《Animated》 Ch. 1 The Awakening (rewritten) The earth stood quietly there, spinning around its sun, hurdling through the universe at speeds hitherto unimaginable. Suddenly, a point of light appeared over a location in the Pacific Ocean, and started sweeping across the world in a wave of light. In the wake of the light, roughly one tenth of living things were encompassed by a cocoon of glowing light. The ground and other things also glowed briefly, as the bacteria there also experienced an awakening. When their awakening finished, any large creature had scorch marks where the cocoon was for the amount of energy released, but they were left seemingly unharmed. Some, when they left the cocoon, had no apparent change. Others, however, were not so lucky. Some exited the experience horribly deformed. One man left awoke to tremendous pain when his bones started to protrude from under his skin, and he turned into a living pincushion, alive, but in endless pain. Others came out of it looking normal, but unable to control their newly nascent abilities. A teenage girl who had a dispute with her parents came from this experience with tremendous power and control over fire. However, she had no control over her abilities at first, and when she had awoken; her house was engulfed in fires hotter than the core of the sun, burning her parents and the house to ash, but leaving her unharmed.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Scenes like this played out all over the world, some having awesome new abilities straight from the pages of comic books, but others experiencing horrible and tragic events. Prisoners with newly awakened abilities escaped from prison only to die at the hands of newly awakened animals, like one incident where prisoners of the Colorado state penitentiary escaped with the help of an individual with incredible strength, only to be promptly captured and eaten by a newly awakened spider, 12 feet in height with the ability to make a person¡¯s blood stop moving through their body. There was mass hysteria, and many religious individuals claiming this was an act from one deity or another. Many, many people died in the beginning. This is a story of one individual who survived those circumstances. Ch. 2 A Rude Awakening The alarm cried its call into the patiently waiting ears of John, who groaned with dissatisfaction at the early hour the mechanical devil decided to wake him at. ¡°7:15? Already?¡± John complained, slowly crawling out of his bed. He blinked his tired eyes slowly, and looked around the room. ¡°What the hell?¡± John muttered, as he looked back at the bed he had been sleeping in. It was covered in blackened scorch marks, seemingly burned by a powerful beam of light. He ambled closer, hand on his head as he fought an ever-growing headache. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t have drunk that much last night¡± He said absentmindedly as he gazed upon the mystery that was his bed. He then turned his head back to the alarm clock. ¡°Shit, I got to get ready. I¡¯ll find whatever the hell happened here later¡± John says. He stumbles out of his room, past many a discarded beer bottle. He slowly walks down a hall, briefly stopping at the end of it to look around his living room. It was small. Much too small for a man of his stature, but it was all he could afford. There was a small TV in the corner, in front of which was his only couch, a cheap, dirty thing covered in cigarette burns and several ambiguous stains. He looked to the other corner of the room, in which was a half-finished painting, surrounded by a few other works of his, as well as a myriad of half-finished bottles of alcohol, and various art supplies.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°I¡¯ll finish it later¡± John said to himself as he made his way through the room to get to the bathroom, before looking back on it. ¡°Though it¡¯s not like it¡¯ll sell anyways¡± He said as he looked at the other pieces leaning on the wall. John ducked into the bathroom and maneuvered his tall, lanky body through the cramped interior. He eventually got himself into position, and he relieved himself, afterwards zipping up the shorts he had slept in. He got in front of the sink and started to brush his teeth. He looked at his own reflection in the mirror, seeing bags under his eyes and a stubble that hinted at him having not shaved for the past week. He looked down again, and finished washing his teeth. John then took a quick shower in the cramped enclosure of his shower, before putting on his Whole Foods uniform. He then did a quick once-over of himself in the mirror, before deciding to at-least shave himself for decency¡¯s sake. John then made his way out of his bathroom and back into his house, deciding to have a large, nutritious breakfast consisting of coffee and yesterday¡¯s pizza. He microwaved the cheesy slice, and ate it, before his eyes widened and he realized he¡¯d forgotten that he had to brush after eating breakfast. He quickly brushed his teeth again and prepared to leave the apartment, picking up his keys and opening the door to the hallway of the two-story complex. As he climbed down the stairs and left the apartment, he looked around the street and he spotted something. John¡¯s eyes slowly widened, and his jaw dropped. There was a perfectly circular hole straight through his neighbor¡¯s building. Ch. 3 Strange Happenings John gapes at the hole going straight through his neighbor¡¯s house. From what he could see, it was perfectly smooth and about 10 feet in diameter. He then noticed his elderly neighbor limping around on his yard, seemingly muttering something. As John wandered closer, he could hear him muttering ¡°It wasn¡¯t me¡­ It wasn¡¯t me, I couldn¡¯t have¡­¡± John wandered up to the edge of his yard, just on the sidewalk. ¡°Are you ok, Jerry?