First Awakening

The morning was different from any other that came before it here in the capital city of the Empire of Viles. As the sun rose over the horizon painting the sky with brilliant colors everyone in the city could sense that something was going to happen today even though no one knew what. But for Augustus who had already been awake for half an hour now watching the sunrise, he felt nothing but heartbreak.

The young man had recently broken up with the woman he had hoped to marry one day after being together for roughly a decade. Despite how broken his heart was, he was still comforted by his pet pokka, Cuddles. Cuddles lay her large head on his lap for him to pet her to find comfort sensing that he was sad. He had raised her since she was a newborn for the last 20 years. He was the only parent Cuddles could ever know.

As a pokka, Cuddles has similar anatomy to that of a wolf and a lion with the fur pattern of a tiger. She had two ram-like horns and a lion-like mane to go with it. And like all others of her kind, she was intelligent in the way that she could sense her owner's emotions and respond in a helpful and kind way. Her kind was very docile and make for great pets despite how large they can become. She was a special breed though as her stripes were red and the rest of her for was white. With her beautiful red eyes to go with it she was considered a rare breed of pokka.

However, she felt it was only right that someone as unique as herself was owned by someone as unique as her owner. Augustus himself was considered a unique outcast even amongst his race. He was a Drakkenlite, a race of humanoids who trace their lineage from both dragons, human, and mages. The race once came about when the humans discovered the world where both dragons and mages had teleported themselves to after millenia of separation from their ancestral home world of Earth.

Eventually, all three races began to intermingle more as they started to expand and spread throughout the stars along with the other races that grew from their homeworlds as well forming the intergalactic community. Several interstellar nations had grown from there each vying for more control of the stars. Meanwhile, people who were no longer accepted in society came to the outer rim of known galactic space where they settled on habitable worlds. All alone from the power and influence of those they left behind. The world that Augustus called home was Valastarri, The Jewel of the Stars. It was a world that became colonized roughly 20,000 years ago, and his great-grandfather settled on it roughly 5,000 years ago. Augustus himself has wanted to travel the stars and see what else is out there, but his last attempt at traveling the stars with his parents left a deep scar on him mentally.

 

Because of his trauma, he has chosen to stay on the planet and never really venture out to any other place, not even in the solar system that he calls home. Because of this, many of the people his age consider him weird. As he never really speaks about what happened; nor does he think anyone would care. He's even more ostracized given his uniqueness. His skin is a red color accented by golden scales with long blonde hair that he keeps in a beautiful French braid. He has two large horns that curve back and then up. He has golden feathered wings and bright red eyes. However he often shapeshifts as his race can to a more human-like form with the only things remaining visible to distinguish him being his long thick reptilian like tail, his pointed ears, and his horns. While shapeshifted into his more human-like form he has dark tan skin and his hair becomes black while his eyes change to gold.

It is in his more human-like form that he usually stays and because of this people find him odd. But then again in his regular form, they also consider him odd; as golden scales are only associated with his specific lineage. This is because Augustus is a member of the Volcanus clan. They are considered royalty on the world that Augustus's great-grandfather came from.
However here Augustus is no royal, and his family is a rather poor or middle class at best. Augustus himself is barely considered middle class considering the job that he does pays as well enough to support the lifestyle he wants for himself. At the moment he is just looking at the city from the balcony of his two-floor home that he had planned would one day be filled with children of his own.

 

However, that dream looks to be now far away with the woman that he loved having left him. He blames himself for it though as he was unwilling to change due to his trauma. She was going to take a new position at her job that would require she travel around the solar system. Being the loyal woman she was, she made sure that she could bring Augustus with her. That way there could never be any potential instance where he might believe she would cheat on him while away since he would be going with her. However, the mere thought of traveling the stars reminded him of his last attempt at doing so causing him to go into a panic attack.

At the end through his fear, he declined her offer to travel the stars together. When she tried to understand more he just locked himself in his room trying to calm himself. Despite her attempts at trying to help, she ultimately decided that he needed to see a therapist about it. He declined and it led to a big heated argument. So she left seeing that he was unwilling to even seek help and he clearly wasn't trying to have her help him.

Now he is single again and absolutely miserable. To say that he regretted not agreeing to go see a therapist was an understatement at this point. However, he knew that he couldn't change it from having happened. What's done is done and he needs to live with it. She's already gone to some other planet, so he can't even try and go after her and convince her to take him back.

All he can do is just sit there petting Cuddles and watching the sunrise over the city of Crowchain. As the sun rose he felt as if the day was going to be interesting. He didn't know why or how but he just had the feeling it would be.

