My mom was alright, she only had a minor crack in her skull and a small concussion she just had to get a few stitches. Well, I had too as well. Nick and I carried her to the hospital, which brings us to where I am right now, standing outside of a dinky wooden shack on the outskirts of town, which has the name "Cursed Powers Today," plastered on a sign outside in bold letters.
"The business card that Nick gave me said that I'll meet this "Slayer Mezame," Odin Shannon guy here guy," I say. I look back up at the crummy shop and let out another sigh. "I just hope this isn't a scam." Without another word, I take a step forward and enter the shitty shop, with Mr. Kittles hot on my heels as always.
Ding! A bell chimes overhead as I enter the shop. "Hello?" I ask. No answer. I pause and look around. The shop looks about how I'd expect it to look based on the outside, it's cramped with rotting wooden shelves stuffed with all sorts of trinkets and knick knacks, and smells of mold. "There's not a person in sight. I guess I'll just leave…" I sigh to myself as I turn around and slink out of the shop.
"Wait!" A voice calls to me before I can exit the shop. "A customer? It's been so long!" I turn around and peer down, seeing that I'm faced with a fragile, ancient looking old man standing before me.
"And what are you here for, sonny?" The old man asks me. He has a crackly, broken voice that makes him sound as old as he looks.
"Uhhh…my name is Luis, a weird old man called Slayer Hachi, told me to come here. He said that this was the first step into becoming a Pro Slayer," I answer.
"Ah, well then you would be looking for me!" The old man booms. "Slayer Mezame, at your service! Awakening the latent Cursed Power in you youths is my specialty!"
A cheesy grin spreads across my face. "Great! So where do we start?!" I ask.
Slayer Mezame pauses. "Uhh…hello?" I ask.
"So what are you here for, sonny?" Mezame asks me, causing me to groan.
"Ohhh…Nick hooked me up with a kook!" I whine.
"Ah, that's right! Louwie, here to awaken your Cursed Power as per Slayer Kaminari's request!" Mezame booms.
"Er…close enough," I answer.
***
Slayer Mezame leads me (and Mr. Kittles) out of his shop and to a nearby forest on the outskirts of town. After walking for what feels like hours, I finally gather up the courage to ask "where the hell are we going, isn't this far enough?" Interrupting our walk which was in complete and utter silence prior to my question.
"Patience is a virtue," Mezame answers, and the two of us keep walking.
"Patience is a virtue." Kooky old man Mezmae just repeated this line over and over as we walked for hours through the forest.
Eventually, we make it to a clearing, a large, open circular area in the forest, with a small shrine in the center. "We're here," Mezame says.
"But where is here?" I softly ask myself as I look around the clearing
"From this point onwards, you will address me as my title, Slayer Mezame," Mezame orders, finally dropping his senile vibe.
"Uh…yes, sir, Slayer Mezame sir," I answer. All of a sudden, I feel an intense pressure on my body, a pressure so intense that it causes me to grow so dizzy that I double over and fall to my knees.
"Can you see it?" Mezame asks. "No, of course you can't. Although you can sense it, you can't see it. You haven't awakened your Cursed Power yet," Mezame then adds as if answering his own question.
The intense pressure forcing me to my knees then leaves as quickly as it came, and I'm able to stand up again. My head still feels a little groggy, but it isn't swimming as much compared to before.
"Now, sit here," Slayer Mezame orders, pointing to the singular tatami mat underneath the shrine in the center of our clearing.
I do as I'm told without questions, sitting down criss-cross-applesauce underneath the shrine.
Mezame walks up behind me and kneels down, placing his hands on the small of my back. I flinch from his deadly cold hands.
"Close your eyes," Mezame orders, and I do so. "Now, let us begin."
Mezame begins chanting some ominous sounding ritual in a language that I've never heard before. At first, nothing happens. But then, I feel a small burning in my heart. The burning sensation grows hotter and hotter, then spreads outwards, until it feels like my entire body is on fire, and the wind around us begins to howl. Mr. Kittles hisses in fear.
"Uhhh…what's happening?!" I cry.
"Don't break concentration!" Mezame shouts over the howling wind, before continuing on with his made-up sounding chant.