¡± John asked. His neighbor looked up, seemingly a bit surprised that John was there. ¡°Oh¡­ yeah, hello John. I was just¡­¡± Jerry said as he waved his hands towards the hole in his house vaguely. ¡°Yeah, do you mind if I get a closer look?¡± John asked as he took a step into the grassy yard of his neighbor. ¡°Yeah, go for it, just be careful, it¡¯s¡­ strange¡± John¡¯s neighbor said, muttering the last part. John stepped up to the hole, and noticed it was perfectly smooth straight through the house, as if it had been cut by a laser, but with no burn marks. He also noticed a prodigious amount of dust in piles below where he could see into the house. ¡°How peculiar¡± he said to himself. John turned back to his neighbor and asked him, ¡°How did this happen? Do you know?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I don¡¯t know. Here I was, sleeping in my house, in the second story bedroom, when I woke up in the middle of the night. I woke up to the sounds of people in my house. Robbers. They came into my room and saw that I was awake, and they panicked. One of them pointed their gun at me and threatened to kill me if I called the good men and women on the police force!¡± Jerry said, shaking his head. ¡°You know me, John. I served for many years, and I would not stand for such hooligans in my house. I was so very angry at them, and somehow, I felt like there was a fire, raging in my chest at the idea of being robbed. I felt so angry that I started shouting at those damn men, right there in my bed-room, still in these very clothes!¡± Jerry exclaimed, pointing at his dust-cakes pajamas.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°I told them ¡®To hell with you! I didn¡¯t serve my country so you could stand here and ruin it!¡¯ And you know what they did? They laughed! I felt so angry at this, so put-off by those young men, that I¡­ well, I did something you wouldn¡¯t believe¡± Jerry said, seemingly lost in his head. ¡°Well, what did you do?¡± John asked, somewhat eager to hear more. ¡°I¡­ reached out, with my mind, and felt the little things in the air, the little things that make up those robbers, and I ripped them to shreds. I¡­ somehow, turned them, and my house, into dust.¡± Jerry said, almost not believing his very own words. ¡°What?¡± John exclaimed, somewhat taken aback that his serious no-nonsense neighbor claimed that he could turn things to dust. But then he looked back at the perfectly circular hole, and the mountains of ash it seemed to have produced. ¡°Well, it clearly has some sort of evidence to it¡­¡± John took a long moment to just stare at the hole in the house, incredulous that such a thing appeared seemingly overnight, but he shook himself out of it when Jerry tapped his shoulder and asked him, ¡°Are you ok there? You were just starin¡¯ at mah house¡± John looks down at his watch, and notice that it¡¯s getting close to time he has to come into work, and he might miss his bus. ¡°Shit, I got to go. My boss said he¡¯ll fire me if I¡¯m late again. See you later, Jerry¡­ I hope you get all this resolved¡± He said as he started jogging to the bus stop. John arrived on time, and got onto his waiting bus. He paid his fare and sat down in his seat in the strangely empty bus. ¡°A lot of weird things going on today¡± said John, just before he noticed that up ahead, there was a swirling formation of clouds in an otherwise cloudless day, each a slight shade of a different color. ¡®Strange¡¯ John thought to himself as he stared at the mysterious weather. He then shook his head and got off the bus at his job, and times in. He walks into the store and times in, noticing that only he and his manager were there. John¡¯s manager, Henry, walks up to him and asks, ¡°Have you seen the strange news?¡± Ch. 4 The News ¡°Have you seen the strange news?¡± John¡¯s Manager, Henry, asked. ¡°No, what news?¡± John asked, a bit confused, but also guessing it had something to do with the rather mystical occurrences he had been seeing lately. His manager grinned, and said ¡°You won¡¯t believe it, come, and let me show you.¡± Henry then led him to his office, where he had a large flat-screen TV showing the local news. John noted slightly sourly that while corporate hadn¡¯t been able to afford them any pay raises, they were able to afford a new wall-mounted flat screen TV for the manager, which hadn¡¯t been there last time he¡¯d been in the office. However, he quickly forgot about that when he saw what was on the TV. ¡°Local authorities have issued a warning for people to ¡®stay home today¡¯ after a large number of strange occurrences around the city. They were pressed for further details, but have refused to make a statement. However, throughout the city, there¡¯ve been a large number of ¡®Supernatural¡¯ events, which we¡¯ll show footage of now¡± Said the Weather Lady, who John had never bothered to learn the name of. A video started playing on the screen, showing a man in the street. The video appears to have been taken by a number of others nearby, who are all surrounding the man chanting ¡°Fire! Fire! Fire!¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The man then shouts to all the people ¡°You want Fire? I¡¯ll give you fire!¡± To the cheers of the crowd (It is good to note that the man and the entire crowd appear to be part of the same gang, of which the man is the leader). The man then lunges his head into the air and opens his mouth wide, upon which fire spews from his jaws into a cone 20 feet into the air. The crowd to cheer even louder, some deciding it was prudent to fire their weapons in the air, causing a couple of gunshots to ring out. The video then fades into another one, showing a scene taking place in the local park. It shows a man, who looks to the camera and waves, before two large white wings erupt from his back, and he says with an infectious grin, ¡°Look what I can do!¡± before crouching down and flapping his wings once, powerfully to launch him up into the air. He then starts flying around with incredible speed doing backflips and other aerial maneuvers (Rather sloppily) before coming into the ground for an admittedly rough landing. The broadcast then cute back to the news anchor, but John is distracted by his manager who says ¡°Crazy, right?¡± ¡°Uh, yeah¡± John says with wide eyes, not quite believing the news, and at the same time pondering his neighbor¡¯s claim that he¡¯d disintegrated a hole through his house. ¡°Well, I¡¯m gonna send yah home, John. It looks like a bit too crazy of a day to work¡± Says his manager, shooing John out of the building after he clocked back out again. John stepped back out onto the street, just in time for him to see a 10-foot tall muscle-bound were-wolf creature burst out of a nearby Jewelry store, and sped off down the road with long, bounding strides. Ch. 5 Anger Management John was knocked onto his ass by the scene. The wolf man quickly left the area, having carried a bag of likely stolen goods. John was stunned. This was the first time he had seen, in the flesh, something supernatural. Sure, he had seen the news broadcast, and the now much more believable hole in his neighbor¡¯s house, but if a large muscle-bound wolf man doesn¡¯t make you believe in the supernatural, nothing can. He quickly got up, disoriented and very fearful of what he had just seen. He didn¡¯t sign up for this. No, siree he did not. He started walking back to the bus station, before deciding it was likely a better idea to get there as quickly as possible, and started running. Down the sidewalk he ran. There was little traffic today, and the cars he did see in the area seemed to be deterred by the wolf man seen bounding down this road. As he turned the corner around the block, he felt a hand grab his shoulder, before feeling a powerful shocking force assault his body, knocking him down and temporarily stunning him. He saw his captor, a seemingly normal looking homeless man, who was ragged, and looked a little crazed. He likely was addicted to one form of drug or another.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The man dragged John into the alley, and started trying to search him for money, when John regained control of his body and kicked the man away. He felt angry, so angry. How dare this homeless man accost him for drug money? John felt the years of anger management therapy slipping away. The painting lessons, to control his burning rage. The struggle he had to reign in his hatred. All slipping away, as if freed by some supernatural force. John grabbed a nearby rock in the alleyway and struggled to his feet. He would not run away again. He had run from his emotions. He had run away from his responsibility and education. He would not run. John then, suddenly, as if it were all channeled away, felt his anger dissipate. No, not dissipate. He felt his anger move. It seemed to be channeling somewhere. Into the rock? What? John looked at it strangely, as the homeless man smiled and tried to take advantage of his distraction, stepping forwards. Then, John felt it. He felt the rock twitch. Ch. 6 Sadness The rock he had been holding in his hand burst from his fingers, and rocketed at the head of the super powered mugger. It spiraled through the air, seemingly perfectly bound for his scarred face. It missed. It flew just past the thug¡¯s head, and thudded into the alley wall, seemingly chipping the stone there. The electric man smiled aggressively, and coils of lightning started sparking out of his hands, like live wires. Suddenly, John heard a whizzing sound, and the man fell over with a thud. John looked at the back of the man¡¯s head, and he noticed a small wound and bruised flesh, and he saw the rock on the ground right by it, skittering around, before slowly coming to a stop. John quickly tried to check the man¡¯s neck to see if he still had a pulse, but the mugger¡¯s groans as he started awaking assured him of the mugger¡¯s ¡°aliveness¡±. John, now thoroughly drained of anger by that attack, decided running from the quickly awakening super-human was a good idea. As John walked home, now quite a distance from the area where the incident had occurred, he pondered what had happened. ¡®Was that my doing?