It was past midnight. Ahimoth was fast asleep with his laptop next to him. While in his deep slumber he dreamt about his life. For over a year he has been dreaming the same thing every night he goes to sleep. Tonight was no exception.
"Ahimoth! Get over here!"
"Yes, mother. What is it?"
"I am really tired of your shit. When are you ever going to prove your worth in my life?"
"What did I do now?"
"Everything, your whole existence has been a nuisance to me up to this point. They can't pay me enough to spend another day with you"
For 11 years Ahimoth had the impression that the woman he was living with was his mother. But all of that changed when he learned the truth. It turns out that Ahimoth's real parents are alive and desperately trying to earn a living. Under their circumstances raising a child would kill them both physically and mentally. For those who are not suited to raise children in Arcland, the Royal Family would pay a mid-level citizen to be the child's guardian. Ahimoth's guardian has been nothing but a slave master for the boy ever since he could walk. From cleaning the dishes since he was 3 to doing every house chore when he was 10. Despite the feeling of neglect and resentment, Ahimoth always tried to put on a smile no matter how fake it was. He used to tell himself "She is my mother. I have to respect her and do as she says". After his guardian threw him on the street along with a few of his belongings while still getting paid by the Royal Family. Ahimoth's journeys around Ervil with no place to go. He made several attempts to join an orphanage but he was denied the chance. He needed a birth certificate to prove that he is not an Arcland citizen. A certification that everyone should have since the day they are born. Sadly Ahimoth's guardian failed to do such a simple task which resulted in him being homeless for almost three months. Roaming around the city of Ervil Ahimoth saw all kinds of people. People who are living satisfying lives with their wives and kids. People who are hustling on the streets and those who are filthy rich. From seeing so many people every day he gained the idea that he was at the bottom of the barrel, lowest of the low. "Everyone is way better off" he thought. For days he kept telling himself the same thing until he met a young man in a lab coat. The man walked up to Ahimoth with eyes filled with pity. He dragged Ahimoth off the sidewalk and brought him to an underground basement unknown to the public.
"What's your name kid?"
"Ahimoth Yaht"
"Weird name. Call me Cj. Anyways I want you to try something. It's a drug my mentor made. He wants me to go out and test it on humans"
Ahimoth showed no resistance. He simply sat on a chair and waited for the drug to enter his body. As the bottom of the barrel, he is the ideal subject to Cj's drug. The instant Ahimoth swallowed the powder Cj gave him, his mind went blank for over a minute. Almost as if his entire system shut down for a brief moment. Not being able to see, hear, feel, smell or taste. Unable to hear the voice inside his head like he once could. Cj lowered his head in disappointment. "Why didn't it work?"
The purpose of the drug was meant to force out the gift of a person. To Professor Jupiter, this drug was a dream come true. Cj left Ahimoth in his basement. The moment he left, Ahimoth went back to normal. Being able to hear his own thoughts and all his senses were back to normal. "Hmm, I can't believe this"
Encountering Cj changed his life forever. Thanks to the drug, he gained the ability to change the appearance of anyone he touched or looks at. He used this ability to help Cj in any way he can. The power made Ahimoth a valuable asset to Cj and his mentor Stephano Jupiter so he was treated to a better life.
Ahimoth woke up surprised to see himself in an empty building. His mind was still blurry from his sleep but he knew one thing. The loud sounds he was hearing through his earpiece were as clear as day. Cj was breathing heavily. On instinct, he went on his laptop and started searching for the West Division Elite Guards online. It took him nearly ten minutes to find good info on the group.
Ava Quin
Recrin Quin
Tharuz Uru
"Just three people. Are they depending on the machines that much?" thought Ahimoth.
