Shadow Assassin: Dual Attributes

The early morning sunrays streaked through the crevices of the blinds in Quinn's room, dimly lighting up the dull room in which he lay static: not asleep, yet lay on the single bed. The morning Sun eventually illuminated the room to the extent that the furnishing could be seen; if there were any, that is. The only notable features being a cupboard full of trophies in martial arts, shooting and swimming, and a small portrait of his parents to remember them by.

The Sun had risen, and his room illuminated by the gentle sunlight, yet Quinn remained unmoving, contemplating with no thoughts on his mind. Perhaps reminiscing the older, better days?

DING-!

He heard his doorbell ring. With no other choice but to leave the comfort of his warm bedsheets, and answer the door, Quinn sighed and slowly got up. Gently rubbing his eyes, he walked past the mirror in the other corner of his bedroom, waiting for a brief moment and running his hand through his hair, tidying it a tad bit. You could say that he was kind of the handsome type of guy: he had greyish-white hair, colourless irises accompanying his lazy eyes with a sharp glare, and an ideal face shape.

He walked towards the door, opening it after checking through peephole to see who it might be. It was a carrier drone about the size of Quinn's torso, there to deliver a package to his address: a small package that carried a smaller box.

'I'm sure I didn't order anything,' thought Quinn, scratching the back of his head. "Your signature please," the drone said in a monotone voice; it was an AI. Quinn did as asked after he was done going over the details of the package and his sign was now writ on the drones GUI display screen. The drone dropped the package in his hands.

The drone again said in a monotone voice: "Thank you for your patronage," and zoomed away. Quinn, curious of what was inside of the box, closed the door behind him as he entered his apartment again.

"Ah, maybe... it's an Ability Dew sent by the military?"

———

'Ability Dew'

A shimmering liquid with a faint golden glow that emanates ethereal energy, deposited rarely and at fixed intervals by Ley Lines on alien, Beast planets. Hardly do these appear in dimensional rifts called Dungeons that appear on Earth by happenstance. When drank by a human it gives a random ability to the person, however, the effects of Ability Dew are highly individualised, manifesting in various forms depending on the recipient's innate abilities. Some may find themselves endowed with superhuman strength, others with heightened senses or mastery over elemental magic. Some may awaken rare abilities, unique to themselves or just never before seen manifest in humans.

The quality of the Ability Dew depends on the brightness of its glow, as per the latest study reports.

———

Ability Dews have been said to have existed since before the dawn of man's technological advancement, and had developed somewhere on the Earth. The individuals that consumed the Ability Dew had gotten their innate abilities mixed within their genes, passing them on to their offsprings, who were then born with that specific ability. These kinds of families were of a completely different status of normal ability user in today's day and age.

They were called: 'The Originals'.

Multiple trials of artificial replication of ability dew have taken place up till date and are in the process of mass production due to newer technology, surpassing the technology of a few years back by leaps and bounds.

Quinn's parents had never wanted him to become an ability user and wanted him to lead a normal life. Thus, lying to the military organisation that they belonged to that he did, in fact, possess an ability, and was capable of entering the military school. But, obviously, as mentioned before, they never wanted him to become an ability user, so they must have had something in mind once they were back home. Unfortunately, that time never came... .

Quinn snapped out of thought and calmed himself down getting ready to open the box.

Removing the lid from the box there was...