Shouki sat waiting beside Akie to wake up. He brought her to the nearest clinic, as the hospital was too far. When a nurse checked on Akie, it appeared that she took too many shards directly to some veins and blocked the ability to use her right arm.
Akie wasn't very angry or sad about what happened to her, and the reason is that power users can heal much faster than when they were normal humans and can even regenerate certain organs and body parts that were believed to be impossible for a regular person to do before.
The nurse, who came to check on Akie for an x-ray prior to her treatment, entered the room with a pill capsule in her hand.
"Take two pills a day for four weeks."
"That's it?"
She nodded in reassurance. It was hard for Shouki to believe that everything was going to heal like new after she took a couple of pills. The nurse also noted that her veins were to regrow back stronger than they were before.
Shouki left the pills on a stand beside Akie's bed alongside a note telling her how much to take, and that she was excused from attending school for a month. After some time, he left the building to attend his lectures and check the news frequently to gather intel on what happened that night.
Akie has a great gift. From his perspective, Akie can stare at someone for a brief amount of the time before she has full access to someone's brain. She told him that it is still very limited and hard to control, but he knows she can do incredible things with it when she learns to utilize it correctly.
* * *
The smoke outside smooths itself into the interior of the house, outside sand dust particles fly from outside.
Her mind remembered she was fighting someone when something launched her to the sky while in the middle of the fight.
She immediately looked up to see herself sitting on some wooden stool, in front of a shoddy wooden table.
Where did it send me to?
Around her were the interiors of a broken down wooden hut, slightly renovated into a house structure. The floor was covered in sand, only some spots had less build-ups to see there was a floor. There was a makeshift furnace and a bed constructed out of wool. There were several broken spots on the roof, below it a pile of sand that blocked a small area on the side of the building. It was slightly windy and warm.
She was unable to refrain from gazing at the person in front of her, who was messing with something in front of a broken counter top. They were wrapped from head to waste with bandages like a mummy. From the muscular and masculine figure of the body, she could assume it was a guy.
Looking out to her side was a broken part of the house which revealed the outside. There was nothing, it was all sand, not even a single soul to be seen. Her heart started beating much faster while her eyes widened in fear.
The person in front of her turned around, which revealed that only his eyes and mouth were peaking out of the covering.
He noticed her and brought a pan that seemed completely burnt from overuse and sat on the stool from across the table.
"You should probably eat this if you're hungry." He placed the pan in front of her, his eyes wide opened like he is watching a murder.
Looking up at the contents of the pan, she realized that what she meant to eat was a pile of cooked crickets.
She was surprised for a moment before realizing that this is probably the only food he had to survive off of in this place. Grabbing a single one, she immediately ate, trying not to think about it too much. It was crunchy, and burnt to crisp. She reached to grab more.
"I already gave you the last water I had on me. So now we will both die here."
Chocking on her food, she was surprised by what she was told.
"Oh, s-sorry. Why you live in such place?" After some time, she was able to familiarize herself with the English language that the man was speaking.
"Ah you're one of those Russians, now I remember."
"Ah… I from China, not Russia." She couldn't understand how he would've messed that up. Perhaps Russians have similar accents.
While the man in front of her kept quiet, she took it upon herself to introduce herself, "My name is Yen Chee, what's yours?"
"Yes my name… what was it.. hold on a minute."
How do you forget your own name!
After some time, the man started looking at some papers inside his cabinets before looking back at her and replying, "It's Bandari. I think."
"So, why you here in middle of desert?"
"… Living."
"but you're about to die from starvation soon."
He puts a fingers on his chin, "Huh, I never thought about it like that…" Bandari said, as if it was his first time using his brain.
Oh, this guy is stupid.
Yen Chee despises idiots, from her time fighting, even after awakening, would always encounter opponents and allies who are very slow in the head and sometimes wish they were smarter so it became a challenge for her.
"Ah, staying here longer only make worse, so I go now." Yen Chee tells him before looking around and found her staff, which was resting beside the wall.
"Wait you can't go yet, you have to pay me back for killing my cows." Bandari exclaims.
Slowly remembering, 'Oh I remember there was something I crashed into on the way here.'
Wait did he just say cows? In the desert?
"What you talk about? How you have cow in desert?"
Bandari goes outside and so does Yen. The contrast from a single step outside the building from the inside is massive. It was windy, hot, and grainy. She had to cover her face with her arm to not get sand in her eyes. Bandari goes to the other side of the house, which displayed a whole blood puddle, a small crater, and what seems to be a bunch of sheep dead surrounding it. The smell was almost non-existent, thanks to the wind and the sand.
