Before I could jump, Miss Jenna's voice stopped me, "Zane, wait." Her tone was serious, and I could sense the urgency in her words.
"Yes, master?" I looked behind; meeting her gaze, for some reason, her eyes were dead serious.
"Markus created a special team to hunt down the Nightmare," she continued, "he named it 'The Apex.' You should be careful now."
'The Apex, huh?' I thought to myself.
"Thanks for informing me, master," I said with a smile on my face.
"Hehehe, and do you know who the leader is?" she asked.
I hesitated before shaking my head, "I have no idea."
Who could it be?
I hope it's not the No. 02. I can't deal with that guy, he is creepy.
Miss Jenna grinned before revealing, "It's the newly appointed Rank 03 Hero, her name is… Envy."
"…"
'Oh hell no!'
Is my life over? Seriously, lady luck, why are you picking on me?
Sigh... A long sigh left my mouth.
"Pftttt hahhaha! Oh look at you! Don't worry I won't betray you. Or, are you doubting me?"
"No master! I solemnly swear that I will trust you till the day I die."
Well I can't die though.
"Yeah, yeah. Now scram kid! They will be worried."
"Alright, thanks again master."
As I leaped out of the window, I harnessed the Wind Essence, lifting myself high into the sky with a swift, powerful gust.
Woosh!
I turned my head downward, glancing at the towering mansion below me, its white pristine stone walls carved with ancient fonts. Its garden decorated with large fountains surrounded with red roses and green trees.
The estate of House Frostheart stretched far beyond my eyes.
'How magnificent.'
Damn you rich people!
Tapping on my wristband I noticed the time: 05:07 a.m.
"Shit! I need to hurry."
The sun was slowly rising.
Boom!
My speed rose up before a sonic-boom formed, due to the wind pressure I was having a hard time opening my eyes and because of it tears started to form.
'Fuck!'
I really need to buy some goggles.
It took me around three minutes to reach Honeyford—I was that fast.
From above, I found my café, the outdoor lights were still lit up, clearly indicating that no one had woken up yet.
"Good."
I landed on my room's balcony, silently opening the window I went inside.
'Gosh! Finally.'
Walking towards my bed my gaze landed on the reflection of me at the mirror.
My jet-black hair had been disheveled, and my Nightmare clothes along with my Nova's uniform were torn to shreds.
Yeah, I'm seriously fucked.
How the hell am I going to explain this to my parents?
-Umm… father I fell down the stairs, and now I have a big hole in my uniform.
-No, you fucking retard!
Haaah… what am I even thinking…
"I need to fix this real soon."
Well luckily, it was Sunday today, and tomorrow… is our fresher's party in the evening—
'Man, It almost slipped my mind.'
I don't have any decent clothes to wear, what am I going to do now?
Well, I could just skip attending the party, easy right? No! Elise will eat me alive and plus, I promised Anna that I will be attending.
Got no choice but to go shopping.
Taking my clothes off and hiding them in my Dimension Ring, I went for a quick shower.
Shaaaa!
As I turned the shower on, my thoughts lingered towards today's incident.
'Maaan! what a fucked up day.'
First there's that dream with some weird song playing in the background, then those memories of children, and then that voi—
A sudden chill ran down my spine, snapping me out of my thoughts. I froze, momentarily paralyzed by the sensation.
My hand trembled, cold sweat dripped down my body, as the words of that voice replayed in my memory.
I tried recalling each and every word of it.
"Host consciousness unstable, Skill error, Generating skill, fusion, Limited control—"
I had come to a realization now.
Whatever is happening to me— it's not normal.
Generating a new skill specific for that very moment, it's as if someone wants me to defeat that Fallen.
Who could it be?
But, one thing is clear: I can't deal with it, that 'someone' is out of my reach.
That thought alone made me sick.
Baam!
Out of anger I punched the wall before me, knowing that I was being controlled by someone.
I feel like shit.
That entity must possess unimaginable power, beyond anything I could comprehend.
'Heh. What am I thinking?'
What a load of bullshit.
But then another question arose in my mind.
'Why me though?'
There are millions of others who will be happy to have this kind of powers. So, why choose me?
Drip! Drip!
I turned my shower off.