Letting the sun wash away some of his stress he decided to go and take a shower and get ready for the day. He felt that it was only right that he put some food in his stomach, and the best place for him to get some food is at his sister's restaurant a couple blocks down the road.
Making his way down the street Augustus started to move in rhythm to the beat of the city as he heard music playing from all angles messing together to form a sound that was unique to his hometown. Crowchain was a city that Augustus has known all his life and has a love-hate relationship with. Given its location, it can be one of the most beautiful places on the planet, but at the same time, those running the Empire have gradually started making policies that have risen crime drastically in the city. Now it's more common for people to get mugged just walking across the street than it is for everyday citizens to go about their business unhindered by criminals.

 

Luckily for Augustus, he doesn't have to worry about such things. Despite his crippling fear of space travel, he has been making steps to work at building up his bravery and confidence again. This is in the form of combat training feeling that if he learned how to defend himself he wouldn't have to fear much.

He has spent about 150 years learning hand-to-hand, melee, and ranged combat. He has developed a fondness for swords of all kinds, firearms, and mixed martial arts boxing. He knows that his family has an innate talent for magic, but he has chosen to not focus on it as much. As he was more convinced to follow a path that made him a jack of all trades. This led to him only becoming a novice in the ways of magic, ki manipulation, psychic manipulation, and spiritual manipulation.

 

However despite almost two centuries at this point of learning how to fight and defend himself; he has never gotten over his crushing fear. Every time he hears the mention of space travel he thinks back to the only time he made that journey, and how it almost cost him and his loved ones everything.

 

However, all these kinds of thoughts faded from his mind as he approached his sister's quaint little diner restaurant. He looked at the little cutesy sign on the window simply titled, Cinderella's Cosmic Cuisine. Every time he saw it he chuckled as he always thought it was a little over the top.

 

Stepping through the door he was greeted with the most amazing smell. It smelled like heaven and sounded like it too. The diner wasn't full but it had more than half the capacity of its customers, and you could hear and see as the food was cooked. Everything looked and smelled delicious.

 

Spotting his sister making breakfast for her daughter, Augustus made his way over to the two. Augustus heard the two ladies singing along to the sounds of the music playing on the speakers connected to Cinderella's phone that gave the ambiance to the diner. Both women had lovely voices and he enjoyed hearing them sing together as he approached.

 

He smiled and waved to the two of them as they noticed him walking up and then took his seat right next to them. Cinderella asked him concerned that she could see that he had been crying, "Augie what happened? Did you and Penny get into a fight?"He didn't say a word at first and sat looking down ashamed at himself. Cinderella noticed and realize that was the same look he had the last time he went through a difficult breakup. She immediately started fixing him his favorite tea knowing that might lift his spirits even if it was just a little bit.

 

Augustus mustered the courage and answered, "Yeah..... She decided to end things."
As Cinderella was halfway through making his drink she asked him giving comforting concern to look, "What happened?" She placed one hand on her brother's shoulder.

He explained kind of angry with himself but also depressed that things ended the way that they did, "She got promoted at her job but it required that she would be traveling across the solar system. She only agreed to it with the condition that she would be allowed to bring me along. That way I would never question whether or not she might be meeting up with other guys....... When she told me about it I immediately had a flashback of the last time we were on a spaceship....... The next thing I know I was telling her how happy I was for her but not to bring me with her. She took it as a sign that I was trying to break up with her and when she asked me more about why wouldn't want to travel the solar system I ended up hyperventilating and then ultimately locking myself in the room. From there it just became a conversation between a door that ended with me refusing to see anyone about my trauma, and her deciding that if I didn't want to get help then she couldn't fix me........."

Having been there and experiencing almost the exact same trauma that Augustus did she understands why he is horrified about the idea of traveling through space. She only recently got over it after becoming a mother and wanting to become brave for her daughter. Still, though she gripped her brother's shoulder and as the two of them locked eyes she placed her forehead against his.Cinderella comforted him warmly, "It's okay Augie. Trust me I still struggle with the same fear. I'm sorry that things didn't work out between the two of you..... But one day you'll find a reason to overcome that fear, and you'll find someone who will be there and be willing to help you when that fear might feel like it will consume you.... I promise."

Augustus was slightly jealous of his sister but kindly and playfully responded, "I wish I could find someone who loves me as much as Jamonos loves you. I guess I'm not as lucky as you.... Yet.... I hope to be someday though."

 

Cinderella smiled then gave him his tea before getting to work on making him breakfast along with her daughter. She already knew what he liked to eat for breakfast and she began fixing it.
Augustus, you looked over at what his niece was doing and saw that she was drawing a picture. She had drew and labeled everyone in her family. She wasn't too bad for a girl who was only the equivalent of a 6-year-old for their race despite her being 60 years old by human standards. She saw him look at her drawing and gave him a happy smile.

Augustus ruffled her hair a little and complimented her, "You keep this up young lady and you'll be an expert by the time you're 100."

