It was night.I stood in a forest so dense the canopy almost swallowed the moonlight leaving behind a sickly green twilight. The air was heavy:wet soil, rotting leaves, and something sharp and coppery that clung to the back of my throat.The moonlight was shining brightly.I had no destination but I kept walking.The night was silent,peaceful calm.The brooks and streams babbled bursting with life.The forest was alive as different animals moved silently through the forest.
Then came the sound.
A low, guttural rumble rolled through the ground, vibrating up through the soles of my shoes. I struggled to stand upright as I wobbled.
"Was that an earthquake?"
I pushed through a thorny thicket and froze.
A massive wolf crouched over a corpse.
Its fur was matted with filth, it's mouth and body stained with blood as it's fangs sank into the body, ribs rising and falling as it fed. Its eyes glowed with a diseased, hungry light. The sound of its teeth grinding against bone made my stomach twist.The eyes of the man or woman,I couldn't be sure because the face was so badly torn and damaged it was devouring stared lifelessly at me giving me a silent warning to flee.
The wolf suddenly noticing the unwanted presence looked up at me with a voracious look in its eyes
I ran.The wolf gave chase it's paws pounding hard against the soft soil as it chased me.It snarled and growled as it approached me.
Branches tore at my arms as I bolted through the undergrowth, heart slamming against my ribs. I leapt over rotting logs, slipped through mud, slid under fallen tree trunks and dodged outstretching branches. I ran as if my life depended on it because it did. I ran and then suddenly I had to stop abruptly as before me was a rocky cliff overlooking a huge waterfall.
I stepped back nimbly as pieces of rock and debris chipped off and fell from where I had just stood.I looked back the wolf had just found me and noticing I had nowhere to go approached me menacingly as it savoured it's newest meal but it was wrong .
I ran towards the wolf as it flinched back in surprise but then with an amount of courage and bravery I didn't know I possessed. I turned back and took off at a speed that surprised me and hurled myself over the ledge.My life flashed before my eyes as everything slowed down for a breathless second before my feet hit the ground again. Then suddenly the wolf who had its eyes widened a few seconds ago circled the cliff and seeing no other way to get across it turned back.Disappointed and whimpering with it's head turned down and its tails between its legs.
I ran off adrenaline pumping through my veins as I shouted and screamed for joy.
I thought I'd escaped.
Then the sky went cold.
Two shadows appeared behind me, floating inches above the forest floor. They wore black cloaks that seemed to drink in the light around them.Thet didn't walk.They drifted. In front of them was a boy groaning and badly injured as numerous wounds appeared all over his body.
"Well we are done with this one"."He has given us what we wanted.Get rid of him" bellowed one in a voice filled with dread and death.
Jack watched as the other walked to the boy who had begun shaking violently,speaking incoherent words and drew a wicked,large,long dagger and slew his neck.The boy dropped lifelessly to the floor.
They turned to Jack"Well faith has brought us together as you can see" ."If you won't give it to us willingly," one whispered, its voice like sand paper dragged across a coffin lid, "then we'll torture it out of you."
The other raised a fist.
I tried to move. My body refused. My limbs felt like lead, my feet rooted to the earth as one shadow drew back its arm and....
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP..BEEP.BEEP.
Jack West jolted awake, his hand clutching his chest as his alarm screamed beside him. He was drenched in sweat, breath coming in ragged bursts.
"The same dream," he muttered hoarsely. "Again since the past one week."
He sat up and glanced at the floor. An old issue of Green Lantern lay open-faced beside his bed. He must've fallen asleep reading it.
Jack swung himself out of bed and immediately dropped into push-ups, then sit-ups, muscles burning as he counted under his breath. When he finished, the real testing began.
He sprinted laps around his room, legs pumping in a blur.
"Super speed?" he gasped. No.
He stopped and punched the wall as hard as he could. Pain exploded through his knuckles.
"Super strength?" No.
He squinted intensely, trying to see through the wall. Pipes remained stubbornly invisible.
"X-ray vision?" No.
He thrust his hands forward, palms shaking.
"Fire? Ice? Anything?" Nothing.
He tried moving his desk lamp with his mind.
"Telekinesis?" No.
He stood perfectly still, straining to hear beyond the walls.
"Super hearing?" Just the hum of the house.
Finally, he took a running start, jumped onto his bed, and tucked his arms in tight.
