Transformation

It would be another six hours before Rowan would regain his consciousness and emerge from the cocoon. The girls, still asleep, made it so that no one saw that as he emerged from the cocoon wrapped in cyan light, a phantom image of four massive wings formed behind his back before dissipating. He himself could not even see them, which considering that after emerging from the cocoon he could see a mole on a zombie's face from where he stood as if he was standing next to it.

He knew he had gone through massive changes and that more likely than not, his stat page looked much different now. He ignored the itch to immediately open his status screen and noticed that the black goo had mixed with more of the substance, as well as his own blood and hardened. He also noticed a mass of hair and nails on the ground that came out of the cocoon with him.

He felt a pang in his stomach and at the same time, his own scent blasted into his nostrils and made him gag. He needed to shower before he did anything. He made his way to the locker room at the back and while the lockers were locked, a slice from a dagger removed it. He found clothes that fit him, as well as some food that had been left behind in lockers which made him grimace, but beggars certainly could not be choosers. He found soap and made his way to the showers and turned them on hot and full blast. The pressure wasn't enough to break through the stuff that had hardened in his cocoon state, but after thirty minutes under the hot water, it began to slide off of him and down the drain.

He noticed how smooth his skin was the moment all of it washed away, but that was less noticeable than the muscle that now clearly framed his body. He had always kept his hair short on the sides and back, but it had grown into a mess after the transformation. He shampooed his hair, while inspecting more of his body and noticing that scars he had gained from different activities were now just gone.

He got out of the shower and dried himself off before finally making his way to the mirror to see what had changed. He could hardly recognize himself in the mirror. His light brown eyes now had a cyan ring that bordered the brown while his jaw was chiseled to near perfection. He had grown taller and now stood at what should be six feet tall. His brown skin was blemish free. His curly hair, on the other hand, had changed from its previous dark brown to a pure black, while the ends of the curls that now reached slightly past his shoulders were tinged a near glowing cyan. Rowan got to work with a razor he found and shaved the sides and back, knowing that the electric razor he pilfered was actively having a hard time.

He had to scrounge for several razors, but none of them made it the whole way, the sharpness of the dagger being his saving grace in the end. He had to think of whether a zombie may try to use his hair length against him, but it would be fine if it was only the hair on the top left. He still had not gotten dressed when he noticed Camille creeping in with a plank from the floor as a makeshift weapon in her hands.

She saw Rowan wearing nothing but a towel and a strong blush crept up her face. "I'm so sorry. I did not know it was you. I just heard the sounds and did not see you anywhere and assumed the worst. Rowan chuckled to himself as he thought how sorry could she be since her eyes had scanned every inch of him over and over again. Rowan shook his head. "Wait, I can hardly recognize myself. How are you able to?" She looked back at me like I had asked something crazy. "It says it above your head, Rowan Raid Lvl 7." She said as she pointed slightly above me like it was commonplace. "Has your status changed since you went to sleep?" She put the weapon down and stepped closer to Rowan, noticing that underneath the scent of the soap and shampoo there was something else, a slightly sweet scent of fruit and flowers that gave her the desire to simply be closer to him. She opened her own status window after his prompting to see that there was indeed something new there.

Name:Camille Johnson

Title:N/A

Level:3

Race: Human

Bloodline: Dormant

Exp:0/30

Class: Seer

Attunement: Fire

Strength:8

Agility:8

Mind:8

Luck:5

Skill Points:9

Passive Skills:

Tier 5 soul Lvl 1 (Gifted +1 to all stats on a Level up +1 skill point on level up)

Eyes of the Seer Lvl 1 (Able to See the name and level of humans as well as hostile species. Can be evolved.)

Early Bird (+50% drop rate until full system awakens for all humans in 6:00 +5 luck permanent)

She relayed all of her information to Rowan without holding anything back, and they both came upon the realization that only a seer which her class had changed to over the course of the night could see the name and level of another human. Rowan also realized that thanks to passives and among other things, his stats absolutely dwarfed hers. Rowan didn't realize how much so until she said her stats out loud, showing a trust in him he did not expect. Rowan stepped away behind a locker and put on underwear that he found in a locker among a pile of cleanly folded clothes. He was disgusted by it, but his suit was in tatters from the fight and then was covered in blood and the black goo his body had excreted. He walked back in front of her after putting on the briefs, ignoring her eyes that went wide.

He put on a t-shirt and a pair of faded light blue jeans with rips in the left leg. He finally pulled a hoodie over his head. "Your passive isn't the same as mine, like you told those officers, is it?" Rowan froze for a second, but nodded. "My true passive is Tier zero soul. I get five points into each of my stats on each level and another 5 skill points on top of the basic 2, bringing it to seven that I get per level."

She nodded, as if that made sense to her. "There is no way you would have survived that fight yesterday otherwise, that thing was monstrous. It should have torn you apart, but you are different. It's like you were made for this. I watched you from the bleachers, the way you moved, and smiled like a kid realizing that his father had let the bike go a block ago while learning to ride. It was like even with your life on the line, with it hanging by a thread, you were having the time of your life. Rowan could only nod his head. His body moved almost on instinct in that battle, and he relished every moment of it.

He finally looked at the woman who had been by his side since the world changed. Camille had hazel eyes and rather subdued ginger hair. Her EMT uniform that she was still wearing was sized perfectly and hugged her body closely, showing curves that Rowan had ignored all of this time. She was beautiful but as Rowan thought that he shook his head, not the time or place for that. "You and the girl should shower. I'll have a plan by the time you all are out.