 

She laughed, "Thanks, Uncle August." She showed off the drawing to her mother next and her mother called it cute before patting her on the head.

 

Soon though both she and her uncle were busy scarfing down some breakfast. Meanwhile, Cinderella was taking a few pieces of cooked sausage and giving them to Cuddles, who was one of the few animals allowed inside the building because she was an emotional support pet. Cinderella gave cuddles all of the pats and hugs the adorable pokka could ask for.

Not much longer everyone started to notice as thunderclouds began rolling in over the city and it looked like there would be rain. However, when Augustus finally noticed it he watched the sky for a couple of minutes and realized the clouds were forming and moving in rather too quickly to be natural. At first, he thought strange magic was at play but magic on this kind of scale would give off a sense that everyone in town could feel. Instead, he sensed nothing.
This began to concern him so he looked to his sister and niece and said, "I think we should close the diner temporarily, and move to a disaster shelter as soon as possible."

"Why? What do you think is going on Augie," questioned a now worried Cinderella.

Augustus stated from what he had learned over the years, "Clouds like that don't form nearly as fast naturally which means there must be powerful magic... But I don't sense magic at play. Which means something else is going on. Something on a similar scale of power. Even if it just produces a thunderstorm I would rather us move somewhere safe just as a precaution. I'm getting a bad feeling about this is all."

Remembering the last time her brother said something similar was the day that they went on their first and last spaceship travel; Cinderella wasn't sure whether or not to trust her brother's instinct or continue as if nothing was going on. However, things became more solidified when a massive boom could be heard nearby that fractured the glass in her restaurant's windows. Out of fear she instinctively moved to protect her daughter in case the windows shattered.
She then shouted to everyone in the diner, "We are now closed! Everyone, please grab your things and I suggest heading to a disaster relief shelter!"

From there she quickly grabbed her purse and important belongings and picked up her daughter ready to leave. Augustus look to Cuddles and motioned for them to get ready to go, as Cuddles could sense something was going on as well.

As everyone started making their way out of the diner another boom could be heard, and this time it was enough to finish shattering the windows completely. Augustus instinctively put up a magic force field to keep the glass from hitting them. Though it was a very weak force field it was enough for what he needed it to do.

As the glass hit the floor and everyone was safe and sound, they all rushed out of the restaurant and into the city streets. That's where people were seen running and cars were trying to flee in the opposite direction of them. They looked around to see what could be causing this. Then they heard a third boom coming from upward and felt a wave of force be given off that made them nearly fall to their knees.

Looking up they were greeted by the site of a massive crack in the air. As if something was trying to forcibly break through the dimension and the amount of power being generated was creating a storm by accident. This site was enough to make them temporarily freeze with fear before all of them started running away as fast as possible. However, they only got roughly 300ft away from the entrance of the diner, where they had first stopped to notice it, when a fourth and final boom rang out. This time whatever was trying to get through did so.

Soon they heard something large fall from the crack in the sky and land on a nearby car. Despite this, they kept running not looking back one bit until they got another hundred feet away and heard a scream that shook them to their core. Whatever the thing was let out a scream so terrifying that it seemingly petrified them with fear.

As they tried to force themselves to keep going scared out of their mind they heard whatever it was lift something up and soon they saw a car get tossed right in front of them. That's when they finally looked back and saw what it was. The creature stood about 10ft tall. Bulky and muscular with four arms that ended in pinsured claws like that of a crab. It has a bat's face and snake eyes.

It looked like some horrifying amalgamation of creatures designed only to elicit fear and disgust. However, its face was familiar to Augustus and Cinderella. Though slightly deformed and grotesque it reminded them of the man who nearly killed them 200 years ago on that spaceship. This caused them to try and run even more however the creature flung two more cars in their direction. Not just trying to stop them but everyone else running nearby.
A few people tried to fly away, only for the creature to open its mouth and spew globs of acid at them. This was to burn their wings down to the bone causing those flying away to fall out of the sky to their death.

Realizing the creature would kill them if they tried to fly away, their only choice was to try and run to some form of cover that they could use as a way to cut off the line of sight and make a quick escape. But with all the thrown cars blocking most of the way that was harder to actually do. After another car was thrown and smashed into a building not far behind them the group started ducking behind nearby vehicles for safety.

 

Augustus ducks behind a car about 10ft further down the road than his sister and niece. Meanwhile, Cuddles tried to take up a defensive protective stance over the ladies. As they coward and fear, the creature started massacring everyone close to it with its pincers and its acid spit.

As people started screaming and crying out for help Augustus started having a panic attack and flashes back to what happened on the spaceship come to him and vividly thinking about the monster's face.

