The start of a new end

I found Village Cor’t destroyed, but this time I also caught the gang red-handed. I was pretty sure that that was the gang, since I could see their badge from afar thanks to Arthur (mask/codename). I rushed over to Cor’t to try to protect them and avoid the same thing that happened in Moze’t.

I quickly grabbed the sword from the handy bag that I found. I reached Cor’t just in time. I quickly slashed against an enemy. I suddenly heard a sizzling noise behind me, and it followed with an explosion. I had my back burnt, but I didn’t feel any pain. The mask asked, “The burn on your back, does it not hurt? I can detect you are not feeling any pain?”.

I replied with “It doesn’t hurt, I have no sense of pain for some reason”. “(Maybe cause I dead?)” I thought to myself.

My mind switched back to battle and thought about how an explosion could occur so fast when I didn’t even see a bomb. Let alone a spark from a match or flint and steel. Then I turned my back and see some sort of abilities that those gang members have. They have the ability to ignite (create sparks or explosions).

I started to think of a way to stop them, but my mind could not think of anything. Their abilities aren’t anything more than magic but the leader, I was worried what kind of ability he has.

Suddenly, I heard a voice say, “Unlocked Shadow”. The mask said that, but I didn’t understand what it meant. A gang member rushed at me with the spark, then suddenly, the gang member got hit and flew back about 10 feet. This is my ability it seemed. To control shadow, it seems I can limitlessly control 5 shadow arms at the same time. I wasn’t sure how to 100% control it yet, but I got the basic control of it.

It seems that it is based on thought process and sheer will. The mask commented that, “This is interesting, I have never seen anyone with this ability. It must have been awakened because of this dire situation”.

I was relieved that I could finally protect people this way. “Time to return the favor from what they did to Moze’t” I thought to myself.

The hands are a manifestation of shadow and willpower. It seems they (the gang) can’t clearly see my shadow manifestations, but they can sense the presence and the aura of it. Only some of them can see it clearly. It’s not hidden to the gang members but if they aren’t paying attention, it can slip pass them without any havoc being caused. I easily beat the rest of the gang members.

I was nervous about the gang leader.

There was a place that was heavily surrounded by the other gang members. I easily beat them all up. I thought maybe they were to protect something valuable until their leader arrived, but no. I was very wrong. In fact, I shouldn’t have even entered the building in the first place. I hear a laugh soon to be continued with “Ho? I didn’t know you will come here right away”.

That voice was familiar, I wasn’t sure who it belonged to though. The figure walked out from within the shadow, and then, it seemed to be someone I know, not very well, but someone I have a little trust for. The mayor of Cor’t, he is the gang leader.

The mayor said, “I knew you would come here to search for the leader, but I didn’t know you would immediately come here without a second thought”.

“This is your mistake, now die” the mayor continued.

The mayor then disappeared. I searched around looking for him since I already thought of having revenge for Moze’t. I heard a gunshot behind me, luckily, I was fast enough to block the bullet with one of my shadow manifestations.

I checked but the mayor wasn’t there. I then thought maybe it was a sensor trap that will shoot a bullet if it senses any movement, but I was wrong. Arthur/The mask didn’t find any sensor or anything.

I heard another gunshot, it seemed to come from behind me once more, but the bullet must have reflected of a surface and ricochet towards me as I could not see it approaching when I looked backwards. I quickly tried to avoid or block the bullet, but unfortunately it grazed my left shoulder. And still, I do not feel any pain since I am dead, I tried to search around the area for the possible location of where the bullet was shot.

I just thought of 3 possible abilities that the mayor might have. First, maybe he has the ability to ricochet and control the trajectory of a bullet or some sort of metal. Second, he could endlessly teleport with or without some sort of drawback, but that is least likely since he would’ve already stabbed me with a knife if that was so. Third, he could make himself invisible and move around without getting caught. I decided to test my theory and see which ability the mayor might have.

He appeared to the right of me and shot, then I started calculating how long it took for him to appear again. It seemed that he took at least 5 seconds or 7 seconds to shoot his next shot. He could either be reloading his gun or planning the next step. I didn’t hear any bullet case being dropped on the ground, so I cancelled the theory of him reloading his gun in between shots. I tested to see if he had a pattern, and he repeated his movements the 2nd time. Then I tested the theory that his ability is invisibility, I tried to predict his next movement. When it reached about 5 to 7 seconds, I tried to hit his next predicted location with my shadow arm manifestation.

I finally hit him, his invisibility went away, I could see him. “WHAT?!, how did you know, how could you know?” the mayor asked.

“I only used trial and error” I replied. I continue to beat up the mayor of Cor’t, who is also the gang leader. The shadow manifestation punched him over and over again without a break in between, all 5 hands are punching 1 by 1 but at an incredible speed. Almost as if it were faster than light.

I saved the village, I found where the gang kept the villagers of Cor’t. I was wondered, what if I didn’t go to Moze’t at that night and avoided the initial attack, would I have not been able to save Cor’t or would everyone have died myself included, I laughed at myself, “hah I am already dead”.

The mask responded soon with, “You have some sort of weird manifestation; well, it isn’t weird that you have magic/abilties but the fact that I didn’t sense it when I detected for your whole body”. The mask continued “Well this is surely going to be an interesting adventure to find who you are, and obviously, I will be helping you on your way and identifying things around you, for you.” 

Chapter 3 extra – Magic / abilities information

“Arthur” I called out for the soul in the mask.

“Yes?” the mask replied.

“Could you tell me about magic level and how it works?” I asked.

“Of course, there are 5 levels when it comes to magic, level 1 which is the weakest and level 5 which is the strongest and rarest. Level 1 is basic magic. For example, those gang members you seen, they have the ability to create fire from their fingers, but you can’t see the fire manifestation. That is because they don’t have one. Next is level 2, example, the mayor, level 2 is where it uses the user’s whole body for the magic.”

“Ah, so mine is level 2 since it uses my hands?” I concluded.

The mask corrected me, “Nope, your magic level is level 3, it takes a physical form, like I said, an example for Level 3 is your magic, it uses the physical form of a hand and shadow combined. There is also a disadvantage for physical form, since it is your will power and your magic, any damage inflicted towards your manifestations will also be reflected on user, if one is damaged, the other is also damaged in the same way. So, you do have to be careful when using your magic. That is why 1 of your shadow manifestations was a little slow since your left arm was grazed by the bullet.”

“How about level 4 and 5?” I asked.

“Level 4 and 5 are strong magic, level 4 can use abilities like level 1 but to a great degree and is very strong. Level 5 takes a form and manifestation of a humanoid looking magic, the size can vary from microscopic or normal human size. The magic for Level 5 is also insanely high.” The mask answered.

The mask continued “It is possible for magic to evolve with potential and learning along the way.”

Now I am pumped up, I thought to myself, how much will it take to evolve magic.

As if reading my mind, the mask added, “It isn’t easy to evolve your magic, it takes time, patience, and a lot of other things.” Well, I decided to go continue my journey for more clues to who I am, but before that I helped the village of Cor’t to fix some of the buildings that were destroyed. Then I continued to travel North away from Cor’t.