(Hello new readers, author here! I'm in the midst of revamping this and the couple chapters after. I feel they aren't reflective of the quality I wish to put forth for this novel. Thanks for reading! Please keep this in your collections, I will always strive for improvement!
-Skyye)
It was a cold drip of water that awoke Jezebel. A slow drip, straight from above him. Another droplet of water hit him, forcing the realization that it's coming from above. A small, jagged crack is on the ceiling, dripping water at a slow and steady rate. As he awakened further, he heard the sound of running water coming from above, signaling that the apartment above his is in use, and evidently, in some form of disrepair due to the water that is currently dripping upon him. He doesn't live in the nicest place, of course, it was the only apartment that he could afford on his meager salary as a lowly government worker. Jezebel views himself as sort of an activist, but really, all he can manage to do is collect signatures that don't matter. His employer, The Centre Party, abuses him as often as they can, often making him work long hours at grueling and mentally draining tasks that nobody else would ever choose. He understands that they do this, but does nothing about it, due to how scared he is of hurting someone in a confrontation. Jezebel had finally risen out of bed, the picture of his father comes into view. A lab coat is on his father, as Jezebel is on top of his shoulders. A note is written on the picture, 'Happy Birthday Jezebel! Can't believe you're so little yet so smart! I'll always be there for you.' Jezebel continues to rise out of bed, the dingy gray room began to lighten up as he walked to the kitchen.
He grabbed a glass and filled it with a gray, bland nutrient paste. He quickly downs the bland paste, feeling slightly nauseous afterward, but he disregarded it and goes to his daily morning exercises and routine. He finishes drying off from the shower, puts on a nice suit, then steps outside, the soft yellow glow of the fake Undercity sun starts to come into view. Walking past the food stalls and other sorts of shady vendor, he quickly came to the hoverbus line that takes him to the Uppercity. He boarded the closest bus, then began his day. As the bus took him towards the surface, he put on a set of sunglasses, to aid in the reduction of harsh natural light causing temporary blindness. The bus breaches the surface after traveling for a few short minutes and begins its normal route through various stops in the city of Digeos. Jezebel thought of the name of the city, people have never really been able to agree on how the city name is pronounced. Is it Dig-eos? Didge-eos? It's a fairly heated debate, but it's just something to think about the long way to work.
The building of The Centre Party came into view, the clean barren exterior juts out of the ground at an impossible angle, supported only by its own grav-lifters. Jezebel departed the hoverbus as it smoothly cruised to a stop, onto the walkway towards the large and imposing doors interrupting the dull exterior. He passed other similarly garbed peoples on his way to the entrance of the building. Jezebel headed towards the scanner checkpoint to enter the building, passing some semi-familiar faces along the way. He entered the scanner as it whirred to life, a blue light appeared, covering him. He waited for a few seconds, as the light turned green and Jezebel continued forward into the drab building. He slinked through the crowded lobby, making his way towards the elevators, passing by a group of press members with hover-cams. He came upon the elevator and walked in to travel to the 53rd floor.
Jezebel left the elevator as it came to a stop at his department's floor, 'Petitions, Polls, and other Data Collection.' As he walked towards his cubicle, he was stopped by one of his bosses.
"Hey there Jezebel, you're late." Jezebel's boss said with a stern tone.
"Well, there was some traffic on the hoverbus line Mr. Archie" replied Jezebel.
"I don't care that there was any traffic, you should be here on time, or not here at all! You're lucky I haven't fired you yet, for the number of times you've been late!"
"Mr. Archie, I'm sorry sir, it won't happen again," said Jezebel, straining and trying not to say something he'd regret
"You're damn right it won't happen again. Next mistake you make? You're out. I don't care about your financial circumstances, all I care about is the quality of your work, and you've shown it to already be sub-par. Get to your cubicle, you have a lot to do today," replied Archie, pointing down the hallway.
Jezebel made his way towards his cubicle, his face noticeably redder after the confrontation with his boss. He sat down and began the days tedious and repetitive work.