Yen fell upon utter confusion, attempting to comprehend the scene at hand. How were animals even living here—how did they even get here?
"I apologize–but how do you have animals living out here in the desert?"
Bandari tries to think, "Now that you mention it… I don't know."
It was clear that this man was very weird and bizarre. The conditions he was living in, maybe someone wanted him to stay here and rot? Maybe she should just leave this place before any misfortunes hit her direction.
"How about this." Yen reached for the staff behind her back to bring it in front of her—with it being almost as tall as she was, she presented it forward to Bandari as a repayment for what she caused.
Bandari picks it up to inspect it, "That's a weird looking stick."
"Wha—no, this is the Storm Dragon's Blaze!" She pronounced. The weapon in question, was a huge staff, with one end pointy, the other end it resembles a jet engine with the thruster part glowing a mystic energy. The base had several printed dragon designs wrapping around with red and green colors.
The staff she handed to him was a powerful weapon, one that she despised. She would only use it when she really had to, but for Yen, only real power comes from yourself—not the tool you use. Her father's last words to use it to keep her self safe was the only reason she used it. But that was when she was weak, after training for the recent months and truly understanding her power, she no longer needed the staff.
"It's a strong weapon, and you can take it for the troubles I've caused you, I will be heading out now, if I'm not back for a long time, they might get worried about me." Yen turns around—facing the distant sand, she began heading her way.
Bandari didn't say anything, watching the woman disappear into the desert's fog. With nothing to stare into, he looks down at the metallic rod held horizontally with both his hands.
* * *
"Another elixir case and I'm fucking done!" What barged in was Agent Cross, previously a patrol officer who roamed the streets, giving out speeding tickets—now in the Special Crimes Division (SCD). Thanks to his power to find even the faintest of details and making a highly intellectual analysis to solve a case, he was immediately recruited into the government agency, one of the many new government branches to regulate and sustain the new world that has been created.
"Guess what Seth, I have good news." Called by his first name, Agent Cross was greeted with his partner in crime—solving them that is, Leila Tess. With the ability to play with luck, she can change events in their favor—or the opposite.
"Good news for ones? What are we working with today?"
"We have about ten new cases of elixir distributions with little to no lead on who the suspects are." After that sarcastic turn, Seth went back to his grunty mood.
"Thought you said good news." He shifted down to sit at the other side of the table to take a pile of papers off the table.
Agent Tess took her coffee mug up to her mouth to took a sip before bringing the real good news, "If we solve these cases, we will get promoted to senior agents, and if we bring them down–we can get double promoted to supervisor agents."
If it wasn't music to his ears, Seth lifted a huge grin up to his ears." the thought of becoming a supervisor agent—to sit back and relax while you tell your agent maggots to get their shit done.
"But that's if we do a good job, which is highly unlikely." Referring to their past cases to which they half-assed most of them by barely following protocol and not listening to their superiors about their guidelines.
"Yeah, but this one's different, we should put all out efforts in this one." It was rare for the agency to hand out promotions, especially when they are still in need of more agents at the rise of more cases showing up at every corner.
Seth leaned back in his chair, flipping through the case files with a half-interested glance. "So, you're telling me, after all the cases we've slacked on, they suddenly decide to dangle promotions in front of us?" He scoffed. "Either they're desperate, or they expect us to fail."
Leila shrugged, setting her coffee mug down with a quiet clink. "Does it matter? We pull this off, we move up."
He exhaled sharply through his nose, scanning the reports. The usual—street-level pushers disappearing, mid-tier suppliers vanishing before they could be interrogated, and not a single damn clue pointing to the source. "These elixir cases have been a dead end for months. What makes this one different?"
Leila pulled a file from the stack, tapping a name circled in red ink. "This guy. Dominic Vale. He's not just some street dealer—he's been connected to every major elixir bust in the past year. Either he's lucky, or—"
"Or he's got someone on the inside." Seth finished, his mood shifting from cynical to sharp in an instant.
"Bingo. He slipped through the cracks too many times for it to be a coincidence. Higher-ups think there's a leak. We find out who's protecting him, and we don't just solve the case—we take out a whole damn network."
Seth smirked, cracking his knuckles. "Well, now I'm interested." He shut the file and stood, already reaching for his coat. "Guess we're about to prove the agency wrong."
Leila grabbed her gun holster and downed the rest of her coffee. "Or we prove them right."
"Either way," Seth said as they headed for the door, "we're making this interesting."
* * *
"Dominic Vale," is the words that came out of the new clone's mouth. Strat1 didn't need to say the name or explain any part of it, for the information and reasoning has already been established with the rest of the clones.
