Walking Within The Shadow's

Chapter 1 - Prologue: Initiation...

- Birmingham Metropolitan College -

[…Initiating the DC Embodiment System…50%]

I gazed at the floating black screen in front of me with a disinterested look on my face.

'It's been like this for the past 2 days with it being stuck on 49% up until this morning' I thought absentmindedly while diverting my gaze to the front of the class I was currently in and then to the clock at the top of the entrance to the class.

'Kinda hard to believe this all happened by meeting a talking duck sucking on a lollipop…' I thought while thinking back on how I received this system…

- Flashback 2 days ago -

*Yawn*

I yawned as I lifted myself out of my bed in order to get ready for class for my first day at University.

While getting out of bed I scratched my head and stretched my back to get rid of any knots in it and continuing to stretch both my arms and legs as well.

I walked to my closet and pulled the sliding door to the right to get my already ironed clothes and proceeded to lay them out on my bed neatly, having done that I continued on to my bathroom door to have a quick shower and brush my teeth.

- 15 minutes later -

Once I was done with that I made my way back to my bedroom and dried my hair off with a towel and then started to get ready for University.

After wearing my clothes I looked in my wall mounted mirror and saw my appearance for the first time today.

I had black hair with little hints of brown in between some parts of it, dark green eyes, a slightly sharp nose, a pointed chin and a clean beard on my cheeks, my hair was swept to the right with a little fringe poking out from the middle, kinda like superman's. I stood at a height of 6'3 with a body that could give Olympic body builders a run for their money and Olympic sprinters a difficult challenge for 1st place. A good mix of power, speed, and flexibility.

Sigh...

'Why do I look like this? I'm a complete duplicate of him...' I thought, disgruntled at the fact that I looked like someone unpleasant.

After that I grabbed my bike keys and shades from my desk and left the room and towards the stairs and into the living room, making my way to the front door of my house and grabbing my wallet from the coffee table.

I left the house and headed off to my SUV which was a 2018 Range Rover and got inside and started the engine, however just as I was about to pull out I heard a knock on the front passenger door and looked to see who it was only to see a woman in her mid forties looking at me patiently.

'Sigh' I mentally sighed in exhaustion.

I rolled down the window and greeted her politely.

"Good Morning Mrs. Milvowick"

"Good Morning Alec, and please just call me Natalie"

"You know I can't do that Mrs. Milvowick, it's disrespectful towards a senior citizen to use their first name when your not intimately close to one another" I said respectfully.

"Ha-ha now, now its not disrespectful at all seeing as how we've known each other for 4 years now" she laughed while her chest jiggled a little with her laughs.

I just stared unbothered by her blatant seduction and looked her in her eyes seeking answers within them.

After she finished her little giggle fest she looked at me and sighed tiredly while fishing out a wallet from her back pocket and handing it to me.

"Sorry to be a bother but could you deliver this to Marcelius he forgot to take it with him this morning and I don't have the time to drop it off as I have to get Tessa and John ready for school and drop them off" she said while giving me the wallet.

"What about Jessica?, can't she deliver it?" I inquired while reluctantly taking the wallet and placing it on the passenger seat.

"I'm afraid she had too much to drink yesterday with her dear old dad and can't get up or more like she won't be up until late afternoon today so if its not a bother, please? " she answered while gazing at me hopefully.

I nodded and answered with an "Okay"

"Thank you, I'll repay you later when you're free to have some fun" she thanked me and winked while stepping away from the car so I could pull out.

Once I turned the corner of the block, I glanced at the wallet and sighed tiredly while thinking 'Whatever'.

I decided to grab a chicken sandwich from the convenience store for my breakfast and some hot cappuccino from Starbucks.

I turned some music on as I headed for the convenience store.