The burning sensation keeps up for a few more hour-seeming seconds, before bam, it explodes out of me, and a rush of dark-blue…something explodes out of my body.
"No, seriously, what is happening?!" I cry, barely able to hear myself over the dark-blue burst swirling around my body.
"We're awakening your Cursed Power, but-" Mezame begins to answer, but his voice trails off.
"But what?!" I snap.
"I'VE NEVER FELT CURSED POWER LIKE YOURS BEFORE!"
What?
"EHH?!" What the Hell has Nick gotten me into…?!
And that's when -in the back of my mind- I hear a voice whisper to me. "Kill…" it growls, in a low, horrifying yet familiar tone.
"Um…did you say something?" I ask Mezame.
"I didn't!" Mezame grunts through grit teeth.
"Kill…kill…" the voice repeats over and over again, slowly growing louder. "KILL!"
"Uh…WELL IS IT NORMAL FOR ME TO HEAR SOMEONE SHOUTING "KILL" WHEN CURSED POWER IS BEING AWAKENED?!" I scream.
"Calm down, Luis!" Mezame roars. "Concentrate, Luis, concentrate! Don't let it control you, control it!"
"Damnit, Luis, get it together…" I groan. "Remember what Nick said, if he hadn't shown up that day, everyone I love would have died. You need to become strong… FOR THEIR SAKE!"
With a howl, the dark blue energy begins flooding into my body, and the burning sensation subsides, leaving a small tingling residue. After the blue energy finishes seeping into my body, I feel myself grow weak again, and I'm forced to double over and fall to the ground again.
"Need…steak…" I groan.
"S-steak?" Mezame asks. "I could go for a good surf and turf."
"It's my favorite…" I grunt. "I love bloody red meat."
I spit on the ground then wipe my mouth, panting heavily as I do so. "Is… awakening my Cursed Power supposed to feel like that?" I weakly grunt as my eyes flicker up to meet Mezame's.
"Like what?" Mezame asks.
"Painful."
"Then no," Mezame answers. "In all of my decades as Pro Slayer, I've never felt a Cursed Power as sinister and as strong as yours."
"Sinister?!" I yelp.
"Yes, but don't worry about it. Although yours feels far more sinister than others', it's normal for new Cursed Power users to have a sinister aura to their Cursed Power. Even highly toned Pro Slayers still have this issue. Cursed Power got its name from being a cursed power. A power that actually stems from demons, the true users of Cursed Power. Developing Cursed Power is a side effect of human beings being exposed to demons, although not everyone can actually develop Cursed Power, it's an extraordinarily rare feat. You should feel accomplished, Luis," Mezame explains.
"Ah…great," I spit as I sit back up, plopping my butt on the ground. "Had I known I'd be subjecting myself to this demonic power, I wouldn't have taken up Nick's offer."
"A demonic power being wielded for a good cause," Mezame corrects, which makes me feel at least a little bit better about my situation.
"Now!" Mezame then continues as he claps his hands together. "What do you have in mind for your Cursed Ability?"
"My…Cursed Ability?" I ask.
"While raw Cursed Power can be channeled and used for combat, such as coasting your body in Cursed Power for defense or offense, or firing off Cursed Power emissions, Cursed Power isn't truly strong unless it's cultivated into a Cursed Ability, which is a technique unique to each Cursed Power user which takes advantage of their Cursed Power to use a powerful skill," Mezame explains. "Just remember. Once you create your Cursed Ability, you can't really change it. It's stuck with you for life. This will be the biggest decision that you'll ever have to make, so choose carefully."
"So a superpower!" I quip.
"Err…yes, a superpower," Mezame awkwardly replies.
I do watch a lot of anime and play a lot of fantasy games, so one would think that I of all people would want to have super cool powers. I haven't even too much thought into the idea, if I could have powers, what would I choose? I guess for a realistic real-world scenario teleportation would be cool since I can just go home during the middle of the school day during a bathroom break or lunch period. Better yet, I could teleport to some exotic beach paradise! Though I guess teleportation powers have always had that "you need to have already been in that location before" cliche. Well anyways, I've never been into that role playing stuff or creating my own original characters and pretending to be in some fictional world, not since I've been a little kid anyways. But if I really had to choose, probably something to do with wind. I want to be free like the wind and just fly away.
That's it.