In an instant he is a little boy again, barely 90 years old. His father and mother are sitting next to him in his little sister as they are in their cabin on the spaceship. The same ship that is going to be taking them to the moon resort for their family vacation.His mind flashes to the moment that they heard knocking on their cabin door and their father went to go see who it was. He hears while playing with his sister the sound of several men forcing their way into the room. He hears his mother screaming as she watches their father get forced to the ground with a laser gun pointing at the back of his skull.

His blood runs cold as he had told his family he had a bad feeling about things before they got on the ship, but his family tried to assure him that everything would be fine. Now there are six armed people pointing laser guns at them and forcing them to get on their stomachs with their hands behind their backs if they want to live. Leading the group of armed thugs is a man who is part of a race of bat-like humanoids with four snake-like eyes called a Kantanarii. This man was someone he could never forget as that man was called, Donkuulii Yos. He was a wanted mass murderer who was in charge of a small gang of serial killers and former drug dealers known as the Moon Rats.

They handcuffed them and dragged them off to the spaceship's storage area. Where they had set up cameras that would create a live feed to whoever they were going to try and blackmail. The Moon Rats had kidnapped them to use them as burning chips with very powerful people they just didn't know who yet.

Augustus remembered his father asking Donkuulii, "Why are you doing this? We have nothing you could want."

Meanwhile, the man responded by smacking his father in the face and telling him with a sadistic smile, "Well that's not exactly true. You see you all are members of the Volcanus royal family. This means that the Emperor of the Divine Empire will pay a pretty penny for his clan members' safe return home."

Hearing that Augustus watched his father laugh at the man and then correct him on his grave mistake, "You're wrong.... The Emperor doesn't care about me and my family. We are a bunch of people they don't even know. My grandfather left them long ago."Donkuulii asked him giving a very annoyed frown, "What's that supposed to mean?"

 

Augustus saw his father smile at the man even though the situation was grim, "It means they aren't going to give two shits less of a fuck about members of the clan that cut off ties with them. So they won't pay you a damn thing. At least I'm telling it to you straight. You and your people just wasted your time."

 

Donkuulii slapped him so hard that he knocked him over onto the ground. Donkuulii put his foot on the man's jaw and told him, "We'll see about that. Now shut up or I'm going to put a couple of laser rounds in your pretty little wife's legs."

Despite the threat, everyone could see that the look on Cornelius's face was the same. However, Augustus started to realize that his father was making that face purely because he knew that they were as good as dead and he had accepted his fate. Despite that Augustus and the rest of his family were scared not wanting to just lie down and die.

Soon though they sat Cornelius back up in the chair that he was tied to and made sure the entire family was on camera. As a holographic screen appeared it showed the Emperor of the Divine Empire sitting on his throne ready to see which of his family had reportedly been kidnapped. As the live feed of the kidnappers showed Augustus and his family the Emperor simply looked at them annoyed.

Donkuulii proudly declared with a million-dollar grin on his face, "As I said, me and my crew captured some of your kin. Now, are you ready to listen to my demands or do I have to start putting beams in the bodies of your clansmen?"

 

The Emperor simply looked at them all with an expression that not only conveyed power and disgust, but also one that conveyed annoyance and uncaringness. He responded almost seeming like this was a chore rather than a serious hostage negotiation situation, "You honestly think that I am going to adhere to your demands...? What pathetic bajasha shit! I don't know those pathetic weaklings."

Donkuulii saw that the emperor was not playing the part he thought he would he pulled out his laser pistol and started pointing it at Cornelius. Then he shouted back, "You think I'm bluffing?! I'll fucking kill your kin right here, right now, in front of you!!!"

The emperor simply look down at him with cruel indifference and told him almost waving his threat off as if it had no meaning, "Go ahead. I thought I fucking told you, I don't know them. Do you think I would give two fuck about a bunch of Volcanus from some branch family that might have left the clan or are so far removed their practically commoners? At this moment you are wasting my time. If you have nothing else then do whatever you like. I have better things to do."

 

With that Augustus' mother begged that the emperor save her children if nothing else, "Please your majesty have mercy!! Me and my husband may not be worth anything but our children don't deserve to die like this!!! Please, your holiness, reconsider...." Tears poured down her face as she pleaded.

 

However, the Emperor gave her the same look. He nonchalantly rolled his eyes at her request, "I will not let it my decision be swayed by the simple idea of saving your children. Do you think the deaths of a couple of no-name kids that I have no connection to will actually affect my conscience......? You are even more fool than them for thinking that such a trifle would make me help. Whether you got yourselves in this situation or not I don't care. You all can die for as much as I give a damn."

Lucinda hearing the emperor's words looked back broken and petrified at the cruelty of someone who is supposed to be blessed by God. Before anyone could say anything else the Emperor ended the transmission leaving Augustus and his family to their fate.