The answer is complete, but the question is not. How exactly are we going to get in contact, let alone establish a mutual connection and communication with that man?
Crickets were chirping in the dead of night, sharp footsteps from her heels tap the pavement. She nudges her glasses, takes out her pack of cigarettes from her blazer to pop one out of the pack. The streets were almost empty, with a couple roaming zombies around. Strat stopped near a shimmering street lamp beside a bench. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she writes another point of data in her weekly reportings. Strat lights herself a cigarette before drawing in.
"Alright come out." The bushes ruffled, the supposed spy was startled for a moment, the debris cleared off for a young lady in a jumpsuit with short black hair and slim body. The spy watched the strategist staring directly into her eyes. Her gray, lifeless eyes, while slowly drawing her cigarette.
[Contacting random, S1] Strat sent her energy message in the direction of her home. What's this girl doing in the middle of the night stalking me, I expected some thieves with knifes and guns.
"Who are you, why have you been following me. And why were you hard to detect?" For a brief moment no one said a thing. The girl walks a couple steps closer, the dark made it hard to observe the appearance and intentions of the spy. Strat did not budge. Walking down a couple blocks and scouting the area for unusual activity, Strat kept having the sensation that she was being watched, she's practiced and enhanced most of her senses to quickly detect movement and sound far out in her perception. The interesting part was the minimal events she detected that didn't chart out a pattern, for all she knew, there could've been ten people spying on her, but the events were always individual. Some sort of movement ability?
"I've come to invite you to an organization." The spy girl spoke for once. She had a laid back stance, one that suggests she won't be moving either direction. It was an odd request, Strat almost thought she was mistaken for someone else. How has she supposedly passed some pre-trial condition to get such an invitation? From her formalities, it's definitely from a dangerous group, how does someone her age get into stuff like this?
"I'm flattered, what are the benefits?" The strategic woman decided to skip the jargon and get straight to business.
The girl hadn't predicted such a response and it showed from the slight indications on her body language, almost losing her posture.
Shoving her hand through the inside of her pocket, she pulled out a card and began to walk forward. During this time, Strat thought what could her power be, a user with the movement of not being able to be detected in between their travels. The girl was four feet away now, her black eyes resting, even in the dark Strat could tell this girl was tired, overworked. Lifting her arm up to present the card, Strat takes it to read it. Daemon Guild. In a red calligraphic font. At the back was a phone number. Interesting… Strat looks back up to the girl, she wasn't there.
In the calm night, all that was heard was the cold winds and waves of the waters. Strat1 hid the card in her back-pocket, she turned and began walking to the nearest hotel apartment for the night.
I see you teleportress.
* * *
The hall was packed with every student from every department. The air was heavy, filled with talks, laughs, and whispers. Holographic banners were floating in each corner, displaying the university's silver-green emblem. Even though the assembly hall wasn't as big to hold the student body, the seats were filled so a tenth of the rest would still have to remain standing while the announcement takes place. Ryuuka was lucky to even be able to take the second to last row before it was taken.
Ryuuka's eyes were fixed at the stage, mind drifting out. She knew there was going to be a lot of excitement and talk about powers and who the government will try to recruit first. Many new jobs with power requirements have been opening up with high pay, especially government jobs that glorifies their power sectors.
But none of that mattered. The university's president came on stage with two other guards. As if he was some sort of important figure to be protected. The president talked about the state of the world. Projectors brought up discussions of the good and evil, terrorists with powers and world leaders managing them. It was no secret that Japan's government has been forming their own regimes on the matter. There were document leaks about how they will be recruiting power users and their new ranking system.
While many were paying close attention and brimmed with anticipation, Ryuuka couldn't bother with the whole ordeal. She knew the information she would learn here isn't something she doesn't already know, she was on autopilot and on her own operation from within her head.
[2c, this is 1c, give me status.]
[We are still waiting, 2c.]
[If he doesn't show up in 10 minutes then we cancel automatically, S1.]
Sitting in her chair, Strat1 watched from three different camera angles she had placed surrounding the alleyway—where the drug deal will take place. As we don't have a base to grow drugs, the first step towards developing a profitable product, is to understand its quality and effects. 2 c has one objective, purchasing the drug through the meetup and escaping alive. She is to be hidden in case the drug deal was made by police to catch drug users, which we decided it would be highly unlikely.
Now we could've just picked out a mall instead of some shady dark alleyway where we could get killed and no one would know. It would've been a smarter choice maybe in a normal world. Not this one—there would be too many factors, in a mall, there would be people playing heroes, and with everyone as an unknown factor who has abilities? Losing a clone isn't something as big as a deal as losing the main body, especially since we still haven't figured out how to alter any of the body parts or appearances during the generation phase.
