudden as it appeared, the feeling vanished, from being absolutely trashed to only tipsy. He tried his best to focus himself and after a while of Xavior trying to steady his swaying body, he finally spoke once more. ¡°Why...why am I here sir? I mean, I surely died, wouldn¡¯t the jurisdiction of my soul go to ¡®Joe-Joe¡¯ if anyone? Why am here of all places? Why did you wake me?¡± These set of questions have been on his mind since he got here. As an old man with nothing to do, reading was a big part of his daily life. He didn¡¯t, however, want to keep bothering his sweet granddaughter about getting him new books everytime he needed something, so he got around to reading online novels and being chosen by a god to save a fantasy world was fairly common. He knew this trope, he just never thought it would actually happen. ¡°Well you see, the gods got bored...again, and while that explanation may seem a little to bare boned, with the gods attention span it actually explains a lot more than it should. They decided on holding a sort of tournament where a god gets a champion to revive and take action in their name. Some will want to take over the world, some will want to become the strongest, and some will just want to be left in peace. In all honesty, it¡¯s up to you guys, we can¡¯t interfere to much. The stronger you get though, the more strength we will receive. The champions were assigned randomly of people who died on a specific day. Now let me make something perfect clear to you lad. You weren¡¯t chosen because you were special or anything, you were just lucky. Or unlucky, however you decide to look at it. You aren¡¯t the chosen one. You''re not the hero or demon king. You are the random schmuck who won the prize.¡± Odin responded with a shrug of his shoulders. ¡°Oh¡­¡± he would be lying if he said he wasn¡¯t disappointed. ¡°Well you said something about this being not as bad as you thought, why did you assume that it would be?¡± In all honesty, knowing that him being revived was just chance didn¡¯t do much to help his confidence, not that he needed it much. He never needed anyone to determine his self worth but hearing that he wasn¡¯t special from a god of all things still affected him, even if it was just a little bit. ¡°You don¡¯t carry much of my personality traits.¡± he flexed his muscle while taking another drink. ¡°Look at me, I am the embodiment War, Death, Sovereignty, AND GENERAL MANLINESS! I mean, looking at your past, we were kinda alike in your early years but you threw it all away.¡± the god said offhandedly. With a eye twitch, Xavior defended himself. ¡°I had a child!¡± but the response was swift. ¡°I have plenty of children! Doesn¡¯t make me any less spectacular now does it? If you really wanted it, you would have fought to continue your conquest with all of your might! Like a MAN!¡± Odin shouted. Xavior couldn¡¯t help but give the god a deadpan. Back when he was teenager, he was a leader of a small gang. He had just expanded his territory but stopped branching out once he found out his girl was pregnant. War was just too risky, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to live with himself if something happened to his woman or his soon to be son. So once Neo was born, he chose a successor and got out of the game with all the money he saved to build them a happy and normal life. It was one of the things Xavior was bittersweet on. No, he didn¡¯t regret raising his child in a nice and safe environment, but sometimes that life called back to him and he wondered ¡®what if¡¯. ¡°Should a god really be telling me that I should have continued my path as a criminal? Isn¡¯t that...weird?¡± ¡°I am the Divine Patron of Rulers and Outlaws, not to mention a God of War. Everything about you being the leader of a criminal organization and expanding your influence through conquest screams my name.¡± Odin then promptly pouted like a child and crossed his arms. ¡°But then you had a kid and became lame.¡± ¡°¡­.is this really a god I¡¯m speaking too?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Odin confirmed, most likely reading his mind again. That would really get annoying. ¡°Anyway boy, it is time for you to begin. Are you ready?¡± ¡°Right...I¡¯m getting revived.¡± Odin finally stood up and walked to him. With a sigh, Xavior got up to look him in the eye. ¡°God of War and Rulers huh...I guess that means I can only go down one path.¡± the god smiled at this and shrugged. ¡°You have many paths to go down my boy, don¡¯t blame your actions on me. Do what you want. Take what you want. Be what you want. Whether your own morals hold you back from that is entirely up to you, however don¡¯t use me as an excuse. It¡¯s all a game after all, whether you rule the world or work at a fastfood chain, there¡¯s only one rule. Have Fun.¡± and with a nod, the white room he was in disappeared with a flash. ¡®I¡¯m so going to get him back for all of the fucking lights one day!¡¯ Chapter 2: Birth Pain, it was all Xavior could feel. There was this, tightness, like being squeezed, crushed even. It ecombered his entire being. He couldn¡¯t see anything, he couldn¡¯t hear anything, he didn¡¯t even know where he was was. One thing he did know though,was that everything hurt. It was like his entire being was getting forcibly pushed through a small tube. Worst of all, most of the pressure was focused around his head. It was the greatest pain he had ever felt. He tried holding it back at first, after all he¡¯s a man, and a man has his pride. Ultimately though, the pain became to much for him as he began screaming in agony. Xavior began struggling, fighting with all of his strength to get out of his current situation. He didn¡¯t know what was happening but he couldn¡¯t even take the time to think about it. He couldn¡¯t focus on anything but the pain and a way to make it stop. Just when he felt his head was going to pop, something saved him from his misery. He felt what seemed like a pair of hands begin to cradle his head. Some of the pressure dissipated around his skull, but it wasn¡¯t enough. At the prospect at a savior, Xavior couldn¡¯t help but scream louder than anytime before. His throat started becoming hoarse but he couldn¡¯t stop himself. Without warning, the pressure around his head all but disappeared, replaced by a bright light ¡®FUCK! How many times will I be blinded today?!?¡¯ he screamed in his mind. Regardless of his head being free or not, the light only made him want to scream louder, but that didn¡¯t seem possible at the moment. He was screaming as loud as he could already. That doesn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t make the effort to try though. Perhaps to only annoy his apparent tormentors with his cries, with a little hope of rupturing someones eardrum. While his head was finally free, his body was still being squeezed to Death. The man tried to look around to catch his bearings if nothing else, although his main goal was to finally witness his torturers face and commit it to memory. Xavior was not the forgive and forget type and he fully planned on having his revenge. In his efforts, he realized another problem. He couldn¡¯t see. It¡¯s not as if the man was blind, but the world was nothing but blurs and blobs moving around. He couldn¡¯t make out a single distinctive face. This is when his second problem came forth. Everybody and everything is the entire world seemed to be Too. Fucking. Loud. Sound bombarded his ears without mercy and it did nothing but make this terrible day, all the worse. He could see that all of the blobs and shapes around him were humongous giants. At this point, Xavior was terrified out of his mind. He was being tortured by blurry giants the minute after his reincarnation and he couldn¡¯t do anything about it. All of his movements from the lower part of his body were restricted by the same force they used to torture him with. He didn¡¯t even know what type of world he was born into but from the looks of everything, he wasn¡¯t going to like it one bit.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. With one final pull from his captors, the lower half of his body was finally free. With all of his might, he was determined to use this opportunity to get away from the giants, but just like everything that happened today, there was a problem. Even without the restriction around his body, he couldn¡¯t fucking move. With a mighty roar and shout that displayed his determination, he began trying with all of his being to get out of the monster¡¯s hands. In the end, he was barely able to move his arms and legs. He didn¡¯t understand what was going on, he felt so weak and just the slight movement he¡¯s achieved has made him tired. With a shift in position, the old man could feel himself getting moved from one place to another. The giants were passing him around. ¡®Probably deciding who gets to eat me first!!¡¯ Screaming with a mighty roar once more, he tried again to control his body, to get it to move or do anything really besides being useless. Alast, the only thing that came from his efforts, were exhaustion and a feeling of sluggishness surrounding him. The only good thing that came from this whole ordeal is that it seems his hearing was slowly adjusting to all the noise. The trade off for this it seemed was his vision. He could slowly feel his eyelids closing against his Will. He was just so damn exhausted. More exhausted than he¡¯s ever been, in fact. ¡®It¡¯s alright, I couldn¡¯t see anything anyway.¡¯ ¡°-a fighter. Congratulation Mr. and Mrs. Dark, it¡¯s a healthy baby boy! Just look at the lungs on this one. Have you decided on what you want to call him.¡± All of a sudden, everything seemed to click. This was birth! The squeezing, the prison, the pain, it must have all been from him coming out of the womb! So many things were happening at once that he couldn¡¯t even think straight. If he did, he would have known how obvious it was. After all, he was reincarnated, that does mean having to be born, it would be stupid to say he¡¯s been reincarnated and then placed into an adult body. ¡®That¡¯s more like transportation right?¡¯ He felt like an idiot for not realising it sooner. He also realised why babies cried so much coming out of the womb. ¡®That shit was painful!¡¯ ¡°Yes, we have, we decided to name him after his grandfather. I think it would fit, what about you dear?¡± a feminine voice asked. It was tired yet joyful. Xavior couldn¡¯t see her face clearly, even as she was now holding him, but he could practically hear her smile. It seemed she was truly happy at his birth. He must have been a planned child. ¡°Hmph, it¡¯s not like I had any choice, I still want to go with Dante Jr.¡± a manly voice spoke. He sounded sour and pouty. It looks like Xavior¡¯s parents had a argument over his name before today. ¡°Oh you and your jokes. You are joking, aren¡¯t you~?¡± his apparent mother asked with sweet venom. Apparently his mother wore the pants in the family. He would laugh if he didn¡¯t feel so tired. ¡°Ha ha, of course honey. You know me, a joker all around!¡± he said in fright. ¡°Besides, I¡¯m sure he loves it. Don¡¯t you Xavior?¡± ¡®Huh?¡¯ Chapter 3: 3 Months In 3 months...That¡¯s how long it took for Xavior to develop that complicated mystical arts of seeing. 