Even Donkuulii was confused and assume that confusion turned into anger. As he began pacing back and forth cursing loudly it woke up a sleeping pokka in a cage nearby. That pokka was called Clawdad and he was Cuddles' father who passed away from natural causes a few days before Cuddles was born. Clawdad was a very protective alpha pokka who defended and watched over Augustus and his family with perfect precision. As he came to consciousness seeing the situation his intelligent mind started allowing him to realize that his owners were in danger.

 

Donkuulii however did not notice and instead continued his tirade of slurs and swears. When he finally stopped he walked up to Cornelius's face and pointed a gun straight at his head. He held it there staring Cornelius in the eyes, who stared back without fear already knowing that he and his family were most likely going to die here.

 

After a moment Donkuulii faltered and lowered the gun and started thinking to himself. After a moment of processing his frustrated thoughts criminal told Cornelius, "Well at least you were honest. I knew this chance had to be too good to be true. Normally I'd kill you and you're family, and just be done with it. But I see that look in your eye. Last time I saw that look it changed my life. So tell you what...... I'll let your kids go on one condition......"

 

In an instant, he took out a knife and cut Augustus free from the bindings that held him tied to a chair, and then snatched him with his other hand and pulled him away. He then shoved Augustus into one of the other criminals and held out his gun at the young boy's head."I'll let both of your kids go but not before we have some fun here. See I want to watch someone break. So I'm going to have your son here play a little game with me. I'll let him and your little girl go so long as he takes this gun and he puts a beam straight through your skull. However that pretty little wife of yours we get to keep her in exchange for the two of them walking free," he then handed the gun to Augustus already ready to fire and then he walked back over to the rest of Augustus' family.

 

Donkuulii put another gun that he had on him towards the back of Cinderella's head, "However if he doesn't do it within a minute of me starting my countdown I'm going to put a beam straight through your daughter's head. Got it."

 

Seeing the situation, Clawdad began putting some distance between the entrance to the cage and to the back of it. He was going to get into a position to break the cage open. However, he was going to wait for a moment when it would be advantageous to do so.
At the same time, Donkuulii activated a timer on his holographic watch. It was for one full minute. And the second it started he looks straight at Augustus and gave him an evil grin.
"Come on kid. Shoot him," said Donkuulii.

Cornelius realizing that in this situation it was either his or his daughter's life easily willingly gave up his own, "It's okay Augie. Shoot me. You can't let them hurt Cindy."

 

"Yeah, that's right kid. Shoot your daddy. Save your sister. Shoot him," he said with delightful glee as his smile got bigger.

Cornelius told Augustus trying to help him be okay with killing him, "It's okay son. You have to just let it happen. Pull the trigger. Kill me. Don't let them kill your sister."

 

"You heard him, boy. Shoot! Kill him," exclaimed the madman as his criminal friends laughed. The timer was already on with 30 seconds remaining and Augustus was shaking violently with fear and indecisiveness. He was only a little boy but he knew very well that if he killed his dad he would forever live with that. But if he didn't his sister's death would also be on his hands.

 

He tried to think of what was the best thing to do in this situation but as he listened to his father try to comfort him into being okay with murdering him and hearing the psycho shouting orders to shoot he began to have a panic attack. In that same instance in the present day, Augustus is having a panic attack remembering all of this. The creature that has almost the exact same face as the man who made him decide whether or not to let his dad die or his sister was getting closer. He was so afraid that all he could do was hyperventilate and curl up behind the car that he was using as protection for now.

 

Augustus seemed like a grown man acting like a scared little boy as people around him try to run for their lives only to die one by one as they passed. He could hear his niece crying not that far behind him as the creature was getting closer to them. Her crying reminded him of his sister's crying in the moment when he had held that gun all those years ago on that spaceship.
The memory hit him like a strong right hook against his temple. The pain of remembering it after he had spent so long trying to ignore it or repress it or just simply hope to forget about it felt like hell at that moment.

 

In an instant, he's back as that little boy with 15 seconds left holding that gun shaking nervously pointing it towards his father and unable to pull the trigger. He can remember how his tears were falling from his face and he was a sobbing mess. He heard them shouting clearer and clearer.

"Shoot him," roared Donkuulii.

"Just shoot me, Augustus," shouted Cornelius.

 

"SHOOT HIM!!!"

"SHOOT ME!!!"

"SHOOT!!!"

The shouting and maniacal laughter had gotten so loud that Clawdad saw his chance and rushed forward to the cage door. In an instant, the large powerful behemoth of a pokka broke through the cage door and this caused everyone to react.