He learned that Ava was married to music celebrity called Shawn Willson. A man with short snow-white hair, gorgeous grey eyes and the perfect body build. Ahimoth managed to find a photo of Ava sitting next to the celebrity. "Alright, I have to help"
Meanwhile Cj and Ava confronted each other in the hallway. Despite having the size of a ten year old child Cj still managed to hit Ava in the head with two metal tubes. Little did Cj know, hitting Ava only made the situation worse. Cj's body shrunk way down to the size of a toddler in mere seconds. Ava looked down on the old man and almost laughed. She covered his mouth in an attempt to hold her laughter. To her Cj was a baby with the face of an old geezer. Cj's feet were so small he did not see the point in running away. "Well damn, your gift is pretty broken" said Cj. Ava nodded in agreement and lifted Cj up in the air. "I wish I could make you look younger. You would have been so adorable" Ava said before tossing Cj up in the ceiling.
"AAAAAAHH!"
Cj fell flat on his face. The head wound he received earlier opened up again and began bleeding rapidly. It did not take long for Cj to feel dizzy and unable to move properly. He could take control of the fight with just a simple touch but Ava was too cautious. She kept at a distance with her bat and made sure not to have contact with Cj's hands. To Cj, it felt like Ava was making the best decisions out of pure luck. "Why did she have to carry the next bat?" Cj said. He slowly looked up at Ava only to see her with another metal bat in hand. She did two swings in the air before giving Cj eye contact. "You are definitely not the Professor. Your wounds would have healed by now. Don't you have any regenerative ointment on you? You always do if I recall correctly" she said provokingly.
"Another thing that gave you away is your gift. You turned my bat into tubes. I have never heard of the Professor doing such a thing. What is your purpose here? Answer before your demise" Ava demanded. Cj could not have answered if he wanted to. He was too busy suffering from his injury. Ava ran up to him with every intention of cracking the trespasser's skull.
…..
Suddenly she stopped after taking another look at Cj's face. He no longer had the face of an old man. Instead, he had a handsome face with white hair and grey eyes. The head wound he just received was no longer there but his size was still of a toddler. It was the first time Ahimoth has ever healed a wound by using his gift. His gift may have upgraded the second he saw Cj in danger or he just had it all along rarely getting the chance to use it. Cj sighed in relief after witnessing his change. For his appearance to change means Ahimoth is within range of sight. He gave Cj the appearance of Ava's husband Shawn Willson.
"Shawn?"
"What do you take me for? You are obviously fake" said Ava upsettingly. She was surprised for a moment but she went back to her senses. She swung the bat at Cj's skull and missed. Cj moved his head to the right at the last second then crawled away He went on his feet feeling helpless. He wished he could have pushed her away instead of running. Cj looked around and did not see Ahimoth. He knew he had to be nearby for his gift to change appearances. "He deserves a prize after all this," said Cj. Ava gave chase and caught up rather easily. One of her steps was equal to seven of Cj's. She swung at Cj repeatedly but none of them seemed to hit its mark. Thanks to his small size Cj managed to evade all the swings. "This can't go on any longer. I was hoping not to use any cheat codes but this woman is leaving me little options here" said Cj crying to himself. Cj dodged four more swings before going in his pocket. He felt his pockets and realized that they were empty. All his syringes and pills were gone to waste.
"Shit! Are you serious!?" Cj complained.
Finally, Cj was backed into a corner. The only place left to go was upstairs. Cj hesitated at first because he knew he had an overwhelming disadvantage with stairs. If he started running upstairs Ava would catch him with little to no effort. "Fine, guess I'll stay put"
"You are very annoying. I know small creatures were agile but this is too much" said Ava annoyed. She cornered Cj against the wall and raised her bat up in the air. Ava glared at Cj so intensely he had to close his eyes.
"YO!" a voice said suddenly. Both Cj and Ava looked up the stairs to see a boy with a backpack. "Ahimoth! Did you find my things?" asked Cj. Ahimoth nodded yes in reply.
CRACK!
Ava swung her bat across Cj's head then tossed him away like trash. Cj's forehead was burst open. His skull was visible for all to see. Ava clasped her hands together and closed her eyes for a brief moment. "Lord, please forgive me but I might kill a child today," she said.
