[Author Note: The main character is introduced in chapter 2.]
Dusty froze, utterly shocked at what was happening in front of him. Confined in a filthy bathroom stall, the uncomfortable toilet seat and suffocating walls added to the uneasiness. He thought coming here would be a nice break, but it was anything but that.
The doctor advised him to keep taking his stage 3 pills, yet he couldn't care less at this point. Sitting in an agonizing classroom with no sleep, no friends, and no will to live must have finally pushed him over the edge.
Well, maybe he had one friend… but it didn't matter now.
Because right in front of him stood The Devil.
'Ah… my head hurts.'
Maybe he should have asked for stronger medication, maybe he should have attended those therapy classes, or maybe he should have just killed himself before it got to this point.
His black hair, black eyes, and frail body fit the description of his life. Boring.
'…'
The pure malice and evil emanating from this absurd monster would have terrified any normal human, but Dustin felt a strange sense of relief.
"It'll all be over. This nightmare of a life will end, right?"
The vile creature stretched out its hand as if it wanted to grab something from him, then opened its mouth.
"Would you like to make a deal?"
Everyone knew what the deal was. The Devil would get rid of all your pain and take your humanity for it. It was probably the biggest scam in history since you would turn into a bloodthirsty monster, then inevitably be killed by a Gifted. But for him, it meant a way out.
Dusty thought for a moment, then came to a decision. He would say his life flashed before his eyes, but there wasn't much of anything to think back about.
People like him were born to die like this; he was ready to do it.
"Sorry, Flora. I hope you make it out… safely."
***
Something was wrong. From the moment she woke up, today felt off.
Sitting in her uncomfortable chair, she stared out the window while the rest of the class took notes. The annoying sounds of chairs scraping and pages flipping reminded her that she could be elsewhere.
"Hey Flora, are you okay? You've been acting weird all day; it's almost like you're on a different planet."
She nearly jumped out of her seat, startled by her friend.
"Oh! Yea… I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
She hated being in school, but no one knew that. She was nice to everyone and got good grades, but had more important things to accomplish. It was the last year of high school, though, so those things could wait until after.
'I guess I'm worrying about nothing. But wait, I haven't seen Dusty all day… I wonder wher-'
The school suddenly lit with a dim red light, and a deafening alarm blared down its hallways. Her eyes widened, and looking around, she saw the same expression on everyone's face.
Fear.
This alarm meant that an Abomination had been created inside the school.
In short, most of them would die before a Gifted could arrive. Still, to think that someone in the school would succumb to The Devil… was weird, to say the least. They were still teenagers, after all.
She bolted out of the classroom while the teacher was trying to say something, not that calming the students down would save them. Getting out of school was the only way to survive, so she wasted no time.
'Where is that abomination… and what type was it? Damn… I really can't get out of here fast enough. Am I going to die?'
She had never seen an abomination in person before, but she studied them for a while. They appeared in countless different forms, with abilities that went beyond human imagination. From six-legged fire-breathing griffins to hundred-meter-tall spiders, the only goal of these creatures was to bring an end to humanity.
With that said, the one in the school was probably on the smaller side since she would have heard or noticed something. Part of her curiosity wanted to get a peek at it, but her fear overpowered that. Anyone close enough to see it was probably dead already.
She ran down the everlasting hallway, trying to find the closest exit, but it was too far away.
'Of course I was in my one class on the third floor, the timing really couldn't be worse.'
Suddenly, she heard screams behind her, so she ran faster. If it was behind her, she could have made it to the stairs in time and escaped this nightmare, but… something wasn't right.
She turned the corner and…
Look away… Look away… Look away… LOOK AWAY!
It was too late.
The six-legged creature in front of her was gnawing on something she didn't dare try to recognize. Its black, monstrous body looked like burnt flesh, and its jaw snapped open and closed, revealing hundreds of teeth. It was the size of a bear but far more deadly. One look into its single eye sent shivers down her spine. Countless corpses were littered around it, but she was still confused about something.
