Ok so, it turns out I'm supposed to save the world from some terrible horrible unforeseen fate that will destroy everything I've ever known or loved, but the problem is I just started high school and it's not going so well. So here I am with a 200 pound 6,4 football player's fist slamming into my face at a disturbingly fast speed. You might be wondering how I got here, well, so am I. Apparently my friend went and talked to this guy's girlfriend and said that I made him talk to her, like really not cool dude. Anyway it's almost impressive how fast I'm able to get into completely undeserved trouble throughout my entire life. I mean it's only been half a day and I'm already going to be the laughing stalk of the entire school for the next few months. And I really wish this was the first time this happened to me but it's happened to me so many times I'm kinda used to it. I guess I just have the worst luck ever, anyway back to me getting punched in the face. This guy had to be part god or something because his punch flung me across the room like I was 30 pounds. I slammed into a wall and heard people laughing at me. When I got out of my daze I could see that they were all recording, great. Eventually a few staff members came to "break it up" which was just a nice way of saying stopping him from killing me. After that I got sent home and yelled at by my mom who for some reason always blames me for getting beaten up. When I did eventually fall asleep, I had a strange dream about a strange being I couldn't recognize, a ghoul of sorts that had glowing red eyes and a body made of soot, ash, and flame, all swirling around to form a coherent body, the light from the flames being hidden by the ash leaving a faint glow from under its soot cloak. I got the sensation that it was trying to talk to me but I couldn't understand a word it was saying. It was like someone trying to talk to you underwater. Suddenly the scene changed. I was now on a battlefield but no normal one.
This battle field had no soldiers but instead a giant beast and four regular people. Except these people weren't regular at all, they all wore armor and had fierce weapons. The one that seemed to be the leader had a blade that was as long as he was tall, and it was pitch black aside from an ominous glow in the center of the weapon. As powerful as this weapon seemed to be, the beast looked even stronger, it had to be at least a hundred feet tall with teeth the size of a person and thick scale-like skin accommodated with glowing red eyes and an orange and brown pattern along its tusks. Just as the beast attacked and I thought the strangers were done-for, the strange man in the middle threw his giant sword in the air, chanted something I couldn't understand and the blade split down the middle and bent inward on itself revealing the core of the weapon that emanated power, the blade continued to shift until it became what seemed to be a massive cannon made of the same dark steel that the weapons sword form was made out of and the flaming aura that came from the weapons core. The newly formed weapon returned to the man and he simply gave the beast a triumphant grin. The man held up the energy cannon up to his large shoulder and started chanting something in that same strange language, but, strangely enough I did hear something in English, a chant I'm sure I will never forget. "The ash of days, and flames of night, the moon and sun a circle of life, with the blast of sol I will end the eternal process of endless life for this mindless beast" With the last one of these words leaving his mouth the cannon fired a beam of glowing orange-light straight at the beast. It easily tore through the monster's tough armor and left a massive hole in the middle of its chest. The blast from this weapon was so powerful that it split the sky and up rooted surrounding trees. The man began to leave as I was brought back to the void with that ghoul of ash and flame and the last thing I heard before I woke up was :"you must be the one." After that I awoke in a cold sweat but I noticed something strange. All of my wounds from yesterday's beatdown were healed and I didn't have my usual morning groggyness, but instead, I felt energized like I had been awake for hours. Not only was there this sense of being fully awake but I also felt stronger and maybe even… taller? I got out of bed with ease unlike my usual morning struggle where I stare at the movie posters hanging on my wall adjacent from my queen sized bed before eventually gathering the will to get up. As I stood I confirmed that I did, in fact, get taller overnight and by quite a large margin at that. I make my way over to the bathroom and look in the mirror to see my regular skinny pale face is now seemingly a bit more lively but also covered in the same ash I saw circling the