I've salvaged some clothes that should fit you. The child, of course, will just have to make do." She stared at him intently after his words, which caused him to stop as he was getting ready to leave the area and finally look at his status screen. "Why do you do that, Rowan? You know she has a name but instead you call her child instead of simply asking for her name. Until the moment it cracked when I needed reassurance, you did it for me as well, and I don't doubt that you don't even know the names of the two officers that were here with us. Will seeing us as humans make you weak?"

Rowan looks back at her and it's like those hazel eyes could see through him with little to no effort. "Truthfully, because the closer I treat the two of you, the more I will feel responsible for you both, and the world has just changed drastically. I can hardly claim that I can truly be responsible for myself. I don't know if I can carry the weight of your lives on top of my own, and not that I don't think I can, but my life has always been a storm even when the world was normal, my own parents got swallowed by that storm and taken from me. Why should I subject two strangers to that?"

She bit her lip hard enough for even him to notice, which made him wish that he could see what she was thinking, but she was outspoken enough to tell him her truth. "We could weather the storm with you." Her statement hung in the air between them and he recalled the attunement that appeared on his status previously. "The issue Camille is that while you would have to, whether the storm I would not, because the storm is me."

He let his words settle into her before striding forward, his words echoing in her mind up until the moment she heard him again, "I'll send the child back to shower with you." Rowan was out front before the conversation could continue. The young girl wasn't far a look of worry on her face. Camille was her caretaker now, while the girl had watched her mother become a monster and be dispatched just as easily. He could see the tension release from her as it was Rowan that came out from the door and not a zombie and for a second, he was in her shoes and feeling the pain that must be running through her. The same pain he had felt, the pain of losing a parent too soon.

She moved closer to Rowan, and he slowly lowered himself to one knee as she approached him. "Camille is waiting for you to clean yourself off and a change of clothes." She nodded her head as she reached out and touched his new cyan curls and to both of their surprise, a small peel of what looked like lightning jumped from his hair and ran up the girl's arm, causing her to smile as a tinkle of laughter escaped her lips. "It tickles!" He smiled back at her and his worries about her and Camille being swallowed by the storm vanished, just like it did when Camille needed encouragement to face what would happen next. Rowan flashes her a smile as he lowers his hand to the path of the electricity and it jumps from her shoulder to his hand and fades into his hair.

"I realize I've been a terrible adult," He lets out an exhausted sigh. "Shame on me for not asking you your name." Rowan cracked another smile. "Ya know, you should really hold us adults to a higher standard. My name is Rowan. Rowan Raid, to be exact. What's yours? Her voice was crystal clear and had zero hesitation. "My name is Emily, but you can call me Em!" Her excitement fades as quickly as it arrived due to the moan of a zombie with his arm through the broken window.

Her next words are clear and her voice is still bell-like, but now he can hear the melancholy and the pain. "It's what my mom used to call me." Rowan can feel her pain like it's his own, but he pushes it away and makes sure the smile stays on his face. He slowly brings the young girl closer to him and wraps his arms around her as tears begin to fall from her eyes. Rowan takes the time to let her calm down and then wipes the tears from her eyes. "Everything will be okay. I will make sure you stay safe. Camille is waiting for you to shower and I've already held you up for too long. Be a good girl for her and go clean yourself up."

Rowan pointed the way, and she started walking in the direction of the bathrooms when she stopped abruptly and ran back to Rowan. "Mr. Rowan! Do you promise you'll keep me safe?" Rowan was about to answer her when it was almost like he could hear his father's voice in his ears once again. "When a man gives his word, he uses every ounce of his being to stick to it, no matter the consequence." Rowan knew that giving the girl his promise in a world that not even he would understand was a dumb idea, but for some reason, he could not help himself. "Of course I promise, Em."

She smiled from ear to ear and ran back in the direction of the showers, and Rowan's smile vanished. No matter what, he knew things would go this way. He would do his best to make sure Em and Camille stayed safe. He sat down on the floor and finally did what he had been secretly wanting to do since the moment he woke up and called out "Status!"

Name:Rowan Raid

Title: Silent Surgeon

Level:7

Race: Human

Bloodline: 25% Awakened Slaughter Fairy

Exp:0/70

Class: None

Attunement: Storm

Strength:50+12

Agility:50+12

Mind:60

Mana:1200

Luck:20

Skill Points: 9

Passive Skills:

Silent Surgeon Lvl 1 (+10% Hand speed and Mind when Not Speaking)

Early Bird (+50% drop rate until full system awakens for all humans in 5:00 +5 luck permanent)

Tier Zero Soul Lvl 1 (Heavenly Gifted +5 to all stats on a level up +5 skill points on level)

Mana Body Lvl 1 (Use mana to naturally increase their prowess and awaken their bloodlines. Lvl 1 grants the user an increase to agility and strength based on 20% of the mind stat.)

Perfect Mana Core (Users mana core was born perfect due to the influence of the system in conjunction with the tier zero soul. Mana capacity doubled.)

Hyper Vision of the Peregrine Lvl 1 (Vision enhanced by 10 times as well as UV capability and to see at immense speeds.)

Slaughter Fairy Primogenitor Lvl 1 (The first of your kind! Born to lay waste to enemies. +20% Battle effectiveness when in battle with more than one foe. +10% when against a single foe. Weak point detection.Natural Charms +20%)

Active skills:

Meditation Lvl 1 (User can enter meditative state to gather mana towards him)

Cut Lvl 1 (Use a bladed weapon to cut into a foe, can be leveled up and evolved by host)

Stab Lvl 1 (Use a bladed weapon to stab into a foe, can be leveled up and evolved by host)

Storm Steps Lvl 1 (Apply mana to the feet to better maneuver on the battlefield can be evolved through continuous use and the innovation of the user. Drain one mana point per second.)