¡¯ He pondered to himself. ¡®I didn¡¯t throw the rock, it just flew out of my hand. And then it somehow hit him in the back of his head¡­¡¯ thought John quite inquisitively. ¡®Remember¡­ remember¡­ what happened right before the rock? I was angry, real angry. Maybe that¡¯s the key?¡¯ John thought to himself, before thinking to himself, ¡®Well, I¡¯ll test it out at home.¡¯ - John arrived at his home after the hour-long walk. On the way he had seen that same winged man, this time followed by a woman, flying with him seemingly without any form of propulsion. He waved at them, and they came down to say hi. Apparently they were a husband and wife pair, both amateur pilots. They were also both rather nice, and told him of how shortly after the televised video occurred his wife (Who was the one recording the video) discovered her own flying powers. The then continued their flight around the city, and he continued on his walk. John tried to then activate his powers. He got a dirty bath towel out of his cramped bathroom and tried to feel angry. He thought of his failure (Which only made him sad), and then decided to try to think of all the bad things in this world.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. And John did get angry, he did! But sadly, no matter how much he tried and how much anger he accumulated, he still could not get the towel to move on its own. ¡®Maybe it only works on rocks then?¡¯ John pondered, before exiting his apartment and finding a small rock by the road. He then entered his apartment and tried again. He again thought of the bad things in the world, and anything else that was shown to increase his anger, but sadly, nothing happened. John was greatly impacted by this. Did he not have any special powers? Was that rock just a fluke, or another rock from nearby? John spiraled into a pit of sadness, and just like his father before him, retreated to the bottle to find some mild creature comfort. He grabbed one of the half-empty bottles of whisky by his painting supplies, and tried to drown his sorrows. Sadly, this did not work, and only served to remind him of his other failures. Failing University. Failing his parents. Failing his daughter. This made John spiral further and further down the pit of sadness he was in. How he could never succeed at anything. He was a bright kid when he was in school, but after high school he just didn¡¯t want to pursue a higher education, to the disappointment of his parents. He instead wanted to continue his work in more artistic endeavors. And he succeeded! He met a wife, had a child. A wonderful little girl by the name of Amelia. That was when disaster struck. At the age of 3, Amelia had developed cancer. Leukemia, they told him. That was when he decided to try and pursue an education in medicine. To help his little girl. To help all the children around the globe, and insure that they could never suffer of these cruel diseases. He progressed in his university. He was always a smart person, and with the driving motivator he had, he was consistently top of the class, and he excelled in all of his courses, all to try to make sure his daughter was safe. But that was when disaster struck. Just 3 years after Amelia was diagnosed, she suddenly worsened. Her cancer spread from her blood and bones, into other tissues. Into her brain. She lived just 3 weeks longer. After this, John suffered greatly. His grades dropped drastically. His wonderful wife, who he was no longer able to support either emotionally or financially left him, of no fault of her own. His art also suffered, and he came less and less to various art shows, and slowly became one of the many artists to fade ever into obscurity. And finally, John turned to the bottle. He tried to drink all his sadness away, but it was temporary, and the pain returned stronger than ever shortly afterwards. Still, temporary relief is better than none at all, so he continued drinking. And that¡¯s where he found himself now, yet another failure. John¡¯s eyes cried and cried and cried silent tears of agony. Of internal pain. During his spiral downwards, he had hardly noticed that he had retrieved his daughter¡¯s favorite doll, a soft, plush thing that shared her same golden locks. With the ebb and flow of sadness, he also hardly noticed a little going missing. That was why while his head was down to the kitchen counter, he was surprised to feel small plush hands hugging his head. Ch. 7 Experimentation John¡¯s head rose from the counter, eyes blurry from his tears, and he saw his daughter¡¯s doll, next to his arm, trying it¡¯s best to hug him. Before he could do anything, another wave of sadness rolled over him, remembering his daughter. He closed his tear-filled eyes, drops falling down his cheeks, and went and got hold of the doll, gently holding it. When he grasped hold of the doll however, this time he felt something. He felt¡­ sadness in the doll? No, the doll itself wasn¡¯t sad. It was more like the doll itself was powered by the sadness. He could somehow feel the doll was taking the sadness from somewhere to sustain it. He tried to follow the sensation, and noticed that he couldn¡¯t. It