3...fucking...months. And even then, he still felt like a kid who needed glasses. Needless to say, the old man now turned toddler was not happy. From all of the webnovels he¡¯s read, things should not have been going like this. There was not any pain in any of the stories he read online about being reincarnated. When they finally were born into the world, they didn¡¯t mention feeling like their ears were gonna burst. And at the very least, they could fucking see without waiting around for 90 days! Speaking of waiting around, Xavior didn¡¯t think he would have minded being a baby at first. Lazing about, doing nothing all day, being taken care of without fail, it all sounded like paradise. That is, until you realise that you shit yourself. Yes, you shit yourself, babies did that and then they sat in it. Normally, it wouldn¡¯t have been such a problem. He would have just held it until the right opportunity. That way, the moment he shat, the next moment he¡¯d get changed. The problem with that entire plan though, was that just like how he couldn¡¯t control his body well, he couldn¡¯t control his ass well enough to dictate when he could shit. Sometimes, he didn¡¯t even get the feeling in his stomach, it just came out without any semblance of restraint. The embarrassment was enough to last an entire lifetime. After 3 months though, things began getting easier. Simply moving his body was still a struggle, but not nearly as much as when he was first born. Gradually, he was refining his motor skills. This also came with the advantage of more easily controlling when he shat. It was not easy, but the first time he successfully timed his shit and his changing close after, he cried in joy. His mother of course just thought he was hungry and fed him. Thank goodness from a bottle, Xavior¡¯s mother was quite adamant on him drinking formula and he couldn¡¯t agree more. He¡¯d never be able to look his mother in the face otherwise. Besides the embarrassment of not controlling his poop and the very large accomplishment of controlling his poop, nothing else really happened during his first 3 months. Then again, he doesn¡¯t even know if that¡¯s true, he couldn¡¯t see anything after all. When everyone was asleep and he had a moment of alone time, he tried talking. He literally couldn¡¯t. Nothing came out but a low whine. This was during his first month though, now at 3 months, if he put his mind to it he could say simple words. Of course he didn¡¯t reveal it to his parents, that would do nothing but freak them out. Another thing about this screwed up situation, these were his parents. His actual parents from his first life. Before him dying, before being introduced to the mythical world, before him meeting the mighty Odin himself.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. These were his REAL mom and dad. This shocked him more than anything else. He wasn¡¯t in some mysterious fantasy world with elves and dwarfs. Nor was he in some medieval time before technology. He knew because his parents owned a flat screen tv. As far as he could tell, there was nothing magical about the tv either, it looked like it ran on electricity. It¡¯s pretty obvious when you think about it out loud, but it still baffled him. There were not many stories, if at all, that depicted the main character reincarnated into his own world. ¡®Then again, who is to say I¡¯m the main character of anything. I could be that one hero¡¯s companion that dies and the actual main character uses my Death as a way to power up with the magical power of friendship.¡¯ That depressing thought had him crying that night. He¡¯s still a baby after all, he¡¯ll act like one if he so chooses. Nevertheless, he had many questions, and those questions piled up with every day he was in this world. He tried talking to his god, Odin, but no matter what he did, nothing worked. At one point, he was even desperate enough to put in the effort of placing his hands together and praying silently. When silent praying didn¡¯t work, he started praying out loud but the only thing that really came out were baby gargle. Eventually, he gave up trying to contact his god, he didn¡¯t really need Odin right now anyway. It would just have been nice to have him. It¡¯s not like he could ask Odin for some super secret training, he was a baby after all, he couldn¡¯t move yet alone train. Unless you count trying to have any sort of control over your finger and bowel movements as training. Without much to do, Xavior just lived his life as a baby for 3 months. In the end, he couldn¡¯t really do anything else. His god wanted to become anti-social all of a sudden, so he was useless at the moment. He could barely control his body, so training was out too. The only thing he could do was wait to walk and talk. Then, and only then, will he be able to start his master plan. With this plan, he will gather minions, he would become unstoppable, and he will even take over the entire world! ¡®It¡¯s only a Game after all.¡¯ All he needed was time, the other Chosen should still be babies too, they¡¯re in the same boring situation as him. With nothing to see or do, he bets that they are all just being little shitty kids. ¡®Disgusting children.¡¯ he thought, avoiding the fact that he¡¯s a toddler himself. ¡®You better prepare yourself world. I am not the type to hold back, even on the other Chosen. We all didn¡¯t pick to be reborn, but even so, I have to win. Even if I chose to sit around without participating, I doubt the others would let me. As long as I¡¯m a Chosen, I¡¯m a threat to them and there power... No that¡¯s only an excuse. If I¡¯m going to get anywhere, I have to stop treating this as if I¡¯m forced to do anything. I don¡¯t have any good reason except that it sounds like fun. Power for the sake of Power. I have no choice but to put my plan in action and destroy you all¡­¡­..Now I just need to come up with a plan.¡¯ He then yawned. ''Eh, I''ll come up with a plan tomorrow. I''m tired.'' Chapter 4: Her Ability It¡¯s been 6 months now and the daily life of Xavior Dark has officially gotten epic. Or really fucking weird, he honestly couldn¡¯t tell you which or even if there was an actual difference. First things first, Xavior met this really weird baby. Now all babies are weird little creatures but this baby was really weird. Xavior¡¯s mom, Ava Dark, took Xavior across the street one day to hang out with her friend. She apparently had a kid too, a little girl named Elise. She was an adorable little baby and if he had his adult body he would have cooed over her like a buffoon. She had what seemed like a fluff of golden hair on top of her head with the cutest green eyes. He was sat in a little baby pen right in front of her while his mother went to go do something. Xavior really didn¡¯t know what to do at first, she held this blank like look and stare on her face. He decided to raise his hand in a awkward wave and say hi. That¡¯s when things got weird. Instead of making baby gargle or doing something stupid like he thought she would, she simply tilted her head to the side like a cute anime girl and waved back. She just, waved back, like she was waving hello. Now normally he would write this off as a baby copying him but she just had this weird sort of intelligence in her eyes. It was as if she wasn¡¯t just copying but could really understand the significance of the motion. Xavior crawled a bit closer to her, because he obviously still couldn¡¯t walk at this point, and sat right in front of her. ¡°Can you understand me?¡± he asked with a tilt of his own head. With 3 more months of practice, he was finally able to speak full sentences. Although his parent¡¯s still didn¡¯t know yet, he did make sure to say his first words. After very careful consideration he crawled in front of his mother while she was cooking dinner and said ¡®Mama¡¯. She was so happy, she picked him up and bragged to his father the entire day. The baby, to his complete and utter surprise, nodded. She looked the toddler straight in the eye, and nodded. He literally fell back in surprise. Without raising his hand again, he said, ¡°If you can really understand me, wave again.¡± as a test. Without fail, the baby girl raised her hand again, and waved. As Baby Xavior sat there, pondering the meaning of life and the ramification of this baby in front of him, said baby then began trying to poke him. For the first few times, he ignored it, to deep into his thoughts to care. It¡¯s only when she kept going for a solid 20 seconds without stop that he began getting annoyed.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. He blocked her next poke while saying, ¡°No¡± firmly. Her previous nonchalant expression quickly turned into a frown. She tried again but Xavior only kept blocking all of her advances. After 2-3 more failed attempts of poking, her frown became more defined, and she began to cry. That¡¯s when all semblance of normalcy decided to take a cab to Scotland and jump out the window. When she began to cry, a weird sort of pink aura began surrounding him. This, without a doubt began to freak him out, but he really lost it when he began to float. One second, he was on the ground defending himself from a very determined child, the next he was in the air. Obviously he began to scream for help, but as he was a baby, it all just sounded like him crying. Even though this was totally not the case and he handled the freaky situation like a man. While in the air, he was pulled closer to Elise and was defenseless against her barrage of pokes. He just couldn¡¯t get in the right position to block them in midair. Her laughter that followed soon after did not help his wounded pride. Continuing his pleas for help, both of their mothers finally came back into the room and noticed the situation. With a shocking gasp that came from Ava, all that happened next was a giggle. ¡°Oh Diane, I didn¡¯t know Elise was so talented. Magic Talent or Ability?¡± Ava asked her friend Eve while chuckling at Little Xavior¡¯s predicament. ¡°The doctors are saying ability, isn¡¯t my little girl just the best?¡± she answered. From crawling around and sneaking on his parents phone he learned a lot. So there are 3 categories in the world of supers. The magic category, the technology category, and the Chi/Ki category. Each of these have subcategories but that¡¯s not really important right now. You see, just like in any system, there are exceptions. Ability users are people born with a super power not powered by any one type of energy. For example, say a mage threw a fireball spell, if the opposing mage was skilled enough, he could take control of the mana within that very same fireball spell and throw it back at the mage that cast it. If a person had the Ability to throw fire however, that fire wouldn¡¯t be made of mana, therefor the mage wouldn¡¯t be able to control it. A mage trying to do so, would do nothing for him but give him a really effective tan. Ability users are really rare though, although he was in the air, Xavior couldn¡¯t help but be amazed at this baby. Because they didn¡¯t belong to a specific group on the power spectrum, their powers could be anything from making forks turn into spoons, to controlling space and time. They are really dangerous beings but if you are one, no matter what your power is, you¡¯re basically golden for the rest of your life. The government takes very special care of Ability users from health care to free insurance, but they also keep a very close eye on them. ¡®It looks like I met someone interesting.¡¯ Chapter 5: Myths and Legends Soon after Xavior went home from Eve and her strange child¡¯s place, he immediately got to thinking. Originally, he wanted to wait until he could at least safely walk before doing any sort of training but he now knows how naive that thought was. Although Elise is a rarity and not the standard, that doesn¡¯t make it any less daunting. Right now, if she had the mental capabilities, that child could kill Xavior. He may just be overthinking things but that doesn¡¯t make it any less true. What if Xavior made her so angry she slammed him against a wall hard enough to kill him. She wouldn¡¯t know what she was doing, hell she wouldn¡¯t even be doing it on purpose, but that just makes the pit in Xavior¡¯s stomach all the more deeper. She doesn¡¯t even need to try, she could just accidently kill him. A baby! The plan was to use this time to study up on path to follow while gradually figuring out any of the abilities he got from Odin, but that plan was no longer viable. He needed to figure out his abilities now. No more waiting and no more taking it easy. Just because he can¡¯t train physically doesn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t train in every other category. ¡®Hell, I¡¯ve read plenty of webnovels where children trained the Ki/Chi branch almost immediately after birth. No, I wasn¡¯t being naive, I was being Lazy.