4 A New Hope?

"What?!"

Eve suddenly starts rubbing his eyes and blinking rapidly, as if he was seeing an illusion. The red aura started to dissipate, and Eve's red pupils went back to normal. He rubs his eyes, taking a seat on the stairs to the 2nd floor.

"Why was my vision completely filled with a deep blood red?" Eve wonders to himself as he blinks a few more times, checking his vision to see if he was hallucinating.

"Is that normal? Do I have some sort of disease? Are my eyes getting worse?" A panic starts rising in Eve, as his confusion causes him to lose his mind. Perhaps I was just hallucinating… Maybe I'll search it up online later….

Perhaps it was an awakening event?! Eve's body tensed up before relaxing again as his upper body started slacking downwards. No, nothing has changed….

Eve sighed and started to calm down, acting as if nothing happened although the impact of the event on him was deeper than even he could imagine. Eve stood up from the staircase, heading towards the dining room in the direction parallel to the door.

Eve's house has two floors, the bottom one for entertaining guests and dining, the top one for resting and working. A curving staircase connects the two with cushion-laid steps, and a handrail on the left side hanging off the wall.

Eve sat at the dinner table as he observed the scattered items on the table and a rice dish with a few strange grey ripples above it. He puts hand within the ripples, grasping at nothing. Suddenly he pulls his arm back, and a grey lid appears.

It's quite impressive honestly, to think the scientists can use technology in household kitchen items although I don't understand the point of an invisible cover for food. Maybe my mom thought it would be easier to notice there is food beneath the cover?

When Eve is about to plunge into the meal with a spoon, he hears a beep behind him. Eve's twists his body on his chair to look at a small grey box behind him.

"Did the Wear get a new update?!" Eve completely forgets about his meal, getting out of his chair and walked down a staircase to a living room area. There were 3 couches, one which sat beside a wall beside the stairs, and two on the left side of the room. A fireplace sat on the right, and a large curved screen was sitting on a table near translucent doors.

"Should I really be playing video games right now?" Suddenly a vicious struggle appears on Eve's face, clearly conflicted on whether to laze around or doing something useful. He sighs, and backs away from the box, walking through the corridor up to the top floor.

The top floor had a corridor connecting to three bedrooms and one bathroom. Within Eve's room, there was a bedroom sat near the window. A desk sat near the door, and a closet was on the opposite side of the window. There was also a bookshelf filled with books all with publishing date between 50 years ago and present day.

If I spend my free time playing games, then how would I be able to finish all my work…. I really just want to rest for a moment… Eve went inside his room and pulled something that looked like a large grey piece of paper with a black border and was an inch thick.

Eve bitterly looked around the table, noticing scattered patches with small needles in the middle, and a button on the other side. I still haven't I guess….

He waved his hand once across the scene, causing the paper to magically come to life displaying a brightness like a sun in empty space.

Oh, shoot, how high did I put the brightness up to? Eve winced, as he tapped the screen a few times, reducing the brightness of the screen.

Maybe I should turn on the room's lights… Again, Eve's hand shifted right to left midair, this time in front of a white panel stuck to the wall, above the desk. The grey panels on the ceiling turned on and the room was bathed in a soft white glow.

I'm so glad I got my own Pad…. Whenever I feel like collapsing, I can just drag this out and find some way to enjoy myself.

Eve's expression still seemed indifferent, although neither sad or happy.

Perhaps I can go to the BE Forums and ask about that scene of blood from earlier. Eve clicked on the right bottom corner of the screen where A white box expanded to fill up the screen. Different boxes with text like [PlayChess], [StarVader], etc. appeared on the screen in a rectangular formation.

Eve pushed a box reading [BE Forums] lightly and the screen change to the forums Eve was thinking about earlier. The page he opened up was filled with ads related to the website, and exciting images that could make any impulsive person click on them.

Yet Eve seemed indifferent as he started to check a bar on the top of the screen with more uniquely titled boxes. Starting from right to left the boxes read: [Chatrooms] [Forums] [Tutorials] [Updates] [Informed].

If I want to talk to someone who can understand what that bloody scene meant, perhaps I should ask Big Egg. He's like a rabid fan of blood users, so perhaps he knows something about it?