He landed face-first on the carpet with a dull thump.
"Flight," he groaned into the floor. "Definitely no."
In the bathroom, Jack filled the sink and dunked his head under. He stayed there until his lungs burned and his vision blurred, then burst back up, coughing violently.
"Underwater survival?" he wheezed. "Still no."
He wiped his face, pulled a thick journal from his drawer , and wrote:
Day 1830 of testing for superpowers.
Result: Failure.
Strategy to obtain powers: None.
Reason for failure: Inconclusive.
Jack sighed.
Ever since he was five and could read comics he was obsessed with superheroes and wanted to be one too , he'd been convinced something would happen. He'd jumped off balconies, electrocuted himself with static generators, nearly drowned twice,babbled constant gibberish to the neighbours cat.
When the doctor prescribed him glasses, he'd secretly hoped they were X-ray goggles that would help him see clearly hundreds of miles away and shoot a target moving 60 km per hour accurately but they just allowed him to see the white board clearly. When he got braces, he'd thought they were teeth sharpeners that would let him chew through steel but the were just uncomfortable pieces of silver strapped to his teeth that were uncomfortable and needed delicate care.
Gadgets were an option but in the year 2800, real tech was reserved for the elite. They were expensive and becoming more common.His parents were millionaires, sure, but they weren't buying him plasma cannons or speed boots to fund their middle childs vigilante missions.
Maybe Julian his elder brother was right. Maybe at fourteen, it was time to stop.
Speaking of his family if there was anyone more annoying than his older brother was his younger sister nosy,annoying,irritating and at 12 years old a very serious threat with a power shriek that could shatter windows even my little sister managed to invent her own superpowers.
Then he remembered his jet setting parents where were they now Italy,china,Paris,Rome he didn't care anymore they were always travelling visiting their companies abroad,Jack walked to the bathroom brushing,getting ready for school thinking.Yes his parents were great and all providing for him and his siblings with a good life ,yes they weren't billionaires but they were millionaires and at first Jack liked the freedom throwing parties pretending everything was fine when they called which was very rarely ,eating whatever he wanted ,sleeping whenever he wanted but now it was just sad and lonely and his brother's parties weren't gonna do anything about it.
As he looked at the neatly ironed school uniform on the desk He thought "being a child of rich parents was great and all but that meant he had to go to a private school,and wear a stuffy school uniform all year round but seriously in the year 2800 which school still makes its students wear a school uniform. What are we in grade one. He looked at himself in the neatly ironed,red dyed school uniform.
A shrill voice cut through his thoughts.
"Good morning, brother."
Jack groaned. His twelve-year-old sister, Maya, leaned against the doorway wearing a smug grin.
"I borrowed your charger, your laptop, your headphones, and your tablet," she said cheerfully. "Oh and I might have looked through some of your comics and that Batman character? Billionaire crime fighter with serious trauma issues who vents his anger on the criminals of Gotham . Totally my type of hero."
"How do you know my password?!" Jack shouted. "And what happened to yours?!"
"The amazing Maya knows all," she said, spreading her hands like a magician. "As for what happened to mine,that's a mine… that's a story for another day. Try getting back at me and I'll tie you up and beat you in your sleep."
Jack pushed past her, a headache already forming.
In the dining room, his older brother Julian shoveled cereal into his mouth and drank straight from the milk carton. As Jack walked by, Julian punched him in the shoulder.Jacks shoulders hurt like hell.
Jack swung back with everything he had.
Julian didn't even flinch.
"Wimp," Julian muttered. "Driver's fixing the car. You're walking today. Don't be late for the first day of school child."
"Don't call me that!" Jack snapped.
On the list of things he hated about his brother;calling him child was no 83 or was it no 62 he didn't care anymore.He hated being stuck in the middle he couldn't enjoy the privileges of being the eldest or the pampering that came with being the youngest .He was just there.
Jack sat and looked at the soggy cereal on the counter and the spilled milk on the floor.He lost his appetite immediately."I guess breakfast for today is cancelled".
He walke out the doors to the house and came out inhaling the scent of the city and soon after his sister came out.He looked at his older brother at 16 he was stronger,faster,taller and smarter than Jack who won every argument without even trying but he guessed that was just how all older brothers are made as his brother took off on his hoverboard to school his sister glared at him before skipping off on the bus while he walked.