¡¯ Xavior thought in anger at himself. His mother sat him on the couch and called out that they were home to his father. As she was about to head into the kitchen, Xavior stopped her. ¡°Mama¡± he said still on the couch. ¡°Aww, does someone need a little changing?¡± she asked coming back. He couldn¡¯t blame his mother for making such an assumption. Usually, he only talks when he wants to be changed. In fact, it¡¯s the only times he talks. That doesn¡¯t stop the feeling of embarrassment though. He shook his head and held out his hand. ¡°Phone¡± he demanded with the most serious expression he could make as a 6 month old baby. She stopped in her tracks and looked surprised for a second. This was Xavior¡¯s first word besides ¡®Mama¡¯ and ¡®Dadda¡¯. He made a constant effort to be a normal baby before this, but that was just an excuse to be slothful. This world has super powers, freaks, and mutants. There was no reason to pretend to be ¡®normal¡¯. ¡°Phone? Do you want mama¡¯s phone?¡± she asks while bending over to look him in the eyes. It made Xavior slightly uncomfortable but he didn¡¯t look away, only nodding in response. To his surprise, she only smiled and handed it to him. ¡°This is much better than you stealing it, it¡¯s about time you stopped pretending to be a dummy.¡± This caused Xavior to widen his eyes in shock. He had no idea how to react to this. ¡®How long has she known? How did she find out? Maybe some type of mindreading power? Why didn¡¯t she say something from the beginning.¡¯ At his perplexed expression, she giggled. ¡°Next time, when you want to hide how intelligent you are, delete your search history.¡± she said with a sly smile while getting up and heading into the kitchen. To this, he felt like such a fool he wanted to bury his head and die. ¡®Duh, my fucking search history! No normal baby would be able to read yet alone spell all of the topics I searched up. She has probably known for months that I was intelligent yet kept it to herself. Why would she do that though? Why didn¡¯t she say anything? Does Father know too?¡¯ he asked himself. He was thinking of a million things per second and the more questions he answered, the more mysteries popped up. ¡®What else has she noticed about me? What does she know? Ugghh whatever, right now I have other things to focus on, like not suffering Death by Powerful Toddler!¡¯ he screamed in his mind, giving up on that tangent for now. He began focusing on the current situation. First he looked up Odin in Google to research more about him. Almost immediately, what he found out shocked him to the bone. Apparently, there are more things different in this world than simply the addition of superpowers. Nothing here, in this entire world, was myth. Well, not nothing, but most mythologies here actually have some basis. Here, Odin isn''t a being who might or might not be real. Here, Odin is a god who is real. There is no discussion whether he¡¯s real or not, it¡¯s accepted as common knowledge. Not a theory but a fact.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Not just Odin either, most gods Xavior knows of are accepted as real beings. From Greek and Roman, to Egyptian and Norse, all of them are widely accepted as real mystical entities. Because of this though, the ¡®myths¡¯ themselves are changed or rather tweaked a bit. Apparently the information Odin told Xavior wasn¡¯t common. Most people don¡¯t know how gods are actually created but essentially anything that has to do with creation was deleted from the books. Most of the ones he¡¯s searched up didn¡¯t have any of their original creation stories still out there. ¡®Well I suppose that makes sense. If basically all of these gods are real, and they are all claiming that they either created humanity or the world, then a lot of shit just wouldn¡¯t add up.¡¯ Still though, this wasn¡¯t the only shocking thing. First off, people like Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, and even Hitler were basically gods. Legends, they called them. While they didn¡¯t have the title, they had the strength to bitchslap a bunch minor gods without trouble. Hell, there are several reports of Alexander literally fucking up an entire small pantheon. Not only were they super powerful, they are all still alive till this very day. ¡®Hitler is still alive! What in the fuck??! And let¡¯s not forget the bunch of well known demigods and monsters too from each pantheon. How in the hell am I supposed surpass all of them?!¡¯ Truly realising about all of the powerful beings in this world all at once really gave Xavior some bad anxiety. He had to actively take control of his breathing for fear of having a panic attack. After taking a moment to calm down, he deleted all of the extra tabs he created and decided to focus. The whole point of grabbing the phone in the first place was to discover more about Odin in particular. He needed to know what he could do now rather than discover it later on. If he knows his move set from a young age then he can train them up far sooner than if he waited. ¡®Let¡¯s see here.¡¯ he says while looking at a list of Odin¡¯s domains. ¡®Whoa, there¡¯s actually a lot. There¡¯s wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet. There¡¯s apparently a lot I can do but not now. I can¡¯t focus on Battle right now simply because of my age. Wisdom and Knowledge will go nicely with War and the Runic Alphabet but all 4 of those are out just because I can¡¯t do anything with them right now. Besides the first 3 seems like passive abilities so I¡¯ll make sure read a lot while I¡¯m still growing. Royalty and Victory also sounds like passives and right now I need active abilities to practice with. Hmm.¡± he ponders. ¡®That leaves Healing, Death, Gallows, Sorcery, Poetry, and Frenzy. Well Poetry is definitely out. What am gonna do, bore my opponents to Death? What the hell even is a Gallows?¡¯ he asks himself while searching it up. Apparently the Gallows is a spot used for hanging. Odin is the god of it because one day he hung himself from the tree of Yggdrasil for Knowledge. ¡®Yeaaa, while that¡¯s neat and all, doesn¡¯t seem very useful right now. But Healing, Death, Sorcery, and Frenzy might be just what I¡¯m looking for. Hell yea! Necromancer Class here I come!¡¯ he thinks in excitement. There, however, is one problem he stumbled on almost immediately. ¡®Now how the hell do I use any of these powers?¡¯ Knowing what he should be able to do is fine and dandy but he doesn¡¯t actually know how to do any of them. The first thing he needed to do was choose a path to focus on, and honestly Healing seemed the easiest. The problem of how to practice Healing was still apparent. Not to mention what to even practice on. ¡®I could try sneaking a knife out.¡¯ he thought. ¡®No, how would I even do it without Mother or Father catching me. And even I could, what if the healing doesn¡¯t work. Mother knows I¡¯m intelligent and she would expect an actual answer as to how I injured myself. It¡¯s too risky.¡¯ That¡¯s when he noticed the dying fern in the window of his home. Both his Mother and Father always forgot to water it so even though it¡¯s been getting plenty of sunlight, it was still dying. It was high up though, and his tiny baby body wasn¡¯t able to reach the sill. There was only one thing he could do. ¡°Mamaaaaaa!!!¡± Chapter 6: Death Xavior eventually ended up getting his mom¡¯s attention. She was surprised that the only thing he needed was the dying fern in their window sill. After grabbing the house plant, her curiosity ended up getting the best her and she holded out cooking dinner to see what her strangely talented son had planned. She sat next to him without a word and just stared at her son and the plant. This, of course, made Xavior highly uncomfortable, but he decided not to comment on it. After finding out how perceptive his mother was, he decided not to hide much else from her. He in no way expected himself to be completely honest with her 100% of the time, a man needed his privacy afterall, but he¡¯d definitely be more honest about things. Just as he was about to begin, his father ended up coming down the stairs for dinner. Before he could say anything, he must¡¯ve noticed the situation. He stood there on the stairs for a couple of moments, before sitting on the couch next to Xavior without a word. He didn¡¯t know what was going on, but apparently Xavior¡¯s father was much more perceptive than he thought as well. The situation was tense for him, he needed something to happen. The results didn¡¯t even have to be spectacular or even average, but something needed to happen, he couldn¡¯t live in a world where literal infants could kill him by accident for even a second longer. It made him feel to weak and vulnerable. ¡®Two words the perfectly describes me right now, but it doesn¡¯t make the situation any less fucked up.¡¯ He¡¯d deal with the questions his parents will no doubt have after this, at a later date. Finally focusing on the fern, he tried to use his previous weeb experience to help him in this situation. He actively watched anime and read manga, manhwa, and even manhua. Yes they sounded the same, but there were differences. This is not to even mention the hundreds and possibly even thousands of webnovels he¡¯s read. He began touching the plant¡¯s leaves, the dead ones to be exact. He closed his eyes to focus and just tried to feel something, literally anything. He didn¡¯t know what he was looking for exactly, but as one of god¡¯s chosen, even by coincidence, he knew he had an affinity for these domains. All he needed to do was learn how to access them. After sitting in focus for a while, gently rubbing one of its dead leaves between his fingers, he began to feel something. He clenched his eyes in frustration as what he felt was despair. There was no energy, or chakra, or fucking spiritual pressure he could feel from this fern. From what he could tell, it wasn¡¯t only a plant, but a dying one. Even more useless than an alive one. Despite this wonderful and spectacular information, it was rather useless to him at the time. Especially because that observation could be made with only his eyes. ¡®What was I expecting, it¡¯s been like 5 minutes and the only new thing I¡¯ve learned about this plant is that its leaves are rough! Trying to depend on knowledge I acquired from lazing around in a previous life was a dumb idea in the first place!¡¯ he berated himself. There it was again, another failure on his part because of laziness. He felt foolish for daring to think he could just stroll his way into power. His parents could apparently feel their son¡¯s frustration as two hands landed on Xavior¡¯s shoulders. ¡°You are young my son. No matter how smart you apparently are, we do not expect you to suddenly become a secret Master. It¡¯s okay, seeing Elise must have made you pretty jealous huh? Everything is fine, no one is rushing you, we have time.¡± his mother said with a calming voice.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. With all of his might, Xavior wanted to believe his mother. He wanted to act his age and cry and fall asleep in her arms. The only thing that kept him from doing that exact thing, was knowing his mother was wrong. ¡®I don¡¯t have time, I¡¯m not young, and it¡¯s certainly not okay. Believing that other Chosen will leave me alone simply because I don¡¯t want to participate in the gods¡¯ twisted game is naive. As long as I¡¯m alive, I¡¯m a threat. This is especially true for me, my patron god is Odin. A major god from a major religion. This is not even counting that I actually want to participate. I need to make progress, I need to figure this out!