Awaken

The surroundings were dark. An unreasonable silence hung in the air. Everything seemed monotone and identical. There was no sky, there was no land. There were no trees, and nor were there any rivers. There were no houses, no people, no air, no chatter. Just a dark monotone emptiness.

Within that emptiness, a sudden spark was lit up. The spark was black in color, yet it's shadow could clearly be distinguished within the morose emptiness that contrasted against it. The tiny spark sputtered and shook, until it turned into a tiny a wisp, taking the shape of a black colored flame, burning intently in the emptiness.

Adrian opened his eyes in shock to find himself blinded by bright blue-neon lights, extremely alien from the bizarre emptiness he felt had surrounded him and the tiny black flame he had seen sprout earlier. As his pupils gradually adjusted to the lights, Adrian realized that he was sleeping in a hospital bed.

His face was covered by a mask, presumably oxygen, he surmised. A male dressed in a surgical gown and wearing a white surgical mask and goggles was standing beside his lying body, intently studying Adrian's abdomen. To his shock, however, Adrian saw that the man's hands transformed into a terrifying looking amalgam of metallic surgical tools, that then took turns to interfere with the wound on Adrian's abdomen.

The panic in Adrian's mind caused his heart rate to rise and some sensors began beeping loudly. The man in the surgical gown turned towards Adrian and raised an eye.

"The anesthetic wasn't enough. Dose him again." The voice spoke without emotion from behind the mask. Adrian saw the vision that had appeared disappear again, along with the pain and all his worries.

He opened his eyes again. This time Adrian was no longer in the operation theater. He was in a resting room of the hospital. The room was cold and sanitized. Adrian also felt like his body was better now.

"Adrian, are you finally awake?" A familiar voice cried out from somewhere Adrian couldn't see. He turned his head to find his elder sister, wiping away tears from the edge of her eyes, and trying to smile while covering up her puffed up cheeks swollen from the crying.

Adrian groaned. "What happened?" He asked. His memory was hazy. He remembered being attacked by Cody and then saved by the student council, of all people.

Emily wanted to slap this wayward brother of hers, but restrained herself. "You better stop thinking about frivolous matters and rest. You almost scared me to death! You've been unconscious for a month!"

Adrian felt the meaning of her words slowly shocking his fuzzed up brain. "...A month?" He asked, but Emily shushed him, telling him to rest. She quickly rushed out to call in the doctors and make phone calls, while Adrian's ears began buzzing.

His vision flickered as the colors of the world inverted into a dreary black and white dimensional soup, where the objects around him were identical as before, but the color of the world turned black. In this bizarre world, he saw the silhouette of his sister urgently walking out of the room. However, her body was transparently black and within the confines of her ribs was a pale white colored orb that glowed as powdered snow surrounded the orb, falling into nothingness and disappearing like rain. The bizarre psychedellic moment felt like it lasted an eternity, but an instant later, Adrian's vision turned normal as he looked around with enlarged eyes, shock filling his face.

A few minutes later, Emily returned with a few doctors who began checking Adrian's vitals.

"Lil bro, are you alright? Your face looks pale." She asked with worry.

Adrian blinked and then shook his head. "I think I'm fine. I was surprised by something just now..." He trailed off. About what just happened, Adrian had a few guesses.

Had he finally awakened his ability? Just what was the weird fluctuation in the perception of his vision?

Thinking about the bizarre feeling he had just felt, Adrian tried concentrating his mind towards his forehead, mentally urging something indecipherable towards the center of his brain, when his pupils suddenly tremored, the colors that defined his vision inverted dramatically.

He saw the black dimensional world again, where everyone around him was like transparent shadows. Adrian saw the weird orb within his sister's chest and then found a similar orb within the doctor checking on him. The doctor's orb was green in color and seemed to give off a feeling of vitality compared to the coldness emerging from his sister.

A second later, his vision turned to normal. His face was filled with sweat, his breath quickened and his heart began to suffer from palpitations.

"Mr. Miles, is something wrong?" The doctor asked with a worried look.

"No. Nothing." Adrian said in a whisper, his quick breath gradually slowing down. "I think... I just awakened my ability."

"What?" Emily yelled out like a child. "Did I hear that correctly?"

Adrian smiled as he nodded. "Seems like it." He replied before tiredness overcame him and he closed his eyes to sleep.

"Doctor, what happened?" Emily asked in worry

"His vitals are stable." The doctor replied with a frown "If Mr. Miles indeed awakened an ability, he probably collapsed from fatigue of activating it."

"Please ensure that my little brother doesn't suffer from any harm." Emily respectfully addressed the doctor.

Adrian's condition on that day had been extremely serious. He had suffered life threatening physical wounds and then almost overdosed on a cocktail of drugs to encourage the rapid increase in the cellular healing process. The result had caused Adrian'a body to be over drafted and pushed into a coma.

When Emily thought about the events of that night, her eyes turned cold.

"Dad." Emily whispered, as she felt a palm clamp on her left shoulder.

A man who looked like he had aged a few years within days nodded to her. "Don't try doing anything brash. This matter is too complicated for you to interfere in. You will inherit the company in the future, I don't want you to jeopardize our relationship with the government."

"But dad? Didn't you just hear what Adrian said? He finally awakened an ability! Why am I still being groomed as the next heir?" Emily asked in reluctance.

Norman, Adrian and Emily's father shook his head. "My daughter, you still know too little. I have always considered you to be our next heir. Adrian... has his own path." He said as his pupils flickered.