There's a saying that went along the lines of "when you solved a puzzle too easily, an unexpected seatback might follow"
Tom is on his way back to their room. He just came from playing with Sean's dragon that he would regularly visit a few times a day.
He trots along the hallway while the survivors along the way cordially greet him.
He hums a tune of the opening soundtrack of an animated series about superheroes but then, with his clairvoyance, Tom could see a few figures lurking by the corner leading to the hall. He needs to pass by this area before he could get back to his room.
Without care, Tom continues onwards while two shuriken acrobats in the air with complicated and rapid maneuvering.
Strangely, the lights up ahead are not turned on. Tom could see shadows but he don't know what they are. His light steps slowly approach the hall as the lights dim ahead.
Tom just twist his head slightly to the side with wonder.
Suddenly, the figures up ahead move all at once in movements Tom couldn't clearly see. As if leaping at him, a figure runs at the center and then a crisp explosion reverberates.
All at once, the lights turn on in the hall and a few light objects fall at him like feathers.
"Surprise!" Tom's family and friends come into view.
A banner up ahead has jolly words saying "happy birthday" on it while at the center is a table full of food and desserts.
"I knew it!" Tom jumps for joy.
Then, everyone sings the birthday song and then Claire enters bringing along a big cake with candles lit on it.
They clap and sing with a smile as they see Tom's overjoyed reaction. His parents and Will give him a tight hug and wish him a happy birthday.
"Thanks, mom, dad, and big bro…"
"Come on, make a wish and blow the candles…" Says Clair and then the cake in her hands hovers in the air covered in her force field and then stops in front of Tom at a height that he could easily blow the candle on.
Tom closed his eyes and put his hands together in front of him. After a few seconds, Tom then blows all six candles and laughs.
The family and friends gather and start eating in a feast. Some survivors also arrive and celebrate with them.
This is the first birthday they celebrate after the zombie outbreak. Everyone is affected by the celebrating air and could feel that the short and long terrifying days just passed by in a blink of an eye.
A lot of them lost their loved ones, friends, family, and acquaintances. However, those that are living should continue while holding on to the memories of those they have lost.
Ten days after the people started reclaiming their town. They are slowly but surely eliminating the zombies in the area. A few of them are left but it shouldn't be long for the town to finally be free from the zombies.
The military also arrived not too long ago to help them clean up the bodies, investigate the cause, build their safe zones, and provide food and jobs.
The only problem now is the surrounding villages. The military is building a temporary base near the town so that they could seal them off and slowly eliminate the zombies in the valley.
"Big bro Sean… and Black!" Tom exclaims as he sees Sean coming along.
"You just saw me…" Sean laughs and rubs Tom's head. "Happy birthday"
"You knew?!"
"Of course, your mom asked me to distract you until they're done with the preparations"
"Oh, you're also part of the plan then!"
"You're finally a big boy now Tommy, can you imagine it? You're already six years old…" Will comes over and also pats Tom's head.
Will glance at Sean as is seeing his mortal enemy. He can't believe that his brother that usually sticks to him is now paying more attention to another boy they barely just met.
Will's eyes scan the small dragon on Sean's shoulder. This thing seems to be a crystallization of pure energy from Sean's ability. It's similar to the mana crystal but has different and more complex properties to it. It has its consciousness and is similar to a magical beast from his past life.
This thing came to be by Sean's ability to materialize something out of his imagination. It's an amazing creature out of mythology. It is growing stronger by the day by feeding on the link it has to Sean's ability.
Aside from the dragon, the only time Sean showed his ability is on the first night of the zombie incident. He materialized a blanket to cover his dear nurses from the cold. However, the moment Sean realizes it, it suddenly disappeared that morning.
Sean could tell Will's contemptuous eyes and knows that he must be feeling jealous about him and Tom being together. However, it's not like he can just push the child from him because his big brother is jealous. Rather, he thinks that Will is quite funny.
They are the same age and are both quite mature but they don't exactly have the same qualities.
"um… What are you doing?" seeing Will's intense scrutinizing gaze doesn't show any signs of ending, Sean couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
"I'm documenting your and your dragon's changes or improvements as always…" Says will while his eyes gleam in different colors.
Being stared at these eyes a lot of times, Sean could now feel less creepy about it. He heaves a sigh because he knows that Will only wants to make him feel uncomfortable and make him scoot off.
"Sean! Come here and eat!" Liam invites Sean to come over. Liam personally rescued him and feels a bit responsible for him. Sean is also quite docile and seems a bit fragile, that's why everyone who meets him would naturally have an inclination to protect him.
