Bam-Bam!
"Damn it, let me sleep a bit more..." Oliver's head was spinning as he opened his eyes. The world was nothing more than distorted shades of black. The urge to vomit and the pain all over his body were agonizing.
Bam-Bam!
"What the hell is that noise?" His vision began to focus, and he managed to understand where he was.
Small silver rays from a strong moonlight passed through the windows, casting a gloomy atmosphere. Chairs were scattered everywhere, and debris painted a scene of devastation.
Despite all that destruction, Oliver would never fail to recognize this place.
"I'm back... State high school."
He stood up, which proved more difficult than he imagined, and something told him he had lived through something like this before. He soon realized his body was no longer the same.
Bip!
[Oliver Enallume]
[Lineage: Viper Tenebris Rank – 1]
[Realm: Mortal]
[Saturation: 80%]
[Combat: 24]
[Aptitude: C]
[Affinity: Darkness, Nature, Fire, Wind]
Bam-Bam!
Oliver didn't have much time to analyze why that damned bracelet had identified a "Lineage" out of nowhere. The sound was getting louder, and something would soon be right next to him.
Oliver ran down the hallway and jumped into the school courtyard. An apocalyptic scene unfolded. All the classrooms were collapsed and the entire ground, devastated.
However, one large tree was still standing. Not only had it survived, but it had doubled in size. Its old roots now pulsed and spread across the courtyard ground. He quickly spotted a space where he could hide.
It didn't take long for the deafening sound of heavy metal hitting the ground to arrive. Right in the hallway, a torch's light illuminated the world, and Oliver had to force his eyes to adapt to the repeated glare.
"Hey, Noah. Didn't you see a shadow moving through the hallway? I'm sure I saw something." The voice came from a man wearing metal armor. His entire body was protected, and probably, that was where the sound was coming from.
"If it were one of those monsters, they would've already tried to tear our heads off. Stop imagining things, kid. We're just here to fulfill the request of some pampered, traumatized girl. We check if there are any survivors and leave. Period." The voice was hoarse, clearly from someone who must've smoked a lot, but also from a man much older than the armored boy.
"So someone is sending escorts to check if anyone else is alive. However, from what I understood, shouldn't all the initiations have the same time?" Oliver's mind was racing, and the doubt whether he should trust those men or not was eating him alive.
"I don't know where you got that information from, but you're almost right." The velvety voice entered his mind, and Oliver nearly jumped out of his hiding spot.
"Devil." He whispered, trying to respond to that damned snake without alerting the men just a few meters down the corridor.
"I'm afraid to disappoint you and inform you that I'm something far worse than your poorly imagined embodiment of evil. Oh, and you just need to think, and we can communicate. You know... whispering to a snake under a tree while hiding... It reminds me of a certain religious story from your planet-"
"OK! Shut up! I got it!" Oliver quickly interrupted the scheming snake, something told him it wouldn't stop talking any time soon.
"Fine... Then I won't tell you about the initiations, you naughty disciple."
Oliver inhaled deeply and exhaled painfully.
"Please, great evil snake. Enlighten me about the end of the initiations." The cynicism in his voice was tangible, but he had to feed the creature's ego.
"Muuuuch better. It's quite simple, actually. Each initiation has its own timeframe, so some may last weeks, others months, but I doubt the federation can create any that last a year or more. However, everyone returns at the same time to the planet, thus avoiding unfair advantages for emerging factions."
"Then, why are these medieval-looking soldiers, who clearly don't know how to wear armor, searching for survivors?" Oliver thought rhetorically, more to himself than to the snake that was somehow still with him.
"Well... I can come up with some theories, but I'll let you figure it out. Maybe it'll help in your character development." There it was, the same cynical voice again.
"Don't talk like you're my father!" This time, Oliver didn't keep it in his thoughts and could see out of the corner of his eye the metallic steps stopping, but when they didn't notice anything, they continued toward the school exit.
"I'm not... My son would be way more handsome than you."
That's when Oliver realized. Maybe he really had opened the door to the greatest evil planet Earth could ever face. An evil that no one could stop, the true nightmare. And that nightmare was inside him.
Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Oliver began to move as soon as he noticed the light fading away.
However, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to find out where they were going. He began to move stealthily through the shadows and followed the torchlight from afar.
"It's so strange... It feels like the shadows are comforting."
"Your affinity with darkness must be the reason, but don't trust the shadows. They exist in the darkness, but they are not a product of it." Dracomatroz replied quickly and this time without jokes. Clearly, he wanted Oliver to remember this lesson, and he made sure to tattoo it into his mind.
"Now. Will you explain to me why after you bit me, a lineage appeared and I gained an affinity? Even though I don't know what any of this means."
"Well... I needed your body to be compatible with my soul, so I took the opportunity, since I had to destroy it to teleport you and fused part of my genes into you. That way, I turned you into a half-blood. Of course, you inherited almost nothing of my lineage, but still, I did the impossible! I created a hybrid, without needing to reproduce. Cool, right?"
"You did WHAT???"
"You wanted to come back to your planet, didn't you? Well, you made it. Congrats!" The snake's cynical voice reached its peak, and clearly, it was enjoying turning Oliver into someone just like it.
"Damn snakes!"