He felt like enjoying the streets as he walked.It was the year 2800 things had greatly improved everything was just so technological new weapons and armour had been introduced and it just felt all too surreal .It looked like a great day with the weather breezy and the atmosphere dark,Jack looked at the residents of ridge mount City full of life going around their daily activities with a flourish that portrayed the busy atmosphere of the city.
Outside, Ridge Mount City stretched into the sky:towering chrome skyscrapers, floating billboards, anti-gravity walkways humming above the streets. The sky was dark despite the daylight, the air breezy and electric.
As he approached his school: he looked around just another normal day as he entered eyes turned regardless he was no normal student he was the top dog in all class activities and he was very good in sports due to his work outs and regardless of the glasses and the braces he knew that he had a lot of admirers among the girls.which made him a bullying target among the boys.Then school was bustling as it was the first day of school and Jack admired his school with a flourish.It had great architecture with wonderful aesthetics and a nice castle like structure.
Then he saw them the only people in this world that he found peace in his two best friends Meilin Lee from china and Richard Johnson from Nigeria, They ran to him
"How's it going?" Richard asked.
"Just living life"Jack replied .
It's been so long why don't we catch up over dinner,I heard that there is this new,hip,Chinese restaurant in the eastern parts of the city.
"Oh no," Jack laughed as Meilin smirked. "I'm not trying one of your foreign soups again."
"Says the guy who blew his lunch money on the latest episode of Teen Titans," she shot back.
Jack laughed."There was never a dull moment around them"
The school bell rings for the start of lesson.Richard and Meilin pulled him along.Come on dude I heard that Mr Philipps is springing a surprise geometry test on the first day of school.We have to be prepared they echoed in unison.
At lunch, Sarah appeared at his table. Perfect posture. Perfect smile.
Meilin looked upwards as if the ceiling tiles where the most fascinating thing she had ever seen in her lifetime while Richard whistled a tune that didn't exist while bending down to search for an imaginary pen he dropped.
"You didn't reply to my emails or calls," she said.
"I lost my phone," Jack lied.
"Then give me your number."
"Marcus doesn't want you talking to me."
"We broke up," she said lightly.
"He doesn't seem to think so."
Don't worry about Marcus,I'll see you later maybe during dismissal so that I can get your number.She winked and walked away.
"The women," Richard sighed. "Am I right?"
They headed off to their next set of lessons for the rest of the day but Jack couldn't concentrate.It was just so great that Marcus happened to be in his biology class and every time he turned around as the teacher droned on about human anatomy.Marcus eyes were fixed on him with such an intensity that if looks could kill her be long gone.
When the final bell rang at 4:00pm. Jack was the first to run out of the school.There was no way in hell he was risking an encounter with either Marcus or Sarah.He broke into a sprint the second he cleared the school gates, lungs burning as the neon streets blurred around him. Students shouted as he shoulder-checked his way through crowds, vaulting over a bench without slowing.He didn't even have time to meet with Meilin and Richard.As he ran through the streets of Mount Ridge he relaxed there was no way that Marcus or Sarah were gonna catch up with him after going this far.
After a turn he looked back and there was Marcus and a group of four friends."Hey bro we had to miss last period just so that we could catch up with you for a friendly chat".
Jack screamed inwardly"There was no way this was happening" He looked back. "Marcus was about 10 meters behind him."Maybe Marcus is just playing,maybe he'll leave me alone this time".
Jack walks faster and breaks into a sprint.
"Hey bro where are you running to I just wanna have a little chit chat with you.You think you can just flirt with someones girlfriend and get away with it"
"Hey Marcus you've got it all wrong.We were Just saying hi after the holiday.I don't want a fight".
"Lies,You are right there won't be a fight".
Jack relaxed and slowed down
"It will be a bloody massacre.Get him boys."
Jack ran,"He should have known that there would be a sick plot twist coming up".
He tore through the neon-lit streets, dodging pedestrians and leaping over rails but Marcus followed, vaulting walls with terrifying ease.
Jack's heart pounded in his mouth,"if he stopped he would be dead meat."
Jack ran.
The school gates vanished behind him as he burst into the street, neon signs streaking into lines of color. Students shouted as he shoved past them, nearly tripping over a delivery drone skimming the pavement.
Move. Don't think. Don't trip.
His lungs burned almost immediately. He vaulted a bench and barely slowed, shoes slapping against wet concrete.
Behind him
A clang.
