Chapter 1: When Everything Changed
Opening my eyes, I stare at the rocky surface a many meters above me. The characteristic stench of blood and rotten flesh is intense, it overwhelms all my senses. Lifting my hand to block my nose, I notice that it's entirely colored in and dripping a red liquid. I widen my eyes.
"Blood? What?"
Quickly sitting up, I look around. I'm on top of a pile of corpses and surrounded by many others, too much for me to count. All of them are severely maimed, their blood covering the ground and forming a large pool beneath me. Curiously enough, however, the blood isn't clotting. Looking at me, I'm completely naked and my whole body's covered in blood. Shifting my eyes, I see a man, his eyes are open and he stares at me, at least that would be it if he weren't dead and his eyes lifeless. Getting up, I feel something on my leg, I look at it and see dead woman's hand wrapped around my ankle, grasping it tightly.
"Where am I? How did I get here?"
Taking the hand off, I feel chills and all the hairs in my body stand on their ends. To see dead bodies like these isn't such shocking thing, after all, internet has worse things but even so it still feels weird.
"(Just how did I get here?)"
Stepping on corpses, I walk out of the disgusting pile. My feet then passes through the puddle blood, sending ripples across it's surface, as I step over corpses of men, women and children alike, of all ages. Stopping, I see a little kid torn in half with his organs spilling out of his body, it makes me feel pity and once again I get chills.
"
I close the little kid's eyes and then resume, walking out of the pool of blood into a tunnel-like opening. I now step on cold rock and leave bloody footprints behind me.
"Just where the hell am I? (I was in my room, laid down on my bed and listening to my favorite songs. How did I end up in here?)"
Following the tunnel for a little while, the rocky walls then open into another wide area and I stop. There is another blood pool and a pile full of corpses up ahead but this one is different. In the middle of it there is someone crouching, it's a man. He's the same as me, most of his body covered in blood, though I can say he's older. However, he's acting strange and making some disturbing wet noises.
"(It's like he's eating... Nah, he's not doing that. What am I even thinking? But then again... is that really so unbelievable to be happening? If it its then how the fuck did I end up here? Magic?)"
The man, as if feeling my presence, looks over his shoulder and directly at me. He has no lips, exposing his purple gums and yellowish teeth, his eyes are completely gray and his skin is sickly white.
"(He... looks just like a zombie.)"
The zombie man gets up, turns to me and dashes really fast at me. He tackles me and takes me to the ground but as he opens his filthy mouth wide, I have a sudden realization.
"(This is a nightmare. Damn took me long enough to notice. Zombies are my favorite concept, no wonder I'm having a nightmare with it. And it's so realistic too.)"
Clenching my eyes with all my strength, I wait for a couple of seconds and when I open them again I'm back in my room, lying down on my bed staring at the good old ceiling as, in my ears, the earplugs are playing a song of the mid 90s from a very famous band. Lifting my phone, I stare at the screen and smirk.
"Zombie. How ironic.
Stretching my body, I sit up, rub my eyes and kill some time on the internet, mindlessly scrolling on the phone as really good music plays in the background. But as I'm doing so, I hear someone speaking to me. Taking the ear plugs off, I look at the door and around me for anyone who's talking to me, however, I suddenly feel very cold. My body stops moving, I can't think, every centimeter of my being is under immense pressure, as if something is grasping my whole body firmly, and even breathing is impossible. The voice speaks again, its words resounds inside my head.
Male/Female Voice: "(... rejoice, lesser being, for I have chosen your small, pathetic world. Struggle, kill and die. Whatever you do, I'll be watching. So entertain me, amuse me. I want to see who will surpass all and stand tall upon piles and piles of corpses, amidst rivers of blood.)"
The pressure disappears and I regain my movements.
"
With sweat covering my body, I check my phone but on my hand, instead of the phone, there is a small box. I stare at it and a phrase appears inside my head.
"(Starting Gift: A gift from God, contains 1 reward ranging from Power Orbs, Elixirs, Super Serums, Items or Superpowers. God? Is this for real?)"
I take my eyes off it but the phrase still remains inside my head. Hesitantly, I open the lid and the box simply dissipates, leaving a blue marble ball on my palm. Keeping it between my fingers, I look inside and I see something moving. It's flickering, like a burning flame. As I look at it, words once again appear inside my mind.