"If I have to guess, you have a kill count that's close to one hundred. Who are you to be praying to this so-called lord?"
Ava took those words personally. For years people had the same idea to infiltrate the HEP West Division to steal blueprints and machines. Time after time when they trespassed on the private island Ava did not hesitate to kill them. Out of the three Elite Guards, she was the one who resort to violence the most. She knew that someone like her speaking of forgiveness is absolute crap. "You have a big mouth kid. Better prepare yourself" she said while walking up the stairs. Ahimoth froze in place. Instead of looking at Ava, Ahimoth's full attention was on Cj.
"I never knew I could use my gift this way. What a lucky break" the boy grinned. He pointed at the little Cj on the floor. He had black eyes, canoed hair, a serpent tattoo on his neck, and brown skin. The head wound he received from Ava's bat disappeared along with his old appearance.
"You are amazing Ahimoth. You just tripled your worth"
Ahimoth went in his pocket and showed Cj a yellow syringe. He asked, "Is this the one you wanted?"
"Yes, please hurry and toss it over" Cj replied.
Ahimoth tossed the syringe towards Cj but it flew way past him. Cj had to hurry and retrieve it but Ava was already on the move. She slapped Ahimoth in the stomach without a second thought then chased after Cj. "Whatever that was I won't let you take it!" she shouted. The instant Cj picked up the syringe he injected himself with the yellow liquid inside it. Everything went blank after that. All his senses were temporarily shut down and his body froze in place. Ava poked his cheeks but Cj gave no reaction. She checked his pulse and heartbeat and reached a conclusion.
"I don't know what he just took but it ended up killing him" said Ava relieved. She went back to the boy on the stairs and began asking questions "Your friend is a corpse now. You have no means of being saved unless you answer some of my questions. Who are you? Why are you here? Are you two alone? I expect honest answers". Ahimoth nodded no in reply then pointed at Cj's so-called corpse. Ava turned around and saw Cj rubbing his eyes. "Ok, this is too much for little old me to deal with. How the hell did you come back to life?" asked Ava surprisingly.
"She keeps attacking me with her bat. It would be way easier for her to use a gun but she hasn't drawn one yet. I find it hard to believe that a guard does not have a gun" thought Cj.
Ava rushed towards Cj beyond annoyed. She was downright pissed at the fact Cj is still is alive. "Why is this small creature still alive? It feels like I'm being played" Ava blurted. She swung her bat uncontrollably. Her aim got worse after each swing giving Cj an opening to touch her chest. "Losing your composure? Guess I can't blame you. I had lady luck on my side" said Cj. He picked up the used syringe and explained its purpose to Ava.
"Thanks to my size it was hard for me to destroy something of your size. I don't let people know this but I have a size limit that I must follow if I care about my health. I could only destroy or deconstruct someone or an object that is less than three times my size. The most I could have done was get rid of your bat which you clearly have more than one of. That's where this syringe comes in. There are only six of these in the world and I have them all. For normal people, this syringe grants them a gift with a 50% chance of death. For people like me who already have an ability, my powers will be more advanced if I take it. Right now I have no size limit that can save you from my gift. I could turn this whole building into rubble with just a simple touch of my hand" said Cj confidently.
"You had such a weapon on you. You must be acquainted with Stephano in some way to attain something so unimaginable" replied Ava shockingly. She gripped her bat tightly in disbelief. "My gut is telling me you're not lying. You can turn this building into rubble but what good will it do for you? This building is where BEA is located" said Ava.
Ahimoth intervened and told Cj "That is not true. BEA is not located in this building. She is located underground. Every skyscraper on this island has a room on the tenth floor where you can visit her. BEA is not actually in any of the buildings on the island. Flipping the switch is all someone needs to do in order to be transported to BEA's location underground".
"Great job Ahimoth. I don't know how you knew that but I'll trust what you have to say. I wasn't going to turn the building to rubble anyways. The two of us would not survive that" said Cj. Cj charged at Ava with the intention of destroying her. Ava did the same and rushed into a fight. Cj's size made it easy for him to evade Ava's swings but his body has been through a lot. He was starting to tire causing his moving and reaction speed to decrease.