The only worrisome part of using our clones is if they would get tracked back to us… mainly Ryuujiro. Strat1 took some time to get to a lab to compare the differences between blood, the differences were noted. None of the clones' blood could link back to Ryuujiro directly, but it would definitely narrow down to the nearest one hundred thousand people. Unsurprisingly, all the clones have the same exact blood, which could come in handy in certain situations. Nevertheless, we decided that under no circumstances any non-trusted person would have our DNA.
[Detected presence, stand ready 2c, S1.]
[Confirmed, 2c.]
A hooded figure enters the chambers from the streets, alone. Which was odd, Strat1 thought for certain her would want to come guarded, especially since he would be selling hard drugs, not to mention the large amount of money that comes to play. Although we would rather buy the product at the cheapest price possible, we double the amount we would pay as first time customers. Lets say it makes an impression. Could it be that he's so confident in his powers that he doesn't even need protection? S1 thought it over, but there were to many unknown variables at play. The money can be gathered in a short amount of time with clones and their full-time jobs.
The man has long hair that covers his face, hood pulled up, zipped up, with hands in his pockets. Wearing all black. Taking one of his hands out while stepping closer, 2c clearly saw her hand full of tattoos, it the lighting was any darker, should would've mistaken it for his skin tone. The man leveled his arm out with his hand making a "give me" gesture, expecting to receive payment first.
Of course, 2c didn't react to any of it, she stood there staring lifeless. 2c doesn't need to pay any attention to him, Ryuuka already processes all of that information for her. 2c doesn't even need to move her eyes, she can stay an owl while a different clone becomes her pupils for her. There were three cameras placed about, one outside to watch anyone who comes into the alleyway, and two inside from front and backward angles if the dealer suddenly decided to pull a knife from behind.
The man stood there for a couple seconds before a proper greeting, "are you just going to stand there? Pay first, product second." The man waited some extra seconds before looking up. What he saw was a slim, short brown-haired girl, jumpsuit, with her hand out.
"We receive first," she statues herself.
The fuck does she think she is. She barely looks like she finished high school. Thinking to himself, the man realized another element in her demand, what does she mean "we?" There's others with her. The man sighed before noticing one of the cameras. Most of his deals have been with desperate weak people who needed a whiff to boost their powers. This seemed different. He's never been one to give first. Other's would always be shaking and stuttering from nervousness. Unless it had something to do with her unique ability—to ignore his passive power.
The man lowers his arm to take closer steps toward her, about three feet apart, she doesn't move. He is about to use his ability to a higher degree. He takes a closer step, face-to-face as they are, his eyes are revealed. The darkest color 2c has ever seen was displayed to her.
{Fear Aura}
"Pay. First. Product. Second" The man said slowly in a much deeper voice, his saliva blowing out.
"I apologize, it seems like we cannot agree on the terms of this transaction, especially since we are paying double the amount. If that is all, I will be going." 2c stated in a nonchalant manner. She lowered her arm and began walking out, ignoring his presence.
Baffled, bamboozled, mind rarefied, the man couldn't believe it, she should've got so distressed to the point of killing herself on the spot, and she didn't even react. As if I didn't even use my power. Some power that blocks my own?
The man turns around fast, catching her before she walked out, "wait!"
"Are you looking to fight?" She responds back.
What? Why would she even suggest that as an option in her state, just what kind of power does she have? It was unfathomable.
"No. We will do this on your terms."
As 2c turned back around and approached the man, he brought out a plastic bag full of minuscule capsules that contained the product desired. She takes the bag and breaks one of the capsules with her finger that released a small amount of purple glittery powder, she threw the empty capsule away before dipping her finger in the powder and taking a sample. For a second not much happened, until something marvelous happened. The information she received from Strat1 were much faster, she could see the cameras from her eyes, she was able to send signals in abysmal speeds. This was the real deal. Such an amount that she ordered made him nervous, if her ability has anything that can kill him, the boosters would make her 20 times stronger.
"Where's my money, double as we agreed."
2c turned to the side and walked forward to a small vent on the bottom side of the wall, popped it open and took out the three stacks of cash.
"Thanks for the transaction." 2c hands him the money—to which he counted silently before throwing out a nod to affirm confirmation. 2c leaves the scene out into the sidewalk. It seems like it's more lively now with more people on the streets.
[S1, I've lost connection to 1c, 2c.]
[2c, I think I know what happened, S1.]