Donkuulii ended up quickly pointing his gun toward the large creature. But at the same time as all the other criminals are turning to face Clawdad with their guns as well; the sound actually scares Augustus enough into pulling the trigger by accident. The laser beam though misses his father by a wide margin and ends up hitting a replaceable fuel canister that is meant to power the backup fuel supply for the spaceship. The canister was not large but the contents within it were highly explosive. And as the laser beam hit it the heat from it piercing into the highly flammable explosive liquid caused the canister to combust.

As it blew up metal shrapnel from the canister was sent flying in all directions. A few pieces scratched up his parents, but a couple of big chunks ended up piercing into the criminals. An especially sharp and large piece ended up impaling Donkuulii through the back of the skull. This killed the man instantly causing his body to give a knee-jerk reaction shot that ended up missing and hitting one of his own people through the neck and killing them. The others were so shocked by the explosion and being hit with the shrapnel that by the time they realize what had happened, Clawdad was already mauling them to death and ripping them limb from limb. After Augustus got control of himself in that moment he remembers rushing forward to untie his parents who by the time they were free all of the criminals were dealt with and they soon untied his sister. Because of that experience, Augustus has had a crippling fear of getting onto spaceships worried that the same thing might happen again.

As his heart is pounding recalling all of this, he is snapped back to reality as he hears his sister scream. He turns his head back peeking around to see the creature is now within 50ft of her.
Seeing her face, he saw the same terrified expression she had now that she did then on the spaceship all those decades past. Realizing that he was in a similar situation where he was going to have to do something to protect his sister and his niece this time something began to stir in him. It wasn't bravery and fearlessness. It was the need to find a solution that would save his loved ones.

But more than that it was regret for not being able to try to protect his family in the past. Regret for being too afraid and cowardly. As he saw Cuddles take up a fighting stance to defend Cinderella and Lucille, he feels ashamed for not doing the same.

 

That shame quickly turns to anger. Anger which starts to boil over when looking at the monster's face and only seeing everything that reminded him of his trauma. Still, his fear gripped him, making him unable to move.

 

As he and Cinderella locked eyes, she cried out in horror, "Augustus please help!!!!" Seeing her crying and calling out to him as the monster was now just on the other side of the car looking down over them finally cause that rage to spill out and go wild.

 

Augustus felt like everything inside him and outside ignited into flame as he just took off running forward towards the creature at a speed he didn't even know he was capable of. His hair ignited into white flames along with his eyes and beard. Red lightning arced around his arms and legs. His blood seems to turn into molten magma. For a moment he was enveloped in an aura of light that lit up the street as if the sun was shining down specifically on them. 

Before he even realized it he swung his fist in the same way that he had been training how to throw the perfect punch for the last century and a half. As his punch connected to the chest of the large creature he just let all of his anger out in that single hit.

To both his surprise and everyone else around, the moment his fist hit the creature's chest it almost instantaneously burned a massive hole through the creature's torso. As the impact of the force of the blow was still strong enough to send the creature flying backward, as an after-effect of having a massive hole blown through its chest, the rest of its body then slowly disintegrated from the residual heat still in effect. The pathway from where the monster was standing to about a hundred feet back was now covered in molten slag as the heat left a definitive trail of effect that was visible.

Just as quickly as Augustus had unlocked this hidden power it simply stopped. But the flames at that point had burned his shirt away and the lightning had scorched small holes throughout his pants.

 

Standing there shirtless surprised by what he just did, Augustus was taken aback by his strength and power. Both his sister and his niece looked at him not knowing that he was capable of that. Then he slowly looked back at them trying to confirm that they were all safe. The moment his eyes spotted his sister and niece being perfectly safe and sound he let out a visible sigh of relief. Only then to immediately get pounced on by Cuddles who was now licking his face out of concern.

The cute adorable animal was worried that her owner might have been in danger or sick at that moment, and was just trying to comfort and help him. As he tried to comfort the creature enough to get her off of him, it slowly lifted everyone's spirits seeing that their hero was now being smothered in kisses from a large but friendly beast. At the same time, many people started to have the adrenaline running through them subside, and the realization of what just happened fully sink in.

 

Seeing the carnage of it all, the people started to understand that this was not only real but a couple dozen people died. As that realization sank in the clouds parted, and several knights made of neon light with wings made of stardust descended from the sky. As they landed on the buildings and streets and all across the city they kneeled with spears in hand pointed towards the sky.

Upon seeing these people everyone knew who they were, the Heralds of the God of Adversity, Mischief, and Games. Every time they show up on a planet it is because the God of Games has decided to afflict the people of that world with what is known as the Player Plague which is more of a blessing rather than a curse depending on how you see it.

The Player Plague is not an actual disease but rather a combination of a blessing and a curse from the God of Adversity. He decided a long time ago that he would test mortal kind in his way to see if they were truly worthy of becoming more than insects in the eyes of the Divine and the Damned.