*(Rustage - Alucard Rap 'Blood') Play*

- At The Store -

When I arrived at the store I parked my car on the kerbside and exited it while locking it and making my way inside the store. I made my way to the refrigerated food section and observed the selection of sandwiches. After a few seconds I decided on getting the chicken tikka sandwich and grabbed a bottle of J2O and proceeded towards the counter and placed my items on the till and waited for the employee to check out my items so I could pay and leave, or that's what was supposed to happen until some random guy walked into the shop and pointed a gun at the clerk and demanded money while pulling out another gun and aiming at me…

To which we just ignored him as if he wasn't there. He got annoyed at us blatantly ignoring his presence and demands so he directly pushed the gun up to my head and told me to get down on the ground.

I just turned my head to him and sighed and said…

"I'm sorry Mr. Robber but could you please stop pointing that fake pistol at us and kindly leave the premises, thank you"

Afterwards I just turned to the clerk who finished registering the items and told me the total amount which I took out of my wallet but it was unfortunately stolen by the robber which annoyed me slightly.

"Sir can I please have my wallet back, I need to pay for my things" I said while supressing my annoyance at his actions.

He just sneered at me and proceeded to take out all of my money and credit cards and debit cards as well as my drivers license.

And just when he was about to drop my wallet he caught sight of a photo I had of a little girl in one of the see through pockets. He took the photo out and I could see him stare at it for a second and then I heard him say…

"Huh…She's pretty cute, what's her name?" he spoke in a infatuated voice…

Something inside of me seemed to snap as I grabbed his arm in one swift move and twisted it to where he screamed in pain and dropped the fake gun and knelt down while I swung my leg over his head and over his twisted arm that was now between my legs and I continued to snap his arm backwards in the opposite direction of his joints causing it to snap out of place.

*Snap*

I had a dark look on my face as I turned around, away from his screams and grabbed my stuff and paid while getting my wallet from the floor and leaving.

I got into my car and sat there for a few minutes and stared at the picture for a few minutes.

In the picture was a small girl with short brown hair and amber like eyes and a cute slightly rounded face, she wore a white dress flock and had a pair of white slippers. She had a huge smile on her face as if she had no worries in the world and nothing would be able to take that smile away…unfortunately it did…

"I'm sorry Amelia…I failed you…will you forgive papa? Probably not huh…" I said pathetically to myself as I dazed in and out of reality as all kinds of emotions displayed themselves on my face.

I quickly overcame my emotional breakdown and wiped the tears that appeared on my face while placing the items I brought on the passenger seat. I turned on the ignition and revved the engine before selecting the first gear and checking my mirrors and signalling to turn out and left the road and headed to university.

- At University -

When I arrived I made my way to the student parking area and parked my car before exiting and locking it and heading off to my class.

7 minutes later I got to my class and sat down at the back of the classroom, there was at least 3 other students already there which made me slightly happy seeing as how I made it before almost everyone especially Mason who was the class bully that picked on anyone, be they male or female, no one was safe from him.

Also if your wondering how I knew this is simple, it's because I went to the same college as him and heard a lot of nasty rumours revolving around him so I took liberty in staying out of his eyesight so I wouldn't have to garner attention by 'accidentally' beating him up.

After that the day proceeded normally with the teacher explaining his reason for joining the army and what it was like, with all the gruesome details being left out even though almost everyone in the class knew that he had served time in Vietnam and Syria, thus leading him to gain a nasty looking scar on his scalp and a knife like cut on his right jawbone.

Soon the break time bell rang and some students got up to leave, while some stayed seated and just pulled out some snacks from their bags and started to eat and talk to each other, or rather the ones who were already familiar with someone else.

I just stayed seated and pulled out my phone to browse the Internet and bite into the sandwich I got from my backpack. I continued to browse the Internet until I saw a message appear at the top of my phone.

'ONE STEP FOR MANKIND, ONE STEP FOR GODHOOD, ONE TOUCH FOR HUMANS, ONE PUNCH FOR GOD'S, RISE AND AWAKEN, O VESSEL OF GAIA AND ALL-FATHER OF TIME AND SPACE, RECIEVE THY CALLING AND COME FORTH TO RECIEVE YOUR WISH!'

'Seems very suspicious, so no thank you…' I thought while deleting the message and wiping my browser history as I always do after using the Internet.