Time passed and Jezebel made his way towards the foodstuffs replicator, plugging in his preferred lunch of earl gray tea and a tuna sandwich. He traveled back to his cubicle and sits back down to enter more data. He takes a sip of the tea and encounters a flavor that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. Jezebel slightly smirked at his thought referencing an old Earth book he quite enjoyed. Continuing with his entry of data, a notification popped up on his screen, displaying an email from someone. Jezebel clicked on it to read what it says but finds that all fields are blank. "That's pretty odd, what's up with that?" he thought as he viewed the entirely blank email seemingly sent from no one. Then, an incredibly bright flash of light emitted out from his screen, blinding and disorienting Jezebel for a few seconds. He blinked rapidly as he wondered what exactly just happened. He didn't wonder for long, however, as every light on his department's floor went out, leaving the entire floor in complete darkness. People begin to panic until the lights turn back on a couple minutes after they went out. As the lights come back, computer screens are all revealed to be blank, turned off improperly. Massive amounts of polling data are lost, as the bosses begin to look for someone to blame, Archie's eyes fall upon Jezebel's computer, with its screen all blank except for a blue logo being prominently displayed with the text "The Next 24 Hours Decides". He is immediately incensed, and shouted, "JEZEBEL! WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE? ALL OF OUR DATA IS LOST BECAUSE OF YOU! GET THE HELL OUT, OF MY DEPARTMENT, YOUR ASS IS FIRED!" Jezebel felt all this raw anger towards him and lashed out at his boss in a loss of self-control. Jezebel slugged Archie in the jaw, with the nice slap of skin hitting skin. Archie fell down to the ground, knocked out cold. Onlookers view this and called security to remove Jezebel from the building. Jezebel, in a blind rage, continued to pummel Archie when he fell to the ground, repeatedly hitting him in the chest. The cracking of bones can be heard from around the office. Security rushed into the room and pulled Jezebel off his boss. They carried him into their buildings detainment area, built for workers who go crazy. They informed the police, and they waited for a few hours for them to pick Jezebel up.
Jezebel woke up after falling asleep in the cell. He has slightly calmed down but is still furious. He had a sudden thought, something that definitely didn't come from him. He used this thought as a plan to escape his holding cell. He wondered where this idea even came from, as he'd never done something this crazy before.
"Hey, Mister Guard? I need to use the bathroom!" Jezebel shouted, hoping to lure the guards into opening the door.
"Nah man, you got one in there don't ya?" Said one of the guards, being startled awake from the sudden shout.
"It's out though. Can't use it, dude! I need the bathroom, just take me to one outside or something."
"I don't think that's a wise idea, Jezebel."
"Come on man! I'll be quick, and no trouble."
"Alright, against my better judgment, I suppose I can afford to take you to the bathroom if you won't cause any trouble."
"I swear sir, I won't cause you any trouble. Honestly, thanks. I haven't had the best day, you're definitely a highlight." Jezebel ended the conversation, and silently thought to himself 'Sorry man for what I'm about to do. You are quite nice'. The guard opened the door, and as soon as he went to go put cuffs on Jezebel, he found himself quickly knocked to the ground and out of consciousness. Jezebel dragged the unconscious guard and propped him up on the bench, using the cuffs he had to bind him. He took the clothes from the guard and put them on so he wouldn't be as easily discovered by other people. Jezebel strolled out of the detainment cell and walked towards the elevators so he could leave the building. Jezebel started to check over his shoulder, trying to make sure that he wouldn't bump into anyone and start another fight. He arrived in front of the elevator doors and pressed the button. The elevator arrived, and he joined the other people inside the elevator, on their way down. It stopped occasionally to pick up more people, but he eventually found his way to the bottom. The wide foyer was generally empty around this time of day, with people being busy at doing their work. Jezebel walked through the empty area headed towards the exit of the building. Two officers walked from the entrance and went towards the elevators, bound to cross paths with Jezebel. He saw this, and had another unnatural thought, telling him how to avoid a potentially dangerous situation. "T-these ideas? Where are they coming from!" he frustratedly thought. But Jezebel followed the suggestion, taking a left turn at a nearby raised planter, continuing on in a patrol-like manner. The officers noticed this but paid it no mind. They continue on to the elevator, heading inside when the doors open. Jezebel wipes his forehead as he doubles back and walks towards the exit.
Jezebel exited the drab building, heading over towards the hoverbus line back to the Undercity. A third unnatural thought appeared in his head, attempting to suggest he gets off the planet, head to a new one and not worry about Digeos. He tried to tear away from this thought, but it kept invading the depths of his mind, driving him towards that sole objective. Clean house, get a ticket and get off the planet. The phrase repeated ceaselessly in his mind the more he tried to deny the thought. Pain radiated from the center of his brain outwards, ravaging his head and body with the intensity of a thousand suns. But then, another thought popped into his head. 'You can return here one day. But not now.' The pain ceased as he focused on this thought, breaking his seemingly un-ending rage. It felt like a natural thought, and its calming message soothed him. He felt like he just woke up from a bad dream, finding himself to be hot to the touch, drenched with sweat. He got onto the hoverbus back to his street in the Undercity, getting ready to purchase a ticket off planet to somewhere, anywhere that wasn't Digeos.