He thought it was funny that most morals treated life like it was a game so he devised this affliction that made them see aspects of life as a game. The main thing is the status screen window or character sheet. Those afflicted with the curse can pull up a digital holographic screen in front of them that displays all of their characteristics from their race to their class to their numerical stats and so much more. All of this can be seen by not only the person whose information is on it but also the people around them at the time who happen to look at it.

Along with this the God of Adversity often creates what is known as Dungeons, Ruins, and Towers that people who are afflicted with the plague may enter to try and improve themselves through combat and exploration of these areas. If they are successful they would be rewarded not only with experience points, but also items that can only be used by those afflicted with the curse. As such this allowed normal mortals to transcend their previous limitations and grow into powerful individuals.

 

However, the God of Games often like to spice things up and he would pick a couple thousand people from a planet that he has bestowed the Player Plague and take them to a different planet entirely. One that was similar but functions slightly differently from the others that he would interact with. It is said that those afflicted with the curse on that world are much more powerful due to what one has to go through to survive on that world. Despite how that might sound though this was an optional thing that people could choose to do.

At least it was for everyone outside of what is known as the First Awakened. Those were the titles given to individuals who would be the first to kill a creature that would spawn on a world that is being afflicted by the Player Plague. The First Awakened would be considerably more powerful than normal people as they grew higher in level but they would be required to go to the other world. Why this is the case is unknown but Augustus was about to find out as he was now the First Awakened of his world.

 

This became apparent to him when a status screen appeared in front of him congratulating him on the feat of becoming the First Awakened for his planet. It also classifies him as the 9th person to be given the title of First Awakened. As such it will give him 3 special starting awakened abilities. 2 of Transcendent level and 1 of Mythic level.

 

The God of Games is known for being quite fair with everyone. The greatest proof of this is that when the Player Plague is first given; everyone gets a unique awakening skill that is determined completely at random. The rankings on a skill's overall uniqueness and power are classified in tiers from lowest to highest as follows: Normal, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythic, and Transcendent. No matter the ranking of it, each skill starts with a grade of D and as a person levels up and gets stronger by using their skills more often it will grow. As it grows it will transition from Grade D to C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, X, and Z. A skill, no matter what its ranking, that is of Grade Z is considered so powerful that the person who has that skill is seen as a continental level threat at a bare minimum.

Seeing this as the case Augustus was at first in shock and then perplexed. He did not know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing for him. When he woke up this morning he knew that today was going to be a very life-changing day just by the sensation that he could feel in his heart. However, this was not what he expected but it might be what he needs. The thought of that being the case slowly formed a curiosity within him as he watch the screen change once more.

It explained that his skills would be in correlation to his class. Instead of generating from a completely random list, it would reduce itself to only skills of that ranking for his class. It congratulated him for having a one-of-a-kind class called, Godwoken. It explains that the class is near impossible to get as it requires a person to be training their magic, ki, and psychic energies all at the same time while becoming at least adept in manipulating spiritual energy outside of these 3 key principles.

His abilities that he got were as follows:

 

Master of Catastrophe (Transcendent-D): You pick 2 damage types of your choice and you gain immunity to damage types. Any spell or ability that you use that deals either of those two damage types deals 15 extra dice of damage, has tripled range and area of effect, has +15 to their save DCs, and doubled duration. Once per day, you can perfectly synergize with the two damage types that you chose allowing you to transform in response. This transformation lasts for 10 minutes and for the duration: all spells and powers that deal either of the two damage types that you chose gain advantage and +15 to hit, all attacks you make deal +250 of both damage types, and deal quintuple damage on a crit. 

King of Ruin (Transcendent-D): All spells, ki powers, and psy powers you use now: can be used twice more per day, deals 15 extra dice of damage, has doubled range and area of effect, has +15 to their save DCs, deal +300 extra damage, and have a crit range of 15-20 on the dice. Along with this, he gains a permanent +500 to HP and +10 to AC. All of his stats gain a permanent +5 while all of his skills gain a +10.

Eyes of the Cinder King (Mythic-D): You gain Deathsight, Magesight, Dragonvision, and Truesight of 100ft. All spells, ki powers, and psy powers that you or any allies within range of your sight cast deal 20 extra dice of damage. However, this buff does not work for allies who are outside of the range of your special sight. Any spells, ki powers, or psy powers used by enemies within the range of your special sight only deal half damage to you.

After receiving the skills the window changed to inform him that almost all of his new permanent bonuses stack outside of things like range, duration, and area of effect. As for these 3, they will increase based on which buff is the biggest. Currently, that would mean that by default all ranges durations and area of effects for his abilities and spells are doubled, but any that specifically do either of the two damage types that he will choose in a moment will instead be tripled for those.

