NOVEL NEXT Chapter 002 – A New Start
Jolting awake, I found myself sitting in an unfamiliar bed while my clothes were completely sweat-soaked.
I was alive, that much was clear. Though I simply didn't know how that was possible.
Unfamiliar knowledge about my surroundings bloomed in my mind as I slowly got out of bed and nearly tripped, realizing that my body wasn't the same anymore.
The weak moonlight, shining through the windows illuminating the room, was enough to make me realize that my hands looked different as well.
Tentatively I touched my face and hair, realizing that I had indeed woken up after a deadly car accident in a completely different body with knowledge about a life that wasn't mine.
I understood that knowledge to be foreign, as it felt distinctively different than my own memories.
My shock had not worn off yet, as I turned around and moved towards the bathroom when a brilliant-white piece of paper caught my eyes, as it lay seemingly innocent on the windowsill.
Something akin to instinct made me take two shaky steps, as my hand reached out and grabbed the small card. A few words were written on it in golden letters and beautiful script.
Using the moonlight, I managed to read them easily enough.
Create Yourself. – A Benefactor
The moment I finished reading the words, the small white card turned into motes of light and sunk into my hands.
Surprised I took a step back, before once again new knowledge appeared in my head, knowledge much more shocking and exciting than the fact that I had somehow been placed into an unfamiliar body and in an unfamiliar apartment.
Now I knew where I was, or more precisely what world I was in. It was a version of Earth where Mutants existed, a version I had knowledge of thanks to movies and fictional stories.
And I was one of them – a mutant.
And even more importantly, true to the message, I had been granted the power to create myself.
Overwhelmed, my lips formed a smile of heartfelt joy. I didn't know who had given me this chance, but that didn't lessen the sincere gratitude I felt. At that moment my heart had been cleansed of the despair that had accompanied me for so long.
I had finally been given the key to true freedom.
It took me a few minutes to calm myself and turn on my think-factory.
Walking into the unfamiliar, yet familiar bathroom, I switched on the light and stripped down completely, before taking a good look at myself in the full-body mirror mounted on the door.
Athletic, but a bit lanky. Reasonably good-looking. Black hair and bright green eyes. Above average height.
I saw my new body. The body of a seventeen-year-old teenager named Elijah Frost.
The knowledge in my head though didn't mention anything about family, only that my mother had died last year and that since then I had used the money from the life insurance payout to take care of myself. It had been a rather considerable sum of half a million US dollars.
One might wonder how a seventeen-year-old would be able to rent an apartment on his own, but it seemed under special circumstances, like in the absence of a living relative of legal age, a sixteen-year-old could receive the court's approval to live on his own, effectively making him an adult in the eyes of the law.
Of course, one had to prove oneself a responsible and mature person, which was mainly done by an evaluation from the school and one from an independent psychiatrist. The knowledge in my head told me that I had gotten approval from both of those, so that was one burden off my shoulders.
After inspecting my new body, I stepped into the shower to wash off the sweat on my body. The hot water running over my form a few moments later did wonders to help me clear my head.
As I absentmindedly soaped myself up, my mind couldn't help but wander to the mutant power I had been gifted with.
Self-creation.
It did exactly as its name told. It was a power that allowed me to give myself abilities without limit, the only requirement being a type of energy that accumulated inside my body over time.
This accumulation could be sped up by working out as there seemed to be a connection between this energy and the bioenergy generated by exerting one's physical body.
The more powerful an ability I wanted to grant myself, the more energy it would take.
This X-Gen definitely had Omega-level potential, probably even beyond that.
I knew of the powerful beings that would or already had appeared in this world, so I knew that I would need every ounce of power this ability granted me to stand tall – like I desired – in this world.
Washing off the soap, I stepped out of the shower and started to dry myself off, before going back to my room and putting on some shorts and a shirt.
My mind felt rather exhausted after experiencing death only a few minutes back, followed by transmigrating into a completely foreign world and having new knowledge being poured into my mind twice.
Still, now wasn't the time for sleep, as I was quick to realize the danger I already might be in.
From the information in my head, I recognized this world to be similar to the movies but wasn't entirely sure how far these similarities extended.
Nevertheless, the danger of being extraordinary in such a world was practically sky-high, even more so if you had just awakened your potential to be a mutant of the Omega category, as there were people with the ability or technology to detect such things.
Sitting in my desk chair, I thoroughly inspected the information about my mutant ability, not willing to miss even the smallest detail. After a few minutes of focused introspective, I couldn't help but let out a sigh.
'Not simple at all … '
My initial categorization of this power was absolutely true, as it was most certainly beyond the Omega-level.
Metaphorically speaking it was like having an imaginary metaphysical water tank with endless capacity hidden in my body. Every minute, every second it filled up a little more and every activation of my mutant power would use up some of this energy to create a new ability.
These newly created abilities though didn't drain these reserves but were a separate and completely new mutant power.
The hidden energy reserves of this mutant ability would take at least a few days to fill up naturally to grant me an Epsilon-level mutant ability, which was practically useless. Abilities of higher levels would take vastly more time to be gained.
Though currently, my reserves were brimming with a familiar kind of energy, ready to grant me an incredibly powerful mutant power at any moment.
Omega.
That was what my mind told me, as I felt the enormous power source in my body. Suddenly I recognized the familiar feeling to be the motes of light that had entered my skin a few minutes ago and realised, that this was the last gift left behind by my nameless benefactor.