< A few hours before >

< POV: Cid >

Waking up to sirens wasn't how I was expecting my day to start. But then again, not like I had a choice. And not knowing what is happening doesn't help either. It's just how I am. If I don't know something and it is interesting enough and implicates me, then I just have to know what is happening. If I do something with that information? Maybe. 

'Probably not. Now that I think about it…'

But I still wanted to know what's going on, so I started climbing out of my bed and made my way to the window. The moment I look outside however…

*BOOOOOOMMM* 

*BOOOOMM*

*BOOM*

Three separate sounds and a blinding light were everything that warned me before everything I felt was heat, then pain. And then… nothing. Everything I felt was gone and the whole world went dark, at least for me. 

And then once again, light. I could see again and feel the warmth of a sun on my skin. 

'Well, definitely not my room, and my clothes are also gone, huh? What a damned way to start my day.'

A normal person would start to panic. I guess my city was bombed… considering the last thing I saw were three explosion and sirens were blasting in my city, that's the only logical thing. But still…

'Why would there a bomb attack, where I lived? No use thinking about things I won't be able to solve, I guess. Now let's see where I am…'

I guess, I'm not what you would call normal, everything I felt was always kind of muted, almost as if someone else told me how his day was and then asked me how I felt about it. Most of the time my answer would be: 'Meh, couldn't care less.' But then again there were some people that I was ready to everything for. My parents for example, or rather anyone Id come to consider Family. And every time I did something with them, I felt as if the whole world applauded me. 

'I really hope they are fine…' 

They should be. We did live in the same city, but they are on vacation right now and not even in the same country as I was. Or at least I hope they are…

'Maybe someone is here, who can help me get back, or at least tell me that they are fine, this does look awfully like a random office of some kind,' I thought as I started looking around. I was in front of an office desk. It only had a single plant on it and besides that nothing else. And the room was empty except for that single desk and a chair behind it. A door left to me was the only visible way to get inside this room. Lifting up my hand to look at it, I saw what I was already expecting…

A ghostly hand, through which I could see through. 'I really did die, huh. Almost seems like some kind of fanfiction. Maybe ROB or something will walk right through that door and tell me how special I am and that I have to save other world and in return he will send my family to haven or something…'

And almost as if someone waited for just that thought. The door opened and through it a middle-aged man walked in, he wore a quite nice-looking suit, 'Although I don't know anything about suits…' and had dirty blonde hair. He just looked at me, nodded and then walked toward the chair behind the desk and sat down.

"So, Cid, your whole country just got blown up by three nukes. Fired by a rogue AI. And yes, there was a rouge AI, which shouldn't have been created for another 5 years, which is why everyone, that died gets an offer to be send to a paradise created just for those who died because of the AI. Alternatively, you can clean up some, let's say small issues, quite similar to what happened to your city, just a bit bigger. After doing resolving one issue, you will be sent to another paradise, where you can invite others to, after they died. You can also visit some other paradises if you wish to do so. In case you want to help us, you will be allowed do a lottery, which contains different powers, you will be able to slightly change the power you got, depending on how difficult the problem is that you will be asked to solve.

So, what will you do?"

'Well, that was an info-dump if I've ever seen one… but still…'

"I take the second option."

After I said that the man just snaps his finger, which creates two buckets filled with paper-snips on the desk and starts talking once more.

"Perfect, then please do pick one snip out of each bucket. The left one will be your power and the right one will the difficulty issue within the world you will be sent to and yes you will be sent to a completely different world to solve said issue. The difficulty ranges from, neglectable, easy, medium, hard, very hard, extreme, to impossible."

'Well, couldn't know what could go wrong with this…'

And so, I simply put my hand inside the right bucket and pulled out a paper-snip.

-very hard-

The man starts grinning.

'Ah f*ck. Let's hope the power I get will be helpful.' And so, I put my hand inside the left bucket and grabbed a snip.

 -Ancient Doomsday Template-

I start grinning, even wider than the man, while he starts frowning. He then stars talking once more.

"Well, I guess you won't have that much of a problem even with a very hard issue. But I'm not complaining. At least we now know one issue is basically solved already. Now then do you want to change your power in some way?"

I started to think, 'Being Ancient Doomsday is one of the best things that could happen to me. I don't quite want to look non-human. I also will be quite reliant on sunlight, which I might be able to change. I could also try to make the adaption more controllable and of course I can't forget kryptonite as well but…'

"So, may I ask a few questions first? Wherever I'm going, will there be kryptonite? And how much can I change?"

"Yes, you may." 

"No, there will be no kryptonite, Ancient Doomsday wouldn't be effected by it anyways, so yeah, you don't have to be worried about that. And after you ask for something, I will tell you how much 'power' it will take. You start with 100% and each change will decrease that charge."

"Perfect. In that case, I would like to be strengthened by not just sunlight but rather by light in general."

"That will be doable, it will cost you 20%."

'So, I can change quite a lot…'

"Could I also want to be strengthened by darkness, as well…"

As soon as I said that he just looked at me with the most deadpan face I've ever seen.

"That will be… doable, it will cost you 55%."

'Quite a lot, huh. Not that I didn't expect it, but still…'

"Would I be able to make my adaptation controllable?"

"That will not be possible. At least not completely, you may be able to direct it. So, if you wanted to be tougher, then you would first be in daylight for about 3 days and then you would either get thicker skin, grow amor, or just grow another layer of skin. Could be anything, as long as you get harder to hit. It will also take about 60% of your charge."

'That is… not as good as I had hoped…'

"Could you make me look like a human? Without losing any strength, speed or durability, of course."

"That will be doable, it will cost you 15%."

'Not as bad as I expected…'

"One more question. May I save the last 10% and use them later?"

"Heh quite a greedy one, aren't you? But no, you may not."

'Could have been great but well… can't do anything about it.'

"Ok then I would like to be strengthened by light as well as by darkness. I would also like to stay human, and I would like to use my remaining charge to strengthen my regeneration power as far as possible."

"Very well. Your regeneration will be about as strong as that of Wolverine. I wish you good luck then."

After that he waves with his and I was sent flying through the wall. Looking down I can see a land of mass that is surrounded by a desert in the south-west, a ravine in the north and west and an ocean in every other direction. 

Still soon after I realized that yes. I am in the sky and that yes, I cannot fly and so I do my best impression of a rock and start falling. Fast. 

'And I'm still getting faster…'

And so, I continue to fall getting faster and faster and soon…

"F*ck, hot, hot."

I started burning, which I can tell you isn't the best feeling. Still as soon as I could feel my skin start burning off, I could also feel it regenerating and then not burning quite as fast and the flames were noticeably colder. It still hurt. A lot. Or at least it did. Till I began to adapt to the feeling of pain, and it stopped hurting. Yes, pain not hurting.

'I guess I'm a masochist now, huh…'

Although that isn't too true. I don't enjoy it, but rather it's just muted. I feel that it's there, but it doesn't bother me. Anyways, maybe I shouldn't focus too much on these thoughts. The ground is getting nearer after all. 

'I guess I am becoming a demolitionist… And it seems like my eyes are getting better quite fast. Let's just hope I don't instantly die after hitting the ground…'

And so, I just close my eyes and hope the best. And soon after…...

*BOOOOMMMMMM*