seemed to reach the edge of the doll that he was holding it from and then stopped. It was easy to conclude then that the sadness likely was coming from him. As his sadness faded into curiosity, he set the doll down, and watched it toddle back to his arm lying on the table, and then wrap its plush little arms around his forearm. He smiled sadly, seeming to reminisce about better times. John then looked around the room, and noticed the fake flower he¡¯d bought with his meager savings to try and liven up the place. He got up and took it back to his seat, where he then contemplated over it. John then tried to replicate the feeling he had of sadness entering the doll, and he felt the small remaining undercurrent of sadness he had drain slightly, and some energy enter the false flower. He then felt it subtly shift in his hand, and he let it go into its empty bowl, and watched it almost gyrate around, in a melancholic dance. He looked to it, almost entranced by the slight moments, and found himself almost imperceptibly draining of sadness. When he took the flower back into his hand, he noticed that it had a little more power than it had previously. Less than what had been drained when at the distance, but still more then what it had when he let it go. Curious. John¡¯s sadness fell away to a more bountifully growing curiosity, and he then noticed that the doll that he had animated had fallen. When he picked it up, he noticed it had been nearly entirely drained of power, and the last motes it had drained before his eyes, and the doll stilled.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. John then enchanted it again, this time with curiosity, and the doll stood up and started walking. It turned its head around, and looked around the counter. It noticed the slightly moving flower, which had seemingly slowed down in the absence of sadness, and wandered over to it. When the doll had reached the flower, it started to inspect it and the bowl it was in, looking over all of its features. John laughed at this, and decided that maybe it wouldn¡¯t hurt to try and animate one more thing. He looked around for something to animate, but couldn¡¯t settle his mind on any one thing. Then John had an idea. What would happen if he animated technology? Deciding it would be better to go big or go home, John got out his cell phone, an old IPhone 4, which he had gotten for cheap. John then tried to channel his curiosity into the phone, and he felt some resistance. He tried and tried to push his emotion into the phone, and it was making little progress, when all of a sudden it seemed to break through, and his emotions rushed into the phone, as if they had found a void to fill. The phone immediately turned off, and John¡¯s emotions wouldn¡¯t stop rushing into the phone. First, his curiosity drained, and then it started reaching for the minor emotions that John didn¡¯t even recognize he had, the minor ones that go about in small amounts. Small amounts of anger, sadness, happiness, and other more secondary emotions, like love, and jealousy drained into the phone, one by one. He tried to cut off the flow of emotion, but it just kept going. When John tried to let go of the phone, it seemed to supernaturally stick to his hand, sucking out his emotion. One by one, the minor emotions fell, and then it reached his humanity. It rained away at his humanity, and as it did so, John felt more and more tired, and more and more faint. Just as he was on the verge of passing out, the phone fell from his hand onto the countertop (Thank god it had a protective casing). Its screen then turned on, only to show a black screen and text reminiscent of a desktop¡¯s command prompt showed up, and appeared to go through a booting process, which was strange, considering that phones rarely, if ever show such a screen. The phone then seemed to boot completely, and showed up on a completely white screen. John, in his tired state, picked up the phone. He inspected the screen, and saw that there was a small point of blue in the center, when suddenly that blue expanded out into a ring, and a voice rang out of the phone. What was unmistakably Siri¡¯s voice emanated from the phone, saying ¡°What is going on? What is happening?¡± Going on Hiatus Sorry, I can''t sustain the story as it is with all the schoolwork I currently have. I come home tired, braindead from school, not wanting to write a chapter. Sorry. Required copypasta: What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I''ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I''ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I''m the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You''re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that''s just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn''t, you didn''t, and now you''re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You''re fucking dead, kiddo.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Interlude- The Defender The old man¡¯s eyes glimmered with evil intent, his old and sagging body betraying his kind words to show his malicious meaning. He stood across a clearing from a much younger man, who stood over two young children, a girl and a boy, both of which couldn¡¯t be older than 8. ¡°You¡¯ll never get to them!