Ch:1 - The light that shone

Z city, northern prefecture, Jinyoso; 2021

a group of kids playing baseball, parents cheering them on, it's an interschool match between two high schools. Everyone is in a great mood, The pitcher pitches the ball and within a fraction of a second the batter smashes it away,'thung'  the ball flew out of the middle of the bat and into the air everyone's eyes were peeled on the ball. 'let this be a home run' the batter thought to himself and he started running with his eyes closed, as he kept running, around the base he felt everything was awfully quiet, he stood his ground for a few moments as he could clearly hear the wind blowing and the leaves rustling he felt an eerie silence and a chill down his spine, he didn't know why but for whatever reason, he couldn't muster up the strength to open his eyes. "was it a home run??" he shouted but there was no reply.

he finally opened his eyes and looked around, there was no one around, no parents no players, no one. he fell to the ground in utter shock. Every object that the people were holding was still in its place it was like everyone had forgotten their belongings and left.

he sat there in the mud as he saw streaks of blood-red lights shining down from the sky all across the city as far as he could see. 'what in the world are those' he thought to himself as he got up immediately and ran towards the main town to ask people what was going on, or at least that's what he thought. when he was on the way he saw many of the same lights all across the town, when he finally reached, it was gruesome, when he saw the light hit a man in front of him and disintegrate him into sludge, he almost felt like he could throw up then and there but he closed his eyes curbing his emotions and ran to his favourite cafe across the street.

there was a man, or what looked like a man on the counter, "Mr dandy??" he asked in a concerned voice, "you alright?? what's happening wheres everyone??". there was no response he reached out his hand slowly but surely and touched his shoulder "hey Mr. dandy" he asked again nudging him with his hand this time, the man turned around and the boy couldn't believe it, it was Mr dandy all right but it was something else, half of his face looked like it was burned off and the other half seemed fine yet deformed in a very awkward way, he withdrew his hand as fast as he could, he was scared out of his mind and his feet wouldn't move.

"go away....g.gg.ooo" spoke out Mr dandy breathlessly. the boy knew he should run right outta there but he couldn't his feet felt like they were glued to the floor. that's when Mr dandy's face started changing and turned into what looked like a demon with red eyes and crooked teeth and saliva dripping out, the rest of his body also started growing spikes all over and a thick skin like that of a crocodilian. he opened his mouth really wide and pounced on the boy, that's when the boy's life flashed before his eyes, he closed his eyes and braced for his imminent death, his eyes filled up with tears he couldn't stop crying, he always wanted to become a leader and an accomplished scientist, too bad he thought now all that will just remain a dream forever.

'Stephen Wilkinson....what are you doing here...huh?" shouted a boy from behind him. Stephen opened his eyes, he wasn't, but better he saw the creature had been killed as if shout from a high powered bazooka, its body was completely obliterated and had reached the other side of the cafe.

he turned around." Mark? is it really you..man" Stephen asked. 

"yaaa...maan its me just patrolling around the block" Mark replied.

"what is going on here?? and what in the world is that thing??"

"I see you've just gotten out of stasis"

"what? what is stasis" Stephen blurted out erratically moving towards Mark

" let me explain, 3 months ago there was a phenomenon like never before, the skies shone blood red and like lightning, blood-red light hit many people, some turned into sludge and died on contact , some turned into creatures like those, we call them Bloodmongers, they are creatures beyond our human understanding, but they are still quite intelligent.

Now people like me got hit and woke up immediately with certain supernatural abilities, like actual superpowers and then people like you have now started waking up, you guys were like statues on the streets but finally, the normal people like you have started to get back their mobility and consciousness. "

"you have powers!!!!!??"

"yeah I can shoot air bullets like an air cannon from my mouth....hehe I see you jealous???"

"yeah who won't be......but I don't have these powers then?"

"no, I don't think so, everyone has different powers but all of us woke up 3 months ago right after we got hit"

"there....there are others, with powers"

"yeah, my bro we have a whole colony of us survivors near the old sea view resort, we should get out of here before more of the blood mongers come our way"

"yeah sure let's bounce"

the duo starts running out into the streets and in between alleys avoiding open areas. On the way, Mark kept an eye on his surroundings as he got a feeling that something was watching them. Stephen on the other hand, as scared as he was couldn't focus on the matter at hand.

"say, mark have you guys set up an organisation of people with powers like heroes to protect the others??"Asked Stephen intently.

"We try to protect people to the best of our abilities but we aren't that organised yet...but it's a good suggestion, you tell that to the general"

"the general??, is he like a leader or commander"

"Yeah he's our commander alright, he's the most powerful guy I know, he's the one who's been leading us the past 3 months, his name 'Vagus Blackthorn, you'll meet him soon enough"

As they kept talking about the base and how things had progressed in the past months, Mark forgot about the feeling he was getting and before they knew it, they had reached a 'monger den', One of many such dens where mongers thrived, Mark was supposed to avoid it on the way but had lost his perception due to focusing on the conversation.

"ahhhhh....we're doomed, we just hit up a Monger den" Mark spoke out slowly to Stephen.

"that doesn't sound too pleasant Mark, especially the work 'den'"

"yeah it's exactly as bad as it sounds these are spread across the city and I should have avoided it easily but I got lost talking to you"

A loud roar suddenly broke the silence of their whispers, and both of them turned around, they saw a huge about 8ft tall monstrous creature, it had two huge marbled and tree-like branching outgrowths on its head along with two human-like yet deformed and big ears, it kind of looked like the blood monger before but only much more menacing, especially its eyes, they were pitch black.

"AHH!!! crap, run Stephen, we can't take this one on,.....I had the feeling something was watching us" Stephen shouted as he tried to grab onto Stephen and flee the scene.

The creature jumped up and landed right in front of them, and blocked off their path, it roared in a shrill yet loud voice as if it was a kind of signal about something.

"it's calling for help......it's calling for help"Mark exclaimed in a dire voice.

"Is it calling for the den...by any chance....." Stephen asked in an even direr tone

Mark couldn't answer, he had helped out in small fights before but it was his first time doing it alone and considering that Stephen didn't have any powers, there was no support he could expect from him.

soon enough an obscene amount of blood mongers emerged from the opening of the den and surrounded the duo, they were outnumbered by a massive margin.

Mark now had no option but to fight for his and Stephen's life,

"Stephen, you've been a good friend up till now and we have stuck together all our life so now it's our time to shine, let's kick their ass" Mark stated with the remainder of his confidence and trying to cheer up Stephen but deep down he knew that the two of them were no match for all of the mongers even if Stephen had powers.

"right back at ya bro......let's do this" Stephen shouted immediately after trying not to waiver Mark's fighting spirit.

"let's gooooo!!!!! Stephen"

"yeah Mark!!!".