John looked around himself. There were Trolls engaging in slaughter in every direction. Up, down, left, right, everyone was about to die. John couldn't help them all.
John bit his lip.
MONSTER!MURDERER! Sorry. But I have to go after the dragon. MONSTER!MURDERER!
John slammed his foot into the pavement. He shot through the air.
The dragon was just a few blocks diagonal of John.
John launched himself off the steel frame of a skyscraper and sent himself flying toward the dragon.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" John screamed as he flew towards the dragon.
Again, the dragon's mace of a tail started flying towards John, but this time, John was ready. John grabbed the corner of a skyscraper and swung himself around so that his head was facing the dragon, and he was facing the sky. Then he launched himself forward.
Back in high school, when John was thinner, he was almost unbeatable at sports. Once, his team had gotten to play against a non-superhuman pro soccer team. And John had outplayed their star player. And it wasn't just soccer. It was football and hockey and basketball. It was any sport he played; he was a natural. He could have made something of it if he had attended practices and games more often.
I need to time this perfectly.
So, right now. In a situation based entirely on reaction time and proprioception.
John was in his element.
John was barely behind the mace-like tale of the dragon. John pulled his legs up to his chest.
And right when the tale was about to make contact.
BOOM
John sent himself flying forward. The air rushed by John's face as he shot towards the dragon. John bent his body to the side and stuck his shoulder out. This was it.
The dragon's scales caved in from John's weight. John smiled. He slammed a fist into the dragon's side.
CRACK!
The ribs of the dragon cracked as he struck it.
"RAAAAAAAAAA!" The dragon released a bellowing scream of agony and shot a cloud of poison gas into the air.
John bit his tongue.
If that position falls, then millions of people will die.
But it wasn't a question of if. It was a question of when. The only thing that could get rid of that poison was the wind. And last John checked. No one could control the weather.
Wait....
Suddenly, a gale of wind started blowing through the city. John had forgotten. The mechanoid empire had control over its entire climate.
"Haaaaaaaaaa." John let out a sigh of relief at that.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
Explosions echoed above John. Five fighter jets were flying above the dragon. They were dropping bombs on the dragon's body, drowning it in fire. John was being drowned, too.
John slammed his foot into the ground again. He hit the ground at just the right angle to send him shooting just above the ground. John barely made it out of the fire covering him before he started stumbling on the ground.
"HAK! HAK! HAK! HAK!"
Globs of blood were propelled out of John's throat. He had inhaled a lot of smoke in the last few days.
The big baddie is done for at this point? What do I do next?
.
…
...
...…
...
John spent the rest of the battle roaming throughout the city and eliminating the more powerful trolls. He also took some time to dig through rubble and pull people's bodies out. Most of them were dead, but a few made it out alive.
John gritted his teeth.
The helping others skill would have been so useful now. But instead, he was just labelled as a cannibal. It pissed John off.
After fighting until it was almost midnight, the battle was over. John hailed a truck and had it drive far out into the wilderness. He stole a pillow, a mattress, and a blanket from a damaged store back in the city. And so there he was. The mattress was stuffed into the back of the truck bed, and John was lying on it with his blanket around him.
John looked up at the stars shining in the sky as he lay on the mattress.
John's heart was still thumping in his chest. All the battles that he had been gruelling. John had been up and moving for hours on end. And now he was super tired.
Ugh.
With that mental sigh, John started to drift off to sleep.
DING!
Only for him to Jolt back awake.
John pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at it. It was one am. But John had just gotten a message from Aria.
It was simple and innocuous. But it still held so much meaning.
So…. We're dating now, right?
For a second, John just stared at his phone. Dating. That's right. John probably had a girlfriend.
No, not probably. Aria was definitely his girlfriend.
John quickly typed out an answer.
Yes
And send.
And with that, John fell asleep under the starlight. It was like there had been a whole month's worth of things stuffed into Just one day. John relished the sleep.
.
…
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...…
...
Stabbing. Ripping through the flesh and severing the arteries. Blood spilling. Plants drinking. And yet it persisted even as the thorns ripped through it.
John was back in the thorns. He could see the light in front of him. It was brighter than ever. Floating above John was a young girl.
She looked older than she was previously. Now, she looked to be about fifteen. John couldn't think of a reason for her change in age. But honestly. The thorns hurt too much for him to care about it.
"I still don't see any light. Why don't you just stop your struggle." Said SLOTH
John looked up at SLOTH with confusion.
"But I can see it. I can see what I'm struggling towards." John said
SLOTH rolled her eyes at John.
"Sure thing, buddy. Just give up."
John looked up at SLOTH.
"No. Not yet. I can keep going."
The light was just ahead of him.