CHAPTER 2: WAKE UP
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
BEEP BEEP BEEP
BEEP BEEP
BEEP
"...E UP!"
I opened my eyes, my vision flickering in and out. I was lying on the ground of the cave I had left hours ago, my heart pounding to a rhythm I didn't know the dance to, or want to. Looking around, everything was as if I had never left. The gear still wasn't put away, the gas stove was still burning, and the water was still boiling.
"Was any of that real?" I asked myself as I tried to stand up. It felt too real to just be a dream. I could still taste the soil from that field.
"Urggggg, so tired. It feels like my head is going to explode," I said, remembering being used as a punching bag by a big goo bug. "And why am I naked?"
I was fit from walking every day from the cabin to the bunker, but I had never been as fit as my body was right now.
That's when it clicked. Everything that happened was real. The flowers, the big bug... me dying. It was like a wall of fog being lifted. And with that, I was overwhelmed by a sense of calm like never before. All my exhaustion disappeared like a puff of smoke. I felt renewed, strong. No, stronger than ever before. It was all surreal.
After getting up, I noticed what was left of the suit that was supposed to protect me from the cold: ashes. It seemed that while I was out, my body had been on fire, and the fire had been hot enough to melt the floor of the cave. Still, being naked felt no different than having the suit on.
While checking my body for more physical changes, I noticed two different marks on the palms of my hands. The one on the right had a plus sign, and the one on the left had a minus sign.
"Tksss, now what am I, a battery? Is being a battery my power?" I asked as I tried putting my hands together. What was the worst that could happen, getting shocked by electricity? When the symbols connected, nothing happened. No electric shock, no weird aftereffect. Yet it felt like something was missing.
Before I could follow that train of thought, the cave began to rumble, going from a light shake to a full-on earthquake. As the cave began to collapse, I ran. Thanks to my improved physique, it was easier to avoid being crushed by the many falling rocks. It was also a good thing that the small camp wasn't too deep in the cave, because if it had been, I might have been trapped inside and buried.
After getting out of the cave, I saw that the situation outside wasn't any better. The outside wasn't how I remembered it. The sky was dark and full of thunder, and the ground was riddled with cracks and fissures. The wind was blowing so hard that there were tornadoes in the distance.
The first thing I did was steady myself with all my strength. Then I saw the most unbelievable thing: a giant ship breaking free from a mountain. A mountain I knew too well. The one where the bunker was.
My heart beat harder and harder as the ship rose higher and higher, until it came to a sudden stop. Then everything went quiet. The earthquake, the wind, and the tornadoes stopped as if they had never happened. There was only the sound of thunder and a strange humming coming from the ship.
A strange feeling settled in my heart. My instinct told me to run as fast as I could and get the hell out of there before anything crazier happened. However, my legs didn't budge. It was as if I was rooted to the ground. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move. In the distance, the ship's humming grew louder and louder.
hum hummmmmm hum hum hummm hummmmmm hum hum hummmmmm hummMMMM HMMMMMM HMMMMMMM
As the humming intensified, the ship started to pull everything toward it. Meanwhile, I tried not to be pulled in by digging my hands into the ground, and it looked like it was working.
"Haha, I'm not that easy to get, you bug!" I yelled as a smile crept onto my face.
But life wasn't fair. It didn't take long for the pull to become harder to resist. My smile faded, and then I was pulled in with everything else.
While being pulled toward the ship, I had to stay aware of all the other debris, and with so much stuff flying around, that was hard. Besides, at the speed I was going, I would reach the ship in a couple of minutes. That meant I needed to find a way out, fast. And the only way out I could think of at the moment was those marks on my hands. So without much hesitation, I clapped my hands together.
Clap.
"Again."
Clap.
"Again."
Clap.
"Come on, again!"
Clap.
"Again!!"
Clap.
"Again! TURN ON, YOU FUCKING THING!!!!!"
Then something happened. I felt my stomach tighten as some kind of energy spread from it into my arms. Wielding this strange energy felt so invigorating, and the energy kept flowing into my palms. A ball of blue energy started to form between my hands. When the ball reached the size of a foot, the energy stopped flowing, leaving me with an energy ball I didn't know how to use.