¡¯ and with that thought, he got back to work. Breathing in and out, he tried to calm himself. He just needed to think about things outside of the box. Using normal logic he learned from his previous world won¡¯t exactly work here. He couldn¡¯t feel any energy from inside the plant, and so he needed to look at this from a different point of view. Instead of looking for some type of sign inside the dying fern, he began searching in himself. For a type of energy, for a type of feeling, for something. The moment he thought of doing this, his eyes opened in surprise. He immediately felt something. A tug from within his very being, not really at a specific part of his body, but his body as a whole ¡°Boy?¡± his father inquired, but was ignored by Xavior. He felt like he was on the right path and he couldn¡¯t get distracted. Breathing through his nose and out through his mouth slowly, he began getting to work. Again, the response was almost instantaneous. He felt something inside of himself. Slowly moving his thumb back and forth on the dead leaf, he tried to use it somehow. The energy was cold and numb. While trying to move it through his body and into his arm, it began to to shiver and twitch. It was slow but extremely simple to move if he focused hard enough. His arm began feeling cold and numb, the properties of the exact energy he was trying to control. It was a weird sensation, like he could literally feel his blood moving throughout the body, and with enough will, he could influence its directions from within his veins. Yet this was no blood, it felt so foreign that he wondered how had he not discovered the energy before. It was probably so easy to identify because of the boy not having said energy in his last world before. Currently with it flowing throughout him, how could he not notice it, especially now that he¡¯s actively looking for it. Even with this development, the excitement in his heart didn¡¯t allow him to stop. He continued on, his arm shaking more but also being ignored. The moment the mysterious energy reached his fingers where the plant was touching, instead of healing like he meant it too, the leaf shriveled and died in an instant. The second the energy got to its destination, the leaf turned pure black and wilted. Xavior widened his eyes in surprise and immediately cut the power off. His parent¡¯s gasped and shock and jumped back in fear. They looked in fear at the plant and at the same time looked to their son. Xavior was felt kinda hurt at the reaction but just clenched his teeth and ignored them for now. ¡®Not yet, I¡¯m not done yet. While this is good, I need to figure out how to distinguish my powers, otherwise I¡¯ll just kill anyone I touch! I need to figure out how to heal!¡¯ Chapter 7: Healing Success After successfully using magic, Xavior was ecstatic. Sure, the outcome wasn¡¯t what he wanted, but it was an outcome. Anything was better than nothing, and besides, even though he didn¡¯t use his healing, he did use a power that¡¯s equally as great. The power over Death is nothing to scoff at. In fact, Xavior had just as many plans for using his Death powers as his Healing powers, if not more. Both of them are amazing alone, the fact that he had the potential to use both astonished him. The moment that leaf withered, millions of ideas formed in his head. What if he could somehow mold the energy inside of him to come out as a beam or ball in the physical world and shoot it at his opponents? What if he could master the power enough to solidify and make a weapon with it? And don¡¯t forget the one he¡¯s most excited for, what if he ends up being able to control the dead? Becoming a successful necromancer is on Xavior¡¯s Top 10 List of Badassery after all. One day, he wants to have an army of the dead to do his bidding. It¡¯ll definitely be useful in his goals to conquer the world. Regardless, he still needed to figure out his power to Heal. The power is severely underrated and Xavior was a man with a broad mind. He knew how to think outside the box and use his Healing offensively. In fact, the potential to kill his enemies with it is more prominent than his actual Death attribute. While probably not going to be used a lot, if there is ever an enemy that cannot lay a scratch on, if there is ever a enemy so strong that all of his magic and powers are useless, Healing will be his secret weapon. All that protection is good and all, but that won¡¯t protect you from cancer will it? The rapid multiplication of cells, essentially the body healing itself but going into overdrive. A wise man once said that too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing. Xavior finds this true in most if not all cases. He begins searching the fern for another dead leaf and it doesn¡¯t take him long to find one. After finding another he closed his eyes and breathed. Although he was highly satisfied with just discovering how to use his Death powers for today, he¡¯s nowhere near content. Power means nothing if it cannot be controlled and mistakenly using Death when he meant to use Heal puts a knot in his stomach. If he tried to use that on his Mother and Father or a friend, they¡¯d be dead. Control is necessary before he can progress. That being said, he needed to figure out how. Touching the dead leaf, he feels it again. That dark and cold feeling that spreads through his body. Without a doubt, it¡¯s the feeling of Death. He can recognize it now without any hesitation or doubt. It traveled throughout him in a weird way. Like it was slimy or gooey, but for some reason instead of feeling disgusted, it only made him feel comfy. It felt natural, like it should have been there in his body all along but never was until now. ¡®I suppose that makes sense. We¡¯re dying, all of us, at every moment. From the moment we are born we are to die, it¡¯s always with us. I guess that¡¯s why it feels so natural, now if only I could say such things without sounding like a Edgelord. To be honest, it could also just be because of who my god is. Yea, let¡¯s go with that one.¡¯This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Now that the feeling of Death was flowing through him, he just needed a way to switch the energy he was using. The first idea that went through his head was thinking happy thoughts. That maybe, if he was filled with positive emotions the energy would change itself into a positive energy. ¡®Puppies, kittens, the knowledge of the next lottery numbers~¡¯ he thought with a hum. ¡®No? Nothing at all? Phewy, and of course I don¡¯t remember the next lottery numbers either so I no doubt have to take that L as well. No Healing or money, fate is a cruel mistress. Besides, I didn¡¯t have to think negatively for my Death powers to form in the first place. Why would positivity unlock Healing. All I needed to do was touch a dead leaf...A dead leaf......A dead leaf!'' With that thought, he went to his next idea, touching one of the alive leaves. While none of them were in perfect health, there were still some hanging strong. Or at least, hanging on the edge of Death. This was perfect for Xavior¡¯s plans as he let go of the dying leaf and touched the alive one. After breathing in and out and sending a small prayer to Odin for success, he closed his eye again and looked deep within. A smile couldn¡¯t help but form on his face as he felt something new. Without a doubt, the slimy Death energy was still there, it was just a lot less prominent. This new energy felt completely different, the contrast was like night and day. While Death felt cold, the Healing felt warm. Not quite hot, but not cold either. Death was slow and sluggish, like slime. Healing however, flowed through him without problem. Trying to direct the power, it appeared where he wanted in a instant. The only problem was, that there was so little of it. Touching the Dead leaf made him feel abundant with it. It was everywhere, flowing throughout his body slowly. Touching the alive one though felt different. The amount of Death was high and the amount of Healing energy was extremely low, however Death was nowhere near amount he felt when touching the Dead leaf. It seemed to be fighting for its life, trying to heal and recover...it was failing. There was something else also. He didn''t feel any other type of power inside him yet, he felt with every cell in body that something was there. He just couldn¡¯t sense it nor control it. It was there, he knew it was, it just also wasn¡¯t. ¡®But that doesn¡¯t make sense, it¡¯s my body damnit. I should be able to control all energy or whatever the hell it is inside.¡¯ he said before a realisation hit him. ¡®Unless it¡¯s not my energy! What if what I¡¯m doing right now isn¡¯t controlling any energy inside of my body, but yet projecting the energy of the leaf inside of me! Then that would mean the one mysterious force I feel, or rather don¡¯t feel, isn¡¯t part of my domains. That¡¯s it! It must be its Life force!¡¯ With a explanation finally in mind, Xavior does what he set out to do from the very beginning. Moving the Healing force throughout his body and into his fingers touching the fern, he finally succeeds. The leaf straightens out immediately and turns so green it feels like it¡¯s naturally grown in the wild. ¡°Yes! Now I¡­..huh?¡± It was then, that everything went black. Chapter 8: The Gamer? Xavior sighed in annoyance. He repeatedly told his mother that he did not need to go to kindergarten. For Odin¡¯ sake it was kindergarten. Now Xavior may have been a dropout in high school but that was only in his senior year, and even then to be fair he only dropped out when he became boss of his small gang. When he was actually in school, he was in the green. ¡®I mean I wasn¡¯t a genius but still.¡¯ These kids didn¡¯t even understand how to brush their teeth correctly but his own mother expected him to not only to go there but to make friends with these brats? Needless to say, he was not happy at the moment. He could be at home doing so many other things, especially because he needed more progress in his training. It¡¯s been 5 years since then, and yet he could still barely use his healing powers at all! After his little stunt back as a infant, his mother and father were shocked into a stupor. Surprisingly, there wasn¡¯t much prejudice against Death magic like he expected and his father was truly ecstatic about the development. The moment he woke up, his father wouldn¡¯t put him down, bragging to the world that his son was a prodigy. It was really embarrassing for him throughout all of it but he felt happy that his father was so proud. Mother did the same thing, but subtly. Waiting for just the right moments to bring it up in conversation without feeling forced and acting as if it was completely natural. Xavior didn¡¯t mind it much, it was refreshing to see his parent immaturity and youngevity. Both of them died of old age in his past life and in their last moments they were just like Xaviors. So very tired of the pains of old bones. Their energy gone with their young age and bodies. Because of this, nothing made him happier than seeing the happiness and excitement of his parents. He missed it dearly. Even after they found out about his intelligence, he made sure to still act like a child in certain moments. The joy of raising a child should not be stolen from them just because it was embarrassing for him personally. After fainting from using his healing power, him and his parents sat down to clear some things up for him. Apparently, he fainted from mana exhaustion. The reason he didn¡¯t feel any strain from using his Death magic at the time was because the magic is famous for being very mana conservative. At the cost of this though, it¡¯s harder to train. The magic is slow and hard to control successfully and any sort of progress besides making things wither will be a challenge. Now, while being able to kill things easily is amazing, it¡¯s not so simple. Death magic is just too dangerous and there¡¯s not many people who are willing to train a child in its use. Healing however had a different problem. While easy to use, the problem stems from how much mana it burns through. WIth the exact opposite problem of his Death magic, his Healing magic is just to mana exhausting to be feasible in battle, even after 5 years of training it. Well, trying to train it anyway. Everytime he used the magic, for years, he would immediately faint if he was trying to heal anything bigger than a fingernail. While better now, the extent of his capabilities are healing paper cuts and needing a long nap afterwards. The only way for him to raise his mana pool was to actually work his mana like a muscle. The more he used it, the more he had. If there¡¯s one good thing that came from having such a mana draining skill was how much easier it was to raise he mana pool. Despite this, he had to make sure to be very careful, experiencing mana exhaustion to many time in succession can cause a person to become Mana Impaired. Just like a muscle, working it is good, but just the same overworking it can cause dastardly results. The only way Xavior has been able to train over these years was to somehow get him on the borderline of exhaustion without actually getting there.