Volume 5 – Chapter 17 (in-editing v5)

Volume 5 – Chapter 17

(Alright! No more false starts, hopefully - NOW, I can try to start getting into a rhythm. Enjoy! Chapter 18 will return back to Micheal and Shin's POV)

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The First Wave

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“…and that sums up Day 1.” Aaron’s voice was a quiet whisper as he leaned forward, gazing intently at the journal laying on the table before him.

“I don’t know if I’ll survive this strange experience, so I am leaving these words behind as a record of my existence. Today marks the second day I woke up in this strange world. Strange, for I know this is not the world I grew up on. There are no stars to light the sky at night, nor a moon to accompany them.”

He’d found this journal and pen on his first day, in a room 2 floors down from the roof. There, he found cabinets filled with common office supplies, like pens, papers, folders, and more. He’d even found a backpack, something he immediately made use of.

All of the objects he found lacked any sort of identifying logo or text, adding to the strange atmosphere. It was as if these items had been created from thin air, copies of what humans normally used.  

Aaron continued to write.

“And while the stars I once knew may be gone, I will still do my best to survive. Signing out, this is Aaron Bartram of Earth.”

Aaron’s eyes were calm as he closed the notebook. Writing everything down helped him keep a cool head, if nothing else.

‘And if I end up dying here, at least this journal will survive me.’ He thought somberly.

He took a moment to take stock of himself as he stood up, stuffing the notebook into his backpack, alongside a set of water bottles and bags of chips.

He was dressed in a pair of khaki pants, a nice white shirt, and a set of tennis shoes and black socks, his typical work outfit. His clothes were a bit wrinkled from sleeping in them, but none the worse for wear. He was standing in the break room where he’d slept, a typical sized office room, with windows bleeding in sunlight from the sky above.

“Let’s deal with you, first.” He muttered, glancing out the window to his left briefly. Across from him outside was another towering skyscraper.

“Status.”

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— - Status — -

Name: Aaron Bartram

Points: 0

Race: Human

Age: 30

- Stats -

Strength - 9

Endurance - 9

Recovery - 9

Soul – 16 -> 20

- Abilities - (1/7)

Stargazer of Oblivion Type

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“It’s still the same.” Aaron spoke as he pulled up the description for the new Ability he had apparently obtained.

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—- Stargazer of Oblivion Type —-

The Stargazer of Oblivion Type emulates a Stargazer, a creature of Yore, enormously enhancing the user’s ability to connect with Conceptual Powers that require visualization. When facing paths that lead to oblivion, the user will instinctively shy away.

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“I definitely feel different.” Aaron tapped the screen at its corner, closing it with a frown.

“My memory is sharper.”

Even as a child, he’d always known he was a bit different from everyone else. Where other kids would forget things, he just… didn’t. When other children struggled to remember certain equations, he answered perfectly, time after time. It made him stand out, but also set him apart from others.

It was both a blessing and a curse, possessing a perfect memory.

But now…

‘I can visualize every single thing I did yesterday, in startling clarity. It’s like I’m creating a miniature world in my mind.’ It was an incredibly odd sensation, one that let him look back on exactly everything he had seen, in perfect clarity. It was like his eidetic memory had evolved to something more, something greater.

“This is… strange. Supernatural. Actually supernatural. I still can’t believe it.” Aaron took a deep breath and exhaled, shaking his head.

The world he had lived in for all his life had been supremely normal.

Things like this just didn’t happen, ever.

‘I’d always wondered what my life would’ve been like if I had superpowers.’  What kid wouldn’t dream of flying through the sky like a superhero?

“But this… this is something else.” He muttered.

“Real superpowers. And…” Aaron continued, opening the Shop.

“I can obtain more, if I figure out how to get Points.”

It was a strange mix of feelings he was dealing with.

Being ripped away from his life was horrifying. He was on some strange location known as the ‘First Layer’, kidnapped away without a say. All the plans he had made for his life were now like ash in the wind, scattered apart and ruined.

His friends, his parents…

‘Don’t think about it. It won’t help you here.’ He cleared his mind.

‘I’ll take solace in what little enjoyment I can find out of this.’ He thought grimly.

‘If I’m destined to die here, I might as well die happy.’

And with that thought in mind, Aaron left his room, and set out to explore, trying to understand his new surroundings.

“Who knows? Maybe I’m in some kind of weird dome-thing, and I’m still on Earth?” Even as he said that, he dismissed the thought after a few moments.

Where could something of this scale be hidden? Surely the existence of superpowers would’ve been leaked by someone if they existed on Earth.

Aaron began walking down the hallway, headed back towards the roof.

“What exactly are Conceptual Powers, anyway?” He talked to himself, trying to stave off the eerie silence of the world around him.

