Chapter 1-The Power Game begins
Thomas woke up groggy from his dream the previous night. He could hear the birds chirping outside. He checked the time on his phone.
6:43
"That's a bit early".
He walked down the stairs to the living room, still yawning. He didn't seem to forget his dream, and kept wondering what it all meant.
Powers? Points? Terminal? What the heck was all of that?
He was still rubbing his eyes and adjusting to the bright light of his living room, when his dad spoke out.
"There comes the young man. Happy birthday!"
"Uhh....thanks? What's with the bright lights?"
"I dunno, maybe it's your birthday" humoured his father, jerking his newspaper to straighten it.
Thomas said nothing and moved to the fridge to get some milk.
"So.....what's your plan?" asked his father.
"A lot of things to sum up in one conversation. Where's Mom?"
"Kitchen, making your favourites."
"OK"
As he made his way to the kitchen, the smell of pancake batter hit him like a wave.
"Hey honey! Happy 18th birthday!"
"Thanks Mom, can I get some coffee?"
"Sure thing."
Pancakes were his favorites. But he wasn't interested in pancakes today. The entity's words kept ringing in his ears. He took a seat by his father. This isn't a dream, the words resonated.
He decided to just get it off his chest.
"Hey...uh, Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I had this weird dream last night.."
"Well, couldn't have been weirder than mine."
"What do you mean?"
"You go first."
"Ok, sure... . There was this white room, and a white....creature appeared before me telling he was "god" and stuff....."
His father's brows narrowed. He continued.
"...and he told me I'll be given a power , and a worldwide survival game will begin. And he talked about a terminal ....and a point system. Well it doesn't matter, it was a dream anyway."
His father put down his newspaper and sipped his own coffee.
" It'll sound weird Thomas. But I had the same dream."
Thomas' heart skipped a beat. What does all this mean? Was it really not a dream?
Did everyone else have the same dream?
Thomas' self-questioning streak was interrupted by his mother.
" Here's your coffee! What were you talking about?"
His father told her, " Nothing much, Thomas was telling me about his weird dream and as it turns out, I had the same dream."
"Really? That's weird. What was it about?", she said, and took a seat by the pair.
"A blindingly white guy in a blindingly white room told us that we will receive a power and a worldwide survival game will begin and bla bla bla."
"YOU'RE KIDDING! I had the exact.same.dream. Did that guy also talk about a point system and a terminal?"
"Yeah.", replied Thomas, and put down his coffee.
Something inside him told him to put on the news , and he did so.
"You never watch the news. What's wrong?" asked his father.
"Nothing."
The news started playing.
"-ews from citizens throughout Britain about having a strange dream. Citizens claim they saw an entity telling them that they will get superpowers and will fight in a survival game. We are constantly receiving ca...."
Thomas couldn't hear anymore. As if his brain was voluntarily ignoring the sounds. He heard sounds of his parents exclaiming , but he couldn't hear them clearly over the sound of cogs turning in his brain.
He snapped back to reality when his father changed the channel.
"This is bullcrap!" shouted his father.
But every channel showed the same news.
"-citizens all over Britain claim-"
"-is this entity real"
"-many claim being able to open the 'terminal' and-"
"-just received multiple reports of supernatural ability-related crimes"
"-a survival game really starting?"
"-people get abilities and start attacking innocents"
His father just gave up on changing the channels.
The last channel's reports caught Thomas' attention.
" Hell breaks lose in cities worldwide. The "Power-Game" begins?
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Mr. and Mrs. Alinac stared wide-eyed at Thomas' palms. A blue screen hovered over it.
"What on Earth is that?!" asked his father.
The top of the screen read : Terminal.
"The terminal, I think." replied Thomas.
"How'd you do that?" asked his mother.
" I don't know , it felt....natural, as if moving a body part....upwards, I think?"
His father tried it , and opening his palms, said, "Moving a body part upwards? What do you-".He stopped speaking when a similar screen appeared atop his palm. Before he could speak , Mrs. Alinac managed to do it too.
There was silence for a few minutes. Literal minutes.
Then Mr. Alinac spoke first.
"Okay, the last thing to do is panic. Let's just access the situation first. We have to make sure we're safe. Who knows what those who're attacking the innocent are thinking."
Mrs. Alinac had an expression of half of worry and half of terror. "What if someone comes for us?" , she asked.
"Huh?"
"WHAT will we do if someone walking by our house just decided to hurt us?! I mean, god knows what fiends have been given what kinds of powers?" said Mrs. Alinac, this time with tears in her eyes.
"Me and Dad will take care of it. Besides, who'll want to come for us?" reassured Thomas.
His Dad stood up. "So what power do we all have?"
Mrs. Alinac brought out her terminal, so did Thomas and his father. They floundered around with it for a while.
"Ok , so mine is that I can ... levitate? Is this a joke?" said Mrs. Alinac.
She tried it , and just like she was able able to open the terminal, she was floating in a few seconds. Her son and husband looked in awe.
"Where did you find it? Your power's details?" said Mr. Alinac
"Go to profile, info , then power." said Mrs. Alinac, visibly unable to contain her excitement as she was screaming in awe while levitating. Thomas and his father followed her instructions and soon found their ablilities. They had totally forgot that five minutes ago they were scared for there lives and totally NOT accepting that this was real.
"What's yours, Honey?", asked Mrs. Alinac.
"Let me show you!" replied her over-excited husband. And after doing everything ranging from closing his eyes and deeply concentrating to literally talking to his body, his arms suddenly turned into a gorilla's.
"Ta-da!" he exclaimed.
"What the heck is that?" asked Mrs. Alinac.
"My power has a shit-ton of specifications. I can turn parts of my body into that of an animal, and I can grow parts of animals' bodies."
"Huhh? Mine is way cooler."
"No it's not. Anyway, what about you Thomas"
The pair then realised that Thomas had been staring blankly at his terminal this whole time.
"Thomas? Did you find your power yet?" asked his father , looking concerned.
"Yeah.", he replied, staring blankly,his eyes fixated at the terminal screen.
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"It's just showing three question-marks."
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