Unordinary: A Dream...? More Like A Nightmare

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A Dream?... More Like A Nightmare

"Keene.", the older man said as if he'd known the man had been there from the start. "Why don't you let everyone know there's a show in town for them to watch? And please be careful to not wake those still resting, they are still growing and require their rest after pushing themselves so hard, don't you think?", Vaughn finished as he relaxed into his chair to rest for the first time since the world had changed.

"What?", Darren muttered to no one as he stared off into space, still mourning his quiet life's early death. "And John doesn't?", he finished as he slumped onto the floor to sit against the desk as Keene happily marched off to follow orders.

"I think you'll find that John feels he has slept long enough, Mr. Darren.", Vaughn gave his last reply as he slipped off to the land of Morpheus, entrusting everything under his protection to the young man who reminded him of better days spent with people he was too focused on his self imposed mission to realize cared for him until they were gone.

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John took a steady step forward, feeling himself slip away into the nothingness he'd always found himself in when he was getting ready for a fight. The world narrowed itself down around him as he made his way through the hall and towards the front of the school, leaving only gray stretches of reality he could perceive to mark the way towards his objective; the front of the school turned refuge and the gate that even now stood completely open. He made a mental note to fix that later as he focused on the hundreds of glowing red eyes making their way towards him. He ignored the eyes he could feel focusing on him, ever so slowly closing in on where he stood in front of his school's door just a dozen feet from the walls only entrance into the campus, standing in the fifty or so feet of destruction his peers fight with the lion monster had caused.

'My territory…'

Yes as a king, there had to be a kingdom and people to guide. The land they made their new home on was the only thing left intact from the relentless claws of the monsters was his to guard.

'My people…'

The people who watched with small embers of hope in their hearts to see his ability to keep them safe, were now his people.

And these things that watched him hungrily without intelligence or desperation were now and forever more…

'My enemies.'

If he wished to be a better person than what he once was, a better king, then this would be one of his first steps. He allowed his unstable aura to flare slightly, glowing strands of gray and white streaked through the black, and although he could not copy any abilities without further straining himself, his ability was called aura manipulation, not ability mimicry. The multi-colored aura surrounding him somewhat steadied as he decided to go back to the basics of his powers and create things out of his aura to fight with rather than how he usually did. He stopped using this years ago because he was usually better at using his opponents abilities than they were, however no was as good a time as any to polish the rust off.

His aura flashed into its normal black as John focused on making his weapons of choice; black rope protruding from each of his shoulders and wrapping around each of his arms to extend onto the ground, ending in about a dozen feet of loops topped by large blades. However, rather than it looking like ropes, from where he gripped the twin whips to their ends were hundreds of small serrated interlocked edges, in other words, what he had chosen to use to fight were two scorpion whips with more sharp edges than a steel factory.

'I see who you are…'

The young king ignored the sharp intakes of air he could hear behind him, still stuck in his world of gray as he took a single step forward while flicking his wrists forwards, and in an instant, cut twin paths of destruction twenty feet in front of him. The ground was torn asunder from the force as rocks rained down onto the uncaring teenager, who only took another step and launched his left whip to cut a line behind him before his right whip did the same. Having cut his line into the path leading to the school, and silently given a promise to not allow anything to break said line, John slowly walked forwards. At the same time as he took his second step, a distorted howl cut through the night to shake the growing crowd of witnesses' hearts as the monster horde rapidly began to grow and charge towards their position.

'You…'

The first dozen of man sized wolf like monsters to breach the walls mindlessly raced towards their perceived meal ticket, only to be cruelly bisected by a flick of the young king's wrist as another twenty took their place as John took his third step forward away from his line.

'...are my enemy.'

John launched his second whip to grab hold of the large monster leading the second wave and used it to smash the others in his way into the ground before tightening his hold, before pulling back and shredding the monster in his grasp, before taking his fourth step to stomp onto the rapidly decaying corpse to meet the next thirty monsters to face him and meet the same fate as their predecessors.

'I will walk through this valley of shadows…'

He paused for a second as what seemed to be a group of seven ten foot tall malformed black bears covered in what looked like stone plating. They lumbered towards him racing sa if they were charging bulls and allowed their own gruff roars to overcome the howls of their comrades until the all fell to the ground, John's right whip having cut all of their paws off as he took another step forward and use his left whip to slice through all of their throats without missing a beat. More wolves and bears came rushing to meet him, though thankfully none of them were at the level of the lion from the last battle, simply mindless weaklings trying to get an easy victory through sheer numbers.

'Not alone…'

That's right, he wasn't alone anymore. He had people he could rely on now. Teachers. Peers. Comrades. Subordinates. He had all of these things now. He just had to prove he could handle the responsibility that came with them, here and now.

'All of you are just the same… Weak. Hungry. Brutal. Cruel. Willing to do anything and everything to satiate that lust for more inside of you.... I know you, because you are me. The me of the past. Or maybe what I could have been had I not decided to be more… More than another monster in a world full of them…'

He allowed his body to move on its own for a second as the world of gray and battle fell away to reveal a void of endless black, echoes of his life playing again and again around him as he closed his eyes to bask in the memories.

'Hey Sera what are you doing up here on the rooftop all alone again?'