*Ding*

Only for another message to appear right after I deleted the first, I tapped on it to show the same message as before, to which I just deleted it again, and what do you know it came back again, I repeated this action 2 more times before giving up and turning my phone off and placing it inside my left pocket.

*Ring Ring Ring*

And just like that my break was over and the lesson continued once all the students had returned to class.

At lunch time I got out of my seat and made my way to the teachers lounge to see if I could find Mr. Marcelius and thankfully he was there with a grumpy and grouchy look on his face.

"Hello there Mr. Marcelius I have a gift for you" I spoke as I made my way to stand in front of him while pulling out the wallet from my back pocket and handed it to him.

His face lit up like he was at his sons wedding or something and immediately took the wallet.

"Thank you so much Alec I've been starving since last night but I didn't have time to eat and mark some work by the third years so I chose not to and I also forgot to have my breakfast this morning for fear that I would be late to work".

"No need to thank me, Mr. Marc I'm glad to be of help to you and Mrs. Milvowick, especially after all you've done for me and with what happened a month ago, I know you all have been struggling to accept 'his' departure" I responded respectfully and solemnly.

"…"

Realising my mistake I quickly apologised.

"I'm sorry for bringing up painful memories, please forget that I said anything" I spoke apologetically while bowing my head in shame until I felt a hand on my right shoulder, causing me to lift my head up and look into his kind and compassionate eyes.

"You don't need to apologise Alec, yes it has been hard on us but that doesn't mean that we'll give up and fall into depression as we both know that, that isn't what 'he' would want, after all 'he' was as much as a son to us as 'he' was a brother and best friend to you". He said while a tears sprung up in his eyes and he quickly wiped them away while smiling friendly.

I smiled back and answered.

"Thank you Mr. Marcelius, that means a lot to me"

"No thank you Alec for reminding me of all the happiness I have in my life despite having the rain clouds within my heart…" he said earnestly and happily.

"Anyways if you'll excuse me I have to get to the canteen, Miss Orokins has made lasagne today and we both know how great her cooking is…" he said excitedly and grinned while patting me on the arm and exiting the lounge area.

I rubbed my head and massaged my temples as I also made my way out of the teachers lounge and made my way back to class.

Once I got there 5 minutes later I sat down at my desk and pulled out my phone and went to my gallery so I could watch the latest episode of 'The Flash', almost half way through the Bell rang signifying the end of lunch, to which I just paused the episode and placed my phone back in my pocket.

I turned my head to look out the class window while paying half attention to what's outside and the rest on the lesson, that's how the rest of the 4 hours was spent in class, only after 3 hours did the bell ring and and then an hour later it was time for me to go home, in which I did…right after I got a J20…

- Home -

As soon as I got home I went to my kitchen to grab some leftover chicken pasta and some pasta sauce that I dipped onto the pasta and reheated it in the microwave for 2 minutes.

I then went to my living room to get the T.V remote and turned on my PS5 to watch some Netflix and chill…by myself…

After setting up the movie and pressing play while upping the volume, I heard the beep sound from the kitchen signifying that the pasta was done reheating. I walked back to the microwave, opened it and grabbed the plate and a fork and then continued my way back to the couch, but not without turning the microwave off though.

- 25 minutes Later -

As I was enjoying rewatching 'Marvel's Luke Cage' season 1 episode 7, I suddenly heard the doorbell go off. I paused the episode and placed my almost empty plate on the coffee table in front of me and walked to the front door to open it and what greeted me was unexpected, unexplainable and most importantly, unusual as heck…

"Hey there kid, you got a minute?" came the raspy yet gruff voice from a talking…duck?

Daffy Duck…!? What's he doing here…!

I stared him down in disbelief, while he responded with a deadpan look on his face.

"What? Were you expecting a certain damn wabbit…? Sorry, but you got me instead chief…"

'I was expecting someone more human, you damn duck…!' I thought and unfortunately he could hear my thoughts…because of course he can…

"Well sorry, but that's just how it is kid…now can I enter the house?" he responded and inquired at the same time.