entity that brought me to that other world. OK maybe that wasn't just a dream I say, admiring my newly slightly beefed up body and while at the same time washing the sticky ash off of my face and out of my wavy light brown hair and amber eyes. I finish up in the bathroom and walk to the kitchen making my way downstairs on the creaky, cold hardwood floor that seems to bend slightly with every step. I get to the kitchen and realise mom must have already left for work which is both relieving and worrying at the same time, I mean, I did completely change overnight, im taller, less pale, and not a skeleton anymore and I can only imagine mom's reaction when she she's this person just chilling in her house when she returns from her shift at the veterinary clinic. As I finish this thought I'm hit with a pang of hunger Which I suppose makes sense considering I gained about 50 pounds overnight, but damn am I hungry. I don't even wait to toast the bread before I start quickly consuming the bread, oranges, cheese, and whatever else I can get my newly enlarged hands on. When I'm mid devouring an apple I look at the clock and realise it's 7:30 "oh shit" I mumble to myself before running back to my room and putting on my uniform quickly which is now 2 sizes too small. I grab my backpack and run out the door as I see my bus roll away from my stop down the street as all the lines of identical houses seem to laugh at me. I consider skipping but realise I've already made a bad enough impression as I open my garage and get my bike out of an old pile of broken chains and brake pads that my dad generated from years of working on cars. I pull my bright blue kiddy bike out and pedal like never before, soaring past the repeat houses of our suburb and occasionally hitting my head on the leaves of the low hanging trees. Even on my kiddy bike it's effortless to pedal which is something that at least winded me before this… evolution. After once again getting distracted by my newfound endurance I can see the school up ahead and begin to slow down as I come to the road in front of the main building. After getting across the road I leave my bike in a fake bush with woodchips at the bottom and head to the front entrance. The regular sounds of other students talking accompanied by the sounds of honking coming from our poorly designed parking lot play around me as I breath in the fresh morning air mixed with the smell of exhaust and a cheap scented spray the school uses which I think smells like a mixture of lavender and lemons which doesn't smell the best mixed with the scent of 1000 sweaty teenagers on a hot summer day. I push through the crowds and make my way to the stairs leading down to my basement class, art. The stairway to the basement is dark and cramped and the sticky walls and railing aren't a good guide. Eventually I land at the bottom of the stairway and I'm greeted with the warm orange lights that line the basement halls. I walk past all of the self conservation posters and the "learning is the biggest blessing we have" pamphlet and open the art classroom door. My art class is a stark contrast to the soft lighting and faint hum in the hallway because as soon as I open the door I'm met with bright yellow lights and art projects from previous years hanging all around the classroom. I make my way to my assigned seat and prepare for the day that's about to come. As I sit down I notice the girl beside me, Emily, who usually keeps to herself is staring at me with a confused look on her face. I wonder what I could have done this time before realizing I don't look like the small,pale, skinny kid that has been sitting beside her this past week. Hoping to explain, I look up at her, she is pretty pale herself but not white, she has light pink cheeks the same colour as her lips, she has dark black eyes that match her silky hair which has a few braids flowing across the back of her head, curls at the tips, and has a dandelion hair pin in it, she seems small or maybe that's the way she carries herself. Before I can open my mouth to explain myself she turns to look away which I understand because she probably thinks I'm a whole new person and from what I've gathered she's very socially anxious. I decide to turn away as well and try to think of how I'm going to explain this. My art class is already pretty small but today it seems there's even less students than normal. Everytime a classmate did show up they either looked at me confused or just didn't care. In total there's only about 11 students in this class and today about 7 have shown up. Finally at 8:10 my teacher, Mr Grey. shows up, who, despite his name, is one of the most colourful and outgoing people I've ever met. Mr Grey is actually a young man, maybe in his late 20s and he always wears colourful clothing that matches his attitude. Mr