Metal screamed as someone hit a handrail at full speed.
Marcus laughed.
Not winded. Not strained.
The sound dug into Jack's spine.
Jack cut sharply into a side street, shoes skidding. The noise of the city dimmed, replaced by humming power lines and the rattle of vents. A chain-link fence loomed ahead.
Dead end.
He didn't stop.
Jack jumped, fingers scraping metal as he hauled himself up and over. He dropped into a maintenance yard, landing hard and stumbling forward as pain shot through his knees.
He was already running again when something flew over the fence.
Marcus landed behind him without a sound.
Jack's heart stuttered.
That's not normal.
Jack burst through a service door and took the stairs three at a time, vision tunneling. His glasses slipped down his nose, sweat blurring everything.
If I had powers,any powers
He hit the roof.
Wind slammed into him. The city stretched out below in stacked steel and glass. He didn't slow.
He jumped.
For half a second, gravity claimed him.
His hands caught the ledge of the next building. His shoulders screamed as he dangled, feet kicking air. He dragged himself up and ran again, breath tearing from his throat.
A shadow passed over him.
Marcus cleared the gap in a single smooth arc, landing in a roll and rising without breaking stride.
No hesitation.
No fear.
Jack vaulted a low barrier and slid beneath a solar panel, nearly losing his footing. He could hear Marcus now—not breathing, not grunting,just footsteps, perfectly spaced.
Then something worse.
Marcus hit the wall behind him and ran sideways, boots slapping against vertical concrete before flipping effortlessly onto the roof.
Jack risked a glance back.
That was the mistake.
Marcus was smiling.
Jack dove off the roof into a transit plaza, crashing through a swarm of people. Drones buzzed overhead, alarms chirping as the crowd shouted and scattered.
Lost him. Lost him.
Something hit the ground in front of him.
Hard.
Jack skidded to a stop.
Marcus straightened from a crouch, cracking his neck as if he'd dropped from a single step instead of three stories.
"Game over," Marcus said calmly.
Jack spun and ran.
Straight into a narrow alley.
Trash overflowed from broken bins. Neon flickered weakly overhead. The air smelled like oil and rust.
The sound came first.
Metal scraping against brick.
Marcus descended from a fire escape, landing behind him.
Jack backed away, chest heaving, fists trembling. The walls felt closer than they should've been.His friends arrived a minute later breathing heavily and sweating badly, obviously they weren't as good as Marcus."Even he was fitter than them"
"I didn't do anything to you," Jack said, voice cracking.
"Are you sure about that".
Jack lifted his hands. They didn't look like his. Too small. Too far away. His heartbeat was in his ears:too loud, too fast.
This isn't a fight, his brain told him.
This is punishment.
The first hit came without warning.
A fist drove into his stomach and the world folded inward. All the air vanished. His body tried to inhale and failed. Something yanked his shoulders back, slammed him into the wall again.
Pain scattered. No center. Just everywhere.
A flash of teeth. Someone laughing. A blow to his ribs that made a wet sound in his chest.
Get up.
Move.
Do something.
Jack swung. His fist met nothing.
Something hard smashed into his jaw and his vision exploded into white static. His glasses skidded across the ground. The world blurred, smeared, doubled.
"Stay down," Marcus said.
The voice was calm. Almost gentle.
Jack tried to step forward.
That was a mistake.
Pain detonated in his knee. The joint bent wrong and he hit the ground hard, breath tearing out of him in a broken cry. Concrete pressed into his cheek. It was cold.
A boot crushed his wrist.
Something inside popped.
The pain finally screamed loud enough to drown out everything else. Jack's mouth opened. Sound came out or maybe it didn't. He couldn't tell.
This hurts.
This really hurts.
I don't want...
A kick drove into his ribs. Another. He curled in on himself, arms over his head, but that just changed where the blows landed. Back. Side. Shoulder.
Measured.
Like counting.
Marcus crouched beside him. Jack could see his shoes. Clean. Untouched.
"You really think you're special," Marcus said.
Jack tasted blood. Warm. Metallic.
"I'm not," he tried to say.
It came out wrong. Slurred. Small.
Marcus leaned closer.
"That's not how you act."
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw one of Marcus cronies pick up a log of wood.He turned as fast as he could but he was to slow.
Something cracked against the side of Jack's head.
The alley stretched.