Covering myself with a towel, I stood in front of my bathroom mirror.
A thin layer of fog accumulated on the mirror's surface due to the hot steam of the shower.
Scrrch!
I wiped the fog off, staring at my reflection, the first thing I noticed was my chest— a portion of my chest had a new layer of skin, and it left me wonder 'I really am different.'
My fingers traced over the new skin, and an uneasy feeling crawled up my arms. It didn't feel like my own. It was… too smooth, too perfect.
"What exactly is happening to me?" A soft almost a mumble left my mouth.
Am I even human anymore?
Or am I becoming something else entirely?
I wanted to dismiss it, laugh it off. But deep down, something gnawed at me.
I don't want to know.
I am… scared.
…..
Stepping out and drying my hair with my Fire and Wind Essence. Then I wore a neatly ironed shirt with a black hoodie on top, pairing it with nice-looking black jeans. Finally I attached my Dimension pouch to my belt.
I took a final glance at myself in the mirror, hair slightly falling over my forehead. Eyes with no dark circles, smooth skin.
"Perfect."
From my Inventory Ring I took out the 'Skill Monitor' that Ruby gave me.
It's a thin transparent contact lens embedded with nanocomputers.
Taking a deep breath, I placed it on my eyeball.
I wanted to confirm the details of my skills, so I focused on them. Suddenly a transparent purple window popped up in front of me.
=============================
> [Distortion]: Can eliminate Essence within a 10 km radius.
Side effect: Makes wielder aggressive and violent.
>[Elemental View]: Can sense almost everything within a 50 km radius.
Side effect: Using it for more than 10 minutes causes extreme fatigue.
>[Quantum Manipulation]: Complete (Authority) over the quantum outcomes.
Side effects: [None].
>[Immortality]: Makes wielder immortal (fused).
Side effects: Unknown
>[Limited Control]: Unknown
Side effect: Unknown
=============================
'Unknown?'
That's weird, it didn't even detect what the skill 'Limited Control' does.
Nothing.
But that skill let me take back control over my body the moment I resisted my 'Quantum Manipulation' skill.
"It's handy."
Taking the contact lens off, I placed it back inside my Inventory Ring.
I glanced at my clock, it was 06:00 .a.m.
…..
After 10 minutes, I headed down.
Soon after, as I entered our café, the intense aroma of freshly brewed coffee hit me. My mother was wiping the tables and my father was on the kitchen preparing some breakfast.
Raising my voice slightly, I said.
"Good morning mother."
Noticing my presence, she turned her attention towards me.
"Oh my, Zane, good morning dear, you're up early. Did you get a nice sleep?"
I thought, 'Yeah, Mom, I slept like crazy, I even dreamt of blasting some underground facility.' But I didn't tell her that. Instead I just nodded my head.
Thereafter, Dad greeted me popping his head from the kitchen door.
"Morning son, it's still 7 am, what a surprise."
"Y-Yeah, good morning Dad," I greeted back, "Tomorrow's our Fresher party, so I was planning to go for a little shopping."
'Why is everyone so freaked out when I wake up this early?'
I took a seat at a nearby table.
"Fresher's party, huh? ~Nice," my mother arranged my table with some warm bread and potato soup before handing me some money. "Here use these and buy a nice outfit, okay."
"I don't need it, but thank you mother."
I took the cash from her hand and stuffed it inside my pocket.
"~Aww, no need to thank me, my baby boy. ~Hehehe." She patted my head before heading inside the kitchen.
After finishing my breakfast, I headed to the train station. Boarding the train, I finally reached the Frostvile City.
Walking along the streets of Frostvile City, in the area next to Nova, I placed my hands inside the pockets of my black hoodie. I searched for a clothing store around me.
.
.
It's been more than 30 minutes, but I can't find a proper store.
"I'm really bad at this."
Maybe I should come with Elise later this evening.
"Zane?"
However, just as I was lost in my own thoughts, a soft voice snapped me out of it.
Turning around and to my surprise I found a beautiful young girl with black shiny hair staring in my direction.
"…"
It took me a second to recognize her, she was wearing a white beanie hat, and a knitted olive green jacket, due to her black jade-like eyes, I identified her.
"…Aria?"
End of Chapter.