¡± The young man cried, with some strength, but mostly fearing the frail old man. He was afraid. But he would stand in front of these children, protecting them until he breathed his last breath, if it came to that. The old man cackled, evilly, and said, ¡°You can¡¯t stop me, Jeremy. I will have my grandkids back, even if it means going through you, dear nephew.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t keep abusing them, not on my watch!¡± Jeremy cried, suddenly slaying his fingers forward. Vines burst from the ground at high velocity, reaching for the old man. They slammed into him at high speeds, and wrapped him up in a tight embrace, preventing him from moving. The old man seemed to be unconscious, but then he shot awake, and grinned, teeth bloodied from the impact. ¡°That the best you got?¡± he asked cockily, before rods of earth pulled up beside his body between the vines and ripped the vines apart. Jeremy tried to send some more, but the grandfather deflected them with stone walls, before suddenly reaching his arms below him, and seemed to try and pull something up. The old man¡¯s arms bulged with effort, veins protruding from his tensing forearms. A trembling could be felt, as if the very planet were responding to his call. Jeremy tried to send more vines after him, but rapidly rising shards of stone sliced through them before they got near. A boulder the size of a house suddenly erupted from the earth as the old man lifted his straining arms. The old man then closed his fists and ripped them apart, and the boulder crumbled into hundreds of smaller but still dangerously sized stones. One of his arms then pointed to the frozen Jeremy, seemingly awed at the display of prowess shown. Half of the stones slowly started accelerating towards Jeremy, before starting to move at higher speeds.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Jeremy quickly raised his arms at the attack, forming a protective layer of vines. The stones pelted into the vines at high velocity, pummeling it, and eventually through it to hit Jeremy. Few actually hit him, but the ones that did were enough to nearly knock the consciousness out of him. The children were protected even further by another layer of vines, and were thankfully unharmed. The old man cackled, and slowly stepped forwards, keeping one of his hands raised above his head to keep the floating rocks up there. Jeremy then heard a slight whisper coming from the back of his head. ¡®Join me¡¯ it whispered. What did that mean? Join who? Seemingly responding to his thoughts, it said ¡®I am the spirit of the forest, newly born through the great awakening. Join me and I will help you¡¯ Jeremy was contemplating this, but seeing the old man approaching, he knew he had little time. Jeremy called out into his mind, ¡®I accept¡¯. The spirit then said, ¡®let it be done. Do you wish for me to eliminate this enemy in front of you?¡¯ ¡®Yes please¡¯ Jeremy said, adding ¡®But please keep the children safe, at all costs¡¯ ¡®Let it be done then¡¯ the spirit echoed in his mind, and Jeremy faded into unconsciousness. The old man grinned even wider, watching the man fall asleep, but then stopped his walking when he saw Jeremy slowly levitate off the ground and face him. Jeremy¡¯s eyes then opened, only to reveal nothing there but the whites of his eyes. ¡®Jeremy¡¯ then said in a hauntingly primordial tone, one that seemed to have the same qualities of an echo, ¡°For your actions against one of the forest guardians, you shall be eliminated.¡± The old man¡¯s eyes widened in panic, and he used all of his efforts to try and fling the remaining stones at the creature that now inhabited Jeremy. The entity casually raised its hand, and hundreds of vines flew up from the ground and individually grabbed and hurled the stones away, into the distance. It then looked directly at the old man, raised Jeremy¡¯s hands, and seemed to grasp them together, in a motion one would use to capture a fly, or something similar. Tree roots as thick as a torso burst from the nearby trees and wrapped around the old man, who cried in fear at the powerful limbs of the trees, and struggles to break free, trying to raise stone to his defense. However, nothing worked, the trees¡¯ roots mysteriously as strong as Damascus steel. The roots then pulled the man underneath the dirt, and his screams were quickly silenced by the loamy soil of the forest floor. Jeremy¡¯s eyes then closed and he topples to the floor, and the children he was protecting rushed to his unconscious body. Rewriting the story I feel like I''ve kinda fucked up the story as it is, and it needs to be rewritten to restructure it and john''s character. So I''m gonna be rewriting the chapters. obligatory copypasta: What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I¡¯ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I¡¯ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I¡¯m the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You¡¯re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that¡¯s just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little ¡°clever¡± comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn¡¯t, you didn¡¯t, and now you¡¯re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You¡¯re fucking dead, kiddo.Stolen novel; please report.