Chapter 1: System Crash Landing 

  Chapter 1: System Crash Landing 

Alex walked home. It was late. City lights were bright. They made the wet streets look gold and bright. He was tired after work. He was tired because work was long. Work was always the same. It was boring. Very boring. It was mind-numbing. It was soul-crushing. He worked at a small store in a mall. It was just a kiosk. It sold phone cases. They were plastic. They were glittery. They were not exciting. Not exciting phone cases. It was not living the dream.The air was cold. It was late February in Ottawa. It was a biting cold. It was damp. It went through his thin jacket. He felt cold. He hunched his shoulders. He put his hands in his pockets. He wanted to be home. He wanted a hot shower. Maybe some instant noodles. Then sleep. He wanted to forget everything in sleep. That was all he wanted for the evening.Suddenly, the sky flashed. It was not just a little flash. It was a strong flash. It was very bright. It was white. It was like lightning. But it was not lightning. No thunder came after. Just light. It was silent light. It made his arm hairs stand up. Alex stopped walking. He blinked because of the light. He looked up. He looked at the sky. It was now normal. But it was a little changed. It felt charged. Like the air was humming. Other people stopped too. People on the sidewalk stopped. Couples going home stopped. Cars slowed down. They pointed. They talked quietly. They looked up. Their faces looked bright from the sky.Something fell from the sky. It was fast. Very fast. It was a streak of light. It was bright. It cut through the dark sky. It looked like fire. But it was not fire. It was clean. It was sharp. It was more strong than fire. It was not a plane. It was not loud like a plane. It had no lights like a plane. Just light. It was silent. It was scary fast. It crashed near Alex. Not far away. Maybe one block. Maybe two blocks. The sound was soft because of the city. But the ground moved under his feet. People screamed. They were scared. They screamed loud. They ran away. They ran like birds. They ran away from where it crashed.Alex was scared. His heart beat fast. He could not breathe well. But he was also curious. It was a silly thing to be. It was a bad time to be curious. He slowly walked closer. He walked to see what fell. Maybe it was a plane? But it did not sound like a plane. It did not look like a plane. What else could fall from the sky? A rock from space? It was too slow. It was too controlled.He got closer. He walked faster even though he was scared. He turned a corner. He saw it. Smoke was there. Much smoke. It was thick. It smelled bad. It hurt his nose. It made his eyes water. And light was there. Strange light. It came from the smoke. It was not a light. The fire is orange. Fire is yellow. Fire is angry. This light was blue. It was bright blue. It was like power. It was like magic. It was not normal blue. It came from a hole in the street. It crashed and made a hole. The street was broken.Alex looked in the hole. He was careful. He saw something shiny. It was hard to see well because of the heat. It was metal. It looked like melted metal. But it moved. That was strange. It was like liquid metal. It moved like water. But it was metal. It was shining blue. It moved up. It was going up from the hole. It came out of the hole. It went over the broken street. It moved to Alex. Not right at him. But near him. He moved back. He stepped back because he was scared. He did not know what it was. Was it from space? Was it from the army? Was it magic? It was a silly thought.The metal moved closer. It was faster now. It was not slow now. It was like it was alive. It was going to him. It was shining blue. It was making a soft sound. He could hear it in his ears. Or maybe in his head. It touched Alex. It was cold. Very cold. Like ice water. It went into his chest. It went over his heart. It went into his clothes. It went into his skin. It went away. Like he was water. And it went into him. He breathed in fast. Cold air went into him. He felt very cold. He felt cold inside. Then it stopped. The cold stopped. It was normal again. Just normal. Or what was normal now.Alex looked down at his jacket. Then at his shirt under it. No hole. No burn. Nothing was there. It was like nothing happened. Did he think it up? Was it just his mind? Was he just tired?Then, words came into his head. Not sounds. Not talking. Not pictures. Just words. They were in his mind. He did not ask for them. He did not want them. They were not real words. Not like talking words. Like thoughts. But not his thoughts. They were bright. They looked bright. They were green words. Like from a game. They were in his mind. He could see them in his mind. They were green.[System Booting… 5%... 10%...]Alex blinked fast. He wanted to see better. What was that? He moved his head. No. The green words stayed. They were in his mind. They were getting bigger. The number went up.[System Initializing: Urban Guardian Protocol]More words came. Many words. They came fast. They filled his head. He felt bad. Too much in his head. Too fast.[Error! Core System Module: Glitched. Functionality Compromised.]The words stopped moving. Now just one line. It was red. It flashed.[Warning! System Instability Detected. User Interface May Malfunction. Abilities May Be… Unpredictable.]Then, more green words. They moved again. But slow now. Not fast. It was easier to read. It was like talking. But from the system.[Primary Objective: City Protection. Secondary Objective: System Repair (Self-Correction Recommended). Bonus Objective: Find Source of Glitch (Highly Recommended).]Alex held his head. It hurt. My head hurt from the words. Glitched? Bad? What did it mean? Urban Guardian? Was that him?He looked around. People were still running. Some were looking back. Sirens were far. But coming closer. Something big happened. He felt different. Not just tired now. Something changed in him.He looked at his hands. They looked the same. But did they feel the same? He made a fist. He felt stronger. He moved his legs. He ran a little. He was fast. Very fast. Faster than before.He jumped. Just a little jump. Then a big jump. He jumped high. Too high. He almost hit a light. He landed hard. But he did not hurt. That was not normal.He looked at his hands again. The green words came back.