Will watch the figure of Sean as he walks toward his father. His father is making a bright smile as he beckons Sean to pick from the treats.
"Big bro?" Tom asks curiously.
Will just brush Tom's hair softly and says that it's nothing.
Will feels uncomfortable seeing his family acting too cordially towards Sean. He just doesn't know exactly why.
The party continues as Will observes from the side and watches his family happily eating and chatting with everyone in the hospital. They talk about their plan. Such as today will be the last time they stay here since the situation is already controlled.
Soon, they will head home and start living again like they usually would. Of course, they come and go to their house most of the time, but now is the time to return to their usual lives, free from clearing the town from the zombies or rescuing trapped survivors.
The government is already restarting the order and systems in the town. Various establishments, facilities, and the town hall is already restarting their function.
The government reestablishes some new regulations regarding the ability users. New identification system now includes their abilities and divides their class and the severity of their effects.
The types that could alter the physical form of the users are now classified as the 'morph ability' to which David belongs to. Then, this class is divided into five severity, E being 'specific parts of their body could only transform or they have rather milder effects' to A, 'being whole body transformation and large effects'. The identification of the severity is still currently being altered as they're still gathering more information and filling up their database.
The ones that have their body enhanced like Rick being very fast are classified as 'meliorate ability' and also divided into severity E to A, and so on with the following classes.
Abilities that could produce something out of their bodies are now called 'catalysis ability' which Sean and Claire belong to.
Abilities like Will, Tom, and Liam that can bring influence externally to objects or their surroundings are known as something sounding rather fancy 'imperium'.
What they're called is still being debated by different sectors and power but finally, a separate authority is in the making with the name of GEPCA also known as 'Gift Endowment Propensity Classification Authority'
Everything related to the ability and ability users is now being handled by them.
Both Tom and Will should be classified as both 'imperium' and also 'meliorate' because aside from Tom's telekinesis and Will's enchant ability, they also have abilities that enhanced their bodies. Or perhaps something in them. Tom has clairvoyance and Will has perception. However, it's still not known that there exist people who can have both classes.
Will also feels reluctant to inform the GEPCA of this because he acquired a third ability after absorbing a computer he simply calls brain2.0 which aside from his family and close friend, nobody else knows.
"Will! Why are you eating too little?" Rick who's running around energetically while hoarding as many foods as he can pauses after seeing will sitting on the edge of the table.
"No, why are you eating too much? What about the others?"
"Well, since now I know that as I belong to the 'meliorate class' my metabolism also increases so I don't need to worry about getting fat!" Rick says proudly.
"That's nonsense… that's just a theory created by common folks. That's not even properly sealed as an approved fact yet. In reality, the government still doesn't even know much about the abilities itself. They're just there for now as identification for rearranging the ranks in the military. That's what they initially stated…"
"What? But I really do have fast metabolism…"
"Well, that's what your body constitution originally have…"
The boisterous laughter continues until the party finally came to an end.
Will and his family don't really need to pack anything so after saying brief goodbyes, they all start heading home in a new car the GEPCA awarded them.
They're the central people who were the first to discover the abilities, and also released it to the public themselves. This saved a lot of people and the authorities couldn't just leave them alone. They kept coming and going to them for investigation or rather, interviews to get their sides but there really is nothing for them to disclose since everybody saw them during the live broadcast while also Will compiled all the details regarding what he knows about abilities in one go and already released it to the public.
So instead of focusing on them, the authorities should rather focus on dealing with the zombies that are nearby.
Also, although they were very famous initially after people with abilities sprung forth all over the world, the people realized that they weren't just the amazing group out there. Now, they seem more like the first few people who luckily awakened their abilities and are not treated as grandly as the pioneer or anything like that.
Over time, the public's attention diverts back to the current disaster that still keeps appearing all over the world. Just because they're no longer hopeless, doesn't mean they are already out of danger.
For example, the recent incident of a whole country of archipelago rose to the sky and became floating islands. This caused a lot of casualties and structural damage. The citizens are still trying to recuperate or are trying to flee to other countries.
There are also new continents sinking and new ones appearing. The whole world still looks like it's going to an end.
Will could see all of these real-time due to his Brain2.0 as it brows the internet constantly.
"Mom, dad?..." Will asks from the back seat.
"What is it Will?..." asks Clair and peers at him from the rearview mirror.
"It's nothing. I just want to know why he's coming with us again?..." Will points at Sean sitting right after Tom in the back seat.
