Set-up

The old General stood up abruptly, with his gaze switching between Lian and Alan. "So, my son will also have some superpower? You are not lying to me, are you?"

Under the intense stare Lian could only helplessly shake his head. "Uncle, what is the point of me lying to you? You would be able to figure out the truth after Alan wakes up. I just wanted you to know this faster, because maybe it will somehow help our family, who are on the other side of the country now. So, Uncle, could I…"

Before Lian could continue he was interrupted by Uncle Don's words. "Your parents have already called me some time ago. They are fine. They were unbale to contact you, so they were worried. After you gave me a call, I texted them that you are on the way to my place. You should call them later."

"Yes, Uncle, thank you." Lian nodded, visibly relaxing. Then he asked in a neutral tone. "Now that my sister and I came here, could we stay at your house?"

"I've already promised your parents to protect you, if I have a chance. Go to the rooms on the third floor. You know, the ones where you used to stay in the past. You can have some rest there. Though it is better for you not to leave the rooms for now. My wife will call you when the meal is ready, Probably at 7 pm or near that time. Then you can ask her if you need something. Go now." The General told Lian, while sitting back into the chair. "See you at the dinner."

"Thank you, Uncle." Lian nodded his head and wanted to walk out when he was interrupted by one of the men sitting in the room.

"Boy, if you know that much. Why did this happen?" He asked somewhat haughtily.

Lian looked at that person. He was an ordinary looking 50-year-old man with a bold head and fat belly.

'The hell are you acting all high and mighty here? Do you know, that I can sentence you to death right now?'

Still, Lian smiled and said. "I'm sorry. But that I do not know. Maybe it was God's wish. Maybe the world has entered a new phase. Or maybe we are all living in some sort of Matrix and this was a just a system's upgrade. Choose a suitable answer for yourself."

He once again nodded to Uncle Don then turned around and exited the room with his sister following him from behind.

After duo's departure the room was silent for a moment. Everyone was thinking over what they heard. Then one of the people voiced out his doubts. "General, do you think what they said was true?"

After a moment of hesitation, the old man answered. "I'm not sure myself. But those kids have no reason to lie to us. As he said, this lie would be too easy to find out. So, I'll report it to the headquarters as a possibility. Then if it is really as they say, I'll benefit greatly. Although it is a pity we don't know why it has begun."

…

'Heh, old man. Promised to protect us? But didn't promise to find out what our situation was or if we were even alive? Too afraid to send a couple of soldiers to our apartment to check things out? And he was talking nicely with such an amiable smile. Still, if I were him, I would do the same thing. After all they just used to serve in the same squad. It's mostly me, Alan and Mary who are at good terms then parents.' Lian was thinking on the way to the room.

'People really are not too kind to each other.' He sighed.

Then he his sister asked him. "Lian, why are you so sad?"

"Because there is no one to warm up my bed." He answered the first thing that came to his mind.

After a second of silence he heard his sister's laughter from behind him. "Hahaha. Jeez, it's the worst pun I've ever heard." She said without the slightest consideration for her brother. "You should also stop complaining. If you are so lonely go and find a girlfriend."

"You just stabbed me in the back. Twice at that. What kind of good sister are you?" Lian stopped, turned around and looked at his sister with an angry face. Though inwardly he was feeling relief that she returned to her usual self.

"I'm your sister. You were the one who taught me what sarcasm is and how to make fun of people, so don't whine now." Sofi answered with a matter-of-fact face.

"Bah. Whatever…" Lian could only turn back around and continue walking.

In fact, he really enjoyed this type of small bickering with his sister. He felt like they were much closer after such a funny debate. Although he never showed it.

After a few steps he herd a soft questing from his sister. "So, what are we doing next?"

Without turning his head, he answered in the same quiet voice. "Call parents, go have dinner… Just behave as if nothing happened. We'll just wait and see. Don't talk about powers. I don't think that people would put some spying-recording devices in their houses in reality. But after all those spy films I have seen, I would better be safe than sorry."

"Okay." She replied and at this their conversation ended.

After walking through the house, they came to their room. It was an ordinary looking room, though it was clean. Looks like it was always ready for guests. The walls were peach in color, beside opposite walls it had two single beds, a wardrobe, a pair of nightstands and thick curtains at the window.

Lian immediately came to one of the beds and fell on it, sighing. "I'm done. Don't want to do anything. Good night."

Then he closed his eyes and started breathing, as if sleeping.