She blinked, trying to understand where those screams came from before. Was there more than one? How the hell was that possible? But when she opened her eyes, she stood on the ceiling.
It was like her whole world had flipped upside down. Trying not to puke, she needed to calm down and collect her thoughts.
'What the hell? How did I get up here… no wait… Am I still on the ground? I'm seeing the world upside-down?'
Sudden realization swept across her face.
'It's the monster… its power is messing with my senses! How is that possible… is that why there are so many corpses? Did those people come here thinking it was behind them?'
She had no time to worry about this because the monster's eye shifted—locking directly on her. Without thinking, she turned around and bolted. She was still adjusting to her flipped vision when something else started to feel off. She felt the ground touch her left foot when she landed on her right. Without overthinking, she continued to run down the long and arduous hallway, which seemed to be getting longer every step.
Looking back, she saw the abomination was gaining on her. Just then, her right… or left foot hit a backpack, sending her flying to the ground.
'Shit… SHIT!'
She had just a few more seconds left to live. Looking forward, she tried to get up but failed. Not because of her injured foot or her reversed sense of touch… but because of the figure covered in divine white light standing before her.
The God chose people worthy of a gift and gave them powers, the opposite of the Devil. It was a dream everyone had. The story of being chosen was told countless times; every kid had heard it before. But it still didn't feel real.
"Wait… now? I'm getting a gift now of all time?!"
The God reached out its hand as if to give her something.
"Would you like to make a deal?"
The deal was that in return for gaining immense power, you would help exterminate the Abominations in the world.
Right now, she didn't have a choice… not that anyone would say no to an offer like this.
Taking its hand, she said only one word to change her life:
"Yes."
The monster was almost on top of her when she looked back at it. Thrusting her hands forward, she tried to stop it from crushing her… and succeeded. The new strength flowing through her body felt unreal, so unreal that she could stop a speeding abomination right in its tracks. But that wasn't the only thing that happened.
An explosion of light shot out of her right hand, burning and tearing through the horrid creature, forcing it to stumble back. No, wait… it was her left hand. Not that it mattered, though, because she had just torn one of its arms off.
To kill an abomination, you had to destroy its core. Even if you tore its head off, the core would keep the monster going until it was broken.
Although it could be located in any part of its body, Gifted could always sense where it was. And now that she was one of them, she could see the dim light glowing near the base of its tail.
Getting off the ground, she prepared to face it in battle. There were still a few students around her, and she could hear them whispering.
"Oh my god… she has powers?"
"Can Flora really save us? It's way too terrifying; who do you think it was before it turned into… that?"
"Has she always been a Gifted? Was she hiding it?"
She was confused at first but then remembered that only the targets of The God and The Devil could see them.
I feel strangely attracted to the sunlight from the window to my right… no… yeah... it is my right. That must be the source of my power.
Her power was to absorb light and then emit it into an attack.
It was deadly, as you could see from the now-only five-legged abomination, but still… fighting with her senses flipped was almost impossible.
The Abomination seemed infuriated now, getting up to perform another attack. It ran straight at her, roaring a loud cry that would pierce any average person's ear.
But she was not average anymore.
Feeling the light flowing through her body, she conjured up as much of it as possible. Sticking her hand out, she felt her fingers starting to get warm. Then hot. Then even hotter. The sun's energy hit her body, flowed through her, and then channeled into her hand.
The creature was a foot away from her, preparing to bite her arm off, but just before it got to her… a blinding light encompassed the entire hallway. The beam shot right into the creature's mouth, coming out of the other end.
The Abomination's core was eradicated entirely.
It felt like she was standing still for an eternity, but then the students started to get over their disbelief. Everyone was around her, congratulating and thanking her, but Flora didn't pay any attention to that.
Instead, she stared at the single teardrop running down the Abomination's eye.