1 And So The Era of Superpowers Began

Tyler hefted the bar upwards and pushed his hips forward. Exertion clearly showed on his face as he pushed the bar and the weight it held up from his chest and above his head. He slammed his foot forward for support and the bar snapped upward. A sense of exhilaration filled Tyler - this was a marked increase of his top lifting amount. Going from 205kg to 225kg might not seem a lot when it comes to how much his strength increased but at where he was right now in his training, an increase of 20kg from his training was deceptively high. There was also the fact that 225kg was almost 2.5 times Tyler's body weight making his power to weight ratio quite fantastic for his age.

This was because of two things: 1) Tyler approached training his body like someone would approach eating. Meaning he approached it like it was a vital part of his continued existence which lead to him spending a moderate to excessive time in the gym. Which further meant...he was ridiculously shredded.

And 2) Because he was a genetic anomaly. Hard work and knowledge are essential when it comes to weightlifting and improving your overall lifting amount. But what's even more important is genetics. And that's where Tyler has his main advantage: Genetics. You could say he was born to be a weightlifter but the truth is that he was born to be an athlete in general.

He had a genetic disorder - Myostatin-related Muscle Hypertrophy - which led to him having two times the normal amount of muscle mass and density a man his height and build should have, and aside from his height he was what could be considered the perfect mesomorph. Easily builds muscle, broad shoulders and strong waist - a solid build that was naturally sturdy and hard. His reflexes were naturally astounding as well...he was a natural born athlete. A physique that set him above the rest.

But as mentioned before, he was just as hardworking as his peers. Maybe even more so.

Which is why when he put the bar down on the ground, letting it send out a massive thud as the metal weights collided against the pads - pads that couldn't fully stop or silence such a heavy weight - he turned to side and picked up a small book.

'...A marked improvement in my clean and jerk lift but still below the Olympic-level,' Tyler thought to himself as he jotted the numbers down in the weathered notepad. He smiled to himself, however, as any improvement was great to him. He lived for the improvement as it was one of the few things he could count on.

Thinking such a thought, Tyler turned to his phone that was off to the side and walked over to it and switched it on only to let out a sigh when he saw he hadn't received any texts putting the phone back down with a bit too much force, he let out a louder, more aggrieved sigh before walking back over to the weights. He began to take off a few of them because he was about to attempt a snatch lift and without the preparation the clean and jerk gave him, he highly doubted he'd be able to lift 225kg, 'I'd probably snap my arms,' he darkly thought before shaking his head with a wry smile. He wouldn't be so stupid as to do something like that.

Not with his scholarship on the line.

You see, Tyler Jackson was at College at the minute and despite not being dumb by any means, his intellectual talents paled in comparison to his physical ones. Hence why he chose to rely on them to get into his favored college. He'd gained a scholarship for weightlifting to California State University, Sacramento. It was only 300ish miles from his hometown of Los Angeles, making it a 5-6 hour drive for him on vacations.

Anyway, just as Tyler was taking the weights off the bar...he heard something behind him. But as he turned to look at it a...'What's this?' Tyler thought as a blue box was just hovering in front of his vision.

But what really caught Tyler's attention was the green humanoid behind the box, partially covered by it. It couldn't have been more than 3 and a half feet tall and with it's wiry build it looked like an athletic, hunched over child. But that's where the similarities ended.

This...thing, was a dull green in color and it's skin was stretched across it's body in a way that made it uncomfortable to look at. Like any movement it made could be the final one to rip it's skin open. But no such thing happened. Instead, he got to see it's thin lips pulling back and revealing it's sharp yellow teeth and the accompanying saliva that flowed out of the unhygienic mouth and onto the gym floor. Above it's mouth was a crooked nose that stretched too far for it to fit on it's face properly and it was hooked like a hawk's beak. Then above that were it's eyes...beady little red eyes that looked so savage it was like there was no intelligence behind them. Just cruelty.

Tyler found himself feeling confused and on edge. Especially when he saw the creature stalk forward with a long and sturdy-looking pointy stick covered in...something. Though as the smell of the creature and whatever was on the stick got to him...he could guess at what the brown substance was.

His attention was brought away from the green thing and turned back to the blue box in front of him.

[Welcome to the apocalypse. Stay a while. If you can, that is~]

Tyler saw this and was confused, as you would be at such a situation. He first thought he was hallucinating it all and he'd over-trained or something...but the smell of the creature and it's shit-covered stick were too real. The subtle sound of the saliva from it's mouth hitting the floor and splattering was too real. The way he was feeling so on edge at the sight of this creature was too real. He couldn't believe that an hallucination created by his own mind could cause his hair to stick up like it was, that said hallucination could get his adrenaline pumping through his body with his blood so quickly.

'This was real.'

This thought rang through Tyler's head and despite it seeming so fantastical, he focused. He focused until he'd brought his wits and composure back to himself, and then it was just him looking at the green thing that looked so much like a Goblin, and the Goblin looking back at him.

Then it started.

The Goblin burst toward Tyler, it's 'spear' raised and ready to poke him full of holes. Tyler, meanwhile, charged toward the Goblin as well. He was bigger and most definitely stronger than the creature. But...

Just as he was about to come into range for the Goblin, the green thing pulled it's arm back and thrust the 'spear' forward toward Tyler. Tyler had been waiting for this and stamped his leading foot in front of himself, cancelling his forward momentum and refocusing it upward into a jump. Tyler flew up and above the Goblin's attacked and the green gremlin gave a surprised screech before trying to pull it's arm back but it had neither the same strength or skill as Tyler. Strength and skill needed to fully cancel momentum and re-route it elsewhere.

So, as it got carried by it's own blow, Tyler was coming back down but this time his feet were right above the Goblin and it didn't take long for him to land on the green midget, crushing it under his weight.

In his adrenaline-filled state, he didn't think twice and stamped down on the Goblin's crumpled form, continuing to damage it.

He didn't stop until the Goblin stopped thrashing in reply to his stomps and by that time, the adrenaline was wearing off and Tyler felt like he'd just gone through an hour workout. But he was yet to get any rest.

[Congratulations! You've killed the first monster put in front of you as a test, from me! Here, have some superpowers!]

Then he began to black out. But not before he felt a second of the most horrible agony he'd ever felt. Even a split second had etched that pain into his mind. It felt like every nerve ending in his body was being cut, crushed and hooked up to a car battery. Like he was being flayed and having lemon and salt water poured onto the bare, skinless flesh.

The pain was hell and hell was pain. It was so bad that Tyler welcomed the uncertainty of whatever unconscious he was about to enter. So bad that he wouldn't mind if it was a coma he was entering. Anything to escape that pain.

But as the darkness took over him, Tyler didn't realize just how different he and the whole world would be after he woke up.

Heroes, Monsters, Villains--They would all come to exist and the world would never be the same again. Neither would Tyler. It would be safe to say his scholarship and dream of being on Team USA for Weightlifting wouldn't be fulfilled because of what was about to happen to him, at the very least.

But a very new, and very dangerous, career would soon be opened up to him.