The term written in the description for his new Ability was one that he didn’t recognize.

“I can extrapolate to some degree based on its name.” He ran his hands through his short dark red hair, thinking intensely.

‘Run the numbers. Think. Concepts – like what – fire, water? Space?’ He waved his hands around, waiting for something to happen as he passed by several rooms.

“…”

Nothing happened.

“Well. Fine.” He sighed as he reached the end of the hallway, opening a door that led to a very tall stairwell.

“I’ll just keep trying.”

He swiftly began to climb the stairs, taking them two at a time as he headed to the roof.

“Visualization, huh?” He mumbled, pondering.

He stopped briefly, midway up the stairs, and…

Shut his eyes.

Immediately, he visualized his surroundings. The stairwell, the stairs, lit from above, all came into view in his mind, precisely as he’d seen it. He used his enhanced perfect memory to overlay a 3d-map of where he was, mapping out his exact location.

Aaron concentrated, his eyes still shut, as he continued to walk up the stairs.

It felt incredibly odd – Aaron had to fight off the instinctive urge to open his eyes as he moved, taking step after step exactly where he knew they would be.

A short moment later, and Aaron opened his eyes with a smile as he stared at the exit door to the roof.

“Neat. That’s actually super. Wow.”

The sun glared down from above as he walked out onto the roof, the sun’s beams filtering through the clouds as it lit the world around him.

Hundreds of skyscrapers, as far as the eye could see. It was just as strange a sight as it was the first day.

“So…” He paused, taking in his surroundings.

“Let’s try to figure out where I am.”

Aaron began walking South, leaving his rooftop and crossing a solid, wooden bridge. It was the same direction that had tugged at him when he first arrived on the First Layer, for whatever reason. Whatever had caused him to appear here clearly wanted him to go towards something this way.

For some reason he couldn’t quite explain, descending to the bottom of the skyscraper felt like a bad idea.

‘Is this because of my new Ability? It says I will ‘instinctively shy away’ from oblivion... which means death, right?’

Whenever he tried to go down, an incredibly uneasy feeling settled over him. The feeling only grew worse when he tried to force his way through it.

“I don’t really know what I’m doing here… but I’ll trust it for now.” Aaron grumbled as he jogged along, scanning the nearby rooftops.  

It wasn’t as if he had a better option.

This world was still as strange as it was on his first day here.

About 30 minutes passed as Aaron maneuvered his way across multiple different bridges, determined to reach the ‘edge’ of this massive group of skyscrapers, one he could just now see in the distance. Each bridge was unique in its own way, some constructed out of solid metal, whiles others where flimsy collections of wood and rope.

He was halfway across another rooftop when a loud thud interrupted his train of thought.

Aaron spun around, his gaze shooting leftward.

“Hello?!” His pulse throbbed as he lurched forward, a rush of adrenaline flooding his veins.

A sturdy steel bridge connected his skyscraper to the one to his left, where the sound was coming from. Its roof was similar to the one Aaron was on, a large, mostly flat concrete roof, with a few pipes sticking out here and there. The room containing access to its stairwell was slightly larger, bulging out from the building.

Another loud thud caused him to narrow his eyes as he zeroed in on the opposing roof’s access door.

‘It’s coming from-‘ Before he finished that thought, however…

A pillar of ice blasted free from the doorway, slamming the door open as a woman stumbled out, falling to the ground as she slipped on the ice.

“Hey! Hello!” Aaron yelled out, stepping forward excitedly,  

‘A person!’

He finally had proof that he wasn’t alone, here in this strange place.

Even as he thought that, a small frown found its way onto Aaron’s face.

‘Is that blood? She’s hurt.’ He began to jog towards her, intent on helping.

“Are you alright?!”

She was young, far too young to be dealing with something as horrifying as this. She looked to be a teenager, high-school age, dressed in a sort of school uniform. She had long blonde hair, tied up in a pony-tail, and blue eyes. Her outfit, a white school blouse and matching skirt that stopped at the knees, was lined with green lace, and had an insignia Aaron didn’t recognize, a lion and a raven, presumably, a school logo.

That same outfit was ripped along her mid-section, revealing a long, ugly bruise and several bloody scrapes on the side of her midriff.

“No- no!” The girl stuttered as she dragged herself up, favoring one leg as she caught her balance. She had an athletic build, moving with grace that spoke of many hours out training.

“It’s right behind me. We need to move!” She began to hobble towards Aaron, moving quickly despite her limp.

“Run!”

As she began crossing the bridge, she waved her hands behind her.

Her eyes glowed blue as two small pillars of ice burst backwards, enshrouding the lower half of the bridge. The blue spears of ice formed a wall roughly 3 feet high, gleaming in the sunlight.