'I've decided it's time to accept this rage and the actions I've taken; it's about time to move on.'

'I wish I had someone who was just as loyal as you growing up.'

'Hope huh? That's all you have left?'

'I'll see you tomorrow when I challenge you, get some rest… I can't afford to go easy on you.'

Yes… These were all a part of him, and would always be a part of him. They would drive him forwards when he fell down, light the fires of his conviction when the world snuffs it out. With them he was whole and complete, at least enough to face the loss that this heart burned with even now…

'I'm proud of you son… Always have been, and I always will be... No matter what you do, no matter what happens, don't forget that I will never stop loving you. I will never stop being proud to call myself your father…'

His eyes snapped open in the real world as color came back to the world once more. TIme seemed to be frozen for the young man as his eyes slowly began to glow and fill with golden aura, before long, reducing both sockets to golden spotlights that stared into his enemies still forms. There was no wind nor howls to ruin the quiet. The monsters were frozen as if they'd been paused. Their advance halted as one more echo reached John's ears in the moment of frozen time.

'Please! Be strong... Strong enough to fight for how you want to live your life. Be kind to others and use your strength to do great things. You don't have to be anything other than yourself as long as you're happy! Don't be like your mother; too weak willed to fight back... to protect the most important thing in the world to her... Your father will show you how to stand tall without any kind of power, against people who the world worships as gods, and if the day comes you'll need your real strength... you'll be all the fiercer for it. I believe in you John... In your heart and in your love...they will guide you straight in this corrupt world…'

A wordless roar of rage bubbled from the depths of his heart as John threw himself forward the moment time stopped standing still for him. Four more black scorpion whips emerged from his back to meet his endless enemies' charge with one goal in his mind; to shatter them all to pieces.

'No matter what happens… No matter what I need to do… I will not let my life end here. They will not be allowed to die until I have given EVERYTHING to protect them.'

Images of those under his protection flashed like thunder behind his eyes, making the tight ball of emotions in his stomach fight against his hold as he sliced his way through dozens more beasts. Their resting faces, and slowly smoothing crows marks were all he could see with the amount of severed limbs flying around him mixed with the monsters' dissolving blood.

Isen…

Blyke…

Arlo…

Cecile…

Remi…

Elaine…

Vaugn…

Darren…

Leilah…

…

…

'They will not cry for me, I promise dad…mom…'

…

Sera…

…

As soon as his best friend's memory appeared, Joh lost all sense of time, all sense of exhaustion as his body continued to brutalize those that would do harm to his people if given a sliver of a chance. His body was a machine built for one purpose; destruction towards anything that stood in his way. However, never before had John had a true purpose to use it, other than protecting himself. And so as his hold over his movements began to slip away, one last thought guided his actions as he faced the sea of monsters coming for him…

'I'm not letting anyone else die because of me.'

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John was panting as he came to, his eyes tightly shut against something that sizzled in the first rays of sunlight piercing the cover of night to greet him. His aura was only depleted rather than even more strained than it had become after he killed the lion monster so that was good. He felt around and realized his left hand whip was shattered and all he held was its grip, along with three of the ones he'd made on his back. All he had left was one on his left shoulder and the one in his right hand, though from how they cracked when he gripped tighter they wouldn't last too long. He leaned his head down to allow his sweat soaked hair to cover his faintly glowing champagne orbs as he gazed at the ground and realized he now stood right up against the line he'd made before the battle, not a drop of monster blood had made it past, he noted with some pride before his eyes turned up to stare beyond his ragged bangs, and widen at the sight of the ten foot tall dissolving pile of monster blood and shredded body parts that stood before him now plugging up the walls only entrance until it disappeared.

He moved to take a step back in surprise, but before he could, he felt the wide eyes of nearly every refugee that had been allowed to take residence. Their hope, once a fragile ember before, had become roaring infernos to his newfound emotional senses that nearly blinded him before he could shut them away. John waited until his muscles stopped shaking and his breath was no longer labored before he turned and began to slowly walk towards the headmaster's office, passing by the frozen witnesses as he made his way into the school.

As he passed, hands gently reached out to brush against the silent king in gratitude and reverence. Children gazed up at him through awe struck lashes and the adults whispered their thanks and prayers. Once he'd cleared the crowd and begun to make his way back to Vaughn, the people began to follow a few paces behind until they'd reached the cafeteria that served as their new temporary home and watched the young man disappear into the headmaster's office before the door closed behind him.

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In a room that housed the resting bodies of Wellston's strongest, a man with glasses and beige hair could be seen peering out of the closed window as a dirty teenager with black hair moved past a crowd and into the school . His mouth was frozen in a sheepish smile as he stared into the towering mass of dissolving monster mass as relief allowed his shoulders to finally loosen from their tense posture that had been held for the entirety of his silent vigil over the sleeping teenagers. "What a scary kid…", he muttered as he slumped against the window frame for only a second before pulling himself away to look at the peaceful faces of those he came to watch over for the raven haired boy. "Get some rest, kids… He needs you all, maybe more than ever before.", he finished as he quietly made his way out of the sound proofed room and made sure to close the door behind him, bathing those within in light shadows as they slept on.