"(Orb of the Living Sun: Contains the power of the solar flames, granting the capability to become the embodiment of the sun and manipulate flames of the sun and heat, whether from its surface or core, at the cost of mana, consume the orb to acquire the Superpower. Pyro... kinesis? Can this really do what it says it does?)"
I push it to the side and turn to my phone, it's resting on the bed, but its screen is black, even the songs stopped playing. I tap on it but no matter what I do it doesn't respond.
"(Smartphone: Man-made technological device powered by the electrical charge contained in the battery, currently useless as all the technology of the Old World has been destroyed by the influence of God. Old World. God. This weird knowledge that invades my mind. It's too weird. Too many things to process. First I'll have to check if I'm safe.)"
Putting the marble ball into my pocket, I jump out of bed and head through the door. I look at both ends of the corridor but there is no one. I listen to any kind of unusual noise but everything is silent, after all, I'm pretty much the only one in the dorms right now.
"Is nothing going to happen? No zombies? Maybe it was just a coincidence? Or I'm going crazy? That can't be. God spoke to me, I heard his voice. He chose this world but I don't know what does that even mean."
Looking at my phone again, its description keeps replaying inside my head.
"(All Old World technology has been dstroyed by the influence of God. Then... my playlist of favorite songs are gone? Those five-hundred songs are gone just like that?)
As I look at the phone, I hear loud screams coming from both sides of the corridor. I go back into my room and shut the door, locking it up.
"Okay... Anthony, now's not the time to freak out. Superpowers. Old World. God. Fuck all that, let's focus. If there'll be zombies and if they are as fast as the one in the nightmare, I better find a way to get out of here. And quickly. Staying in a place with hundreds of students, or in other words, hundreds of zombies isn't a good idea.)"
Placing my phone in my other pocket, I grab a paper and a pen, and draw a basic map of the place.
"(I should focus on securing water, food and a safe place to stay but that is irrelevant now, I gotta get out of here first. Okay. I'm in the dorms, which means I'm here, in the middle of the campus. Now, how do I get out of here, you ask me. The only exit is through the main gate and it's here but to reach there I'll have to walk through the main buildings and go down the stairs, but the whole place is going to be swarming with zombies and people trampling on each other. I could reach there through the parking lot but the gate is closed so I'll just be waiting to die, which means I'll have to open it somehow. What do I do?)"
Sitting on the chair, I stare at the map.
"(How to open the gate? The security booth has the controls but I probably won't have the time to open it. I need to look for another way. And then there's the Superpower orb. Taking it is pretty much a gamble. I don't know what it'll do to me, if there'll be side effects, I could even die... You know what, why not take it. I'll either die to zombies or to this. And if I die, I die. It's certainly better than living in a world with no technology just because a fucking prick wanted.)"
I reach for my pocket and take out the blue marble, I look at it and without hesitation I throw it inside my mouth and swallow. It flows down my throat but then flames comes out from my mouth. It surprises the fuck out of me, so much I fall from the chair.
"(Fi... re?)"
My chest starts to burn from within, I can feel fire inside me and it spreads across tissue, blood vessels and nerves, the extremely intense heat inside me makes my body glow intensely. Pain grows by the second, so much I can't even utter a sound, I can just endure the best I can but it's like nothing I ever felt before. My body combusts into orange flames, destroying my clothes. Everything around me catches on fire and as the heat then sharply rises, my flesh, blood and bones becomes fire itself and I start to float.
"
Enduring the unspeakable pain, I don't know how long I stay like this but after what it feels like eternity the heat and the pain simply disappears all at once, and I feel immense relief. My body, however, has changed. My physical form is made of fire and exudes scorching flames, so hot everything around me either decompose or melt. The flames are immensely powerful but I can't feel their heat, not even a little.
"
I stare at the orange flames and have a sudden enlightenment.
"(These flames aren't normal flames but fiery plasma... exactly like that of the sun... they burn much hotter than normal flames and don't require oxygen... and this explains why I'm floating.)"
Despite the destruction around me, I'm feeling very comfortable. But there is one issue, a very important one.
"How the fuck do I control this?"