I moved to the side automatically while staring at him in confusion and disbelief, to which he just entered and made his way to the living room and sat down on the couch…

I followed behind robotically while closing the door and sat down opposite from him.

"Well if you're ready to talk then let's get started…" he said nonchalantly as a lollipop appeared in his hand and he started to lick and suck on it.

- Flashback End -

"Al…"

"Lec…"

"Alec…!"

I slowly snapped out of my recent recollection and turned my head to the right to see a guy my age standing there with a questioning and annoyed look on his face.

"What's up my man, you looked like you were about to run and jump out the window?" he said while giving his observation on my expression.

"Nothings wrong Sean, I was just lost in thought on some weird stuff that happened two days ago" I answered his question.

"Huh…well whatever man just let me know if you need some help with anything" he said brazenly and pointed at himself with a smile.

"Haaahh, what kind of help would you be?" I responded in exasperation as my eyebrow twitched.

"Oh come on man I can help, you know I got a black belt in muay thai and karate" he said indignantly.

"Not really when my problem is more of a mental stress than a physical problem, and last I checked you were slightly mentally challenged when it comes to using your brain and instead prefer to use your brawny muscles…" I quipped back quickly and factually stated.

"Tch…Whatever dude…" he spoke grumpily and crossed his arms over one another.

"Anyways, are you ready for the trip on Friday?" he said questioningly, while forgetting the previous conversation.

"Yeah, just got a few things to buy and add to my backpack and I'm good to go" I responded while relaxing in my chair.

"I wonder where we're going, teach hasn't really said all that much apart from 'Pack for someplace hot'" he spoke thoughtfully.

"Probably a resort or something, maybe a beach resort or jungle resort, who knows…?" I answered back thoughtfully.

"That's probably where, but the real question is why though…?" he inquired confusedly.

"Probably to make up for last months mishap with the cancelled trips and with what happened to 'him'" I responded solemnly and hurtfully.

"Haaahhh…man we talked about this…whatever happened to 'him' wasn't your fault as you didn't know he was there" he said convincingly and passionately.

"Yeah…I know that…but try to convince my guilt of that and I'll agree that it wasn't my fault…" I said in a self deprecating way.

"Sigh just know that I believe your not guilty and that I got your back bro…" he responded while patting me on the shoulder, trying to hopefully comfort me.

"Thanks Sean, I guess I can count on you for that…" I returned with a small smile on my face.

"No problem, bro and damn straight you can…" he grinned encouragingly.

*Ring Ring Ring*

"Class is starting so I'll head back to my seat, see ya later Alec…" he said as he walked away without waiting for my response.

"Yeah…Later Sean…" I responded quietly and focused on the teacher who began her lecture…

- 3 Hours Later -

*Ring Ring Ring*

As soon as the bell rang I grabbed my Laptop and backpack, stood up and left the classroom towards the main building and exited the University grounds through the front entrance, I made my way to my car and got in and placed my stuff on the passenger seat.

I started the car and turned on the radio to listen to any news worthy of concern or interest.

'I should grab some groceries, there's not a lot left at home' and with that thought I drove to the supermarket.

- 16 minutes later -

After driving to the market and grabbing some groceries, I was walking back to my car with the grocery bags, when suddenly I heard a scream from a alleyway on my left, I was going to ignore it as it was probably some woman getting molested or something, judging by the how high pitch the scream was.

Well that was the idea until fate decided to fuck me over, as a drunk man came stumbling over out of that very same alleyway. He made his way towards me and just when he was going to pass me he stumbled and tripped over his unfastened shoe lace, causing him to fall face first onto the concrete floor.

He groaned and got up while deciding to look around drunkenly until his eyes fell upon me to which I then proceeded to groan in response but either way I just turned around to walk to my car.

"He-Hey you b-brat come back a-and a-apologise for tripping m-me over!" he said with a heavy slur in his voice, indicating that he clearly had too much to drink this afternoon.

