[3594 words]
The world swam hazily into focus as Cain's consciousness slowly returned. His head throbbed with a dull ache, and his limbs felt heavy as if they were being weighed down by invisible chains.
He lay sprawled across a cold, smooth stone surface. The surface beneath his back was uncomfortably hard. With a groan, Cain pushed himself up onto his elbows, wincing as pain shot through his weary muscles.
Blinking against the harsh glare of sunlight, he struggled to piece together his surroundings. But instead of his usual office ceiling, what he saw was carvings made of gold(?).
"This isn't my office", he thought out loud.
As soon as the realization struck him he sat up in panic, looking around, hoping to somehow find the usual desk and chair with his late wife's picture he treasured so much. But just like the ceiling, everything else was different.
-
Guuurrr - His stomach grumbled.
After a moment of panic, his mind calmed down, but his stomach continued to protest vehemently.
"Fuck, I'm hungry," he muttered, feeling as though he hadn't eaten in days.
His eyes scanned the surroundings once more, landing on a half-eaten fruit. He hesitated, wondering if it was edible.
"This is one hell of a weird fruit. Did I somehow eat a poisonous one and pass out? Where is this place? It looks like a temple, but I don't remember my country having any temples."
Cain had spent fifteen years in the army, navigating through various cold wars his country supported. He wasn't the greatest marksman, but he prided himself on being clever enough to adapt to any environment. It was one of his many talents that landed him his job.
As he pondered his situation, something unusual caught his attention—the sound of his own voice. It struck him as oddly young, a stark departure from the seasoned soldier he knew himself to be. Hastily, he searched for a reflective surface, hoping to confirm his suspicions.
But all he found was the gleaming gold-covered walls of the temple. Frustration and disbelief churned within him.
"Why do I look so ... younger? And why do I look more handsome than before?" he muttered, his voice tinged with uncertainty. In a desperate attempt to shake off the surreal feeling, he pinched his cheeks, half-expecting to wake from what felt like an elaborate dream.
But the sharp sting of pain that followed shattered his hopes. This was no dream. Somehow, inexplicably, Cain had been thrust into a bizarre and unfamiliar reality—one where his very identity seemed to have undergone a profound and inexplicable transformation.
–
After another set of panic moments, Cain finally adapted to his new 'normal'. He also noticed that the sun was just rising up.
Thinking that it wouldn't be a great idea to stay in an unfamiliar place, he took the half eaten fruit; poisonous or not, he hadn't shown any symptoms so it was safe to say that the problem it could cause hadn't kicked in. If he did, he might be able to use the fruit as a cure.
As he made it out of the unusually large door, he was greeted by a tall man's back. At a best guess from his clothes, he looked like a priest of this temple at best or maybe a Nobel of this place.
Hearing footsteps from behind him, the said man turned around to find Cain.
Eyes wide, the man shouted, "Where the hell did you come from, kid. Who gave you the permission to go in?" The man looked down at Cain's hand, shock visible on his face. "And that fruit, don't tell me you ate it."
As if Cain had done a great offense, the man thrust his spear at him, ready to harm him.
With good reflexes, Cain did his best to dodge, but the man was faster. His spear stabbed Cain on his shoulder.
Or so they thought. Rather than blood and pain, the spear passed Cain's body without resistance, replacing it with a purple electric hole.
Both of them were surprised at the scene, Cain more than the man.
Realizing what had happened, the man shouted with rage in his voice.
"You bastard. You ate that fruit, didn't you? How did you even open that box? It should have been impossible."
"I-I don't know. I was just hungry," Cain tried to reason.
"Hungry? You are telling me that the power of the Thunder God landed on your grasp because you were hungry? Don't joke with me kid. I of all people know that such reasons can't be enough to open it." His rage was at its peak.
It was said that whoever ate that fruit would gain the power of thunder and become the 'Thunder God', the embodiment of lightning and destruction. The man, Gan Fall, as the descendent of the said Thunder God had dreamed of obtaining this power when he was still a teenager but no one had ever been able to open the box it was in, not him nor any of his clan members.