"Hey, you, a piece of lazybone. We still need to call parent, do you remember?" His sister came, trying to tickle him.

"You call them." Lian answered without opening his eyes.

"Are you so lazy, that you even can't talk?" Sofi asked, stopping her futile attempts in tickling her brother.

"I can talk, if you want." Lian answered, suddenly sitting up. "I was thinking, why don't you ever speak anything about finding a boyfriend?"

"Because I'm an independent woman and can do everything by myself." She answered. "and what is with this question? Don't change the topic."

"Oh yeah, you sure can do everything. Except for cleaning the apartment... And washing the dishes... And doing your math homework… And some other stuff…" Lian started finger-counting.

"Didn't you want to go to sleep, asshole?" Sofi exclaimed in indignation.

"But somebody didn't want me to." Lian refuted, staring straight at his sister.

After a second of glaring at each other Sofi said. "You call them."

Then she turned around, walked to other bed and lied on it with her back facing Lian.

'One – one, hehe.' Lian laughed inwardly. After that he started calling his father, while hoping that his mother was not around. Otherwise it will change into a thirty-minute-long process of calming her down and reassuring her that everything was alright.

Beep…Beep…Beep…

Then Lian heard his father's voice. "Lian, are you alright?"

A single sentence. But in that sentence, he could hear his father's care for him. "We are alright. Already at Uncle Don's house. He let us stay here for the time being."

"Good… That's good…" He heard relieve and gladness in his father's voice.

"How are you all over there?" It was Lian's turn to ask. But through his father's tone he already understood that they were okay.

And it really turned out to be so. "We are all good. After all this sh*t started happening we got onto the yacht and swam out of the city bay."

"Good." Lian was now completely freed of all his worries, knowing that all his family was alright. "Is Mom far away?"

"Well, she is cooking now. I'm on the deck trying to decide where to go. Do you want to talk her about something?" He heard his father chuckling. He obviously knew why his son called him and not his wife.

"Not me, Sofi wants to talk to her." Lian said with a grin on his face. "Could you please give her the phone?"

"Sure." His father laughed on the other side. He was also worry-free after learning that his kids were safe.

"Sis," Lian said throwing his cellphone to Sofi "Have a nice chat."

Then he immediately fell beck as if sleeping. With his eyes closed he heard a loud "F*ck you."

After which his sister stood up and walked to the door while talking on the phone. "Hi, Mom… No, we are alright… No, we didn't get hurt… Yes, we are at Uncle Don's house now…"

Then the door closed. His sister decided to go somewhere.

'Well, it is better for me. It's quieter like this.' Lian thought, sitting back up. 'Should I try and test my new abilities now? Or should I go surf the web? I don't think I'll find anything interesting there for now. Also, it is always interesting to read chapters when main character in the novel receives new ability.'

Lian tried concentrating on something inside his brain… Then body… Then brain again…

'Nothing. Damn, there is nothing. Don't they say that some sort of spiritual sea will appear? Or some sort of energy will flow through his meridians? So, what is that spiritual sea and where are those meridians? A system can also appear. Right! System! System?! System, what is my new ability? System, go to Hell…'

Whatever Lian learned from Novels didn't seem to work. 'Okay then. The voice said that I can understand and learn things much faster. Hmmm… Does that mean that I don't need djinn anymore and can learn everything myself?'

In the past Lian sometimes fantasized that he got a djinn lamp. He then made three wishes of which the first one was to be the best singer. The second one was to learn how to dance any type of dances. And the third one was to always win in rock-paper-scissors. Well… That is because all serious problems are solved via rock-paper-scissors.

Of course, he could start learning much earlier, as any other person. But he was really lazy. He didn't want to spend time learning something. He would better read some books or play games at home. Actually, the last time he was really learning something with passion was at the beginning of his high-school. He enjoyed learning English. Then he somehow finished school. Somehow passed his final examination. Somehow entered university and studied there.

Of course, he rejected all these thoughts, but intuitively he understood, that he can't reach anything by continuing to do nothing.

But he couldn't stop it, because he always found a great excuse not to do something. Not to study physics, because teacher is bad at explaining. Not to learn how to sing, because he was already 18, and everybody started learning when they were like 7 or 8, so it was already too late. And so on and so forth.

But he also thought that if he got some type of superpower, then he will surely study all its ins and outs, practice it and be the best. Now he got the power. Power to do what he really didn't like doing. So what would be the result?