I ignored him and continued on my way, at least up until he pulled out a gun, and this time it wasn't a fake one, I could tell because of the distinct smell of gunpowder coming from the bullet chamber.

He aimed at me while grasping the gun shakily, showing that his drunken state was inhibiting his ability to aim properly.

Having sensed something was wrong I instinctively moved to the right slightly…

BANG

A bullet just about grazed my shoulder, drawing some blood and causing it to sting heavily and making me hiss slightly.

I turned around without wasting another second and closed the distance between us quickly before he could aim at me again. I pulled out a thick pen from my pocket and got within disarming distance, then I grabbed the gun and turned the tip to face the sky and shoved the pen into the back half of the trigger mechanism, effectively making it so he can't fire again by pressing back on the trigger.

I snatched the gun from his hands and judo flipped him over my uninjured shoulder, but this also made it so my injured shoulder would take the brunt of lifting him off the ground and man did it hurt…

I quickly disassembled the gun in 3 seconds, and looked down upon his terrified expression, the look on my face said it all…

Give up or die…!

To which he seemed to perfectly understand with the way he started to leak some unpleasant liquids into his pants. I remained unmoved and stared at him, causing him to shake in his wet pants.

I then heard a few steps coming from the same alleyway he came from and turned towards it to see 4 gangster looking guys around the age of 21 to 23 come out and stare at us for a few seconds before rushing towards me.

I responded by waiting for the first guy to reach me and side stepped to the left as he sent out a right jab then I grabbed his arm and pulled him into an elbow strike to his face and we all heard a snap as his nose broke and started to bleed. He fell onto the ground without anymore fuss while the second one came from my left and sent a kick to my stomach, to which I replied by grabbing his foot and stood there staring at him coldly making him sweat slightly and squeal as I pulled his leg even more forward making him lose his footing and fall to the ground and causing him to do the splits.

He cried in pain as his pelvis and thigh tendons got stretched to the max, trying to stretch beyond their limits to help his lower body adjust to the sudden stretch.

The last two guys watched on as I effortlessly took down two of their members and decided to pull out a pair of pocket knives and rushed me at the same time.

I grabbed a scarf from the splits guy and used it to defend against the knife of the third guy and dodged the fourth guys slash to my liver, I then continued on to wrap the rest of the scarf around the fourth guys arm and tied it up quickly so that there arms would be joint together and it would restrict their movement somewhat, I capitalised on that moment to quickly round house kick them both into a lamppost which caused them to fall down and drop their knives.

I got the knives and moved them away from the criminal scum after which I I heard some running and sobbing and turned to see a woman carrying a kitten exit from the alleyway with her clothes being slightly ripped and hair being ruffled.

We stared at each other until I decided to voice out my question.

"Do you have a phone? I left mine in my car…"

- 35 minutes later -

After the police arrived I, along with the lady who's name I found out was Alicia Halbrook, were taken into the police station for questioning on what happened and in her case she was asked if she knew them or if she knew someone who could've sent them.

After a hour of being questioned we were allowed to leave I walked to my car and opened the door to get in, unfortunately it didn't seem as though my luck would allow me to do so peacefully.

"Um…Mr. Foster?"

I heard a shy and serene voice call out to me from behind.

'Sigh'

I turned around and faced the lady I had unwillingly and accidentally saved.

"Yes? Do I know you?" I responded with a slight twitch of my eyebrow while looking uncaringly at her.

She took a slight step back, only to step forwards again with her facial expressions changing from nervous to resolute.

"M-My name is A-Alicia Halbrook, I wanted t-to thank you f-for saving me!"

Although she had a slight stutter I had to hand it to her, she definitely had some courage especially after the bloody roleplay she had seen a hour and a half ago.

"Um, Mister Foster… Could I s-stay the n-night with y-you, I can't go b-back home right n-now" she stuttered out as I stared at her with a questioning gaze.

"Why?" I replied while placing the groceries in the trunk.

"Um…it w-was burnt d-down by those men" she returned solemnly as little droplets of water began to shimmer onto us from the sky.