He arrived back at his sad apartment, heading inside to pack up his important items before he left. Before he was able to unlock his door, the landlord appeared behind him, almost instantly launching into a tirade about how Jezebel needed to pay his rent. The landlord kept ranting and raving about Jezebel being a bad tenant, and it pushed him to the edge. Jezebel threw a straight punch straight into the landlord's nose, knocking him backward onto the ground. Jezebel looked at the landlord, his blood staining the cheap carpet in the hallway as he drifted out of consciousness. Jezebel unlocked his apartment and went inside to gather his most important possessions in a compressor disk, given to him by his late father before he went to college. Setting it on his coffee table, he began to bring over the things he placed value on. A suitcase of clothes, a chair he made himself, the photo of him and his father, and a set good set of knives he won from a bet. He neatly arranged them in the disks area and pressed the red button on top. The disk whirred to life, emitting a noise akin to a vacuum. Within seconds, the objects on top of the coffee table disappeared into the disk's compression system, to be retrieved for later use. Jezebel picked up the disk and put it in a small backpack along with some basic supplies. He took one last look at his apartment, the meager amount of memories flashed through his mind. Before leaving, however, he taped a piece of paper to the door saying "Leaving planet, feel free to terminate the lease, landlord. Also, good luck with the water damage."
Having exited from his apartment building, Jezebel makes the final trip to the familiar hoverbus terminal near him, the soft yellow glow of the Undercity soothed his anxious heart. He passed all of the exotic sights, smells, and sounds of the crowded and dangerous streets. Over and over in his head, he reminded himself constantly, he would come back. He'd be a wanted fugitive on this planet now, but sooner or later, he'd be able to come back. Jezebel made the final approach to the hoverbus terminal and boarded the nearest one, joining in on a conversation about various happenings in the city.
"So Jack, did you hear about that dude who went crazy and almost killed his boss?"
"Yeah man! I heard all about that. Apparently, he beat up a guard and escaped from the buildings temporary detainment cells. Pretty bad-ass honestly, James."
"Yeah, I'd have to agree, I wonder what he's doing now."
"I believe he'd probably be trying to get off the planet" Jezebel intruded,
"Yeah, I bet so too, what d'ya think Jack?"
"Well, I'd bet that he's also trying to get off the planet. Honestly, after pulling a stunt like that? I would for sure. I'd probably try and go for one of those planets in the outer rim. Much more lawless there, plus there's always some weird shit going down."
"Yeah, he'd probably be going out there wouldn't he? Anyhow, this is my stop Y'all. Maybe I'll see y'all again." Jezebel stepped off the hoverbus, after ending his conversation. The outer rim! That's where he'd go! Jezebel had heard about all sorts of things going down there. Roaming bands of planet pirates, supernatural powers, there's always something exciting and fun happening in the outer rim. He could probably even try and get some powers, make his way onto the universal power ranking. It's always been Jezebel's dream to be on the universal power ranking, it ranks creatures, planets, peoples, forces, all in a scale of power. They also even provide information on these things, if you pay the right price.
Jezebel grinned widely, appearing a bit creepy to others around him. After stepping off the hoverbus, he made his way down the large path to the space shuttle launch depot so he could make his way to the local jump gate, which would bring him to an outer rim space station. Jezebel notices an increased presence of security forces around the launch depot and had begun to be worried. But the alien thoughts intruded into his brain once again, forcing him to take a side path, almost like he wasn't in control of his own body. He sneaked along the side path, staying out of the security forces sight, but he encounters one lone guard patrolling the side path. Jezebel inched closer to the guard patrolling, praying the guard won't notice him. The guard, however, noticed Jezebel and went for his radio. The guard wasn't fast enough though, Jezebel kicked his legs out with a swift swipe from his own, bringing the guard to the ground. The guard's head collided with the ground, eliciting a sickening crunch and a splatter of red. Jezdbel was extremely terrified of this, but only temporarily. His mental state returned to normal after a sudden burst of hate and rage which he didn't feel was his own. Jezebel quickly hurried out of the side path, and towards the ticketing station. Somehow, there were no guards around the station, and neither were there any camera drones. Jezebel wiped his forehead and exhaled a sigh of relief. He made it into the ticketing station and purchased a ticket to the famous outer rim planet, Xanodros. He had experienced too much action for one man, so he quickly boarded the shuttle.
Jezebel had sat down in his seat, relieved. He was buckled in, and soon enough, they launched into space. A notification from the PA system announced that the passengers could move about the cabin. Jezebel stayed in his seat, and looked out the window instead, seeing a clear view of the beauty of Digeos. It was the planet he'd moved to after college, his families home planet left some bad memories for him, so he decided to get away from it all. He gave Digeos one last look, wishing he could go back to the Undercity, longing for the familiar greenery of the Uppercity, and he hoped that Xanodros could provide some of that for him. But, a nice and calming thought intruded into his mind, bringing him even more relief. It told him to bide his time, he'd return one day. He then came to the realization that he'd been awake for well over a day straight. So he buckled himself back in, and watched the in-flight movie until he drifted to dreamland and heard,
"Wiping all of the host's personal information from Digeos . . . . . Done!"
"Installing all required updates for the current age . . . . . . . . . . . . Done!"
"Preparing to embed into host's consciousness . . . . Done!
"Embedding into the host's consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done!"
"Preparing welcome message for the host when he awakens . . Done!"