"Will? You don't know? I thought you could…. Like, hack into calls or something like that? Sean's parents are working abroad and they asked me to look after him for a bit. He can't possibly stay back at the hospital since he has terrible experience there…" Claire peers at Sean's expression but it doesn't seem like he minds. "Anyway, I'll be Sean's personal doctor and he'll stay with us. The hospital couldn't all be cleaned from all the blood stains and you know Sean's body is very susceptible to infection. Are you perhaps, uncomfortable about that fact?..."
"No. Actually not. I just haven't heard about this before…"
"Oh, I'm sorry Will… you're just too amazing I expected you would know about anything. Also, I thought you wouldn't mind it. I believe you two would get along. Tom is also very close to Sean!..." Claire sounds so happy.
Will, on the other hand, feels something inside him repulsed by the thought of Sean invading his family's life.
Sean looks at Will and could tell that he isn't really cool about it. Black, influenced by his owner also looks at Will warily.
Will close his eyes and could only open an entertainment app in Brain2.0 and start watching funny shows that were recorded before the apocalypse. However, he couldn't laugh.
"I'm glad that the survivors who used our house are slowly paying back for what they've consumed from our supplies but I'm just glad we're able to help… In some way…" Liam looks at the interior of the house while his face isn't as positive as what he's saying.
More than fifty people were living in this house for almost two days. He doesn't know how it's possible but they somehow depleted their storehouse in that time and some furniture are rearranged in a way he doesn't really like. Probably those people were finding a comfortable place to sleep. They might have even explored the whole house. It feels like Liam has been seen by those people completely naked.
He hurriedly runs to his room and checks some things after suddenly realizing something.
"Sean, are you fine with the room in front of Tom's? You will be very close to mine and can call me as soon as you feel something off…" Claire couldn't return to her job as a doctor. Seemingly have some psychological issues after all what happened to her. Or it might be because she wants to be beside her family at all times now that it's not guaranteed that tomorrow would still be as safe as today.
She still can't get over of her regret not listening to Will that day and ended up going to work despite him pleading and reasoning countless times. This leads him to traverse and endure those hardships just to save her.
If only she listened that day, things could have ended so differently. That's how she feels for now at least. She is very compassionate and won't turn a blind eye to life when they're in danger. She's now a catalysis ability user as well as a doctor. She'll surely be able to save more lives now that she's both.
"I'm fine with anything Mrs. Merlin" Sean smiles softly.
"Awe, you can just call me Claire"
"If you're okay with it…" Sean says shyly.
Claire thinks that Sean is very adorable.
The dragon on Sean's shoulder that has been sleeping all this time slowly opens its eyes. Seeing that the location is now very different, he looks around curiously.
"Black, do you want to look around? I can show you around the house!" Tom says excitedly.
Sean let Black go with Tom while he unpacks his little luggage and looks around the room.
"What's wrong will? Can you see something happening from Brain2.0?... Is it another incident?" Asks Rick who somehow went along with them after seeing Will's terrifying countenance.
"…Nothing… Now that we're back, what are you going to do? The school doesn't seem like opening again for the time being. You finally have what you want now. But would you like to continue studying? I still haven't done properly what I've been paid for…"
"What are you talking about?" Rick couldn't understand that after what they've all been through, Will could still think about school and studies. "don't you think…."
"Let's go to your house now… mom I'm I'll be at Rick's tutoring him for a bit…" Will's ferocious gaze looks at Rick and starts dragging him away. However, it doesn't seem like the gaze is intended for him, but for someone else.
"Are you sure?..." Claire looks at Will with concerned eyes.
"Yes. I swore it before and I'm not intending in breaking it…"
"O-okay then… just… always be safe okay? You're not planning to head somewhere dangerous right?" Claire wonders why would Will want to head out after only a few minutes they just got back. Considering Will and Rick's history, they've been through a lot of dangerous places together before.
"Of course not mom. I swear…"
"Okay. You never break promises so I could be rest assured…." Says Claire but her worries still wouldn't leave from showing on her face.
With that, Will drags Rick heading to the house nearby.
Sean looks at the door being closed and could feel that Will don't want to stay close to him and went out as soon as he got home.
Sean couldn't help but feel hurt about this and wonders what he did wrong. Maybe he shouldn't have agreed to his parent's plan.
He heaves a sigh and heads back to the room assigned to him. It seems like the Merlin family provided everything for him. There are some clothes of the appropriate size in the closet and drawers. There are new things like underwear, towels, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and toothbrush in their appropriate places. There's even perfume. It seems like this family didn't do this arbitrarily and even went all out.
Sean feels warm in his heart. The Merlin family received him with open arms despite only knowing him for a short period. Well, Will seems to be an exception.