Now a random kid he had never seen or heard of before gained it and his reason was because he was hungry?
Gan could not accept it.
As Gan's voice continued to rise up, more and more people came towards their location. The usually kind and calm Gan sounded like someone had killed his dog, which made them curious and concerned.
But they saw him arguing with a 16 years old child, who looked malnourished and on the verge of collapse. It was unlike Gan to do such a thing. Some of them were ready to intervene, mainly his guards who came up to him as soon as he could but the next moment caught everyone off guard.
–
As Cain saw the ever increasing crowd and few people approaching them, he just wished to run away as fast as he could.
He was still thinking about what had happened to his body just a few seconds ago, and he wanted to know more but right now running away to some quiet place was the only option for him. So when he thought of running and stepped to the side to actually run, his body changed into a long lightning bolt and dashed ahead without control
Everyone was scared, shocked and confused. All they saw was the boy looking somewhere besides Gan and then turning into a bolt, disappearing with a loud bang.
–
After a minute of traveling in zig zag, Cain was finally able to come to a stop.
Looking around, he saw a dense forest. His stomach had been growling in protest for a while, so keeping the Temple incident at the back of his mind, Cain jumped to reach the nearest fruit he saw hanging from the tree.
But rather than just a simple jump, he again turned into a bolt, reaching the said fruit and beyond. His speed and lightning destroyed the tree and many others.
But instead of stopping whenever he landed, he would repeat the process again and again.
After about half an hour of jumping and turning into lightning, he finally had some control over it.
Ziaap
"Oh for fucks sake." he cursed, looking at the half burnt apple in his hands.
But despite the curse in his words, he was smiling. For some reason, he felt what he hadn't for a long time. At some point, his hungry stomach wasn't his priority at all.
Freedom, curiosity and thrill.
He was an adventurist. He had always liked new challenges and the freedom to do what he liked.
This new power he had was making him high like never before. The power that unconsciously flowed within him was just so good.
"Wait wait wait. I can't lose myself in this again." he took a deep breath to calm down a little.
"Haah, Bad habits never die huh." Landing on a tree branch, Cain stopped his smile and seriously focused this time.
He carefully collected some of the fruits to eat like he originally intended.
After practically devouring the incredibly delicious apples, he landed on the ground using his abilities. He looked around just to make sure he was really alone. When he was sure about it he closed his eyes and sat on the ground.
"So let's list out all the abnormalities. Then I can plan my next course of action."
Taking a deep breath, Cain collected his thoughts on the past hours since he had woken up
"To start off, somehow I'm in my young body which looks like it's 16 years old. I can understand and speak a new language. It sounds like Japanese but is a bit different. Maybe a dialect I haven't heard before? But then again, I've never been to Japan nor am I familiar with their culture. On top of that they didn't look Japanese either. So for now it's safe to assume that this place is somewhere near Japan(?)"
"I also have an incredible power that old man called the power of 'Thunder God' and I can use it quite freely. So maybe the multiverse is real and this is an alternative reality than the one I know."
"Anyways, back to this new power. While I was jumping around, my body passed through those trees rather than crashing and stopping in tracks. It burned them like when lightning hits a tree. So it's safe to say I am more or less intangible like real lightning. That man's spare passing through me rather than impelling me proves this theory. The best part is that I don't have to think about it to do so. I also felt it growing while I was using it earlier, so I should be able to train it and increase it further, which is good."
"Now the more concerning part. I don't have any memories of where this is or how I reached this place. Given that I am in a new/younger body, I don't think it's staged, obviously. If this is somehow a new body and the Hindus were right about reincarnation and all, then Hell Yeah. I missed being young."
"Now, what should I do next? Oh, gathering information should be the first priority since I don't have any information about this alternative world. Though that man should have informed people about me and the stolen power so I have to be careful when I reach civilization."
As if remembering about it, Cain brought out the weird fruit he had been holding this whole time.