The neon light above smeared into a long, flickering line. Sound pulled away, like someone turning down a volume knob. Pain dulled—not gone, just distant, wrapped in cotton.
Jack's thoughts drifted.
The dream.
The shadows.
If I had powers.....
Darkness closed in before the thought could finish.
Jack West didn't even feel himself fall.
[LOCATION: DEEP SPACE — SCOUT COCKPIT]
Vorden gripped the controls of his yellow scout ship, greenish blood slicking the console. A black-cloaked interceptor loomed behind him.They sped across the stars at the speed of light.
"You've chased me from Zorrel," Vorden rasped. "But I will not surrender these books."
A warning blared.
[MISSILE ALERT]
An explosion was heard.The ship shuddered.Red warning signs blared everywhere the alarm wouldn't stop.
And then just as he looked at the navigator he saw it the blue,green,rock inhabited by humans."Earth,5000000000 kilo meters away" he murmured. "Nowhere else to run."
I have to find a way to keep these books away from your control and even if that means losing them all to people who will use it for evil.You will never get your hands on these"
He slammed a button.
[LAUNCH]
Jack woke near the beach at 1:00 a.m., head pounding.
His body hurt so badly he felt like he was in hell,he had broken bones and dislocations in places people didn't even know about.He wanted to cry but he knew that he couldn't.That would just make Marcus happy.He fumbled around in the dark until he found his glasses smashed but at least he could still use it to see.He checked the time on his phone:1:00a.m in the morning he needed to get home.
He tried to stand but he fell again and again as his ankle throbbed mercilessly against the concrete,finally he managed to stand and began the torturous walk back home.He wondered how he would explain this to his siblings ."Ehnn,he would cross that bridge when he got there".
As he walked by the beach he thought he saw lightning.
A blue flash lit the horizon.Then suddenly a massive explosion was heard some kind of space ship crash landed on the beaches sandy environment.A huge blast echoing off. Then a huge fire started
"Cool," he muttered. "These couldn't be fireworks,regardless of the painful throbbing all over his body he needed to go and investigate."
As he reached the beach he hid behind a pier pillar.
An orange spacecraft descended from the sky. From it emerged a towering figure cloaked in black, claws gripping a glowing sword. From the wrecked yellow ship, a wounded alien stumbled out.
Jack almost screamed"That was the same figure he had seen in his dreams."
"Give me what I came for, Vorden," the dark figure hissed.
"I'd rather die."
"So be it,the dark figure brought out a long sword and charged but the alien was fast he dodged the swords slashes quickly blocking the strikes that was heading for him with his gauntlets or the armour around his body.Then the dark figure got impatient and thrust wildly
Vorden caught the blade easily with his gauntlets and unleashed a massive purple blast. The dark figure shattered,the fragments of his body flying crazily.
Vorden collapsed.
"You can come out now," he coughed.
Jack was scared,shaking at this point.His pain was long forgotten.He wanted to go home and pretend this was a dream but he knew that it would be crazy to even attempt that.
The alien suddenly spoke again this time in an angrier tone"Will I have to drag you out."
Jack didn't want to know if he was serious after seeing what he did to the dark figure.
Jack stepped forward, trembling. "Should I… call 911?"
"It's too late for any of that,come closer child."
Even in the heat of the moment Jack couldn't help but notice that nickname again."What is wrong with people I am fourteen for God's sake not three.Regardless he came closer.
Jack noticed he had red glossy smooth skin with an extremely long face which was extremely horrifying and black eyes with no sign of whites,at his finger were claws instead of nails but Jack couldn't really get a good view as the body of the alien was covered with golden armour surrounding his whole body except his head and part of his hands."There was no way this thing was human"
Vorden shoved an iron-bound chest into Jack's arms. "This is not the end there will be many more who will come". "Protect them. These are the last of them Do not let them fall into the wrong hands,Use them for good and stop anyone who dares to use them for evil."
Then he coughed and suddenly his whole body started to turn into stardust and with a wave of the. Wind every single remain of him was gone.
Jack opened the chest.
Inside were Six books,glowing and not just any normal books but peculiar and unique looking books which glowed very brightly.
A voice echoed in his mind.
[Welcome to the Comic Book System, Jack West.]
[System Initialization: 1%…].
Jack's vision blurred ,he could no longer stay upright no matter how hard he tried.He suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to sleep
The world tilted.
Jack collapsed onto the sand and for the second time that day,Jack went unconscious.