The only parent figures that Sean knows as he became aware of it are the nurses at the hospital. His parents have his older brother and don't even seem to have any leisure to care for him anymore since he's sickly and couldn't even compare to the brilliance of his brother.
Jessi, May, and Aria seem to want to find new jobs or join the organizations set up by the GEPCA. It seems like they now want to help eliminate all the zombies that might have scattered and survived their purging someplace else.
Although they're reluctant to part with Sean, it seems like they found a new motivation and plan to devote their newfound powers to eliminating those things that made them suffer and caused them to lose their loved ones. They couldn't possibly bring Sean along with them.
Sean also understands this. He finds them dearly since they've bonded for a long time, but in fact, Sean is somehow now immune to the pain of parting. It started with his family, and then the nurses that comes and goes that took care of him. He is very thankful to the three nurse girls but he knew initially that they have to part ways someday. Including Arnold.
Sean turns solemn while recalling Arnold. He never expected he would part with him like that.
"Thank you…" Sean murmurs and closes his eyes. A small tear leaks from the corner of his left eye.
He saw Simon once they were finally rescued but he could only hold on to the knowledge that this person is the one Arnold loves. It's like a tragic love story from the countless books he has read materialized in the reality. He really wants Arnold's sentiments to reach Simon but he swore to only hold on to that thought and never ever tell the other.
He could only stay from afar as he sees Simon crying after hearing the regretful fate his dear friend ended up in. Sean really wants to know how Simon feels about Arnold too after seeing that.
His tears looked too genuinely pained and Arnold might have had the chance to be with him if he only told the other sooner.
Sean could only hold on to this regret for Arnold.
Sean looks at the laptop prepared for him by the Merlin family. He grabs and starts writing his overwhelming emotions into a novel.
"What's wrong Will?" Rick asks as Will suddenly pauses in the middle of his lecture.
"… I think I just saw something from one of my drones surveilling the situation at the base being set up near the town… I thought someone noticed it. But it doesn't seem to be it…"
"I-isn't that illegal?!"
"Well, so as hacking. I've hacked the military systems before but I've erased all footprints so it's as good as it never happened…"
"What?!... How could you! You're resembling a spy now? First, you stole cars, then hacking, and now you stole military intelligence?! Are you trying to get yourself in jail?" Rick suddenly stands up, and points at Will with the blood drained from his face.
"I'm surprised you're knowledgeable about stuffs in the military…" Reply's will as nonchalant as always.
"Well, I wanted to be a soldier... You really have an amazing talent to get me sidetracked don't you?..." Rick suddenly realizes. "Don't change the subject! Why would you hack the military?"
"Well, the government seems to be sniffing around me and my family after all that fame we received… we don't know what they're capable of and might give my family a hard time so I did that as a precaution…"
"You hacked into the government…" Rick turns even more flabbergasted and his brain finally stopped working.
"…But anyway that's not important. It seems like my drone just collided with a bat… moving on… as I was saying…" Will brushed it off as if a piece of dust and continues his lecture.
A small bat heading back to the mountain covered in miasma suddenly hits an invisible object hovering in the air. Its propeller injured the bat's wings and it hisses in pain and anger.
It looks around however, it couldn't see anything. It hovers in the area for a bit frustratingly but the bat didn't collide with it anymore. With that, it continues flying back to the mountain.
Its eyes turn red as ruby, gleaming with bloodlust as it sees the military personnel moving about on the ground. However, as if stronger power is controlling it, it reluctantly forced its bloodlust to ease and continues home as if someone is calling it.
It arrives above the mountain. The trees and plants all over the whole area are black. Some vines covered in slimy substance start sliding on the trees as the small bat arrives near.
It flies steadily not minding some plants and insects it trying to get after it. Red gleaming eyes from all over the place follow its movements as it heads to the cave up ahead.
The bat hiss at the other creatures and very strong waves of echo hit them and those that are the closest couldn't help but fall back.
The dark cave is oozing thick dark energy and they turn visible in the form of black smoke.
The bat flies inside and attaches itself to the rough surface of the cave's ceiling. The other bats around notice its presence and move closer to the one particular bat that came from outside. Then, a series of sharp squeaks come out from them, originating from that bat and spreading to all the other bats from the cave's entrance down to the deepest parts of the cave.
The bats seem to be communicating and relaying from one to another until it arrives in a relatively large area. The bats inside have large bodies as large as wolves and once they hear the squeaks, they flap their wings and flaunt its gleaming shiny surface.
Attached to the wall of this large chamber sits a black fleshy embryo. It's as tall as an adult human male and it bulge round as a pregnant woman's tummy.