"Maybe I should finish it? It should give me more power right?" From the man's explanation, he was more or less sure that this was the source of his power, so without much thought Cain ate the whole thing. It tested like shit but he chewed it all and finished it in 3 bites.
"Augh, I feel like vomiting. Haven't eaten something this bad since Vin's cooking." He said remembering a distant yet fond memory.
After looking a bit pale from the horrible taste, he started running or rather bolting towards a random direction.
–
Eventually Cain reached a town, or what looked like a town surrounded by clouds. He initially thought this was heaven from the wings on every person around. But after some eavesdrop, he was glad that wasn't the case.
Thankfully the people weren't looking for him nor was anyone talking about his recent 'outbursts' either. So with more confidence, he walked into a tavern and asked around.
He asked a few questions while being careful with his words but as a formal spy, collecting information was a part of his job.
'Formal Job', he thought.
"Hey beauty, can I get one of your best drinks?"
The woman behind the counter had a weird look on her face as she saw the young boy flirting with her, but seeing his handsome face, she smiled back.
"Yeah sure, that'll be 1500 extols.", she replied before filling up a glass from him.
On his way to this town, Cain had robbed some silly looking people that tried to rob him, so he wasn't lacking in his extols. He had also heard some interesting things from them.
"Hey, can I ask some questions, I haven't been to this part of the cloud in a while.", Cain asked while sipping on his beer. 'It's quite sweet. That's good.'
"Uhh, sure. What do you wanna know?"
"I wanted to know where I could find a place to buy a house. My pops wants to move somewhere new to open up a farm. So can you point me where I can talk about business or if you personally know someplace like that?"
The woman looked confused. Farm animals? Why would they have farm animals? Who could even farm animals here?
"Sorry I don't know what this 'farm' you're talking about is but if you want to rent a plot of land or buy them, you will have to go to find God Gan-sama. He lives in the Upper Yard."
"Oh thanks." Not minding the girl's weird look, Cain put his glass down and walked out.
–
"So this God Gan is a figure of authority here? Humm, I feel like I heard someone call that man 'Goan-sama' or something."
Previously, he was preoccupied with matters like what was happening with his body and fleeing so he hadn't paid much attention. But after a quick memory search, he felt like the man that tried to kill him before was this 'God Gan-sama'.
"Maybe the reason he was so mad and also knew about the powers was because the person with the title 'God' guarded it? He did say it was the power of a 'Thunder God' so that makes sense and it is such an amazing power, no wonder he was so mad. Ugh, not having memories of what's-what is gonna be a pain in the ass."
Cain similarly went to different taverns, bars or shops to ask different questions. His every question was aimed to solve a piece of the puzzle.
He even bought some weird devices named Dials to check them out and familiarize them after seeing them so popular and commonly used around here. It was fun and quite practical to use but not as important as the last piece of the puzzle.
"... Lovely Street … Angel Island … Sky Island? … Skypiea?" Cain said with some pause.
He had asked some old men some random questions like war and all. Instead of any war history of this place, they said that people in Skypiea had been living in peace for over four hundred years since it got launched up into the sky.
Cain thought they were pulling his legs, but few facts and confirmation from other passersby had convinced him.
"Haha kid, it sounds like you came from vearth. How did you even get here if you weren't aware of Skypiea? You must have been one hell of an adventure for your ship to land here. Hahaha." replied an old man laughing at Cain's expression.
'It seems the land below is called vearth and people do come here from time to time, mostly broken or dead, which seems to be a common thing.' Cain thought to himself.
Trying to not sound crazy, Cain went with the identity as a Vearther and asked about other things.
"Yeah, I was knocked out on my way here, so… hahaha." He laughed with them
–
After many questions and long long stories, Cain parted ways with the old men and booked a room in an inn to stay. There weren't any traditional inns but some kind people let visitors stay for a small price and the visitors help around the house or shops till their stay.
He was alone so a family there let him stay for the night for some extols.