Upon understanding that the screen changed again asking him to pick two damage types from a list. The choices are: fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, cold, poison, acid, sound, force, psychic, radiant, necrotic, holy, unholy, bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing. Upon weighing his choices he ended up selecting fire and lightning as those were the 2 elemental type spells that he has had the best practice and use which that align closest with him.

Upon making his choice he is quickly engulfed in an inferno and lightning starts arching around him again. In a different manner to how it did when he mustered the courage to fight the monster a couple of minutes ago. Just as quickly as it happened it stopped with a pop-up notifying him that his choices have been confirmed and the process is complete.

One last pop-up appeared saying the following as it seemed to be a direct message from the God of Games:

Congratulations on the coming the 9th First Awakened. I expect great things from all who have gotten that title, but from you especially. Every other candidate that I thought could live up to the challenge on your world died or ran away. You were the only one to live and succeed. I will admit that I did not believe that you would be able to as you were at the very bottom of my list of potential candidates. Consider me impressed..... That said as you know all first awakened must go to a special planet I have prepared. Although the travel there is not instantaneous as I will need to verify who all will be going with you from your world that will also seemingly have what it takes to survive on that planet. Verification will take 3 days and then transportation to that world through special needs will take another 3 days. Until then I would suggest saying your goodbyes for now and getting your affairs in order as you most likely will not be returning to your homeworld for quite some time. But travel back here is definitely possible. As a reward for being the very first to awaken on this planet consider this a gift.

Sincerely, Palpha

A notification then appeared informing Augustus of the reward for becoming the First Awakened of his world. The God of Games, Palpha, gave him 100,000 gold, a random Epic weapon chest, a random Epic item chest, a random Epic armor chest, and 5 ally teleportation tickets.

While all of them caught his eyes it was the last one that specifically stood out to him. Going through his character sheet he was able to find the items section and upon clicking on the item to read its description. It explained that the tickets could teleport a single individual from anywhere in the multiverse that he considered an ally and has met previously to his location instantaneously by portal. It did specifically specify that the person that he wanted could come through the portal only but he could not go through it to get to their side. To his surprise, he also learned that if the person did not choose to come through the portal after 10 minutes, the ticket would be refunded so that it would not be destroyed until successfully used.

 

Meaning if he wanted to he could keep in touch with his family by using the ticket to open a portal for 10 minutes to communicate with his loved ones from elsewhere in the galaxy. That was if on the world he's going to, there was no actual way to communicate off-world.

 

After absorbing the information in he starts to think to himself only to be cut off by the sounds of his sister as she walks up to him and places a hand on his shoulder, "Augie was that a character sheet?" He could hear the concern in her voice as the moment he was about to answer her she seemingly already realized what was going on.

 

Being very aware of the situation, she got sad as she knew that it meant that not only was everyone on the planet now afflicted with the Player Plague, but her brother was clearly the First Awakened of their world. She knew that each of the First Awakened was required to go to a different world in the galaxy that received specific and special attention and treatment from the God of Games. For her, this meant that she wouldn't get to see her big brother anymore, and if she did it would be a very rare occurrence that only would happen very very very occasionally.

Before she could start crying again Augustus quickly pulled her in for a hug. Seeing that she was already an emotional and nervous wreck after everything that had just transpired and everything that was still going on; he just held her close.

 

After a couple of hours had gone by and he had assured his sister that everything would be okay Augustus was now back at his home preparing dinner for not only himself but also his parents and his sister and her husband and daughter. Augustus was all over the news. Camera footage from onlookers in nearby buildings, as well as from street cameras, and from people on the street at that time after the attack had ended captured from beginning to end the moments when Augustus left the restaurant with his sister to get to safety all the way up until he was asked by his sister if he was the First Awakened of their world.

A couple of reporters even came by his house after finding out who he was to verify whether or not he was the First Awakened of this planet. He simply showed them his character sheet that confirmed it through a window. Then he held up a sign asking them to please leave as he needs to prepare for his trip. To his surprise it worked in getting them to leave. Upon confirming that, he was considered instantly extremely dangerous. Especially as his character sheet showed off his special skills that all seem to be based around making even the most mundane ability he used overwhelming effective.

 

People even started to speculate more about his past. Thankfully not much about his history is public knowledge due to some very good services that he has paid for over the years to keep most of his information in history removed from any online sources. Especially the event that traumatized him for so long and still haunts him as he thinks about it now, but to a lesser degree.

Thinking about his traumatic past on that starship is somewhat easier to do now as fighting that monster that shared the same face as Donkuulii gave him some of his self-confidence and bravery back that he had been completely stripped of by that event. Today he remembered what was more important than being afraid. And as he looked at the dinner table nothing could be more clear than his love for his family.