Alex shot up in his bed in the dull light of early morning, cold sweat clinging to his body. He looked around the room in panic, only to be greeted by drab, unfamiliar walls. 'Where... where am I', he thought to himself as his eyes darted around the foreign room.
'What happened... I was… walking home, wasn't I?'
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*FLASHBACK*
"Hahahahah! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Mad cackles broke the quiet around Alex, as he walked down the street, his shoulders slumped in fatigue after a long night shift. While startled, Alex did not bother to turn around to investigate the source of the delirious laughter, as, surprisingly to some who had never visited the city, such sounds were not uncommon in London, at least they were heard enough for most Londoners not to bother with them — especially not on a cold and dark winter night at 3 a.m.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The demented laughs continued, as Alex continued to walk his usual route, however, he quickly noticed the rapidly increasing volume of the sound, and with them, the beat of feet hitting the ground at a fast pace. He whipped around hastily, to look for the source of the loud sounds — it was one thing hearing those sounds, and it was something else entirely when the source of those sounds was running towards you at full speed.
Behind Alex, and quickly approaching, a man — who Alex assumed was homeless due to his ripped, dirty and aged clothing — cackled in mad delight, as he ran down the street, his toothless mouth showing a gleeful smile. In his hands, he held a spray can and a lighter. As he ran down the street, he sprayed the contents of his can through the lighter, causing a jet of flames to rush out, a line of flames stretching at least 2 metres ahead of him.
As he approached, Alex could hear more of the man's shouts.
"I'm a wizard! HAHAHAHA! I'm a wizard!", the man exclaimed as he sprayed out several streams of fire, "I'm making fire! HAHAHA! I'm a wizard!"
Alex stared at the scene with a kind of morbid amusement — he felt sorry for the man, but at the same time couldn't help but find what he was seeing slightly funny. As he stood there, he was soon noticed by the homeless man, who by now had almost arrived next to him. The man's countenance suddenly changed.
"I'm a wizard! You've seen that I'm a wizard! NOW I HAVE TO KILL YOU!"
Alex's face dropped, and he stood in shock for a moment, as he heard that, seemingly unable to compute what he had just heard. He was soon shaken out of his reverie, though, as the insane man ran towards him, prepping the spray can.
Alex turned to run, but it was too late. The man was already too close. He pressed down on the can, and a metre-long spurt of fire hit him on the back. His jacket caught on fire, most of it going up in flames instantly. His vision was obstructed by flames that licked at his face, and the heat entrapped him. Adrenaline began to course through his veins, as he felt fear for his life.
He began to immediately act on instinct, stumbling around wildly, as he tried to tear off his flaming jacket. He couldn't see anything as his hands wildly fumbled with his jacket, finally ripping it off of him after a few seconds, and throwing it onto the floor. Luckily, the flames had not yet spread to his inner clothing, so as his jacket had come off, he was no longer on fire.
He looked around for his attacker, getting ready to run, but he was nowhere to be seen. No doubt having run off, thinking that Alex was already dead. Alex looked down at his hands, now red and raw, with several burns. His entire body trembled, adrenaline still rampaging through him. He couldn't believe it. He had been so close to death.
He fell to his knees, feeling unable to move, as he tried to calm himself down. It was several minutes before he felt even somewhat able to move. Slowly climbing to his feet, his body still trembling and shaking, the world was blocked out, as he felt how close he had been to dying.
BEEP!!!
A sudden loud honk caused him to whip his head around. He caught only a flash of white, before he felt himself suspended in the air, seemingly weightless, but he soon began to fall back towards the ground he had so recently left. As he hit the ground, his vision went dark.
Alex was silent for a moment. He seemed to be trying to understand his memories.
"F*ck!!! That crazy b*stard. He killed me!" Alex bellowed in rage, "And what about that driver?! Which idiot doesn't look where they're going?!"
These words were soon followed by a long tirade of furious expletives, "You- (the following content has been removed in order to protect readers)!".
His colourful tirade came to a sudden stop. 'Wait, aren't I dead? How am I here?! Where even am I?!'. Upon thinking so, several memories came to his mind, but Alex was certain they were not his own. He found the sensation impossible to describe; being certain that memories were not yours, yet undoubtedly having them ingrained within you, having them as part of your very being, as if you'd experienced them yourself.
"Holy sh*t! I've reincarnated! Wait, is it reincarnated or transmigrated? I think it might b— Why am I thinking about that right now?! I'm not dead! I'm not dead! I'm not dead!"
He continued to chant a few more times before finally calming down.
'Okay, I'm not dead, but I'm still a child. I'm an orphan too, that's not great. But, none of that really matters. Where's my golden finger? System!'
'...'
"System?"
"..."
"Menu? Stats? Inventory?! Shop?!! Roulette?!!!"
"..."
"Anything..."
'Wow... I was lied to. So, I don't get anything? I'm a child, an orphan to boot and now I don't even get a system?! What kind of sick jo-'
'Wait, what's that?', he thought to himself as he focused upon a particular memory that he happened to see. In this memory, a child, no — he — sat, as wooden blocks levitated freely around him — seemingly finding it amusing, from the childish laughter that escaped his lips.