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. There was no middle ground, his pool was just too small and healing was just too expensive. For most of the entire first year of training he had to poke himself with a tack to create a wound small enough to heal, secretly without his parents knowledge of course. His mother¡¯s rage would not be light if she found out. Even then, he still got extremely tired afterwards. He sighed again once he was poked. Looking next to him, he saw Elise smiling at him. He simply chuckled and smiled back before heading to one of the seats away from the other children. After the day Elise and him first met, she sort of just, followed him. Everywhere. At first he tried with futility to avoid her. Even though his body was of a child''s, he was an bitter old man he did not sign up for being another person¡¯s babysitter. He liked how adorable children were at times, that did not mean he liked children. She was persistent though and if he tried to run to much she would get angry and just make him float in front of her until he promised not to flee. Xavior was rather annoyed he still didn¡¯t have a defense against that. She began to grow on him though, the child was bright and full of happiness. Eventually, he just gave up and took her everywhere he went. As the day went by, he had to constantly refuse the caretaker of doing any sort of childish activities. He acted his age in front of his parents, but everyone else could go take their macaroni art and juice boxes and stick it where the sun didn¡¯t shine. Although funnily enough he rather enjoyed juice boxes and the macaroni art was the only thing he actually did. He wanted to give it to his parents, give them something to remember him as a child. Elise was strangely content enough to simply sit next to me the entire day without complaint. While the other kids were on the carpet listening to story time, Xavior focused on his other problem. The guy couldn¡¯t use any other fucking magic. No matter how much he tried, he made no progress in doing anything other than killing and healing. And even those are more like powers more than anything. He just didn¡¯t know what to do, or where to even really start. Any organism are constantly doing two things at the same time, dying and healing. As an adult, around 50 millions cells die in only a day. Everyone and everything is constantly dying from birth. Around the same amount are being spawned in that very same day. At every moment, the body is healing itself. Touching anything that¡¯s alive lets him feel the Healing and Death within its body and use that as a tether to draw out his own magic that shares the type he¡¯s observing. The problem with this method though is he doesn¡¯t know what to do about using his sorcery domain. No matter how much he tries he¡¯s not able to feel the mana in other peoples bodies. And because he can¡¯t feel their mana, he can¡¯t pull it out using this method. Thinking more on how to solve this problem, he was poked again. ¡°Yes, what do you need El?¡± he asks without opening his eyes. As he got closer to the child, he ended up giving her a nickname. Xavior couldn¡¯t believe how happy she was after he called her it for the first time. She jumped in happiness and squealed for 5 minutes before grabbing his hand not letting go for that entire day. Waiting for a answer, the response he got wasn''t what he was expecting. ¡°Hey hey, what does reincarnated mean?¡± a voice that did not belong to Elise responded. Xavior opened his eyes and surprise and almost fell back in his seat from how close this random child was to his face. He also did not, repeat did not yelp in surprise. If Elise told you otherwise, she¡¯s a liar. Speaking of Elise, Xavior caught her openly giggling at the situation. At the same situation, his eye couldn¡¯t help but twitch a bit. ¡°Kid, who are you and what in the world are you talking about.¡± he asked backing away. It was then he noticed something strange. The kid was african american like Xavior but with pure white dreadlocks that Xavior somehow knew wasn''t dyed. It looked good on him, having one alone lock hanging in front of his face, reminding him of Gohan SSJ2 form. He was dressed with a button up, jeans, and dress shoes. Definitely weird for a 5 year old in kindergarten with a wide smile. What surprised Xavior the most though were his eyes. They were purple and held a distinct level of intelligence. Suddenly they flashed, and the pupil changed. He couldn''t be mistaken, as a Gamer, he knew instantly. The boy¡¯s pupil changed into the shape of a D-Pad. With a smirk that promised nothing but mischief, the boy spoke up once more. ¡°That¡¯s what you are right...reincarnated?¡± ¡®¡­.how?¡¯ Chapter 9: Alignment Without a doubt in his mind, Xavior knew that this kid was dangerous. There was something about his eyes that told him he was much smarter than a child had any right to be. He knew that Xavior was reincarnated and even though he asked what the word meant, Xavior would eat a boot if he actually didn¡¯t. No, this kid came up to him fully knowing something about himself he has yet to tell a single soul. Not Elise, not his parents, and certainly no stranger. Although the boy was the same height as him, and probably the same age, Xavior felt fear. Not because of this mysterious person of course, he was a child in kindergarten, but what this could mean. He¡¯s never told anyone, he was sure of it, and yet someone knew. This made him realise his secrets weren¡¯t safe. ¡®How¡¯d did this kid find out in the first place. Can he read minds or something?! Wait, hold on a second, what if that¡¯s actually the case. People, even children, have super powers in this world! I¡¯m sure telepathy wouldn¡¯t be far fetched. Shit, this is bad though, really really bad. If this boy snitches and has a way to prove his accusation, I could be in real trouble.¡¯ he thought worriedly. One of his very long term goals was keeping his reincarnation a tight lipped secret. He was determined to not tell anyone for a very long time, if not the entirety of his new life. If word got out that he reincarnated then all his plans will be ruined,the advantage of being underestimated will be gone forever. In fact, the exact opposite would most likely happen. Because the people of this world doesn¡¯t know anything about Xavior and his world, he¡¯s an enigma. He¡¯s a big mystery to everyone that wants to know something. An unknown variable with unknown strength, and unknown experiences. With a sigh, he focused back on the here and now. The only way to get definitive answers was to find out himself, and the easiest way to do that, was to simply ask. ¡°Who are you?¡± he questioned with a frown. This kid was dangerous and he needed to approach this situation carefully. ¡®Nothing is set in stone yet. Yes he knows that I¡¯ve been reincarnated but that doesn''t necessarily mean he¡¯ll blab to anyone who will listen. No, he¡¯s smarter than that, if that was something he wanted to do, he would have done it without coming over here in the first place. He wants something, I just need to find out what.¡¯ Unexpectedly his smirk formed into what seemed to be a genuine smile. ¡°The name is Neo! I wanted to come say hello since I¡¯ve never seen a reincarnator before.¡± ¡°Shhh! Let¡¯s not be loud you idiot! I obviously don¡¯t want that going around, no one knows and no one needs to know alright?¡± was whisper yelled. The guy¡¯s response was to just laugh with a smile that seemed to have gotten bigger. ¡°I like you, you¡¯re funny!¡± ¡°Yes, I want to be a comedian when I grow up. Now that¡¯s great and all but how did you know what I am? Did someone tell you? Or was it your power?¡± he inquired. You see, every kid here had a power, an innate ability they were born with. The moment Xavior¡¯s parents saw his display when he was only a couple months into this world, he was taken to a government building. There he was asked to display his powers in front of very serious looking men in suits. While everyone who were born with a power was taken care of by the government, some are taken care of more than others. The more useful or powerful your power is, the more extra care you¡¯re given. They¡¯re given more money monthly, more food stamps, and even a brand new house if they accept it. This is a special school for special kids only, the teachers are trained to handle any situation. This means if one child accidently sets another child on fire, they¡¯ll be able to handle it quickly and efficiently. Xavior had some of the best healers in the states as nurses. ¡®Talk about special treatment huh?¡¯ ¡°Power!¡¯ he exclaimed. ¡°I¡¯m a Gamer you see, there¡¯s nothing you can hide from my eyes.¡± Xavior couldn¡¯t help but give him a deadpan stare as he replied. ¡°A Gamer, I like to enjoy a nice Witcher or Dragon Age but what does that have to do anything?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a Game!¡± Neo quickly replied without thought. Xavior really truly couldn¡¯t help nor hold back the hand that quickly slapped Neo in the back of the head. Truly, he couldn¡¯t. He tried. He promises. ¡°Speak some sense child!¡± he yelled. Neo began holding head where he was hit with a pout. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t give me damage!¡± Xavior¡¯s only response was too hold his hand up in a threatening manner. Neo took a panicked expression and placed his hands out in front of him in a attempt to calm Xavior down. ¡°Wait Wait, don¡¯t hit me I¡¯ll explain!¡± he said quickly. Finally about to get some answers, Xavior was successfully placed and placed his hand down. ¡°Jeez mean, that hit took a whole 2 HP.¡± ¡°Sense boy!¡± With this Neo sighed and began. ¡°I wasn¡¯t lying at first, I¡¯m a Gamer-¡± Xavior raised his hand. ¡°Wait and let me explain you psycho!¡± Xavior lowered his hand. With an eye twitch Neo began once more. ¡°Like I was saying, I¡¯m a Gamer, meaning that to me the world is a Game. I see the world in Levels and Skills. Every person has a health bar and name above their head. I can even level up and assign experience points at will.¡± Neo explained, fully this time. Xavior¡¯s eyes widened in surprise at this revelation. ¡°Oi oi, isn¡¯t that extremely overpowered you brat? How the hell did an idiot like you get something so amazing?¡± he asked with a frown. Neo¡¯s smile only came back full force in answer. ¡°I know right?! I¡¯m so lucky but not everyone can be this awesome, The fates themselves just recognize my awesomeness and gave me a power to match. With a roll of his eyes, Xavior continued.Stolen story; please report. ¡°That still doesn''t explain how you found out about me.¡± ¡°Well you know how in some games, characters gain skills? The full name of my power is actually Gamer - Ver. RPG. Basically anything an RPG can do I can do. I have a skill called Observe. It''s a passive that starts out maxed. It¡¯s pretty awesome because not many skills do that. Then again, I was born with this one so I guess it makes sense it¡¯s so cool if it was born with a person as awesome as me.