April 14, 2022 – Coast City
Nate had always felt like something was off, a strange gnawing at the back of his mind that he couldn't explain. For years, it was little more than an unshakable discomfort—like a shadow lurking in the corner of his vision, waiting to strike.
But now, it was different. It was real.
It had started with his father. Harry's ever-present, suffocating concern had escalated over the past few months, and now, every word that came from his father felt like a chain around Nate's chest, tightening with each passing day. They fought more often now, usually over trivial things—like Nate wanting to go out at night, or his father questioning his future—but the arguments always ended the same way: Harry's cold, dismissive attitude toward Nate's thoughts, and Nate's burning frustration.
This time, it was different.
"Nate, I told you to stay in tonight!" Harry barked, his face flushed with irritation. "You think you're invincible? This city's crawling with criminals, and I'm not going to sit by while you—"
"You don't understand!" Nate snapped, slamming his fist into the kitchen counter. His voice was raw, shaking with an intensity he couldn't control. "You never have! I'm not a child anymore, and I'm sick of you acting like I can't take care of myself!"
Harry's eyes darkened. "You don't know what it's like out there. The world isn't the way it was before the explosion, Nate. People are dying because of this curse—"
"You are the curse, Dad!" Nate shouted, his face flushed with an unfamiliar heat. "You're always treating me like a problem, like I'm just a mistake you've got to control. Well, guess what? I'm not your little puppet!"
Harry's face froze, and for a moment, Nate saw something—fear? Regret? Before his father could speak, something inside Nate snapped. He felt his skin burn, his body trembling with an overwhelming fury, and then... it happened.
His vision blurred as dark energy surged through him, and a voice—cold and ancient—whispered in the back of his mind.
"Feel the fire. Feed it."
Nate's breath caught in his throat as his chest tightened. His father's face turned pale, his eyes wide with terror as he staggered back. Nate wanted to scream, but the words caught in his throat. Instead, he pushed forward, grabbing Harry by the collar.
The world seemed to tilt as he stared into his father's eyes, seeing nothing but disappointment. Anger. Fear. And, beneath it all, the cold void that separated them.
"Why do you hate me so much?" Nate's voice broke, barely above a whisper, as the energy surged again—this time, it was more than just an emotion. It was a force, a power that seemed to come from deep within him, from somewhere else.
His father's words were a muffled hum in the background as his vision went black.
---
Later That Night
Nate woke up on the floor, his body sore. His heart pounded erratically in his chest, and his head throbbed with a deep, alien pain. The anger that had boiled over just moments ago was gone, replaced with a cold emptiness. But the lingering sensation—the sensation that something within him had shifted—would not let him rest.
The feeling of a foreign presence, coiling beneath his skin, was undeniable.
"Mom...?" Nate whispered hoarsely as he shakily stood to his feet. But he didn't wait for an answer. His head spun, and all he could think about was getting away from the house.
He didn't know where he was going, but somewhere in his gut, he knew he had to get out. That night, the streets of Coast City felt more like a labyrinth than a home. The faces of the people he passed seemed unfamiliar—strange, somehow—like they were hiding something behind their eyes.
Something unnatural.
It was when he reached the alley that the realization hit him. The anger that had driven him earlier wasn't his. It wasn't just his frustration with his father, his life, or the city. No, it was something deeper. Something darker.
And then, the voice whispered again. "We are one now. Your rage is my rage."
Nate's body froze, his breath catching in his throat.
It was then that he understood—the anger, the power, the voice... it was the jinn. The same entity that had been trapped for decades, the one whose essence had merged with him in the explosion. It was inside him, and it was beginning to wake.
---
Later That Night, Coast City Police Department
The incident with his father wasn't the only thing that had shifted. As Nate walked through the city streets, trying to calm himself, he passed by an alley where a fight had broken out. A group of men, bruised and bloodied, stood facing off with a cloaked figure. Something in the way the figure moved sent chills down Nate's spine—there was a dark energy, a force, radiating off of them.
He could feel it.
As the figure raised their hand, a burst of white-hot energy shot toward the men, sending them flying. The power felt familiar. It was the same energy he had felt when his emotions erupted earlier, and it was becoming clearer to him: this power was the result of the explosion.
The very power of the jinn, awakening inside him, was now spilling over into others.
Nate could no longer ignore the truth. He had to know more about what was happening to him.