CRAACK!
Ava landed a solid blow on Cj's knees rendering him unable to walk. He fell on the floor screaming in agony. "Again with the bat" cried Cj. Ava did not let up. She slapped Cj in his other knee right after. Cj was on the floor helpless. He could barely move his legs so there was no more room to run. He looked over at Ahimoth but he was unconscious. He did not know when or how but Ahimoth was somehow knocked out of commission. "Guess my wounds are staying this time" Cj sighed. The look of pleasure Ava had when she raised her bat made Cj want to close his eyes. She knew this was the last time he would open his eyes. She fiercely swung her bat down at Cj's head.
"I can't believe she isn't using a gun," Cj thought before lifting his hand.
SLAM!
"….So that's how it is. I wonder why things played out like this" said Ava depressingly.
Cj dodged the swing with the little energy he had remaining. He was more than exhausted from running around for so long and constantly getting bullied in a small state. He reached out his hand and touched Alisa's left index finger. "I no longer have a size limit. See ya"
Ava's body began to disintegrate. Her skin fell off her body like a suit of clothes, then her bones and muscles turned to dust and all her internal organs popped like balloons. Eventually, everything withered away leaving her skin and blood on the floor. Cj was so close to Ava he could not have escaped the large amount of blood spilling on his face. "Glad Ahimoth is not able to see this," he said thankfully. With the death of Ava Cj's size turned back to his normal 173 cm.
Cj crawled towards Ahimoth on the stairs. His legs were out of commission and he needed them to be healed in case Cj has to fight another Elite Guard. He slapped Ahimoth repeatedly until he opened his eyes. "Hurry up and heal my wounds. Change my appearance to the Professor again" said Cj. Ahimoth nodded no in reply. "Have you forgotten? If I change your appearance to someone else I won't be able to change in the next 24 hours. I also have a limit to my gift you know" said Ahimoth.
"Fine, save it when the situation is dire. Help me up at least" replied Cj. While the boy lift him up he told Cj astonishing news. "If you are worried about the other Elite Guards you can stop now. I dealt with them before coming to your aid. It was easy. I changed the appearance of the other two Elite Guards and had them fight each other to exhaustion. They weren't that bright. I bet even know they think of each other as trespassers" said Ahimoth.
Cj looked at him with disbelief. "Where did my Ahimoth run off to? Are you an imposter? The Ahimoth I know always stay far away from a fight. The only good you were was to change appearances and computer science. I honestly did not expect much from you in the combat department" said Cj.
"Things have to change. I decide my own worth, no one else. I hope that one day I can be someone greater than Stephano Jupiter" replied Ahimoth. His words made Cj's head spin. He only saw Ahimoth as a boy with an inferiority complex. "You are right. You know and decide your own worth. If you think you are useful in a dangerous situation then who am I to say otherwise" said Cj. This moment may not be special for Cj but for Ahimoth it was a dream. "Your influence is what I needed all this time," he thought to himself. After hiding the remains of Ava's corpse the two headed to the room Cj entered earlier. Ahimoth helped him to the back of the room and flipped the switch. In an instant, everything turned red along with all the furniture disappearing. The only thing inside the red room was a big black box with a large screen.
"Is this BEA?" asked Ahimoth.
"I have no clue. Ahimoth, I can't stress it enough. I am glad you came with me on this crazy trip" said Cj.
The screen lit up on the giant box showing a gloomy brown-haired woman with piercing white eyes. She gave the expression of someone who wants to commit suicide but something is stopping them from doing so. Cj stared into her eyes and saw how empty she was. "For someone as great as you it must suck to not have a purpose. You were created to do the world well then shafted years after" said Cj.
…..
"Is that girl BEA?" asked Ahimoth.
"Hell if I know. I'm just assuming here" replied Cj.
"Come with me if you want to have a purpose"