¡± Xavior ended up slapping him upside the head again. ¡°How are you only 5 with the ego of an entrepreneur kid?! Just focus and explain how it works!¡± ¡°Ow, don¡¯t damage me grandpa! And Entren- what now? I don¡¯t even know what that means. Stop trying to confuse with you obvious made up words you dummy!¡± Neo yelled. ¡°Dummy?! Look who''s talking idiot! Just explain!¡± ¡°Alright alright! Observe lets me gather info on anything I look at. It gives me a basic understanding of what I¡¯m looking at and their alignment.¡± ¡°Alignment?¡± Xavior asked confused. ¡°Yea, it¡¯s basically what type of person you are. From good to bad.¡± Neo explained but Xavior simply gave him another deadpan. ¡°Ehh, It just says whether a person is good or bad? Sounds pretty stupid.¡± ¡°Look who''s talking.¡± ¡°You wanna get whacked again punk?!¡± ¡°Anyway it¡¯s more than that. There are 9 alignments that can help judge a person. There¡¯s Lawful Good - A lawful good guy acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to fight evil with the firmness to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Most people who considers Honor very important has this alignment but are generally boring people who never wants to do anything fun.¡± Neo said with a laugh. ¡°You¡¯re right, sounds pretty boring, I¡¯d probably avoid the type?¡± ¡°Right? Next there is Neutral Good - A neutral good dude does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others.¡± ¡°Sounds exactly the same as the first one to be honest.¡± ¡°Yea but it¡¯s different trust me. Neutral Good often works with the law but mostly because the law usually protects the innocent. However, they are not opposed to breaking the law if they feel they can help someone outside of it unlike Lawful Good.¡± ¡°Oh I see, now that you explain it, I can see what you mean.¡± ¡°Yup, next there¡¯s Chaotic Good - A chaotic good guy acts as his thoughts directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he''s kind and forgiving. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society.¡± ¡°Oh, the ¡®Rebel¡¯ character I see. The stereotype bad boy with hidden heart of gold¡± Xavior said with a though. Neo laughed and nodded. ¡°I¡¯m glad you understand gramps. Next is Lawful Neutral - A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. Hemay believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government.¡± ¡°Wait hold on! This seems exactly like the first one, how the hell did we do a 360 all of the sudden?!¡± ¡°Well the core difference here is the choice who to serve. What if a man decided to follow the law of his church instead of the government. And what if that church¡¯s law dictate to have slaves and treat them as objects?¡± ¡°Oh wow, I see, this is more complicated than I thought. What¡¯s next?¡± ¡°Just plain Neutral - A neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. They don¡¯t feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil-after all, they would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, they¡¯re not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way.¡± ¡°I think I just found my favorite so far.¡± Xavior said with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t decide just yet, after all, you¡¯re further down the list. Next is Lawful Evil.¡± ¡°How can someone both be both Lawful and Evil?¡± ¡°A lawful evil villain methodically takes what he wants within the limits of his code of conduct without regard for whom it hurts. He cares about tradition, loyalty, and order but not about freedom, dignity, or life. He plays by the rules but without mercy or compassion. He is comfortable in a hierarchy and would like to rule, but is willing to serve. He is loath to break laws or promises. This reluctance comes partly from his nature and partly because he depends on order to protect himself from those who oppose him on moral grounds. Some lawful evil villains have particular taboos, such as not killing in cold blood (but having underlings do it) or not letting children come to harm (if it can be helped). They imagine that these compunctions put them above unprincipled villains. Some lawful evil people and creatures commit themselves to evil with a zeal like that of a crusader committed to good. Beyond being willing to hurt others for their own ends, they take pleasure in spreading evil as an end unto itself. They may also see doing evil as part of a duty to an evil deity or master.¡± ¡°I see, while it¡¯s better than Lawful Good, it¡¯s still pretty bad.¡± Neo chuckles at this. ¡°I thought you¡¯d say that, yours is the one coming up. Neutral Evil - A neutral evil villain does whatever they can get away with. They are out for themselves, pure and simple. They shed no tears for those they kill, whether for profit, sport, or convenience. They have no love of order and holds no illusion that following laws, traditions, or codes would make them any better or more noble. On the other hand, they don¡¯t have the restless nature or love of conflict that a chaotic evil villain has.¡± Neo explained. Xavior only nodded along as Neo talked. ¡°As I thought, mine is obviously the best. Though I¡¯m surprised I¡¯m so far down the list. It only makes sense to look out for oneself first and foremost right?¡± Neo chuckled. ¡°I guess, but the original reason I even noticed you enough to read your description in the first place was that I noticed your alignment. Not many kids like us are so far down on the list. You caught my interest.¡± ¡°Oh really? Tell me then, what are you?¡± Xavior inquired. Neo smiled in response. ¡°Neutral, just pure neutral.¡± ¡°Eh, how dull, whatever what¡¯s the last one?¡± ¡°Eh, but didn¡¯t you just say like a minute ago that it was your favorite?¡± ¡°Well yea, but that was before you told me mine, now it¡¯s lame.¡± ¡°.....Chaotic Evil - A chaotic evil character does whatever her greed, hatred, and lust for destruction drive her to do. She is hot-tempered, vicious, arbitrarily violent, and unpredictable. If she is simply out for whatever she can get, she is ruthless and brutal. If she is committed to the spread of evil and chaos, she is even worse. Thankfully, her plans are haphazard, and any groups she joins or forms are poorly organized. Typically, chaotic evil people can be made to work together only by force, and their leader lasts only as long as she can thwart attempts to topple or assassinate her. Personally, I¡¯ve never seen a person who has been Chaotic Evil, not until today at least.¡± ¡°Today? I thought I was Neutral Evil.¡± ¡°Well you are, that girl beside you however, is not.¡± ¡®....what?¡¯ Xavior slowly turned to his head to only see her smiling. Only now¡­.that smile seemed to tell so much more...and those eye suddenly felt like it turned from Emerald Green to Poison Citron. His blood ran cold. ¡°Elise¡­.?¡± Chapter 10: Xeno Real Ever since the day Xavior met Neo, he has begun noticing strange things about his previous one and only friend. It was almost like unlocking Pandora¡¯s Box, like everything was always there but for the first time he could finally notice everything. One day, before the both of them even began kindergarten, Eve brought a puppy home for Elise. Xavior¡¯s mother brought him over to play with it and her, a playdate. Everything seemed normal at the time, in fact, everything was normal. He didn¡¯t notice any suspicious behavior or anything that grabbed his attention because there wasn¡¯t anything. It wasn¡¯t until the play date was over that brought attention to the memory. He remembers that when he and his mother were finally about to leave out the door, Elise was holding the puppy in here arms. Eve asked her if she wanted the puppy to stay in her room for the night and Elise simply nodded. She was never one for words if she could help it. She could definitely speak, although Xavior has personally never heard her do it at this point, but he asked Eve one day and she giggled and told him she could. Eve grabbed all of the dogs puppy accessories, dog bowl and things, and placed them into Elise¡¯s room. What happened next, he doesn¡¯t know. He had to leave before he could find out how the story ended exactly, but he knows that it wasn¡¯t a happy ending. The next day his mother took him over for another play date, and that¡¯s when he noticed something. The puppy was nowhere to be found. Now that he thinks about it, her mom was being overly excited and hyper to keep the kid¡¯s attention. When he asked to go into Elise room to play with the puppy she told him that she ended up being allergic to dogs and Elise¡¯s room is in the middle of a cleaning session. It may seem highly suspicious now, but before he didn¡¯t have any reason to not believe her. He wasn¡¯t looking for a problem and so he simply didn''t see one. He shrugged and moved on. Not only that, but during the play date he saw a small drop of red of his friend¡¯s hands. When pointed out, Eve overheard and hurriedly took her daughter into the washroom to wash it off. When they came out she said that while cleaning the room they were also painting it. Funnily enough, the next time he came over, the room was fully painted red so he didn¡¯t think much of it. The last thing he noticed was that Elise was abnormally happy that day. Now she always has a smile on her face, but that day Xavior heard her speak for the first time. With a great big grin, she looked him in the eye after the the playdate was over and said, ¡°I wish you could have played with that puppy with me more yesterday Xeno,¡± she giggled innocently while using her nickname for him, ¡°we had such fun. Shame he¡¯s gone so soon.¡± Needless to say, he was shocked. At the time he didn¡¯t notice the underlying tone though, his thoughts were only filled with her amazingly cute voice and how much he wanted to cuddle her with his grandfatherly ways. Maybe even give her a succer. He only ran to her and hugged her with an ¡®awww¡¯ instead of thinking of reasons why she chose this specific time to speak. At this point, the only thing going through his mind now was what the fuck to actually do. He can¡¯t just..drop her, not only for the reason that their parents are very close friends, but also because of the fact that she¡¯s crazy. She literally kills puppies for fun. Just imagining what she would do to him gave him shivers. Make no mistake, that small child could still kill Xavior quite easily.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. He has been getting better with his powers yes, but he would still have to touch her to actually kill the girl and because she could quite literally kill him with a thought, this did not bode well for Xavior¡¯s conscious. Not to mention, that killing little girls wasn¡¯t something he really wanted to do. ¡°Hey,¡± the old man turned boy said aloud, ¡°we need to talk.¡± He turned his head to look at her from across the table. She was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and drinking strawberry milk with a happy smile. At the sound of Xavior¡¯s voice, she looked up from her snack, smile never dropping, but not saying anything either. He sighed. Ever since that day, she¡¯s been talking more, but still hardly at all. ¡°That dog, the puppy you had, you remember him?¡± she nodded while taking another bite of her sandwich. ¡°You killed it didn¡¯t you? You murdered that puppy.¡± Without hesitation she nods again, and her smile widened, as if she was looking back at a fond memory. He gulped, but continued on. ¡°Why? Why did you kill the puppy? Did he bite you?¡± she shook her head no. ¡°Did he scratch you?¡± she shook her head no. ¡°Did he do anything to you?¡± she shook her head no. ¡°Then why?!¡± he asked, losing his temper a bit. In all honesty, he didn¡¯t know how to truly handle this situation, but he felt like acting like there wasn¡¯t a situation in the first place would just bite him in the ass later. It was best to get this over with now, less he never feel safe around the girl again. ¡°It was fun.