Cain was too exhausted and hungry so he called it a day and went to sleep after having some dinner.
–
The next morning, he was woken up by some loud knocks.
Knock-Knock-Knock
"Open up thief, we know you are in there. Come out while we are still asking you nicely, otherwise things will get ugly for you."
'So they found me.' Rather than choosing to fight back, Cain opted to run for now. He knew his powers made him intangible but he couldn't take any chances.
He quietly opened the windows and changed into a lightning bolt to zap away.
After about 5 Km, he came to a halt. He had already paid the nice people and they couldn't say much about him as he hadn't stayed with them for much long either so he wasn't worried.
–
For the next 2 weeks Cain zapped around, trained his powers by using it on flying birds, giant bugs and equally giant worm like things.
His speed allowed him to go just about anywhere.
He also concluded that people here didn't have any solution towards his powers either. The only few things that could hurt him were things that were extremely bad at conducting electricity, but they too would be destroyed if he wished.
"Humm. So far the things I can think of are glass, sand, rubber or plastic too. These things made into weapons should hurt or at least touch me. I haven't tried any of them but it should work in theory. But how did I phase through the trees? Wood is also a bad conductor of electricity. Something doesn't add up here."
Cain wasn't a psychopath that would willingly hurt himself or others for no reason, but it was good knowing that he was safe for now.
–
As time passed, he had already traveled most of the islands and gathered more than enough information.
He met the locals who resembled Native American tipi. He didn't interact much with them. He even climbed up a long tree looking thing and found a big Blue block of stone with something written on them. Though he couldn't read it since none of the books or writings back on the island had anything similar to it.
He tried to find its roots but instead found a city where gold was everywhere and which the locals called, the City of Gold. He also took some of that gold as it was worthless here, actually he took quite a lot of gold.
One thing Cain was more excited about, other than his powers and all the gold, was that his physical strength was increasing every hour.
Initially, seeing that his malnourished body needed some attention, he had started carrying big rocks and wearing rings and bracelets of heavy gold(thanks to the clever use of his powers)and walked around. At some point, the gold was slowly increased in weight where a normal person of his size wouldn't be able to handle anymore.
Each morning he would add 5 to 10 Kg of gold and by the end of the day, he would get used to them.
Now after just a month, his body had six packs and the total weight he carried had reached roughly 900 kg, which was seriously insane to him.
It was unbelievable. At the beginning of his so-called training, he felt his improvement was quite high so he had switched from adding one kg to two and the result had broken his common sense. The more he added the more his strength grew.
But he also knew that he was an exception because he had gathered information about it and it seems, while people here were more or less stronger than back on earth, they didn't grow fast or anywhere near his capacity.
A tribe that he had met and interacted in Upper Yard had strong people but they were much stronger than him.
They had a fight at first in between his training when they saw him carrying so much gold, and he had wiped the floor with them. On top of that he didn't use his speed nor his full strength.
Maybe it was the fruit's additional effects, maybe it was the new body or the effect of the alternative reality, either way it was something he was quite happy and proud about.
–
"I officially don't have anything new to do here." Cain said in a tired voice, lying down on his back.
He had a golden staff in his hand which weighed a little more than 2 tons from his guess.
He had used his lightning powers to melt them and reshape them using the high temperature like with his rings.
At first it was quite hard to get the right shape, but once he got used to it, he could easily make bracelets and other accessories at a faster pace. Still he was still struggling to create other objects but that was slowly coming to him. As for his main weapon? A staff.
He chose a staff because he was used to using his hands and sticks in the army, so going for a golden staff was an obvious answer to him.
It was quite addictive to grow so fast and so easily. It was like there was no upper limit and now after 3 months of doing the same thing again and again, he was getting bored. He was getting stronger and better, but he was equally bored.
"It's about time I go down to Vearth, right? I don't have much information about what to expect but it would be an exciting adventure."
So without thinking too much, the lightning human named Cain ran towards the edge of the island and…
Jumped.