Oscar sat on a bench in front of a smoking hospital whose flames ascended to the sky like hot barbeque. His eyes were full of rage, his heart panting in desire for more.
All this rage, all this increased bloodlust he felt though was as a result of him taking a sweet innocent soul. Of all the stack of people he fantasized about killing in his school, a beautiful young woman who was nothing but nice to him became his very first victim.
Beside him though was Finn, lying unconscious on a hospital bed full of injuries he had gotten from the drug site. Oscar had managed to pull him out on the bed before he sent the place to the devil.
Suddenly a tall man in a cowboy hat and a long black coat appeared in thin air, standing in front of Oscar.
Oscar flinched and then stood up to him in boldness, picking a fighting stance.
The man looked down at Oscar with his bright white eyes, "So you're the hero?"
"Did you come here to die?" Oscar greeted him with hostility.
"Hahahahahah," the man raised his head and laughed uncontrollably.
The feeling of intimidation provoked Oscar so bad that it reminded him of school, "Let's see who would be laughing when I'm done with you."
Oscar tried to activate his flames again but unfortunately for him the demo mode has expired. He tried again, thriving obviously.
"What's wrong? Trying to take a shit?" the man mocked him, though clueless of what he was trying to do.
Oscar quickly switched options and pulled out his flaming whip, sequentially swinging it at the middle aged man.
The man nonchalantly slapped it out of his face, completely shattering the weapon in pieces. The flames eventually died off as the many particles of it lay on the ground like mere ropes.
A tinge of shock ran through Oscar's blood, with fear immediately crippling in.
'How did he do that?"
"You might have taken out our zombies, but actually, those are the least creatures on our food chain. They're just the tip of the cake which means you're way way below me. So don't mistake my serenity for weakness," the man attacked Oscar's pride. "Who sent you to destroy the zombies?"
"Maybe I just felt like it," Oscar still yet answered with hostility.
"Your powers, you didn't use the drug," the man carefully observed him with his eyes. "You're coming with me kid, we got some questions for you."
"Unless it's in a coffin, I'm not going anywhere," Oscar challenged.
Suddenly an ambulance surrounded by a group of military vehicles was in sight, they were approaching quick.
"Another time, kid. I might not be this nice," he disappeared into thin air.
Oscar caught his breath and sat down beside his friend again, patiently waiting for the cars.
As soon as they got there the soldiers jumped out with their guns and covered every perimeter while the nurses rushed for Finn. The general on the other hand, got his eyes on Oscar. He wore a stern look.
"Are you alright? Are you injured?" one of the nurses investigated Oscar's body in an act of concern.
"Sir, it seems he was the only survivor," a soldier reported to the general as he walked towards Oscar with a glare.
"What's your name boy?" General Husk questioned him.
"Oscar," he replied timidly.
"Oscar what?"
"Oscar Rife," Oscar responded.
"What happened here?" he asked Oscar, his voice loud, cold, and intimidating.
"The nurse, she saved me," Oscar put up a voice to appear like a scared little boy. "They were so many. The zombies. They were trying to eat us. Then she lit them on fire and helped me escape with my friend."
"Where's she now?" General Husk didn't feel an ounce of emotion.
"She's dead. She died in the fire," Oscar expressed bitterly.
{Bloodlust: low}
A tab appeared before his eyes. At first Oscar was scared they could see it, but then in less than a minute reality proved him wrong; no one else could see it except for him.
The general appeared to be skeptical of Oscar's story, "How come you survived without a single burn?" he turned to the nurses, "Test him if he got that stupid drug in his system."
As the nurses approached Oscar the captain approached the general, "We don't have orders to kill the drug users. They're mostly minors and well half the population. Our own citizens."
"Captain, are you in charge here?" the general fired a rhetorical question.
"No."
"Exactly, so let me do my job. Lead you," he turned to the nurses who're already testing Oscar.
"He's clean," a nurse reported.
In the same second Oscar pulled his arm from her provoked, "I don't do drugs." He walked out of the scene, away from them all into the streets.
"System."
"System," he whispered repeatedly as soon as he got to a quiet part of the streets.
{Turn on voice: Yes/No}
"There's a voice!" Oscar exclaimed. "Yes."
A female voice echoed in his head.
"Why couldn't I activate my flames back there with that mysterious man?"
"Demo?"
"How do I unlock it?"
"Okay…? Activate tutorials."
{Tutorial 1: About System}
The scene behind him melted to accommodate another reality. He found himself at the meeting line between a forest and hills. The sky shun like the cosmos giving the atmosphere of this world a beautiful eerie glow of different shades.
"Twenty years ago," the voice of a male narrator filled the atmosphere. "Adam Rife, a local scientist was hired by the government to research a classified project."
"That's my dad," Oscar whispered to himself.
"It was a study on how ancient people survived without the invention of science at the time. Magic! The government knew the answer. But they wanted this power at the tip of their fingers despite their ancestors banning it and fully depending on science for the much negativity it introduced into society."
"Imagine what men do with knives and guns," the narrator continued, "magic was a greater evil. It'd corrupt the world even more if everyone possessed it, so Adam blew up the lap along with himself after coding a system, one he put in his son."
Oscar felt his chest with both hands, "Me."
"He didn't trust his fellow scientists that carried out the project so he had saved a piece of it to defend his son from the world if ever such cases were to arise. If you're hearing this, it means his suspicion was correct."
{Tutorial 1: About System}
{Completed}
A faint beep echoed in Oscar's ears as he returned to the streets he was walking on.
He stood on a spot, his mind still hanging on the words he had heard. He's dad was some kind of unknown hero who made a means to protect him even from his grave.
{Continue to tutorial 2: Yes/No}
"Yes," Oscar replied firmly with a desire to learn more.
{Tutorial 2: System Requirements}
"Cancel cancel cancel," Oscar aborted midway at the glimpse of two scary silhouettes.
{Tutorial cancelled}
Two young men in their mid-twenties blocked his path, clearly towering over him. One with a thick blue head of hair and the other, thick red.
"Do I know you?" Oscar stood his ground, his voice unshaken.
"We're the Zig Zag Twins," the one with the blue hair responded. "And we have orders to bring you in for questioning by force or with a smile on your face."
Oscar raised his head to the sky and opened his mouth wide to utter a sigh, "I don't smile much."
"As you wish," the red one lit up in flames, followed by the blue one who grinned at his partner and iced up his hair and fists with the dreadful look of battle.