¡± she finally spoke. Without a single word more, she went back to her food with a smile. Breathing in and out slowly, he prepared himself to continue on. If he didn¡¯t get proper answers soon he didn¡¯t know what to do. This also brought up several questions he had. ¡®Elise¡­.what happened to her in my timeline. I can vaguely remember hanging out and playing with a small child when I was little, but honestly the image is pretty blurry. I don¡¯t even know if it was a boy or girl to be honest...Shit! It feels like 100 years ago, was Elise the person I played with? And if so... is the reason she suddenly disappeared because she was like this? Because she killed people or hurt animals? ¡°What about me?¡± he asked eyes squinted in her direction. She only tilted her head in confusion in response. It would have even been cute if Xavior weren¡¯t fearing for his life that very second. ¡°Would you kill or hurt me?¡± At the question, Elise did something Xavior hasn¡¯t seen her do much of since infancy. She frowned. Shaking her head no, she put down her sandwich and stared at me. ¡°Why not, you killed that puppy and that was fun wasn¡¯t it? Why would killing me be any different?¡± ¡°Puppy fake, Xeno real.¡± was her reply. This confused him, after all, he knew with absolute certainty that the dog was very much real and very much alive. ¡°Elise, that puppy was real. It was alive and everything.¡± to this she only shook her head frantically and did something else the boy hadn¡¯t seen in a while. She cried. ¡°NO! Puppy fake!¡± she screamed. Looking into Xavior eyes, she repeated herself one last time. ¡°Xeno real.¡± Chapter 11: Bet Your Pride! It¡¯s been a couple years since Xavior and Elise had met Neo. Now in 6th grade, the children have grown in power and strength, although they still couldn¡¯t be described as strong. After the discovery of Elise¡¯s Chaotic Evil status, he just stuck around. He was determined to become friends with the weird kids. Whenever asked why, he would just say that they were bound to be interesting people to follow. Immediately after the initial shock of meeting the kid, Xavior became fast friends with him. Xavior loved games, and in an attitude befitting his power, Neo himself far surpassed even his own love for them. RPG¡¯s were also both of the kid¡¯s favourites of the genre, so there was no way they wouldn¡¯t have been friends anyway. Neo would constantly come over to play with Xavior while Elise watched with a silent smile. The boys got along really well, but they really started having fun once they got to the age to spar. They would fight as much and as frequently as they could. It was an amazing process, at first equal, the boys would brawl without holding back. Of course Xavior never used his magic and would battle with nothing but fisticuffs. Overtime though, Neo gained the skill [Street Fighting], and that¡¯s when things really got exciting. Neo was always one step ahead of him during training, but Xavior never one to simply lose, would catch up to the boy in no time. Despite this, every time he was back on equal footing, Neo would level up the skill from use, and he would be behind once more. This was only in terms in skill though, after all of the times they have sparred, Neo has not beaten Xavior once. While his past life didn¡¯t really contribute much in fighting skill to use in this one, it still helped in pure instinct and experience. Of course there wasn¡¯t much ¡®techniques¡¯ used in street fights, they weren¡¯t martial artists, they were thugs. They typically swung until the opponent they were fighting against fell. This was a new world however, a world with powers, magic, and chi/ki. Simply wouldn¡¯t be enough anymore.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. What did help was the will to push through pain and the mental training to not flinch. Though the new baby body of his didn¡¯t have much in pain tolerance, Neo a child, couldn¡¯t damage him enough to actually hurt him to badly. With this, although Neo was technically a better fighter than him, Xavior has always won. This was perfect early training for him, especially since with each level up in the skill, Neo would suddenly know new techniques and how to use them in the right situations. Copying him and learning those moves has already made him a much better fighter than he was in his previous timeline. This in no way meant he could beat up his adult self in this baby body, but it did definitely mean that by the time Xavior was a teenager, he would be able to kick his adult self¡¯s ass. Today was a good day for him, because today him and his friend were going to spar once more. Standing in front of Xavior with his shirt off and nothing but shorts on, he did a few punches downward to loosen up his joints and looked at Xavior with a smile. ¡°You ready Xeno, this time I¡¯m going to win.¡± ¡°You sure about that brat? Remember, if you lose that¡¯s 50 in a row. You know what happens then right?¡± With a roll of his eyes Neo responded. ¡°Yea yea, with 50 losses I will swear to become you most loyal and faithful evil minion.¡± ¡°Glad that you remember.¡± he said with a chuckle. With a sideways stance, Xavior glared at Neo and pointed towards him with his index and middle finger pointed forward and his thumb pointed upwards, almost as if imitating a gun. Turning the gun upside down and imitating his favourite anime character Ikki Minami, he speaks up once more. ¡°Well then, Neo Johnson, come at me with all you got, and Bet Your Pride!¡± Chapter 12: Xavior Vs. Neo Immediately after Xavior¡¯s announcement, Neo went on the offensive. Light on his toes, he hopped in place a few times while putting up his guard, hands slightly below his nose. He lowers his centre of gravity while leaning forward and sprints towards Xavior with his head low. Arm pulled back, Neo goes for a right hook as he came to an abrupt stop in front of his opponent. Using his gained momentum, he threw his fist towards Xavior without remorse. Prepared for Neo¡¯s attack, Xavior shifts his body the side, narrowly avoiding the heavy hit. Now in a perfect position, Xavior strikes Neo with two harsh blows, one to the body and one to the cheek. This however did barely anything to stun the boy, his body of a Game Character, and hardly ever feeling long lasting damage. Beside the slight grimace of pain, the boy shows no reaction and responds quickly for revenge. Using the force from the recent blow that he took, he spins with the momentum of the punch into a full circle, lessening the damage of the second hit. Not done, with his spin, he quickly raises his elbow, striking Xavior on the cheek forcing him to step back in pain. Not one to lose an opportunity, Neo quickly covered the retreating steps his friend took in a mere moment and jumped straight towards Xavior with a knee forefront. Not able to react in time, the knee connected without resistance to his gut. Xavior could feel the bile forcefully rise from his throat from the attack but refused to remain still any longer. Taking the pain, he uses the time of Neo being in the air to turn the tides of the battle. Rising both arms above him and clenching his hands together, Xavior¡¯s hands flashed downwards and connected to the boy¡¯s skull, forcing him into the dirt. Neo gasped in surprise and could only do a quick scream as Xavior stomped down on the boys head, forcing his face farther into the dirt. With no mercy, the old man turned boy raised his leg to strike again but before he could, Neo rolled to the side, avoiding the strike. Quickly getting to his knees the Gamer throws a handful of dirt he gathered into his attackers face that he gathered while taking his short dirt nap. The desired reaction occurred, and Xavior couldn¡¯t help but shut his eyes in irritation. He tried getting away as best as he could, stepping back in a hurry while making sure not to trip, but it wasn¡¯t enough. Xavior suddenly felt hands grabbing his head and getting pulled down. ¡®Crap!¡¯ Neo¡¯s knee went right into Xavior nose and he just knew it had to be broken. With Xavior recoiling in pain and shock, Neo pressed on, intent on paying his buddy back tenfold for his previous experience on the ground. Neo distributed a wide right hook onto Xavior¡¯s cheek that didn¡¯t just end there.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Using the moment from the power of the right hook, Neo spun with the punch to connect his left elbow on the very same cheek. The devastating hit connected cleanly and Xavior grabbed Neo¡¯s shoulder in attempt to steady himself. With his partner on the run, he was determined to continue but would never be able to. At that moment, he saw Xavior smiling, a sight that confused him until a felt a strong blow straight into his stomach that made him bend over from the force. Eyes still closed, it turns out the grabbing Neo¡¯s shoulder wasn¡¯t only to steady himself, but to make sure Neo couldn''t escape! Xavior managed to get in powerful elbow right in the centre of Neo¡¯s face that definitely broke his nose. Tired of being a punching bag, Neo lands an uppercut on Xavior in response but before could get any more licks in, he felt legs wrap behind his knees, and before he knew what happened, he was on the ground. In the middle of the fall, Xavior was somehow able to spin Neo around so that his face was back in the dirt. Neo somehow knew that this action was on purpose and promised to get payback for this sometime soon. Now on the ground and arm pinned quite painfully behind his back. With a scream, he struggled to get out of the arm hold, but Xavior¡¯s only response was to put more pressure on Neo¡¯s arm. Neo sighed and used his free hand to tap out. Normally this wouldn¡¯t have been the end, Neo would rather have his arm broken than give up, and only multiple occasions Xavior had done so to bring home the victory. Both of them knew that Neo would be 100% with a simple nights rest. Today though was special, and he couldn¡¯t afford to be too damaged. He was used to it at this point anyway, although he was faster, stronger, and had more moves, Xavior would always win. He would take all of the punishment Neo could dish out and keep going. It really vexed him at first, but at this point he¡¯s learned to deal with it. ¡°That¡¯s 50 wins in a row for me buddy boy. You know the deal.¡± the winner said with a smirk, getting off the official loser of 50 straight duels. Neo couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes while getting up. ¡°Yea yea, let¡¯s get this over with.¡± With that said, Neo kneels in front of Xavior with a slight reluctance but sighed and accepted his fate. As he begun to kneel, the sky around them began to darken and clouds began to form at an abnormal rate. Almost as if the Gods were watching. ¡°I, Neo Johnson, solemnly swear in front of all gods old and new, that I shall become Xavior Dark¡¯s most loyal, trusted, and thoughtful minion.¡±a thunder bellowed. ¡°From now, until Death, and Beyond.¡± and the world went white. BOOOOOOM!!! Chapter 13: I Have The Power!!! Okay, so things got a little out of hand. Just a tiny bit though, it¡¯s not like anything really bad happened. Sure, Xavior didn¡¯t really know the whole ¡®Striking Neo with lightning thing¡¯ was going to happen. Yes, there¡¯s now a strange tattoo of a Crow with a crown floating above it¡¯s head like a halo on Neo¡¯s shoulder blade. Indeed, he¡¯s a child and people might wonder where the hell he got a tattoo. But everything will be fine, Xavior was sure. He didn¡¯t know why the freaky thunder happened, or where the tat came from, or even why, but he did know this didn¡¯t change anything. Planning on keeping the boy close anyway, Xavior didn¡¯t worry about this situation to much. It freaked him out but didn¡¯t change any of his plans. Neo nor Elise knew why all of this suddenly happened, but Neo honestly didn¡¯t seem to have any problems with it. He honestly thought it was pretty cool. While Xavior was thinking about what had just transpired while sitting on a big rock and why, most likely because of the Oath Neo took, the Gamer shouted suddenly. ¡°Guys! I levelled up!