Grey has long brown hair and blue eyes as well as a small beard and he always opens up with… and right on cue Mr Grey says "goodmorning class I hope you're all having a great morning now lets add some colour to the world". I get he's trying to be uplifting but that's just too much for a bunch of teenagers at 8 in the morning. After some exaggerated sighs from my classmates Mr grey begins to take attendance. "Roy?" "here" "Thomas?" "here" and so on. Eventually he got to me and Emily who were last with both of our last names starting with m. "Eimily?" "Im here" she replied softly, "and finally, Arthur. Arthur, are you here?" " Here" I reply in a slightly deeper voice than normal. This prompts a lot of turned heads from my classmates as well as a confused look from Mr Grey. "Quite.. Quite the growth spurt you've had Arthur" says Mr Grey clearly confused "y-yeah it's crazy" I say while nervously laughing and scratching the back of my head which seems to be enough to make some of my classmates and Mr Grey really believe it's me. Mr Grey turns around on his chair to look at his lesson plan. "Alright everyone! Today we will be learning about colour theory and what colours grab a viewer's attention the most!" After speaking for a bit he instructs Tony to hand out a worksheet on what our personal favourite piece of art is and why and to try and see how colour affects our choice. Tony is a short but athletic boy with curly blonde hair and brown eyes. He isn't insanely popular but he has his group of friends and he's always been pretty kind, so I like the guy. When he gets to me he says in a whisper "yo, bro, how'd you get that glowup overnight, it's insane, and I think the girls like it too."(He nods his head at Emily who once again quickly turns away when I turn to look at her)" Anyway good for you man he says with a genuine smile then pats me on the shoulder before handing the extras back to Mr Grey. A while into the class the projector goes out on Mr Grey and because this happens so often he decides to write on the chalkboard. "Arthur, Emily can you two go get a box of chalk and a few erasers from the supply room down the hall?" "Yes sir" I say. Followed by Emily's "y-yes sir," her voice is both quiet,soft and girly but not like a little kid's. There are a few giggles when we leave class but I don't pay attention to them. We walk down the dimly lit hallway with only the faint sounds of the humming overhead lights and other lessons being taught faintly echoing around us. When we reach the end of the hall I stop and reach into my pocket to grab the supply room key Mr Grey gave me but the sudden stop prompts Emily to bump into me. "Im-im sorry" she says sounding almost desperate for forgiveness, "no that was my fault, are you alright?" I responded. Emily smiles and says she's fine. I unlock the supply room closet and a gust of stale cool air blows out at us. "When was the last time anyone went in here?" I say out loud while searching around the dark room. Emily stays close to me, clearly on edge by the dark and cool old room. Suddenly there's a SLAM! Sound which causes Emily to shriek and when I look behind us the door is closed leaving us completely in the dark. Emily runs back to try and open the door but falls to the ground with a bang "oww..: "she groans. "Are you alright?" "I think so," she replies. Suddenly there's a familiar glow giving off heat that appears in the corner. I look over and unbelievably it's that ghoul from my dream. It's still clearly a glowing ball with ash, fire, and soot circling around it but this time I can't make out an exact figure like before, but it seems to reach out towards me. "W-what is that thing" Emily says sounding terrified. "I don't know," I replied, also frightened. I turn and see Emily still on the ground from the fall looking terrified with tears filling her eyes as she tries to back away but her foot is caught under a box. I go to help her before that thing talks or more accurately makes random noises. "Acbu shama sloro" it seems to say "I cant understand you!" I shout back in a mixture of fear and anger. Emily grabs onto my pant leg out of fear as the ghoul transforms before our eyes back into the more humanoid form I saw before. This time it felt more real: a giant black body made of ash and soot, eyes and core made of fire and a tail made of a mix of them. I'm stunned silent and Emily closes her eyes as it speaks this time in English "boy- you have been chosen. Take great pride in this accomplishment", his voice is deep and menacing with the sound of wind following every word."And you, girl" he says looking at Emily "you have seen my form and heard my breath, because of this you will go as-well" Before I can object the creature grabs onto me and snaps its fingers "goodluck, chosen one" I hear as everything goes black.