So I did the only thing that came to mind: throw it. But not before doing what every kid has tried at least once. I separated my left hand from the ball and readied myself.
"Here goes nothing... haaaaaaa!!!"
And so I "threw" the ball, or at least tried to. The ball was still stuck to my hand.
"Why am I not surprised?" I muttered before swinging the ball at a nearby boulder.
Boom!!!
There I was, with my mouth open and full of rock dust, and an energy ball still attached to my hand.
"So this is what you're for: wrecking stuff!" I said, laughing maniacally.
Just as I was about to hit something else with the ball, everything stopped. I had been so caught up with the ball that I hadn't noticed I was already underneath the ship.
The moment everything stopped, the ship started gathering energy at its center. It didn't take long for the energy to form a ball of dark energy. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I had no plans to stay and watch. So I started swinging my hand left and right, smashing my way down through the debris.
"Bing-bop-boom-boom-boom-bop-bam!! Come on, faster, faster!!!!"
Just when I thought I had found the key to my cage, the master came back.
"Heh heh heh. Heh heh heh. Heh heh heh. Heh heh heh. YAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, WORM? WE ARE NOT DONE YET."
The moment that thing finished speaking, it was as if the world listened, because I couldn't move anymore. And before I noticed, it was in front of me again.
"YOU SEEM TO HAVE ADAPTED TO MY LITTLE GIFT, EVEN IF YOU USE IT SO CRUDELY, WORM... YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL. NOT MANY BEINGS CAN WITHSTAND THE FLAMES OF #$%#$$#... OH... YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND IT. SUCH LOWLY BEINGS..."
"If we're such LOWLY beings, how were you defeated?" I muttered with all the energy I had.
"SILENCE!!!" it said with rage as it grabbed my head with its hand. "WHAT HAPPENED HERE WAS TREASON!! WE HAVE A TRAITOR IN OUR MIDST. I MUST REPORT TO THE EMPEROR. JUST BECAUSE I ALLOWED YOU TO LIVE, DON'T GET ANY WRONG IDEAS, WORM. WE COULD CONQUER THIS WORLD EASILY... BUT WHERE IS THE FUN IN THAT?"
The bug disappeared the same way it came, leaving purple mist behind. The moment it left, the pressure I felt disappeared, and I could move again. But before I could do anything, the ship started humming once again. This time it was different. The ship was shrinking. It was as if it was collapsing.
"REMEMBER, THIS IS NOT THE END. SO GET STRONG AND PUT UP A FIGHT, OR THIS WON'T BE FUN FOR US, OR FOR ANY OF YOU."
BLIP
And just like that, the ship disappeared, and gravity returned, leaving behind only the black ball of energy. Before I could even blink, it exploded.
BoOoOOOOom!!
The shockwave was quick. Even with my enhanced physique, I couldn't withstand much of the impact. My ears, eyes, and mouth bled. My legs were broken. And what was even more unbelievable, I was set on fire. Yet this fire didn't burn. It did the opposite. It was healing me. This feeling... I knew this feeling. So I looked at my hands, and what I saw shocked me.
The marks on my palms were gone. Instead, they were on the backs of my hands, and they were different this time: an arrow pointing up on my left hand and an arrow pointing down on my right. I didn't know if they worked the same way as the old ones, but I had to try before I reached the ground.
So I started gathering energy in my hands, and it worked. There was something different about the new energy, though. It wasn't blue, but purple. As it reached my arms, the marks lit up, and with that came the answer of how to use this power. I just had to punch.
I could see the ground approaching, so without wasting any more time, I reeled my arm back and yelled.
"WRECKING PUNCH!!!"
The moment the punch landed, a rift opened in front of me. But the rift wasn't big enough, so I punched again.
"WRECKING PUNCH!!!"
Now there was enough space, and my whole body went through it.
The moment I crossed the rift, it closed, and energy began to surround me like a cocoon. Everything was warped in here, like a mash of colors. Yet I felt no danger in here... I felt safe.
Soon I saw the end of the rift. As I got closer, I could see where I was going, and what I saw put a smile on my face.
I was going to the beach.