The Birth Of The Beast Was Inevitable

One month have passed since the accident. Zaqiel was lying on his bed when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in" Zaqiel said.

The door opened. It was Payne and he brought a basket of fruits with him. He puts the basket in the table and sat down in the chair.

"I heard you're getting discharged tomorrow" Payne said.

"Oh" Zaqiel responded, acting like he didn't knew beforehand.

"Mom was really worried back then. You're lucky it didn't caused major damage to you bro. Maybe staying in this hospital was the compensation for it I guess. That was dangerous as hell, let's not do it again" Payne said while taking a bite from an apple.

He offered one to Zaqiel which the latter accepted. Zaqiel took a bite first before answering.

"I agree"

They both laughed afterwards and finished their respective apples.

"So how do you feel right now?" Payne asked with a serious tone.

"I'm feeling great. I feel like I've undergo in some rebirth or something. I feel like I could do anything that's impossible, that's how great I'm feeling right now" Zaqiel answered.

"Is that so? Then that's nice" Payne replied.

Payne was doubtful of the whole situation. He knew something must've happened since the action he took back then. When he transferred some of his blood to Zaqiel, the bleeding momentarily stopped. That's not a normal occurrence.

"I guess it's all good then. As long as he's okay, it shouldn't be a problem" Payne thought.

The following day, Zaqiel was finally discharged. As a celebration, the family went out for a dinner. While waiting for their food, Zaqiel and Payne were having sorts of conversation.

"I can smell the food from here" Zaqiel said in a straight face.

"You must be so hungry right now bro" Payne replied jokingly.

"I guess so, I haven't eaten in restaurant for a month now" Zaqiel said.

They began eating. Zaqiel went on a crocodile mode and ate almost half of what they ordered. This annoyed Payne and he tried mimicking what Zaqiel did. The two then had a contest on who could finish all the ordered food first. Mrs. Sylvia was just smiling, watching them both.

"I will head home now, you two boys are going to stay here?" Mrs. Sylvia asked.

Zaqiel and Payne nodded. Mrs. Sylvia went home early due to her unfinished work while the boys stayed to have a drink. They went home just before the clock hits midnight. Both of them were tired and wasted so they slept immediately in their bedrooms.

Uneasiness was the experience Zaqiel had throughout his sleep. He woke up earlier than usual. He looked at the clock and it was only 5:00 A.M. in the morning. That's too early for someone like him who doesn't even go to school in a regular basis.

As he was trying to get through his sleepy state, he noticed something. He could hear his mother talking to someone in the telephone. When he gave focus to it, he could hear the entire conversation they were having.

"That's weird... Nah it must be because of the hangover from last night" Zaqiel thought.

Since it was still early, he decided to go for an unusual jog. Maybe not so unusual for him since he just got out of the hospital and he needs to be healthy.

While he was jogging, he encountered someone who's jogging as well. It was Joseph whom he loathes. The feeling was mutual for Joseph. There was an intense bad blood between them. Zaqiel tried to avoid Joseph but it was already too late since he was noticed too. They were on the same path so things started heating up.

"Yo Nut-Zaq I heard you just got discharged yesterday. Lemme guess, you choked while drinking your mama's milk? I know you did you mama's boy" Joseph said in a cocky tone.

"What did you say bastard?! You wanna go at it?!!" Zaqiel fired back.

The two started to throw insults back and forth to each other while they're jogging. Suddenly, Joseph had an idea. He decided to challenge Zaqiel to a race.

"Last one to reach that convenience store is a pussy" Joseph challenged.

"It's on" Zaqiel accepted the challenge.

The two of them fasten up the pace. Zaqiel was determined to beat Joseph. He was jogging fastly to the point that it seemed like he was already running. After he passed the convenience store, he turned around in order to trashtalk his opponent.

"Who's the pussy no-"

Zaqiel wasn't able to finish his sentence. He saw Joseph was left behind from way afar.

"That's weird. How could I see him from here? My vision is fine the way it is but it's not to the point where I could see someone from this far. Wait a minute, how did I even reached here so fast in the first place?" Zaqiel said to himself.

Zaqiel went inside the convenience store in order to get some water. After buying one, he was about to drink the water when he realized again something.

"Hold up, I'm not even that tired in the first place. I'm covered in sweat yet I don't feel fatigue. There's something really weird going on right now"

After destroying his mortal nemesis in a race, Zaqiel went to school. He was assessed for a medical check-up since he just got back and the results showed he was fine. A day in the school passed, he was alone going home since Payne was on his part time duty.

While he was walking, he heard something around the block which was a couple of kilometers away.

"I'm the King of this area now, you better show some respect. Look at this ticket that I have" the voice said.

"What's going on" Zaqiel wondered.

Curious, he decided to check it in person. What he saw was something cruel. It was a man wearing a biker jacket, beating up someone. That someone was none other than Joseph, his opponent from a while ago. He decided to intervene.

"Hey buddy stop right there. It's no use beating a dead horse" Zaqiel said.

The man stopped and turned around to see who's the punk that was ordering him.

"What's your problem kiddo. You buddies with this guy?" He asked in a menacing voice.

"Not exactly but whatever you're doing right now, stop it" Zaqiel answered.

Zaqiel's response angered the man so much. The man then went straight to Zaqiel as if he's a bull targeting a red flag. Zaqiel dodged by jumping away. He noticed how far he jumped. The distance between him and the man was quite far.

"You got some leaping skills there buddy. It won't matter cuz imma beat your ass close" the man said in an angry yet happy tone.

Again, the man went straight ahead. This time, he was launching his fists toward to Zaqiel. Zaqiel didn't go for a dodge this time. He was determined to do something. Just when he's about to receive a punch, he stopped it by catching it with his own hands.

"That's enough" Zaqiel said in an angry face.

Zaqiel punched the man in his stomach. The man vomited some blood before going unconscious. Zaqiel then went to check Joseph.

"You can still stand up right? Go home now. This'll be the last time you'll receive kindness for me. No need to repay just get the hell away from here" Zaqiel said to Joseph.

Joseph ran away thus leaving Zaqiel. Zaqiel saw the ticket on the ground that the man was talking and bragging about earlier. He grabbed it to look and read.

"An underground tournament?"

He kept the ticket in his pocket. Ignoring what he just got, he had something in his mind that he wanted to do ever since the strange occurrences began happening. He wanted to test it out by going to the abandoned building where he hangs out. It was also the same one that was the reason for his hospitalization.

When he got there, he tried out several moves. He leaped, he jumped, he ran and most importantly, he punched the walls. After testing everything out, he came with a conclusion.

"Hmm.. so all of my senses are enhanced. I could jump and leap high as well. I'm durable to some extent and my stamina is higher than a normal human being. I thought I'd have superhuman strength but I guess that's not the case since the walls were barely damaged. I guess for a human being, it's still strong enough to knock someone out just like the guy earlier"

It was already late so he decided to leave things at that. As he was getting off the building, he slipped again in the same spot before. He was about to fall in the spikes again.

"I'm not gonna spend time in the hospital again" he shouted.

Zaqiel quickly reacted and moved his body mid-air to avoid landing to the spikes. He was successful and landed safely away from it.

"Phew that was close" a relieved Zaqiel said.

The ticket from earlier fell out of his pocket. He picked it up again. He didn't realized from earlier that there was something written in the back.

"Whoever wins the tournament gets to win a prize of 10,000 cash.. "

Zaqiel knew how big the monetary reward was. It could definitely help his family to pay the bills, especially his college fees. At the same time, it could serve as a ground in order to test his newfound powers. With a determined face, he said out loud.

"I'm going to enter this damn tournament"