[Basic Strength Enhancement: Active (Glitched). Current Level: …Error… Potential: …Unstable…]Okay. It was real. Something was real. System. Glitch. Powers? It was crazy. Like a movie. But it was real. It was his life now.He heard a scream. It was near. From the crash. Someone was there. Someone needed help.Urban Guardian. City Protection. That was the system job. Maybe he should do that. Maybe he should be a hero. Even with a bad system.He ran to the scream. He was fast. Very fast. He did not know what to do. But he had to try. It was just the start. It was going to be strange.He wanted to fix the glitch. And find the goddess. If there was a goddess. The system was bad. Maybe it was wrong about the goddess. He hoped it was wrong about the goddess. It was too strange.He got to the crash. Smoke was all around. It smelled bad. The blue light was strong. It came from the hole.He saw a car. It was upside down. It was broken. People were inside. He heard screams from the car.Alex ran to the car. He tried to open the door. It was stuck. Metal was bent. He pulled hard. Nothing. He was strong. But not very strong.The green words came again.[System Suggestion: Use Strength to Move Things. The system is Glitched. Too Much Power May Happen. Door May Break.]Move things? Use strength? Open door? He thought about strength. He wanted to be strong.He felt power. Like fire. It went to his arms. His hands felt hot. He looked at the door. It looked weak.He grabbed the door. He pulled. It moved. Too much. The door broke off. Metal broke like paper. The door flew back. It hit a tree. The tree broke.Too strong. Bad glitch. He looked at the car. People were inside. He had to be careful.He looked in the car. He saw two people. Old people. A man and a woman. They were scared. They were hurt."Help us!" said the woman. She talked softly."I will get you out," Alex said. He talked strongly. He felt calm now. The system works were quiet now.He looked at the metal on the man. It was on his legs. He had to move it. But slow. Not break it more.He thought about strength again. But slow strength. Like lift. Not break.He touched the metal. He pushed it a little. Not much happened. Not strong enough. He pushed more. Still not enough.He thought more. More strength. But slow strength. Like soft power. Like a slow move.He pushed again. Slow. Metal bent. A little. He pushed more. It bent more. Metal moved. He made space. Space to take the man out.He took the man out. He was soft. Too soft. Alex almost pulled too hard. He used slow strength again. Soft. Easy.He took the man out. He helped him on the road. Then he took the woman out. It was easy for her. Not much metal on her. He took her out too.People came now. They saw it was okay. They helped the old people. Someone called for help again. For doctors. For police.Alex moved back. People were helping. He did okay. He took them out. They were not dead. He hoped.The green words came again.[Job Done. City Safe Now (Little Bit). City Points: +5. System Badness: -1%. System Glitch More Bad Now. Fix System Soon.]Points? System bad? Fix system? It was still crazy. But he helped people. It felt good. Even with a bad system.He looked at his hands again. Just hands. But different. He felt strong. And power in him.He looked at the crash. It was bad. But people were safe now. That was good. City Safe. Maybe he could do this job. Maybe he could be Urban Guardian. Even bad ones.Then, he felt something. Not in head. Not system words. It was outside. But also inside? Hard to say.It was like someone was there. Someone was watching. Someone was strong. And woman? It was strange. Very strange.He looked around again. No one looked at him strangely. Just people. Worried. Helping.But the feeling stayed. Someone was there. Strong. Woman. Watching. Soft feeling. But there. Like a whisper.Was that goddess? Was the system right about the goddess? Was goddess here now?He moved his head. Too much to think about now. System. Glitch. Powers. Crash. People. That was enough now. Goddess later. Maybe.He heard loud sounds. Help was here. Doctors were here. Police were here. His job was done here. Now. But the system said "Little City Safe". Little? Were big city bad things coming?The green words came again. More bright now.[New Job: Find Glitch. Job Very Important. Do Now. Find Info At… Error. No Place Info. Use Feeling (Bad Feeling). Maybe Work. Not Sure.]Feeling? Bad feeling? Find place with feeling? How to do that? No place info from the system? System is very bad.But feeling. He closed his eyes. He thought about feelings. The woman is feeling. The goddess? Was it about glitch? Maybe.He tried to feela place to go. He just felt. Felt city around. Lights. Sounds. The feeling of woman.Then, way to go. Not talk. Not words. Just way. Like pull. Soft pull. Pulling him that way. To somewhere. He did not know where.He opened eyes. He looked that way. Way to go was downtown. To tall buildings. Not home way. Not crash way.Should he go? Feeling not good. Not sure feeling. Maybe bad idea to go there. But what else to do? System bad. No place info. Just feeling.And pull. It was strong now. Like it wanted him to go there. Downtown.Urban Guardian. Fix System. Find Glitch. Those were jobs. Maybe the glitch place was downtown. Maybe the goddess was there too. Maybe feeling was a way to find out.He said yes. He would go. Downtown. He would go that way. He would use feeling. What bad could happen? Just a bad system. Bad powers. Maybe goddess.He started to walk. Then he started to run. To downtown. To not know the place. To maybe find answers. Or maybe more bad things. He would find out.