Excitement grasped Alex's entire being, as he came to an abrupt realisation. 'I have powers! I wasn't just abandoned to die! With this, I could be invincible, this world seems just like my own — no superpowers whatsoever — but now, I can rule the world!'
"Hahahahaha!" Loud, childish laughter escaped his lips, in place of the evil cackle he had envisioned, causing Alex to be inwardly embarrassed.
'Okay, maybe I can rule the world in the future, first I have to grow up. And I have to learn how to use my powers.'
As Alex had done in his memories, he stared at a single object — the lamp on the table beside his bed. And he began to imagine it rising into the air, and as he did so... nothing happened.
'Why did nothing happen? I can clearly see that this body has powers, " he thought as he continuously replayed that memory in his head, 'I must not have focused enough. Let me try again.'
At that, Alex concentrated completely upon the lamp, his entire focus placed upon it. Once again, he imagined it rising into the air. This time, he felt something — a sort of energy. He felt it, some strange, warm energy, some force. It was everywhere around him, connecting everything together. It was pulled into his body, and flowed through him, like a warm stream, he had never felt anything like it, it was exhilarating. The energy flowed into his extended hand, and out through his palm. He seemed to instinctually impose his will upon it, dominating it, making it do his bidding.
"That wasn't so hard." As he said that, the feeling of warm energy flowing through his body suddenly stopped, and the lamp wobbled before crashing back down onto the table, with a resounding *BANG*.
'I lost focus.'
In fact, despite being unknowing himself, Alex's feat was already incredibly impressive, it would be impossible for another child to do this, without the insane magical talent of this body, not to mention after being enhanced by the golden drop of blood.
At this moment, the door was pushed open, and a somewhat plump middle-aged woman, with thick brown hair hanging to her back and almond-brown eyes walked into the room.
"Alex, you're awake! Are you okay? How are you feeling?" she said as she rushed to his side.
Alex was surprised by this woman's sudden appearance and had to quickly search his memories for her name.
"I'm feeling great, Miss Price."
She gave him a dubious look.
"Are you sure? You looked like you were in a lot of pain, and you were screaming."
"What are you talking about Miss Price?", Alex asked confusedly.
"You don't remember? You had some sort of seizure. You were spasming and convulsing everywhere."
'I have epilepsy now?!', and as before the memories readily came to the fore when he tried to recall them. He saw himself, playing with the blocks, he saw the dazzling golden drop appearing from nowhere, he remembered the terrifying, horrible pain, after it had entered him. 'What is that?!'
His thoughts were interrupted however, when a burly man who looked to be in his late fifties walked into the room. He wore a black jumper that had been rolled up to his elbows, revealing his large forearms, and his greying hair had been gelled into a stylish coiffure.
"Ah, Mr Bishop, Alex is awake. He says he's feeling fine."
"You're feeling better now Alex? Are you sure?"
Alex once again had to rapidly search his memories for Mr Bishop.
'The director of the orphanage. Dennis Bishop. He looks young for his age; he should actually be in his late-sixties. He's a good person from what I can see, fair and principled and was an orphan himself, he even lived in this same orphanage.'
"Are you okay Alex?", said Bishop as he approached Alex's bed, and despite the man's tough exterior and stern face, his soft voice, and the gentleness in his eyes, showed the deep worry he felt. Alex could not help but praise the man inwardly, for the kindness he showed the children in his care.
"I'm really fine, Mr Bishop, you and Miss Price don't need to worry about me."
"Good", said Mr Bishop, "but, we'll still be watching you for the next few day— scratch that, weeks — just to make sure you're safe."
"We'll leave now, so that you can rest, but come down soon. Breakfast 'll be ready. Come on now Julie, leave him to rest."
After that, he left shortly followed by Miss Price, who said before leaving, "Remember, if you need anything, call us immediately."
'I'm finally alone.', thought Alex to himself, 'but now I have to worry about whatever that golden drop was. It seems that this world isn't as normal as I thought. I have to learn to use my powers as fast as possible, and I need to improve them quickly. They're too weak right now, even a minor lapse in concentration and they're useless.'
'I also want to know how long I can use them for
Like before, he put all his focus on the lamp upon his bedside table, willing it to rise into the air, and slowly it began to levitate into the air. Now he kept it still in the air.
1 minute passed, Alex felt nothing.
2 minutes passed.
5 minutes passed.
10 minutes passed.
After 30 minutes had passed, Alex had felt no change, except his arm hurting from raising it for so long, and a minor headache from focusing on a singular object for so long. Besides that, he still absorbed energy, and it continued to flow through him.
'It seems I can use my powers indefinitely.', he concluded, 'The energy doesn't seem to come from me, but from the world. I just utilise it for my own means. Hmm… that kind of reminds me of the Force from Star Wars. Am I a Jedi?! No. That can't be possible. Even if Star Wars had happened, I'm on Earth, midi-chlorians would be lifeforms from a different galaxy. It would be impossible for them to exist on Earth too.
'Even if I'm not a Jedi, maybe my powers can be used in a similar way? If that's true I really will be invincible in this world.' His excitement, though, was soon cut short.
*GRUMBLE*
A loud rumbling sound came from his stomach.
"I need to eat, I'm starving!"