Big Egg is the name of an account user-friendly with Eve on the BE Forums, he's usually spending his days online and could be considered one of the best information services around. Although he never talks in a chat group, so all his messages can be publicly accessed which reduces the number of people who apply for his services.

Eve created a new forum page under the name of [Bloody Incident?] Somehow a flat board extended out of the bottom of the screen with a series of buttons labeled with letters and symbols.

Clicking on the buttons quickly, Eve types out using his account [ShuraSevers] "Recently, I saw a vision of a red scene… Has anyone heard of anything like this?" in a white box on the screen.

As a boy lacking the means, I always learned and studied BE abilities since I was a child. I studied abilities, celebrity users, and whatever I could scavenge, but finding biographies or guides to Blood Energy is almost impossible.

Perhaps the government is restricting information…. Or people are just too lazy to make proper biographies or guides. So Naturally how could I have heard of something as weird as this?

Suddenly a text box appeared under the name of [Big_Egg511]: You know you could ask that on the Lighted website right…

I wonder why Big Egg is always online when I am…. Maybe he's at the same school as me? That would be amazing…. Although he's probably just a lurker. Eve chuckled a little, showing a rare smile.

[ShuraSevers]: They would take a few minutes to respond to me, but you're always online so wouldn't it be quicker to ask you?

Lighted is an organization that was founded by Sin, and he said the key to the organization was informing the public about Blood Energy, and to assimilate it into our society. They are an extraordinary association, but due to their prestige with the common person, they are restricted in how they can respond to questions. Although I don't have any respect for people who can't even solve my issues, no matter what authority they have.

Eve's heart suddenly sinks, and he falls into a daze. Stop! I'm falling into that mood again, calm down Eve! He breathes out and in twice a little before looking at the Pad.

Another message came from Big Egg reading "Actually there was an unpopular lab experiment based on strange occurrences connected to Blood Energy. A survey performed by Lighted included tons of people who have experienced strange incidents.

Although many were false claims, I think they actually mentioned something like that…. Take a look at this link." A link of random letters and symbols were sent, connecting to another website."

I'm really too lazy to check a website on my own time...

[ShuraSevers]: Ah I will check that link later, I'm a bit lacking on time right now…

Eve starts stretching his arms into the air, as he yawns, clearly too tired to do anything.

[Big_Egg511]: Fine then just watch this video. It's an unpopular video with clips from interviews of Eric Hansen and Gabriella Sun. It includes their fight in high quality, and I'm pretty sure you can understand the point of the video.

Although Big Egg is a strangely trustworthy online friend, he really doesn't spend any time joking around…

[ShuraSevers]: Sure, I'll watch the first few minutes. I'll watch the rest later.

[ShuraSevers]: So how are you doing today?

Eve waited for a minute for a response but it seems like Big Egg had already left after finishing his objective.

Eh, he always leaves so quickly…. Ah, he could be a girl. Perhaps she's got relationship issues?... Makes sense why she seems to be in a bad mood.

Then Eve laughed as he thought "Ah I bet that genius Sin didn't have stupid thoughts like me."

I can't compare myself to him…..

Eve went off on some sort of strange argument in his mind, clearly in a complex thinking state.

Maybe I should watch the video. Perhaps these celebrities have some hidden information from the public?

Eve pushes on the link, suddenly changing the screen to a black screen. He pushed the screen, as a play button appears, before showing a young adult blonde man radiating confidence in front of a microphone.

A reporter's voice comes from the screen "So Eric Hansen, what is the secret to your success as Blood Fighter? How did you get to participate in the Pavilion Fighting Tournament?"

The young man starts gesturing as he says "Well it starts from the day I first gained my ability. I had awakened that day and gained extraordinary strength, yet moments later I saw a completely red scene-

Eve pushed his body forward toward the pad, interested in the celebrity's experiences.

-and all my newfound abilities seemingly disappeared..."

What? Eve falls backward hitting the headrest of his chair clearly losing the excitement he had moments ago. I thought it was like some sort of pre-awakening event but it's an event that causes people to lose their blood abilities?

Eve was about to cough up blood, considering how he had high hopes and yet his hopes were false, and he had instead experienced a catastrophe.

"Then I realized my ability grew stronger as if it had fed off the strength of my body to improve itself."

Eh?