Seemingly hearing the squeaks of the small bats and seeing the larger one's gleaming wings, the embryo beats and flashes a red color from the inside.
Whatever's lurking inside is listening and is eager to finally be born and be released to the world.
Will returns home at dinner time. He might have missed lunch time since he ate at Rick's place, but dinner time is a special time to bond with his family that's why whatever his plans are, Will would leave his schedule solely for the family's dinner.
"Oh…" Both Will and Sean mutter as they encounter each other in the living room.
Sean is sitting on the sofa while letting Tom play with Black on the carpet. Will just arrived and seems to have forgotten Sean's existence and his face was left dumbfounded.
Sean could just nod at Will while the other also returns a nod reluctantly.
"Big bro! Black is so cool! He could spit fire like a real dragon!" Tom excitedly informs Will as he sees him.
"Tommy, it's dangerous to play with fire indoors…" Will comes over and glances at the dragon and then back to Sean. His looks state his inner thoughts to scold them.
"No brother. It looks like fire but it's not fire! Black show it to my big bro please…"
Will looks at them with confusion.
The dragon opens its mouth and spits a small fire in the air. It maneuvers and floats as if dancing around in joy. It touches Tom's nose making him ticklish and giggle.
It looks like candlelight with its warm glow but it doesn't seem to emit heat and is safe to touch.
Will finds it interesting and starts scrutinizing it with his gleaming eyes flickering in colors.
"Peculiar… An illusion" Will mutters.
"Well, as it appears to be, my ability can freely have any property since it's based on my imagination… I'm still trying to figure it out" Sean answers.
"You're imagination of a dragon seems to be very strong then…" Will didn't look back and is absorbed by scrutinizing the pure energy body of the dragon. "You're giving it its own thoughts as if you're writing a character in a novel"
"Is that so… I now believe Black is real and alive after all"
"Black is alive!" Tom hugs the small dragon happily and plays with the dancing candlelight. Sean laughs and finds this picture of a pure boy and a dragon irresistibly adorable.
Seeing this wholesome image of a happy family together with Sean, however, makes Will feel repulsed and uncomfortable. Will don't know what's wrong with him.
If Tom is with him, he's very obedient and kind child. But seeing him playing with the dragon and Sean, Tom looks very free and cheerful. He looks like a regular child acting childishly. While with Will, he looks like he was holding back and wants to act mature as possible.
Will's heart feels restrained after having this realization.
"Big bro Sean! Can I sleep with Black tonight?" Tom asks with gleaming eyes.
Sean looks at him with a troubled face. "I think it's okay… but I don't know what Black wants…"
After hearing Tom's request, Black seems to have understood it and slithers from Tom and snuggles back on Sean's lap.
"Awe… oh! How about I sleep with big bro Sean too then! We could all sleep together!" Says Tom.
Tom is showing a spoiled attitude while talking to Sean. This surprises Will since he saw Tom act like this towards him before. Tom didn't even include Will when he says he wants to "sleep together" with Sean and Black.
This hurts Will so bad and feels like Tom is slipping away from him. However, he couldn't even retort seeing Tom's cheeky and happy face.
Will slowly walked back to his room and couldn't even hear the other ask him why he is going away. As if Tom doesn't care about him.
As if he's alone. Will couldn't help but feel lonely.
Now, Will knows why he feels repulsed by Sean's presence. It's because he could see him as someone better suited to be with his family.
Now that he thinks of it, Will never laughs at his father's joke or from the banter of both his mother and father. He never returned a joke nor initiated one.
He never even initiated a trivial conversation with them before.
Realizing all this, Will now knows that his presence in this family is very weak. It's like he's not even here in the first place. He's part of the family and living with them but it doesn't seem that he 'belongs' with them.
He never truly lived in the moment. A lot of factors made Will reluctant to show his feelings to his family and others. The most prominent one should be his experiences and memories from his previous life.
His family doesn't even know this part of him and he plans to keep this secret to follow him and buried in his grave.
His previous life has many positive outcomes for Will and his family. His knowledge never seen before by the human in this world. His advantages from experiencing life alongside magic and beast that is now bearing fruit in the apocalypse. It sure is sweet. But he also has to pay a price for it.
Nothing in this world is free from consequences. Positive and negative effects are on either side of one coin.
Although Will has something amazing as having lived and died, along with the experiences and knowledge with it, but it seems like he also lost something big necessary in his current life. A big missing part that wouldn't even be filled in one whole piece as it is replaced by that amazing thing he has.
"… What was I doing?" Will's dreams that he keeps dreaming until now seem to still be very far from his grasp.
His chest tightens and a small drop of tear falls on his hand holding it.
End of chapter.