Ryuuka jumped out of bed. It was so bright—she was shaking, water filled her eyes. Observing herself, she was sweating excessively.
There were other people in the room, but Ryuuka couldn't process anything, it was all so blown out, there were hands touching her—she rejected and pushed away. Without a word, she drowns herself in her blanket.
* * *
Then and there, she entered the train,
The sky was black as always,
The winds were havoc as always,
The train was empty as always,
The destination was infinite as always,
Will you ever be able to reach me,
Always.
And that will always be how the system operates, there isn't anything in the worlds that can defect this system, this structure.
She reached her hands out to grab the train's controls. Her hands stretched to infinity instead, as it phased through, wrapped around, and covered the world whole.
"She is up to no good again, let us fix this flaw."
* * *
Ryuuka wakes up. Oddly enough, she doesn't feel a thing, it was red.
Everywhere was red, and cold. After a while she noticed the sounds, like how everything sounds muffled under water. What is this…?
She sat up and stood up. What? She saw the whole ground was… blood?! That wasn't true. It felt cold and tastes like water. Why do I know that? Why am I here? Where's Ryuujiro? She expected to be more scared or worried, this place feels wrong. But for some reason, it felt just like...
home.
Afterword
Thanks for reading the first volume of this. I've been gone for a long time due to life circumstances. I will try and have a better schedule for the second volume when I start publishing that. Expect higher word size chapter lengths. Also, I may change writing style every now and then. My Patron has a more revised version of this story in a PDF format, it doesn't change the story, but it does have better grammar and spelling overall with a couple improvements in wording. This series is just a spin-off of another series I have been writing the outline for, and this is the basis for it from the perspective of this character so I'm treating this as a warm-up novel or like practice before writing that series.
Notable Character Profiles, for fun:
Ryuujiro Kurio
Has brown hair, brown eyes, a round face, and short height. He is 19 years old and has the ability to replicate his own body into a clone of himself, although he is unsure of how it works very well. Every clone instance is created with a seemingly empty brain, but it has been proven that certain instincts and muscle memory gets replicated in the process. Instance database consists of 1 Strategist Clone, 1 Bishop, 1 Queen and 1 King.
Yen Chee
Originally from China Town, she practiced in a dojo. She awakens with the gifts of two different abilities, the ability to control fire and plasma. She is also very beautiful and powerful. Very aggressive fighting style where she charges and predicts where she lands her shots before she hits them. Although her fighting style can quickly finish a fight in the arena, she quickly tires and wastes too much energy.
Khaden Bandari
He is extremely stupid because his brain is literally cooked. Bandari got his powers seconds before he became brain-dead. I don't know what his powers are, but he is extremely strong. He is wrapped in bandages like a mummy from his waist up, only his eyes and mouth show through the coverings. Bandari also wears khaki pants alongside dark hiking boots. His name is based on bandannas and desert related stuff. He mainly uses his body for fighting.
Seth Cross
Agent for the Special Crimes Division. Enhanced Perception. Heightened Details.
Leila Tess
Agent for the Special Crimes Division. Probability Manipulation; Influence events moderately with chance.
Akie Wren
Ability to take a volumetric photograph of certain brains and add or remove certain parts.
Shouki Ather
Ability to jump tremendously high and with extreme speed.
World Science:
Red Energy:
Background – A state of electricity developed by Eleanor Kolvak when she was attempting to develop a quantum computer, It was deemed too unstable and dangerous.
Red Energy is electricity with its strong gravitational pull which constantly maintains its rotation based on other particles of Red Energy surrounding itself and is capable of being programmed to move in a specific motion. It can get closer to other particles, or separate itself by applying different combinations of Command Module Formula (CMf) which is developed by Silvester Kline.
Production of Red Energy is processed by firing a very large amount of electricity into a container with absolute zero temperature that contains a very specific amount of chemicals inside the container. This part is not disclosed to the public as it could cause too much risk.
Command Module Formula (CMf):
The Command Module Formula, or CMf for short, is a scientific formula that is used to calculate the trajectory of electrical waves and control them based on their current state. Initially, it was created by Chuzen Kline as a way to create a system to traverse human organs and swiftly cure any disease without the need to open up human organs through surgery. Originally it failed since it couldn't maintain controlling electricity since electricity's direction was always changed when coming in contact with blood.
His predecessor, Silvester Kline solved this problem by using Red Energy instead of electricity, with major tweaks, it was up and running successfully. The difference between Red Energy's direction and electricity's direction is electricity can change direction based on physical contact, while Red Energy can only be redirected by other Red Energy, other forms of energy such as plasma and normal energy would only increase its power output by very minuscule amounts.