¡± ¡°Congrats kid, I know you were looking forward to this one. It¡¯s the big one and zero isn¡¯t it?¡± Xavior said in genuine happiness for his friend. Neo was a Game Character, so when he levelled up he got 10 Experience points. At first, Xavior thought about how big of a bullshit cheat the boy¡¯s ability really was, but soon found out there was a downside. You see, every time the idiot levelled up, the needed experience points doubled. Normally that wouldn¡¯t sound so bad, and honestly it wasn¡¯t, but thing quickly got harder. The threshold for Level 10 was 2,560. That number was absolutely devastating to Neo, besides killing things, it¡¯s not easy getting that much EXP. And unless he wanted to quickly become a murderer and a fugitive, that option just wasn¡¯t on the table. Even if Elise kept suggesting it. That¡¯s why the boys made their spars almost a daily thing. It was his biggest EXP boost for the day. ¡°Yea, but that¡¯s not all! With my level up, I got a new system update!¡± ¡°Really really? What is it?¡± Elise curiously spoke up.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. She¡¯s been getting more social lately and honestly Xavior didn¡¯t know if that was a bad or good thing yet. The world needed to be kept safe from Elise, how was he going to rule if the planet was on fire. ¡°Ohhh you are going to love this! Xeno! You know how you¡¯re saying my ability was always bullshit and that you wished you could be as awesome as me?¡± ¡°I have literally never said that about anyone ever in my life¡­.either of them. But the thing about your ability being bullshit does sound familiar.¡± With a humongous grin, Neo simply looked at the both of them with excitement that seemed to be about to burst. ¡°[Party Invite]! Xavior Dark and Elise Williams!¡± With a yelp, Xavior fell off the large rock he was sitting on and back into some grass. The thing that frightened him seemed to follow him onto the ground though, and all he could do was stare. In front of him, was a blue game screen. In awe, he obviously tried touching it, but the moment his hand contacted the screen, it shimmered and went right through. Like a hologram, something that wasn¡¯t there. ¡°Party Invite from Neo Johnson: Accept? Y/N¡± ¡°You have to think the command in your mind-¡± ¡°I know how it works brat!¡± ¡°Then why haven¡¯t you done it yet geezer? El is already in.¡± Still looking at the screen in awe, he could hear Elise¡¯s giggles in the background. ¡®Yes¡¯ and with but a thought, the world flashed in a blue that that seemed to centre around Xavior and push out into the world. Like it was scanning everything and everyone. Finally sitting up, he looked around, but it all just looked the same. That is, until he looked at Elise and Neo. Above their heads was a green and blue bar. One was titles HP while the other was titled MP. Most likely standing for Health Points and Mana Points. Above there bars, there was something else also. It showed the levels of the two children before him. ¡®Neo Johnson: Level 10¡¯ and ¡®Elise Williams: Level 12¡¯. That¡¯s when he noticed something else. AT the edge of his vision, there was a type of hud. No matter how fast or where he moved his eyes, they always stayed at the very edge of his vision. At the top middle, there was what seemed to be a compass thing. When moving his head, whatever it was would scroll to the left or right. It was oddly familiar, almost looking exactly like the map thing from Fallout. Top left, he had his health and mana bar, it also had his level. ¡°Xavior Dark: Level 9¡± ¡°Oh what the hell, I¡¯m a lower level than both of them? This is some bullshit!¡¯ The top right corner held nothing and neither did the bottom right. The only thing on the bottom was in the left corner. It was 4 slots, sitting there, empty, in a D-Pad looking formation. ¡°What, in the, actually, fuck.¡± said the old man, finally speaking up. ¡°Told you that you were gonna love it! This is awesome huh? This is how I see the world everyday! Say status!¡± the boy exclaimed, excited. ¡°Status!¡± Strength: 8 Vitality: 11 Agility: 12 Intelligence: 45 Wisdom: 35 Dexterity: 5 Luck: 25 ¡®Well I am still just a child, i guess there make sense.¡¯ ¡°Wait wait wait! That¡¯s not even the best part! Besides the party system, the update gave me one more thing!¡± ¡°What?¡± Instead of answering, the idiot just grinned. ¡°Training Field: Zombie!¡± and the world went white once more. Chapter 14: Weakling The world changed. Everything, from the grass under their feet, to the feeling of the sun in the sky, changed. They could feel it, that the world itself was fundamentally different. It made them all very uncomfortable, even Elise. Xavior noticed pretty soon after arriving that the subtle wind that was blowing vanished. The grass beneath their feet stilled, as if the planet stopped rotating, frozen for all but them. Looking around, they realised that although everything felt different, things were still the same. The field they were in looked exactly as it did before Neo¡¯s shout. That was when Neo noticed something else. ¡°Uh gramps, El, look up.¡± Doing so almost made Xavior¡¯s heart stop in fear. The sun, high, right above them in the sky, was bloody red. It cast its light down upon the world, giving everything a red tint no one noticed beforehand. They all could do nothing but stare at the anomaly, fear driven far into their bones. ¡°Wooow, so pretty~!¡± Well, except for Elise of course. Snapping out of it, Xavior¡¯s head whipped towards the treeline as he heard something far in the distance. Trees surrounding all around them, he couldn¡¯t see what was making the noise exactly, but he could swear it sounded like groaning. Now that he¡¯s focusing on it, he hurriedly turns his head to several locations, and he could swear that no matter where he turned, groaning came from said direction. ¡®The zombies!¡¯ ¡°Neo, when you used the ability to bring us to wherever we are, you brought us to one with-¡± ¡°Zombies yes. Isn¡¯t this awesome! This was the second of the three updates!¡± ¡°You fool! We don¡¯t have weapons or anything! I mean, I don¡¯t have any weapons or anything! You have your cheat you call a power and Elise has her psychokinesis, but what about me?!¡± To that, the bastard simply chuckled and shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re a smart guy dude, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll figure something out. Besides, the ability kinda says we can¡¯t escape until the level has been cleared.¡± ¡°KINDA?! What does that even mean you dumbass!¡± Before Xavior could scream at his best friend more, he finally saw them, the zombies stumbling through the tree line. Slowly walking towards the centre of the glade where they resided. ¡°Stop complaining old man, I¡¯ve been waiting for this moment since forever! Hell yea, this is gonna be so epic! I finally get to use my skill points!¡± ¡°Really really? You should have 100 by now right? I thought you were saving them all until you knew for sure what class you were going to pursue.¡± said Elise, finally done giggling at Neo¡¯s and Xavior¡¯s antics. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°I was, but there¡¯s one more thing the system gave me with the update.¡± ¡°Really really?¡± ¡°Yea, it¡¯s called class switch. Basically, I now have a second character I can switch to with shared inventory and base stats, but my stat points will be unused. For example, currently I¡¯m dumping 50 points each into Wisdom and Intelligence. This will be my Mage character, and to symbolise this-¡± his upper body slightly glows for a second before a blue shirt suddenly appeared on him. ¡°I¡¯ll wear this blue shirt, but if I ever wanted to go back to my other character with all my points, I could, and the shirt would disappear because I was previously shirtless¡± ¡°Uhh Guys.¡± ¡°Why did you just have a random shirt in you inventory Neo?¡± Elise inquired with a tilt of her head. ¡°Guys!¡± ¡°Well, I have an inventory of infinite space, why wouldn¡¯t have all my stuff with me at all times. ¡°GUYS!¡± ¡°Dude, why are you always shouting. Like seriously gramps, you¡¯re gonna burst my eardrum one of these days.¡± ¡°Because while you both were having such a pleasant conversation, the fucking zombies surrounded us.¡± he screamed. Looking around, they noticed a surprising amount of zombies all around them, slowly getting closer. ¡°Oh...well shit.¡± Neo said simply without much worry. Elise herself giggled and shrugged. Xavior however was freaking out. ¡®We¡¯re all going to die!¡¯ was what he was thinking. Well, until Neo casually snapped his fingers towards a zombie getting ready to lunge and grab him, only for it to suddenly be set aflame when a weird red magical circle appeared in front of it and shot out a small fireball at its head! The HP bar above the undead freak practically went to zero instantly. ¡°...When the hell did you learn how to control fire!¡± Xavior screeched, but before Neo could answer he saw 3 of the dead fuckers jump at Elise all at once. He didn¡¯t even have time to worry about her, because as soon as they did, she stretched her arm out in front of them, palm and fingers up, and they all just stopped. Soon, they began banging and scratching at the air itself, almost as if an invisible wall was there blocking them. With a casual flick of her wrist, the three aggressors were shredded, spit into pieces several places all over their bodies, and blood splattered everywhere. A line of the red liquid even ran across her cheek. This however didn¡¯t seem to bother the little girl, instead a wide smile, biggest Xavior has ever seen on her, appeared. Out of nowhere, she began giggling. Just a tiny giggle, something she does all the time, but soon that giggle changed. Shifted into something malicious and distorted. No longer was the giggling soft, but full blown laughter. She even doubled over, hands on her sides, laughing at the funniest joke no one told. Then, she leapt at the group of zombies, and blood and gore painted the skies. Deciding on where to start, Neo walked behind Xavior, and starts setting zombies on fire without reservation. Xavior though, was stunned, shocked. ¡®These kids...both them, are literally able to kill me with a flick of their wrist. At first, I thought the rule about not using magic during sparring was for Neo¡¯s benefit, but I¡¯m just an idiot, aren¡¯t I? I shouldn¡¯t have been worried for him...he was worried for me.¡¯ Xavior felt an unparalleled amount of frustration at this. All of this time, he was actually being coddled. The weakest link of the Trinity. Their levels wasn¡¯t bullshit, it was accurate. He really was the weakest of the group. This hurt him. This hurt his pride, his confidence, his very being. ¡®Take over the world? Right. Of course. If these children can kill me than that goal is nothing but a fantasy. Fuck...Fuck! What is this bullshit! What is the fuck exactly is this bullshit! FUCK!¡¯ Determined on not standing for this injustice, he looks within himself to wring control of his Death energy. With practice, he learned to find the energy without a proxy. He shifts some into the palm of his hand, and runs up to a slow zombie. Without stopping, he jumps and slams his palm in the zombies face, making it fall backwards with a bang. ¡®Fuck you! Fuck you! FUCK YOU!¡¯ Hand still on the zombies head, Xavior hoped the Death energy would decay the zombies face like it did with the fern all those years ago, but instead it did something else. Something magnificent. The zombies face began to...get better. To heal. The decay already there seemed to recede, and every second it took the boys energy, it seemed to get better, and actually look less dead. Its green and gray skin began gaining colour and its previous red eyes began shifting back and forth to purple. Afraid of actually making the zombie stronger, he was about to let go, when a screen popped up in front of him, and made him continue. Convert Zombie? Y/N