‘She has superpowers too!’

“What’s behind you?” Aaron asked as he reached her, looping an arm around her shoulder to help her flee.

“A monster, large, zombie guy, I don’t know!” The girl’s voice trembled as she and him both ran.

“I’m Jess, thank you so much!” She continued.

“Aaron, and I’ve got you.” He returned, his mind racing as he processed what she said.

‘A monster?’

A loud, shuddering slam rang out behind him.

Aaron spun his head around and looked back.

And there it was.

A tall, gaunt figure that definitely wasn’t human.

It had leathery black skin and was extremely unsettling to look at. Its arms were long, unnaturally long, hanging loose as it stalked out across the rooftop. It lacked any defining feature that could be an eye or nose, but had a horrifying wide-open mouth filled with hundreds of grey teeth, packed together.

“What the f-“

The creature screamed, an unnatural, ungodly howl as it sprinted forward, shattering the walls of ice and throwing itself towards them. Its unsettlingly long hands began to glow and enlarge as it charged across the bridge, ripping towards them.

“It’s after me. It won’t stop!” Jess screamed as she spun around, her eyes glowing blue once more, as blood began to drip down from her nose.

An enormous pillar of ice burst forth, easily 5 meters tall, completely sealing the bridge off.

“We need to-“

The monstrous creature effortlessly broke through the wall of ice, sending huge chunks of solid blue flying into them.

The world began to slow down as Aaron’s mind raced, processing everything in sight.

He had only a split second to think, and so he did what he could.

In his mind’s eye, he visualized everything he saw. Every chunk of ice, the contours of this inhuman creature, the exact angles at which his body was placed.

His newfound supernatural sense of presence let him direct his movements perfectly, grabbing ahold of Jess, and twisting his body into a diving roll.

Jagged blocks of ice that would have gored both of them flew over their heads, whistling through the air. Smaller pieces of ice pelted them, alongside one giant clump that smashed into the his back, sending him cascading backwards.

The impact sent both of them flying, knocking them out off the bridge and onto the hard, concrete rooftop. A wave of pain slammed into Aaron as his world shook, his body bouncing hard on the flat roof. The girl tumbled free from his grip, part of her blouse ripping off as she flung several feet away.

All Aaron could hear was a ringing sound as he shifted, trying to get back on his feet.

‘What was that?!’

“Run! Leave me!” Jess’s voice echoed in the background.

‘Am I in shock?’

A sense of unreality settled on Aaron as he blinked.

The girl, Jess, was pinned down, her leg clearly broken, as she leaned against the access doorway on the roof. Blood was dripping down from her nose, her eyes, and her ears as she bravely waved at him, urgently, to flee.

“It won’t chase you, it’s after me!”

Just a few meters away, across from her, was the hulking black humanoid creature, smashing through several newly raised walls of ice.

‘She’s going to die.’

The ringing in Aaron’s ears grew louder.

‘She’s just a kid.’

Time seemed to slow down, every moment passing excruciatingly slowly.

‘Do something.’

What could he possibly do against that?

‘DO SOMETHING.’

The terrifying Abnormal Morenkai smashed through layer after layer of ice, only seconds away from killing the girl.

Unbeknownst to Aaron, this was a tale that was being played out all across the First Layer, as the First Wavers of humanity began to encounter the horrifying creatures that would later come to be known as Morenkai.

For many, this was a tale of tragedy, as monster fought man, and man found his end.

For Aaron…

This was the start of his journey into the 7 Layers.

‘DO SOMETHING!’

‘DO SOMETHING!’

Aaron reached out his hand, still holding a torn piece of the girl’s blouse, as the sense of unreality filling him began to fluctuate.

‘DO!’

The Abnormal Morenkai broke through the final layer of ice.

‘SOMETHING!’

Aaron reached…

And the world answered.

Reality as he knew it transformed.

And it was here, where tens of thousands of other First Wavers perished, that Aaron Bartram did something extraordinary.

Out of the billions of humans that survived the First Layer, out of the trillions of beings that were Chosen across the 7 Layers, across all of existence itself…

Aaron’s Soul, modified by the one-of-a-kind Stargazer of Oblivion Type, in this exact moment, in this exact place…

He got lucky.

Instinctively, guided by a force unknown, Aaron spoke the words that would forever change his fate.

“Vector.”

The piece of cloth he held began to glow.

“Forward.”

Like a missile, the cloth transformed and shot forward, blasting into the Morenkai with enough force to send it flying off the roof.

The girl froze, her head turning to stare at Aaron as she gazed on in shock.

For the first time in written history, across all species known to have traversed the 7 Layers…

Aaron Bartram became the first known being to connect with the Conceptual Power:

Vector.

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