Awakened?

A feeling of satisfaction flooded Luke's heart, knowing that the experiment succeeded, but the empire wouldn't be able to enjoy the fruits of their labour. At that moment, an unfamiliar sound rang in his ears, catching him off-guard.

"Congratulations on becoming a Mortal conduit,"

Hearing the strange sound, Luke's instincts kicked in as he went on the defensive. His eyes began darting around the area frantically as he searched for the source of the voice, but there was none. It was then that he noticed the texts.

[Congratulations on becoming a mortal conduit]

"Ehh… Isn't this the interface?!" Luke muttered in shock.

The knowledge of the interface was as old as the birth of humans with special powers. One could say the interface appeared as soon as the awakened humans began to appear across the world.

The interface showed details of everything concerning an awakened, ranging from their names to their powers. No one knew how it came to be or where it came from, but one thing was certain, the interface was strictly for awakened humans. Its appearance marked the birth of a new awakened.

"Wait, doesn't that mean I am an awakened?" Luke muttered with a mixture of excitement and shock etched on his face.

Luke was shocked because most humans who manifested their powers gained it at the age of sixteen if they were to have any. For people like him from a lineage without any powers he didn't even bother about it, neither did he expect some sort of miracle would happen, granting him a special power. 

However, life worked in mysterious ways as he had gotten powers, not through conventional means, but through a horrifying experiment that even claimed his life.

"I wonder what ability I got," Luke said, pushing away the thought that brought back bad memories.

Immediately the thought of his ability came, and the interface containing his information popped up, but that was when his ears picked up sounds of rustling bushing some distance away. 

Quickly, Luke turned in that direction, but there was nothing there, yet.

Only then did he decide to study his environment, only to realize he was in a small clearing in the middle of the dark forest, surrounded by body bags filled with corpses. It was only natural beasts would be attracted to this location. 

He noticed a body bag that was torn open and the corpse lying inside it. The corpse was missing its head and its stomach had been torn open, revealing its organs which had been ravaged and its remnants sticking out.

The pungent smell of these corpses reached Luke's nostrils, coupled with the gruesome scene, creating a nauseating reaction. He could feel a warm liquid rolling up his throat threatening to force its way out at any moment, however, he heard sounds of snapping twigs and rustling bushes from multiple directions. It became clear to him that more than one beast was moving in this direction. 

Even the first movement he detected was getting closer at a rapid pace.

There was no doubt about it, these beasts were attracted by the smell of the corpse!

Not daring to spend another second there, Luke dashed in a direction where he couldn't hear any sound of approaching beasts. 

Although Luke had become strong, fast, and had some sort of regenerative capabilities, he wasn't foolish enough to think he could go against multiple beasts at the same time, especially when he knew nothing about them.

Luke moved deeper into the thick forest, running for a while before he decided to climb a tree. With uncanny agility, Luke jumped high, catching a branch. Pulling himself up, he jumped to higher branches until he was in a position where he was perfectly concealed by the canopy of leaves.

While he ran, he thought about it and concluded that a battle was bound to break out between the beasts that arrived to feed on the pile of corpses. It will be bloody and chaotic, which in turn will attract even more beasts. Instead of being in the open where the arriving beasts could spot him and lay ambushes for him through the bushes, it was best to hide up here and lie low until everything died down.

While waiting, Luke was tempted to look at the interface, but he knew he had to be on high alert to prevent any mistakes. One can never be too careful in the jungle of this new world.

Roar.

It didn't take long for sounds of growling beasts to be heard, making Luke believe all sides have met themselves. Soon, loud sounds could be heard as the clash began. Luke could see dust rising at the location of the corpses, followed by the wimping sounds of dying beasts.

Thud Thud Thud

Soon, the sounds of heavy footsteps could be heard approaching. As the beast got closer, Luke's enhanced hearing was able to help him understand that this was a four-legged creature. Soon it was beneath the tree where he was hiding, but Luke couldn't make sense of its shape because it was dark.

Regardless, he held his breath as beads of sweat ran down his face while he waited patiently for the beast to move on. Soon, the heavy footsteps of the beast began to fade as it got closer to the location where the battle was taking place.

Huff.

Luke exhaled deeply as the lack of activity made his thoughts drift to the events of that day. 

His understanding of the events of that day began to change as he shifted the blame to the Nexeria empire. His family died gruesomely at the hands of the demonic mutts because the empire failed to perform its duty of protecting its citizens. 

Did they fail to appear on time because it was just a village at the borders of the empire with little to no importance? 

Did they choose to let everyone die after turning up late, simply because the lives of his family and villagers were worth nothing? 

"I will get my revenge!" Luke said with determination burning bright in his eyes. "They must pay!"