'Sigh' I sighed tiredly and turned back to the car and got in, started the engine and revved it slightly.

I looked outside the passenger seat window to see her staring sadly and broken heartedly at my car.

I moved my laptop and stuff to the back seat and rolled down the window.

"Sigh...come on lady, I don't have all day you know..."

Her only response was to smile at me whole heartedly and get in the car…

Whoa… When did you get here Gai-Sensei?

- At home -

When we got home I led her inside as she was gawking at the expensive looking house, she took a seat on one of the couches and placed the kitten on the floor, who once it was placed down started to walk around and look around the room.

She started to stare off into space as I went into the kitchen to prepare dinner and 25 minutes later it was done.

I brought the food to the dining table and set down the plates while calling out her name. After a few seconds of not getting any response I called out again only to receive more silence.

I made my way to the living room to see what was holding her up, only to see she had fallen asleep on the couch with the kitten licking her fingertips that were dangling from the side of the couch.

Feeling exasperated I carried her in a princess carry up the stairs and into one of the guest rooms.

Gently placing her onto the bed, I moved to cover her with the blankets and left the room, only to return a few minutes later with a tray of food and tropical juice I placed it on the drawer next to the bed and left a message I had written down just in case she woke up later than me and I had already left for university.

She moaned in discomfort as I turned the lights off and closed the door to the bedroom.

*Sigh*

I sighed and made my way back to the dining table and began to eat my dinner while pulling up the paused episode of 'The Flash' in order to continue to watch it peacefully.

After finishing the food and watching the episode I got the dishes and put them inside the dish washer and pressed start and left the kitchen and into my bedroom to hop onto a game of 'Injustice 3: Resistance'.

2 hours later I finished having my 'fun' and exited the game into the PlayStation 5 dashboard only to find that I had been sent a few messages. After deciding to check them out I opened one only to receive the same message I had received on my phone a few hours prior.

All the other messages were the same but there was two significant changes that I noticed. Each message was sent by a different user and the emails were also different, so the chance of this being from the same people that messaged me on my phone, seemed to have dwindled considerably but not completely improbable.

Also the wording and phrasing for them was different, one read in a way as though a little girl typed it and the other phrased the message in a way that made the person seem tired because it was short and simple with no extra words or explanation…

"Should I report this to the police? There's no plausible reason for multiple people I've never heard of to have my Gamertag or email and then start to spam me mail…" I spoke out while thinking of the possible causes and solutions as well as the affects they would have on me.

"I'll think about it more tomorrow or something, for now I should get ready for bed" I thought out loud as I glanced at the clock.

9:45pm.

Turning the PlayStation off, I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth, wash my face and relieve my bladder.

Before heading to my room I headed to the study and grabbed the assignments I had completed while putting some of the source material away on the bookshelves.

I then made my way to the guest room to check on Alicia. I opened the door slowly just in case she was still sleeping, to which she was except for the fact that the tray of food was now empty.

Slowly closing the door I walked to my room, locked the door and sat down in the middle of the bed, turned on the music on my phone and started to meditate.

I couldn't fall asleep due to the fact that I had severe insomnia and because…

I was afraid of reliving that night…

[…Initiating the DC Embodiment System…69%]

(A/N)

OK guys this is my new original novel that I had in the works for quite a while now. I honestly wasn't sure about uploading it as I'm not all that confident in its survival past chapter 5...and the fact that I did 6 chapters before uploading the first chapter had me sweating from the shite I had to think about concerning everything as this is me just winging it and with no prior planning.

After I upload the first 3 chapters I will think about planning future events and plot progression, characters, power building and the setting. That's if it receives some attention, positive or negative is good either way as its just feedback and opinions of every beautiful sonava basket out there...

Btw let me know what you guys think the 'DC Embodiment System' is, even though its kinda obvious with the tags and the name itself but I wanna know what y'all think it is and it's functionality...

I'll give you guys a hint...

< It has something to do with Assimilation and a certain dark multiverse >

~ Peace, Xenrox Out ~